Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel MAC scheduling algorithm for TCP throughput improvement in LTE system

LTE standard provides different Quality of Service (QoS) options which enable to provide multiple services to the User Equipment (UE). Design of scheduling algorithm for Transmission Control protocol (TCP) based traffic is challenging in wireless networks. Many papers have been developed to improve the throughput of TCP traffic. In this work, a novel and practically feasible scheduling algorithm is proposed to handle the TCP traffic in order to improve the overall LTE cell and UE throughput. An uplink grant is provided at the time of scheduling Downlink (DL) TCP traffic for acknowledgement transfer which minimizes TCP throughput fluctuations which improves cell and per UE throughput. The amount of advanced uplink grant can be computed using Kalman filter algorithm by considering real time reported parameters as per LTE standard. The proposed algorithm is implemented in small cell platform and real time results are generated. It shows that significant gain is achieved in throughput under specific traffic conditions.
Multi-dim: A multi-dimensional face database towards the application of 3D technology in real-world scenarios

Three-dimensional (3D) faces are increasingly utilized in many face-related tasks. Despite the promising improvement achieved by 3D face technology, it is still hard to thoroughly evaluate the performance and effect of 3D face technology in real-world applications where variations frequently occur in pose, illumination, expression and many other factors. This is due to the lack of benchmark databases that contain both high precision full-view 3D faces and their 2D face images/videos under different conditions. In this paper, we present such a multi-dimensional face database (namely Multi-Dim) of high precision 3D face scans, high definition photos, 2D still face images with varying pose and expression, low quality 2D surveillance video clips, along with ground truth annotations for them. Based on this Multi-Dim face database, extensive evaluation experiments have been done with state-of-the-art baseline methods for constructing 3D morphable model, reconstructing 3D faces from single images, 3D-assisted pose normalization for face verification, and 3D-rendered multiview gallery for face identification. Our results show that 3D face technology does help in improving unconstrained 2D face recognition when the probe 2D face images are of reasonable quality, whereas it deteriorates rather than improves the face recognition accuracy when the probe 2D face images are of poor quality. We will make Multi-Dim freely available to the community for the purpose of advancing the 3D-based unconstrained 2D face recognition and related techniques towards real-world applications.
Palmoplantar pustulosis - a cross-sectional analysis in Germany.

BACKGROUND Palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) is a recalcitrant chronic inflammatory skin disease. Data relevant for the medical care of patients with PPP are scarce. Thus, the aim of this work was to investigate the disease burden, clinical characteristics, and comorbidity of PPP patients in Germany. PATIENTS AND METHODS PPP patients were examined in a crosssectional study at seven specialized psoriasis centers in Germany. RESULTS Of the 172 included patients with PPP, 79.1% were female and 69.8% were smokers.In addition, 25.0% suffered from psoriasis vulgaris, 28.2% had documented psoriatic arthritis, and 30.2% had a family history of psoriasis. In 77 patients the mean Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) was 12.2 ± 7.7 (mean ± SD). The mean Psoriasis Palmoplantar Pustulosis Area and Severity Index (PPPASI) was 12.6 ± 8.6. Mean body mass index was above average at 27.1 ± 5.5. The PPP patients had previously received an average of 2.6 ± 2.1 different anti-psoriatic systemic drugs or UV-therapies. The systemic drugs that had been used most frequently were corticosteroids in 40.1% of patients, followed by acitretin (37.8%), and methotrexate (27.9%). The PPPASI was 13.4 ± 8.9 in patients without current systemic therapy and 10.4 ± 7.9 in patients with systemic therapy. CONCLUSION Many PPP patients had a concomitant diagnosis of psoriasis vulgaris and/or psoriatic arthritis or had a family history of psoriasis. Despite the fact that many of the patients were using anti-psoriatic therapies, there was still a high burden of disease within this PPP cohort. This insufficient control of symptoms demonstrates the urgent need for new PPP treatments.
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Neural Circuitry Associated with Two Different Approaches to Novel Word Learning

Skilled reading depends upon successfully integrating orthographic, phonological, and semantic information; however, the process of becoming a skilled reader with efficient neu-ral circuitry is not fully understood. Short-term learning paradigms can provide insight into learning mechanisms by revealing differential responses to training approaches. To date, neuroimaging studies have primarily focused on effects of teaching novel words either in isolation or in context, without directly comparing the two. The current study compared the behavioral and neurobiological effects of learning novel pseudowords (i.e., pronouncing and attaching meaning) trained either in isolation or in sentential context. Behavioral results showed generally comparable pseudoword learning for both conditions, but senten-tial context-trained pseudowords were spoken and comprehended slightly more quickly. Neurobiologically, fMRI activity for reading trained pseudowords was similar to real words; however, an interaction between training approach and reading proficiency was observed. Specifically, highly skilled readers showed similar levels of activity regardless of training approach. However, less skilled readers differentiated between training conditions, showing comparable activity to highly skilled readers only for isolation-trained pseudowords. Overall, behavioral and neurobiological findings suggest that training approach may affect rate of learning and neural circuitry, and that less skilled readers may need explicit training to develop optimal neural pathways.
Rethinking Stress in Parents of Preterm Infants: A Meta-Analysis

Background With improved medical outcome in preterm infants, the psychosocial situation of their families is receiving increasing attention. For parents, the birth of a preterm infant is generally regarded as a stressful experience, and therefore many interventions are based on reducing parental stress. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether parents of children born preterm experience more stress than parents of term-born children, which would justify these interventions. This meta-analysis provides a comprehensive account of parental stress in parents of preterm infants, from birth of the infant through to their adolescence. Mean levels of stress in specific domains of family functioning were investigated, and stress levels in parents of preterm and term infants, and fathers and mothers of preterm infants, were compared. Furthermore, we investigated moderators of parental stress. Methods and Findings A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted including 38 studies describing 3025 parents of preterm (<37 wk) and low birth weight (<2500 g) infants. Parental stress was measured with two parent-reported questionnaires, the Parenting Stress Index and the Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The results indicate that parents of preterm-born children experience only slightly more stress than parents of term-born children, with small effect sizes. Furthermore, mothers have slightly more stress than fathers, but these effect sizes are also small. Parents report more stress for infants with lower gestational ages and lower birth weights. There is a strong effect for infant birth year, with decreasing parental stress from the 1980s onward, probably due to increased quality of care for preterm infants. Conclusions Based on our findings we argue that prematurity can best be regarded as one of the possible complications of birth, and not as a source of stress in itself.
“Just as Canadian as Anyone Else”? Experiences of Second-Class Citizenship and the Mental Health of Young Immigrant and Refugee Men in Canada

In recent years, the experiences of immigrant and refugee young men have drawn attention worldwide. Human-induced environmental disasters, local and global conflicts, and increasingly inequitable distributions of wealth have shaped transnational migration patterns. Canada is home to a large immigrant and refugee population, particularly in its urban areas, and supporting the mental health and well-being of these communities is of critical importance. The aim of this article is to report findings from a qualitative study on the social context of mental health among immigrant and refugee young men, with a focus on their migration and resettlement experiences. Informed by the conceptual lens of social context, a thematic narrative analysis approach was used to examine qualitative data from individual and group interviews with 33 young men (age 15 to 22 years) self-identified as immigrants or refugees and were living in Greater Vancouver, western Canada. Three thematic narratives were identified: a better life, living the (immigrant) dream, and starting again from way below. The narratives characterized the social context for immigrant and refugee young men and were connected by a central theme of negotiating second-class citizenship. Implications include the need for mental health frameworks that address marginalization and take into account the contexts and discourses that shape the mental health of immigrant and refugee populations in Canada and worldwide.
Unlocking Smart Phone through Handwaving Biometrics

Screen locking/unlocking is important for modern smart phones to avoid the unintentional operations and secure the personal stuff. Once the phone is locked, the user should take a specific action or provide some secret information to unlock the phone. The existing unlocking approaches can be categorized into four groups: motion, password, pattern, and fingerprint. Existing approaches do not support smart phones well due to the deficiency of security, high cost, and poor usability. We collect 200 users' handwaving actions with their smart phones and discover an appealing observation: the waving pattern of a person is kind of unique, stable and distinguishable. In this paper, we propose OpenSesame, which employs the users' waving patterns for locking/unlocking. The key feature of our system lies in using four fine-grained and statistic features of handwaving to verify users. Moreover, we utilize support vector machine (SVM) for accurate and fast classification. Our technique is robust compatible across different brands of smart phones, without the need of any specialized hardware. Results from comprehensive experiments show that the mean false positive rate of OpenSesame is around 15 percent, while the false negative rate is lower than 8 percent.
Improving Fault Traceability of Web Application by Utilizing Software Revision Information and Behavior Model

Modern software, especially web-based software, is broadly used in various fields. Most web applications employ design patterns, such as a model-view-controller (MVC) pattern and a factory pattern as development technology, so the application can have a good architecture to facilitate maintenance and productivity. A web application, however, may have defects and developers must fix the defects when a user submits bug reports. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to improving fault traceability in web application by using software revision information and software behavior model to reduce costs and effectively handle the software defect. We also provide a case study to show effectiveness of our approach
Association of AKAP6 and MIR2113 with cognitive performance in a population based sample of older adults

Genetic factors make a substantial contribution to inter-individual variability in cognitive function. A recent meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identified two loci, AKAP6 and MIR2113 that are associated with general cognitive function. Here, we extend this previous research by investigating the association of MIR2113 and AKAP6 with baseline and longitudinal nonlinear change across a broad spectrum of cognitive domains in community-based cohort of 1,570 older adults without dementia. Two SNPs, MIR211-rs10457441 and AKAP6-rs17522122 were genotyped in 1,570 non-demented older Australians of European ancestry, who were examined up to 4 times over 12 years. Linear mixed effects models were used to examine the association between AKAP6 and MIR2113 with cognitive performance in episodic memory, working memory, vocabulary, perceptual speed and reaction time at baseline and with linear and quadratic rates of change. AKAP6-rs17522122*T was associated with worse baseline performance in episodic memory, working memory, vocabulary and perceptual speed, but it was not associated with cognitive change in any domain. MIR2113-rs10457441*T was associated with accelerated decline in episodic memory. No other associations with baseline cognitive performance or with linear or quadratic rate or cognitive changes was observed for this SNP. These results confirm the previous finding that, AKAP6 is associated with performance across multiple cognitive domains at baseline but not with cognitive decline, while MIR2113 primarily affects the rate at which memory declines over time.
Biomimetic Superoleophobicity of Cotton Fabrics for Efficient Oil–Water Separation

Textile materials have gained much attention as membranes for oil–water separation. However, traditional membranes are suffered by either energy‐intensive preparation method or the fouling during the practical application. Motivated by the biomimetic surface of fish, this paper reports the modification of cotton fabrics using a single‐step hot alkali treatment, which creates roughened morphologies in micro‐ and nanoscale on fiber surface by removing noncellulosic compounds on sample and enhances the hydrophilicity of fabrics due to the introduction of numerous hydroxyl groups in the material. The developed fabrics show underwater superoleophobicity with oil contact angles more than 170°. When the textile is employed as a membrane for oil–water separation, water permeates quickly through the pores and capillary canal of fabrics, whereas oil is obstructed due to the inherent repellency with water. The cotton fabrics demonstrate high separation efficiency, excellent reusability, antifouling, and self‐cleaning properties in a single‐unit gravimetric filtration for various oil–water mixtures, thus making the material a promising and highly energy‐efficient candidate for the cleanup of oil spills.
Projections of the Diencephalospinal Dopaminergic System to Peripheral Sense Organs in Larval Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Dopaminergic neurons of the descending diencephalospinal system are located in the posterior tuberculum (PT) in zebrafish (Danio rerio), and correspond in mammals to the A11 group in hypothalamus and thalamus. In the larval zebrafish, they are likely the only source of central dopaminergic projections to the periphery. Here, we characterized posterior tubercular dopaminergic fibers projecting to peripheral sense organs, with a focus on the lateral line neuromasts. We labeled and identified catecholaminergic neurons and their projections by combining two immunofluorescence techniques, (i) using an antibody against Tyrosine hydroxylase, and (ii) using an antibody against GFP in transgenic zebrafish expressing in catecholaminergic neurons either membrane-anchored GFP to track fibers, or a Synaptophysin-GFP fusion to visualize putative synapses. We applied the CLARITY method to 6 days old whole zebrafish larvae to stain and analyze dopaminergic projections by confocal microscopy. We found that all lateral line neuromasts receive direct innervation by posterior tubercular dopaminergic neurons, and tracked these projections in detail. In addition, we found dopaminergic fibers projecting to the anterior and posterior lateral line ganglia, and extensive central dopaminergic arborizations around the terminal projection field of the lateral line afferent neurons in the hindbrain medial octavolateralis nucleus (MON). Therefore, dopaminergic innervation may affect lateral line sense information at different processing stages. Additional dopaminergic fibers innervate the trigeminal ganglion, and we observed fine catecholaminergic fibers in the skin with arborization patterns similar to free sensory nerve endings. We also detected potentially dopaminergic fibers innervating inner ear sensory epithelia. Therefore, the diencephalospinal A11-type dopaminergic system may broadly modulate peripheral senses. We also briefly report peripheral sympathetic catecholaminergic projections labeled in our experiments, and their innervation of the developing intestine, swim bladder and abdominal organs.
Setting up a Reinforcement Learning Task with a Real-World Robot

Reinforcement learning is a promising approach to developing hard-to-engineer adaptive solutions for complex and diverse robotic tasks. However, learning with real-world robots is often unreliable and difficult, which resulted in their low adoption in reinforcement learning research. This difficulty is worsened by the lack of guidelines for setting up learning tasks with robots. In this work, we develop a learning task with a UR5 robotic arm to bring to light some key elements of a task setup and study their contributions to the challenges with robots11Source code of the task and the computational model behind the setup available at https://github.com/kindredresearch/SenseAct. We find that learning performance can be highly sensitive to the setup, and thus oversights and omissions in setup details can make effective learning, reproducibility, and fair comparison hard. Our study suggests some mitigating steps to help future experimenters avoid difficulties and pitfalls. We show that highly reliable and repeatable experiments can be performed in our setup, indicating the possibility of reinforcement learning research extensively based on real-world robots.
Probabilistic cooperative mobile robot area coverage and its application to autonomous seabed mapping

There are many applications that require mobile robots to autonomously cover an entire area with a sensor or end effector. The vast majority of the literature on this subject is focused on addressing path planning for area coverage under the assumption that the robot’s pose is known or that error is bounded. In this work, we remove this assumption and develop a completely probabilistic representation of coverage. We show that coverage is guaranteed as long as the robot pose estimates are consistent, a much milder assumption than zero or bounded error. After formally connecting robot sensor uncertainty with area coverage, we propose an adaptive sliding window filter pose estimator that provides a close approximation to the full maximum a posteriori estimate with a computation cost that is bounded over time. Subsequently, an adaptive planning strategy is presented that automatically exploits conditions of low vehicle uncertainty to more efficiently cover an area. We further extend this approach to the multi-robot case where robots can communicate through a (possibly faulty and low-bandwidth) channel and make relative measurements of one another. In this case, area coverage is achieved more quickly since the uncertainty over the robots’ trajectories is reduced. We apply the framework to the scenario of mapping an area of seabed with an autonomous underwater vehicle. Experimental results support the claim that our method achieves guaranteed complete coverage notwithstanding poor navigational sensors and that resulting path lengths required to cover the entire area are shortest using the proposed cooperative and adaptive approach.
Review of compact commercial accelerator products and applications

Application-oriented accelerators are generally built commercially, and they often emphasize other qualities than the accelerators for research. These accelerators are generally specialized for a specific application, and are therefore very simple and inexpensive to operate. The author will review some products and applications in the field of medicine, such as the production of radioisotopes and radiotherapy, as well as in the industrial field, such as sterilization applications and the modification of materials.
Model oriented irradiation experiments in Fe-Cr model alloys

In order to improve the fundamental understanding on the microstructural behavior of irradiated Fe-Cr alloys, model alloys of high-Cr ferritic-martensitic (F-M) steels candidates as structural materials for Gen IV nuclear power plants, a nanoscale description of the microstructure has been performed as a function of Cr concentration and irradiation temperature. Two series of experiments have been undertaken: ● Fe-5%Cr, Fe-9%Cr and Fe-12%Cr model alloys have been neutron irradiated up to 0.6 dpa at 300°C (the minimum operating temperature of ferritic-martensitic steels in Generation IV reactors). 3D atom probe (3DAP) study has shown that the impurities are also involved in the microstructural evolution under irradiation. Two independent populations of clusters inside the grains have been revealed. The first family, NiSiPCr-enriched clusters have been observed in all the model alloys. The second one, Cr-enriched clusters which correspond to α' clusters, have been observed in the Fe-9%Cr and Fe-12%Cr model alloys. This work has shown that the NiSiPCr-enriched clusters are radiation induced segregations whereas the appearance of Cr-enriched clusters originates from radiation enhanced process. Enrichment in Si, P and Cr has been revealed on dislocation lines, low-angle and high-angle grain boundaries in all model alloys. ● Ion irradiation of the Fe-9%Cr and Fe-12%Cr model alloys has been performed at 500°C (temperature close to the maximum operating temperatures of ferritic-martensitic steels in Generation IV reactors). In-situ TEM study has shown that during 150 keV Fe + ion irradiation at 500°C up to 1.5 dpa, damage becomes apparent in the form of randomly distributed dislocation loops. In both model alloys after 1.5 dpa the loops are mainly of [100]-type. 3DAP study of the same alloys irradiated under the same conditions but in the form of sharp tips did not reveal any chemical species redistribution. This work has been supported by the European Commission within the project GETMAT under grant agreement FP7-212175.