Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fast, reliable, adaptive, bimodal people tracking for indoor environments

We present a real-time system for a mobile robot that can reliably detect and track people in uncontrolled indoor environments. The system uses a combination of leg detection based on distance information from a laser range sensor and visual face detection based on an analogical algorithm implemented on specialized hardware (the CNN universal machine). Results from tests in a variety of environments with different lighting conditions, a different number of appearing and disappearing people, and different obstacles are reported to demonstrate that the system can find and subsequently track several, possibly people simultaneously in indoor environments. Applications of the system include in particular service robots for social events.
Age Deficits in Facial Affect Recognition: The Influence of Dynamic Cues

Objectives Older adults have difficulties in identifying most facial expressions of emotion. However, most aging studies have presented static photographs of intense expressions, whereas in everyday experience people see emotions that develop and change. The present study was designed to assess whether age-related difficulties with emotion recognition are reduced when more ecologically valid (i.e., dynamic) stimuli are used. Method We examined the effect of stimuli format (i.e., static vs. dynamic) on facial affect recognition in two separate studies that included independent samples and distinct stimuli sets. In addition to younger and older participants, a middle-aged group was included in Study 1 and eye gaze patterns were assessed in Study 2. Results Across both studies, older adults performed worse than younger adults on measures of facial affect recognition. In Study 1, older and-middle aged adults benefited from dynamic stimuli, but only when the emotional displays were subtle. Younger adults gazed more at the eye region of the face relative to older adults (Study 2), but dynamic presentation increased attention towards the eye region for younger adults only. Discussion Together, these studies provide important and novel insights into the specific circumstances in which older adults may be expected to experience difficulties in perceiving facial emotions.
Genetic Diversity in the SIR Model of Pathogen Evolution

We introduce a model for assessing the levels and patterns of genetic diversity in pathogen populations, whose epidemiology follows a susceptible-infected-recovered model (SIR). We model the population of pathogens as a metapopulation composed of subpopulations (infected hosts), where pathogens replicate and mutate. Hosts transmit pathogens to uninfected hosts. We show that the level of pathogen variation is well predicted by analytical expressions, such that pathogen neutral molecular variation is bounded by the level of infection and increases with the duration of infection. We then introduce selection in the model and study the invasion probability of a new pathogenic strain whose fitness (R 0(1+s)) is higher than the fitness of the resident strain (R 0). We show that this invasion probability is given by the relative increment in R 0 of the new pathogen (s). By analyzing the patterns of genetic diversity in this framework, we identify the molecular signatures during the replacement and compare these with those observed in sequences of influenza A.
Integration of fiber optical shape sensing with medical visualization for minimal-invasive interventions

We present a fiber optical shape sensing system that allows to track the shape of a standard telecom fiber with fiber Bragg grating. The shape sensing information is combined with a medical visualization platform to visualize the shape sensing information together with medical images and post-processing results like 3D models, vessel graphs, or segmentation results. The framework has a modular nature to use it for various medical applications like catheter or needle based interventions. The technology has potential in the medical area as it is MR-compatible and can easily be integrated in catheters and needles due to its small size.
Airway epithelial anion secretion and barrier function following exposure to fungal aeroallergens: role of oxidative stress.

Aeroallergens produced by Alternaria alternata can elicit life-threatening exacerbations of asthma in patients sensitized to this fungus. In this study, the effect of Alternaria on ion transport mechanisms underlying mucociliary clearance and airway epithelial barrier function was investigated in human airway epithelial cells. Apical exposure to Alternaria induced an increase in anion secretion that was inhibited by blockers of CFTR and Ca2+-activated Cl- channels. Stimulation of anion secretion was dependent on Ca2+ uptake from the apical solution. Alternaria exposure also produced an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) that was blocked by pretreatment with the oxidant scavenger glutathione (GSH). GSH and the NADPH oxidase inhibitor/complex 1 electron transport inhibitor diphenylene iodonium chloride (DPI) blocked ATP release and the increase in intracellular [Ca2+] evoked by AlternariaAlternaria also decreased transepithelial resistance, and a portion of this effect was dependent on the increase in ROS. However, the Alternaria-induced increase in unidirectional dextran (molecular mass = 4,000 Da) flux across the epithelium could not be accounted for by increased oxidative stress. These results support the conclusion that oxidative stress induced by Alternaria was responsible for regulating Ca2+-dependent anion secretion and tight junction electrical resistance that would be expected to affect mucociliary clearance.
Lineage Tracing of Lamellocytes Demonstrates Drosophila Macrophage Plasticity

Leukocyte-like cells called hemocytes have key functions in Drosophila innate immunity. Three hemocyte types occur: plasmatocytes, crystal cells, and lamellocytes. In the absence of qimmune challenge, plasmatocytes are the predominant hemocyte type detected, while crystal cells and lamellocytes are rare. However, upon infestation by parasitic wasps, or in melanotic mutant strains, large numbers of lamellocytes differentiate and encapsulate material recognized as “non-self”. Current models speculate that lamellocytes, plasmatocytes and crystal cells are distinct lineages that arise from a common prohemocyte progenitor. We show here that over-expression of the CoREST-interacting transcription factor Chn in plasmatocytes induces lamellocyte differentiation, both in circulation and in lymph glands. Lamellocyte increases are accompanied by the extinction of plasmatocyte markers suggesting that plasmatocytes are transformed into lamellocytes. Consistent with this, timed induction of Chn over-expression induces rapid lamellocyte differentiation within 18 hours. We detect double-positive intermediates between plasmatocytes and lamellocytes, and show that isolated plasmatocytes can be triggered to differentiate into lamellocytes in vitro, either in response to Chn over-expression, or following activation of the JAK/STAT pathway. Finally, we have marked plasmatocytes and show by lineage tracing that these differentiate into lamellocytes in response to the Drosophila parasite model Leptopilina boulardi. Taken together, our data suggest that lamellocytes arise from plasmatocytes and that plasmatocytes may be inherently plastic, possessing the ability to differentiate further into lamellocytes upon appropriate challenge.
The Sound and the Fury: Hiding Communications in Noisy Wireless Networks with Interference Uncertainty

Covert communication can prevent the opponent from knowing that a wireless communication has occurred. In the additive white Gaussian noise channels, if we only take the ambient noise into account, a square root law was obtained and the result shows that Alice can reliably and covertly transmit $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{n})$ bits to Bob in $n$ channel uses. If additional "friendly" node closest to the adversary can produce artificial noise to aid in hiding the communication, the covert throughput can be improved. In this paper, we consider the covert communication in noisy wireless networks, where potential transmitters form a stationary Poisson point process. Alice wishes to communicate covertly to Bob without being detected by the warden Willie. In this scenario, Bob and Willie not only experience the ambient noise, but also the aggregated interference simultaneously. Although the random interference sources are not in collusion with Alice and Bob, our results show that uncertainty in noise and interference experienced by Willie is beneficial to Alice. When the distance between Alice and Willie $d_{a,w}=\omega(n^{\delta/4})$ ($\delta=2/\alpha$ is stability exponent), Alice can reliably and covertly transmit $\mathcal{O}(\log_2\sqrt{n})$ bits to Bob in $n$ channel uses, and there is no limitation on the transmit power of transmitters. Although the covert throughout is lower than the square root law and the friendly jamming scheme, the spatial throughout of the network is higher, and Alice does not presuppose to know the location of Willie. From the network perspective, the communications are hidden in the noisy wireless networks, and what Willie sees is merely a "\emph{shadow}" wireless network where he knows for certain some nodes are transmitting, but he cannot catch anyone red-handed.
On the Analogy in the Emergent Properties of Evolved Locomotion Gaits of Simulated Snakebot

Wheelless, limbless snake-like robots (Snakebots) feature potential robustness characteristics beyond the capabilities of most wheeled and legged vehicles – ability to traverse terrain that would pose problems for traditional wheeled or legged robots, and insignificant performance degradation when partial damage is inflicted. Moreover, due to their modular design, Snakebots may be cheaper to build, maintain and repair. Some useful features of Snakebots include smaller size of the cross-sectional areas, stability, ability to operate in difficult terrain, good traction, high redundancy, and complete sealing of the internal mechanisms (Dowling, 1997), (Worst, 1998). Robots with these properties open up several critical applications in exploration, reconnaissance, medicine and inspection. However, compared to the wheeled and legged vehicles, Snakebots feature (i) smaller payload, (ii) more difficult thermal control, (iii) more difficult control of locomotion gaits and (iv) inferior speed characteristics. Considering the first two drawbacks as beyond the scope of our work, and focusing on the issues of control and speed, we intend to address the following challenge: how to develop control sequences of Snakebot’s actuators, which allow for the fastest possible speed of locomotion achievable with Snakebot morphology. For many tasks and robot morphologies, it might be seen as a natural approach to handcraft the locomotion control code by applying various theoretical approaches (Burdick et al, 1993), (Hirose, 1993), (Zhang et al, 22). However, handcrafting might not be feasible for developing the control code of a real Snakebot due to its morphological complexity and the anticipated need of prompt adaptation under degraded mechanical abilities and/or unanticipated environmental conditions. Moreover, while a fast locomotion gait might emerge from relatively simply defined motion patterns of morphological segments of Snakebot, the natural implication of the phenomenon of emergence in complex systems is that neither the degree of optimality of the developed code nor the way to incrementally improve the code is evident to the human designer (Morowitz, 2002). Thus, an automated, holistic approach for evaluation and incremental optimization of the intermediate solution(s) is needed (e.g. based on various models of learning or evolution in Nature) (Kamio et al, 2003), (Mahdavi &
A Knock-in Mouse Model of Human PHD2 Gene-associated Erythrocytosis Establishes a Haploinsufficiency Mechanism*

Background: Studies of humans have identified missense mutations in the PHD2 gene associated with erythrocytosis. Results: Mice bearing a heterozygous disease-associated Phd2 mutation display erythrocytosis equivalent in degree to that observed in Phd2+/− mice. Conclusion: The human PHD2-associated erythrocytosis is due to a haploinsufficiency, rather than a dominant negative, mechanism. Significance: The data formally prove that a PHD2 missense mutation can cause erythrocytosis. The central pathway for controlling red cell mass is the PHD (prolyl hydroxylase domain protein):hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway. HIF, which is negatively regulated by PHD, activates numerous genes, including ones involved in erythropoiesis, such as the ERYTHROPOIETIN (EPO) gene. Recent studies have implicated PHD2 as the key PHD isoform regulating red cell mass. Studies of humans have identified erythrocytosis-associated, heterozygous point mutations in the PHD2 gene. A key question concerns the mechanism by which human mutations lead to phenotypes. In the present report, we generated and characterized a mouse line in which a P294R knock-in mutation has been introduced into the mouse Phd2 locus to model the first reported human PHD2 mutation (P317R). Phd2P294R/+ mice display a degree of erythrocytosis equivalent to that seen in Phd2+/− mice. The Phd2P294R/+-associated erythrocytosis is reversed in a Hif2a+/−, but not a Hif1a+/− background. Additional studies using various conditional knock-outs of Phd2 reveal that erythrocytosis can be induced by homozygous and heterozygous knock-out of Phd2 in renal cortical interstitial cells using a Pax3-Cre transgene or by homozygous knock-out of Phd2 in hematopoietic progenitors driven by a Vav1-Cre transgene. These studies formally prove that a missense mutation in PHD2 is the cause of the erythrocytosis, show that this occurs through haploinsufficiency, and point to multifactorial control of red cell mass by PHD2.
Designing robust watermark barcodes for multiplex long‐read sequencing

Motivation: To attain acceptable sample misassignment rates, current approaches to multiplex single‐molecule real‐time sequencing require upstream quality improvement, which is obtained from multiple passes over the sequenced insert and significantly reduces the effective read length. In order to fully exploit the raw read length on multiplex applications, robust barcodes capable of dealing with the full single‐pass error rates are needed. Results: We present a method for designing sequencing barcodes that can withstand a large number of insertion, deletion and substitution errors and are suitable for use in multiplex single‐molecule real‐time sequencing. The manuscript focuses on the design of barcodes for full‐length single‐pass reads, impaired by challenging error rates in the order of 11%. The proposed barcodes can multiplex hundreds or thousands of samples while achieving sample misassignment probabilities as low as Symbol under the above conditions, and are designed to be compatible with chemical constraints imposed by the sequencing process. Symbol. No caption available. Availability and Implementation: Software tools for constructing watermark barcode sets and demultiplexing barcoded reads, together with example sets of barcodes and synthetic barcoded reads, are freely available at www.cifasis‐conicet.gov. ar/ezpeleta/NS‐watermark. Contact: ezpeleta@cifasis‐conicet.gov. ar
Paradoxical Effects of Perceived Control on Survival

Objectives Appraising health as controllable is typically thought to be adaptive, but recent evidence suggests the paradoxical possibility that perceived control (PC) can be detrimental. We considered the premise that high PC should have a survival benefit when it is part of an adaptive mindset involving high value (importance) for health, but it might be detrimental when it is part of a mindset comprised of low health value (HV). In addition, we examined whether the survival consequences of PC and HV vary with advancing age. Method Interviews were conducted with a heterogeneous sample of community-dwelling adults (n = 341; 72-99 years) to assess appraisals of control and value in the domain of health. Mortality data were obtained over 12 years from a provincial health registry. Results Both age and HV moderated the PC effect on mortality. The predicted beneficial and detrimental PC effects emerged at younger ages: higher PC predicted longer survival times when health was highly valued but shorter survival times when health was less highly valued. Discussion These findings deepen the knowledge regarding the conditions under which PC is or is not adaptive, suggesting the consequences depend on age and the extent to which health is valued.
Associations of Plasma Amino Acid and Acylcarnitine Profiles with Incident Reduced Glomerular Filtration Rate.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Metabolomics is instrumental in identifying novel biomarkers of kidney function to aid in the prevention and management of CKD. However, data linking the metabolome to incident eGFR are sparse, particularly in Asian populations with different genetic backgrounds and environmental exposures. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the associations of amino acid and acylcarnitine profiles with change in eGFR in a Chinese cohort. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS This study included 1765 community-living Chinese adults aged 50-70 years with baseline eGFR≥60 ml/min per 1.73 m2. At baseline, 22 amino acids and 34 acylcarnitines in plasma were quantified by gas or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Annual rate of change in eGFR was calculated, and incident eGFR decline was defined as eGFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 by the end of 6 years of follow-up. RESULTS The mean (SD) unadjusted annual change in eGFR was 2.2±2.0 ml/min per 1.73 m2 and the incidence of reduced eGFR was 16%. After Bonferroni correction, 13 of 56 metabolites were significantly associated with annual eGFR change. After multivariable adjustment of baseline covariates, including baseline eGFR, seven of the 13 metabolites, including cysteine, long-chain acylcarnitines (C14:1OH, C18, C18:2, and C20:4), and other acylcarnitines (C3DC and C10), were significantly associated with incident reduced eGFR (relative risks ranged from 1.16 to 1.25 per SD increment of metabolites; P<3.8E-03 after Bonferroni correction of multiple testing of the 13 metabolites). Moreover, principal component analysis identified two factors, consisting of cysteine and long-chain acylcarnitines, respectively, that were associated with incident reduced eGFR. CONCLUSIONS Elevated plasma levels of cysteine and a panel of acylcarnitines were associated with a higher incidence of reduced eGFR in Chinese adults, independent of baseline eGFR and other conventional risk factors.
Generalized cost model for 3D systems

Electronic systems require the integration of tightly coupled components manufactured with very dissimilar manufacturing technologies. Meeting the system requirements of performance, cost and power is a challenging task and new integration methodologies play a key role. A generalized cost model for 3D systems is presented that is applicable to both sequential and parallel 3D system integration. It takes into account yield multiplication effects in the case of sequential integration, and also reflects the additive nature of the cost for parallel integration. Example applications of this model are provided, starting with single chips undergoing Moore's law transitions, chiplets on interposers, wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonded components as well as chip-on-wafer 3D technologies.
Two recursive schedulers for the uplink of LTE/LTE-A networks: M2M case study

Motivated by the requirement to circumvent the scale and complexity of handling packet traffic flows, two computationally-wise scheduling schemes are investigated in this study. Those schedulers focus on recursive algorithmic structures to map delay and volume characteristics onto the allocation decision process. Particularly for context and location aware services highlighting machine-to-machine communication, we demonstrate that both schedulers promote fairness and efficiency in respect to mean packet service delay and packet loss, while maintaining a reduced complexity.
A Frequency Domain Extraction Based Adaptive Joint Time Frequency Decomposition Method of the Maneuvering Target Radar Echo

The maneuvering target echo of high-resolution radar can be expressed as a multicomponent polynomial phase signal (mc-PPS). However, with improvements in radar resolution and increases in the synthetic period, classical time frequency analysis methods cannot satisfy the requirements of maneuvering target radar echo processing. In this paper, a novel frequency domain extraction-based adaptive joint time frequency (FDE-AJTF) decomposition method was proposed with three improvements. First, the maximum frequency spectrum of the phase compensation signal was taken as the fitness function, while the fitness comparison, component extraction, and residual updating were operated in the frequency domain; second, the time window was adopted on the basis function to fit the uncertain signal component time; and third, constant false alarm ratio (CFAR) detection was applied in the component extraction to reduce the ineffective components. Through these means, the stability and speed of phase parameters estimation increased with one domination ignored in the phase parameter estimation, and the accuracy and effectiveness of the signal component extraction performed better with less influence from the estimation errors, clutters, and noises. Finally, these advantages of the FDE-AJTF decomposition method were verified through a comparison with the classical method in simulation and experimental tests.
Pain-Related Acceptance as a Mediator in the Fear Avoidance Model of Chronic Pain: A Preliminary Study

Objective The fear avoidance model has served as a popular, heuristic model in explaining the transition from acute to chronic pain. In addition, the significance of pain-related acceptance in chronic pain development and adjustment is underlined in a vast number of empirical studies. The objective of the current preliminary study was to investigate pain-related acceptance as a mediator within the key cognitive relationships proposed by the fear avoidance model of chronic pain. Materials and Methods. In a cross-sectional design, bodily pain, pain catastrophizing, fear avoidance beliefs, and pain-related acceptance were assessed by questionnaires in 125 chronic pain patients in a Danish multidisciplinary pain center. Mediation analyses were performed to test the effect of pain-related acceptance on bodily pain, pain catastrophizing, and fear avoidance beliefs. Results Medium-sized correlations were found between all outcomes. Mediation analyses revealed that pain-related acceptance was a significant mediator between 1) bodily pain and pain catastrophizing and 2) pain catastrophizing and fear avoidance beliefs after controlling for bodily pain. Furthermore, pain-related acceptance accounted for a large proportion in both associations (82.2% and 56.1%). Conclusions The results suggest that pain-related acceptance is a prominent psychological mechanism within the key cognitive associations of the fear avoidance model, which predicts a certain path of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. This proposes pain-related acceptance to be an important mechanism that possibly counteracts the negative reactions of pain catastrophizing and fear avoidance beliefs. These findings should be investigated further and could potentially be an important place to intervene clinically in order to counteract the development and/or maintenance of chronic pain.