Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance modelling of MAC protocol for GPRS

This paper presents the analysis and performance evaluation of the Radio Link Control/Media Access Control (RLC/MAC) protocol in General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks. The aim of our study is to model the Media Access Control protocol that provides coordinated access to the shared channels resources of GPRS radio interface. After describing a simple functional model for a single node in GPRS system, a detailed analysis is presented to model the behavior of a single GPRS cell. A Markov chain is developed to describe the single cell system and the expressions for the uplink throughput and mean transfer delay are derived using this Markov chain.
Flexible piezoelectric transducers based on a PMMA/ZnO nanowire composite

This paper reports on the experimental and theoretical study of flexible piezoelectric transducers with an active area of ∼1cm2 made of a thin active composite material (∼3µm thick) over a thin metallic foil (∼25µm of Stainless Steel). The composite material structure is made of vertical piezoelectric nanowires (NWs) embedded into a PMMA dielectric matrix. The open circuit voltage was measured on different devices under manual and automatic bending. The performance was evaluated in function of the thickness of the top layer of PMMA in the composite structure of different devices. It was found that the output voltage increased as the thickness of the top layer was reduced. These preliminary results confirm the theoretical FEM simulations and give important guidelines for the optimization of flexible piezoelectric transducers.
Design of a prime-focus 16–26 GHz horn for the Parkes radio telescope

A corrugated horn for the Parkes radio telescope has been optimized to cover the 16–26 GHz band and to provide an efficient illumination of the reflector. Two additional horn to cover the narrower 20–24 GHz and 21.6–22.1 GHz bands have also been designed. The 20–24 GHz and 21.6– 22.1 GHz horns display better G/Tsystem performance as demonstrated by Fig. 7. As the three horns are highly optimised, we also checked that the return loss (RL) did not have any spikes in the band of interest. We have used CST MicroWave Studio to calculate a RL-sweep for each of the horns. As can be seen in Fig. 10, the RL is better than 20 dB across each band for the three horns and do not show any spikes.
Effect of repetitive bronchoalveolar lavage on cytologic findings in healthy dogs.

OBJECTIVE To determine reference values for cytologic examination results of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and to investigate effects of repeated lavages on pulmonary health and on results of cytologic examination of BALF in dogs. ANIMALS 16 healthy adult Beagles. PROCEDURE All dogs underwent pulmonary lavage to obtain BALF. Eleven dogs were repeatedly lavaged 6 times at 5- to 7-week intervals. Analyses for total and differential cell counts and for viability of cells before and after cell processing were performed. Arterial blood gas analysis before and after bronchoalveolar lavage was used to study the safety of the lavage procedure. Histologic and radiologic examinations were used to study effects of repeated lavages on pulmonary health. RESULTS Mean (+/- SD) cell count was 104 +/- 69 cells/microl, comprising 75 +/- 7% alveolar macrophages, 13 +/- 6% lymphocytes, 5 +/- 4% neutrophils, 4 +/- 5% eosinophils, 2 +/- 2% mast cells, 0.6 +/- 0.7% epithelial cells, and 0.3 +/- 0.4% plasma cells. Centrifugation of samples and washing of cells caused significant cell loss (59 +/- 13%). Repeated lavages did not cause significant variations in cell counts of BALF or results of arterial blood gas analysis, thoracic radiography, or histologic examination of pulmonary specimens. Only a moderate, although significant, decrease in arterial oxygen content was observed after bronchoalveolar lavage. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Analysis indicated that several lavages performed at 5- to 7-week intervals can safely and reliably be used to study the kinetics of pathologic processes in pulmonary tissues or for evaluation of therapeutic efficacy.
Robust Data Geometric Structure Aligned Close yet Discriminative Domain Adaptation

Domain adaptation (DA) is transfer learning which aims to leverage labeled data in a related source domain to achieve informed knowledge transfer and help the classification of unlabeled data in a target domain. In this paper, we propose a novel DA method, namely Robust Data Geometric Structure Aligned, Close yet Discriminative Domain Adaptation (RSA-CDDA), which brings closer, in a latent joint subspace, both source and target data distributions, and aligns inherent hidden source and target data geometric structures while performing discriminative DA in repulsing both interclass source and target data. The proposed method performs domain adaptation between source and target in solving a unified model, which incorporates data distribution constraints, in particular via a nonparametric distance, i.e., Maximum Mean Discrepancy (MMD), as well as constraints on inherent hidden data geometric structure segmentation and alignment between source and target, through low rank and sparse representation. RSA-CDDA achieves the search of a joint subspace in solving the proposed unified model through iterative optimization, alternating Rayleigh quotient algorithm and inexact augmented Lagrange multiplier algorithm. Extensive experiments carried out on standard DA benchmarks, i.e., 16 cross-domain image classification tasks, verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, which consistently outperforms the state-of-the-art methods.
On the design of LQR kernels for efficient controller learning

Finding optimal feedback controllers for nonlinear dynamic systems from data is hard. Recently, Bayesian optimization (BO) has been proposed as a powerful framework for direct controller tuning from experimental trials. For selecting the next query point and finding the global optimum, BO relies on a probabilistic description of the latent objective function, typically a Gaussian process (GP). As is shown herein, GPs with a common kernel choice can, however, lead to poor learning outcomes on standard quadratic control problems. For a firstorder system, we construct two kernels that specifically leverage the structure of the well-known Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR), yet retain the flexibility of Bayesian nonparametric learning. Simulations of uncertain linear and nonlinear systems demonstrate that the LQR kernels yield superior learning performance.
Comparative genomic hybridisation using a proximal 17p BAC/PAC array detects rearrangements responsible for four genomic disorders

Background: Proximal chromosome 17p is a region rich in low copy repeats (LCRs) and prone to chromosomal rearrangements. Four genomic disorders map within the interval 17p11–p12: Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease type 1A, hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies, Smith–Magenis syndrome, and dup(17)(p11.2p11.2) syndrome. While 80–90% or more of the rearrangements resulting in each disorder are recurrent, several non-recurrent deletions or duplications of varying sizes within proximal 17p also have been characterised using fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH). Methods: A BAC/PAC array based comparative genomic hybridisation (array-CGH) method was tested for its ability to detect these genomic dosage differences and map breakpoints in 25 patients with recurrent and non-recurrent rearrangements. Results: Array-CGH detected the dosage imbalances resulting from either deletion or duplication in all the samples examined. The array-CGH approach, in combination with a dependent statistical inference method, mapped 45/46 (97.8%) of the analysed breakpoints to within one overlapping BAC/PAC clone, compared with determinations done independently by FISH. Several clones within the array that contained large LCRs did not have an adverse effect on the interpretation of the array-CGH data. Conclusions: Array-CGH is an accurate and sensitive method for detecting genomic dosage differences and identifying rearrangement breakpoints, even in LCR-rich regions of the genome.
The institutionalization of Korean traditional music: problematic business ethics in the construction of genre and place

Abstract The world of kugak, Korean traditional music, has today assumed a timeless quality. It is an important part of Korea’s national identity, sponsored by the state both to key institutions and through the elevation of iconic genres to Important Intangible Cultural Property status. This paper uses the lens of new institutionalism to explore the construction of kugak and its not-for-profit status within a formal institution, the National Gugak Centre. By distinguishing the modes of exchange of Korean musical practice past and present, and through a comparison with arts organizations elsewhere, the paper questions whether kugak can survive without state support and whether it can be introduced into the marketplace.
A security perspective of transitioning organizations to the DoD cloud

Abstract : Security consistently emerges as a top concern with IT administrators and users when surveyed on transitioning to a cloud infrastructure. To initiate cloud usage security concerns must be addressed? However, security and improved usability will be what keeps the cloud around. We address in this paper security and usability issues and opportunities with the Department of Defense transitioning to a cloud infrastructure. The major contributions of this paper are three enablers for a secure and usable DoD Cloud infrastructure. We also contribute a transition plan for organizations in terms of four milestones in cloud adoption, assuming that the necessary secure and usable Cloud infrastructure exists at each milestone. We present three perspectives throughout the paper: The DoD in designing its Cloud, industry efforts to support the Cloud, and organizations joining the Cloud.
Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis in southern Germany: increased seroprevalence in high-risk groups

To date, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE), the causative agent of which is likely transmitted by ticks in the Ixodes ricinus-Ixodes persulcatus complex, has not been diagnosed with certainty in patients outside the United States. The presence of a closely related vector tick, I. ricinus, as well as the occurrence of similar Ehrlichia spp. of veterinary importance, suggests that this disease is likely to be present in Europe. The aim of the present study was to compare the prevalence of antibodies against the HGE agent in sera collected from patients in groups at high risk for exposure to I. ricinus with that of a control population. Risk groups consisted of 150 forestry workers and 105 patients with an established diagnosis of Lyme disease. The control group was 103 healthy blood donors without a history of tick bites. We used a patient isolate of the HGE agent from Minnesota (J. L. Goodman, C. Nelson, B. Vitale, J. E. Madigan, J. S. Dumler, T. J. Kurtti, and U. G. Munderloh, N. Engl. J. Med. 334:209-215, 1996) propagated in HL60 cells as the source of antigen for a specific immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Elevated IFA titers (> or = 1:80) were present in 21 of 150 (14%) serum samples from forestry workers and in 12 of 105 (11.4%) serum samples from Lyme disease patients, but in only 2 of 103 (1.9%) serum samples from blood donors (P < or = 0.01 for either of the at-risk groups versus blood donors). The results of this study suggest that the HGE agent or a closely related organism exists in southern Germany and that seroconversion to it is common among groups exposed to Ixodes ticks. Final proof that HGE occurs in Germany will require the isolation of the causative agent from patients. HGE should be considered in the differential diagnosis of febrile illnesses in individuals exposed to Ixodes ticks in Europe as well as in North America.
An improved HPSO-GSA with adaptive evolution stagnation cycle

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a relatively new optimization algorithm that has been applied to a variety of problems. However, it may easily get trapped into local optima when solving complex multimodal problems. To address this concerning issue, a novel approach, namely hybrid particle swarm optimization and gravitational search algorithm (GSA) method by introducing GSA into PSO (HPSO-GSA), is proposed in this paper for global numerical optimization. The proposed algorithm incorporates both the different concepts from PSO and GSA, updating particle positions offered by both PSO algorithm and GSA tool. The hybrid approach makes full use of the fast convergence capability of PSO and the exploitation ability of GSA. To efficiently decrease the computational cost in the hybrid algorithm, GSA is introduced when adaptive evolution stagnation cycle is met. HPSO-GSA is tested on a commonly used set of benchmark functions and is compared to other algorithms presented in the literature. Experimental results show that HPSO-GSA obtains better performance on the tested functions.
Bone marrow stromal cell therapy for ischemic stroke: A meta-analysis of randomized control animal trials

Background Results of animal studies assessing efficacy of bone marrow stromal cell therapy for ischemic stroke remain inconsistent. Aims The aims are to assess efficacy of bone marrow stromal cell therapy for ischemic stroke in animal studies. Methods Randomized controlled animal trials assessing efficacy of bone marrow stromal cell therapy were eligible. Stroke therapy academic industry round table was used to assess methodologic quality of included studies. Primary outcomes were total infarction volume and modified Neurological Severity Score. Multiple prespecified sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses were conducted. Random effects models were used for meta-analysis. Results Thirty-three randomized animal trials were included with a total of 796 animals. The median quality score was 6 (interquartile range, 5–7). Bone marrow stromal cell therapy decreased total infarction volume (standardized mean difference, 0.897; 95% confidence interval, 0.553–1.241; P < .001) at follow-up. Overall standardized mean difference between animals treated with bone marrow stromal cell and controls was 2.47 (95% confidence interval, 1.84–3.11; P < .001) for modified Neurological Severity Score; 1.27 (95% confidence interval, 0.72–1.82; P < .001) for adhesive removal test; and 2.13 (95% confidence interval, 0.65–3.61; P < .001) for rotarod test. Significant heterogeneity among studies was observed. Effect of all outcomes stayed significant in various sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses, except in a few subgroup analyses with small sample size or with short time follow-up. No significant difference between groups was observed except for study location, in which significantly larger estimates were found in Asian countries. On the basis of this meta-analysis, larger sample sizes are warranted for future animal studies. Conclusions Bone marrow stromal cell therapy significantly decreased total infarction volume and increased neural functional recovery in randomized controlled animal models of ischemic stroke.
Vision and laser fused SLAM in indoor environments with multi-robot system

Purpose Multi-robot laser-based simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) in large-scale environments is an essential but challenging issue in mobile robotics, especially in situations wherein no prior knowledge is available between robots. Moreover, the cumulative errors of every individual robot exert a serious negative effect on loop detection and map fusion. To address these problems, this paper aims to propose an efficient approach that combines laser and vision measurements. Design/methodology/approach A multi-robot visual laser-SLAM is developed to realize robust and efficient SLAM in large-scale environments; both vision and laser loop detections are integrated to detect robust loops. A method based on oriented brief (ORB) feature detection and bag of words (BoW) is developed, to ensure the robustness and computational effectiveness of the multi-robot SLAM system. A robust and efficient graph fusion algorithm is proposed to merge pose graphs from different robots. Findings The proposed method can detect loops more quickly and accurately than the laser-only SLAM, and it can fuse the submaps of each single robot to promote the efficiency, accuracy and robustness of the system. Originality/value Compared with the state of art of multi-robot SLAM approaches, the paper proposed a novel and more sophisticated approach. The vision-based and laser-based loops are integrated to realize a robust loop detection. The ORB features and BoW technologies are further utilized to gain real-time performance. Finally, random sample consensus and least-square methodologies are used to remove the outlier loops among robots.
New Analog Test Metrics Based on Probabilistic and Deterministic Combination Approaches

The continuous characteristic of the parametric faults spectrum, the process variations and their masking effects are major difficulties limiting the development of efficient test generation for parametric faults. Moreover, there is a need for accurate test metrics to quantify the quality of a test set and to determine whether the testability is adequate. An analog test metric called parameter fault coverage (PFC) was recently introduced by the authors. The PFC metric takes into account the combination of the above major difficulties. In this paper, we consider parametric faults caused by the increased variance in device parameters. We introduce two novel metrics: one is called guaranteed parameter fault coverage (GPFC), which is the guaranteed lower bound of the PFC, and the other one is called partial parameter fault coverage (PPFC), which is the probabilistic component of the PFC. We combine the deterministic metric GPFC and the probabilistic metric PPFC to produce a PFC metric that enables accurately measuring the analog test quality and allows precisely measuring testability, thus avoiding the drawbacks of incorrect decisions regarding the use of design for testability (DFT) techniques. Also, we show that when DFT is used to improve circuit testability, PFC becomes dominated by the deterministic component GPFC, while the probabilistic component PPFC is minimized. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach on an illustrative example.
An Evaluation of Total Project Risk Based on Fuzzy Logic

The article deals with the use of fuzzy logic as a support of evaluation of total project risk. A brief description of actual project risk management, fuzzy set theory, fuzzy logic and the process of calculation is given. The major goal of this paper is to present am new expert decision-making fuzzy model for evaluating total project risk. This fuzzy model based on RIPRAN method. RIPRAN (RIsk PRoject ANalysis) method is an empirical method for the analysis of project risks. The Fuzzy Logic Toolbox in MATLAB software was used to create the decision-making fuzzy model. The advantage of the fuzzy model is the ability to transform the input variables The Number of Sub-Risks (NSR) and The Total Value of Sub-Risks (TVSR) to linguistic variables, as well as linguistic evaluation of the Total Value of Project Risk (TVPR) – output variable. With this approach it is possible to simulate the risk value and uncertainty that are always associated with real projects. The scheme of the model, rule block, attributes and their membership functions are mentioned in a case study. The use of fuzzy logic is a particular advantage in decision-making processes where description by algorithms is extremely difficult and criteria are multiplied.
Antibiotic treatment of acute otitis media in children under two years of age: evidence based?

BACKGROUND Appropriate use of antibiotics is one of the major issues in medicine today. In most countries, acute otitis media in children is treated with antibiotics; however, the efficacy of antibiotic use in every acute otitis media is a controversial issue. It may be worthwhile looking for special risk groups that benefit more from antibiotic treatment for acute otitis media. Children under two years of age with acute otitis media are at risk of poor outcome. AIM To assess whether the current high prescription rates of antibiotics for acute otitis media in children under two years of age (being a risk group for poor outcome) are based on an established increased efficacy. METHOD Systematic literature review and a quantitative analysis with an assessment of the methodological quality of published trials, comparing antibiotic treatment with non-antibiotic treatment in acute otitis media in children aged under two years. RESULTS Six trials were included. Trials from before 1981 had a poor methodological quality. Four were suitable for the quantitative analysis. Only two of them were truly placebo-controlled. Of these two, one included only recurrent acute otitis media and the other included only non-severe episodes. With these restricted data, no statistically significant difference was found between antibiotic-treated children and controls under two years of age with acute otitis media, judged on the basis of clinical improvement within seven days (common odds ratio = 1.31; 95% CI = 0.83-2.08). CONCLUSION The current high prescription rates of antibiotics among children under two years of age with acute otitis media are not sufficiently supported by evidence from published trials. New randomized placebo-controlled trials using reliable methodology are needed in this young age group.
The technology sourcing effect on value of new product innovation

New product innovations (NPI) continuously are vital for organizational sustained competitive advantage. Due to the nature of R&D intensity and multidisciplinary in the high-technology industry, it is difficult to develop new products by a single firm. Firms rely on external technological resources necessarily through several ways to maintain their pipeline of products, e.g., merger and acquisition (M&A), strategic alliance, or licensing. Previous studies have discussed the magnitude of market response when an innovation disclosed, but rare research deal with the technology origins of the NPI. This current study fulfills the gap between knowledge sourcing and value of new product innovation. In this current study, we attempt to interpret the performance of new product innovation by two distinct effects which are derived from technology sourcing modes: the value creation effect and the value appropriability effect. Value creation effect derived from studies of organization learning and suggests that the integration of technology sourcing will enhance value of NPI and firm performance. By contrast, following the perspective of property rights, lacking of power to control the ownership of technology will undermine the appropriability of firm and eventually decrease value of NPI.
An efficient multiple hypothesis tracker using max product belief propagation

The multiple hypothesis tracker (MHT) is a popular algorithm for solving multi-target tracking (MTT) problem in cluttered environment. It is known as a maximum a posterior (MAP) estimator which enumerates all possible global hypotheses and dedicates to find the most likely solution based on the received reports. However, its practical application is often limited by the complexity of data association step. This paper describes an efficient MHT data association algorithm which based on the “track-oriented” MHT framework. The proposed approach translates the data association problem to the maximum weight independent set problem (MWISP) and introduces a graph representation to describe the track hypotheses and the compatibility restrictions between them. In this way, the MAP assignment in tracking application can be solved by applying max-product belief propagation (MPBP) inference algorithm to the corresponding graph. Empirical results demonstrate that the MPBP-MHT algorithm outperforms other algorithms in tracking performance even in challenging closely-spaced MTT case.