Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vibro-tactile EMG-based biofeedback induces changes of muscle activity patterns in childhood dystonia

Childhood dystonia has been associated with injury to the basal ganglia, however there is evidence suggesting the involvement of sensory cortex, cerebellum and brainstem. Even though dystonia is considered a movement disorder, recent studies have shown dysfunctional sensorimotor integration that further contributes to the dystonic symptoms. Such aberrant circuitry may prevent children with dystonia from acquiring new motor tasks. The use of EMG-based biofeedback has been proposed as a promising technique to augment sensory information and consequently improve motor function. The aim of this study is to test the effects of a newly designed vibrotactile EMG-based biofeedback device to induce changes of muscle patterns in children with dystonia during a continuous figure-eight task. We show a change in muscle activation task components when participants receive the biofeedback while performing the task. Those changes suggest new neuromotor solutions in the framework of "motor exploration" as a strategy in the early phases of motor learning.
An Uplink Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Scheme Having Physical Layer Security Based on Chaos Modulation

Fifth generation mobile communications system (5G) that enables large transmission capacity (over 10 Gbps) is currently standardized and under development. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme is a typical core technology for 5G. On the other hand, we had proposed earlier a chaos multiple-input multiple-output (C-MIMO) transmission scheme that harnesses the strengths of the chaos communication system. C-MIMO exhibits channel coding effect and physical layer security based on a common key encryption that helps realize a secure wireless transmission. Furthermore, based on the C-MIMO, we had proposed a downlink chaos NOMA transmission scheme that realizes physical layer security in NOMA. However, in the conventional studies, an uplink transmission is not considered yet. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an uplink chaos NOMA transmission scheme using C-MIMO to realize a secure and large-capacity uplink transmission. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated through numerical simulations.
Privacy in the Internet of Vehicles: Models, Algorithms, and Applications

As the vehicles become a formidable sensor platform, the concept of VANETs is being transformed into a pervasive and ubiquitous concept of IoV (Internet of Vehicles). We discuss the scope of IoV over the limitations of VANET and further, we see the standards specified for automated vehicles and the aspects related to their deployment. We also discuss the various techniques under development that facilitate the transfer of anonymous user data upload in automated vehicle environment to the open public data repositories for the research community. We give the abstract of a model proposed to answer the privacy issue and see its controlled deployment. We finally propose the newly modelled approach of Google and suggest some modifications to the approach to answer the privacy issue.
Inferring subjective preferences on robot trajectories using EEG signals

Cognitive information has been exploited in noninvasive Brain Computer Interface (BCI) scenarios to provide autonomous external agents with additional information. In this context, Error-related potentials (ErrPs), temporal deflections in electroencephalogram (EEG) signals when humans perceive erroneous actions, have been exploited to teach correct policies to agents. However, previous works have shared same objective criteria to evaluate actions of agents across humans. Therefore, it is yet an open question whether ErrPs are elicited when humans assess actions based on individual subjective criteria, and if such neuronal activities can be exploited in BCIs to enhance personalized human computer interactions. In this work, we evaluate whether ErrPs are elicited while humans assess actions based on individual subjective criteria. For this purpose, we analyze EEG signals while humans evaluate trajectories performed by the robot to avoid an obstacle. We show that the ErrP can be generated even while the human evaluates the action based on his/her subjective criteria, and that such neuronal activity reveals subjective aspects when assessing the appropriateness of the action. These findings open the door to the exploitation of neural correlates for the personalized human computer interactions, and thus to building adaptable, individualized neuroprosthetic devices.
Early detection of adverse drug events within population‐based health networks: application of sequential testing methods

Active surveillance of population‐based health networks may improve the timeliness of detection of adverse drug events (ADEs). Active monitoring requires sequential analysis methods. Our objectives were to (1) evaluate the utility of automated healthcare claims data for near real‐time drug adverse event surveillance and (2) identify key methodological issues related to the use of healthcare claims data for real‐time drug safety surveillance.
The Challenges and Opportunities of E-banking Adoption for Small to Mid-Sized Enterprises - SMEs in Jordan

This paper focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of in Jordanian E-banking sector. It also discusses the local awareness and familiarization of E-banking in Small to Midsized Enterprises-SMEs of Jordan and gives a consistent assessment of Jordan’s current and future E-banking best practices. This paper initially has used secondary data to provide a study of E-banking in Jordan, how to overcome the hurdles in SMEs of Jordan necessary for SMEs to help facilitate E-banking adoption. The research is subject to top academic journal articles, corporate project data and reports, media articles, government and nongovernment corporation-based documents and other appropriate information. Data were also collected by using interviews from Jordan E-business based organizations those are offering goods and services on electronic channels and professionals involved with E-banking related activities. The study found that E-banking is steadily transforming the way businesses to be conducted and changing the business environment in Jordan. E-banking can provide speedier, faster and reliable services to the customers for which they are relatively happy. E-banking services not only can develop new competitive advantages, it can improve its relationships with customers. As a developing country, Jordan is not fully known about E-banking sector. As a result, this paper also overviews the issues associated with E-banking e.g. cybercrime and try to explore the future challenges and prospects in Jordan. This paper also compares the local E-business sites with worldwide brand E-business sites to make an effective solution of Jordan’s E-banking.
OB-DETA: Observation-based directional energy transmission algorithm in energy harvesting networks

In directional energy transmissions, a radio frequency (RF) energy source needs to monitor each sector to achieve higher RF energy transmission efficiency. However, since the location of harvesting nodes can be dynamically changed in mobile environments, it is difficult to obtain the exact numbers of harvesting nodes and the distance between harvesting nodes and the RF energy source in all sectors within limited time. In such a situation, the operations of the RF energy source (i.e., monitoring sectors and transmitting the RF energy) can be modeled by a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP), which has high complexity to be solved. As a practical solution, we propose an observation-based directional energy transmission algorithm (OB-DETA) that estimates the efficiency of energy transmission in sectors and transmits the RF energy to the selected sectors with high energy transmission efficiency (i.e., sectors with lots of non-fully-charged harvesting nodes around the RF energy source). Evaluation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of OB-DETA over the comparison schemes in terms of the RF energy transmission efficiency.
The pan‐deacetylase inhibitor panobinostat suppresses the expression of oncogenic miRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines

Deacetylase inhibitors (DACi) are a new class of drugs with a broad spectrum of mechanisms that favor their application in cancer therapy. Currently, the exact mechanisms and cellular effects of DACi have not been fully elucidated. In addition to their effects on histone acetylation, DACi can interfere with gene expression via miRNA pathways. Treatment with panobinostat (LBH589), a novel potent DACi, led to the highly aberrant modulation of several miRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines as shown by miRNA array analysis. Among them, hsa‐miR‐19a, hsa‐miR‐19b1 and the corresponding precursors were down‐regulated by panobinostat in TP53−/− Hep3B and TP53+/+ HepG2 cell lines; hsa‐miR30a‐5p mature form only was suppressed in both HCC cell lines, as confirmed by further RT‐qPCR analysis. In HCC cell lines, panobinostat caused the upregulation of the predicted miRNA targets APAF1 and Beclin1 protein levels. Transfection with oligonucleotides mimicking these miRNAs led to an increase in the viability rate of both cell lines as analyzed by impedance‐based real‐time cell analysis. In addition, transfecting miRNA mimicking oligonucleotides resulted in the decrease of APAF1, Beclin1 and PAK6 at the protein level, proving the regulating influence of the investigated miRNAs on gene final products. The overexpression of the above mentioned oncomiRs in Hep3B and HepG2 cell lines leads to cell proliferation and downregulation of cell death associated proteins. In our model, panobinostat exerts its anti‐cancer effect by suppressing these miRNAs and restoring the expression of their corresponding tumor suppressor targets. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Pathogenesis of Pneumococcal Pneumonia in Cyclophosphamide-Induced Leukopenia in Mice

ABSTRACT Streptococcus pneumoniae pneumonia frequently occurs in leukopenic hosts, and most patients subsequently develop lung injury and septicemia. However, few correlations have been made so far between microbial growth, inflammation, and histopathology of pneumonia in specific leukopenic states. In the present study, the pathogenesis of pneumococcal pneumonia was investigated in mice rendered leukopenic by the immunosuppressor antineoplastic drug cyclophosphamide. Compared to the immunocompetent state, cyclophosphamide-induced leukopenia did not hamper interleukin-1 (IL-1), IL-6, macrophage inflammatory protein-1 (MIP-1), MIP-2, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 secretion in infected lungs. Leukopenia did not facilitate bacterial dissemination into the bloodstream despite enhanced bacterial proliferation into lung tissues. Pulmonary capillary permeability and edema as well as lung injury were enhanced in leukopenic mice despite the absence of neutrophilic and monocytic infiltration into their lungs, suggesting an important role for bacterial virulence factors and making obvious the fact that neutrophils are ultimately not required for lung injury in this model. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed extensive disruption of alveolar epithelium and a defect in surfactant production, which were associated with alveolar collapse, hemorrhage, and fibrin deposits in alveoli. These results contrast with those observed in immunocompetent animals and indicate that leukopenic hosts suffering from pneumococcal pneumonia are at a higher risk of developing diffuse alveolar damage.
Adding neck muscle activity to a head phantom device to validate mobile EEG muscle and motion artifact removal *

Recent advancement in electroencephalography (EEG) signal processing and hardware can greatly reduce motion artifact, but neck muscle electrical activity is a problem during mobile brain imaging studies examining whole body movement tasks like walking and running. To test the ability of independent component analysis (ICA) to extract neural signals contaminated by neck muscle electrical activity, we broadcast ground-truth electrical signals through a head phantom device during motion. We placed the phantom on a motion platform used to replicate human head trajectories during walking and embedded neck muscle sources within the phantom. ICA was able to extract artificial neural sources from even the most contaminated data in this simulation of human walking. Performance of ICA in high muscle activity amplitude conditions was improved by including electromyographic recordings in the ICA decomposition. These results highlight the importance of recording multiple electromyographic signals from the neck during mobile brain imaging with EEG for studying electrocortical dynamics during movement.
Nonlinear distortion cancellation in OFDM systems using an adaptive LINC structure

The linear amplification using nonlinear components (LINC) technique is a well-known power amplifier linearization method to reduce out-of-band interferences in a nonconstant envelope modulation system, such as the OFDM modulation. The major drawback of LINC transmitters is the inherited sensitivity to gain and phase imbalances between the two amplifier branches. In this paper a novel adaptive full-digital base band method, which corrects any gain and phase imbalances in LINC transmitters mainly due to the un-matching between two branches, is described. Its main advantage is the ability to track the input signal variations and adapt to the changes of amplifier nonlinear characteristics. Other effects are included in the analysis such as quadrature modulator and demodulator impairments. A computer simulation has been carried out to verify method functionality.
Accurate Position Estimation of a Drifting Wireless LAN Communication Device in a 200mm-Diameter Small Sewer Pipe

Sewer pipe deterioration is a severe problem in many countries, and sewer pipe inspections are essential for maintaining sewer systems. Various sewer inspection methods, such as a visual check, boat-type video cameras, and remote robots with or without a wired connection, exist. However, they each suffer from problems, such as high labor costs, long waiting times when using boat-type video cameras, and the purchasing cost of robots. To achieve low-cost, safe, and near real-time inspections of sewer pipes, we have proposed a sewer inspection method based on a drifting wireless camera and sensor nodes. Drifting nodes capture a video of the inside of pipe while drifting on a current in the sewer and access points (AP) installed under manholes receive video data from drifting nodes and send data to an online server on the Internet. For the video inspection using our proposed system, the information of the position of camera/sensor nodes while they drifting is essential because video data need to link to the location information to help to detect damaged points of pipes. However, the camera/sensor nodes cannot utilize the GNSS because signals from GNSS satellite do not reach to the space in underground sewer pipes. In this paper, to investigate the usefulness of the receive signal strength indicator (RSSI) observed by drifting camera/sensor nodes for the position estimation in 200mm-diameter pipes, we performed experiments to measure the RSSI of a wireless communication device drifting on water in an experimental underground pipe. The measurement results show that RSSI monotonically increases when a drifting device approaches the AP and monotonically decreases when it leaves the AP, and the distribution of measurement value suggests that possibility of position estimation with an error of lm order.
Security Challenges and Attacks in Dynamic Mobile Ad Hoc Networks MANETs

Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET for short) is a new art of wireless technology that connect a group of mobile nodes in a dynamically decentralized fashion without the need of a base station, or a centralized administration, whereas each mobile node can work as a router. MANET topology changes frequently, because of the MANET dynamically formation nature, and freely to move randomly. MANET can function as standalone or can be connected to external networks. Mobile nodes are characterized with minimal human interaction, weight, less memory, and power. Despite all the pros of MANET and the widely spreading in many and critical industries, MANET has some cons and suffers from severe security issues. In this survey we emphasize on the different types of attacks at MANET protocol stack, and show how MANET is vulnerable to those attacks.
Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for Direct Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex, M. avium, and M. intracellulare in Sputum Samples

ABSTRACT Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a novel nucleic acid amplification method in which reagents react under isothermal conditions with high specificity, efficiency, and rapidity. We used LAMP for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, Mycobacterium avium, and Mycobacterium intracellulare directly from sputum specimens as well as for detection of culture isolates grown in a liquid medium (MGIT; Nippon Becton Dickinson Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) or on a solid medium (Ogawa's medium). Species-specific primers were designed by targeting the gyrB gene, and their specificities were validated on 24 mycobacterial species and 7 nonmycobacterial species. The whole procedure is quite simple, starting with the mixing of all reagents in a single tube, followed by an isothermal reaction during which the reaction mixture is held at 63°C. The resulting amplicons are visualized by adding SYBR Green I to the reaction tube. The only equipment needed for the amplification reaction is a regular laboratory water bath or heat block that furnishes a constant temperature of 63°C. The assay had a detection limit of 5 to 50 copies of purified DNA with a 60-min incubation time. The reaction time could be shortened to 35 min for the species identification of M. tuberculosis complex, M. avium, and M. intracellulare from a solid-medium culture. Residual DNA lysates prepared for the Amplicor assay (Roche Diagnostics GmbH) from 66 sputum specimens were tested in the LAMP assay. Although the sample size used for the latter assay was small, 2.75 μl of the DNA lysates, it showed a performance comparable with that of the Amplicor assay, which required 50 μl of the lysates. This LAMP-based assay is simple, rapid, and sensitive; a result is available in 35 min for a solid-medium culture and in 60 min for a liquid-medium culture or for a sputum specimen that contains a corresponding amount of DNA available for testing.
Black Leaders in Blue: The Career Path of African-American Senior Law Enforcement Leaders

This qualitative case study investigated the career experience and internal motivation of AfricanAmerican senior police leaders to serve in law enforcement. Fourteen African-American police leaders, including three women, participated in this study. The study addressed three primary themes: (1) early career experiences, (2) rise to leadership, and (3) motivation to pursue leadership roles. Senior police leaders described a commitment to serve others and societal change as their motivation to persevere despite institutional racism and overcome perceived barriers. In some instances, overcoming the barriers meant leaving one department so they could find advancement opportunities in another police department. The primary modes of analysis applied through the study involved the use of critical race theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017), describing race and racism in police service; and, servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1977), describing how serving others and the pursuit of the common good sustained and motivated participants to become police leaders. An overarching implication for practice concerns the need for police departments to assess their internal cultural competency and reputation for being a welcoming environment for African-American officers. Racism plays a role in an AfricanAmerican officer’s decision to stay or leave a department. Recommendations include: (1) examining internal polices to determine if they unduly impact Officers of Color, (2) making a commitment to diversity and equity, (3) providing equal access to training to upgrade the knowledge and skills, needed by officers, and (4) increasing the focus on the service aspect of the mission to “protect and serve. ”
Effect of solarization on the removal of indicator microorganisms from municipal sewage sludge

The effect of solarization on bacterial inactivation in sewage sludge was studied using thermotolerant coliforms, enterococci and Escherichia coli (E. coli) as the indicator organisms. Solarization significantly increased the sludge temperature. The maximum temperatures were achieved at the beginning of the second week, reaching 65, 58, 55 and 50°C at depths of 0–10, 10–20, 20–30 and 30–40 cm, respectively. E. coli was found to be the most sensitive microorganism and was reduced to undetectable levels after 9 d at all monitored sludge depths. Thermotolerant coliforms were rapidly inactivated but were not reduced to below the detection limit. The inactivation curves of enterococci showed both shoulders and tailing, indicating a larger heat resistant fraction than with E. coli and the thermotolerant coliforms. Overall, the results suggest that the temperature regime produced by solarization was sufficient to reduce bacterial indicators to an acceptable level, meeting the pathogen regulation limit, in two weeks.
Flood Simulation with Distributed Hydrological Approach Using DEMs and Remotely Sensed Data

The spatial variability of both meteorological and geographic features has a great influence on rainfall runoff process. When making flood forecasting, the influence of this variability on runoff should be considered. In this paper, the distributed hydrological modeling technique was adopted to simulate flood discharge with consideration of spatial variability using DEMs and remotely sensed data. In our approach, the grid based digital elevation data was used for the presentation of watershed discretization and deriving flow path system and parameters. The infiltration and rainfall excess on each hillslope grid cell were calculated using the Green-Ampt infiltration equation. Soil lateral flow was estimated based on Darcy's law and continuity equation, overland and channel flows were calculated by using one-dimensional kinematic wave equations on hillslope and channel grid cells respectively. The land use and land cover data derived from remotely sensed images was used for the determination of Manning's roughness coefficients. The soil type data was used for deriving soil hydraulic parameters needed for calculation. The approach was applied in Jiaokou Watershed with area of 259 km2, a sub-basin of Yongjiang River in Zhejiang Province, China. The data collected for this study included land cover processed from Landsat TM images, soil type distribution from the soil maps, and 100-m spatial resolution DEMs produced from digital topographic maps. Spatial distribution of rainfall for each flood event was calculated by using distance inverse interpolation methods. Nine flood events were simulated, two of which were used for calibration, and the others for validation. The simulated hydrographs at basin outlet showed good agreement with observed ones for both calibrated and validated flood events, and average coefficients of efficiency were 94% for calibrated flood events and 92% for validated flood events.