Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Optimization of Fingerprint Parameters with Genetic Algorithms

An accurate Access Control System is critical in a wide range of application domains such as national ID cards, electronic commerce systems, and automated banking systems. A Biometrics based Access Control System based on a person’s physiological or behavioral characteristics is inherently more reliable and more capable in differentiating between an authorized person and a fraudulent imposter than traditional methods. The objective is to design a fingerprint-based biometric system which is capable of achieving a fully automatic “positive personal identification” with a high level of confidence. In the paper I’ve chosen, the authors suggest an optimization approach for fingerprint authentication using genetic algorithms to select the parameters used for fingerprint matching. Their application was planned so that it could be used without a great deal of effort for different biometric systems. Instead of estimating the required parameters, which is what most methods do, in this process the parameters are determined with the help of genetic algorithms. Their test database consisted of 1200 fingerprints of 12 persons. For the confirmation of the results, the databases of the Fingerprint Verification Contests of the years 2000, 2002, and 2004 were examined in addition. In the best case an improvement in the recognition performance of 38% was observed. Keywords; parameters; Biometrics; Equal Error Rate (EER); BioGINA; minutiae; genetic algorith; optimization
Coping strategies used by parents during their child's hospitalization in an intensive care unit.

The purpose of this study was to identify staff behaviors and parental coping patterns helpful to parents during their child's hospitalization in a pediatric intensive care unit. Subjects were 21 mothers and 15 fathers of 27 hospitalized children. The study used a retrospective self-report method in which parents were asked their perception regarding the use and helpfulness of a number of staff behaviors, as well as whether or not these staff behaviors were experienced. A large percentage of the parents in this study perceived health care professionals in the pediatric intensive care units under study as providing, at least minimally, all of the staff behaviors/interventions listed. The staff behavior seen as most important by the largest number of parents was "being permitted to stay with their child as much as possible. " In evaluating the overall findings regarding personal coping strategies, it appears that parents most frequently used problem-focused coping strategies and that these strategies were seen as most helpful. Emotion-focused coping was used by a slightly lower percentage of parents than the other categories.
Internal Self-Calibration Methods for Large Scale Array Transceiver Software-Defined Radios

This paper presents internal calibration methods which are especially suited for implementation in software-defined radio hardware platforms which integrate a large number of transceivers. The procedures provide reciprocity calibration of the system for e.g. large scale MU-MIMO TDD communications and full absolute phase and amplitude coherence between transmitters and receivers for e.g. MIMO channel sounding, direction of arrival estimation or other smart antenna algorithms. The advantage of completely internal calibration includes increased robustness because no interference or reflections are picked up during calibration, the steady repeatable calibration performance independent from the connected antennas, and much more reliable and numerically stable estimated calibration coefficients than other techniques based on over-the-air pilot exchange. The proposed calibration methods can be realized via an internal calibration interconnect network which reduces transceiver interconnection effort and clutter to a minimum and is thus very well suited for implementation in highly compact large scale SDR systems with hundreds of transceivers.
Improved OCXO's oven using active thermal insulation

This paper shows how it is possible to improve the performance of thermal enclosures by using a compensating system the principle of which has been described by F. Walls a few years ago (41st AFCS, 1987). It is shown that because of the thermal network between the outside temperature, the temperature sensor and the device to be regulated, the latter may undergo residual temperature variations which reduce the overall thermal efficiency of the oven. This paper shows how thermal transfer functions can be measured by using an experimental setup in which the node temperatures are measured by thermal sensors. By identifying the thermal response of the nodes with the theoretical transfer function under external temperature or heater excitation, the components of the equivalent R-C network can be determined. By knowing these thermal transfer functions, it is then possible to make use of a compensating system which can eliminate the parasitic static as well as dynamic thermal effects. Validating measurements and experimental results are presented which show the strong improvement achieved by this compensating system with respect to the conventional approach. <<ETX>>
A Mechanism-based Pharmacological Evaluation of Efficacy of Trigonella foenum graecum (Fenugreek) Seeds in Regulation of Dyslipidemia and Oxidative Stress in Hyperlipidemic Rats

Abstract: Alcoholic extract of Trigonella foenum graecum seeds [fenugreek seed extract (FSE)] was studied in triton-induced and high-fat diet–induced hyperlipidemia to evaluate antidyslipidemic effect. Plasma cholesterol (26.19%) and triglycerides (36.6%) were found to be lowered by FSE maximum at a dose of 200 mg/kg body weight in triton-treated hyperlipidemic rats. Chronic feeding of FSE (200 mg/kg body weight) caused lowering in plasma and hepatic lipid levels by activating lecithin–cholesterol acyltransferase (47%), postheparin lipolytic activity (35%), triglyceride lipase (34%), lipoprotein lipase (20.8%), and increased excretion of fecal bile acids (36%–45%). The FSE shows potent antioxidant activity in both in vitro and in vivo systems. It inhibited generation of superoxide anion and hydroxyl free radicals in both enzymatic and nonenzymatic systems significantly at 200 µM concentration. Furthermore, FSE normalizes the activities of antioxidant enzymes, that is, superoxide dismutase and catalase, and reduces plasma lipid peroxidation (33.9%), hepatic 4-hydroxynonenal (27%), and isoprostanes (28%). Data of the present study demonstrated that the T. foenum graecum seed extract has both antidyslipidemic and antioxidant properties.
Clinical results of implantation of the Chirila keratoprosthesis in rabbits

AIMS/BACKGROUND An ideal keratoprosthesis (KPro) would closely resemble a donor corneal button in terms of its surgical handling, optics, and capacity to heal with host tissue in order to avoid many of the complications associated with the KPros which are currently in clinical use. This study was carried out to assess the long term clinical outcomes on implantation of the core and skirt poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) KPro in animals. METHODS 20 KPros were made and implanted as full thickness corneal replacements into rabbits and followed for up to 21 months to date. RESULTS 80% of the prostheses have been retained, with a low incidence of complications such as cataract, glaucoma, and retroprosthetic membrane formation which are frequently associated with KPro surgery. CONCLUSIONS KPros of this type may offer promise in the treatment of patients for whom penetrating keratoplasty with donor material carries a poor prognosis. Refinement of the KPro and further animal trials, including implantation into abnormal corneas, are however mandatory before human implantation could be planned.
Secure Location Estimation in Large Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

Secure communication of the location information or localization of sensor nodes in an adversarial environment is a high priority yet a challenging task. Wireless sensor networks are characterized by severe constraints such as memory, energy, processing and operational environment. Unlike other wireless networks, a sensor network has to be highly sensitive to energy consumption. Complexity and power consumption of sensor nodes must be as low as possible. A light-weight and secure localization mechanism is needed to optimize the WSN performance from a security perspective. In this paper we present a two-way “Greet, Meet and Locate” mechanism for secure location estimation in large scale wireless sensor networks based on geographical sectorization. A double-averaging mechanism is also presented that uses a time of arrival (TOA) based localization technique to help minimize the location estimation errors.
Probing the Spatial Organization of Measles Virus Fusion Complexes

ABSTRACT The spatial organization of metastable paramyxovirus fusion (F) and attachment glycoprotein hetero-oligomers is largely unknown. To further elucidate the organization of functional fusion complexes of measles virus (MeV), an archetype of the paramyxovirus family, we subjected central predictions of alternative docking models to experimental testing using three distinct approaches. Carbohydrate shielding through engineered N-glycans indicates close proximity of a membrane-distal, but not membrane-proximal, section of the MeV attachment (H) protein stalk domain to F. Directed mutagenesis of this section identified residues 111, 114, and 118 as modulators of avidity of glycoprotein interactions and determinants of F triggering. Stalk-length variation through deletion or insertion of HR elements at positions flanking this section demonstrates that the location of the stalk segment containing these residues cannot be altered in functional fusion complexes. In contrast, increasing the distance between the H head domains harboring the receptor binding sites and this section through insertion of structurally rigid α-helical domains with a pitch of up to approximately 75 Å downstream of stalk position 118 partially maintains functionality in transient expression assays and supports efficient growth of recombinant virions. In aggregate, these findings argue against specific protein-protein contacts between the H head and F head domains but instead support a docking model that is characterized by short-range contacts between the prefusion F head and the attachment protein stalk, possibly involving H residues 111, 114, and 118, and extension of the head domain of the attachment protein above prefusion F.
Across-channel masking and comodulation masking release.

These experiments on across-channel masking (ACM) and comodulation masking release (CMR) were designed to extend the work of Grose and Hall [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, 1276-1284 (1989)] on CMR. They investigated the effect of the temporal position of a brief 700-Hz signal relative to the modulation cycle of a 700-Hz masker 100% sinusoidally amplitude modulated (SAM) at a 10-Hz rate, which was either presented alone (reference masker) or formed part of a masker consisting of the 3rd to 11th harmonics of a 100-Hz fundamental. In the harmonic maskers, each harmonic was either SAM with the same 10-Hz modulator phase (comodulated masker) or with a shift in modulator phase of 90 degrees for each successive harmonic (phase-incoherent masker). When the signal was presented at the dips of the envelope of the 700-Hz component, the comodulated masker gave lower thresholds than the reference masker, while the phase-incoherent masker gave higher thresholds, i.e., a CMR was observed. No CMR was found when the signal was presented at the peaks of the envelope. In experiment 1, we replicated the experiment of Grose and Hall, but with an additional condition in which the 600- and 800-Hz components were removed from the masker, in order to investigate the role of within-channel masking effects. The results were similar to those of Grose and Hall. In experiment 2, the signal was added at the peaks of the envelope of the 700-Hz component, but in antiphase to the carrier of that component and at a level chosen to transform the peaks into dips. No CMR was found. Rather, performance was worse for both the comodulated and phase-incoherent maskers than for the reference masker. This was true even when the flanking components in the maskers were all remote in frequency from 700 Hz. In experiment 3, the masker components were all 50% SAM and the signal was added in antiphase at a dip of the envelope of the 700-Hz component, thus making the dip deeper. Performance was worse for the phase-incoherent than for the reference masker and was worse still for the comodulated masker. The results of all three experiments indicate strong ACM effects. CMR was found only when the signal was placed in the dips of the masker envelope and when it produced an increase in level relative to that in adjacent bands.
Learning to Play the Worker-Placement Game Euphoria using Neural Fitted Q Iteration

We design and implement an agent for the popular worker placement and resource management game Euphoria using Neural Fitted Q Iteration (NFQ), a reinforcement learning algorithm that uses an artificial neural network for the action-value function which is updated off-line considering a sequence of training experiences rather than online as in typical Q-learning. We find that the agent is able to improve its performance against a random agent after only a relatively small number of games.
Generalized rough sets based feature selection

The problem of feature subset selection can be defined as the selection of a relevant subset of features which allows a learning algorithm to induce small high-accuracy models. This problem is of primary important because irrelevant and redundant features may degrade the learner speed, especially in the context of high dimensionality, and reduce both the accuracy and comprehensibility of the induced model. Two main approaches have been developed, the first one is algorithm-independent (filter approach) which considers only the data, when the second approach which is algorithm-dependent takes into account both the data and a given learning algorithm (wrapper approach). Recent work was developed to study the interest of the rough set theory and more particularly its notions of reducts and core to deal with the problem of feature subset selection. Different methods were proposed to select features using both the core and the reduct concepts, whereas other researches show that useful feature subsets do not necessarily contain all features in cores. In this paper, we underline the fact that rough set theory is concerned with deterministic analysis of attribute dependencies which are at the basis of the two notions of reduct and core. We extend the notion of dependency which allows to find both deterministic and non-deterministic dependencies. A new notion of strong reducts is then introduced and leads to the definition of strong feature subsets (SFS). The interest of SFS is illustrated by the improvement of the accuracy of C4.5 on real-world datasets. Our study shows that generally the highest-accuracy-subset is not the best one as regards to the filter criteria. The highest accuracy subset is found by the new approach with minimum cost. The contribution of this work is four folds : (1) analysis of feature subset selection in the rough sets context, (2) introduction of new definitions based on a generalized rough set theory, i.e., \alpha-RST, (3) reformulation of the selection problem, (4) description of a hybrid method combining combining both the filter and the wrapper approaches.
Acoustic Array Systems : Paper ICA 2016-415 Sound source separation in complex environments using an array-of-arrays microphone system

Recording a specific sound source in a complex environment is challenging, especially when interfering sources lie between the target and the recording system. This can be avoided by placing a microphone next to the target so as to get a clear measurement. However, this may interfere with the events being recorded and lacks flexibility to select and track the desired source. Microphone arrays are used as adaptable systems to separate specific sounds given the spatial position of their sources. Arrays can be classified according to their geometry, such as linear or spherical arrays. In particular, spherical arrays are advantageous due to their compact shape. The highly symmetric design can also yield an almost constant angular resolution making their performance predictable. Unfortunately, this symmetry is also the source of their main limitation: sounds are measured from a single viewpoint. Spherical arrays can separate sounds according to their direction of arrival using a technique known as beamforming; however, it is difficult to separate two sounds when their sources and the array are aligned. The present research introduces a new approach to source separation using an array-of-arrays microphone system. The proposal, a cooperative variant of beamforming, relies on two or more spherical microphone arrays working together as a single, unified system. This yields a multiple-viewpoint measurement of the sound field and allows for sound source separation even when interfering sources are present between the target and each of the arrays. Such separation would be difficult using conventional beamforming. The proposal is evaluated through numerical experiments using both, physical models and real-world measurements for a system composed of two 64-channel microphone arrays.
Response to Saunders , ‘ On the Emergence of Individuals ’

Simon Saunders’ work on identity in physics has been groundbreaking. In his most recent article, he goes against his well-known view that particles are weak discernibles to argue that, in fact, they are often individuals. But this individuality emerges from the idiosyncratic structure of the physical states, and so cannot be assumed at the outset; hence the continued need for a formalism that imposes permutation-invariance and which posits weak discernibles. In this response article, I hope mainly to develop Saunders’ conclusions in the spirit of his project, although I object to Saunders’ continued contention, inspired by the Hilbert-Bernays-Quine “reduction” of identity, that objects must be at least weakly discernible. First I will argue that permutation-invariance is best construed along the lines of other invariance principles familiar in gauge theories. In the case of permutation-invariance, the “gauge quantities” in question are the particle labels and their associated formal apparatus. Second, I will present a couple of results regarding the emergence of individuality for quantum particles, particularly fermions. I argue that these results show that: (i) individuality emerges for fermions in every joint state, but for bosons only in some joint states; and that (ii) it is paradoxically under-determined, given a fermionic joint state, which individuals the joint state decomposes into—a situation that owes nothing to entanglement. In this sense, the news regarding fermionic individuality is both better and worse than Saunders suggests. ∗adam.caulton@gmail.com
DIEL VARIATIONS IN OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF MICROMONAS PUSILLA , A PRASINOPHYTE

A laboratory experiment was conducted on cultures of Micromonas pusilla, a marine prasinophyte, to investigate how cell growth and division affect the optical properties over the lighfcdark cycle. Measurements were made of cell size and concentration, attenuation and absorption coefficients, flow cytometric light scattering (in forward and side directions), chlorophyll and carbon content. Refractive index was calculated using the anomalous diffraction approximation. Cells were about 1.5 urn in diameter and exhibited phased division, with the major division burst occurring during the night. Typical diel variations were observed, with cells increasing in size and light scattering during the day as they photosynthesize and decreasing at night upon division. The cells were in ultradian growth, with more than one division per day, at a light level of 120 umol photons m" s". Since these cells are similar in size to small phytoplankton that are typically abundant in field samples, these results can be used in the interpretation of diel variations in light scattering in natural populations of phytoplankton.
Especially for Daughters: Parent Education to Address Alcohol and Sex-Related Risk Taking Among Urban Young Adolescent Girls

This study evaluates the Especially for Daughters intervention, which aims to provide urban Black and Latino parents with information and skills to support their daughters in delaying sexual initiation and alcohol use. In a randomized field trial, 268 families with sixth-graders were recruited from New York City public schools and assigned either to the intervention, a set of audio CDs mailed home; an attention-controlled condition (print materials); or controls. Girls completed classroom baseline and three follow-up surveys, and telephone surveys were conducted with parents. At follow-up, girls in the intervention reported fewer sexual risks (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.39, confidence interval [CI] = 0.17-0.88) and less drinking (AOR = 0.38, CI = 0.15-0.97, p < .05). Their parents reported greater self-efficacy to address alcohol and sex and more communication on these topics. This gender-specific parent education program was for communities with high rates of HIV, where early sexual onset is common and often fueled by alcohol.
Shapiro Steps Induced by Resonance Irradiation

We consider a Josephson junction coupled to a high-quality parallel resonance circuit under microwave irradiation on the resonance frequency. The phase locking of Josephson oscillations, manifesting itself through Shapiro steps, is studied using an analytical theory developed for the circuit. Substantial change in the amplitude of the oscillating component of the Josephson phase within the phase-locking range determines specificity of the step behavior. This analysis is compared with the results of a numerical simulation.
Self-adaption harris corner detection algorithm based on image contrast area

Since threshold value of Harris algorithm can only be set by human by virtue of experience and corner point cannot be effectively extracted in different image contrast areas, this text proposes a new self-adaption improved algorithm. Firstly, image pixels will be screened by Sudoku method; then, partial mean square error of the screened pixels will be calculated to determine the contrast ratio of the area where the pixel is located to; finally, the optimal matching corner point will be obtained. Besides, experiments are required to prove effectiveness and feasibility of the algorithm.
Passive tuning in lateral-mode thin-film piezoelectric oscillators

In this paper, for the first time frequency tuning in lateral-mode thin-film piezoelectric resonators is demonstrated through varying the termination load connected to an isolated tuning port. The dependency of frequency tuning on the design features of the resonator is studied as well. More than 4300ppm tuning range in a thin-film piezoelectric-on-silicon (TPoS) resonator and more than 9000ppm tuning range in a pure piezoelectric resonator is achieved at ∼29.5MHz and ∼31.5MHz respectively. Also, an oscillator tuning range of more than 2700ppm is reported which shows a great potential for temperature compensated oscillators.