Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From 2G to 5G Spatial Modeling of Personal RF-EMF Exposure Within Urban Public Trams

The upcoming design and implementation of the new generation of 5G cellular systems, jointly with the multiple wireless communication systems that nowadays coexist within vehicular environments, leads to Heterogeneous Network challenging urban scenarios. In this framework, user’s Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields (RF-EMF) radiation exposure assessment is pivotal, to verify compliance with current legislation thresholds. In this work, an in-depth study of the E-field characterization of the personal mobile communications within urban public trams is presented, considering different cellular technologies (from 2G to 5G). Specifically, frequency bands in the range of 5G NR frequency range 1 (FR1) and millimeter wave (mm-wave) bands within frequency range 2 (FR2) have been analyzed for 5G scenarios, considering their dispersive material properties. A simulation approach is presented to assess user mobile phone base station up-link radiation exposure, considering all the significant features of urban transportation trams in terms of structure morphology and topology or the materials employed. In addition, different user densities have been considered at different frequency bands, from 2G to 5G (FR1 and FR2), by means of an in-house developed deterministic 3D Ray-Launching (3D-RL) technique in order to provide clear insight spatial E-field distribution, including the impact in the use of directive antennas and beamforming techniques, within realistic operation conditions. Discussion in relation with current exposure limits have been presented, showing that for all cases, E-Field results are far below the maximum reference levels established by the ICNIRP guidelines. By means of a complete E-field campaign of measurements, performed with both, a personal exposimeter (PEM) and a spectrum analyzer within a real tram wagon car, the proposed methodology has been validated showing good agreement with the experimental measurements. In consequence, a simulation-based analysis methodology for dosimetry estimation is provided, aiding in the assessment of current and future cellular deployments in complex heterogeneous vehicular environments.
Front-Line Therapy for Elderly Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients: Bendamustine Plus Rituximab or Chlorambucil Plus Rituximab? Real-Life Retrospective Multicenter Study in the Lazio Region

Previous studies investigated the efficacy and the safety of bendamustine (B) vs. chlorambucil (Chl) associated with rituximab (R) in fludarabine-ineligible patients with treated and untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We conducted a retrospective multicenter study in the Lazio region to further evaluate and compare the efficacy and the toxicity of Chl-R and B-R regimen in CLL patients over the age of 65. We enrolled 192 untreated CLL patients: 111 treated with B-R and 81 with Chl-R. The overall response rates (ORR; 93.6% in B-R and 86.5% in Chl-R) were not statistically different between the two groups, such as progression-free survival (PFS), time to retreatment (TTR), and overall survival (OS). The B-R group showed a higher hematological (p = 0.007) and extra-hematological (p = 0.008) toxicity. When comparing the toxicities according to age, we noted that the extra-hematological toxicity was higher in patients over the age of 75 who were treated with B-R than those treated with Chl-R (p = 0.03). This retrospective study confirms the feasibility of B-R and Chl-R in elderly untreated CLL patients. Currently, patients who are over 75 and unfit are usually treated with Chl-R. This scheme allows achieving the same ORR, PFS, TTR, and OS when compared with B-R because of hematological and extra-hematological toxicities due to B, in which a greater dose reduction has been shown in comparison to Chl.
Process Variation Estimation using An IDDQ Test and FlipFlop Retention Characteristics

Extraction method of process variation is proposed. Process monitor circuits are widely used for the extraction of process variation, however adding special purpose circuit increase the silicon area. Usually, silicon chips are tested electrically and functionally after the fabrication. IDDQ test is an electrical test which measures leakage current and find the fault in the target chip. Scan-test is a functional test which inputs and measures the internal signal vector using scan-flip-flop. We propose to an extraction method of process variation utilizing IDDQ test and retention characteristics of scan-flip-flop. This method enables process variation extraction without any extra process monitor circuit. Test structures are implemented into silicon chips and result shows global variation shift is extracted as threshold voltage shift.
Deep Learning of Augmented Reality based Human Interactions for Automating a Robot Team

Getting a team of robots to achieve a relatively complex task using manual manipulation through augmented reality (AR) is interesting. However, the true potential of such an approach manifests when the system can learn from humans. We propose a system comprising a team of robots that performs a previously unseen task—a variant, to be specific—by learning from the sequences of actions taken by multiple human beings doing this task in various ways using deep learning (DL). The training inputs can be through actual manipulation of the team of robots using an augmented-reality tablet or through a simulator. Results indicate that the system is able to fulfill the specified variant of the task more than 80% of the time, inaccuracies mainly owing to unrealistic specifications of tasks. This opens up an avenue of training a team of robots, instead of crafting a rule base.
Structured Query Language Learning: Concept Map-Based Instruction Based on Cognitive Load Theory

Structured query language (SQL) is difficult to master because the execution process of SQL statements is invisible. When learning to construct an SQL query, learners must visualise the evolution process of the intermediate datasets of the SQL statement in working memory, which may burden learners’ cognitive load and consequently jeopardise learning outcomes. This study describes the execution process of SQL statements by using concept maps to improve learners’ understanding of SQL. An empirical experiment was conducted using two database courses, namely concept map–based and conventional instruction, to examine the relationship between concept maps and the understanding of SQL from a cognitive load theory perspective. The experimental results demonstrated the superiority of concept map–based instruction over conventional instruction because concept map–based instruction reduces extraneous load but increases germane load. Concept map construction facilitated learner engagement and promoted meaningful learning. Studying the instructors’ concept maps helped learners follow the cognitive structures used by instructors to perform SQL queries, and enabled them to perceive the execution process of SQL queries relatively easily. These results potentially help educators understand the learning difficulties caused by the declarative nature of SQL and motivating researchers to resolve the inherent problem by considering learners’ cognitive processes.
Flexible Surface Inspection Planning Pipeline

Efficiency of a visual inspection system is greatly influenced by the hardware configuration in terms of both arrangement and sensing parameters. Currently, the configuration is still determined manually. The available automated solutions are not yet ready to be integrated into everyday industrial use due to restrictions in applicability. Therefore, this paper offers a holistic approach to development and integration of an inspection planning pipeline which is both modular and application flexible. First, a clear distinction between the automated and semiautomated planning is proposed. Further, a set of requirements is established, ensuring system flexibility. The requirements are independent of the sensing technology and application. Finally, following the requirements, we implemented a semi-automated planning pipeline intended for visual inspection of rigid objects. For the first time, the pipeline introduces a flexibility in terms of object geometry, as well as interactive adaptation of planning results.
Template Protection on Multiple Facial Biometrics in the Signal Domain under Visible and Near-Infrared Light

Template protection techniques like cancellable biometrics have been introduced in order to overcome privacy issues in biometric applications. We conduct an ISO/IEC Standard 24745 compliant assessment of block re-mapping and warping focusing on recognition performance issues as well as security and unlinkability aspects. Both of these template protection schemes are applied on a multi-biometrics dataset in the signal (image) domain. The dataset includes 2D face, iris and periocular images which have been acquired not only using visual light (VIS) but also near-infrared light (NIR). With respect to the used data, this is the first study that applies and evaluates cancellable template protection methods in the signal domain on VIS/NIR 2D face, iris and periocular biometrics.
Exploring DNA Variant Segregation Types Enables Mapping Loci for Recessive Phenotypic Suppression of Columnar Growth in Apple

Columnar apples trees, originated from a bud mutation ‘Wijcik McIntosh,’ develop a simple canopy and set fruit on spurs. These characteristics make them an important genetic resource for improvement of tree architecture. Genetic studies have uncovered that columnar growth habit is a dominant trait and is caused by a retroposon insertion that induces the expression of the neighboring gene Co encoding a 2OG-Fe(II) oxygenase. Here we report the genetic mapping of two loci of recessive suppressors (genes) c2 (on Chr10) and c3 (on Chr9) that are linked to repression of the retroposon-induced Co gene expression and associated columnar phenotype in 275 F1 seedlings, which were developed from a reciprocal cross between two columnar selections heterozygous at the Co locus. The mapping was accomplished by sequencing a genomic pool comprising 18 columnar seedlings and another pool of 16 standard seedlings that also carry the retroposon insertion, and by exploring DNA variants of segregation types that are informative for mapping recessive traits in apple. The informative segregation types include , , , , and , where each letter denotes one of the four DNA bases and the letters in bold represent variants in relation to the reference genome. The alleles in each first and third positions are assumed in linkage with the recessive suppressors’ allele in the two parents, respectively. Using RNA-seq analysis, we further revealed that the Co gene together with the differentially expressed genes under loci c2 and c3 formed a co-expression gene-network module associated with growth habit, in which 12 MapMan Bins were enriched.
Hyperproduction of Inhibitor-Susceptible TEM β-Lactamase Is Responsible for Resistance of Serratia marcescens to β-Lactam-β-Lactamase Inhibitor Combinations

Background: Some clinical isolates of Serratia marcescens showed high-level resistance to expanded-spectrum cephalosporins alone and in combination with β-lactamase inhibitor, but the β-lactamase extracted from these strains was sensitive to the inhibitors. This study examines the possible mechanisms responsible for the discrepancy. Methods and Results: Three clinical isolates of S. marcescens bore the blaTEM gene coded on a plasmid. This was confirmed by detection of the bla gene using PCR analysis and by transferring resistance determinants to Escherichia coli via conjugation and transformation. All of the E. coli transconjugants and transformants acquired a similar level of resistance to penicillins and narrow-spectrum cephalosporins, and showed the reduced susceptibility to expanded-spectrum cephalosporins alone and in combination with clavulanate. As a result of the highly constitutive expression of the TEM gene, up to 247–690 U of β-lactamase were produced by 1010 cells of wild-type S. marcescens and the transconjugants and transformants. In the presence of 0.24 U/ml of TEM enzyme, the minimum inhibition concentrations of cefotaxime against E. coli ATCC 25922 increased from 0.125 to 512 µg/ml. The TEM-type β-lactamase extracted from these strains was sensitive to clavulanate, and 62.2–92.1% of its activity was inhibited after preincubation with 0.1 mM clavulanate. Conclusion:The TEM-type β-lactamase plays a critical role in the resistance of S. marcescens to β-lactams, and the hyperproduction of inhibitor-susceptible TEM β-lactamase is responsible for the resistance to β-lactam-β-lactamase inhibitor combinations.
Broadband Doherty Power Amplifier With Transferable Continuous Mode

In this paper, in-band continuous mode transferring (CMT) method is presented for designing broadband Doherty power amplifier (DPA). Specifically, transferable continuous mode, transferring between class-J continuum to class-F−1 continuum, is introduced into DPA at output back-off (OBO) power level for improving bandwidth and efficiency. For validation, a broadband DPA with operation mode transferring from continuous class-J to continuous class-F−1 is designed, fabricated and measured. Experimental results show the drain efficiencies (DEs) of the fabricated DPA are 46.3%-57.7% and 58.4%-69.1% at 6 dB OBO and peaking power levels over 1.7-2.6 GHz. The saturation power of this DPA is 43.1-45.2 dBm with a gain of 9.1-11.2 dB in the interested band. Furthermore, when the fabricated DPA is stimulated by a 20 MHz wideband signal with a peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of 7.05 dB at 2.4 GHz, the measured average power is 36.5 dBm with an average DE of 45.7%, and the measured adjacent channel leakage ratios (ACLRs) are −31.9 dBc and −50.4 dBc before and after DPD technique, respectively.
Bilateral Symmetry in Central Retinal Blood Vessels*

Symmetry can be defined as uniformity, equivalence or exact similarity of two parts divided along an axis. While our left and right eyes clearly have a high degree of external bilateral symmetry, it is less obvious to what degree they have internal bilateral symmetry. This is especially true for central retinal blood vessels (CRBVs) which are responsible for supplying blood to retinas and also can be used as a strong biometric. In this paper, we study whether CRBVs of the left and right retinas possess strong enough bilateral symmetry so that we reliably tell whether a pair of CRBVs of the left and right retinas belongs to a single person. We evaluate and analyse the performance of both human and neural network based bilateral CRBVs verification. By experimenting on a large publicly available data set, we confirm that CRBVs have bilateral symmetry to some extent.
Research on Lidar Point Cloud Segmentation and Collision Detection Algorithm

3D laser radar is widely used in unmanned driving systems due to its high precision, strong anti-interference ability and omni-directional scanning. It is used for road environment detection and anti-collision detection. In order to increase the accuracy of the laser radar to segment the scanning point cloud, firstly, voxel filtering is applied to the point cloud to reduce the number of point clouds, and then the point cloud is removed by using the point cloud progressive morphology filtering method. Finally, the point cloud is divided into several independent clusters by the region-growing algorithm, and the segmented point cloud clusters are generated into a bounding box. By detecting the relative positional relationship of the bounding box of the three-dimensional space, it is determined whether there is a collision of the two physical models. The experimental results show that after the point cloud preprocessing and clustering segmentation, the collision detection of the model combined with the bounding box can effectively identify and accurately determine the spatial positional relationship of the object and improve the accuracy of collision recognition.
Dynamics Identification of Fluidic Muscle-actuated Planar Manipulator Using Two Nonlinear Models

A model is basic instrument, through that is possible describe systems. Approaches, that are used to design models, are double of kind-empirical or theoretical. Since the essence of the empirical approach is observation based on the real system and the measured data, this approach was chosen to identify the dynamics of the system described in the article. It is a manipulator device whose drive is provided by the fluidic muscles of the manufacturer Festo - two pairs of muscles are engaged antagonistically (one pair for the upper axis, one pair for the lower axis). The models, that are identify for this system, represents the MISO structure (it has multi inputs and single output). In each axis of the manipulator arm were monitored the tension and pressure difference in the muscles at the input, and the angle of rotation of the joint was output. The input (voltage) was generated by a jump or trapezoidal excitation signal. Nonlinear dynamic models-Hammerstein-Wiener and forward neural model of MLP type (Multi-Layer Perceptron) - were created in the System Identification Toolbox and Simulink with using the Matlab program. The Gauss-Newton algorithm was used to estimate the parameters for the training and test phases. The resulting simulation models were evaluated based on the Normal Root Mean Square Error. The resulting models, as well as the initialization of their parameters, are the content of the article. The aim of the research described in this article was to identify the real system as much as possible.
Identification of Riparian Vegetation Types with Machine Learning Based on LiDAR Point-Cloud Made Along the Lower Tisza’s Floodplain

Abstract The very dense floodplain vegetation on the artificially confined floodplains results in decreased flood conveyance, thus increase in flood levels and flood hazard. Therefore, proper floodplain management is needed, which must be supported by vegetation assessment studies. The aims of the paper are to introduce the method and the results of riparian vegetation classification of a floodplain area along the Lower Tisza (Hungary) based on automatized acquisition of airborne LiDAR survey. In the study area 15x15 m large training plots (voxels) were selected, and the statistical parameters of their LiDAR point clouds were determined. Applying an automatized parameter selection and 10-fold cross-validation he most suitable decision tree was selected, and following a series of classification steps the training plots were classified. Based on the decision tree all the pixels of the entire study area were analysed and their vegetation types were determined. The classification was validated by field survey. On the studied floodplain area the accuracy of the classification was 83%.
Mental Task Classification Using Artificial Neural Network with Feature Reduction

This paper presents a methodology of feature reduction in Artificial Neural Network for mental task classification. This study used a scalp EEG for recording brain signals. It used five mental tasks: imagined left and right arm movement, imagined left and right foot movement, and, relaxed thinking. Features of the brain signal used were the band powers and power differences. These were then classified offline using the 2-way and the 5-way discrimination method using the Neural Network Toolbox of Matlab®. An early stopping technique was used to improve the classification accuracy of the classifier and the best improvement achieved were 14% and 160 epochs for its accuracy and speed respectively. Feature set were then reduced using the threshold method. As a result, the smallest number of active features that yield the highest accuracy for each subject were 38 for subject C with an accuracy of 100% and 54 for subject E with an accuracy of 97%. The results also showed that band powers were insignificant to mental task classification while power differences in the delta-theta band were the most significant features as we mapped active features to the index of our feature set.
RNA‐DNA ratio as physiological condition of rainbow trout fry fasted and fed

Abstract Seventeen day old rainbow trout fry, Oncorbynchus mykiss, were subjected to four feeding regimes during 13 days at‐10° C: continuously fasted; delayed fed after 6 days fasting; fed ad libitum with Trout Chow #3 three (at 08: 00, 12: 30 and 17: 00 h); or six (08: 00, 10: 00, 12: 00, 14: 00, 16: 00, and 18: 00 h) times a day. Total RNA and DNA concentrations of the fry were measured by fluorometry at two day intervals. Fed fry continuously grew from ∼ 99 mg to over 200 mg after 13 days, but starved fish underwent growth loss of‐73 mg. Their condition factors (K) increased from ∼2.2 to ∼7–8 for the fed, and decreased to ∼1.9 for the fasted fish. Specific growth rate per day (SGR) increased from 0.05 mg to‐33.6 mg for the continuously fed fry six times a day (average 9.8% per day) and 29.7 mg for the fry fed three times a day (8.5%), but‐1.15 mg for the fasted fry (‐1.96%). Fed fish starved for 6 days, recovered their SGR after three days following feeding (day‐9), but did not catch up to the continu.
The Effect of Cumulative Anticholinergic Use on the Cognitive Function of Older Adults. Results from the Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life Study.

BACKGROUND Multiple comorbidities are common in older adults, resulting in polypharmacy that often includes medications with anticholinergic properties. These medications have multiple side effects, which are more pronounced in the older population. This study examined the association between the use of anticholinergics and changes in cognitive function of older adults. METHODS The study population consisted of 2222 individuals aged 65-69 years at baseline from the PATH Through Life Study in Australia. Medication data were obtained from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). Cognitive measures were obtained from neuropsychological battery assessment. Exposure to cumulative anticholinergic use was quantified to Total Standardized Daily Dose (TSDD). The association between change in cognitive measures between baseline and 4-year follow-up, and cumulative use of anticholinergic was assessed through generalized linear models. RESULTS During the study period, 18.6% (n=413) of participants filled at least one prescription for anticholinergics. Compared to those not on anticholinergics, participants on anticholinergics were more likely to be female (62.7% compared to 45.1%) and spent lesser time engaging in vigorous physical activity (0.4 hours/week compared to 0.9 hours/week). Cumulative use of anticholinergic resulting in a total standardized daily dose exceeding 1095 was significantly associated with poorer performance in Trail Making Test Part B (Model 1: β=5.77, Model 2: β=5.33, Model 3: β=8.32, p<0.01), indicating impairment in processing speed. CONCLUSION In our study, except for speed of processing, other cognitive domains measured were not affected by cumulative anticholinergic use over a 4-year period.