Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A wideband horizontally polarized omnidirectional antenna for LTE indoor base stations

A wideband horizontally polarized omnidirectional antenna is proposed for 4G LET indoor base stations. Within the band from 1.71 GHz to 2.69 GHz, the antenna achieves a return loss of greater than 14 dB. The antenna consists of four arc printed dipoles which are arranged on a circumference and fed in phase. By attaching a pair of parasitic elements around each dipole, the bandwidth of the antenna is improved significantly. Moreover, by introducing four pairs of directors, the antenna gain variation in the azimuth plane is reduced to 1 dB in the operating band, and omnidirectional radiation patterns are achieved. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated results. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:2112–2116, 2015
SPARSE ARRAY IMAGING OF CHANGE‐DETECTED ULTRASONIC SIGNALS BY MINIMUM VARIANCE PROCESSING

Spatially distributed arrays of permanently attached ultrasonic sensors are being considered for structural health monitoring systems. Most algorithms for analyzing the received signals are based upon change detection whereby baselines from the undamaged structure are subtracted from current signals of interest, and the residual signals are analyzed. In particular, delay‐and‐sum algorithms applied to the residual signals have been shown to be effective for imaging damage in plate‐like structures that support propagation of guided waves. Here we consider minimum variance processing of the residual signals, which is an adaptive beamforming method in common use for processing of radar signals where the weights are adjusted at each pixel location prior to summation based upon actual and expected signal amplitudes. Experimental results from a sparse sensor array show that this processing method can provide a significantly improved signal‐to‐noise ratio by suppressing unwanted sidelobes in the image.
Experimental Epileptogenesis in a Cell Culture Model of Primary Neurons from Rat Brain: A Temporal Multi-Scale Study

Understanding seizure development requires an integrated knowledge of different scales of organization of epileptic networks. We developed a model of “epilepsy-in-a-dish” based on dissociated primary neuronal cells from neonatal rat hippocampus. We demonstrate how a single application of glutamate stimulated neurons to generate spontaneous synchronous spiking activity with further progression into spontaneous seizure-like events after a distinct latency period. By computational analysis, we compared the observed neuronal activity in vitro with intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) data recorded from epilepsy patients and identified strong similarities, including a related sequence of events with defined onset, progression, and termination. Next, a link between the neurophysiological changes with network composition and cellular structure down to molecular changes was established. Temporal development of epileptiform network activity correlated with increased neurite outgrowth and altered branching, increased ratio of glutamatergic over GABAergic synapses, and loss of calbindin-positive interneurons, as well as genome-wide alterations in DNA methylation. Differentially methylated genes were engaged in various cellular activities related to cellular structure, intracellular signaling, and regulation of gene expression. Our data provide evidence that a single short-term excess of glutamate is sufficient to induce a cascade of events covering different scales from molecule- to network-level, all of which jointly contribute to seizure development.
Explaining heterogeneity in medial entorhinal cortex with task-driven neural networks

Medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) supports a wide range of navigational and memory related behaviors. Well-known experimental results have revealed specialized cell types in MEC — e.g. grid, border, and head-direction cells — whose highly stereo-typical response profiles are suggestive of the role they might play in supporting MEC functionality. However, the majority of MEC neurons do not exhibit stereotypical firing patterns. How should the response profiles of these more “heterogeneous” cells be described, and how do they contribute to behavior? In this work, we took a computational approach to addressing these questions. We first performed a statistical analysis that shows that heterogeneous MEC cells are just as reliable in their response patterns as the more stereotypical cell types, suggesting that they have a coherent functional role. Next, we evaluated a spectrum of candidate models in terms of their ability to describe the response profiles of both stereotypical and heterogeneous MEC cells. We found that recently developed task-optimized neural network models are substantially better than traditional grid cell-centric models at matching most MEC neuronal response profiles — including those of grid cells themselves — despite not being explicitly trained for this purpose. Specific choices of network architecture (such as gated nonlinearities and an explicit intermediate place cell representation) have an important effect on the ability of the model to generalize to novel scenarios, with the best of these models closely approaching the noise ceiling of the data itself. We then performed “in-silica” experiments on this model to address questions involving the relative functional relevance of various cell types, finding that heterogeneous cells are likely to be just as involved in downstream functional outcomes (such as path integration) as grid and border cells. Finally, inspired by recent data showing that, going beyond their spatial response selectivity, MEC cells are also responsive to non-spatial rewards, we introduce a new MEC model that performs reward-modulated path integration. We find that this unified model matches neural recordings across all variable-reward conditions. Taken together, our results point toward a conceptually principled goal-driven modeling approach for moving future experimental and computational efforts beyond overly-simplistic single-cell stereotypes.
Heat-regulating polylactic acid/silica aerogel composite fabric: Preparation and characterization

Heat regulation of the human body through textile fabrics is of great interest to the apparel industry. Herein, blends of environmentally friendly materials, including modified polylactic acid (MPLA) (polylactic acid (PLA) + acrylic acid (AA)-grafted PLA (PLA-g-AA) mixed complex) and silica aerogel (SA) composite, were used to make textiles. The tensile, thermal, heat/cold resistance and surface wettability of the novel composites were characterized. MPLA and SA improved the properties of these composites. The MPLA/SA textiles exhibited more favorable mechanical properties than the PLA/SA textiles; this effect was due to better compatibility between the MPLA and SA. Polylactic acid typically exhibits high hydrophilicity and poor thermal conductivity. Incorporating SA as a filler in the processed yarn significantly enhanced the functional performance of the PLA composite textiles. The addition of SA enhanced hydrophobicity and decreased thermal conductivity, which enabled better temperature regulation. The MPLA/SA textiles displayed superior tensile strength, insulation property, temperature adjustment, water resistance, and washing durability. Moreover, the developed MPLA/SA fabric is suitable for mass production and use in various types of textile goods.
Time division multiplex systems

THE idea of transmitting and receiving independent signals over a common line by means of synchronized switches at the terminals is quite old and has been used in multiplex telegraphy for many years. In general if N signal channels are to be provided over one line, the switching cycle includes N equal time intervals, one of which is allotted to each channel. Each channel is connected to the line throughout a part of its particular time interval and is disconnected throughout the remainder of the cycle. Absence of interference between the channels depends upon the fact that the channels are connected to the line throughout mutually exclusive time intervals. It is thus possible to avoid the use of channel band filters such as are necessary in carrier systems employing frequency as the basis of separation.
Comparative Analysis of Dental Pulp and Periodontal Stem Cells: Differences in Morphology, Functionality, Osteogenic Differentiation and Proteome

Dental stem cells are heterogeneous in their properties. Despite their common origin from neural crest stem cells, they have different functional capacities and biological functions due to niche influence. In this study, we assessed the differences between dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) and periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSC) in their pluripotency and neuroepithelial markers transcription, morphological and functional features, osteoblast/odontoblast differentiation and proteomic profile during osteogenic differentiation. The data were collected in paired observations: two cell cultures, DPSC and PDLSC, were obtained from each donor. Both populations had the mesenchymal stem cells surface marker set exposed on their membranes but differed in Nestin (a marker of neuroectodermal origin) expression, morphology, and proliferation rate. OCT4 mRNA was revealed in DPSC and PDLSC, while OCT4 protein was present in the nuclei of DPSC only. However, transcription of OCT4 mRNA was 1000–10,000-fold lower in dental stem cells than in blastocysts. DPSC proliferated at a slower rate and have a shape closer to polygonal but they responded better to osteogenic stimuli as compared to PDLSC. RUNX2 mRNA was detected by qPCR in both types of dental stem cells but RUNX2 protein was detected by LC-MS/MS shotgun proteomics only in PDLSC suggesting the posttranscriptional regulation. DSPP and DMP1, marker genes of odontoblastic type of osteogenic differentiation, were transcribed in DPSC but not in PDLSC samples. Our results prove that DPSC and PDLSC are different in their biology and therapeutic potential: DPSC are a good candidate for osteogenic or odontogenic bone-replacement cell-seeded medicines, while fast proliferating PDLSC are a prospective candidate for other cell products.
GapMind for Carbon Sources: Automated annotations of catabolic pathways

GapMind for carbon sources is an automated tool for annotating catabolic pathways in bacterial and archaeal genomes. GapMind includes 62 compounds and identifies potential transporters and enzymes by their similarity to experimentally-characterized proteins. To improve GapMind’s coverage, we used high-throughput genetic data from 29 bacteria and systematically examined the gaps. We identified novel pathways or enzymes for the utilization of glucosamine, citrulline, myo-inositol, lactose, and phenylacetate, and we annotated 299 diverged enzymes and transporters. We also curated 125 proteins from published reports. For the 29 bacteria with genetic data, GapMind finds high-confidence paths for 85% of utilized carbon sources. In diverse bacteria and archaea, 38% of utilized carbon sources have high-confidence paths, which was improved from 27% by incorporating the fitness-based annotations and our curation. GapMind for carbon sources is available as a web server (http://papers.genomics.lbl.gov/carbon) and takes just 30 seconds for the typical genome.
Underwater Electroacoustic Measurements

Abstract : The electrical and acoustical measurements described in this book are those required to calibrate, test, or evaluate an underwater electroacoustic transducer and to enable one, indirectly, to produce or detect and measure an underwater acoustic signal, usually in terms of its acoustic pressure. These measurements will be referred to collectively as underwater electroacoustic measurements.
A Geometry-Based Game Theoretical Model of Blind and Reactive Underwater Jamming

Security is a critical consideration in Underwater Acoustic Networks (UANs) due to the importance of the applications in which these types of networks are often employed, from military applications to marine natural disaster prevention. Furthermore, even simple Denial of Service (DoS) attacks such as jamming can be very effective in disrupting the communication, with significant negative consequences for these critical applications. While jamming has been widely studied in the context of terrestrial networks, the peculiarities of propagation in UANs, such as the low propagation speed, the multipath, and the high delay spread, need to be considered: the relative positions of the jammer, transmitter, and receiver can have a huge impact on the feasibility and impact of reactive jamming, opening the way for the exploitation of other jamming models. In this paper, we analyze the effectiveness of a reactive and a blind jammer through a game theoretical framework, comparing them for different geometries of the scenario. We assess the impact of the different jammers, employing different active and evasive strategies, where the first type of countermeasure implies the use of additional energy to protect the communication, while the second tries to avoid the jamming signals by randomizing the transmission pattern.
Microwave and furnace annealing in oxygen ambient for performance enhancement of p-type SnO thin-film transistors

In this study, we investigated the effect of microwave-irradiation annealing (MWA) and thermal furnace annealing (FA) in oxygen ambient on the active channel layer of p-type tin-oxide (SnO) thin-film transistors. At very low source-drain voltage of −0.1 V, the MWA at 1200 W and FA at 300 °C samples have exhibited significant improvement in the electrical characteristics such as subthreshold swing (SS) of 0.93 and 0.485 V dec−1, the I on/I off ratio of 1.65 × 104 and 3.07 × 104, the field-effect mobility (μ FE) of 0.16 and 0.26 cm2 V−1 s and ultra-low off-state current of 1.9 and 2.0 pA respectively. The observed performance enhancement was mainly attributed to the reduction of interface trap density (N t) by tuning the power of MWA and optimizing the temperature in FA. From the result, we observed the optical band gap (E g) increased by 6% in FA, and 12% in MWA, which confirms improved crystallinity and reduction of defect states. Additionally, a low thermal budget microwave anneal process has shown high transmittance of more than 86% in the visible region (380–700 nm). The physical characterization indicates the partial phase transformation of SnO to SnO2 with retaining p-type conductivity in both annealing processes. The results demonstrate that both the annealing process could be highly promising to be used in the complementary logic circuits of new generation flexible/transparent displays.
Enterobiasis and its risk factors in urban, rural and indigenous children of subtropical Argentina

Abstract Abstract A cross-sectional survey to assess the prevalence of Enterobius vermicularis infection and its associated factors among the child population of infant, preschool and school age in the urban, rural and indigenous population of Iguazú city, in subtropical Argentina was presented. Additionally, the status of enterobiasis at country level was reviewed and analysed. Enterobius vermicularis presence was assessed employing an oviscopic serial sampling technique. Statistical analysis of socio-demographic determinants was performed by generalized linear mixed models at individual, household and community levels. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines were used to gather national information about E. vermicularis prevalence spanning the decade 2010–2020. A total of 916 children from 470 families participated. Overall prevalence was 29.8%, with 25.3, 30.7 and 34.2% detected for children inhabiting urban, rural and indigenous villages, respectively. The multi-level analysis showed that the presence of E. vermicularis was mostly determined by individual (e.g. age, playing habits, previous pinworm infection) and household-level factors (e.g. family size, overcrowding conditions). Interestingly, WASH variables, such as waste disposal, analysed at community level were also important. Data were analysed to provide eco-epidemiological features of enterobiasis in a heterogeneous subtropical child population in the same territory but with different socio-sanitary realities. The importance of promoting multi-level actions against the determinants identified, to control this public health problem integratively was evidenced. The scoping review of national data updated the state of knowledge of this parasitosis, identifying risk determinants and gaps in knowledge at country level.
Optimum channel and source integrated (CSI) coding

A novel analog channel and source integrated (CSI) coding formulation is offered that inherently arises from a systematic generalization of a recently offered minimum mean squared error (MMSE) linear state space (LSS) predictive transform (PT) source coding formulation. The CSI coding formulation leads to both suboptimum and optimum coders. The suboptimum coder has a decoder that is relatively simple to design and implement but has a stability that is a function of the assumes signal source statistics. On the other hand, the optimum coder has a decoder that is more complex to design and implement but has the advantage of being stable regardless of the assumed signal source statistics and is, in addition, strictly optimum for the ease where the true describing equations for the channel and signal source are of the additive white noise and white LSS types, respectively. <<ETX>>
PENGUKURAN TINGKAT DUKUNGAN TEKNOLOGI INFORMASI PADA DIREKTORAT TRANSFORMASI TEKNOLOGI KOMUNIKASI DAN INFORMASI, DIREKTORAT JENDERAL PAJAK DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN IT BALANCED SCORECARD

Direktorat Transformasi Teknologi Komunikasi dan Informasi (Direktorat TTKI) mengemban tugas dalam mewujudkan rencana strategis Direktorat Jenderal Pajak melalui modernisasi information system (IS) atau information technology (IT) secara efisien dan optimal. Untuk menilai tingkat efisiensi dan optimalisasi penggunaan information technology (IT), diperlukan proses pengukuran secara berkesinambungan. Pada penelitian ini akan dilakukan pengukuran tingkat dukungan SI/TI pada Direktorat TTKI, sehingga Direktorat TTKI bisa memperbaiki hal-hal yang dianggap masih lemah. Instrumen yang digunakan adalah IT Balanced Scorecard yang dikembangkan oleh Grembergen berdasarkan konsep Balanced Scorecard. Selain itu, digunakan pula indikator yang diperoleh dari US Governance Accountability Office (US GAO). Indikator-indikator inilah yang kemudian dijadikan bahan untuk menilai tingkat dukungan IT yang dilakukan dengan menyebarkan kuesioner ke staff Direktorat TTKI. Berdasarkan hasil pengukuran IT Balanced Scorecard yang dilakukan didapatkan hasil bahwa tingkat dukungan IT pada Direktorat Transformasi Teknologi Komunikasi dan Informasi pada perspektif kontribusi perusahaan sebesar 49%, perspektif orientasi pengguna sebesar 66.3%, perspektif penyempurnaan organisasi sebesar 68.3%, dan perspektif orientasi masa depan sebesar 25.6%. Directorate of Communications and Information Technology Transformation took on the task in realizing the strategic plan of the Directorate General of Taxation through the modernization of IS / IT efficiently and optimally. To assess the efficiency and optimizing the use of IT, required continuous measurement process. In this study the level of support of IS / IT Directorate TTKI will be measured, so Directorate TTKI can fix things that were deemed to be weak. The instrument used is the IT Balanced Scorecard, developed by Grembergen based on the concept of Balanced Scorecard. In addition, the indicators used are obtained from the U.S. Governance Accountability Office (U.S. GAO). These indicators are then used as material to assess the level of IT support is done by distributing questionnaires to the staff of the Directorate TTKI. Based on the IT Balanced Scorecard measurements, showed that the level of IT support to the Directorate of Communications and Information Technology Transformation at perspective on the company's contribution is 49%, user-oriented perspective is 66.3%, organization's improvement perspective is 68.3%, and the future-orientated perspective is 25.6%.
The stochastic air traffic flow management rerouting problem

We formulate a model for planning the rerouting of aircraft to alleviate en-route congestion, with system capacity being modeled stochastically. To overcome problems with tractability, we apply a Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition and present an efficient method for solving it. The decomposed formulation is shown to be tractable for realworld problem, and it generates up to a ten percent reduction in cost when compared to an otherwise equivalent deterministic model. We show that even when the decomposed formulation fails to terminate within a reasonable time, a near-optimal solution can still be generated. Technical Supervisor: Stephan Kolitz Title: Principal Member of the Technical Staff The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. Thesis Supervisor: Cynthia Barnhart Title: Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Co-Director, Center for Transportation and Logistics
How do Sociomaterial Networks Involving Large-Scale Automation, Come into Being, Persist and Change Over Time, Within a Healthcare Environment?

The aim of this thesis is to develop a theoretical model to explore how sociomaterial networks, involving large-scale automation, come into being, persist and change over time, within a healthcare environment. It does so by bridging the gap between design, implementation and use of large-scale pathology automation (LSPA) within two United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service (NHS) laboratories. A longitudinal, multi-site, ethnographic approach was used, along with semi-structured interviews, template analysis and participant observation of LSPA ‘in-practice’. This research has suggested that design features, embedded within the material properties of LSPA, were purposefully intended to bring about organisational change. In both user organisations, the material affordances of LSPA resulted in anticipated skill mix changes. However, material constraints required the enforcement of changes to organisational routines, creating operational difficulties, which were then subsequently transferred across organisational boundaries by the researcher/manager. The identification of these sociomaterial affordances and constraints, in conjunction with humans acting as boundary objects, had the unintended consequence of influencing strategic decision making and initiating structural and cultural change. The development and practical application of the resulting SociomANTerial model allowed the researcher to trace the analytical history of these organisational changes over time and consider the impact of broader social structures such as power. Ultimately it is suggested that a greater emphasis on collaboration between users, designers and corporate agents will result in more innovative approaches for technology adoption and improved organisational design.