Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Budesonide irrigation with olfactory training improves outcomes compared with olfactory training alone in patients with olfactory loss

Olfactory training (OT) helps many patients with olfactory loss, but unfortunately it is ineffective for a significant number of patients. Budesonide irrigations are widely used to help patients with paranasal sinus inflammation, but have never been tested as a treatment for olfactory loss. We sought to examine the effect of adding budesonide irrigation to olfactory training on patients with olfactory loss without any visible sign of sinonasal inflammation.
NUMERICAL STUDY OF MIXED-MODE FRACTURE IN CONCRETE STRUCTURES NUMERISCHE ANALYSE DER " MIXED-MODE

In the present paper, the finite element code based on the microplane model for concrete (program MASA) is used for the analysis of two typical mixedmode geometries – the notched beam and the double-edge-notched specimen. The local smeared fracture finite element analysis is carried out. As a regularization procedure, the crack band method is used. Comparison between experimental and numerical results shows that the used finite element code is able to realistically predict structural response and crack pattern for mixed-mode fracture of concrete. It is shown that for both investigated geometries mixedmode fracture mechanism dominates at crack initiation. However, with increase of the crack length mode I fracture becomes dominant and finally specimens fail in failure mode I.
Leader–Follower Navigation in Obstacle Environments While Preserving Connectivity Without Data Transmission

In this paper, we propose a control method for leader–follower navigation in obstacle environments while preserving sensing network connectivity without data transmission between robots. Unlike most connectivity-preserving algorithms, the control input is determined in such a way as to not only guarantee connectivity preservation and collision avoidance, but also to ensure that input constraints are not violated at each time step. We also introduce a simple rule for changing network topology depending on environments such that some sensing links are deactivated in order to pass through narrow spaces, while active links are increased in free spaces to keep the group as cohesive as possible. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated in simulations and experiments.
Microgrid system and component evaluation: Mobile test platform with battery storage

This paper describes a mobile test unit designed to address challenges in deploying smart microgrid systems with battery energy storage. Despite the large body of knowledge around microgrid design and control, there is a limited understanding in the practical deployment and real-world operation of microgrids. The mobile and flexible test system has been built to better understand the operation and performance of microgrid systems and energy storage systems, and to provide a platform for advanced testing, training and research. The system is housed in a custom-built shelter containing a 273kWh Li-ion battery, 270kW bi-directional inverter, 350kVA isolating transformer, switchgear and protection systems required for grid connection. An advanced internet of things control system is used, and connects to the distribution network's control system. A flexible high-speed data acquisition and long-term data logging system captures power flow, power quality values, high resolution event waveforms, and environmental measurements.
Nuisance attribute projection for improving the performance of obstructive sleep apnea detection

Sleep Apnea is a serious sleep disorder which is characterized by breath cessation during sleep. Repeated cessation can result in reduced oxygen supply to the brain and the rest of the body parts leading to poor sleep quality. Apnea cases are mostly unrecognized owing to the fact that the sleep studies are time and money consuming. Furthermore, the unavailability of high hospital standards and the lack of specialized persons, especially in rural areas have added up to the reason for the non-recognition of apnea. High accurate apnea detection systems were developed which made use of features extracted from the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage and thus demanded the persons complete 8 hour sleep. As an initial stage of disease screening, the patient may be uncomfortable to spend his complete night for testing. This paper has brought a system which can detect apnea as soon as the patient goes into his sleep rather than waiting him to enter to the REM stage. This requirement is accomplished by removing the stage dependency of features through Nuisance Attribute Projection (NAP), a used technique for removal of channel nuisances in speaker recognition system. Using the time and frequency domain features of heart rate and respiratory rate variability as input to Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier, a baseline system of 50% absolute accurate system was developed. NAP was performed on the training features. A weight matrix was developed which brought together those features which belong to same classification label, but separated by the sleep stage and patient-specific variations. Individual systems were developed which removed the stage variations and patient-specific variations. An improvement in classification accuracy of 12.5% and 7.5% absolute were observed when stage and patient-specific variations were removed respectively. Ignoring the N1 stage features a further improvement of 20% absolute was observed.
The possibility of cancer immune editing in gliomas. A critical review

ABSTRACT The relationship between anti-tumoral immunity and cancer progression is complex. Recently, immune editing has emerged as a model to explain the interplay between the immune system and the selection of genetic alterations in cancer. In this model, the immune system selects cancer cells that grow as these are fit to escape immune surveillance during tumor development. Gliomas and glioblastoma, the most aggressive and most common of all primary malignant brain tumors are genetically heterogeneous, are relatively less antigenic, and are less responsive to immunotherapy than other cancers. In this review, we provide an overview of the relationship between glioma´s immune suppressive features, anti-tumoral immunity and cancer genomics. In this context, we provide a critical discussion of evidence suggestive of immune editing in this disease and discuss possible alternative explanations for these findings.
A distance-based trajectory outlier detection method on maritime traffic data

As a result of establishment of Automatic Identification System (AIS) networks, maritime vessel trajectories are becoming increasingly available. Finding outliers in a collection of patterns among AIS trajectories is critical for real time applications ranging from military surveillance to transportation management. In this paper we present a distance-based approach for trajectory outlier detection on trajectory data. First, we apply Density Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) to generate patterns from original trajectories. Second, we extract gravity vectors and sample stop points from clusters to retain stop and move information and to reduce the further computation cost. To measure the similarity between trajectory points and clusters, cluster relative distance and cluster angular distance are proposed. Finally, we present experiments on real AIS data at Chinese QiongZhou strait. The experiment results show that our methods can detect distance anomaly and speed/heading anomaly effectively and greatly reduces computation cost.
Stalkers: A physical-layer solution towards co-existence with WiFi

We present a prototype implementation of Stalkers; a physical layer solution that lets a pair of opportunistic secondary nodes to co-exist with a primary IEEE 802.11-type transmitter-receiver pair using simultaneous in-band transmissions. For this co-existence, the secondary system first stalks the primary system, following which it shapes its own transmissions so as to cause no degradation in the primary network's performance while at the same time not necessitating any change in the primary nodes' physical layer. Drawing inspiration from existing information theoretic literature, the secondary transmissions of the implemented solution rely on (a) forwarding of the primary system's signal by the secondary system to compensate for the interference caused by the latter at the former, and (b) Tomlinson-Harashima precoding to mitigate the primary interference seen by the secondary network. The solution prototype is built with software-defined radios, using which we experimentally demonstrate that the performance of the primary 802.11-type system remains unaffected with the introduction of the secondary system, thereby acquiring throughput for the in-band co-existing solution.
Low-power dual-edge-triggered synchronous latency-insensitive systems

Latency-insensitive data flow is a design paradigm that tolerates the latency variability of computations and communications and allows for correct-by-construction module integration. In this paper, we aim to reduce the dynamic power consumption of synchronous latency-insensitive systems by reducing the power of their clock network. In order to save on clocking power, we employ a Dual-Edge-Triggered (DET) clocking strategy and flow-control rules, whereby the clock operates at half the clock frequency, and data flow occurs on both rising and falling clock transitions. To support this operation, new low-cost DET elastic buffers are proposed that allow for full-throughput operation using only two latches per buffer, and without incurring any additional overhead relative to their baseline single-edge-triggered counterparts. Hence, the two design elements (flow control and elastic buffers) work synergistically to yield a highly efficient fundamental primitive building block that can seamlessly facilitate DET clocking in latency-insensitive systems.
An advanced disturbance reduction field-oriented control for six-phase induction machine

These days multiphase induction machines are being considered for various applications in transportation and power sector. This is because of their capability to achieve enhanced power when compared to its three-phase counterparts. In addition to this, a multiphase drive improves the reliability at the system level, thus contributing to overall system efficiency. An efficient control strategy is necessary to operate a multiphase induction motor drive in variable speed. Variation in load torque causes speed disturbance to any machine drive operating in closed loop, consequently affecting the system performance. This paper, therefore, proposes a simple and elegant rotor field oriented control (RFOC) methodology for a six-phase induction motor (SPIM) with 30°phase displacement between the two three-phase winding sets. Proposed RFOC consists of an additional loop for the resilient speed control under input load disturbances without any additional PI controllers. A detailed dynamic modeling of SPIM with vector space decomposition (VSD) SVPWM is presented in the paper. In order to verify the effectiveness proposed RFOC, necessary simulation results are provided using MATLAB/SIMULINK software and experimental analysis is performed on 1.5 hp induction machine.
Real-time spectrum secondary markets: Agent-based model of investment activities of heterogeneous operators

In recent years, there is increasing demand for frequency spectrum due to emerging new multimedia applications or concept of the Internet of Things. Nowadays, a strongly discussed topic is the concept of Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA). It is able to increase efficiency of the licensed parts of the frequency spectrum that are not sufficiently utilized. This paper is devoted to the techno-economical aspects of the DSA in the cognitive radio networks with an emphasis on spectrum trading process. The approach of open access network allows to consider leasing of frequency spectrum by operators as a risky investment opportunity. Our motivation is to investigate impact of interest rate on operators' investment decisions in the spectrum market. The agent-based model was constructed to simulate functioning of the spectrum market. In general, investors are characterized by risk-aversion, which degree changes with respect to wealth. The composition of operators' portfolios is influenced by heterogeneity in sense of different budget constraints. The numerical results of simulations show significant impact of these parameters on behavior of market participants.
Simulations of beamforming performance and energy efficiency for 5G mm-wave cellular networks

Beamforming is one of the key features enabled in the fifth generation (5G) of wireless communications networks to accommodate the higher throughput demanded by the users for their data-intensive applications. This paper simulates energy-efficient 5G networks with beamforming capabilities deployed on a realistic area in Ghent, Belgium to respond to the instantaneous bit rate needed by the users. Various beamforming architectures have been investigated and the results are compared with the 4G reference network. When beamforming is enabled, the results of the simulations show that under the same coverage performance, 5G networks require 15% more base stations to provide more capacity to the users and are 3 times more energy-efficient than the 4G reference network. Moreover, the hybrid beamforming architecture provides good trade-off between the higher capacity and the low-power consumption requirements and needs to be considered when designing 5G cellular networks.
Responsibility division optimization for multiple harmonic sources based on the improved hampel weight function

A method of harmonic responsibility division is proposed by the combination of background harmonic voltage segmentation and multiple linear regression based on the improved Hampel function in the complex field. The background harmonic voltage is clustered and divided into different data segments, and the multiple linear regression model based on the improved Hampel weight function in the complex field is introduced to further improve the accuracy of harmonic responsibility division. The method proposed is tested on IEEE 13-bus system and a simple experimental circuit respectively. The results show that the proposed method is able to improve the accuracy of harmonic responsibility division, especially under high harmonic voltage fluctuation at the PCC node.
An adaptive resource allocation strategy for multiple target tracking with different performance requirements

The resource aware design has a considerable impact on the improvement of multiple target tracking (MTT) performance for colocated MIMO radar. A common approach is to enhance the tracking performance of worst case among multiple targets through running out of system resources, namely Minmax method. The resulting tracking performance of all targets would reach the same level as the worst one. In practice, it is not reasonable to require all these targets to reach a same performance since the targets with different distinct range, angle and Doppler have different threatening degree. In this paper, we design a novel resource aware framework to ensure more suitable MTT performance rather than Minmax method. In particular, we introduce an adaptive cost function (ACF), involving the tracking accuracy requirements, the cost and resource constraints. Then we formulate a novel but non-convex optimization problem by taking into account the ACF. Meanwhile, we use the posterior Cramér-Rao lower bound (PCRLB) as a metric of tracking performance, which is capable of robustly controlling the different tracking accuracy to each target. Then, we turn the considered problem into a tractable problem sharing theoretical convexity feature. Finally, numerical results are performed showing that the proposed algorithm outperforms in the tracking error under the track accuracy requirements and the limited resource than the available counterparts.
Line-of-sight exploration of unknown environment by a pair of mobile Robots

This paper introduces a new technique to reduce the time required to explore an unknown environment with a team of two mobile robots. In the proposed technique, the well-known frontier based exploration method is combined with line-of-sight exploration in order to reduce the exploration time. The combined technique has been tested on a set of environments with different shape, size and number of obstacles. The results show that the proposed line-of-sight frontier-based technique always leads to a significant reduction in exploration time.
Distance metric learning for semantic segmentation based graph hashing

Similarity search in large-scale dataset has been the key technology in the fields of computer vision and multimedia in recent years. In order to support fine-grained image analysis and image retrieval, semantic segmentation based multi-instances search is becoming an urgent research issue. In this paper, a distance metric learning for semantic segmentation based graph hashing (MLSS) approach is proposed, which learns an optimal distance metric by minimizing the objective function to preserve the semantic similarity between the labels and instances. Then, an alternating optimization strategy is designed for the objective function by using gradient descent method and Rayleigh-Ritz theorem. Finally, we use the anchor graph hashing method to hash all instances into binary codes for similarity search. Multiple experiments are conducted on the public datasets and the comparative analysis validate the advantage of our proposed approach over the existing hashing methods.
Immunotherapy in renal cell carcinoma: latest evidence and clinical implications

Advances in understanding the mechanisms of tumour-induced immunosuppression have led to the development of immune-checkpoint inhibitors in cancer patients, including those with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The optimal combination between immunotherapy and targeted agents (as well as the possible favourable sequential therapy of these two classes of drugs) remains an open question at this moment. Several trials are currently underway to assess the combination of anti-programmed-death 1 (PD-1) or anti-PD-ligand(L)1 agents with other immunotherapies or with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). In this editorial, we described the results of the most recent clinical trials on the use of immunotherapies in RCC and the emerging data on the research for reliable biomarkers of tumour response in this setting. In addition, we have focused on the role of the gut microbiome and tumour microenvironment in the development of future therapeutic strategies for RCC patients.
PHIL experimentation on fault ride through behavior of doubly fed induction generator based wind system in the presence of fault current limiter

In recent years, the large-scale coal fired thermal power plants are facing serious setback to meet the growing electricity need of the planet. In addition to this, the increased environmental concern of the mankind has paved the path for alternate energy sources to satisfy the thirst of global energy need. Currently, the doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind system has got lot of attention due to its inherent benefits of reduced converter size and independent control of back to back converters. The main drawback of the DFIG wind system is its poor fault ride through (FRT) capabilities. Most of the FRT studies in the literature consider fault to take place after the fault current limiter (FCL) with respect to the DFIG wind system. However, in this paper, the power hardware in loop (PHIL) experimentation is conducted in order to study the transient behavior when fault occurs before the FCL with respect to DFIG system. The system under study mainly consists of a 2 KW rated DFIG wind system. This is connected to the modified IEEE 33 bus distribution system simulated in the real time digital simulator (RTDS) platform via power amplifier. The PHIL experimental results convey an important message that the occurrence of fault before FCL may worsen the FRT of the DFIG wind system and hence a combination of different FRT techniques would be recommended under such cases.
Lagrange Dual Method for Sparsity Constrained Optimization

In this paper, we investigate the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$l_{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> quasi-norm constrained optimization problem in the Lagrange dual framework and show that the strong duality property holds. Motivated by the property, we propose a Lagrange dual method for the sparsity constrained optimization problem. The method adopts the bisection search technique to maximize the Lagrange dual function. For each Lagrange multiplier, we adopt the iterative hard thresholding method to minimize the Lagrange function. We show that the proposed method converges to an <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-stationary point of the primal problem. Computational experiments and comparisons on a number of test instances (including random compressed sensing instances and random and real sparse logistic regression instances) demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in generating sparse solution accurately.
Impedance control approach in robot's leg dragging velocity variations

One of the challenging areas in developing bio-inspired legged robot is dynamic control, especially in environment interaction. Impedance control is widely used by researchers for dynamic interaction, but the majority only focus on adapting uneven terrain structure. This idea may not be suitable for pick-and-place task robot that has different weight due to its body weight and payload as well as locomotion on flat terrain. Thus, this paper presents leg velocity control through impedance control approach with the aim to increase the energy of the legged robot especially during leg dragging based on force on contact. The results show that proposed controller is applicable since it increases the energy and velocity of leg motion due to increase in force on contact while maintaining the shape of the leg motion.
A Latency and Reliability Guaranteed Resource Allocation Scheme for LTE V2V Communication Systems

By leveraging direct device-to-device interaction, LTE vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication becomes a promising solution to meet the stringent requirements of vehicular communication. In this paper, we propose jointly optimizing the radio resource, power allocation, and modulation/coding schemes of the V2V communications, in order to guarantee the latency and reliability requirements of vehicular user equipments (VUEs) while maximizing the information rate of cellular user equipment (CUE). To ensure the solvability of this optimization problem, the packet latency constraint is first transformed into a data rate constraint based on random network analysis by adopting the Poisson distribution model for the packet arrival process of each VUE. Then, utilizing the Lagrange dual decomposition and binary search, a resource management algorithm is proposed to find the optimal solution of joint optimization problem with reasonable complexity. Simulation results show that the proposed radio resource management scheme can reduce the interference from V2V communication to CUEs and ensure the latency and reliability requirements of V2V communication.