Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A pattern reconfigurable low-profile Yagi monopole antenna with 360° beam-scanning ability

A pattern reconfigurable Yagi monopole antenna with beam-scanning ability in the horizontal plane is presented in this paper. It employs a symmetrical folded top-hat monopole in the center as driven element and six top-hat monopoles around it in a circle as parasitic elements. Two PIN diodes are used to make each parasitic element connected to or isolated with the ground plane. Beam scanning in the horizontal plane over a 360° range can be achieved by using DC bias voltages switching these PIN diodes. A prototype operating at ƒ0 = 2.4 GHz is fabricated and measured. The experimental results show that a fractional bandwidth of 10.8% is obtained with an antenna height of only 0.048 λ0 (λ0 is the free-space wavelength at the center operating frequency).
Critical Role for IL-18 in Spontaneous Lung Inflammation Caused by Autophagy Deficiency

Autophagy is an important component of the immune response. However, the functions of autophagy in human diseases are much less understood. We studied biological consequences of autophagy deficiency in mice lacking the essential autophagy gene Atg7 or Atg5 in myeloid cells. Surprisingly, these mice presented with spontaneous sterile lung inflammation, characterized by marked recruitment of inflammatory cells, submucosal thickening, goblet cell metaplasia, and increased collagen content. Lung inflammation was associated with increase in several proinflammatory cytokines in the bronchoalveolar lavage and in serum. This inflammation was largely driven by IL-18 as a result of constitutive inflammasome activation. Following i.p. LPS injection, autophagy-deficient mice had higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines in lungs and in serum, as well as increased mortality, than control mice. Intranasal bleomycin challenge exacerbated lung inflammation in autophagy-deficient mice and produced more severe fibrotic changes than in control mice. These results uncover a new and important role for autophagy as negative regulator of lung inflammation.
Spoofing face detection based on spatial and temporal features analysis

In this paper, an intuitive spoofing face detection method is proposed to increase the reliability of face recognition systems. Via the simple spatial-temporal spectral analysis and border edge detection, people with fake face as the recognition system input will be pick out efficiently and effectively. Experimental results show that the proposed method is competitive and practical to be implemented in the portable equipments with face recognition function to improve the system reliability.
Development of a Comprehensive Process Model for Hybrid Laser-Arc Welding

Recently, a hybrid welding technique combining laser welding and arc welding has been finding broader applications in industry due to its unique advantages, such as higher welding efficiency and lower costs [1, 2] compared to the traditional arc welding or autogenous laser welding. Because of rapid melting and solidification occurring in the weld zone, a locally high thermal gradient inevitably exists and accompanies with the whole welding process, which really decides the final residual stress and distortion distributions of weld and affects the remained grain size in the fusion zone (FZ) and heat affected zone (HAZ). Also, the levels of residual stresses and distortions directly influence the weld quality [3]. In comparison with traditional arc welding and autogenous laser welding, the temperature field and residual stress distribution in hybrid laser-arc welding involve more variables because of the additional interaction between the laser and arc plasma [4] thus becoming much more complex and difficult to theoretically and experimentally analyze. Trial-and-error experiments are not able to fully describe those physical mechanisms involved in the hybrid laser-arc welding process. Therefore, the numerical tools have been widely used to help explain the complex welding mechanisms present in the hybrid laserarc welding process [5, 6].
Passive supervisor for railway fault-tolerant Ethernet networked control systems

In this study, OPNET simulations are run to study the performance of a single Gigabit Ethernet two-wagon train control network. The network carries both control and entertainment loads. Each wagon has two servers; a Controller to carry the control load and an Entertainment Server to carry the entertainment load. A passive supervisor is interconnected to both wagons. A fault tolerance analysis is presented; it is based on a specific reallocation of the control load. It is proven that the network can survive the failure of both Controllers and both Entertainment Servers. OPNET simulations indicated that the maximum real-time sensor-to-actuator packet end-to-end delay met its constraints and that there were zero packets dropped.
Effects of Liquid Organic Fertilizers on Plant Growth and Rhizosphere Soil Characteristics of Chrysanthemum

Organic fertilizers are generally thought to be an effective way to sustain soil fertility and plant growth. To promote the productivity of chrysanthemum, five sources of liquid organic fertilizers (L1–L5), as well as a chemical fertilizer, were applied at an early stage of the growth cycle to investigate their effects on plant growth. In the short-term pot experiment, the liquid organic fertilizers significantly promoted root and aboveground growth by 10.2–77.8% and 10.7–33.3%, respectively, compared with the chemical fertilizer. The order of growth promotion was: L1 (shrimp extracts) > L2 (plant decomposition) > L4 (seaweed extracts)/L5 (fish extracts) > L3 (vermicompost). Morphological and chemical analyses indicated that, compared with other organic fertilizers, the treatment with shrimp extract (L1) produced the greatest increases in root dry weight, total length, surface area, volume, tips, and thick root length, respectively. Furthermore, the shrimp extract treatment significantly increased the nutrient contents and altered the soil’s functional microbial community at the rhizospheric level compared with the chemical fertilizer treatment. Thus, the shrimp extract liquid organic fertilizer could be part of an effective alternative to chemical fertilization during the early stage of chrysanthemum growth.
On the benefits of classical multidimensional scaling in Epileptic seizure prediction studies

Algorithms for Epileptic seizure prediction using various features extracted from the multichannel Electroencephalo-graphic (EEG) signals, need to work in high dimensional spaces, leading to increased difficulties in computational time and convergence conditions. Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) is a technique to surpass this curse of dimensionality in classification problems. In this work we investigate the influence of dimensional reduction in classification performance by previously applying Multidimensional Scaling and then applying Support Vector Machines (SVM) to classify the brain state. Data from five patients of the European Database on Epilepsy of the FP7 EPILEPSIAE Project is used. The results show that dimension reduction improves less than expected the SVM performance.
Planning as Satisfiability

SATPLAN04 is a updated version of the planning as satisfiability approach originally proposed in (Kautz & Selman 1992; 1996) using hand-generated translations, and implemented for PDDL input in the blackbox system (Kautz & Selman 1999). Like blackbox, SATPLAN04 accepts the STRIPS subset of PDDL and finds solutions with minimal parallel length: that is, many (non-interferring) actions may occur in parallel at each time step, and the total number of time steps in guaranteed to be as small as possible. Also like blackbox, SATPLAN works by:
The Association of p 21 ( WAF-1 / CIP 1 ) with Progression to Androgen-independent Prostate Cancer 1

The molecular events leading to progression toward androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC) are not fully understood. The p21 (p21) gene has been identified as a key factor for the regulation of cell growth. The expression of p21 was examined by immunohistochemical studies in 105 prostate cancer samples: (a) 7 of 30 (23%) androgen-dependent tumors; and (b) 36 of 75 (48%) androgen-independent tumors stained positive for p21 (P < 0.02). No association was found between p21 expression and p53, bcl-2, and the androgen receptor protein expression in bone metastases of patients with AIPC, whereas there was a significant association with a high Ki-67 index (P < 0.05). In 4 of 43 (9%) cases, tumors displayed a p53-negative, bcl-2negative, and p21-positive phenotype. A xenograft mouse model of prostate cancer using the androgen-responsive MDA PCa 2b prostate cancer cell line was used to study p21 expression after androgen deprivation and at relapse. Androgen deprivation reduced p21 expression to undetectable levels after 14 days. Tumor relapse, defining AIPC, was associated with increased expression of p21 to levels comparable with those found before castration. In this model, p21 expression at relapse was also correlated with a high Ki-67 index. In conclusion, p21 expression is associated with the progression to AIPC. A possible explanation involves a paracrine effect of p21 mediated by the release of mitogenic and antiapoptotic factors. Another explanation involves the regulation of p21 expression by the androgen receptor, which also suggests that p21 may have antiapoptotic function in prostate cancer.
Particle Swarm Optimization Based Spatial Credibilistic Clustering Algorithm Applied in High Noise Image Segmentation

In practice, noise images even high noise images are very common. It’s very essential and critical to deal with such kind of images to process real-image segmentation and pattern recognition. In this paper, differences of credibilistic clustering algorithm (CCA) and fuzzy c-means algorithm (FCM) in dealing with noise images are studied and the research shows that in most case, CCA performs better than FCM in high noise image segmentation. Based on that, a new kind of fuzzy clustering method is presented. It combines spatial credibilistic clustering algorithm (SCCA) with particle swarm optimization (PSO) and takes full advantages of them. The advantage of CCA in noise image segmentation is also suitable for SCCA, and the imposition of spatial information enlarges the advantage. The combination of PSO helps to improve global search performance, thereby, the novel methods overcome the drawback of single clustering method local optimal solution. Computational experiments show that the proposed methods give the best segmentation results when comparing with fuzzy c-means algorithm, credibilistic clustering algorithm, spatial credibilistic clustering algorithm and the PSO incorporated versions of FCM and CCA.
Urinary Hexane Diamine to Assess Respiratory Exposure to Hexamethylene Diisocyanate Aerosol: A Human Inhalation Study

Abstract The use of urinary hexane diamine (HDA) as a biomarker to assess human respiratory exposure to hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) aerosol was evaluated. Twenty-three auto body shop workers were exposed to HDI biuret aerosol for two hours using a closed exposure apparatus. HDI exposures were quantified using both a direct-reading instrument and a treated-filter method. Urine samples collected at baseline, immediately post exposure, and every four to five hours for up to 20 hours were analyzed for HDA using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Mean urinary HDA (μg/ g creatinine) sharply increased from the baseline value of 0.7 to 18.1 immediately post exposure and decreased rapidly to 4.7, 1.9 and 1.1, respectively, at 4,9, and 18 hours post exposure. Considerable individual variability was found. Urinary HDA can assess acute respiratory exposure to HDI aerosol, but may have limited use as a biomarker of exposure in the workplace.
First experience with the new generation Edwards Sapien 3 aortic bioprosthesis: procedural results and short term outcome.

BACKGROUND TAVR has become an established treatment for severe symptomatic aortic stenosis in patients with high surgical risk. The latest generation of the balloon-expandable Edwards Sapien device, the Sapien 3, together with its new transfemoral Commander delivery system has been designed to reduce paravalvular regurgitation and vascular access site complications. OBJECTIVES To evaluate procedural results and short term outcome with the third generation Sapien 3 device. METHODS We retrospectively evaluated 125 consecutive TAVR patients and analyzed the first 51 patients in whom we implanted the new Sapien 3 device via transfemoral access. RESULTS In patients implanted with the Sapien 3 device significant residual paravalvular regurgitation after TAVR was virtually absent with the vast majority having none or trace postinterventional aortic regurgitation on angiography or echocardiography (92.2% and 80.4% respectively). None of the patients had more than mild paravalvular regurgitation. Major vascular access site complications or major bleeding according to the VARC II criteria were not observed in our cohort, minor vascular complications and minor bleeding occurred in 7.8% and 5.9% respectively. If vascular complications occurred, they were related to closure device failure. Thirty day outcome showed a 1.9% major stroke rate and 3.9% death rate. However, we observed a 25.5% permanent pacemaker rate in our Sapien 3 cohort. CONCLUSIONS Implantation of the new third generation Sapien 3 device resulted in excellent procedural and short term outcome. Significant paravalvular regurgitation was virtually absent. However, the increased rate of postinterventional pacemaker implantations needs to be analyzed in a larger cohort of patients.
Lateral forces exerted through ball or bar attachments in relation to the inclination of mini-implant underneath overdentures: in vitro study.

OBJECTIVE Lateral force to mini-implants should be avoided because mini-implants are weak mechanically because of its small diameter. Overdentures retained by mini-implants are usually formed using ball attachments. However, bar attachments can offer the advantage of splinting the mini-implants. This study examined the effect of attachments in withstanding these lateral forces in tilted mini-implants of overdentures. MATERIALS AND METHODS Strain gauges were attached to the mini-implants (2.5 × 18 mm) embedded in an acrylic resin block. Two mini-implants were inserted vertically (Control) or with one mini-implant inclined at 10° or 20° (10-inclined and 20-inclined, respectively). The female portions of the attachments were secured to the denture base. A prefabricated ball attachment and CAD/CAM-fabricated bar attachment were compared. A vertical load of 49 N was applied to the occlusal surface at a distance 10 mm away from the center of two mini-implants. The lateral force borne by the mini-implants was measured via the attached strain gauge. Mann-Whitney U-test and an analysis of Bonferroni correction were used to compare differences between the two attachments and among the three models (P < 0.05). RESULTS The lateral force exerted to the inclined mini-implant was significantly greater than that borne by a vertical mini-implant for both attachment types. The lateral force on the 20° inclined mini-implants with bar attachments was smaller than that on mini-implants with ball attachments. CONCLUSION Inclined mini-implants are subjected to greater stresses than vertical ones, and a bar attachment can reduce the lateral forces borne by the mini-implant when one mini-implant inclined at 20°.
A new route for polar navigation

Placement of motility structures at the poles of rod‐shaped bacteria is a common engineering problem with a variety of potential solutions. While investigating the mechanisms for positioning of the single polar flagellum of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Cowles and colleagues discovered a new membrane‐bound three‐component system related to TonB–ExbB–ExbD that they named ‘Poc’ for polar organelle co‐ordinator, which controls polar localization of both the flagellum and type IV pili. The Poc complex itself is not found at the poles, and is required for increased expression of pilus genes upon surface association, suggesting a new paradigm of localization control.
Electron–Hole Plasma-Induced Spectral Blueshift of Optical-Data Injection Mode-Locked Semiconductor Optical Amplifier Fiber Laser

Under an optical nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) data injection at 10 Gbit/s, the 10-GHz mode-locking and pulsed return-to-zero (RZ) clock extraction from a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) based fiber ring is investigated in this paper. The diagnoses on gain and intracavity-power-controlled anomalous blueshifted spectrum and subpicosecond timing jitter are demonstrated. By increasing the injecting power of the optical NRZ data from -3 to 8 dBm into the SOA bias at different currents, the mode locking is completed with a dc level greatly decreasing from 480 to 50 ¿W (only 1.5% of the mode-locked pulse power at 3 mW), corresponding to a pulse/dc amplitude contrast ratio up to 18 dB. Increasing the SOA bias current up to 350 mA significantly suppresses the timing jitter from 1.8 ps to 345 fs, and the extracted RZ clock pulse is shortened from 55 to 27 ps. The pulsewidth of the amplified SOAFL is compressed from 11 ps to 836 fs after dispersion compensation. At constant data injection level, the increasing SOA bias or gain oppositely redshifts the mode-locked SOA fiber ring laser (SOAFL) spectrum by 5 nm. The amplifier spontaneous emission of SOA at short wavelength region ( ~ 1520 nm) is eliminated with increasing NRZ data power, whereas the mode-locking gain peak arises and blueshifts from 1558 to 1552 nm due to the band-filling effect. Such a blueshift in mode-locking spectrum becomes more significant in SOA at lower bias (or gain) condition. A theoretical model interprets the correlation between the nonlinear gain suppression-induced variation of electron-hole plasma in SOA and the blueshifted mode-locking SOAFL spectrum, which is occurred when the gain saturation condition for the SOA becomes more pronounced.
Deep Speaker Embeddings for Short-Duration Speaker Verification

The performance of a state-of-the-art speaker verification system is severely degraded when it is presented with trial recordings of short duration. In this work we propose to use deep neural networks to learn short-duration speaker embeddings. We focus on the 5s-5s condition, wherein both sides of a verification trial are 5 seconds long. In our previous work we established that learning a non-linear mapping from i-vectors to speaker labels is beneficial for speaker verification [1]. In this work we take the idea of learning a speaker classifier one step further we apply deep neural networks directly to timefrequency speech representations. We propose two feedforward network architectures for this task. Our best model is based on a deep convolutional architecture wherein recordings are treated as images. From our experimental findings we advocate treating utterances as images or ‘speaker snapshots, much like in face recognition. Our convolutional speaker embeddings perform significantly better than i-vectors when scoring is done using cosine distance, where the relative improvement is 23.5%. The proposed deep embeddings combined with cosine distance also outperform a state-of-the-art i-vector verification system by 1%, providing further empirical evidence in favor of our learned speaker features.
Positive and Negative Regulations of the Renal 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 1α-Hydroxylase Gene by Parathyroid Hormone, Calcitonin, and 1α,25(OH)2D3 in Intact Animals.

Reflecting the prime role of 1α,25(OH)2D3 in calcium homeostasis, the activity of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 1α-hydroxylase, a key enzyme for 1α,25(OH)2D3 biosynthesis, is tightly regulated by 1α,25(OH)2D3, PTH and calcitonin. Its significant activity is found in kidney, though the enzymatic activity is also reported in extra-renal tissues. In the present study, we found that the 1α-hydroxylase gene abundantly expresses in kidney, and at low levels in other tissues and in some cell lines. Positive and negative regulations of 1α-hydroxylase gene by PTH, calcitonin, or 1α,25(OH)2D3 were observed at transcriptional levels in kidneys of animals and in a mouse proximal tubule cell line. Moreover, the protein kinase A inhibitor abrogated the PTH-mediated positive regulation. In mice lacking the vitamin D receptor, the 1α-hydroxylase gene expression was overinduced, and the inducible effect of either PTH or calcitonin, but not the repression by 1α,25(OH)2D3, was evident. Thus, vitamin D receptor is essential for the n.
Lot splitting under different job shop conditions

Lot splitting is defined as the process of splitting lots into smaller sub-lots such that successive operations of the same lot can be overlapped on distinct machines. Hence, the lead time of the lot can be possibly shortened. In this paper, a genetic algorithm-based approach is proposed to examine the lot splitting effect under different job shop conditions as defined by three parameters: processing time range, setup time and system congestion index. The experimental results suggest that lot splitting technique has a significant impact on job shop system with longer processing time and less due date tightness.
Impact of video resolution changes on QoE for adaptive video streaming

HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) has become the de-facto standard for video streaming to ensure continuous multimedia service delivery under irregularly changing network conditions. Many studies already investigated the detrimental impact of various playback characteristics on the Quality of Experience of end users, such as initial loading, stalling or quality variations. However, dedicated studies tackling the impact of resolution adaptation are still missing. This paper presents the results of an immersive audiovisual quality assessment test comprising 84 test sequences from four different video content types, emulated with an HAS adaptation mechanism. We employed a novel approach based on systematic creation of adaptivity conditions which were assigned to source sequences based on their spatio-temporal characteristics. Our experiment investigates the resolution switch effect with respect to the degradations in MOS for certain adaptation patterns. We further demonstrate that the content type and resolution change patterns have a significant impact on the perception of resolution changes. These findings will help develop better QoE models and adaptation mechanisms for HAS systems in the future.