Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Circularly Polarized Complementary Antenna With Tilted Beam Based on Orthogonal Dipoles

A novel design approach to circularly polarized (CP) complementary antenna with a tilted beam is proposed. First, an operational principle of the proposed antenna is theoretically analyzed to explore the relationship between a pair of orthogonal complementary dipoles. It is demonstrated that two 8-shaped patterns are generated in the elevation plane while the CP characteristic can be realized where they are overlapped with each other. Then, a CP tilted beam can be obtained by reinforcing one direction while suppressing the remainders. Finally, prototype antennas, mainly consisting of a planar conical monopole, a loop antenna, and an L-shaped ground plane, are designed and fabricated for an experimental validation. Measurement results show that a 3 dB axial-ratio bandwidth of 6.19% at θ = 30°, ϕ = 90° is obtained by the design approach, as well as a low complexity and stable radiation pattern.
Accelerating High-Throughput Screening for Structural Materials with Production Management Methods

High-throughput screenings are widely accepted for pharmaceutical developments for new substances and the development of new drugs with required characteristics by evolutionary studies. Current research projects transfer this principle of high-throughput testing to the development of metallic materials. In addition to new generating and testing methods, these types of high-throughput systems need a logistical control and handling method to reduce throughput time to get test results faster. Instead of the direct material flow found in classical high-throughput screenings, these systems have a very complex structure of material flow. The result is a highly dynamic system that includes short-term changes such as rerun stations, partial tests, and temporarily paced sequences between working systems. This paper presents a framework that divides the actions for system acceleration into three main sections. First, methods for special applications in high-throughput systems are designed or adapted to speed up the generation, treatment, and testing processes. Second, methods are needed to process trial plans and to control test orders, which can efficiently reduce waiting times. The third part of the framework describes procedures for handling samples. This reduces non-productive times and reduces order processing in individual lots.
Halogenated and Nonhalogenated Metabolites from the Marine-Alga-Endophytic Fungus Trichoderma asperellum cf44-2

One new bisabolane sesquiterpene, bisabolan-1,10,11-triol (1), one new norbisabolane sesquiterpene, 12-nor-11-acetoxybisabolen-3,6,7-triol (2), two new naturally occurring monoterpenes, (7S)- and (7R)-1-hydroxy-3-p-menthen-9-oic acids (3 and 4), one new naturally occurring trichodenone, dechlorotrichodenone C (5), one new chlorine-containing trichodenone, 3-hydroxytrichodenone C (6), one new diketopiperazine, methylcordysinin A (7), and one new naturally occurring oxazole derivative, 4-oxazolepropanoic acid (8), were isolated from the culture of a marine brown alga-endophytic strain (cf44-2) of Trichoderma asperellum. Their structures and relative configurations were determined by extensive 1D/2D NMR and mass spectrometric data, and the absolute configurations of 3–6 were assigned by analysis of the ECD spectra aided by quantum chemical computations. Compounds 1, 2, 5, and 6 showed growth inhibition of some marine phytoplankton species and pathogenic bacteria.
Physical Human–Robot Interaction of a Robotic Exoskeleton By Admittance Control

In this paper, a physical human–robot interaction approach is presented for the developed robotic exoskeleton using admittance control to deal with a human subject's intention as well as the unknown inertia masses and moments in the robotic dynamics. The human subject's intention is represented by the reference trajectory when the robotic exoskeleton is complying with the external interaction force. Online estimation of the stiffness is employed to deal with the variable impedance property of the robotic exoskeleton. Admittance control is first presented based on the measured force in order to generate a reference trajectory in interaction tasks. Then, adaptive control is proposed to deal with the uncertain robotic dynamics and a stability criterion can be obtained. Bounded errors are shown in the motion tracking while the robustness of the variable stiffness control is guaranteed. The experimental results indicate that the proposed control enables the human subjects to execute an admittance control task on the exoskeleton robot effectively.
Progressive Compromise of Nouns and Action Verbs in Posterior Cortical Atrophy

Processing of nouns and action verbs can be differentially compromised following lesions to posterior and anterior/motor brain regions, respectively. However, little is known about how these deficits progress in the course of neurodegeneration. To address this issue, we assessed productive lexical skills in a patient with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) at two different stages of his pathology. On both occasions, he underwent a structural brain imaging protocol and completed semantic fluency tasks requiring retrieval of animals (nouns) and actions (verbs). Imaging results were compared with those of controls via voxel-based morphometry (VBM), whereas fluency performance was compared to age-matched norms through Crawford’s t-tests. In the first assessment, the patient exhibited atrophy of more posterior regions supporting multimodal semantics (medial temporal and lingual gyri), together with a selective deficit in noun fluency. Then, by the second assessment, the patient’s atrophy had progressed mainly toward fronto-motor regions (rolandic operculum, inferior and superior frontal gyri) and subcortical motor hubs (cerebellum, thalamus), and his fluency impairments had extended to action verbs. These results offer unprecedented evidence of the specificity of the pathways related to noun and action-verb impairments in the course of neurodegeneration, highlighting the latter’s critical dependence on damage to regions supporting motor functions, as opposed to multimodal semantic processes.
The Photobiomodulation of Vital Parameters of the Cancer Cell Culture by Low Dose of Near-IR Laser Irradiation

The mechanisms underlining the cell adaptive and/or activating oxidative stress, called low level light or photobiomodulation therapies (PBMT), still remain unclear for the near-infrared spectrum range (750–3000 nm), especially for the 1265–1270 nm range (highest absorption by molecular oxygen). It is most probable that the mitochondria may also appear to be the main target for these wavelengths. It is known that mitochondria can generate ROS under visible and 800–1060 nm spectrum range irradiation, which in turn control voltage-dependent anion channels (VDAC). Here we investigated cellular damage regarding VDAC activity, level of oxidative stress, malondialdehyde content, cell viability, mitochondrial potential and mass, GSH level, mitochondrial and nuclear DNA damage in the cancer cell culture exposed to low-level laser irradiation at 1265 nm. We used a continuous wave laser with output power 4 mW; the energy densities employed were 0.3–9.45 J/cm 2. We observed that the laser radiation at 1265 nm can induce the oxidative stress, enhance apoptosis, and disturb mitochondrial functioning at the energy density of 9.54 J/cm2. In addition, inhibition of VDAC enhances the observed effects. It has been shown that the laser irradiation at 1265 nm damages mitochondrial DNA but does not affect the nuclear DNA. The performed experiments bring us to the conclusion that the laser irradiation at 1265 nm can affect cells through mitochondrial damage and the inhibition of VDAC enhances effects of PBMT.
Second-Order Sliding-Mode MRAS Observer-Based Sensorless Vector Control of Linear Induction Motor Drives for Medium-Low Speed Maglev Applications

This paper presents a speed estimation scheme by combining a second-order sliding-mode observer (SMO) with the model reference adaptive system (MRAS) in the sensorless-vector-controlled linear induction motor (LIM) drives for medium-low speed maglev applications. A state space-vector model of the LIM considering the dynamic end effects is rearranged in order to be represented by the form of the super-twisting algorithm (STA). Then, an STA-SMO-based stator current observer of the LIM with Popov's hyperstability theory is designed, which is used to replace the reference model of the MRAS-based scheme. Correspondingly, the actual stator current model is regarded as the adaptive model of the MRAS for speed estimation. Meanwhile, because the variation of stator resistance associated with stator temperature may lead to a large estimated error and even system instability, a parallel stator resistance on-line identification scheme is adopted in the proposed speed estimation scheme to reduce the speed error and improve the stability of the sensorless control system. Compared to the speed estimation schemes based on the Luerberger observer with MRAS and the single-manifold SMO, the proposed speed estimation scheme exhibits better estimated performance. The effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed speed estimation scheme have been verified by simulation and hardware-in-the-loop tests.
Model Senescent Microglia Induce Disease Related Changes in α-Synuclein Expression and Activity

Aging is the most prominent risk factor for most neurodegenerative diseases. However, incorporating aging-related changes into models of neurodegeneration rarely occurs. One of the significant changes that occurs in the brain as we age is the shift in phenotype of the resident microglia population to one less able to respond to deleterious changes in the brain. These microglia are termed dystrophic microglia. In order to better model neurodegenerative diseases, we have developed a method to convert microglia into a senescent phenotype in vitro. Mouse microglia grown in high iron concentrations showed many characteristics of dystrophic microglia including, increased iron storage, increased expression of proteins, such as ferritin and the potassium channel, Kv1.3, increased reactive oxygen species production and cytokine release. We have applied this new model to the study of α-synuclein, a protein that is closely associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases. We have shown that conditioned medium from our model dystrophic microglia increases α-synuclein transcription and expression via tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) and mediated through nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB). The conditioned medium also decreases the formation of α-synuclein tetramers, associated ferrireductase activity, and increases aggregates of α-synuclein. The results suggest that we have developed an interesting new model of aged microglia and that factors, including TNFα released from dystrophic microglia could have a significant influence on the pathogenesis of α-synuclein related diseases.
Spectrum of interstitial lung disease in China from 2000 to 2012

Epidemiological data on interstitial lung disease (ILD) are very limited in China. This study describes the distribution of ILD in China based on data from a large ILD centre. Hospital admissions of patients for ILD increased in China from 2000 to 2012 and IPF was the most frequent type. This suggests an increasing recognition of ILD and/or increased burden of disease. http://ow.ly/WC6t30kWlje
Observer-Based Composite Adaptive Fuzzy Control for Nonstrict-Feedback Systems With Actuator Failures

This paper studies the observer-based adaptive fuzzy tracking control problem for a general class of multi-input-single-output nonstrict-feedback systems subject to unmeasured states and actuator failures. For actuator failures, both cases of lock-in-place and loss of effectiveness are synchronously considered. To handle the unknown nonlinear functions, fuzzy logic systems are employed. By constructing a fuzzy observer and a serial-parallel estimation model, the unmeasured states are estimated and the accuracy of approximating the unknown functions is improved. Moreover, taking into account the prediction error between the fuzzy observer and the serial-parallel estimation model, a novel composite fuzzy output-feedback control scheme is developed. Unlike some existing control schemes for systems with actuator failures, the developed control scheme allows one to avoid the problem of “explosion of complexity” and improve the approximation performance. It is proved that all signals in the system are bounded and the tracking error converges to a small neighborhood of the origin by choosing appropriate parameters. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed via simulation examples with actuator failures.
Profiling cellular morphodynamics by spatiotemporal spectrum decomposition

Cellular morphology and associated morphodynamics are widely used for qualitative and quantitative assessments of cell state. Here we implement a framework to profile cellular morphodynamics based on an adaptive decomposition of local cell boundary motion into instantaneous frequency spectra defined by the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT). Our approach revealed that spontaneously migrating cells with approximately homogeneous molecular makeup show remarkably consistent instantaneous frequency distributions, though they have markedly heterogeneous mobility. Distinctions in cell edge motion between these cells are captured predominantly by differences in the magnitude of the frequencies. We found that acute photo-inhibition of Vav2 guanine exchange factor, an activator of the Rho family of signaling proteins coordinating cell motility, produces significant shifts in the frequency distribution, but does not affect frequency magnitude. We therefore concluded that the frequency spectrum encodes the wiring of the molecular circuitry that regulates cell boundary movements, whereas the magnitude captures the activation level of the circuitry. We also used HHT spectra as multi-scale spatiotemporal features in statistical region merging to identify subcellular regions of distinct motion behavior. In line with our conclusion that different HHT spectra relate to different signaling regimes, we found that subcellular regions with different morphodynamics indeed exhibit distinct Rac1 activities. This algorithm thus can serve as an accurate and sensitive classifier of cellular morphodynamics to pinpoint spatial and temporal boundaries between signaling regimes.
Sirt6 deficiency impairs corneal epithelial wound healing

Corneal transparency, dependent on the integrity of epithelial cells, is essential for vision. Corneal epithelial damage is one of the most commonly observed ocular conditions and proper wound healing is necessary for corneal transparency. Sirt6, a histone deacetylase, has been shown to regulate many cellular events including aging and inflammation. However, its specific role in corneal epithelial wound healing remains unknown. Here we demonstrated that Sirt6 was expressed in corneal epithelial cells and its expression decreased with age. In an in vivo corneal epithelial wound healing model, Sirt6 deficiency resulted in delayed and incomplete wound healing and was associated excessive inflammation in the corneal stroma and dysfunction of Notch signaling, leading to keratinization of the corneal epithelium and corneal opacity. Aging Sirt6-deficient mice spontaneously developed corneal keratitis with extensive infiltration of inflammatory cells into the cornea. In vitro experiments demonstrated that primary corneal epithelial cells with Sirt6 downregulation expressed increased basal levels of inflammatory genes and exhibited hyper-inflammatory reactivity to IL-1β and TNFα treatment. These results provide compelling evidence that Sirt6 is a critical regulator of inflammation in the cornea, and is responsible for corneal epithelial wound healing, thus contributing to the maintenance of epithelial integrity and corneal transparency.
Two-pass Light Field Image Compression for Spatial Quality and Angular Consistency

The quality assessment of light field images presents new challenges to conventional compression methods, as the spatial quality is affected by the optical distortion of capturing devices, and the angular consistency affects the performance of dynamic rendering applications. In this paper, we propose a two-pass encoding system for pseudo-temporal sequence based light field image compression with a novel frame level bit allocation framework that optimizes spatial quality and angular consistency simultaneously. Frame level rate-distortion models are estimated during the first pass, and the second pass performs the actual encoding with optimized bit allocations given by a two-step convex programming. The proposed framework supports various encoder configurations. Experimental results show that comparing to the anchor HM 16.16 (HEVC reference software), the proposed two-pass encoding system on average achieves 11.2% to 11.9% BD-rate reductions for the all-intra configuration, 15.8% to 32.7% BD-rate reductions for the random-access configuration, and 12.1% to 15.7% BD-rate reductions for the low-delay configuration. The resulting bit errors are limited, and the total time cost is less than twice of the one-pass anchor. Comparing with our earlier low-delay configuration based method, the proposed system improves BD-rate reduction by 3.1% to 8.3%, reduces the bit errors by more than 60%, and achieves more than 12x speed up.
Object Localization and Size Estimation from RGB-D Images

Depth sensing cameras (e.g., Kinect sensor, Tango phone) can acquire color and depth images that are registered to a common viewpoint. This opens the possibility of developing algorithms that exploit the advantages of both sensing modalities. Traditionally, cues from color images have been used for object localization (e.g., YOLO). However, the addition of a depth image can be further used to segment images that might otherwise have identical color information. Further, the depth image can be used for object size (height/width) estimation (in real-world measurements units, such as meters) as opposed to image based segmentation that would only support drawing bounding boxes around objects of interest. In this paper, we first collect color camera information along with depth information using a custom Android application on Tango Phab2 phone. Second, we perform timing and spatial alignment between the two data sources. Finally, we evaluate several ways of measuring the height of the object of interest within the captured images under a variety of settings.
Post-Fabrication Melting Procedure With I-Shaped Beams for Stiction-Free Release of 2-D Surface-Micromachined Micromirrors Equipped With Repulsive-Force Actuators

This paper presents a post-fabrication melting procedure with an I-shaped beam design to solve the problem of stiction in surface-micromachined 2-D micromirrors equipped with repulsive-force actuators. This design adds extra I-shaped beams to the free-standing mirror plate to increase its stiffness about one thousandfold and allow it to survive the wet release process. Then, those beams are melted and broken electrically on-chip after fabrication to restore the original stiffness. With the aid of repulsive force, the I-shaped beam design can use a low current for melting. A high current was used in the previously presented T-shaped fusible tether beam design, but it causes splattering and residue. The I-shaped beam design has been successfully applied to a repulsive-force 2D micromirror that is integrated with head-up display and stiction is eliminated. The modeling, simulation, and prototyping processes are presented, and the ways in which it can be used in a general surface-micromachined free-standing structure to eliminate stiction are discussed. [2017-0299]
The BaseJump Manycore Accelerator Network

The BaseJump Manycore Accelerator-Network is an open source mesh-based On-Chip-Network which is designed leveraging the Bespoke Silicon Group's 20+ years of experience in designing manycore architectures. It has been used in the 16nm 511-core RISC-V compatible Celerity chip Davidson et al. (2018), forming the basis of both a 1 GHz 496-core RISC-V manycore and a 10-core always-on low voltage complex. It was also used in the 180nm BSG Ten chip, which featured ten cores and a mesh that extends over off-chip links to an FPGA. To facilitate use by the open source community of the BaseJump Manycore network, we explain the ideas, protocols, interfaces and potential uses of the mesh network. We also show an example with source code that demonstrates how to integrate user designs into the mesh network.
Assessing genetic architecture and signatures of selection of dual purpose Gir cattle populations using genomic information

Gir is one of the main cattle breeds raised in tropical South American countries. Strong artificial selection through its domestication resulted in increased genetic differentiation among the countries in recent years. Over the years, genomic studies in Gir have become more common. However, studies of population structure and signatures of selection in divergent Gir populations are scarce and need more attention to better understand genetic differentiation, gene flow, and genetic distance. Genotypes of 173 animals selected for growth traits and 273 animals selected for milk production were used in this study. Clear genetic differentiation between beef and dairy populations was observed. Different criteria led to genetic divergence and genetic differences in allele frequencies between the two populations. Gene segregation in each population was forced by artificial selection, promoting isolation, and increasing genetic variation between them. Results showed evidence of selective forces in different regions of the genome. A total of 282 genes were detected under selection in the test population based on the fixation index (Fst), integrated haplotype score (iHS), and cross-population extend haplotype homozygosity (XP-EHH) approaches. The QTL mapping identified 35 genes associated with reproduction, milk composition, growth, meat and carcass, health, or body conformation traits. The investigation of genes and pathways showed that quantitative traits associated to fertility, milk production, beef quality, and growth were involved in the process of differentiation of these populations. These results would support further investigations of population structure and differentiation in the Gir breed.
Improving Performance of Source-Camera Identification By Suppressing Peaks and Eliminating Low-Frequency Defects of Reference SPN

The sensor pattern noise has been broadly used to uniquely recognize digital imaging gadgets. However, the presence of some peaks in Fourier domain and low-frequency defects that are shared among cameras due to the same or comparable in-camera processing strategies leads to increasing the false acceptance rate. In this way, it is important to eliminate these undesirable artifacts to enhance the exactness and reliability. In this letter, we have developed a method for preprocessing the camera reference pattern noise (RPN). This letter is motivated by the fact that refraction of light on dust particle and optical surface affect the major part of camera-RPN. These components are combined and termed as “doughnut” patterns. They are of low frequency in nature. As these low-frequency defects are not characteristic of the sensor, hence they should be removed from the estimated camera-RPN. To achieve this, the proposed method first uses the widely accepted spectrum-equalization algorithm (SEA) to find and suppress the peaks present in the camera-RPN and then eliminates the low-frequency defects in the discrete cosine transform domain. Experimental results performed on the freely available “Dresden” image database show that the proposed method is able to improve the efficiency of the SEA methods, as well as this combination is able to work far better than the other camera-RPN enhancement techniques.