Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two-dimensional direction of arrival estimation method for a mixture of noncoherent and coherent narrowband signals

In this paper, we investigate the two-dimensional (2D) direction-of-arrivals (DOAs) estimation of a mixture of noncoherent (including uncorrelated and correlated) and coherent narrowband signals impinging on a simple structured planar array consist of two parallel uniform linear arrays (ULAs), and a new oblique projection based method is proposed for estimating the DOAs of these mixed incident signals, where the computationally intensive eigendecomposition is avoided. In the proposed method, the 2-D DOAs of noncoherent and coherent signals are estimated separately, while the difficulties such as the separation of the noncoherent and coherent signals and the automatic pairing of the azimuth and elevation angles of same signal are overcame. Furthermore for overcoming the “saturation” problem encountered in estimation of coherent signals, an iterative alternate scheme is presented. The theoretical analysis and simulation results confirm the effectiveness of proposed method.
Factors controlling in vitro recrystallization of the Caulobacter crescentus paracrystalline S-layer

The S-layer of Caulobacter is a two-dimensional paracrystalline array on the cell surface composed of a single protein, RsaA. We have established conditions for preparation of stable, soluble protein and then efficient in vitro recrystallization of the purified protein. Efficient recrystallization and long range order could not be obtained with pure protein only, though it was apparent that calcium was required for crystallization. Recrystallization was obtained when lipid vesicles were provided, but only when the vesicles contained the specific species of Caulobacter smooth lipopolysaccharide (SLPS) that previous studies implicated as a requirement for attaching the S-layer to the cell surface. The specific type of phospholipids did not appear critical; phospholipids rather different from those present in Caulobacter membranes or archaebacterial tetraether lipids worked equally well. The source of LPS was critical; rough and smooth variants of Salmonella typhimurium LPS as well as the rough form of Caulobacter LPS were ineffective. The requirement for calcium ions for recrystallization was further evaluated; strontium ions could substitute for calcium, and to a lesser extent, cobalt, barium, manganese and magnesium ions also stimulated crystallization. On the other hand, nickel and cadmium provided only weak crystallization stimulation, and zinc, copper, iron, aluminum ions, and the monovalent potassium, sodium, and lithium ions were ineffective. The recrystallization could also be reproduced with Langmuir-Blodgett lipid monolayers at an air-water interface. As with the vesicle experiments, this was only successful when SLPS was incorporated into the lipid mix. The best method for RsaA preparation, leading to apparently monomeric protein that was stable for many months, was an extraction with a low pH aqueous solution. We also achieved recrystallization, albeit at lower efficiency, using RsaA protein solubilized by 8 M urea, a method which allows retrieval of protein from inclusions, when expressed as heterologous protein in Escherichia coli or when retrieved as shed, precipitated protein from certain mutant caulobacters. In summary, the clarification of recrystallization methods has confirmed the requirement of SLPS as a surface attachment component and suggests that its presence in a membrane-like structure greatly stimulates the extent and quality of S-layer formation. The in vitro approach allowed the demonstration that specific ions are capable of participating in crystallization and now provides an assay for the crystallization potential of modified S-layer proteins, whether they were produced in or can be secreted by caulobacters.
Quality Materials for Quality Assurance in the Analysis of Liquid Biopsy Samples.

The analysis of circulating cell-free DNA for the detection of cancer-associated genetic and genomic changes, frequently called liquid biopsy, has become an important tool for the management of cancer patients. For example, the analysis of epidermal growth factor receptor ( EGFR ) mutations in the plasma of cancer patients suffering from non-small cell lung cancers has been rapidly adopted as a routine clinical service for guiding the use of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors in many countries (1). The noninvasive nature of liquid biopsy, as well as its rapid turn-around time, makes it a favorable choice for patients over tissue biopsy. In some patients, the EGFR mutation status can be determined by circulating tumoral DNA analysis before imaging-guided tumor biopsies are performed. Recently, whole-exome and targeted sequencing of cancer-associated genes from plasma DNA have also been performed in patients with advanced cancer to search for cancer-associated alterations that are potential therapeutic targets and to detect disease recurrence (2, 3). With the increasing utilization of liquid biopsies, there is a growing demand for quality control materials for circulating tumoral DNA analysis for platform comparison, assay development, internal quality control, and proficiency testing. However, the production of good-quality control materials that biologically resemble authentic circulating DNA in cancer patients is challenging and was the subject of a study by Zhang and colleagues reported in this issue of Clinical Chemistry (4). Circulating cell-free DNA exhibits a characteristic nucleosomal size profile predominantly comprising DNA fragments …
A Study on the Awareness of Cataract Disease and Treatment Options in Patients who Need Surgery in a Rural Area of Eastern China

Purpose To investigate the awareness of cataract disease and treatment and to determine the major barriers for patients who need cataract treatment in a rural area of eastern China. Methods A total of 251 cataract patients were selected by means of eye disease screenings throughout Jiangyan County Questionnaires were administered after the doctor determined that the patient needed cataract surgery The patient's awareness questionnaire was developed by Fletcher and clinically validated at the Aravind Eye Hospital in India. Results A total of 89.6% of patients had been aware of their condition for more than 1 year. Only 49.8% of all patients had known for more than 1 year that their eye disease could be treated. The major barriers for those seeking eye treatment included residual functional vision (49.0%), financial problems (36.7%), no demand for the operation (8.8%), and skepticism about the operation (8.8%). Poor vision function grade and female gender were two significant factors associated with a longer awareness (>3 years) of the existence of cataracts. Patients with a history of eye disease and a longer awareness of eye disease were more likely to have known about the potential treatments for a longer period of time (>1 year). Conclusions The patients' awareness of the presence of cataract disease and potential treatment were unbalanced. The main treatment barriers were lower demand for vision improvement and financial problems. It is imperative to educate patients on eye health care and to provide low cost, but high quality, cataract surgery to these patients.
Synthesizing the Physical World with the Virtual World : Computer Vision for Augmented Reality Applications

The purpose of this project was to create an augmented reality system for commodity smartphones. Users gather a variety of images for a given scene and a room layout is computed from the stream of images. Once the layout has been computed, the lighting within the scene is estimated for photorealistic rendering. The room layout provides support surface constraints for the virtual world, allowing users to interact with the virtual world and place virtual objects within the scene.
Epithelial cell division – multiplying without losing touch

ABSTRACT Epithelia are compact tissues comprising juxtaposed cells that function as mechanical and chemical barriers between the body and the environment. This barrier relies, in part, on adhesive contacts within adherens junctions, which are formed and stabilized by E-cadherin and catenin proteins linked to the actomyosin cytoskeleton. During development and throughout adult life, epithelia are continuously growing or regenerating, largely as a result of cell division. Although persistence of adherens junctions is needed for epithelial integrity, these junctions are continually remodelled during cell division. In this Commentary, we will focus on cytokinesis, the final step of mitosis, a multiparty phenomenon in which the adherens junction belt plays an essential role and during which a new cell–cell interface is generated between daughter cells. This new interface is the site of intense remodelling, where new adhesive contacts are assembled and cell polarity is transmitted from mother to daughter cells, ultimately becoming the site of cell signalling.
Monitoring and synchronization techniques for single-phase PV systems

In order to meet standard specifications in terms of power quality and safety for grid-connected systems the phase angle, the amplitude and the frequency of the grid voltage are a critical piece of information. Phase locked loop (PLL) algorithms are very important for grid synchronization and monitoring in most of the grid-connected power converters system. This paper presents a performance comparison of single-phase synchronization techniques: Synchronous Reference Frame-Phase Locked Loop (SRF-PLL), Enhanced Phase-Locked-Loop (EPLL), Quadrature-Phase Locked Loop (QPLL) and Second-Order Generalized Integrator - Phase Locked Loop (SOGI-PLL).
Ongoing Positive Effect of Platelet-Rich Plasma Versus Corticosteroid Injection in Lateral Epicondylitis

Background: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been shown to be a general stimulation for repair and 1-year results showed promising success percentages. Purpose: This trial was undertaken to determine the effectiveness of PRP compared with corticosteroid injections in patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis with a 2-year follow-up. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. Methods: The trial was conducted in 2 Dutch teaching hospitals. One hundred patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis were randomly assigned to a leukocyte-enriched PRP group (n = 51) or the corticosteroid group (n = 49). Randomization and allocation to the trial group were carried out by a central computer system. Patients received either a corticosteroid injection or an autologous platelet concentrate injection through a peppering needling technique. The primary analysis included visual analog scale (VAS) pain scores and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) outcome scores. Results: The PRP group was more often successfully treated than the corticosteroid group (P < .0001). Success was defined as a reduction of 25% on VAS or DASH scores without a reintervention after 2 years. When baseline VAS and DASH scores were compared with the scores at 2-year follow-up, both groups significantly improved across time (intention-to-treat principle). However, the DASH scores of the corticosteroid group returned to baseline levels, while those of the PRP group significantly improved (as-treated principle). There were no complications related to the use of PRP. Conclusion: Treatment of patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis with PRP reduces pain and increases function significantly, exceeding the effect of corticosteroid injection even after a follow-up of 2 years. Future decisions for application of PRP for lateral epicondylitis should be confirmed by further follow-up from this trial and should take into account possible costs and harms as well as benefits.
Wildlife Co-management in Kenya: An Empirical Analysis of Landowners' Incentives for Participation.

Collaborative management (in short co-management) has increasingly become important because it seeks to create negotiated agreements between state and local communities (other stakeholder groups may also be included) and, therefore, offers a possibility to overcome conflicts over natural resource exploitation. However, achieving successful co-management is confronted with many challenges, one of the most pressing being achievement of effective participation of the landowners or resource users in the management process. Moreover, it has remained unclear as to what kinds of incentives would motivate landowners to become stakeholders of co-management arrangements in nature conservation and maintain their participation throughout the process. Taking two wildlife conservancies in Kenya as an example, this paper analyses the kinds of incentives that make landowners participate in collaborative management arrangements. The fieldwork for the results presented in this paper was conducted in the wildlife dispersal areas of Shimba Hills National Reserve and Amboseli National Park in Kenya, where a total of 136 households, based on two stratified random samples, were interviewed. To assess the economic incentive for participation, a financial benefit-cost analysis is performed. For both study areas, this analysis shows that investing in wildlife conservation is not financially viable to the landowners. In order to study other incentives, a two-stage least squares econometric model is applied. The results show that--under conditions where cash benefits are fairly distributed to the landowners—receiving benefits from nature conservation is a strong incentive for participation. Landowners are also motivated to participate because their involvement in the co-management arrangements enables them to protect their own property rights, reduce losses from other economic activities (e.g. livestock farming), safeguard human life, and derive non-cash benefits from infrastructural developments by the state and conservation non-governmental organisations.
Studying Liver Regeneration by Means of Molecular Biology: How Far We Are in Interpreting the Findings?

Liver regeneration in mammals is a unique phenomenon attracting scientific interest for decades. It is a valuable model for basic biology research of cell cycle control as well as for clinically oriented studies of wide and heterogeneous group of liver diseases. This article provides a concise review of current knowledge about the liver regeneration, focusing mainly on rat partial hepatectomy model. The three main recognized phases of the regenerative response are described. The article also summarizes history of molecular biology approaches to the topic and finally comments on obstacles in interpreting the data obtained from large scale microarray-based gene expression analyses.
A New ANFIS for Parameter Prediction With Numeric and Categorical Inputs

Parameter prediction is an important data mining problem and has many applications. Considering the difficulty for the conventional parameter prediction methods to deal with numeric and categorical inputs, this paper proposes a new Adaptive-Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS)-based parameter prediction method that can well tackle such inputs. First, it introduces a Firing-strength Transform Matrix (FTM) into the generation mechanism of firing strengths of fuzzy rules in standard ANFIS in order that the categorical inputs can be handled. Next, a new training algorithm of the structural parameters in the premise/consequent parts of fuzzy rules and FTM in the new ANFIS is proposed. Moreover, to reduce the number of structural parameters to be learned in the new ANFIS with high-dimensional inputs, this paper presents a fuzzy c-means method based on a binary tree linear division method for identifying the structure of the new ANFIS. Then, numerical comparisons are made, and the results show that the performance of the new ANFIS has significant advantages over that of the Multilayer-Perceptron (MLP)-based parameter prediction method. Finally, the proposed method is applied to predict the trim-beam numbers in an industrial textile scheduling process.
Modelling individual tree height to crown base of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.)

Height to crown base (HCB) of a tree is an important variable often included as a predictor in various forest models that serve as the fundamental tools for decision-making in forestry. We developed spatially explicit and spatially inexplicit mixed-effects HCB models using measurements from a total 19,404 trees of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst. ) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) on the permanent sample plots that are located across the Czech Republic. Variables describing site quality, stand density or competition, and species mixing effects were included into the HCB model with use of dominant height (HDOM), basal area of trees larger in diameters than a subject tree (BAL- spatially inexplicit measure) or Hegyi’s competition index (HCI—spatially explicit measure), and basal area proportion of a species of interest (BAPOR), respectively. The parameters describing sample plot-level random effects were included into the HCB model by applying the mixed-effects modelling approach. Among several functional forms evaluated, the logistic function was found most suited to our data. The HCB model for Norway spruce was tested against the data originated from different inventory designs, but model for European beech was tested using partitioned dataset (a part of the main dataset). The variance heteroscedasticity in the residuals was substantially reduced through inclusion of a power variance function into the HCB model. The results showed that spatially explicit model described significantly a larger part of the HCB variations [R2adj = 0.86 (spruce), 0.85 (beech)] than its spatially inexplicit counterpart [R2adj = 0.84 (spruce), 0.83 (beech)]. The HCB increased with increasing competitive interactions described by tree-centered competition measure: BAL or HCI, and species mixing effects described by BAPOR. A test of the mixed-effects HCB model with the random effects estimated using at least four trees per sample plot in the validation data confirmed that the model was precise enough for the prediction of HCB for a range of site quality, tree size, stand density, and stand structure. We therefore recommend measuring of HCB on four randomly selected trees of a species of interest on each sample plot for localizing the mixed-effects model and predicting HCB of the remaining trees on the plot. Growth simulations can be made from the data that lack the values for either crown ratio or HCB using the HCB models.
Optimal design of a 6-Dof haptic device

The work presented in this paper is motivated by the use of haptics in applications of medical simulation, particularly simulation of surgical procedures in hard tissue such as bone structures. In such a scenario haptic device characteristics such as stiffness, motions, suitable workspace and device footprint are key design factors. This paper presents a procedure for optimal design of a parallel kinematic structure for a 6-Dof haptic device. For optimization, performance indices such as workspace volume, kinematic isotropy and static actuator force requirements are defined. A specific Jacobian matrix normalization is introduced for defining the kinematic isotropy and actuator force requirement indices. For defining the optimization problem, a novel multi-criteria objective function is introduced. Based on this objective function, a genetic algorithm is used to solve the multi-objective and non-linear optimization problem. Also, sensitivity analysis of the performance indices against each design parameter is presented as a basis for selecting a final set of design parameters for prototype development. Finally, using these results, a prototype was implemented.
On PRIFCM algorithm for data clustering, image segmentation and comparative analysis

Data clustering has been playing important roles in many areas like pattern recognition, image segmentation, social networks and database anonymisation. Since most of the data available in real life situation are imprecise by nature, many imprecision based data clustering algorithms are found in literature using individual imprecise models as well as their hybrids. It was observed by Krishnapuram and Keller that the possibilistic approach to the basic clustering algorithms is more efficient as the drawbacks of the basic algorithms are removed. This approach was used to develop the possibilistic versions of fuzzy, rough and rough fuzzy C-Means algorithms to develop their corresponding possibilistic versions. In this paper, we extend these algorithms further by proposing a possibilistic rough intuitionistic fuzzy C-Means algorithm (PRIFCM) and compare its efficiency with other possibilistic algorithms and the RIFCM. Experimental analysis is carried out by taking both numeric as well as the image data. Also, DB and the D indices are used for the comparison which establishes the superiority of PRIFCM.
Clinical significance of rare copy number variations in epilepsy: a case-control survey using microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization.

OBJECTIVE To perform an extensive search for genomic rearrangements by microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization in patients with epilepsy. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Epilepsy centers in Italy. PATIENTS Two hundred seventy-nine patients with unexplained epilepsy, 265 individuals with nonsyndromic mental retardation but no epilepsy, and 246 healthy control subjects were screened by microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Identification of copy number variations (CNVs) and gene enrichment. RESULTS Rare CNVs occurred in 26 patients (9.3%) and 16 healthy control subjects (6.5%) (P = .26). The CNVs identified in patients were larger (P = .03) and showed higher gene content (P = .02) than those in control subjects. The CNVs larger than 1 megabase (P = .002) and including more than 10 genes (P = .005) occurred more frequently in patients than in control subjects. Nine patients (34.6%) among those harboring rare CNVs showed rearrangements associated with emerging microdeletion or microduplication syndromes. Mental retardation and neuropsychiatric features were associated with rare CNVs (P = .004), whereas epilepsy type was not. The CNV rate in patients with epilepsy and mental retardation or neuropsychiatric features is not different from that observed in patients with mental retardation only. Moreover, significant enrichment of genes involved in ion transport was observed within CNVs identified in patients with epilepsy. CONCLUSIONS Patients with epilepsy show a significantly increased burden of large, rare, gene-rich CNVs, particularly when associated with mental retardation and neuropsychiatric features. The limited overlap between CNVs observed in the epilepsy group and those observed in the group with mental retardation only as well as the involvement of specific (ion channel) genes indicate a specific association between the identified CNVs and epilepsy. Screening for CNVs should be performed for diagnostic purposes preferentially in patients with epilepsy and mental retardation or neuropsychiatric features.