Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Review of Phased Array Steering for Narrow-Band Electrooptical Systems

Nonmechanical steering of optical beams will enable revolutionary systems with random access pointing, similar to microwave radar phased arrays. An early approach was birefringent liquid crystals writing a sawtooth phase profile in one polarization, using 2pi resets. Liquid crystals were used because of high birefringence. Fringing fields associated with voltage control required to implement the 2pi resets have limited the efficiency and steering angle of this beam steering approach. Because of steering angle limitations, this conventional liquid crystal steering approach is usually combined with a large angle step-steering approach. Volume holograms, birefringent prisms or sawtooth-profile birefringent phase gratings, and circular-type polarization gratings are the large angle step steering approaches that will be reviewed in this paper. Alternate steering approaches to the combined liquid crystal and step-steering approach exist. Microelectromechanical system mirrors, lenslet arrays, electrowetting, and a variable birefringent grating approach will be reviewed and compared against the conventional liquid crystal and step-steering approaches. Step-steering approaches can also be combined with these approaches. Multiple nonmechanical steering approaches are developing that will allow high-efficiency steering, excellent steering accuracy, and wide fields of view.
Consistency and sealing of advanced bipolar tissue sealers

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate two commonly used advanced bipolar devices (ENSEAL® G2 Tissue Sealers and LigaSure™ Blunt Tip) for compression uniformity, vessel sealing strength, and consistency in bench-top analyses. Methods Compression analysis was performed with a foam pad/sensor apparatus inserted between closed jaws of the instruments. Average pressures (psi) were recorded across the entire inside surface of the jaws, and over the distal one-third of jaws. To test vessel sealing strength, ex vivo pig carotid arteries were sealed and transected and left and right (sealed) halves of vessels were subjected to burst pressure testing. The maximum bursting pressures of each half of vessels were averaged to obtain single data points for analysis. The absence or presence of tissue sticking to device jaws was noted for each transected vessel. Results Statistically higher average compression values were found for ENSEAL® instruments (curved jaw and straight jaw) compared to LigaSure™, P<0.05. Moreover, the ENSEAL® devices retained full compression at the distal end of jaws. Significantly higher and more consistent median burst pressures were noted for ENSEAL® devices relative to LigaSure™ through 52 firings of each device (P<0.05). LigaSure™ showed a significant reduction in median burst pressure for the final three firings (cycles 50–52) versus the first three firings (cycles 1–3), P=0.027. Tissue sticking was noted for 1.39% and 13.3% of vessels transected with ENSEAL® and LigaSure™, respectively. Conclusion In bench-top testing, ENSEAL® G2 sealers produced more uniform compression, stronger and more consistent vessel sealing, and reduced tissue sticking relative to LigaSure™.
Fundamental Redundancy Versus Power Trade-Off in Standby SRAM

We study the problem of reducing power during data-retention in a standby static random access memory (SRAM). For successful data-retention, the supply voltage of an SRAM cell should be greater than a critical data retention voltage (DRV). Due to circuit parameter variations, the DRV for different cells on the same chip exhibits variation with a distribution having diminishing tail. For reliable data retention, the existing low-power design uses a worst-case technique in which a standby supply voltage that is larger than the highest DRV among all cells in an SRAM is used. Instead, our approach uses aggressive voltage reduction and counters the ensuing unreliability through a fault-tolerant memory architecture. The main results of this work are as follows: (i) We establish fundamental bounds on the power reduction in terms of the DRV-distribution using techniques from information theory. For the DRV-distribution of test-chip in (Qin, H, et al., 2006), we show that 49% power reduction with respect to (w.r.t.) the worst-case is a fundamental lower bound while 40% power reduction w.r. t. the worst-case is achievable with a practical combinatorial scheme, (ii) We study the power reduction as a function of the block-length for low-latency codes since most applications using SRAM are latency constrained. We propose a reliable memory architecture based on the Hamming code for the next test-chip implementation with a predicted power reduction of 33% while accounting for coding overheads.
Relationships between serum irisin levels and metabolic parameters in Japanese patients with obesity

Irisin is a skeletal muscle myokine that causes the brown coloration of white fat, promotes fat burning, inhibits weight gain and may be useful for treatment of obesity. Irisin is also related to glucose/lipid metabolism and may prevent onset of diabetes, but a consensus on irisin secretion has not been reached. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships between serum irisin levels and physical factors in untreated Japanese men and women with obesity.
A Catalog of Mid-Infrared Sources in the Extended Groth Strip

The Extended Groth Strip (EGS) is one of the premier fields for extragalactic deep surveys. Deep observations of the EGS with the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer Space Telescope cover an area of 0.38 deg2 to a 50% completeness limit of 1.5 μJy at 3.6 μm. The catalog comprises 57,434 objects detected at 3.6 μm, with 84%, 28%, and 24% also detected at 4.5, 5.8, and 8.0 μm, respectively. Number counts are consistent with results from other Spitzer surveys. Color distributions show that the EGS IRAC sources comprise a mixture of populations: low-redshift star-forming galaxies, quiescent galaxies dominated by stellar emission at a range of redshifts, and high-redshift galaxies and AGNs.
Cytotoxic and Antitumor Activity of Sulforaphane: The Role of Reactive Oxygen Species

According to recent estimates, cancer continues to remain the second leading cause of death and is becoming the leading one in old age. Failure and high systemic toxicity of conventional cancer therapies have accelerated the identification and development of innovative preventive as well as therapeutic strategies to contrast cancer-associated morbidity and mortality. In recent years, increasing body of in vitro and in vivo studies has underscored the cancer preventive and therapeutic efficacy of the isothiocyanate sulforaphane. In this review article, we highlight that sulforaphane cytotoxicity derives from complex, concurring, and multiple mechanisms, among which the generation of reactive oxygen species has been identified as playing a central role in promoting apoptosis and autophagy of target cells. We also discuss the site and the mechanism of reactive oxygen species' formation by sulforaphane, the toxicological relevance of sulforaphane-formed reactive oxygen species, and the death pathways triggered by sulforaphane-derived reactive oxygen species.
Robust stability bounds of uncertain fractional-order systems

This paper considers the robust stability bound problem of uncertain fractional-order systems. The system considered is subject either to a two-norm bounded uncertainty or to a infinity-norm bounded uncertainty. The robust stability bounds on the uncertainties are derived. The fact that these bounds are not exceeded guarantees that the asymptotical stability of the uncertain fractional-order systems is preserved when the nominal fractional-order systems are already asymptotically stable. Simulation examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results.
Designing and evaluating advanced interactive experiences to increase visitor's stimulation in a museum

In this paper, we describe the design and a pilot study of two Mixed Interactive Systems (MIS), interactive systems combining digital and physical artifacts. These MIS aim at stimulating visitors of a Museum of Natural History about a complex phenomenon. This phenomenon is the pond eutrophication that is a breakdown of a dynamical equilibrium caused by human activities: this breakdown results in a pond unfit for life. This paper discusses the differences between these two MIS prototypes, the design process that lead to their implementation and the dimensions used to evaluate these prototypes: user experience (UX), usability of the MIS and the users' understanding of the eutrophication phenomenon.
APPROACHES TO RESTORATION OF OAK FORESTS ON FARMED LOWLANDS OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES

The lowlands associated with the Mississippi River and its tributaries historically supported extensive broadleaf forests that were particularly rich in oak (Quercus spp.) species. Beginning in the 1700s, deforestation for agriculture substantially reduced the extent of the original forest, and fragmented the remainder into small parcels. More recently, declines in agricultural commodity prices, along with increased awareness of conservation have provided opportunities to restore a substantial base of agriculture land to broadleaf forests. While afforestation of former agricultural land began over 40 years ago in the region, organized, large-scale afforestation efforts have peaked over the last 15 years with increased interest in forest sustainability, biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, and water quality. Large-scale implementation of afforestation to restore broadleaf forest cover has raised many issues particular to oak species biology and ecology that impact the restoration process. The purpose of this manuscript is to present knowledge gained from research and experience with oak forest afforestation in the eastern United States as a model for developing approaches to initiate oak forest restoration in other regions. To accomplish this, we outline issues associated with the oak regeneration strategy and natural stand development patterns that have hampered large-scale restoration of oak-dominated forests. Furthermore, we present effective afforestation approaches used to reduce the impact of these challenges, and frame these approaches under the context of oak forest afforestation that addresses multiple management objectives and provides for value and function on a sustainable basis.
Computing a set of local optimal paths through cluttered environments and over open terrain

This paper describes an efficient algorithm to generate a set of local optimal paths between two given end points in cluttered environments or over open terrain. The local optimal paths are selected from the set of shortest constrained paths through every node (one for each path) in the graph, generated by running twice a "single-source" search. The initial set of the shortest constrained paths spans the entire search space and includes local optimal paths with costs equal or better than the longest constrained path in the set. The search for the optimal path is transformed to a search for the best path in each homotopy class generated by this search. The initial search is of complexity O(nlogn), and the pruning procedure is O(nmlogm), where n is the number of nodes and m is the number of homotopy classes generated by this search. The algorithm is demonstrated for motion planning on rough terrain.
Data imputation using a trust network for recommendation

Recommendation methods suffer from the data sparsity and cold-start user problems, often resulting in low accuracy. To address these problems, we propose a novel imputation method, which effectively densifies a rating matrix by filling unevaluated ratings with probable values. In our method, we use a trust network to estimate the unevaluated ratings accurately. We conduct experiments on the Epinions dataset and demonstrate that our method helps provide better recommendation accuracy than previous methods, especially for cold-start users.
Sensorless Field Oriented Control (FOC) for a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) Using a PLL Estimator and Field Weakening (FW)

Current industry trends suggest the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) as the first preference for motor control application designers. Its strengths, such as high power density, fast dynamic response and high efficiency in comparison with other motors in its category, coupled with decreased manufacturing costs and improved magnetic properties, make the PMSM a good recommendation for large-scale product implementation.
Bulldust, flat tyres and roadkill: a disorderly decolonising fieldwork journey through remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the iterations and outcomes of a doctoral fieldwork experience where the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants challenged me to radically adapt my constructivist grounded theory methodology and commence decolonising data gathering and analysis while in the field. The starting point for the research was a discourse of defeatism in the literature around mature-age Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university graduates and students, which the participants, my doctoral supervisors and I perceived as unjust and unjustifiable. The aim of the ongoing research, therefore, is to explore and explicate an alternative discourse, beginning with the emic perspectives of mature-age Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university graduates. In the context of the remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander field, I detail the early and some what disorderly enactment of decolonising methodology - disorderly because I was unprepared for the extent to which the participants would take control of both the research agenda and methods. Disorder also partly characterised our collaborative methodological adaptation, in that it was initially more intuitive than deliberate. I discuss how the participants shifted the post-graduation narrative from one of personal and professional uplift to one they dubbed 'the blessings and burdens of being an educated black'. This narrative unequivocally challenges the notion of Australia as a postcolonial society and positions the participants as activists in the fight for indigenous self-determination. I reflect on mistakes made and lessons learned, and articulate pragmatic and achievable fieldwork research methods that privilege participants as knowledge producers and custodians. The paper concludes by discussing the next stages of the decolonising constructivist grounded theory project, which necessitated a return to the field to test and refine the emerging conceptual categories with the participants, most of whom have remained active partners in the research.
A selective CSMA protocol with cooperative nulling for ad hoc networks with smart antennas

In this paper a media access control protocol is proposed for ad hoc network stations with adaptive antenna arrays. The protocol is based on the IEEE 802.11 distributed coordination function (UCF) and uses omnidirectional RTS/CTS exchanges to initiate data packet transmissions. Unlike previous directional antenna MAC protocols, the proposed protocol accommodates the active nulling of co-channel interferers that may arise during the course of ongoing transmissions. This is done using a three-way handshake where neighboring stations cooperate during link activations thus allowing the active receiver to dynamically null potential future interfering packet transmissions. The protocol uses omnidirectional transmission combined with beamformed reception, and is referred to as selective CSMA with cooperative nulling (SCSMA/CN). Packet type identification is used to enable/disable carrier sensing based upon whether or not existing transmissions are protected by antenna beamforming. Simulation results are presented which show that the proposed protocol can achieve higher capacity than previous comparable MAC protocols. The results also include the effects of transmit power control on system performance.
Dehydrogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and UV bump (Research Note)

Context. Recent calculations have shown that the UV bump at about 217.5 nm in the extinction curve can be explained by a complex mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in several ionisation states. Other studies proposed that the carriers are a restricted population made of neutral and singly-ionised dehydrogenated coronene molecules (C24Hn, n ≤ 3), in line with models of the hydrogenation state of interstellar PAHs predicting that medium-sized species are highly dehydrogenated. Aims. To assess the observational consequences of the latter hypothesis we have undertaken a systematic theoretical study of the electronic spectra of dehydrogenated PAHs. We use our first results to see whether such spectra show strong general trends upon dehydrogenation. Methods. We performed calculations using state-of-the-art techniques in the framework of the density functional theory (DFT) to obtain the electronic ground-state geometries, and of the time-dependent DFT to evaluate the electronic excited-state properties. Results. We computed the absorption cross-section of the species C24Hn (n = 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 0) in their neutral and cationic charge-states. Similar calculations were performed for other PAHs and their fully dehydrogenated counterparts. Conclusions. π-electron energies are always found to be strongly affected by dehydrogenation. In all cases we examined, progressive dehydrogenation translates into a correspondingly progressive blue shift of the main electronic transitions. In particular, the π → π ∗ collective resonance becomes broader and bluer with dehydrogenation. Its calculated energy position is therefore predicted to fall in the gap between the UV bump and the far-UV rise of the extinction curve. Since this effect appears to be systematic, it poses a tight observational limit on the column density of strongly dehydrogenated medium-sized PAHs.
View invariant hand gesture recognition using 3D trajectory

In this paper we propose a view invariant hand gesture recognition algorithm based on the assumption that the gesture trajectory is almost in a plane, which we call principal gesture plane. We use Least Squares Method to estimate the plane and project the 3D trajectory onto it. The viewpoint-dependent problem is solved by the projection. HMMs are chosen to model the gestures. We have evaluated the algorithm with two experiments from different viewpoints. The results are promising with average recognition rate at 93.4% and 93.7%.
An MLH1 Mutation Links BACH1/FANCJ to Colon Cancer, Signaling, and Insight toward Directed Therapy

Defects in MLH1, as with other mismatch repair (MMR) proteins, are the primary cause of hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (HNPCC). Mutations in MMR genes often disrupt mismatch repair and MMR signaling functions. However, some HNPCC-associated mutations have unknown pathogenicity. Here, we uncover an MLH1 clinical mutation with a leucine (L)-to-histidine (H) amino acid change at position 607 that ablates MLH1 binding to FANCJ. Given that a DNA helicase is not essential for mammalian MMR in vitro, we considered that loss of MLH1 binding to FANCJ could alter MMR signaling. Consistent with this hypothesis, FANCJ-deficient cells exhibit delayed MMR signaling and apoptotic responses that generate resistance to agents that induce O6-methylguanine lesions. Our data indicate that the delay in MMR signaling provides time for the methylguanine methyltransferase (MGMT) enzyme to reverse DNA methylation. In essence, FANCJ deficiency alters the competition between two pathways: MGMT-prosurvival versus MMR-prodeath. This outcome could explain the HNPCC familial cancers that present as microsatellite stable and with intact MMR, such as MLHL607H. Importantly, the link between FANCJ and HNPCC provides insight toward directed therapies because loss of the FANCJ/MLH1 interaction also uniquely sensitizes cells to DNA cross-linking agents. Cancer Prev Res; 3(11); 1409–16. ©2010 AACR.
A novel MF-LDTP approach for contactless palm vein recognition

In this paper, we propose a new method for contactless palm vein recognition with the help of texture based LDTP descriptor. Compared to existing methods, Local Directional Texture Pattern extracts both directional as well as contrast information. Improved foreground based LDTP descriptor is adopted in order to increase the efficiency. We first extract region of interest (ROI) from CASIA multispectral palmprint images. Then, extracted ROI is filtered and subtracted from background followed by binarization which helps to suppress noise and improve efficiency. The rigorous experimental results shows the superiority of our method compared to previous works.
Characterising and Analysing Security Requirements Modelling Initiatives

With the continuously developing technology and growing complexity of software and systems, new demands and challenges appear for security, calling for new techniques and methods in addition to the already existing ones. The variety of initiatives and the variations in the characterizations makes it hard for users to select the most appropriate one for their needs. We propose a set of uniform characterizing dimensions with sub-categories for security requirements initiatives. The set is derived by analyzing classifications and comparison frameworks from review papers on modelling techniques for security requirements engineering. The dimensions can be used to guide context-dependent choices of initiatives and further research of their combination and integration.
An Affective Interface for Conveying User Feedback

Capturing and understanding feedback received from customers in an efficient manner plays a critical role inareas such as Customer relationship management (CRM). Measures of customers’ attitude towards a product or serviceare traditionally obtained using questionnaires formatted as xpointLikert scales, with results typically displayed numericallyand sometimes presented in graphic forms. Current ‘affective’CRM solutions have focused on customer emotion detection by recognising non-verbal cues and physiological signals from customers (Input related research). However, these methods, although technologically advanced are only at a conceptual level and lack the viability and flexibility required by current CRM solutions. This paper presents a system prototype for Non-Verbal Affective User Feedback based on output related affective research. The system converts multi-criteria based estimates of a customer’s attitude towards a product or service,obtained using traditional CRM surveys, into a non-verbalrepresentation in the form of virtual facial expressions, oremoticons. Real facial expressions provide a feedback in aconcise pictorial form whose emotional content is readilyrecognisable. We focus on enabling the system to choose thoseemoticons that, with regards to their emotional content, would be unambiguously legible by users. Our approach is intended to improve the efficiency of the representation mode of CRM survey data making it visually comprehensible ‘at-a-glance’.
Resource allocation methods in OFDMA distributed radio access networks

Distributed radio access network (DRAN) is a novel radio access architecture and can solve the problem of the available spectrum scarcity in wireless communications. We investigate two resource allocation methods for downlink of OFDMA DRAN. In the first method, each subcarrier is allocated to only one user, which is based on exclusive criterion (EC). By introduced the concept of shared criterion (SC), each subcarrier may serve for multiple users through different distributed antenna and for only one user through the same antenna. This second method is based on SC. The simulation results show that, according to spectrum efficiency and fairness index, the performances of the second way are superior to that of the first.