Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A probabilistic, variable-resolution and effective quadtree representation for mapping of large environments

In this paper, a probabilistic quadtree map is presented instead of traditional grids map which is used widely in robot mapping and localization field yet is confronted with prohibitive storage consumption. A quadtree is a well-known data structure capable of achieving compact and efficient representation of large two-dimensional environments. We extend this basic idea by integrating with probabilistic framework and propose a clamping scheme to update the map occupancy probability value, which eliminates the uncertainty of the system and facilitates data compression. Meanwhile, in order to speed the operation of locating quadtree nodes, a coding rule between a node coordinate and its corresponding access key is adopted. We also discuss a new implementation of the Rao-Blackwellized particle filter simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) based on quadtree representation. Experiments are conducted in different sizes of areas (even in a shopping mall of 23,700 m2) demonstrate that the SLAM algorithm based on quadtree representation works excellently compared to grids map especially in large scale environments.
Concatenated Analysis Sheds Light on Early Metazoan Evolution and Fuels a Modern “Urmetazoon” Hypothesis

For more than a century, the origin of metazoan animals has been debated. One aspect of this debate has been centered on what the hypothetical “urmetazoon” bauplan might have been. The morphologically most simply organized metazoan animal, the placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens, resembles an intriguing model for one of several “urmetazoon” hypotheses: the placula hypothesis. Clear support for a basal position of Placozoa would aid in resolving several key issues of metazoan-specific inventions (including, for example, head–foot axis, symmetry, and coelom) and would determine a root for unraveling their evolution. Unfortunately, the phylogenetic relationships at the base of Metazoa have been controversial because of conflicting phylogenetic scenarios generated while addressing the question. Here, we analyze the sum of morphological evidence, the secondary structure of mitochondrial ribosomal genes, and molecular sequence data from mitochondrial and nuclear genes that amass over 9,400 phylogenetically informative characters from 24 to 73 taxa. Together with mitochondrial DNA genome structure and sequence analyses and Hox-like gene expression patterns, these data (1) provide evidence that Placozoa are basal relative to all other diploblast phyla and (2) spark a modernized “urmetazoon” hypothesis.
Feature Extraction Based onAdaptiveMultiwavelets and LTSA for Rotating Machinery Fault Diagnosis

Feature extraction is a key procedure in the fault diagnosis of rotating machinery. To obtain fault features with lower dimensionality and higher sensitivity, a feature extraction method based on adaptive multiwavelets transform (AMWT) and local tangent space alignment (LTSA) is proposed in this paper. AMWT is first used to obtain multiple features from the vibration signals of the machine under test to form a high-dimensional feature set. *en, in order to avoid the adverse effect of the irrelevant features in this high-dimensional feature set on the fault diagnosis result, a detection index (DI) is investigated to evaluate the sensitivity of the features and those with lower sensitivity are removed. After that, LTSA is applied for feature fusion to reduce the redundant features in the high-dimensional feature set. To validate the proposed method, performance of four feature extraction schemes based on (i) wavelet and LTSA, (ii) Geronimo, Hardin, andMassopust (GHM)multiwavelets and LTSA, (iii) AMWTand principal component analysis (PCA), and (iv) AMWT and multidimensional scaling (MDS) is compared with the proposed method. *e feature extraction results by these methods are then fed into K-medoids classifier to discriminate the faults. *e results show that the proposed method can improve the sensitivity of the extracted features and obtain higher fault recognition rate.
Applied Retail Location Models Using Spatial Interaction Tools

The demand by consumers for retail goodsand services is a function of the attributesof the commodity, household income, andother factors such as home ownershipstatus. For example, a home improvementstore is likely to target a market with ahousing stock that has lots of possibilitiesfor repair, upgrades, and remodels. Bothhome-owning and renting populations mightyield adequate density of demand, but the
Speech Enhancement for Nonstationary Noise Environments

In this paper, we present a simultaneous detection and estimation approach for speech enhancement in nonstationary noise environments. A detector for speech presence in the short-time Fourier transform domain is combined with an estimator, which jointly minimizes a cost function that takes into account both detection and estimation errors. Under speech-presence, the cost is proportional to a quadratic spectral amplitude error, while under speech-absence, the distortion depends on a certain attenuation factor. Experimental results demonstrate the advantage of using the proposed simultaneous detection and estimation approach which facilitate suppression of nonstationary noise with a controlled level of speech distortion.
The Real Effects of Financial (Dis)Integration: A Multi-Country Equilibrium Analysis of Europe

Using data from 15 European Union economies, we quantify the real effects of supply-side frictions due to the financial disintegration of European countries since the 2008 financial crisis. We develop a multi-country general equilibrium model with heterogeneous countries and destination-specific financial frictions. Financial institutions allocate capital endogenously across countries, determining the cost of capital to firms and the wealth of nations. The cost of financial disintegration is reduced access to capital for firms which results in lower output. Financial disintegration leads to a 0.54% fall in output in Europe since the crisis. We also estimate benefits of further financial integration.
MagnetoWear: A Magnetic Wearable Device to Interact With the Smartphone to Perform Personalized Actions

In this paper we present Magneto Wear, a magnetic wearable device in the form of bracelet that could be used to interact physically with the back of the smartphone to perform several personalized actions on the smartphone. The bracelet that we have designed consist of four magnetic points, on the diametrically opposite ends of the bracelet and the back of the smartphone can be used to tap on any one of these points to trigger certain personalized action or activity associated with that point on the smartphone. These actions can be modulated and personalized through a mobile application depending upon the user's needs and context of use. We have illustrated several scenarios wherein such interactions can be leveraged to minimize user's effort and improve their experience while interacting with the smartphone in their daily life
Neurobiology, Pathophysiology, and Treatment of Melatonin Deficiency and Dysfunction

Melatonin is a highly pleiotropic signaling molecule, which is released as a hormone of the pineal gland predominantly during night. Melatonin secretion decreases during aging. Reduced melatonin levels are also observed in various diseases, such as types of dementia, some mood disorders, severe pain, cancer, and diabetes type 2. Melatonin dysfunction is frequently related to deviations in amplitudes, phasing, and coupling of circadian rhythms. Gene polymorphisms of melatonin receptors and circadian oscillator proteins bear risks for several of the diseases mentioned. A common symptom of insufficient melatonin signaling is sleep disturbances. It is necessary to distinguish between symptoms that are curable by short melatonergic actions and others that require extended actions during night. Melatonin immediate release is already effective, at moderate doses, for reducing difficulties of falling asleep or improving symptoms associated with poorly coupled circadian rhythms, including seasonal affective and bipolar disorders. For purposes of a replacement therapy based on longer-lasting melatonergic actions, melatonin prolonged release and synthetic agonists have been developed. Therapies with melatonin or synthetic melatonergic drugs have to consider that these agents do not only act on the SCN, but also on numerous organs and cells in which melatonin receptors are also expressed.
FOR FINE LINE SEED LAYER PRINTING ON SILICON SOLAR CELLS

Within this work, seed layer grids for solar cell front side metallization were applied using flexographic printing which represents an innovative, high-throughput approach for solar cell front side metallization. Fine line seed layer contact grids with a silver consumption lower than 10 mg per cell could be realized on alkaline textured Czochralski-grown silicon wafers with an edge length of 156 mm. Subsequently, the seed layer has been reinforced with silver using light induced plating (LIP). In order to determine the optimum LIP process, three groups were plated with different amounts of silver deposition. The results were analyzed before and after plating regarding silver consumption, contact finger geometry and interruptions. Solar cell parameters were determined after plating. It was demonstrated, that a homogeneous front side seed layer metallization without interruptions down to a line width of 25 μm can be realized using flexographic printing. The best cell reached a conversion efficiency of 18 % after silver LIP which is comparable to standard screen printed cells on the used Si wafer material. Furthermore, an economic comparison was carried out to illustrate the potential of solar cell metallization using rotational printing methods with subsequent Ag-LIP or Ni/Cu/Ag-LIP compared to state-of-the-art screen printing technology.
Numerical simulation of fault zone trapped waves: accuracy and 3−D effects

Fault zones are thought to consist of regions with reduced seismic velocity. When sources are located in or close to these low−velocity zones, guided seismic head and trapped waves are generated which may be indicative of the structure of fault zones at depth. Observations above several fault zones suggest that they are common features of near fault radiation, yet their interpretation may be highly ambiguous. Analytical methods have been developed to calculate synthetic seismograms for sources in fault zones as well as at the material discontinuities. These solutions can be used for accurate modeling of wave propagation in plane− parallel layered fault zone structures. However, at present it is not clear how modest deviations from such simplified geometries affect the generation efficiency and observations of trapped wave motion. As more complicated models can not be solved by analytical means, numerical methods need to be employed. In this paper we discuss 3D finite−difference calculations of waves in modestly irregular fault zone structures. We investigate the accuracy of the numerical solutions for sources at material interfaces and discuss some dominant effects of 3D structures. We also examine whether corrections of 2D solutions (i.e. with line sources) allow modeling the correct behavior of 3D wave propagation (i.e. point sources). The simulations discussed here and in a companion work indicate that structural discontinuities of the fault zone (e.g. fault offsets) affect significantly the trapping efficiency, while vertical property gradients, fault zone narrowing with depth, small scale structures, and moderate geometrical variations do not. The results also show that sources located with appropriate orientations outside and below a shallow fault zone layer can produce considerable trapped waves energy in the overlying fault zone layer. 1 Institut für Geophysik, Ludwig−Maximilians−Universität München, Germany 2 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles 1
DESIGN OF 3-10.6-GHZ CMOS ULTRA-WIDEBAND LOW NOISE AMPLIFIER FOR WIRELESS RECEIVERS

– This paper introduces an Ultra-wideband Low Noise Amplifier (UWB LNA) with narrow Group Delay Variation for wireless communication systems receiver in 3-10.6 GHz range of Ultra-wideband frequency. For the proposed UWB LNA following parameters are calculated, the input return loss (S 11 ) less than -6.5dB, the maximum gain (S 21 ) greater than 12dB, the output return loss (S 22 ) less than -8.5dB. The proposed circuit is designed using United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) 180nm CMOS technology file. All the simulation results are carried out on Cadence SPECTRE tool.
sotopically enriched structural materials in nuclear devices

A large number of materials exist which have been labeled as low activation structural materials (LAM). Most often, these materials have been designed in order to substitute-out or completely remove elements that become activated and contribute significantly to shut-down activity after being irradiated by neutrons in a reactor environment. To date, one of the fundamental principles from which LAMs have been developed is that natural elemental compositions are the building blocks of LAMs. Thus, elements such as Co, Al, Ni, Mo, Nb, N and Cu that produce long-lived decay products are significantly reduced or removed from the LAM composition. These elements have an important part to play in the composition of steels and the removal/substitution can have a negative impact on materials properties such as yield stress and fracture toughness. This paper looks in more detail at whether using isotopic selection of the more mechanically desirable, but prohibited due to activation, elements can improve matters. In particular, this paper focuses on the activation of Eurofer. Carefully chosen isotopically enriched elements, which are normally considered to be on the prohibited element list, are added to EUROFER steel as potential alloying elements. The EUROFER activation results show that some prohibited elements can be used as alloying elements in LAM steels, providing the selected isotopes do not have a significant impact on waste disposal rating or shut-down dose. The economic implications of isotopically enriching elements and the potential implications for decommissioning are considered. It is shown that the addition of molybdenum and nickel in small concentrations (<2% mass) could have the potential to increase availability to such an extent that the capital investment associated with isotope enrichment is negated and profits from electricity sale increased. Another important issue for materials exposed to neutron irradiation is the production of gases, in particular helium, as a result of nuclear interactions. Helium accumulation in materials can cause embrittlement and so mitigating the rate of production is an important consideration when selecting materials. The second part of this paper considers whether helium production can be reduced in CuCrZr by isotopic tailoring. CuCrZr is a candidate bonding material for tungsten at first wall locations, however it suffers from degradation due to helium production. Inventory calculations show that isotopically enriching the copper, in CuCrZr, can reduce helium production by approximately 50%. However, cost–benefit analysis enric suggests that the cost of enrichment that is required fo ∗ Corresponding author. Tel. : +44 01235 466656. E-mail address: Lee.Morgan@ccfe.ac. uk (L.W.G. Morgan). ttp://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.fusengdes. 2014.11. 016 920-3796/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. hing copper is not cost-effective due to the high price of electromagnetic r copper. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Glucocorticoid‐induced hyperglycaemia in respiratory disease: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

The relative risk of glucocorticoid‐induced hyperglycaemia is poorly quantified. We undertook a meta‐analysis to estimate the association between glucocorticoid treatment and hyperglycaemia, overall and separately in individuals with and without diabetes and underlying respiratory disease. We searched electronic databases for clinical trials of adults randomized to either glucocorticoid treatment or placebo. Eight articles comprising 2121 participants were identified. We performed a random effects meta‐analysis to determine relative risks for the associations between glucocorticoid use and both hyperglycaemia and starting hypoglycaemic therapy. In all individuals, the relative risk of hyperglycaemia comparing glucocorticoid treatment with placebo was 1.72 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.50‐2.04; p < . 001]. The relative risks in individuals with and those without diabetes were 2.10 (95% CI 0.92‐5.02; p = .079) and 1.50 (95% CI 0.79‐2.86; p = .22), respectively. In all individuals, the relative risk of hyperglycaemia requiring initiation of hypoglycaemic therapy, comparing glucocorticoid treatment with placebo, was 1.73 (95% CI 1.40‐2.14; p < .001). In conclusion, glucocorticoid therapy increases the risk of hyperglycaemia in all individuals with underlying respiratory disease but not when diabetic status is analysed separately.
A Field Study of an Individual Incentive System for Production Workers

Abstract : An individual monetary incentive system was implemented in four shops at a Naval Air Rework Facility. Performance data were analyzed across baseline and incentive periods for four incentive shops and six other shops used as a comparison group. One of the four incentive shops showed a substantial improvement in performance while the other three showed none. The lack of performance improvement in three of the four incentive shops was attributed to such factors as insufficient workload and inadequate assistance from support groups. These problems were reported to be much less severe in the incentive shop showing performance improvement. There were no significant changes in any of the incentive shops in product quality, the amount of time a piece of equipment spent in a shop, indirect time usage, or worker attitudes. It was concluded that monetary incentives can improve performance in Naval Air Rework Facility production shops, but only if the necessary work conditions are present to support system. Keywords: Performance, Motivation, Productivity, Efficiency, Action Research.
A LATTICE MODEL FOR LIQUID TRANSPORT IN CRACKED UNSATURATED HETEROGENEOUS POROUS MATERIALS

Fracture increases the permeability of cementitious materials, which is known to accelerate their deterioration when exposed to aggressive environments. The coupling of fracture and flow is therefore important for modelling the durability of these materials. Lattice models are suitable for this in that they describe well the discontinuities that arise from fracture processes and are capable of modelling flow accurately. This paper describes progress made in developing an approach to couple irregular lattices of beam-like elements representing mechanical behaviour (i.e. elasticity and fracture) and conduit elements representing mass transport. The transport part of the model is used to describe absorption of water in concrete using principles developed originally for unsaturated soils. The effect of fracture on transport is considered by adjusting the transport properties of the conduit elements according to a cubic function of the crack opening. The modelling is applied to several benchmarks and extended to consider the meso-structure of concrete in the form of randomly arranged circular inclusions. The influence of inclusion volume fraction on the change of water content is studied.
Novel High-Performance Stand-Alone Solar PV System With High-Gain High-Efficiency DC–DC Converter Power Stages

This paper proposes a novel 3Φ stand-alone solar photovoltaic (PV) system configuration that uses high-gain high efficiency (≈ 96%) dc-dc converters both in the forward power stage and the bidirectional battery interface. The high-voltage gain converters enable the use of low-voltage PV and battery sources. This results in minimization of partial shading and parasitic capacitance effects on the PV source. Series connection of a large number of battery modules is obviated, preventing the overcharging and deep discharging issues that reduce the battery life. In addition, the proposed configuration facilitates “required power tracking (RPT)” of the PV source as per the load requirements, eliminating the use of expensive and “difficult to manage” dump loads. High-performance inverter operation is achieved through abc to dq reference frame transformation, which helps in generating precise information about the load's active power component for RPT, regulation of ac output voltage, and minimization of control complexity. Inverter output voltage is regulated by controlling the modulation index of sinusoidal pulsewidth modulation, resulting in a stable and reliable system operation. The active power demand is controlled by regulating the dc link voltage. All the analytical, simulation, and experimental results of this work are presented.
Electrophysiologic Effects of Quinidine: Studies Using Chronically Implanted Electrodes in Awake Dogs with and Without Cardiac Denervation

Experiments were performed on awake dogs with chronic recording electrodes implanted on the SA node, His bundle, and right bundle branch. Quinidine at serum concentrations of 5 to 10 mg/liter had little effect on AV conduction, but slowed conduction in Purkinje tissue, prolonged ventricular activation, decreased the excitability of atrium and ventricle, and prolonged the atrial refractory period without a consistent effect on the ventricular refractory period. In awake dogs that had previously undergone cardiac denervation, quinidine decreased the excitability and prolonged the refractory period of atrium and ventricle. The effects of quinidine on excitability were dependent on the duration of the stimulus used to test excitability. The actions of quinidine on intraventricular conduction and excitability were enhanced at rapid rates of stimulation. These data indicate that slowing of intraventricular conduction is observed consistently at serum quinidine concentrations that are generally considered to be within the therapeutic range, but changes of the refractory period of the ventricle are not observed consistently. Although the vagolytic properties of quinidine may contribute to changes of heart rate, they do not appear to influence significantly the effects of quinidine on atrial refractoriness and AV conduction.
Epipole and Fundamental Matrix Estimation Using the Virtual Parallax Property

This paper addresses the problem of computing the fundamental matrix which describes a geometric relationship between a pair of stereo images : the epipolar geometry. In the uncalibrated case, epipolar geometry captures all the 3D information available from the scene. It is of a central importance for problems such as 3D reconstruction, self-calibration and feature tracking. Hence, the computation of the fundamental matrix is of great interest. The existing methods 10] uses two steps : a linear step followed by a non linear one. But the linear step gives rarely a close form solution for the fundamental matrix resulting in more iterations for the non linear step which is not guaranteed to converge to the correct solution. In this paper, a novel method based on virtual parallax is proposed. The problem is formulated diierently, instead of computing directely the 3 3 fundamental matrix, we compute a homography with one epipole position, and show that this is equivalent to compute the fundamental matrix. Simple equations are derived by reducing the number of parameters to estimate. As a consequence, we obtain an accurate fundamental matrix of rank 2 with a stable linear computation. Experiments with simulated and real images validate our method and clearly show the improvement over the existing methods.