Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Emission Rate Adaptive Algorithm of Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy consumption of wireless nodes in WSNs increases with transmission duration. To reduce it so as to extend the entire network lifecycle at no sacrifice of communication reliability and quality, this paper first proves experimentally the relationship of communication distance to emission rate is of a logistic curve and find the receiving current increases linearly with the emission rate, Then, an emission rate adaptive (ERA) algorithm is proposed to maximizes data transmission rate in the constraint of communication distance and packet loss ratio, so as to reduce communication duration and to improve network lifecycle. Simulation results from application of ERA in existing network protocol algorithms LEACH, SEP and DEEC, improves its effectiveness.
Urinary trichlorophenol levels and increased risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among US school-aged children

Background Trichlorophenols (TCPs) are organochlorine compounds which are ubiquitous in the environment and well known for their carcinogenic effects. However, little is known about their neurotoxicity in humans. Objectives Our goal was to examine the association between body burden of TCPs (ie, 2,4,5-TCP and 2,4,6-TCP) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods We calculated ORs and 95% CIs from logistic regression analyses using data from the 1999–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to evaluate the association between urinary TCPs and parent-reported ADHD among 2546 children aged 6–15 years. Results Children with low levels (<3.58 μg/g) and high levels (≥3.58 μg/g) of urinary 2,4,6-TCP had a higher risk of parent-reported ADHD compared to children with levels below the limit of detection (OR 1.54, 95% CI 0.97 to 2.43 and OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.18 to 2.66, respectively; p for trend=0.006) after adjusting for covariates. No association was found between urinary 2,4,5-TCP and parent-reported ADHD. Conclusion Exposure to TCP may increase the risk of behavioural impairment in children. The potential neurotoxicity of these chemicals should be considered in public health efforts to reduce environmental exposures/contamination, especially in countries where organochlorine pesticides are still commonly used.
Phoneme resistance during speech-in-speech comprehension

This study investigates masking effects occurring during speech comprehension in the presence of concurrent speech signals. We examined the differential effects of 4- to 8-talker babble (natural speech) or babble-like noise (reversed speech) on word identification. We measured phoneme identification rates. Results showed that different types of linguistic information can interfere with speech recognition and that different resistances are observed for different phonemes depending on interfering noise.
Polyphonic Music Transcription using Deep Learning Methods

What is polyphony ❖ Two or more independent notes playing at the same time ❖ Monophonic music-only one node is played at a time. ❖ Extract the notes played in a polyphonic piano song. ❖ Resynthesize the song from the transcribed notes. ❖ Many notes are played at once, therefore techniques of multi-class classifiers are not applicable.
RETINAL FUNCTIONAL CHANGES MEASURED BY MICROPERIMETRY IN NEOVASCULAR AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION PATIENTS TREATED WITH RANIBIZUMAB

Purpose: To assess functional and structural retinal changes in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration treated with intravitreal ranibizumab 0.5 mg. Methods: Eighteen patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration have been evaluated in this retrospective 24-week follow-up study. All patients were treated with three injections of ranibizumab 0.5 mg, 1 month apart and retreated according to predefined criteria. At baseline, all patients were subjected to visual acuity measurement, fluorescein angiography, microperimetry, and optical coherence tomography stratus. Visual acuity, microperimetry, and optical coherence tomography evaluations were repeated 28 ± 2 days after each injection. Results: Mean retinal sensitivity significantly improved from 3.89 ± 3.0 dB at baseline to 6.61 ± 3.4 dB at 24 weeks (P = 0.044). Mean visual acuity significantly improved from 48.67 ± 8.58 to 60.72 ± 16.09 (P = 0.026); visual acuity improved in 44.4% of patients ≥15 letters (24.5 ± 8.0 letters), and in 38.9% of patients improved <15 letters (6.14 ± 3.7 letters); 16.7% of patients lost <15 letters (7.3 ± 2.1 letters). An improvement of fixation stability from baseline was observed in 33.3% of patients. Central macular thickness significantly decreased from 310.5 ± 85.7 &mgr;m to 217.3 ± 46.8 &mgr;m at 24 weeks (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Although visual acuity and retinal thickness changes seemed to be almost maximum at 4 weeks after intravitreal ranibizumab 0.5 mg, retinal sensitivity as measured by microperimetry showed a trend of progressive improvement till 24 weeks suggesting that microperimetry may give additional information about macular function not given by visual acuity alone.
Rabs and their effectors: Achieving specificity in membrane traffic

Rab proteins constitute the largest branch of the Ras GTPase superfamily. Rabs use the guanine nucleotide-dependent switch mechanism common to the superfamily to regulate each of the four major steps in membrane traffic: vesicle budding, vesicle delivery, vesicle tethering, and fusion of the vesicle membrane with that of the target compartment. These different tasks are carried out by a diverse collection of effector molecules that bind to specific Rabs in their GTP-bound state. Recent advances have not only greatly extended the number of known Rab effectors, but have also begun to define the mechanisms underlying their distinct functions. By binding to the guanine nucleotide exchange proteins that activate the Rabs certain effectors act to establish positive feedback loops that help to define and maintain tightly localized domains of activated Rab proteins, which then serve to recruit other effector molecules. Additionally, Rab cascades and Rab conversions appear to confer directionality to membrane traffic and couple each stage of traffic with the next along the pathway.
Influence of Carbon Fillers on Thermal Properties and Flammability of Polymeric Nanocomposites

Abstract Undesirable features of polymeric materials include insufficient thermal stability under specified exploitation conditions and too high flammability. These features depend on the chemical structure of polymer macromolecules, and composition of polymeric composites. Polymeric materials with increased thermal stability and improved resistance to the action of fire are produced with the use of various types of fillers with nanometric dimensions. Among numerous nanofillers, carbon-based nanofillers such as graphite nanoplatelets, carbon nanotubes and graphenes (graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide and modified graphene) play an essential role. The aim of this report is to highlight the latest findings concerning the effect of carbon fillers, mainly graphene and carbon nanotubes on the thermal properties and flammability of polymer nanocomposites.
Widespread Use and Frequent Detection of Neonicotinoid Insecticides in Wetlands of Canada's Prairie Pothole Region

Neonicotinoids currently dominate the insecticide market as seed treatments on Canada's major Prairie crops (e.g., canola). The potential impact to ecologically significant wetlands in this dominantly agro-environment has largely been overlooked while the distribution of use, incidence and level of contamination remains unreported. We modelled the spatial distribution of neonicotinoid use across the three Prairie Provinces in combination with temporal assessments of water and sediment concentrations in wetlands to measure four active ingredients (clothianidin, thiamethoxam, imidacloprid and acetamiprid). From 2009 to 2012, neonicotinoid use was increasing; by 2012, applications covered an estimated ∼11 million hectares (44% of Prairie cropland) with >216,000 kg of active ingredients. Thiamethoxam, followed by clothianidin, were the dominant seed treatments by mass and area. Areas of high neonicotinoid use were identified as high density canola or soybean production. Water sampled four times from 136 wetlands (spring, summer, fall 2012 and spring 2013) across four rural municipalities in Saskatchewan similarly revealed clothianidin and thiamethoxam in the majority of samples. In spring 2012 prior to seeding, 36% of wetlands contained at least one neonicotinoid. Detections increased to 62% in summer 2012, declined to 16% in fall, and increased to 91% the following spring 2013 after ice-off. Peak concentrations were recorded during summer 2012 for both thiamethoxam (range: <LOQ - 1490 ng/L, canola) and clothianidin (range: <LOQ – 3110 ng/L, canola). Sediment samples collected during the same period rarely (6%) contained neonicotinoid concentrations (which did not exceed 20 ng/L). Wetlands situated in barley, canola and oat fields consistently contained higher mean concentrations of neonicotinoids than in grasslands, but no individual crop singularly influenced overall detections or concentrations. Distribution maps indicate neonicotinoid use is increasing and becoming more widespread with concerns for environmental loading, while frequently detected neonicotinoid concentrations in Prairie wetlands suggest high persistence and transport into wetlands.
A Novel UHF RFID Tag Antenna for Cigarette Carton

A novel UHF RFID tag antenna that can be seamlessly integrated into wrapping paper of metallic objects is reported. When designed for printing on cigarette carton with aluminum foil contained, both numerical simulation and measurement indicate that the proposed antenna has input impedance of (20+ j149)￻ at resonant frequency of 915MHz, which provides satisfactory conjugate match to the Alien Higgs-2 RFID ASIC. The UHF RFID tag with de- signed antenna on cigarette carton demonstrates -10dB return loss bandwidth of 31MHz at the 915MHz UHF RFID band, and a read range of approximately 0.63m.
Multi-objective Optimization with Unbounded Solution Sets

Machine learning often requires the optimization of multiple, partially conflicting objectives. True multi-objective optimization (MOO) methods avoid the need to choose a weighting of the objectives a priori and provide insights about the tradeoffs between the objectives. We extend a state-of-the-art derivative-free Monte Carlo method for MOO, the MO-CMA-ES, to operate on an unbounded set of (non-dominated) candidate solutions. The resulting algorithm, UP-MO-CMA-ES, performed well in two recent performance comparisons of MOO methods.
Photo - Luminescence Studies of a novel NLO (ZTS) Crystal

Single crystals of semi organic Zinc Tris Thiourea sulphate were grown by solution growth technique. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of ZTS crystal substantiates the orthorhombic crystal structure. Temperature reliant Luminescence study from 300K to 77K (27 o C to - 196 o C) exhibits peaks of
Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound: A Review of the Physical Principles and Major Applications in Critical Care

Transcranial Doppler (TCD) is a noninvasive ultrasound (US) study used to measure cerebral blood flow velocity (CBF-V) in the major intracranial arteries. It involves use of low-frequency (≤2 MHz) US waves to insonate the basal cerebral arteries through relatively thin bone windows. TCD allows dynamic monitoring of CBF-V and vessel pulsatility, with a high temporal resolution. It is relatively inexpensive, repeatable, and portable. However, the performance of TCD is highly operator dependent and can be difficult, with approximately 10–20% of patients having inadequate transtemporal acoustic windows. Current applications of TCD include vasospasm in sickle cell disease, subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), and intra- and extracranial arterial stenosis and occlusion. TCD is also used in brain stem death, head injury, raised intracranial pressure (ICP), intraoperative monitoring, cerebral microembolism, and autoregulatory testing.
COORDINATION OF AN UNDERWATER GLIDER FLEET FOR ADAPTIVE OCEAN SAMPLING ?

The Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network-II (AOSN-II) and Adaptive Sampling And Prediction (ASAP) projects aim to develop a sustainable, portable, adaptive ocean observing and prediction system for use in coastal environments. These projects employ, among other observation platforms, autonomous underwater vehicles that carry sensors to measure physical and biological signals in the ocean. The measurements from all sensing platforms are assimilated in real-time into advanced ocean models. The objective is to coordinate the mobile assets in order to collect data of highest possible utility. Critical to this effort are reliable, efficient and adaptive control strategies to enable the mobile sensor platforms to collect data autonomously. In this paper, we summarize feedback control strategies that enable us to gather useful information over a wide spectrum of spatial and temporal scales. First, we design formation control strategies useful for sampling small spatial scale processes (less than 5 km). In this framework, the feedback control laws maintain a desired formation of vehicles and allow the group to locate interesting features in the ocean. Some of these control strategies were implemented on a group of underwater gliders in Monterey Bay in August 2003, as part of the AOSN-II project. Second, we direct mobile sensor networks to provide synoptic coverage to investigate larger scales ( 5−100 km). Coordinated vehicle trajectories are designed according to the spatial and temporal variability in the field in order to keep sensor measurements appropriately distributed in space and time.
Prenatal interventions for fetal lung lesions

The widespread availability of high resolution ultrasound equipment and almost universal routine anatomy scanning in all pregnant women in the developed world has lead to increased detection of abnormalities in the fetal thorax. Already in the 1980s, large pleural effusions and significant macrocystic lesions in the fetus were easily detected on ultrasound. However, smaller lung tumours were often missed. Nowadays, fetal medicine centres receive many referrals for evaluation of fetal lung lesions, of which the most common are congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation and bronchopulmonary sequestration. Almost invariably, both the parents and the referring physicians experience anxiety after detection of large lung masses in the fetus. However, the vast majority of the currently detected fetal lung lesions have an excellent prognosis without the need for prenatal intervention. In the small group of fetuses in which the prognosis is poor, almost exclusively those with concomitant fetal hydrops and cardiac failure, several options for fetal therapy exist, often with a more than 50% survival rate. Indications, techniques, complications and outcomes of these interventions will be described in this review. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Optical Supertrap with complete photonic lens

In this paper, using the perfect lens has created electromagnetic trap. Negative refractive index and superlenz that are two important Electromagnetic phenomenon’s are were combined to create this trap. A two-dimensional photonic crystal structure consists of a rectangular dielectric rods were used in the array. High resolution and short focal length lens makes a beam of highly concentrated and highly convergent that have the requirements for electromagnetic traps. This trap can be changed without moving the lens in the microwave frequencies
2×2 Monotone Grid Classes Are Finitely Based

In this note, we prove that all $2 \times 2$ monotone grid classes are finitely based, i.e., defined by a finite collection of minimal forbidden permutations. This follows from a slightly more general result about certain $2 \times 2$ (generalized) grid classes having two monotone cells in the same row.
Fractionation of Hemicelluloses and Lignin from Rice Straw by Combining Autohydrolysis and Optimised Mild Organosolv Delignification

An integrated strategy was followed to valorise rice straw, one of the most relevant biomass feedstocks available worldwide, to selectively recover solubilised hemicelluloses and lignin. The pathway encompassed the use of autohydrolysis to hydrolyse the hemicelluloses and an ethanol-based organosolv process to solubilise lignin. Several autohydrolysis conditions were assayed with the best results obtained at 210 oC (log R0 4.15), which enabled high removal of hemicelluloses, yielding an oligosaccharide-rich hydrolysate and a treated biomass with low content of hemicelluloses and enriched in cellulose and lignin. The effects of ethanol concentration (5 to 75%), and reaction time (0 to 24 h) on lignin removal under mild temperature (30 oC) were studied. In optimal conditions (60.5% ethanol, 24h) the delignification yield reached 42%, whereas glucan solubilisation was below 17%. Lignin solubilisation yield was not influenced by the organosolv treatment duration while ethanol concentration favored the delignification up to 60.5% ethanol. The organosolv liquors contained economic interesting lignin-derived compounds such as vanillin, ferulic, and coumaric acids. The chemical composition and enzymatic digestibility of the treated biomass from autohydrolysis and organosolv delignification were compared, with the latter presenting an almost 10% higher enzymatic digestibility than the former.
Driver drowsiness and behavior detection in prolonged conditionally automated drives

This paper reports a study that investigated driver behavior between manual and conditionally automated driving and behavioral progress in a long conditionally automated phase. The goal was to evaluate a novel framework of an assistant system for driver state monitoring during conditionally automated driving. The framework was based on the analysis of the drivers' eye closure and head movements provided by a driver observation camera. Furthermore, individual alertness requests to verify the take-over and reaction ability of the driver during the automated phase were included in the framework. The basis of the evaluation was a realistic driving simulator study with 18 participants and long monotonous drives (Mean: 2:51 +/- 0:18 h) with the majority of the drive being conditionally automated. The data showed a significant difference in the behavioral indicators (eye closure and head movement) between drivers driving manually or conditionally automated, independently of their current drowsiness state. These findings suggest that many of the common features used for drowsiness detection in manual driving phases are not applicable to the automated driving context without an adaption as presented within the framework provided.
Evolution of 2014/15 H3N2 Influenza Viruses Circulating in US: Consequences for Vaccine Effectiveness and Possible New Pandemic

A key factor in the effectiveness of the seasonal influenza vaccine is its immunological compatibility with the circulating viruses during the season. Here we propose a new bioinformatics approach for analysis of influenza viruses which could be used as an efficient tool for selection of vaccine viruses, assessment of the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccines, and prediction of the epidemic/pandemic potential of novel influenza viruses.
Down-converters with doped solid solution crystals GaSe1-xSx for THz spectrometry

We launched into a development of a new stand-off sensing system that can detect atmospheric and hazardous gases in real atmosphere utilizing THz technology. Narrow line width, <0.1 cm-1, long-wave (mid-IR and THz) source based on difference frequency generation (DFG) in collinear configuration in GaSe0.91S0. 09:Al(0.03 at. %) using seeded YAG laser and KTP OPO as pump sources was designed. The low optical loss coefficient and large hardness, together with the simplicity of the processing, make GaSe0.91S0. 09:Al(0.03 at. %) as a high-reliable and effective THz-wave generator suitable for out-of-door application. We demonstrate incoherent terahertz wave detection by stand-off room temperature Schottky diodes located at over 110 m using open waveguide formed by multitude HPE lenses, mirrors and/or unpolished reflectors.
Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Modified Mini Mental State Examination in African Americans

Background. Sparse data limit the interpretation of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores, particularly in minority populations. Additionally, there are no published data on how MoCA scores compare to the widely used Modified Mini Mental State Examination (3MSE). We provide performance data on the MoCA in a large cohort of African Americans and compare 3MSE and MoCA scores, providing a “crosswalk” for interpreting scores. Methods. Five hundred and thirty African Americans with type 2 diabetes were enrolled in African American-Diabetes Heart Study-MIND, a cross-sectional study of cognition and structural and functional brain imaging. After excluding participants with possible cognitive impairment (n = 115), mean (SD) MoCA and 3MSE scores are presented stratified by age and education. Results. Participant mean age was 58.2 years (range: 35-83); 61% were female; and 64.9% had >12 years of education. Mean (SD) 3MSE and MoCA scores were 86.9 (8.2) and 19.8 (3.8), respectively. 93.5% of the cohort had a “positive” screen on the MoCA, scoring <26 (education-adjusted), compared with 47.5% on the 3MSE (cut-point < 88). A 3MSE score of 88 corresponded to a MoCA score of 20 in this population. Conclusion. The present data suggest the need for caution when applying proposed MoCA cutoffs to African Americans.
Role of abscisic acid and drought stress on the activities of antioxidant enzymes in wheat

The effect of drought stress and abscisic acid (ABA) applied at tillering stage (55 days after sowing) was compared in 2 wheat cultivars differing in drought tolerance. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) and contents of endogenous ABA in plants were measured at 3 days of drought stress in cv. Chakwal-97 (drought tolerant) and cv. Punjab-96 (drought susceptible). ABA was applied at 10 –6 mol/L as presowing seed treatment for 18 h. Drought tolerant cultivar has a more efficient mechanism to scavenge reactive oxygen species as shown by a significant increase in the activity of antioxidant enzyme SOD. Under drought stress, ABA significantly increased the activities of SOD and POD, showing a significant decline on rewatering. The relative water content was significantly increased by ABA priming under drought stress in both wheat cultivars. The sensitive cultivar exhibiting lower endogenous ABA content was more responsive to ABA priming. On rewatering, the magnitude of recovery from drought stress was greater in tolerant cultivar. ABA was highly effective in improving grain weight of tolerant cultivar under drought stress.