Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Subspace array processing for the suppression of FM jamming in GPS receivers

This paper applies the subspace projection array processing techniques for suppression of frequency modulated (FM) jammers in GPS receivers. The FM jammers are instantaneous narrowband and have clear time-frequency (t-f) signatures that are distinct from the GPS C/A spread spectrum code. In the proposed technique, the instantaneous frequency (IF) of the jammer is estimated and used to construct the jammer subspace. With a multi-sensor receiver, both spatial and time-frequency signatures of signal arrivals are used for effective interference suppression. This paper considers the deterministic nature of the GPS C/A code. We derive the receiver SINR, which shows improved performance in strong interference environments.
Simulation of Free Surface Compressible Flows Via a Two Fluid Model

The purpose of this communication is to discuss the simulation of a free surface compressible flow between two fluids, typically air and water. We use a two fluid model with the same velocity, pressure and temperature for both phases. In such a numerical model, the free surface becomes a thin three dimensional zone. The present method has at least three advantages: (i) the free-surface treatment is completely implicit; (ii) it can naturally handle wave breaking and other topological changes in the flow; (iii) one can easily vary the Equation of States (EOS) of each fluid (in principle, one can even consider tabulated EOS). Moreover, our model is unconditionally hyperbolic for reasonable EOS.
Nutrition therapy in the critical care setting: What is “best achievable” practice? An international multicenter observational study*

Objective: To describe current nutrition practices in intensive care units and determine “best achievable” practice relative to evidence-based Critical Care Nutrition Clinical Practice Guidelines. Design: An international, prospective, observational, cohort study conducted January to June 2007. Setting: One hundred fifty-eight adult intensive care units from 20 countries. Patients: Two-thousand nine-hundred forty-six consecutively enrolled mechanically ventilated adult patients (mean, 18.6 per site) who stayed in the intensive care unit for at least 72 hrs. Interventions: Data on nutrition practices were collected from intensive care unit admission to intensive care unit discharge or a maximum of 12 days. Measurements and Main Results: Relative to recommendations of the Clinical Practice Guidelines, we report average, best, and worst site performance on key nutrition practices. Adherence to Clinical Practice Guideline recommendations was high for some recommendations: use of enteral nutrition in preference to parenteral nutrition, glycemic control, lack of utilization of arginine-enriched enteral formulas, delivery of hypocaloric parenteral nutrition, and the presence of a feeding protocol. However, significant practice gaps were identified for other recommendations. Average time to start of enteral nutrition was 46.5 hrs (site average range, 8.2–149.1 hrs). The average use of motility agents and small bowel feeding in patients who had high gastric residual volumes was 58.7% (site average range, 0%–100%) and 14.7% (site average range, 0%–100%), respectively. There was poor adherence to recommendations for the use of enteral formulas enriched with fish oils, glutamine supplementation, timing of supplemental parenteral nutrition, and avoidance of soybean oil-based parenteral lipids. Average nutritional adequacy was 59% (site average range, 20.5%–94.4%) for energy and 60.3% (site average range, 18.6%–152.5%) for protein. Conclusions: Despite high adherence to some recommendations, large gaps exist between many recommendations and actual practice in intensive care units, and consequently nutrition therapy is suboptimal. We have identified “best achievable” practice that can serve as targets for future quality improvement initiatives.
A fiber-to-chip grating coupler for the Ge-on-Si platform at 5 um wavelength

We present efficient TM fiber-to-chip grating couplers that couple light between a single mode InF fiber and Germanium-on-Silicon (Ge-on-Si) waveguides in the 5 μm wavelength range. In recent years, Ge-on-Si has emerged as a platform of interest for sensing applications beyond 4 μm [1, 2]. Ge has low losses for light in the 412 μm range, which makes it suitable for the realization of mid-infrared (midIR) photonic integrated circuit gas and liquid sensors. Fig 1. Simulated fiber-to-chip coupling efficiency as a function of wavelength (a) and the measured couping efficiency of the grating (b) Grating coupler design: Since for a number of midIR applications QCL sources are used, emitting TM polarized light, we have opted to design fiber-chip interfaces for TM polarization. The couplers are designed in a 2 μm thick Ge waveguide layer on a silicon substrate. The TM grating coupler for the Ge-on-Si platform has a period of 1.42 μm, a 80% duty cycle (defined as the ratio of the width of the unetched tooth and the grating period) and an etch depth of 0.9 μm. The waveguides are partially etched with the same etch depth. The simulated coupling efficiency is 40% with a 3dB bandwidth of 180 nm at a central wavelength around 5.22 μm (Fig. 1a), for a fiber angle of θ = 5°. The simulated reflectivity of the grating is below 1%, as calculated by 2D FDTD. Fabrication and measurement: The grating and the waveguide are both defined with e-beam lithography and etched in one step using a chromium mask and a CF4/H2 plasma. Due to the fabrication imperfections the duty cycle of the fabricated device is 0.82, while the period and the etch depth is close to the targeted value. The best overlap of the fiber mode and the fundamental TM grating mode was achieved for a 27.5 μm wide grating. The top view and cross-section of the characterized device is shown in Fig. 2. The measurement system is schematically shown in Fig. 3b. Light from the freespace external cavity QCL operating in CW is coupled to the InF fiber by a ZnS lens. Between the laser and the lens we have a chopper and a Babinet-Soleil polarization control element. a) b)
Design of integrated antenna and RF filter for rectenna application

This paper proposes a high-gain circular patch antenna (CPA) with electromagnetically coupled and stepped-impedance low pass filter (LPF) which is integrated together in a single substrate for rectenna application. This structure operates at frequency WLAN 2.4 GHz and can achieve antenna gain of 6.88 dB for the single element. Moreover, the higher harmonics can be suppressed by low pass filter, and the output's impedance is 50.65 + j4.64 Ω at frequency 2.44 GHz.
Regulatory approval of new medical devices: cross sectional study

Objective To investigate the regulatory approval of new medical devices. Design Cross sectional study of new medical devices reported in the biomedical literature. Data sources PubMed was searched between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2004 to identify clinical studies of new medical devices. The search was carried out during this period to allow time for regulatory approval. Eligibility criteria for study selection Articles were included if they reported a clinical study of a new medical device and there was no evidence of a previous clinical study in the literature. We defined a medical device according to the US Food and Drug Administration as an “instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, contrivance, implant, in vitro reagent, or other similar or related article. ” Main outcome measures Type of device, target specialty, and involvement of academia or of industry for each clinical study. The FDA medical databases were then searched for clearance or approval relevant to the device. Results 5574 titles and abstracts were screened, 493 full text articles assessed for eligibility, and 218 clinical studies of new medical devices included. In all, 99/218 (45%) of the devices described in clinical studies ultimately received regulatory clearance or approval. These included 510(k) clearance for devices determined to be “substantially equivalent” to another legally marketed device (78/99; 79%), premarket approval for high risk devices (17/99; 17%), and others (4/99; 4%). Of these, 43 devices (43/99; 43%) were actually cleared or approved before a clinical study was published. Conclusions We identified a multitude of new medical devices in clinical studies, almost half of which received regulatory clearance or approval. The 510(k) pathway was most commonly used, and clearance often preceded the first published clinical study.
Hypoglycemic Effect of Ethanol and Ethyl Acetate Extract of Phellinus baumii Fruiting Body in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Mice

We investigated hypoglycemic effect of ethanol (EtOH) and ethyl acetate extract acetate (AcOEt) extracts in streptozotocin- (STZ-) induced diabetic mice. Our data showed the maximum inhibitory effect on the fasting plasma glucose (FPG) level was detected in STZ-induced diabetic mice administered with 400 mg/kg AcOEt extract of P. baumii. A lower glycated albumin (GA) level and a higher insulin level were observed in 400 mg/kg AcOEt and EtOH extract groups. Moreover, 400 mg/kg AcOEt and EtOH extract exhibited a stronger effect on increasing size and cell number of islets. The insulin expression level of β-cells and integrated optical density (IOD) value were significantly increased by the administration of 400 mg/kg AcOEt and EtOH extracts. Taken together, AcOEt and EtOH extracts of P. baumii fruiting body exhibited considerable hypoglycemic effect on STZ-induced diabetic mice.
Assessing the Activity of Cediranib, a VEGFR-2/3 Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor, against VEGFR-1 and Members of the Structurally Related PDGFR Family

Cediranib is a potent inhibitor of the VEGF receptor (VEGFR)-2 and VEGFR-3 tyrosine kinases. This study assessed the activity of cediranib against the VEGFR-1 tyrosine kinase and the platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR)-associated kinases c-Kit, PDGFR-α, and PDGFR-β. Cediranib inhibited VEGF-A–stimulated VEGFR-1 activation in AG1-G1-Flt1 cells (IC50 = 1.2 nmol/L). VEGF-A induced greatest phosphorylation of VEGFR-1 at tyrosine residues Y1048 and Y1053; this was reversed by cediranib. Potency against VEGFR-1 was comparable with that previously observed versus VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3. Cediranib also showed significant activity against wild-type c-Kit in cellular phosphorylation assays (IC50 = 1–3 nmol/L) and in a stem cell factor–induced proliferation assay (IC50 = 13 nmol/L). Furthermore, phosphorylation of wild-type c-Kit in NCI-H526 tumor xenografts was reduced markedly following oral administration of cediranib (≥1.5 mg/kg/d) to tumor-bearing nude mice. The activity of cediranib against PDGFR-β and PDGFR-α was studied in tumor cell lines, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC), and a fibroblast line using PDGF-AA and PDGF-BB ligands. Both receptor phosphorylation (IC50 = 12–32 nmol/L) and PDGF-BB–stimulated cellular proliferation (IC50 = 32 nmol/L in human VSMCs; 64 nmol/L in osteosarcoma cells) were inhibited. In vivo, ligand-induced PDGFR-β phosphorylation in murine lung tissue was inhibited by 55% following treatment with cediranib at 6 mg/kg but not at 3 mg/kg or less. In contrast, in C6 rat glial tumor xenografts in mice, ligand-induced phosphorylation of both PDGFR-α and PDGFR-β was reduced by 46% to 61% with 0.75 mg/kg cediranib. Additional selectivity was showed versus Flt-3, CSF-1R, EGFR, FGFR1, and FGFR4. Collectively, these data indicate that cediranib is a potent pan-VEGFR kinase inhibitor with similar activity against c-Kit but is significantly less potent than PDGFR-α and PDGFR-β. Mol Cancer Ther; 10(5); 861–73. ©2011 AACR.
Early Results from 3 DESS : A 3 D Engineering Shape Search System

Estimates suggest that more than 75% of engineering design activity comprises reuse of previous design knowledge to address a new design problem. This paper presents a brief overview of a novel approach to search for 3D models. The system is built on a clientserver-database architecture. The client takes in the query input from the user along with his search preferences and passes it to the server. The server converts the shape input into feature vectors and a unique skeletal graph representation. Details of the algorithms to perform these steps are presented here. Principal advantages of our graph representation are: (i) it preserves geometry and topology of the query model, (ii) it is considerably smaller than the B-Rep graph, and (iii) it is insensitive to minor perturbations in shape, but sensitive enough to capture the major features of a shape. Critical database issues such as search system efficiency, semantic gap reduction and the subjectivity of the similarity definition are addressed. This paper reports our initial results in designing, implementing and running the shape search system.
Countermovement Vertical Jump With Drop Step is Higher Than Without in Collegiate Football Players

Brodt, V, Wagner, DR, Heath ME. Coutermovement vertical jump with drop step is higher than without in collegiate football players. J Strength Cond Res 22: 1382-1385, 2008-The vertical jump is a performance test commonly used to assess explosive power and predict athletic ability. Typically, the vertical jump is performed with a countermovement from a stationary stance. We hypothesized that taking a quick step back before initiating the jump, known as the drop-step technique, would result in a higher vertical jump. The purpose of this study was to compare countermovement vertical jumps (CMJs) done from the stationary-stance position to CMJs performed with the drop-step with trained athletes. NCAA Division I football players (N = 56) performed 3 trials each of stationary-stance and drop-step CMJs in a random order. A paired t test revealed that a significantly (p < 0.01) higher jump height was achieved with the drop-step CMJ (69.3 ± 8.0 cm) compared to the stationary-stance CMJ (66.5 ± 8.0 cm). The 2 jump conditions were highly related (r = 0.95), and the rank order of the athletes tended to be similar from 1 condition to the other (ρ = 0.94). Trial-to-trial reliability was similar for each condition (coefficient of variation [CV] = 3.5% stationary stance; CV = 4.1% drop step). It is important to standardize CMJ testing procedures because a significant difference in the height achieved exists between the stationary-stance and drop-step techniques.
Multiagent Planning Under Uncertainty with Stochastic Communication Delays

We consider the problem of cooperative multiagent planning under uncertainty, formalized as a decentralized partially observable Markov decision process (Dec-POMDP). Unfortunately, in these models optimal planning is provably intractable. By communicating their local observations before they take actions, agents synchronize their knowledge of the environment, and the planning problem reduces to a centralized POMDP. As such, relying on communication significantly reduces the complexity of planning. In the real world however, such communication might fail temporarily. We present a step towards more realistic communication models for Dec-POMDPs by proposing a model that: (1) allows that communication might be delayed by one or more time steps, and (2) explicitly considers future probabilities of successful communication. For our model, we discuss how to efficiently compute an (approximate) value function and corresponding policies, and we demonstrate our theoretical results with encouraging experiments.
The Roles of Immunity in the Prevention and Evolution of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

This Perspective provides an in depth overview of the many aspects of inflammation which are associated with many forms of severe pulmonary hypertension.Details of the pathobiology of severe pulmonary hypertension are discussed in the context of the multicellular inflammatory vascular infiltrates which represent a lung vessel response to injury and and a localized immune response.The important question whether inflammation is cause or consequence of pulmonary hypertension should not distract from designing and conducting clinical pilot studies which examine the efficacy of existing immune system modulating drugs.
Development of Micro-Dodecahedral Loudspeaker for Measuring Head-Related Transfer Functions in The Proximal region

This paper describes new equipment for measuring head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) near a listener's head. 3D sounds in headphones are generated by the convolution of sound signals and an HRTF, which is defined as the acoustical transfer function between a point sound source and the entrance to the ear canal. A loudspeaker is usually used for HRTF measurements, and a distance of more than 1 m separates the loudspeaker and the subject. The region within 1 m of the head is called the 'proximal region,' where a small loudspeaker is needed for accurately measuring HRTF, that is, a conventional loudspeaker cannot be used. In our study, a micro-dodecahedral loudspeaker with twelve piezoelectric ceramic devices is used for HRTF measurements at a diameter is 38 mm. Our experiments examined the characteristics of this loudspeaker. From the results, our developed loudspeaker provides similar performance to a point source, and it is very effective for measuring the HRTFs in the proximal region
Athlete pose estimation by non-sequential key-frame propagation

This paper considers the problem of estimating human pose in challenging monocular sports videos, where manual intervention is often required in order to obtain useful results. Fully automatic approaches focus on developing inference algorithms and probabilistic prior models based on learned measurements and often face challenges in generalisation beyond the learned dataset. This work expands on the idea of using an interactive model-based generative technique for accurately estimating the human pose from uncalibrated unconstrained monocular TV sports footage. A method of keyframe propagation is introduced to obtain reliable tracking from limited operator input by introducing the concepts of keyframe propagation and optimal keyframe selection assistance for the operator. Experimental results show that the approach produces results competitive with those produced with twice the number of manually annotated keyframes, halving the amount of interaction required.
Hydrogen sulfide is a novel mediator of lipopolysaccharide‐induced inflammation in the mouse

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is synthesized in the body from l‐cysteine by several enzymes including cystathionine‐γ‐lyase (CSE). To date, there is little information about the potential role of H2S in inflammation. We have now investigated the part played by H2S in endotoxin‐induced inflammation in the mouse. E. coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration produced a dose (10 and 20 mg/kg ip)‐ and time (6 and 24 h)‐dependent increase in plasma H2S concentration. LPS (10 mg/kg ip, 6 h) increased plasma H2S concentration from 34.1 ± 0.7 µM to 40.9 ± 0.6 µM (n=6, P<0.05) while H2S formation from added l‐cysteine was increased in both liver and kidney. CSE gene expression was also increased in both liver (94.2±2.7%, n=6, P<0.05) and kidney (77.5±3.2%, n=6, P<0.05). LPS injection also elevated lung (148.2±2.6%, n=6, P<0.05) and kidney (78.8±8.2%, n=6, P<0.05) myeloperoxidase (MPO, a marker of tissue neutrophil infiltration) activity alongside histological evidence of lung, liver, and kidney tissue inflammatory damage. Plasma nitrate/nitrite (NOx) concentration was additionally elevated in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner in LPS‐injected animals. To examine directly the possible proinflammatory effect of H2S, mice were administered sodium hydrosulfide (H2S donor drug, 14 µmol/kg ip) that resulted in marked histological signs of lung inflammation, increased lung and liver MPO activity, and raised plasma TNF‐α concentration (4.6±1.4 ng/ml, n=6). In contrast, dl‐propargylglycine (CSE inhibitor, 50 mg/kg ip), exhibited marked anti‐inflammatory activity as evidenced by reduced lung and liver MPO activity, and ameliorated lung and liver tissue damage. In separate experiments, we also detected significantly higher (150.5±43.7 µM c.f. 43.8±5.1 µM, n=5, P<0.05) plasma H2S levels in humans with septic shock. These findings suggest that H2S exhibits proinflammatory activity in endotoxic shock and suggest a new approach to the development of novel drugs for this condition.
MMC04-4: Building A Monitoring Overlay for Peer-to-Peer Streaming

Current peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming systems often assume that nodes are cooperative to upload and download data. However, in the open environment of the Internet, this is not true and there exist malicious nodes in the system. In this paper, we study malicious actions that can be detected through peer- based monitoring. We require each node to monitor the data received and to periodically send out monitoring messages about its neighbors to some trustworthy nodes. To efficiently store and search the messages among multiple trustworthy nodes, we organize the trustworthy nodes into a threaded binary tree. The trustworthy nodes also dynamically redistribute the monitoring messages among them to achieve load balancing. Our simulation results show that this scheme can efficiently detect malicious nodes with high accuracy, and that the dynamic redistribution method can achieve good load balancing among the trustworthy nodes.
All-trans retinoic acid regulates the expression of the extracellular matrix protein fibulin-1 in the guinea pig sclera and human scleral fibroblasts

Purpose Fibulin-1 (FBLN1) mRNA is expressed in human sclera and is an important adhesion modulatory protein that can affect cell–matrix interactions and tissue remodeling. Scleral remodeling is influenced by all-trans retinoic acid (RA). Our purpose was to confirm the presence of fibulin-1 protein in guinea pig sclera and investigate the effect of RA on the expression of fibulin-1 in guinea pig sclera in vivo and in cultured human scleral fibroblasts (HSFs). Methods Confocal fluorescence microscopy was used to study fibulin-1 and aggrecan expression and localization in sclera from control guinea pigs and in animals given RA by daily gavage from 4 to 8 days of age. The effects of RA (from 10−9 to 10−5 M) on fibulin-1 expression in HSFs were observed by immunohistochemistry and assayed by real-time PCR and western blot analysis. Results Fibulin-1 protein expression was detected by confocal fluorescence microscopy in guinea pig sclera and in cultured HSFs. Upregulation of fibulin-1 in scleral tissue was observed after feeding with RA. In vitro, the level of Fbln1 mRNA was increased after treatment of HSFs with RA (at concentrations of 10−8 to 10−6 M; p<0.001), with a maximum effect at 10−7 M. Fibulin-1 protein levels were significantly increased after treatment of HSFs with 10−7 M of RA for 24 or 48 h (p<0.05). Conclusions Fibulin-1 protein was expressed in guinea pig sclera and cultured HSFs. Expression was regulated by RA, a molecule known to be involved in the regulation of eye growth. Further studies on the role of fibulin-1 in the regulation of eye growth, including during the development of myopia, are therefore warranted.