Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Noise-Tolerant $k$-WTA Model With Its Application on Multirobot System

A noise-tolerant <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula>-winners-take-all (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula>-WTA) model injecting a summation item of error is constructed and applied to execute a <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula>-WTA operation in this article. Then, theoretical analyses and proofs on the convergence of the noise-tolerant <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula>-WTA model with different noise disturbances are carried out. In addition, numerical experiments synthesized by the noise-tolerant <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula>-WTA model and other existing <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula>-WTA models are provided to conduct comparisons to demonstrate the superior robustness and stability of the proposed model. Finally, tracking task experiments of a multirobot system with noise considered are operated to further illustrate the advantages of the proposed <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$</tex-math></inline-formula>-WTA model over the existing ones.
Conditional cash transfers in OECD countries: a realist synthesis

Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) schemes have been adopted mostly in low-income countries as a tool to break the vicious cycle of poverty transmission. Although their use is controversial, behavioral conditionalities have also been widely used in welfare-to-work strategies, minimum income scheme, and labor market “activation” policies in OECD countries. The paper presents the results of a Realist Review to synthesize the evidence of CCTs related to work conditionality, delivered in OECD countries. The evaluation literature of 23 selected CCT programs was analyzed by reconstructing Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations. The main findings show that CCTs can be an effective counterbalance to work disincentives introduced by welfare measures. The unintended negative impacts, the role of sanctioning, and the causal pathways that may affect the most disadvantaged people and their children are discussed.
Shape Memory Alloy-Based Fluidically Reconfigurable Metasurfaced Beam Steering Antenna

A low-cost actuator-based fluidically programmable metasurface (FPMS) antenna is proposed to solve the slow tuning speed problem of the manually fluidic based reconfigurable antennas. The FPMS-based antenna is probe-fed and comprises a $4\times4$ square ring metasurface as a superstrate. Moreover, two shape memory alloy (SMA)-based electrically-controlled actuators are employed in the design for controlling the position of the 3D-printed fluidic channels beneath the metasurface along the axes of the radiating slots of the patch antenna. This results in beam-steering of over ±20° in the elevation plane, with a peak gain of 9.1 dBi. It is worth mentioning that compared to conventional electronic tuning technologies where the switches are employed on the top of the radiating aperture of the antenna, which usually deteriorate the antenna performance, the SMA spring actuators do not deteriorate the performance as these are not interacting with the radiating aperture. The proposed antenna was designed and simulated using CST MWS, and the prototype was fabricated and measured. The simulated and measured results are in good agreement, which corroborates the adequacy of the proposed concept. By incorporating the SMA-based fluidic actuators, the proposed antenna is simple and highly efficient as compared to metasurface-based beam-steering antennas reported in the literature thus far.
Les abris artificiels: un outil pour les inventaires herpétologiques et le suivi des populations de reptiles

Une synthese bibliographique relative a l'utilisation des abris artificiels dans les inventaires herpetologiques en Europe occidentale est presentee. Les methodologies utilisees dans les differentes etudes sont comparees. Les auteurs distinguent trois types d'inventaires: qualitatifs, semi-quantitatifs et quantitatifs. La comparaison des resultats obtenus dans diverses etudes montre que l'utilisation de plaques refuges favorise fortement la detection d'au moins cinq especes (Anguis fragilis, Coluber viridiflavus, Coronella austriaca, Elaphe longissima et Natrix natrix) et permet la detection d'individus juveniles bien plus souvent qu'en prospection visuelle classique. De plus, la frequentation des abris augmente avec les annees. Les resultats concernant la detection des Viperides, des Lacertides et de certains amphibiens sont plus variables selon les etudes. Pour ces especes l'utilisation d'abris artificiels est utile aux inventaires qualitatifs mais le protocole gagnerait a etre affine pour les inventaires quantitatifs.
A Low-Power Radiation-Hardened Ka-Band CMOS Phased-Array Receiver for Small Satellite Constellation

This article introduces a low-power radiation-hardened $Ka$ -band CMOS phased-array receiver for the low Earth orbit (LEO) small satellite communication system. As the available solar panel area limits the power consumption of the receiver, a multi-coupling common-gate (CG) low noise amplifier (LNA) with current-sharing topology and built-in 180° phase shifter is proposed in this work to solve the power issue. The multi-coupling LNA utilizes three coupling inductors to reduce the input matching impedance with a smaller input CMOS transistor size. After implementing the proposed technique, a single beamformer realized a 3.4-mW typical power consumption compared with the conventional works with 17.3–195-mW power consumption. The receiver with magnetic-tuning phase shifter (MTPS) has 0.06-dB/Mrad gain and 0.4°/Mrad phase degradations and is the lowest reported root-mean-square phase and gain errors due to radiation. The proposed receiver achieves −22-dBm IIP3 with a 3.8-dB noise figure. The required on-chip area for each element is only 0.2 mm2. In the over-the-air (OTA) measurement, digital video broadcasting-second generation extension (DVB-S2x) standard modulated signals of up to 256 amplitude phase shift keying (APSK) can be supported by the proposed large array modules. This work realizes −33.2-dB error vector magnitude (EVM) and 12.8-Gb/s link speed with 1.6-GHz channel bandwidth. The measured beam pattern can cover radiated angle from −50° to +50° with lower than −10-dBc sidelobe level. Because of the proposed multi-coupling LNA and MTPS, a low-power radiation-hardened phased-array receiver for small LEO satellites can be achieved in this work.
VHL L169P Variant Does Not Alter Cellular Hypoxia Tension in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

In the current era of tumor genome sequencing, single amino acid missense variants in the von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) tumor suppressor gene are frequently identified in clear cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC). Due to the incomplete knowledge of the structural architecture of VHL protein, the functional significance of many missense mutations cannot be assigned. L169P is one such missense mutation identified in the case of aggressive, metastatic ccRCC. Here, we characterized the biochemical activity, transcriptomic hypoxia signature and biological functions of the L169P variant. Lentiviral vector expressing either wildtype (WT) or L169P VHL were used to transduce two VHL-deficient human ccRCC cell lines, 786-O and RCC4. The stability of the VHL protein and the expression level of VHL, HIF1α and HIF2α were analyzed. The impact of restoring L169P or WT VHL on the hypoxia gene expression program in 786-O cells was assessed by mRNA sequencing (RNAseq) and computed hypoxic scores. The impact of restoring VHL expression on the growth of ccRCC models was assessed in cell cultures and in chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) xenografts. In the 786-O cells, the protein stability of L169P VHL was comparable to WT VHL. No obvious difference in the capability of degrading HIF1α and HIF2α was observed between WT and L169P VHL in the 786-O or RCC4 cells. The hypoxic scores were not significantly different in the 786-O cells expressing either wildtype or L169P VHL. From the cellular function perspective, both WT and L169P VHL slowed cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. The L169P VHL variant is comparable to WT VHL in terms of protein stability, ability to degrade HIF1α factors and ability to regulate hypoxia gene expression, as well as in the suppression of ccRCC tumor cell growth. Taken together, our data indicate that the L169P VHL variant alone is unlikely to drive the oncogenesis of sporadic ccRCC.
Biomarkers of Neurological Damage: From Acute Stage to Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19

Background: Neurological symptoms (NS) in COVID-19 are related to both acute stage and long-COVID. We explored levels of brain injury biomarkers (NfL and GFAP) and myeloid activation marker (sCD163) and their implications on the CNS. Materials and Methods: In hospitalized COVID-19 patients plasma samples were collected at two time points: on hospital admission (baseline) and three months after hospital discharge (Tpost). Patients were stratified according to COVID-19 severity based on acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) onset (severe and non-severe groups). A further stratification according to the presence of NS (with and without groups) at baseline (requiring a puncture lumbar for diagnostic purposes) and according to NS self-referred at Tpost was performed. Finally, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected from patients with NS present at baseline. Results: We enrolled 144 COVID-19 patients (62 female/82 male; median age [interquartile range, IQR]): 64 [55–77]) and 53 heathy donors (HD, 30 female/23 male; median age [IQR]: 64 [59–69]). At baseline, higher plasma levels of NfL, GFAP and sCD163 in COVID-19 patients compared to HD were observed (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001, respectively), especially in those with severe COVID-19 (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001, respectively). Patients with NS showed higher plasma levels of NfL, GFAP and sCD163 compared to those without (p = 0.0023, p < 0.0001 and 0.0370, respectively). At baseline, in COVID-19 patients with NS, positive correlations between CSF levels of sCD163 and CSF levels of NfL (ρ = 0.7536, p = 0.0017) and GFAP were observed (ρ = 0.7036, p = 0.0045). At Tpost, the longitudinal evaluation performed on 77 COVID-19 patients showed a significant reduction in plasma levels of NfL, GFAP and sCD163 compared to baseline (p < 0.0001, p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0413, respectively). Finally, at Tpost, in the severe group, higher plasma levels of sCD163 in patients with NS compared to those without were reported (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: High plasma levels of NfL, GFAP and sCD163 could be due to a proinflammatory systemic and brain response involving microglial activation and subsequent CNS damage. Our data highlight the association between myeloid activation and CNS perturbations.
Unlocking Efficiency in BNNs: Global by Local Thresholding for Analog-Based HW Accelerators

For accelerating Binarized Neural Networks (BNNs), analog computing-based crossbar accelerators, utilizing XNOR gates and additional interface circuits, have been proposed. Such accelerators demand a large amount of analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and registers, resulting in expensive designs. To increase the inference efficiency, the state of the art divides the interface circuit into an Analog Path (AP), utilizing (cheap) analog comparators, and a Digital Path (DP), utilizing (expensive) ADCs and registers. During BNN execution, a certain path is selectively triggered. Ideally, as inference via AP is more efficient, it should be triggered as often as possible. However, we reveal that, unless the number of weights is very small, the AP is rarely triggered. To overcome this, we propose a novel BNN inference scheme, called Local Thresholding Approximation (LTA). It approximates the global thresholdings in BNNs by local thresholdings. This enables the use of the AP through most of the execution, which significantly increases the interface circuit efficiency. In our evaluations with two BNN architectures, using LTA reduces the area by 42x and 54x, the energy by 2.7x and 4.2x, and the latency by 3.8x and 1.15x, compared to the state-of-the-art crossbar-based BNN accelerators.
Approximation of continuous EIT data from electrode measurements with Bayesian methods

The electrical impedance tomography (EIT) in its classical formulation seeks to estimate the electric conductivity distribution inside the body from the knowledge of the Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DtN) map of the conductivity equation at the boundary. Numerical methods for the solution of the EIT problem have been developed based on this formulation, most notably the d-bar method and the layer stripping algorithm. In practice, however, the EIT data (electrode data), collected by using a fixed number of contact electrodes, is tantamount to knowledge of the resistance matrix, a mapping between given current configuration and the corresponding vector of measured electrode voltages. Forward models corresponding to the DtN data and the electrode data differ in terms of the boundary values and no direct connection between them has been established. In this article, we analyze the relation between the two boundary data types, and propose to approximate the DtN data from the measured resistance matrix for solving the EIT inverse problem within the Bayesian framework, leveraging a sample based prior and a principal component model reduction.
Understanding the embodied geographic knowledge of people who watch birds: an exploration of encounter, performance and “becoming”

Outside of positivist approaches little is known about the experiences, expectations and practices of people who watch birds in Australia. Given the centrality of bird-watching to the tourism industry, as leisure practice and as citizen science, the lack of critical geographical scholarship in this context is surprising. For this reason the post-structuralist feminist approach offered in this thesis enables possibilities to reconceptualise birdwatching as an inherently embodied and situated experience. This conceptual approach is central to understanding how people "become" "bird-watchers" at the intersections of discourse, technology, human bodies, non-human bodies and space. Empirical data was sourced through semi-structured interviews, participant observation and photo-elicitation interviews with people who watch birds on the South Coast of New South Wales. The combination of these methods sought to capture the richness and complexity of participants’ lived bird-watching experiences. Results presented over three chapters offer new insight into the embodied and situated experiences of bird-watching. The first examines how bird-watching is reliant upon embodied geographical knowledge and technologies that facilitate proximity between humans and birds. The second explores the contradictory embodied geographical knowledge of people who watch birds as environmental citizens. The final results chapter investigates how people negotiate "becoming" "bird-watcher" in their everyday lives, and how embodied geographical knowledge may transform over a life-course as parents, through ageing and as homemakers. The conclusion sets a research agenda drawing on the geographical perspective in this thesis to rethink the relationship between birds, people, technologies and space.
Ecological Risk Assessment of Munitions Compounds on Coral and Coral Reef Health

Abstract : This project was undertaken by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service (NOS) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and Haereticus Environmental Laboratory (HEL) to investigate whether munitions compounds (MCs) or their breakdown products impact corals, and to determine the ecological risk they may pose to coral and coral reef health. At the outset of this project, we were asked by the SERDP Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) to modify our originally proposed project by the addition of laboratory toxicity testing. This interim report documents the results for Task 1 of this project, which was to conduct standard laboratory toxicity testing using a coral cell toxicity assay, establishing NOEC and LOEC values and effect-concentration (LC or EC) values.
The componential nature of arithmetical cognition: some important questions

Research on typically developing children and adults and people with developmental and acquired dyscalculia converges in indicating that arithmetical ability is not unitary but is made up of many different components. Categories of components include non-symbolic quantity representation and processing; symbolic quantity representation and processing; counting procedures and principles; arithmetic operations; arithmetical knowledge and understanding; multiple forms and applications of conceptual knowledge of arithmetic; and domain-general abilities such as attention, executive functions and working memory. There is much evidence that different components can and often do show considerable functional independence, not only in developmental and acquired dyscalculia, but in typically achieving children and adults. At the same time, it is possible to find complex interactions and bidirectional relationships between the different components, including between domain-specific and apparently domain-general abilities. There is a great deal that still needs to be discovered. In particular, we need to learn more about the origins in infancy of subitizing and approximate magnitude comparison, the extent to which these interact, the extent to which they may be further divisible, and the extent and ways in which they themselves may develop with age and the extent to which they may influence later-developing components. There also needs to be a lot more research on exactly how domain-general and domain-specific abilities contribute to mathematical development, and how they interact with one another.
Human Activity Coupled With Climate Change Strengthens the Role of Lakes as an Active Pipe of Dissolved Organic Matter

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition in lakes is controlled by multiple environmental drivers, but the relative importance of various drivers remains poorly understood at the continental scale. Here, we established a model resolving possible influencing pathways of climate, land cover, societal development, and water retention time of lakes on the quantity and quality of chromophoric DOM (CDOM) from 182 lakes spanning across strong climatic and economic gradients in China. Our results indicate that land cover and societal development both exhibit positive direct effects on lake CDOM quantity, highlighting the significant role of well‐vegetated soils and anthropogenic activities as sources of lake DOM on a continental scale. Climate has two strong but opposite effects—a warming and wet climate facilitates soil OM production and export, while it also enhances CDOM in‐lake transformation. Three proxies are proposed as indicators of the magnitude of biogeochemical drivers influencing lake DOM across different ecoclimatic zones, including fluorescent DOM/DOC indicating economic activity, percentages of a degraded fluorescent DOM component indicating solar irradiation, and percent tyrosine‐like DOM reflecting DOM processing time within the watershed and lake. Collectively, our findings indicate that the effects of climate change and rapid societal development will result in increased loadings of terrestrial and anthropogenic DOM into lakes and drive higher rates of within‐lake processing of DOM. Consequently, lakes will play a more important role as an “active pipe” in mediating the flux and transformation of organic carbon, intensifying the coupling between terrestrial and aquatic carbon cycles on a continental scale.
Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Robustness of Optoelectronics for Automated Driving: A Review

Optoelectronic sensing systems are used in automated vehicles for in-cabin features such as driver attention and distraction monitoring. As automated driving technology continues to advance, vehicles are becoming increasingly capable of navigating driving environments with the assistance of optoelectronic sensing systems. Nevertheless, variable operating conditions, such as weather and driver behavior, can compromise driving safety by reducing the robustness of some systems. To improve the safety of automated vehicles, as well as the trust between humans and vehicle automation, this review discusses existing literature on the design and application of optoelectronic sensing in modern automobiles. Recent advancements in optoelectronics have been partly attributed to human ingenuity and the recent application of artificial intelligence to optimize sensor performance parameters. As a major contribution, we consider how artificial intelligence can be used to develop next-generation sensing systems for automated driving applications. Consideration is also given to research avenues with the potential to expand these applications. Based on a discussion of current challenges in optoelectronic sensor development, along with our recommendations to address these challenges, we draw conclusions on the state-of-the-art and the future of optoelectronic sensing.
Configuration of Conditions Leading to High National Innovation Competitiveness: A Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis Approach

Under the conditions of economic integration and globalization, the importance of national innovation competitiveness is rapidly increasing. In order to study what combination of conditions can generate higher national innovation competitiveness, this study proposes an improved integrated framework for national innovation competitiveness and it examines the allocation conditions that affect the innovation competitiveness of countries with different income levels using data from the Global Competitiveness Report 2019. This research finds that, first, the means of achieving high innovation competitiveness output are more diversified for high-income and upper-middle-income countries, with countries at these two economic levels achieving high innovation competitiveness output in three scenarios. Second, lower-middle-income countries have a more homogeneous configuration for achieving high innovation competitiveness outputs, with only one scenario, which still holds after a series of robustness tests. Third, for high-income countries, commercialization is a key element affecting their innovation competitiveness enhancement. The study not only bridges the gap between existing theories and research methods but also provides a useful reference for countries at different levels of economic development to improve their innovation competitiveness.
Innovation, Diffusion, and Trade: Theory and Measurement

What are the sources of economic growth? This paper presents a multicountry growth model of innovation and the adoption of foreign technologies through trade. The costs of both domestic innovation and adopting foreign innovations are estimated using data on innovation, output and trade. A decomposition of the sources of growth shows that technology adoption accounts for about 65% of “embodied” growth in developing countries. Developed countries grow mainly through domestic innovation, which explains 75% of their “embodied” growth. Counterfactuals show how growth rates and levels of income would change if countries faced the same barriers to adoption and research productivity.