Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
IP routing issues in satellite constellation networks

SUMMARY The growth in use of Internet-based applications in recent years has led to telecommunication networks transporting an increasingly large amount of Internet Protocol (IP)-based traffic. Proposed broadband satellite constellation networks, currently under development, will be required to transport IP traffic. A case can be made for implementing IP routing directly within the constellation network, in order to transport IP traffic well and to provide good support for IP multicast and for emerging IP-based Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. This paper examines strategies for implementing and operating IP routing effectively within satellite constellation networks, given known constraints on the constellation resulting from satellite mobility, global visibility, routing and addressing.
Post-Widowhood Repartnering Among Older Canadians

Supervisory Committee Dr. Zheng Wu (Department of Sociology) Supervisor Dr. Feng Hou (Department of Sociology) Departmental Member The number of Canadian widows and widowers has doubled since 1971, and these numbers are projected to increase as the Baby Boom generation continues to age. Prior studies demonstrate that remarriage is losing ground to cohabitation following union dissolution, and that cohabitation is increasing among older adults. This study explores post-widowhood repartnering practices among older Canadians on the basis of existing theories on partnership. The data were drawn from the 2007 General Social Survey Cycle 21 (N= 23,404 Canadians aged 45 and older). The cumulative proportion of competing post-widowhood partnership choices are compared using life table analysis. The effects of gender, demographic characteristics, cultural influences, economic resources, and physical health are explored using Cox’s proportional hazard modeling. The findings suggest that dominant theories of partnership are insufficient in explaining post-widowhood repartnering behaviour. Namely, most commonly-measured economic resources do not factor significantly into the post-widowhood repartnering choices of older Canadians.
Multi-Receiver Precision Decomposition of Intramuscular EMG Signals

The precision decomposition technique can accurately identify a significant number of action potential trains within intramuscular electromyographic (EMG) signals. The original version of this technique (PD I) often requires extensive user-interactive editing to improve upon the results from a maximum a-posteriori probability receiver (MAPR). We have used the integrated processing and understanding of signals methodology from artificial intelligence to formulate and implement a new multi-receiver solution that augments MAPR with two other receivers to gain greater accuracy. Specifically, each new receiver utilizes an interleaving of signal and symbol processing stages to address MAPR inadequacies in resolving cases of acute superposition and shape instability among motor unit trains. Prior to any user-interactive editing, our multi-receiver system achieves a classification accuracy of 85.1%, a significant improvement over the 66.0% accuracy of PD I on the same database of challenging EMG signals
Comprehensible rendering of 3-D shapes

We propose a new rendering technique that produces 3-D images with enhanced visual comprehensibility. Shape features can be readily understood if certain geometric properties are enhanced. To achieve this, we develop drawing algorithms for discontinuities, edges, contour lines, and curved hatching. All of them are realized with 2-D image processing operations instead of line tracking processes, so that they can be efficiently combined with conventional surface rendering algorithms.Data about the geometric properties of the surfaces are preserved as Geometric Buffers (G-buffers). Each G-buffer contains one geometric property such as the depth or the normal vector of each pixel. By using G-buffers as intermediate results, artificial enhancement processes are separated from geometric processes (projection and hidden surface removal) and physical processes (shading and texture mapping), and performed as postprocesses. This permits a user to rapidly examine various combinations of enhancement techniques without excessive recomputation, and easily obtain the most comprehensible image.Our method can be widely applied for various purposes. Several of these, edge enhancement, line drawing illustrations, topographical maps, medical imaging, and surface analysis, are presented in this paper.
Bile Acid Signaling in Liver Metabolism and Diseases

Obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndromes are increasingly recognized as health concerns worldwide. Overnutrition and insulin resistance are the major causes of diabetic hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia in humans. Studies in the past decade provide evidence that bile acids are not just biological detergents facilitating gut nutrient absorption, but also important metabolic regulators of glucose and lipid homeostasis. Pharmacological alteration of bile acid metabolism or bile acid signaling pathways such as using bile acid receptor agonists or bile acid binding resins may be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of obesity and diabetes. On the other hand, bile acid signaling is complex, and the molecular mechanisms mediating the bile acid effects are still not completely understood. This paper will summarize recent advances in our understanding of bile acid signaling in regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, and the potentials of developing novel therapeutic strategies that target bile acid metabolism for the treatment of metabolic disorders.
A Practical Video Digest Generation System Designed for Nursery Schools

In this paper, we present a video digest generation system that designed for use in nursery schools. The system utilizes plural surveillance cameras that set in different nursery rooms, each has a corresponding RFID receiver to catch the signal send by RFID tags. With every kid having a RFID tag in the pocket all the day time, the system automatically generate one daily video digest for each kid. The digest is generated through two types of processing. One is RDIF log analysis, which quickly picks out videos that expect to have the target kids’ appearance. The other is visual feature analysis, which recognizes events in raw video materials, select video segments for each event and construct the digest. The practical performance of our system is confirmed in both quantitative experiment and questionnaire survey.
MR Angiography Follow-Up 5 Years after Coiling: Frequency of New Aneurysms and Enlargement of Untreated Aneurysms

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patients with intracranial aneurysms are at risk for future development of new aneurysms and growth of additional untreated aneurysms. Because in previous long-term studies duration of follow-up varied widely, the time interval after which screening could be effective remains largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of de novo aneurysm formation and the growth of additional untreated aneurysms in patients with coiled aneurysms followed up with MR angiography (MRA) after a fixed period of 5 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 65 patients with coiled intracranial aneurysms, high-resolution 3T MRA was performed 5.1 ± 0.2 years after coiling. MRA follow-up imaging was compared with MRA or CT angiography at the time of coiling. Additional aneurysms detected at MRA follow-up were classified as unchanged, grown, de novo, or incomparable with previous imaging. RESULTS: In 13 of 65 patients (20%), 24 additional aneurysms were found. Four aneurysms were incomparable with previous imaging and 2 of these were clipped. Of the remaining 20 additional aneurysms, 1 was de novo, 1 had grown slightly, and 18 were unchanged. The incidence of de novo aneurysm formation after 5 years was 1.54% (95% confidence interval, 0.01–9.0%). For additional aneurysms known at the time of initial coiling and for the 1 de novo aneurysm, no treatment was indicated. CONCLUSIONS: MRA screening 5 years after coiling for detection of de novo aneurysms and growth of additional untreated aneurysms has a low yield in terms of finding aneurysms that need to be treated.
Structural Changes of the Corpus Callosum in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease

Background: Although previous studies demonstrate significant atrophy of the corpus callosum (CC) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), CC alterations in mild cognitive impairment have not been investigated yet. Methods: 21 subjects with mild cognitive impairment, 10 with AD and 21 healthy controls were investigated using magnetic resonance imaging. In the mid-sagittal slice the CC was traced manually. Additionally, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was performed. Results: The CC was significantly smaller in patients with AD compared to healthy controls in both manual tracing and VBM. The atrophy was prominent in rostral parts of the CC. In subjects with mild cognitive impairment, the two rostral CC segments were smaller compared to controls when manually traced. In contrast, VBM revealed no significant difference between subjects with mild cognitive impairment and controls. Conclusion: Manual tracing was more sensitive in detecting discrete structural CC changes than VBM. Alterations of the CC in mild cognitive impairment rank in between normal aging and AD, supporting the hypothesis that mild cognitive impairment most often represents a preclinical stage of AD.
Navigational strategies and models

Many scientists are interested in the different mechanisms and strategies that animals use to navigate. This paper reviews a series of studies and models about the navigational strategies that animals can use to move from one place to another. Studies of long-distance navigation have mainly been focused on how animals are able to maintain a certain orientation across a distance of hundreds of kilometers. These studies have shown the great variety of sources of information that animals can use to orientate themselves, as well as their redundancy. But, for successful navigation to occur, animals not only have to know how to orientate themselves, they also have to know which direction they should be orientated and for how long. Direction and duration have mainly been studied in short-distance navigation. These studies have shown that animals can use a variety of strategies to locate a given goal. Whether an animal uses a specific strategy will depend on its sensory capabilities and also on the conditions imposed by the environment.
Accelerometers and Force Sensing Resistors for Optimal Control of Walking of a Hemiplegic

We developed a method for use of accelerometers and force sensing resistors (FSRs) within an optimal controller of walking for hemiplegic individuals. The data from four dual-axis accelerometers and four FSRs were inputs, while six muscle activation profiles were outputs. The controller includes two stages: 1) estimating the target gait pattern using artificial neural networks; and 2) optimal control minimizing tracking errors (from the estimated gait pattern) and muscle efforts. The controller was tested using data collected from six healthy subjects walking at five speeds (0.6-1.4 m/s). The average root mean square errors (RMSEs) normalized by the peak-to-peak value of the target signals [normalized RMSE (NRMSE)] were below 6%, 7%, 8%, and 3% for estimation of joint angles, hip acceleration, ground reaction force, and movement of the center of pressure, respectively. Using the estimated data as inputs, the simulation generated the target healthy-like gait patterns and reproducible muscle activation profiles in 90% of 300 tested gait trials. Overall tracking NRMSE was between 2% and 9%. The optimal controller was developed for testing the feasibility of healthy-like gait patterns in hemiplegic individuals, and generating a knowledge base that is required for the synthesis of a sensory-driven control of walking assisted by functional electrical stimulation.
The new patient with a first seizure.

BACKGROUND First seizures are common, with one in 20 people suffering a seizure at some time in their life. OBJECTIVE This article aims to outline the assessment of patients with a first seizure, including making an accurate diagnosis of both seizure type and an epilepsy syndrome, if present. DISCUSSION Seizures are classified into generalised and partial (arising from a focal region in the brain) based on clinical and electroencephalogram findings. However, as a partial seizure may proceed to a tonic clonic phase, differentiation may be difficult. Inquiring directly about 'minor' epileptic symptoms before the episode such as absences, myoclonic jerks, visual or auditory hallucinations or feelings of déjà vu, is needed to attempt to make a epilepsy syndrome diagnosis, as this has practical implications for treatment, prognosis and genetic counselling. Generalised epilepsies should be treated initially with valproate, while partial epilepsies should be treated with carbamazepine and switched to newer agents if intolerance occurs.
Automatic tuning of an accurate position controller for pneumatic actuators

The high power-to-weight ratio and low cost of pneumatic actuators makes them attractive for robotics applications, however achieving fast, accurate position control with them is difficult. Furthermore, tuning the controller (and/or obtaining process models) requires extensive expertise and time. In this paper, a novel automatic tuning methodology for the accurate position control of pneumatic actuators is described. The methodology combines off-line model based analysis with online iteration. Experiments performed on three actuators with distinct open-loop dynamics verified the auto-tuner's effectiveness. The auto-tuning required 1/50 of the time needed for manual tuning and only nonexpert supervision. The performance of the auto-tuned actuators is comparable to that achieved by other researchers using more complex and expensive hardware.
Dependability analysis of distributed computer systems with imperfect coverage

In this paper a new algorithm based on Binary Decision Diagrams (BDD) for dependability analysis of distributed computer systems (DCS) with imperfect coverage is proposed. Minimum file spanning trees (MFST) are generated and stored via BDD manipulation. By using the multistate concept, our algorithm can generate BDDs that can deal with imperfect coverage and obtain reliability expressions from these BDDs. Ordering strategies for variables are discussed in this paper as well. Due to the nature of the BDD, the sum of disjoint products (SDP) can be implicitly represented which avoids huge storage and high computation complexity for large systems. Several examples are given to show the efficiency of this algorithm.
Short-Term Exposure of Multipotent Stromal Cells to Low Oxygen Increases Their Expression of CX3CR1 and CXCR4 and Their Engraftment In Vivo

The ability of stem/progenitor cells to migrate and engraft into host tissues is key to their potential use in gene and cell therapy. Among the cells of interest are the adherent cells from bone marrow, referred to as mesenchymal stem cells or multipotent stromal cells (MSC). Since the bone marrow environment is hypoxic, with oxygen tensions ranging from 1% to 7%, we decided to test whether hypoxia can upregulate chemokine receptors and enhance the ability of human MSCs to engraft in vivo. Short-term exposure of MSCs to 1% oxygen increased expression of the chemokine receptors CX3CR1and CXCR4, both as mRNA and as protein. After 1-day exposure to low oxygen, MSCs increased in vitro migration in response to the fractalkine and SDF-1α in a dose dependent manner. Blocking antibodies for the chemokine receptors significantly decreased the migration. Xenotypic grafting into early chick embryos demonstrated cells from hypoxic cultures engrafted more efficiently than cells from normoxic cultures and generated a variety of cell types in host tissues. The results suggest that short-term culture of MSCs under hypoxic conditions may provide a general method of enhancing their engraftment in vivo into a variety of tissues.
Transcript Profiling Identifies Dynamic Gene Expression Patterns and an Important Role for Nrf2/Keap1 Pathway in the Developing Mouse Esophagus

Background and Aims Morphological changes during human and mouse esophageal development have been well characterized. However, changes at the molecular level in the course of esophageal morphogenesis remain unclear. This study aims to globally profile critical genes and signaling pathways during the development of mouse esophagus. By using microarray analysis this study also aims to determine how the Nrf2/Keap1 pathway regulates the morphogenesis of the esophageal epithelium. Methods Gene expression microarrays were used to survey gene expression in the esophagus at three critical phases: specification, metaplasia and maturation. The esophagi were isolated from wild-type, Nrf2−/−, Keap1−/−, or Nrf2−/−Keap1−/− embryos or young adult mice. Array data were statistically analyzed for differentially expressed genes and pathways. Histochemical and immunohistochemical staining were used to verify potential involvement of the Wnt pathway, Pparβ/δ and the PI3K/Akt pathway in the development of esophageal epithelium. Results Dynamic gene expression patterns accompanied the morphological changes of the developing esophagus at critical phases. Particularly, the Nrf2/Keap1 pathway had a baseline activity in the metaplasia phase and was further activated in the maturation phase. The Wnt pathway was active early and became inactive later in the metaplasia phase. In addition, Keap1−/− mice showed increased expression of Nrf2 downstream targets and genes involved in keratinization. Microarray and immunostaining data also suggested that esophageal hyperkeratosis in the Keap1−/− mice was due to activation of Pparβ/δ and the PI3K/Akt pathway. Conclusions Morphological changes of the esophageal epithelium are associated with dynamic changes in gene expression. Nrf2/Keap1 pathway activity is required for maturation of mouse esophageal epithelium.
SOA process decisions: new challenges in architectural knowledge modeling

Architectural design decisions are commonly agreed as one of the main elements that constitute architectural knowledge. To avoid knowledge vaporization, architectural decisions and their rationale need to be documented in a systematic manner. Various works have been done on representing architectural knowledge. Process decisions are one type of design decisions that existing models have paid little attention to. In this paper, we specifically address process decisions in the SOA domain. In doing so, we challenge architectural knowledge representations by mapping two SOA process decisions against a core model of architectural knowledge. The result suggests that existing models need to be extended in order to model SOA process decisions.
First steps in adaptation of an Evidential Network for data fusion in the framework of medical remote monitoring

This paper presents a medical remote monitoring application which aims at detecting falls. The detection system is based on three modalities: a wearable sensor, infrared sensors and a sound analysis module. The sound analysis is presented briefly. The multimodal fusion is made using the Dempster Schaffer theory through Evidential Network. A first evaluation of the use of data mining techniques in order to extract blindly data representatives is proposed. These representatives are used to continuously increase the system performances. The system is evaluated on a local recorded data base.
Impact of Fast Sodium Channel Inactivation on Spike Threshold Dynamics and Synaptic Integration

Neurons spike when their membrane potential exceeds a threshold value. In central neurons, the spike threshold is not constant but depends on the stimulation. Thus, input-output properties of neurons depend both on the effect of presynaptic spikes on the membrane potential and on the dynamics of the spike threshold. Among the possible mechanisms that may modulate the threshold, one strong candidate is Na channel inactivation, because it specifically impacts spike initiation without affecting the membrane potential. We collected voltage-clamp data from the literature and we found, based on a theoretical criterion, that the properties of Na inactivation could indeed cause substantial threshold variability by itself. By analyzing simple neuron models with fast Na inactivation (one channel subtype), we found that the spike threshold is correlated with the mean membrane potential and negatively correlated with the preceding depolarization slope, consistent with experiments. We then analyzed the impact of threshold dynamics on synaptic integration. The difference between the postsynaptic potential (PSP) and the dynamic threshold in response to a presynaptic spike defines an effective PSP. When the neuron is sufficiently depolarized, this effective PSP is briefer than the PSP. This mechanism regulates the temporal window of synaptic integration in an adaptive way. Finally, we discuss the role of other potential mechanisms. Distal spike initiation, channel noise and Na activation dynamics cannot account for the observed negative slope-threshold relationship, while adaptive conductances (e.g. K+) and Na inactivation can. We conclude that Na inactivation is a metabolically efficient mechanism to control the temporal resolution of synaptic integration.
On the Weight Distribution of Cyclic Codes With Niho Exponents

Recently, there has been intensive research on the weight distributions of cyclic codes. In this paper, we compute the weight distributions of three classes of cyclic codes with Niho exponents. More specifically, we obtain two classes of binary three-weight and four-weight cyclic codes and a class of nonbinary four-weight cyclic codes. The weight distributions follow from the determination of value distributions of certain exponential sums. Several examples are presented to show that some of our codes are optimal and some have the best known parameters.
Frequency-Based Relationship of Electrowetting and Dielectrophoretic Liquid Microactuation

Electrowetting and dielectrophoretic actuation are potentially important microfluidic mechanisms for the transport, dispensing, and manipulation of liquid using simple electrode structures patterned on a substrate. These two mechanisms are, respectively, the low- and high-frequency limits of the electromechanical response of an aqueous liquid to an electric field. The Maxwell stress tensor and an RC circuit model are used to develop a simple predictive model for these electromechanics. The model is tested by measuring electric-field-induced pressure changes within an aqueous droplet trapped between two parallel, disk-shaped electrodes immersed in a bath of immiscible, insulating oil. The experiment is an adaptation of Quincke's original bubble method for measuring the dielectric constant of a liquid. For AC voltages lower than ∼100 V-rms, the pressure data largely conform to the square-law predictions of the model. At higher voltages, this square-law behavior is no longer evident, a result consistent with.