Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robotic Materials: From smart polymers to computational metamaterials

—We describe “robotic materials”, a new class of metamaterial that tightly integrate sensing, actuation, computation, communication and power routing in a periodic fashion. Instead of relying on a strict division between mechanism, sensors, and control system, robotic materials allow a uniﬁed approach to robot design, customization and manufacturing. Robotic materials shift the complexity of manufacturing to the foundry, which provides functional raw materials in the forms of sheets, rods and bars. Possible functionalization include the ability to sense at high spatial resolution, the ability to change shape and appearance, or to perform distributed computation. We illustrate such materials using three examples: a sensing skin that can sense texture, a bar that can change its shape, and a rubber belt that can move autonomously. We then describe manufacturing challenges of robotic materials and survey recent advances in the ﬁeld that have the potential to make robotic materials ubiquitous and cheap.
Intervention trials and ventilation distribution in mild cystic fibrosis lung disease: will it all come out in the wash?

The identification of clinically relevant end-points for use in clinical trials of new treatments in cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease is an ongoing problem for physicians and researchers working in the field of CF care. Lung disease almost certainly starts in early infancy 1–6 and is progressive, leading to significant structural lung disease in the preschool years 7. Despite this, the majority of young children with CF tend to have spirometry within the normal range at early school age 1, 8, 9. It is well recognised that relying on spirometry alone to identify children at risk of progressive lung disease has significant limitations. This has led to renewed emphasis on the assessment of physiological outcomes in infancy and the preschool years, as well as increased focus on lung function tests that are more sensitive to early lung dysfunction than spirometry 10–13. One such outcome is the assessment of ventilation inhomogeneity obtained from the multiple breath inert gas washout test (MBW), the most commonly reported outcome being the lung clearance index (LCI). A significant advantage of this technique is that it can be applied from infancy through to adulthood, with only minor changes in equipment and methodology, particularly from the preschool years onwards 14–16. The LCI has been shown to be abnormal in the presence of normal spirometry in both preschool children 7 and older children with CF 9, 17–22, suggesting that it is a more sensitive marker of early lung disease in such …
Micro-Doppler analysis and application of radar targets

Radar target micro-Doppler signatures reflect the electromagnetic characteristics, geometry structures and motion signatures of the target, which has been shown to be promising signatures for application. In this paper, we review the present research status and some key techniques in this field, including the analysis of micro-Doppler signatures, feature extraction and the applied fields. Several future research directions for micro-Doppler signatures are discussed at the end of this paper.
On the Time-Domain Widely Linear LCMV Filter for Noise Reduction With a Stereo System

This paper deals with the problem of noise reduction in stereo sound systems where the objective is not only to reduce noise, but also to preserve the spatial information of both the desired speech and noise sources so that the listener can still localize the speech and noise sources by listening to the enhanced binaural outputs. To achieve this objective, we use the widely linear (WL) framework developed previously and convert the problem of binaural noise reduction into one of monaural filtering with complex signals. We then present a way to decompose both the complex speech and noise signal vectors into two orthogonal components: one correlated and the other uncorrelated with the corresponding current signal sample. With this decomposition, the problem of noise reduction with preservation of the spatial information of speech and noise sources is formulated as an optimization problem with two constraints: one on the desired speech and the other on the preservation of the noise signal. We then derive a WL linearly constrained minimum variance (LCMV) filter, which can take advantage of the statistics and noncircularity of the complex speech signal to achieve noise reduction. In contrast to the WL Wiener and minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) filters developed previously that can only preserve the characteristics and spatial information of the desired sound source, this new WL LCMV filter has the potential to reduce noise while preserving the characteristics and spatial information of both the desired and noise sources at the same time. Experimental results are provided to justify the claimed merits of the proposed WL LCMV filter.
Information Work in the Internet Age: Localizing, Evaluating and Representing Resources

The amount of data on the internet continues to grow. At the same time, funding for professional information work for collection building, quality assessment and content representation is reduced. The Layer Model responds to these challenges associated with the internet. The Layer Model shows how information providers can restrict the information work dedicated to content representation to small collections and, at the same time, allows users to access much larger collections. Transfer modules apply intellectual information work to documents outside a core. This article shows how the Layer Model can be extended in order to integrate automatic quality assessment and automated collection building. 1 Information Services in the Internet Age The explosion of online information and the technological advance offer great opportunities for the information industry. At the same time, however, they paradoxically pose a threat to many business models. The following opinions often expressed by users sum up some of these threats: • Everything is available for free. Why should anyone pay for content, access or intellectual information work? • If something is online, then it must be accessible. Intellectual information work seems unnecessary. • I can find everything by myself. The availability of free information tools and their ease of use makes less experienced users believe that information retrieval and access are solved problems. The availability of free information tools which are based on a large amount of data leads to satisfying results in many cases. One example are internet search engines. However, information professionals have pointed out the low overall retrieval quality of general purpose search engines and the lack of advanced search options they provide. The retrieval quality of these tools seems to be far behind the quality of systems optimized for a specific task, as comparisons have shown (Hawking 2000). The continuing growth of the internet makes information retrieval and access ever more troublesome. The task of Dieses Dokument wird unter folgender creative commons Lizenz veroffentlicht: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/de/
Smoking in pregnancy, maternal blood pressure, pregnancy outcome, baby weight and growth, and other related factors. A prospective study.

A prospective survey was conducted among 200 women attending the 2 primary maternity units in Sheffield in an attempt to establish what factors are primarily responsible for the smaller size of the infants born to smokers. Fetal size and growth was related to the maternal smoking pattern and to various associated matters. The mothers were classified according to their smoking habits into 5 groups - nonsmokers occasional smokers regular smokers of about 10 cigarettes daily and smokers of 20 or more cigarettes daily. When maternal blood pressure and smoking were compared highly significant differences were seen. The lowest blood pressure group contained relatively more smokers and the highest blood pressure group relatively fewer. When pregnancy outcome was related to blood pressure levels and maternal smoking a significant difference was found implicating smoking as an additional hazard. The frequency of maternal smoking was compared with a number of factors - social class of consort maternal age parity maternal height social class of womans father educational level age of consort maternal attitude to the pregnancy work in pregnancy and sex of offspring - factors which might themselves be responsible for smaller fetal weight. A number of these factors were linked with maternal smoking but when mean fetal weights were compared for smoking and each of the other factors in turn it was clear that the smoking effect was clearly independent of each of the other factors regardless of whether the factor was linked with smoking and whether it was itself linked to smaller infants. The results fail to support the idea that smaller infants born to smokers are smaller because of associated factors. Smoking per se is implicated without any reasonable doubt.
Approximately Counting Embeddings into Random Graphs†

Let H be a graph, and let CH(G) be the number of (subgraph isomorphic) copies of H contained in a graph G. We investigate the fundamental problem of estimating CH(G). Previous results cover only a few specific instances of this general problem, for example the case when H has degree at most one (the monomer-dimer problem). In this paper we present the first general subcase of the subgraph isomorphism counting problem, which is almost always efficiently approximable. The results rely on a new graph decomposition technique. Informally, the decomposition is a labelling of the vertices such that every edge is between vertices with different labels, and for every vertex all neighbours with a higher label have identical labels. The labelling implicitly generates a sequence of bipartite graphs, which permits us to break the problem of counting embeddings of large subgraphs into that of counting embeddings of small subgraphs. Using this method, we present a simple randomized algorithm for the counting problem. For all decomposable graphs H and all graphs G, the algorithm is an unbiased estimator. Furthermore, for all graphs H having a decomposition where each of the bipartite graphs generated is small and almost all graphs G, the algorithm is a fully polynomial randomized approximation scheme. We show that the graph classes of H for which we obtain a fully polynomial randomized approximation scheme for almost all G includes graphs of degree at most two, bounded-degree forests, bounded-width grid graphs, subdivision of bounded-degree graphs, and major subclasses of outerplanar graphs, series-parallel graphs and planar graphs of large girth, whereas unbounded-width grid graphs are excluded. Moreover, our general technique can easily be applied to proving many more similar results.
Ontology-Based Description of Teaching Knowledge with Increment Feedback Function

The main task of the educational technology courses is to explore educational knowledge description, automating instructional design, educational communication, intelligent assessment technology and educational system simulation technology etc. So how to express the knowledge involved in the teaching process becomes the premise for the study of the issues mentioned above. However, problems do exist with the traditional knowledge expression methods in the whole process of expressing, transmission and sharing of knowledge. First, it is hard to avoid ambiguity in understanding the transmitted and shared knowledge; second, in the context of mass atomicity knowledge, there exists the probability of combinatorial explosion in expressing and inducting the knowledge. To realize scientific expression of the teaching knowledge, this article takes ontology tool as the teaching knowledge describing technique in a bid to enhance the capability of expressing and sharing the teaching knowledge. At the same time, a teaching knowledge ontology building method with an increment feedback function is put forward for the controllability and guidance of the building process.
Compressive channel estimation for millimeter wave multiuser MIMO systems via pilot reuse

The multi-user millimeter wave (mmWave) MIMO system has aroused great interest in recent years for future fifth generation (5G) cellular networks. We investigate the problem of uplink channel estimation in mmWave systems, which is challenging due to the strong pathloss and massive antennas deployment. Taking hardware constraints into consideration, we assume that hybrid analog and digital beamforming structures are employed by both the base station (BS) and the mobile stations (MSs). To reduce the pilot overhead, a pilot reuse scheme is proposed in our paper. Then we propose a compressed sensing (CS)-based method, exploiting the sparse nature of the mmWave channel, for pilot interference elimination and joint estimation of the channels from multiple users. Furthermore, sufficient conditions for estimation error are obtained to study the performance of the CS recovery. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed method is efficient to acquire the channel state information (CSI) with a substantial reduction of training overhead.
Assessing the quality of the relation between scalarizing function parameters and solutions in multiobjective optimization

Different Multi-Objective Optimization Methods (MOOM) for solving Multi-Objective Optimization Problems (MOOP) have been suggested in the literature. These methods often comprise two stages (not necessarily sequential): i) the search for the Pareto-optimal set and ii) the selection of a single solution from this non-dominated set. Various studies comparing performance of particular aspects of these methods have been carried out. However, a theoretical support that changes on the preferences of a Decision Maker (DM) will be reflected in the same way on the solution of the MOOP given by the MOOM has not been presented. In this work a consistency measure to assess MOOM is proposed. It will used to compare the performance of different methods available in the literature. This study was performed using some benchmark test problems, with two criteria.
Differential Recall Bias, Intermediate Confounding, and Mediation Analysis in Life Course Epidemiology: An Analytic Framework with Empirical Example

The mechanisms by which childhood socioeconomic status (CSES) affects adult mental health, general health, and well-being are not clear. Moreover, the analytical assumptions employed when assessing mediation in social and psychiatric epidemiology are rarely explained. The aim of this paper was to explain the intermediate confounding assumption, and to quantify differential recall bias in the association between CSES, childhood abuse, and mental health (SCL-10), general health (EQ-5D), and subjective well-being (SWLS). Furthermore, we assessed the mediating role of psychological and physical abuse in the association between CSES and mental health, general health, and well-being; and the influence of differential recall bias in the estimation of total effects, direct effects, and proportion of mediated effects. The assumptions employed when assessing mediation are explained with reference to a causal diagram. Poisson regression models (relative risk, RR and 99% CIs) were used to assess the association between CSES and psychological and physical abuse in childhood. Mediation analysis (difference method) was used to assess the indirect effect of CSES (through psychological and physical abuse in childhood) on mental health, general health, and well-being. Exposure (CSES) was measured at two time points. Mediation was assessed with both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. Psychological abuse and physical abuse mediated the association between CSES and adult mental health, general health, and well-being (6–16% among men and 7–14% among women, p < 0.001). The results suggest that up to 27% of the association between CSES and childhood abuse, 23% of the association between childhood abuse, and adult mental health, general health, and well-being, and 44% of the association between CSES and adult mental health, general health, and well-being is driven by differential recall bias. Assessing mediation with cross-sectional data (exposure, mediator, and outcome measured at the same time) showed that the total effects and direct effects were vastly overestimated (biased upwards). Consequently, the proportion of mediated effects were underestimated (biased downwards). If there is a true (unobserved) direct or indirect effect, and the direction of the differential recall bias is predictable, then the results of cross-sectional analyses should be discussed in light of that.
Sensitive determination of dopamine levels via surface-enhanced Raman scattering of Ag nanoparticle dimers

Background Dopamine (DA) is an important neurotransmitter in the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, which can produce a direct influence on mammals’ emotions in midbrain. Additionally, the level of DA is highly related with some important neurologic diseases such as schizophrenia, Parkinson, and Huntington’s diseases, etc. In light of the important roles that DA plays in the disease modulation, it is of considerable significance to develop a sensitive and reproducible approach for monitoring DA. Purpose The objective of this study was to develop an efficient approach to quantitatively monitor the level of DA using Ag nanoparticle (NP) dimers and enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Methods Ag NP dimers were synthesized for the sensitive detection of DA via surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Citrate was used as both the capping agent of NPs and sensing agent to DA, which is self-assembled on the surface of Ag NP dimers by reacting with the surface carboxyl group to form a stable amide bond. To improve accuracy and precision, the multiplicative effects model for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy was utilized to analyze the SERS assays. Results A low limits of detection (LOD) of 20 pM and a wide linear response range from 30 pM to 300 nM were obtained for DA quantitative detection. The SERS enhancement factor was theoretically valued at approximately 107 by discrete dipole approximation. DA was self-assembled on the citrate capped surface of Ag NPs dimers through the amide bond. The adsorption energy was estimated to be 256 KJ/mol using the Langmuir isotherm model. The density functional theory was used to simulate the spectral characteristics of SERS during the adsorption of DA on the surface of the Ag dimers. Furthermore, to improve the accuracy and precision of quantitative analysis of SERS assays with a multiplicative effects model for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Conclusion A LOD of 20 pM DA-level was obtained, and the linear response ranged from 30 pM to 300 nM for quantitative DA detection. The absolute relative percentage error was 4.22% between the real and predicted DA concentrations. This detection scheme is expected to have good applications in the prevention and diagnosis of certain diseases caused by disorders in the DA level.
Ethics of Technology and Metaphysics——on Hans Jonas' the Imperative of Responsibility

In 1978,Hans Jonas(1903-1993)published his Imperative of Responsibility.In the more than two decades that follow,the views proposed in that book have aroused some disputes,though have been of great influence. According to Jonas,qualitative changes have occurred to the group behaviors of hummanity in modern high tech society. Technology is not merely tools for improving human life and prompting human progress. The"doom"caused by technology has threatened the survial of entire humanity and the whole nature. The end of humanity's conquering nature is no longer to protect humanity from the harm of nature. Ethics focuses on human behaviors. The change of the rules of the behavior,especially the change of the quality of the behavior requires ethics to correspond. Jonas proposes that traditional ethics cannot accommodate the new situation humanity confronting today and that Kant's ethics of ethos which focuses only on motivations rather on consequences is powerless. The substitue should be moral standard centering on"responsibility". The object of responsibility should include nature as well as humanity. What is more,Jonas thinks that humanity has the imperative of duty to observance,for nature has its own dignity and value just as a helpless baby-by his (her) simple existence-arouses adult's care. The concrete requirements Jonas provides seem definite,but in fact,there are a lot of philosophical questions hard to answer. For example,how can the prescription to change the status quo be deduced from the simple description,even description about the doomsday? Why should humanity go on surviving? How are the digrity and value of nature understood? What's the end of it,if nature has its own value? How is the neutrality of value in scientific research explained? For philosophy to answdr all these questions,some sort of metaphysics or ontology,even theology must be appealed to. So,in fact Jonas' ethics of responsibility is an ethics of noumenon with the characteristic of faith. In the end,there is a question of practice. For this purpose it is obvious that the only theories suggested by philosophers and moralists are not enough.
Pleasant and Unpleasant Odors Influence Hedonic Evaluations of Human Faces: An Event-Related Potential Study

Odors can alter hedonic evaluations of human faces, but the neural mechanisms of such effects are poorly understood. The present study aimed to analyze the neural underpinning of odor-induced changes in evaluations of human faces in an odor-priming paradigm, using event-related potentials (ERPs). Healthy, young participants (N = 20) rated neutral faces presented after a 3 s pulse of a pleasant odor (jasmine), unpleasant odor (methylmercaptan), or no-odor control (clean air). Neutral faces presented in the pleasant odor condition were rated more pleasant than the same faces presented in the no-odor control condition, which in turn were rated more pleasant than faces in the unpleasant odor condition. Analysis of face-related potentials revealed four clusters of electrodes significantly affected by odor condition at specific time points during long-latency epochs (600−950 ms). In the 620−640 ms interval, two scalp-time clusters showed greater negative potential in the right parietal electrodes in response to faces in the pleasant odor condition, compared to those in the no-odor and unpleasant odor conditions. At 926 ms, face-related potentials showed greater positivity in response to faces in the pleasant and unpleasant odor conditions at the left and right lateral frontal-temporal electrodes, respectively. Our data shows that odor-induced shifts in evaluations of faces were associated with amplitude changes in the late (>600) and ultra-late (>900 ms) latency epochs. The observed amplitude changes during the ultra-late epoch are consistent with a left/right hemisphere bias towards pleasant/unpleasant odor effects. Odors alter evaluations of human faces, even when there is a temporal lag between presentation of odors and faces. Our results provide an initial understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying effects of odors on hedonic evaluations.
HACDB: Handwritten Arabic characters database for automatic character recognition

Automatic off-line Arabic handwriting recognition based on segmentation still faces big challenges. A database, covering all shapes of handwritten Arabic characters, is required to facilitate the recognition process. This paper introduces a new database for handwritten Arabic characters (HACDB), designed to cover all shapes of Arabic characters including overlapping ones. It contains 6,600 shapes of characters written by 50 writers. This database can be used for training and testing the words for their recognition after segmentation. Also, it presents the possibility for comparing different approaches and evaluate their accuracy on a common base.