Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel method for UHF RFID tag tracking based on acceleration data

Options for RFID tag tracking and localization are an essential asset for future high performance RFID reader systems. A reader with long reading range, high reading rate and multi-tag capability should be able to assist the user to find / retrieve tags, to create spatial object maps and to restrict the reading range to specific regions of interest. In this paper we introduce a novel method for RFID tag tracking with a moving - for example handheld - reader. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is used to characterize the handheld trajectory. Contrary to approaches where IMU locations are reconstructed via double integration of the acceleration data, our novel technique only uses acceleration data without knowledge of the actual antenna locations. Inexpensive, standard inertial sensors can be used in this approach, and the usual drift and offset issues associated with IMU-based positioning are avoided. Parallel to the IMU acceleration data, the phase of the backscattered RFID signal is input. Double differentiation of the signal phase yields a second acceleration data set. By comparing the IMU and the RFID signal phase acceleration data, the direction of arrival of the RFID signal is estimated using a quasi-spatial optimal filter. This paper introduces the novel RFID tracking approach and illustrates its capability with numerical simulations and experimental results. This novel approach is a simple, yet promising, solution which can be implemented in any handheld reader and will improve its functionality considerably.
Pregnancy in relapsing polychondritis: twenty-five pregnancies in eleven patients.

OBJECTIVE To determine maternal and fetal outcome in pregnant women with relapsing polychondritis (RP). METHODS Retrospective review of 11 records selected from among those of 116 female RP (Michet's criteria) patients. RESULTS In these 11 women, 25 pregnancies occurred after or concomitantly with the onset of RP. The mean (+/- SD) age at RP onset was 25 +/- 5 years (range 15-31). Therapeutic abortion was performed in 1 woman because of ongoing cyclophosphamide treatment. Disease flare occurred in 7 of 24 pregnancies, requiring treatment modification in 2 cases. RP was considered stable in 16 and asymptomatic in 1 of the 24. Treatment of RP was with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (2 of 24), steroids (13 of 24), dapsone (7 of 24), or plasma exchanges (1 of 24); no treatment was given in 8 of the 24 pregnancies. In 14 pregnancies, the course was uneventful. Ten pregnancies were complicated by ectopic nidation (n = 3), spontaneous abortion (n = 3), premature birth (n = 3), and premature rupture of membranes (n = 1). Eighteen normal children were born. CONCLUSION Pregnancy does not seem to modify the course of RP. Successful pregnancies may be achieved in women with RP. No RP was observed in the neonates.
Towards Proto‐Cells: “Primitive” Lipid Vesicles Encapsulating Giant DNA and Its Histone Complex

Among the initial stages in the formation of proto-cells on Earth, the encapsulation of DNA molecules from the surrounding environment into closed systems appears to be essential, and several procedures for the encapsulation of DNA into liposomes have been described. For example, Deamer and Barchfeld employed the dehydration/rehydration method to trap salmon sperm DNA (ca. 20 kb) into egg lecithin vesicles, Luisi's group studied the entrapment of a plasmid DNA (3.3 kb) by using the same method, the reverse-phase method and the freeze/thaw method, and Jay and Gilbert observed the enhancement of incorporation of DNA (1 kb) in the presence of a basic protein, lysozyme. DNA ± lipid complexes have also been considered to achieve transport of DNA into cells, in particular for gene transfer therapy. However, conventional vesicles with a size of several tens of nanometers are too small to incorporate natural genomic DNA molecules containing 10 ± 10 bp (their full length being on the order of 100 mm ± 10 cm). In order to study DNA incorporation into model proto-cells, it is necessary to (1) prepare giant vesicles with a diameter of several micrometers, into which agianto DNAs can be entrapped smoothly, and (2) monitor in real time individual DNA molecules entrapped within these giant vesicles. Recently, we have found that giant DNAs larger than 100 kb are entrapped spontaneously into giant vesicles of neutral phospholipids in the presence of magnesium ions. In this last study, we could not control the conformation of the entrapped DNAs. We now report two efficient methods for preparing a primitive cell model entrapping large DNA: natural swelling of polyprenyl phosphates in the presence of DNAs, and laser manipulation. We show that DNA and the DNA ± histone complex can be encapsulated into giant vesicles, where they assume aelongated-coilo and afolded-compacto conformations, respectively. In this study, we have used as lipid membrane components the disodium and dicyclohexylammonium salts of geranylgeranyl phosphoric acid (1 a and 1 b, respectively), which we have postulated to be a aprimitiveo membrane lipid.
Reconfigurable Implementation for the AES Algorithm

The choice of a platform, software, ASIC or FPGA, is driven by several aspects, such as algorithm per- formance, cost and flexibility. Although ASIC has the high- est performance and the lowest unit cost, it has no flexibil- ity at all. While software has the most flexibility of all, the performance is very low. The MOLEN architecture, devel- oped at the Techinical University of Delft, open up new per- spective for this problem. The architecture is based on a cooperation between a general purpose core processor and reconfigurable hardware, for example a FPGA. Since cryp- tographic algorithms are relative frequently upgraded, this high flexibility is desperately needed. There are several rea- sons for upgrading such as when the algorithm is broken or there is a better algorithm or even in case where an al- gorithm independent protocol is needed. To put it briefly the -coded processor put a new perspective on great per- formance and high flexibility. In this paper we investigate several Rijndael (AES) implementations based on the Molen -coded processor. Two types of FPGAs, Xilinx and Altera, are evaluated in order to produce realistic results. In addi- tion, a modified simulator based on the SimpleScalar Toolset (v3.0)is used to estimate the performance potential. The pro- filing of the AES code is done based on different method- ologies. In this paper an analogy is drawn between. The VHDL descriptions produced, are enhanced with standard interface making them reusable for other research projects based on the same architecture and dealing with similar data processing problems. The AES running on the top of Molen performs equaly good as other FPGA based solutions. The main advantage of our solution is that reconfiguration from one keysize to another is done faster than on pure FPGA im- plementations. Our solution is applicable in a wide range of devices staring from mainframes and going down to very limited architectures, e.g. smart card microcontrollers. Keywords— Reconfigurable Processors, VHDL, FPGA, AES
On the Universality of the History of Art

The difficulties of writing about the methodology of the history of art are many: fear of being obvious, obscure, or doctrinaire; reticence in raising fundamental issues when established ways seem perfectly acceptable within the academy; a confusing tendency to borrow without reflection from fields such as anthropology or literature in which debates on intellectual procedures and interpretations are livelier; and the absence of a collectively accepted statement of what the history of the visual arts is supposed to be. Yet there is little doubt that, at nearly all levels—in undergraduate courses, meetings of contemporary artists, or august academic gatherings—the field of art history is seething with questions and concerns about its aims and its ways. What follows is neither a profession of faith nor a confession of sins, even if there are in it elements of both, but rather a tentative meditation on one issue, that of the intellectual and conceptual unity of a field of study, with the hope of stimulating f.
Pseudo-random sequence generator based on random selection of an elliptic curve

Pseudo-random numbers generators (PRNG) are one of the main security tools in Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) technology. Thus, a weak internal embedded generator can directly cause the entire application to be insecure and it makes no sense to employ robust protocols for the security issue. In this paper, we propose a new PRNG constructed by randomly selecting points from two elliptic curves, suitable for ECC based applications. The main contribution of this work is the increasing of the generator internal states by extending the set of its output realizations to two curves randomly selected. The main advantages of this PRNG in comparison to previous works are the large periodicity, a better distribution of the generated sequences and a high security level based on the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP). Further, the proposed PRNG has passed the different Special Publication 800-22 NIST statistical test suite. Moreover, the proposed PRNG presents a scalable architecture in term of security level and periodicity at the expense of increasing the computation complexity. Thus, it can be adapted for ECC based cryptosystems such as RFID tags and sensors networks and other applications like computer physic simulations, and control coding.
Experience as meaning: some underlying concepts and implications for design

As the current computing systems move from desktop and work settings into our everyday lives (e.g. mobile and ubiquitous systems) a growing interest is seen for designing interactive systems with experiential support. Some conceptual work already exists that tries to analyze and understand users' experience with interactive systems but in practice this is still not frequently used. Drawing on the concepts from the domain of art, this paper introduces a way to conceptualize users' experience as the meanings or interpretations they construct during their interaction with or through the interactive systems. We consequently apply this conceptualization in a design project where we use it at an early concept design stage for designing aware technologies in care-taking situations.
Integrin α4β1 Is Necessary for CD4+ T Cell–Mediated Protection against Genital Chlamydia trachomatis Infection

Chlamydia trachomatis infection is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection in the United States and a significant health burden worldwide. Protection from Chlamydia infection in the genital mucosa is dependent on IFN-γ derived from CD4+ Th1 cells. These CD4+ T cells must home successfully to the genital tract to exert their effector function and decrease C. trachomatis burden. Although adhesion receptors expressed by CD4+ T cells in the genital tract have been characterized, the integrin receptor required for Chlamydia-specific CD4+ T cell–mediated protection has not been explored. In this study, we demonstrate that C. trachomatis infection of the upper genital tract results in recruitment of Chlamydia-specific CD4+ T cells robustly expressing the integrin α4β1. Interfering with α4β1, but not α4β7, function resulted in defective CD4+ T cell trafficking to the uterus and high bacterial load. We conclude that integrin α4β1 is necessary for CD4+ T cell–mediated protection against C. trachomatis infection in the genital mucosa. By identifying homing molecules required for successful CD4+ T cell trafficking to C. trachomatis–infected tissues, we will be better equipped to design vaccines that elicit sterilizing, long-lasting immunity without inducing immune pathologies in the upper genital tract.
Redundant control of a humanoid robot head with foveated vision for object tracking

This paper presents a novel approach to control a humanoid head for object tracking. The proposed approach is based on the concept of virtual mechanism, where the real head is enhanced with a virtual link that connects the eye with a point in 3-D space. We tested our implementation on a humanoid head with seven degrees of freedom and two rigidly connected cameras in each eye (wide-angle and telescopic). The experimental results show that the proposed control algorithm can be used to maintain the view of an observed object in the foveal (telescopic) image using information from the peripheral view. Unlike other methods proposed in the literature, our approach shows how to exploit the redundancy of the robot head. The proposed technique is systematic and can be easily implemented on different types of active humanoid heads. The results show good tracking performance regardless of the distance between the object and the head. Moreover, the uncertainties in the kinematic model of the head do not affect the performance of the system.
Inhibition of the methionine aminopeptidase 2 enzyme for the treatment of obesity

Worldwide prevalence of obesity has nearly doubled since 1980. Obesity is the result of interactions among the environmental factors, genetic predisposition, and human behavior. Even modest weight reduction in obese patients provides beneficial health outcomes. For effective weight reduction, a drug should either increase energy expenditure or decrease energy intake without causing serious adverse effects. To overcome lack of efficacy and central nervous system related side effects, exploitation of the peripheral mechanism of anti-obesity action is needed. Inhibition of pathological angiogenesis in adipose tissue is one such peripheral mechanism that has attracted the attention of researchers in this area. Although originally developed as anti-cancer agents, methionine aminopeptidase (MetAP2) inhibitors induce significant and sustained weight reduction. Here, we review preclinical and clinical pharmacology of MetAP2 inhibitors. Beloranib is a prototype MetAP2 inhibitor, and currently in advanced clinical trials for the treatment of obesity. Clinical data of beloranib indicate that MetAP2 inhibitors could be a future treatment option for weight reduction without serious adverse effects. Further clinical data from Phase III trials will add to our growing knowledge of MetAP2 inhibitor potential for anti-obesity therapy.
Impact of Microscopic Vehicle Mobility on Cluster-Based Routing Overhead in VANETs

Node clustering is a potential solution to minimize the control signaling overhead of routing protocols in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). High relative vehicle mobility and frequent network topology changes induce instability to node clusters. Node cluster instability inflicts new challenges in maintaining a long route between network nodes, thus increasing the routing overhead. As a result, cluster instability, which is foisted by vehicle mobility, is a crucial issue for cluster-based routing in VANETs. This paper presents a stochastic analysis of the impact of cluster instability on generic routing overhead. A stochastic cluster instability model is adopted to capture the time variations of the cluster structure in terms of the cluster membership change rate and the cluster-overlap state change rate. First, we derive the probability distribution of the intracluster routing overhead using the cluster membership change rate. Second, the intercluster routing overhead is modeled as a rooted tree, with the tree nodes representing the value of the overhead and the tree edges weighted by the probability of a cluster-overlap state change. Numerical results are presented to evaluate the proposed models, which demonstrate a close agreement between analytical and simulation results.
Discovering the Causal Network of Terms from the Text Corpus

As the "bag of words" approaches cut down the linkage between the words, they are hardly to be applied to explore the causal relations between the terms described from the text corpuses. To discover the networked causal knowledge from the corpus, we (1) propose the algorithm pv-swapping and the PV-parse-tree to adjust the term orders for the sentences by observing the relationship between the grammatical voice and causal relation, provide the NLP approaches to transform the corpus to the sets of ordered terms sequences (OTS) by preserving the semantic orders of the phrases in the sentences, (2) formalize the causal network extracting problem in the corpus and show that it is a NP-hard problem, (3) propose the algorithms NE-IC and heuristic-majority-vote to extract the causal network of the terms based on the OTS sequences. We provide sufficient experiments on the real data sets. The experimental results show that our methods are both effective and efficient to discover the causal network of the terms, and the resulted causal networks of heuristic-majority-vote with less conflict causal relations or cycles than the results of NE-IC. At the last, we also provide experiments on several causal knowledge discovering tasks based on the resulted causal networks to show their interesting applications.
Data Integration over Distributed and Heterogeneous Data Endpoints

Data integration is a broad area encompassing techniques to merge data between data sources. Although there are plenty of efficient and effective methods focusing on data integration over homogeneous data, where instances share the same schema and range of values, their applications over heterogeneous data are less clear. This thesis considers data integration within the environment of the Semantic Web. More particularly, we propose a novel architecture for instance matching that takes into account the particularities of this heterogeneous and distributed setting. Instead of assuming that instances share the same schema, the proposed method operates even when there is no overlap between schemas, apart from a key label that matching instances must share. Moreover, we have considered the distributed nature of the Semantic Web to propose a new architecture for general data integration, which operates on-the-fly and in a pay-as-you-go fashion. We show that our view and the view of the traditional data integration school each only partially address the problem, but together complement each other. We have observed that this unified view gives a better insight into their relative importance and how data integration methods can benefit from their combination. The results achieved in this work are particularly interesting for the Semantic Web and Data Integration communities.
Draft Genome Sequence of Campylobacter jejuni CAM970 and C. coli CAM962, Associated with a Large Outbreak of Foodborne Illness in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2016

ABSTRACT Here, we report the draft genome sequences of Campylobacter jejuni CAM970 and C. coli CAM962, which were associated with a large outbreak of foodborne illness originating from undercooked chicken sushi in Fukuoka, Japan, in May 2016. Their genome sizes were 1,690,901 and 1,704,736 bp, with 22 and 23 rRNAs, 9 and 9 tRNAs, and 411× and 419× coverage for C. jejuni CAM970 and C. coli CAM962, respectively.
Runtime Monitoring and Resolution of Probabilistic Obstacles to System Goals

Software systems are deployed in environments that keep changing over time. They should therefore adapt to changing conditions in order to meet their requirements. The satisfaction rate of these requirements depends on the rate at which adverse conditions prevent their satisfaction. Obstacle analysis is a goal-oriented form of risk analysis for requirements engineering (RE) whereby obstacles to system goals are identified, assessed, and resolved through countermeasures yielding new requirements. The selection of appropriate countermeasures relies on the assessed likelihood and criticality of obstacles together with environmental assumptions. These various factors are estimated at RE time, they may however evolve during software development and at system runtime. To meet the system's goals under changing conditions, the paper proposes to defer obstacle resolution to system runtime. Following Monitor–Analyze–Plan–Execute cycles, techniques are presented for monitoring goal/obstacle satisfaction rates, deciding when adaptation should be triggered, and adapting the system on the fly to countermeasures that are more appropriate under the monitored conditions. The approach relies on a model where goals and obstacles are refined and specified in a probabilistic linear temporal logic. The proposed techniques allow for (a) monitoring the satisfaction rate of probabilistic leaf obstacles, (b) determining the severity of their consequences by up-propagating satisfaction rates through refinement trees from leaf obstacles to high-level probabilistic goals, and (c) dynamically shifting to alternative countermeasures that better meet the required satisfaction rate of the system's high-level goals under imposed cost constraints. Our approach is evaluated on fragments of an ambulance dispatching system.
Optical Tecnology Developments in Biomedicine: History, Current and Future

Biomedical optics is a rapidly emerging field for medical imaging and diagnostics. This paper reviews several biomedical optical technologies that have been developed and translated for either clinical or pre-clinical applications. Specifically, we focus on the following technologies: 1) near-infrared spectroscopy and tomography, 2) optical coherence tomography, 3) fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging, and 4) optical molecular imaging. There representative biomedical applications are also discussed here.
Optimization of GALS CMP architecture with DCT as case study

Globally Asynchronous Locally Synchronous (GALS) Chip multiprocessors with separate clocks for separate modules inside the chip are highly suited for processing number crunching and processing jobs that have to be done with limited energy. The GALS uses clock and voltage scaling jointly in system sub-modules to achieve low energy consumption rates. An advantage here is feasibility to use different clock rates for different modules in the chip. GALS allows up to 25 % energy savings in addition to clock as well as voltage scalability. However, a chronic drawback of GALS is additional communication latency between the various clock domains. In addition the component processors consume power even when they are idle. Latency to a great extent is reduced by implementing large inter-processor FIFOs buffers [3]. This work proposes to enhance the latency minimization by alternately enhance one processor domain to optimally manage latency and power wastage. Real Time System algorithms are used for managing the inter clock domain communication. This technique can be used to either enhance the FIFO buffer technique if area is not a consideration where only the efficiency is considered or as a standalone manager for handling the inter clock domain communications efficiently with reduced area and increase resource handling capability. Tri state buffers are put to use to switch clock and supply voltage to individual clock domains. For performance evaluation, Component processors to find the DCT were implemented with FIFO in between the modules for communication between processors and in turn reduce latency. Comparison of performance of the latency management processor enhanced GALS chip with FIFO buffer chip revealed increase of 15% throughput and 40% energy savings approximately as compared to 10% and 25% for the latter.