Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
2½D visual servoing

We propose an approach to vision-based robot control, called 2 1/2 D visual servoing, which avoids the respective drawbacks of classical position-based and image-based visual servoing. Contrary to the position-based visual servoing, our scheme does not need any geometric three-dimensional model of the object. Furthermore and contrary to image-based visual servoing, our approach ensures the convergence of the control law in the whole task space. 2 1/2 D visual servoing is based on the estimation of the partial camera displacement from the current to the desired camera poses at each iteration of the control law. Visual features and data extracted from the partial displacement allow us to design a decoupled control law controlling the six camera DOFs. The robustness of our visual servoing scheme with respect to camera calibration errors is also analyzed: the necessary and sufficient conditions for local asymptotic stability are easily obtained. Then, due to the simple structure of the system, sufficient conditions for global asymptotic stability are established. Finally, experimental results with an eye-in-hand robotic system confirm the improvement in the stability and convergence domain of the 2 1/2 D visual servoing with respect to classical position-based and image-based visual servoing.
Searching for Losers

We investigate the following process: N people select b losers by flipping coins. The 0‐party continues until there are less than b losers; then the 1‐party has to find the other losers by the same process. The average time for this process is about long2 N, but this result requires rather advanced methods. Furthermore, the average size of a binary tree associated to this process and the average number of coin flippings are computed. The method used in this article can be used to give asympotical solutions of a special type of bivariate recurrences. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. © 1993 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Birth of the Giant Component

Limiting distributions are derived for the sparse connected components that are present when a random graph on n vertices has approximately 1/2n edges. In particular, we show that such a graph consists entirely of trees, unicyclic components, and bicyclic components with probability approaching √2/3 cosh √5/18 ≈ 0.9325 as n∞. The limiting probability that it is consists of trees, unicyclic components, and at most one another component is approximately 0.9957; the limiting probability that it is planar lies between 0.987 and 0.9998. When a random graph evolves and the number of edges passes 1/2n, its components grow in cyclic complexity according to an interesting Markov process whose asymptotic structure is derived. The probability that there never is more than a single component with more edges than vertices, throughout the veolution, approaches 5 π/18 ≈ 0.8727. A “uniform” model of random graphs, which allows self-loops and multiple edges, is shown to lead to formulas that are substanitially simpler than the analogous formulas for the classical random graphs of Erdos and Renyi. The notions of “excess” and “deficiency,” which are significant characteristics of the generating function as well as of the graphs themselves, lead to a mathematically attractive structural theory for the uniform model. A general approach to the study of stopping configurations makes it possible to sharpen previously obtained estimates in a uniform manner and often to obtain closed forms for the constants of interest. Empirical results are presented to complement the analysis, indicating the typical behavior when n is near 2oooO. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
End-effector position-orientation measurement

A low-cost device is presented for noncontact measurement of robot position and orientation. It consists of an optical sensor and three laser scanners. The sensor is attached to the end-effector while the laser scanners cast light planes to trace the sensor movement. The device measures equations of the light planes from which end-effector position and orientation are obtained. Accurate measurement is achieved in a three-DOF experiment.
A fast multi-level algorithm for community detection in directed online social networks

The discovery of underlying community structures plays a significant role in online social network (OSN) analysis. Many previous methods suffer from inaccuracy or incompleteness in community descriptions because of the multiple factors affecting OSNs and the high computational complexity caused by the large scale of these networks. We present a new community detection approach that focuses on two aspects. First, it relies on a combination of user interests and cohesiveness in describing community structures. Second, it introduces a multi-level community discovery algorithm for large-scale OSN datasets. The algorithm consists of three steps: (1) network coarsening based on the combination of two categories of properties, (2) stochastic inference to find an initial community assignment over the coarsest network and (3) projection and refinement of this assignment to obtain the final community detection result by solving a semi-supervised learning problem. The combination of user interests and cohesiveness leads to a complete and well-interpreted description of the communities embedded in OSNs, and the multi-level algorithm speeds up the computation process and improves the likelihood of finding the global optimal solution by reducing the parameter space. Experiments conducted on both synthetic and real datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our method.
Turbo‐SMT: Parallel coupled sparse matrix‐Tensor factorizations and applications

How can we correlate the neural activity in the human brain as it responds to typed words, with properties of these terms (like ‘edible’, ‘fits in hand’)? In short, we want to find latent variables, that jointly explain both the brain activity, as well as the behavioral responses. This is one of many settings of the Coupled Matrix‐Tensor Factorization (CMTF) problem.
Response to Hammond et al. Showing leads to doing, but doing what? The need for experimental pilot-testing

In case readers question our motives: we are extremely anti-smoking and we contribute and have contributed to the research tradition in The Netherlands on smoking prevention and smoking cessation. We are in favour of effective evidence-based anti-smoking interventions; which fear-arousing messages are not. There are two main issues here: quasi-experimental designs and defensive processes. To start with the latter, Hammond et al . 1 refer to Witte and Allen2 citing from the abstract: ‘Strong fear appeals and high efficacy messages produce the greatest behaviour change’, …
Retrospective Review of Influenza-Associated Acute Myositis at a Regional Children's Hospital

Introduction: An epidemic of acute myositis affecting children in Eastern Nebraska occurred in association with influenza infections in 2007. The myositis was quite distinct from the generalized myalgias that typically precede or accompany influenza infection. Myositis followed the initial influenza prodrome by a few days and almost exclusively involved the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. Our objective was to evaluate influenza-associated acute myositis during 2 consecutive influenza seasons. Methods: After the institutional review board approval, we conducted a retrospective chart review to identify children younger than 18 years diagnosed with influenza at the Children's Hospital in Omaha, Neb, between October 2005 and April 2007. Myositis was defined by elevated creatine kinase (CK) levels and clinical presentation. Results: Eighty-nine children tested positive for influenza at the Children's Hospital in the 2005-2006 winter season, and 184 tested positive in the 2006-2007 season. In the first season, 90% of cases were influenza A and 10% influenza B, whereas in the second season, 57% were influenza A and 43% influenza B; the increase of influenza B in the community is statistically significant with a 2-sided P < 0.0001. There were 15 cases of acute myositis in association with influenza in 2007 and none in the 2006 season; 73% of the cases were secondary to influenza B and 27% to influenza A. This difference is significant with a 2-sided P = 0.0264. The age range of children with acute myositis was 3 to 14 years, with a mean of 7.93 years and a median of 7 years. Most cases presented with a few days of fever, cough, and rhinorrhea followed by acute calf pain, abnormal gait, and inability to ambulate. Thirteen of the 15 patients were hospitalized. Most cases were uncomplicated with full recovery within a week. The peak CK levels ranged from 264 to 26,582 U/L. The children with the 2 highest CK levels died from complications of their illnesses. Conclusions: Acute myositis after influenza infection occurs more commonly with influenza B, although the patients with influenza A had more complicated courses. Myositis should be suspected in patients with acute change in gait, refusal to walk, and intense leg pain a few days after a viral prodrome.
A piecewise-focused high DQE detector for MV imaging.

PURPOSE Electronic portal imagers (EPIDs) with high detective quantum efficiencies (DQEs) are sought to facilitate the use of the megavoltage (MV) radiotherapy treatment beam for image guidance. Potential advantages include high quality (treatment) beam's eye view imaging, and improved cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) generating images with more accurate electron density maps with immunity to metal artifacts. One approach to increasing detector sensitivity is to couple a thick pixelated scintillator array to an active matrix flat panel imager (AMFPI) incorporating amorphous silicon thin film electronics. Cadmium tungstate (CWO) has many desirable scintillation properties including good light output, a high index of refraction, high optical transparency, and reasonable cost. However, due to the 0 1 0 cleave plane inherent in its crystalline structure, the difficulty of cutting and polishing CWO has, in part, limited its study relative to other scintillators such as cesium iodide and bismuth germanate (BGO). The goal of this work was to build and test a focused large-area pixelated "strip" CWO detector. METHODS A 361 × 52 mm scintillator assembly that contained a total of 28 072 pixels was constructed. The assembly comprised seven subarrays, each 15 mm thick. Six of the subarrays were fabricated from CWO with a pixel pitch of 0.784 mm, while one array was constructed from BGO for comparison. Focusing was achieved by coupling the arrays to the Varian AS1000 AMFPI through a piecewise linear arc-shaped fiber optic plate. Simulation and experimental studies of modulation transfer function (MTF) and DQE were undertaken using a 6 MV beam, and comparisons were made between the performance of the pixelated strip assembly and the most common EPID configuration comprising a 1 mm-thick copper build-up plate attached to a 133 mg/cm(2) gadolinium oxysulfide scintillator screen (Cu-GOS). Projection radiographs and CBCT images of phantoms were acquired. The work also introduces the use of a lightweight edge phantom to generate MTF measurements at MV energies and shows its functional equivalence to the more cumbersome slit-based method. RESULTS Measured and simulated DQE(0)'s of the pixelated CWO detector were 22% and 26%, respectively. The average measured and simulated ratios of CWO DQE(f) to Cu-GOS DQE(f) across the frequency range of 0.0-0.62 mm(-1) were 23 and 29, respectively. 2D and 3D imaging studies confirmed the large dose efficiency improvement and that focus was maintained across the field of view. In the CWO CBCT images, the measured spatial resolution was 7 lp/cm. The contrast-to-noise ratio was dramatically improved reflecting a 22 × sensitivity increase relative to Cu-GOS. The CWO scintillator material showed significantly higher stability and light yield than the BGO material. CONCLUSIONS An efficient piecewise-focused pixelated strip scintillator for MV imaging is described that offers more than a 20-fold dose efficiency improvement over Cu-GOS.
Religion as a Protective Mechanism for Families Affected by HIV/AIDS

The aim of the study was to investigate the role of the church in helping HIV and AIDS affected families cope with HIV and AIDS related challenges. A qualitative study was conducted using one-on-one semi structured interviews to gather information from HIV and AIDS affected families and church members, including church leaders. The findings revealed adequate knowledge of HIV and AIDS; prevention, transmission and treatment, however these families’ perception about HIV and AIDS still has elements of stigma and discrimination. Not all churches take an active role in the struggle against HIV and AIDS. 50% of the affected families reported that their churches were not fully participating, 20% not participating at all and 30% actively involved. The study revealed that amongst the churches which are not fully participating but aware of the existence of HIV and AIDS are Charismatic churches, such as, the Assemblies of God and the City of Light. HIV/AIDS affected families do not disclose at church because of fear of being stigmatised and discriminated against as HIV/AIDS is attributed to God’s punishment for promiscuity. Furthermore, much as most church leaders and congregants are doing their best in helping the affected families, only three churches out of ten have got programmes put in place for helping the infected and affected families. These include workshops and home and hospital visits for both the affected families and infected church members. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013. v4n14p269
Licensed-Assisted Access to Unlicensed Spectrum in LTE Release 13

Exploiting the unlicensed spectrum is considered by 3GPP as one promising solution to meet ever-increasing traffic growth. As a result, one major enhancement for LTE in Release 13 has been to enable its operation in the unlicensed spectrum via licensed-assisted access (LAA). In this article, we provide an overview of the Release 13 LAA technology including motivation, use cases, LTE enhancements for enabling the unlicensed band operation, and the coexistence evaluation results contributed by 3GPP participants.
From network sharing to multi-tenancy: The 5G network slice broker

The ever-increasing traffic demand is pushing network operators to find new cost-efficient solutions toward the deployment of future 5G mobile networks. The network sharing paradigm was explored in the past and partially deployed. Nowadays, advanced mobile network multi-tenancy approaches are increasingly gaining momentum, paving the way toward further decreasing capital expenditure and operational expenditure (CAPEX/OPEX) costs, while enabling new business opportunities. This article provides an overview of the 3GPP standard evolution from network sharing principles, mechanisms, and architectures to future on-demand multi-tenant systems. In particular, it introduces the concept of the 5G Network Slice Broker in 5G systems, which enables mobile virtual network operators, over-the-top providers, and industry vertical market players to request and lease resources from infrastructure providers dynamically via signaling means. Finally, it reviews the latest standardization efforts, considering remaining open issues for enabling advanced network slicing solutions, taking into account the allocation of virtualized network functions based on ETSI NFV, the introduction of shared network functions, and flexible service chaining.
Security and Privacy in Smart City Applications: Challenges and Solutions

With the flourishing and advancement of the IoT, the smart city has become an emerging paradigm, consisting of ubiquitous sensing, heterogeneous network infrastructure, and intelligent information processing and control systems. A smart city can monitor the physical world in real time, and provide intelligent services to both local residents and travelers in terms of transportation, healthcare, environment, entertainment, and energy. However, security and privacy concerns arise, since smart city applications not only collect a wide range of privacy-sensitive information from people and their social circles, but also control city facilities and influence people’s lives. In this article, we investigate security and privacy in smart city applications. Specifically, we first introduce promising smart city applications and architecture. Then we discuss several security and privacy challenges in these applications. Some research efforts are subsequently presented to address these security and privacy challenges for intelligent healthcare, transportation, and smart energy. Finally, we point out some open issues for future research.
Neurologic Manifestations in

PROGRESSIVE systemic sclerosis (PSS) or systemic scleroderma is a disease characterized pathologically by alterations in collagen tissue and clinically by diffuse induration of the skin. In the majority of cases there is evidence of dysfunction of visceral structures, particularly the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, heart, and lungs. Vasomotor and endocrine disturbances may also be present. Unlike other collagen diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus,1thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura,2and periarteritis nodosa,3the nervous system is rarely involved in PSS. Little has been written in the large literature on PSS of the neurologic manifestations which do occur in this disease. The purpose of this communication is to review and discuss the neurologic problems occurring in systemic scleroderma as determined from the charts of patients with PSS at the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York. Materials and Methods Between 1935 and 1966, 155 patients with the diagnosis of scleroderma were admitted
Network Slicing for 5G with SDN/NFV: Concepts, Architectures, and Challenges

The fifth generation of mobile communications is anticipated to open up innovation opportunities for new industries such as vertical markets. However, these verticals originate myriad use cases with diverging requirements that future 5G networks have to efficiently support. Network slicing may be a natural solution to simultaneously accommodate, over a common network infrastructure, the wide range of services that vertical- specific use cases will demand. In this article, we present the network slicing concept, with a particular focus on its application to 5G systems. We start by summarizing the key aspects that enable the realization of so-called network slices. Then we give a brief overview on the SDN architecture proposed by the ONF and show that it provides tools to support slicing. We argue that although such architecture paves the way for network slicing implementation, it lacks some essential capabilities that can be supplied by NFV. Hence, we analyze a proposal from ETSI to incorporate the capabilities of SDN into the NFV architecture. Additionally, we present an example scenario that combines SDN and NFV technologies to address the realization of network slices. Finally, we summarize the open research issues with the purpose of motivating new advances in this field.
Network Slicing in 5G: Survey and Challenges

5G is envisioned to be a multi-service network supporting a wide range of verticals with a diverse set of performance and service requirements. Slicing a single physical network into multiple isolated logical networks has emerged as a key to realizing this vision. This article is meant to act as a survey, the first to the authors� knowledge, on this topic of prime interest. We begin by reviewing the state of the art in 5G network slicing and present a framework for bringing together and discussing existing work in a holistic manner. Using this framework, we evaluate the maturity of current proposals and identify a number of open research questions.
An online x-ray based position validation system for prostate hypofractionated radiotherapy.

PURPOSE Accurate positioning of the target volume during treatment is paramount for stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). In this work, the authors present the development of an in-house software tool to verify target position with an Elekta-Synergy linear accelerator using kV planar images acquired during treatment delivery. METHODS In-house software, SeedTracker, was developed in matlab to perform the following three functions: 1. predict intended seed positions in a planar view perpendicular to any gantry angle, simulating a portal imaging device, from the 3D seed co-ordinates derived from the treatment planning system; 2. autosegment seed positions in kV planar images; and 3. report the position shift based on the seed positions in the projection images. The performance of SeedTracker was verified using a CIRS humanoid phantom (CIRS, VA, USA) implanted with three Civco gold seed markers (Civco, IA, USA) in the prostate. The true positive rate of autosegmentation (TPRseg) and the accuracy of the software in alerting the user when the isocenter position was outside the tolerance (TPRtrig) were studied. Two-dimensional and 3D static position offsets introduced to the humanoid phantom and 3D dynamic offsets introduced to a gel phantom containing gold seeds were used for evaluation of the system. RESULTS SeedTracker showed a TPRseg of 100% in the humanoid phantom for projection images acquired at all angles except in the ranges of 80°-100° and 260°-280° where seeds are obscured by anatomy. This resulted in a TPRtrig of 88% over the entire treatment range for considered 3D static offsets introduced to the phantom. For 2D static offsets where the position offsets were only introduced in the anterior-posterior and lateral directions, the TPRtrig of SeedTracker was limited by both seed detectability and positional offset. SeedTracker showed a false positive trigger in the projection angle range between 130°-170° and 310°-350° (a maximum of 24% of treatment time) due to limited information that can be derived from monoscopic images. The system accurately determined the dynamic trajectory of the isocenter position in the superior and inferior direction for the studied dynamic offset scenarios based on the seed position in monoscopic images. CONCLUSIONS The developed software has been shown to accurately autosegment the seed positions in kV planar images except for two 20° arcs where seeds are obscured by anatomical structures. The isocenter trajectories determined by the system, based on the monoscopic images, provide useful information for monitoring the prostate position. The developed system has potential application for monitoring prostate position during treatment delivery in linear accelerator based SBRT.