Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analytical Investigation of Converter for Electric Vehicle Fast Charging

The following paper considers analytical investigation of a DC-DC converter operating as part of a modular system for electric vehicle fast charging. The topology is based on a resonant inverter circuit with switching capacitor voltage limitation. An analysis of the converter operation is made. Equivalent circuits are derived for the different intervals of operation. Basic converter dependencies are obtained. The obtained analytical results are verified by computer simulations. They can be used as a basis for the development of a design methodology.
New Constant-Dimension Subspace Codes from Maximum Rank Distance Codes

The main problem of constant-dimension subspace coding is to determine the maximal possible size <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbf{A}}_{q}(n,d,k)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of a set of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$k$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-dimensional subspaces in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbf{F}}_{q}^{n}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> such that the subspace distance satisfies <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$d(U,V) \geq d$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for any two different subspaces <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$U$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V$ </tex-math></inline-formula> in this set. In this paper, we give a direct construction of constant-dimension subspace codes from two parallel versions of maximum rank-distance codes. The problem about the sizes of our constructed constant-dimension subspace codes is transformed into finding a suitable sufficient condition to restrict number of the roots of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L_{1}(L_{2}(x))-x$ </tex-math></inline-formula> where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L_{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> are <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$q$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-polynomials over the extension field <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbf{F}}_{q^{n}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. New lower bounds for <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbf{A}}_{q}(4k,2k,2k)$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbf{A}}_{q}(4k+2,2k,2k+1)$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${\mathbf{A}}_{q}(4k+2,2(k-1),2k+1)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> are presented. Many new constant-dimension subspace codes better than previously best known codes with small parameters are constructed.
Narrowband Interference Suppression in a Spreading WFRFT System and Optimal Order Selection

A spreading system based on weighted fractional Fourier transform (WFRFT) is proposed over the channel with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and narrowband interference (NBI). The cross-correlation coefficient between pseudo-noise (PN) sequence and NBI (CPI) and the proposed system's bit error rate (BER) are deduced. We proved that the optimal WFRFT order can be obtained to achieve the best BER performance through minimization of CPl. Numerical results show that the optimal WFRFT order can reduce the adverse effect caused by NBI in different distribution states.
A Monostatic E-Band Radar Transceiver with a Tunable TX-to-RX Leakage Canceler for Automotive Applications

This paper presents a monostatic E-Band radar transceiver (TRX) with a tunable TX-to-RX leakage canceler for DC offset suppression. The proposed architecture based on a vector modulator provides a tunable leakage cancellation suitable for different antenna matching conditions. The TRX achieves 4 dBm TX output power and 18 dB RX gain at 80 GHz. It consumes 100 mA and 120 mA from 3.3 V supply depending on leakage canceler mode. The chip occupies 3.96 mm2 area.
Impact of concomitant nontuberculous mycobacteria and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis

Purpose Pseudomonas aeruginosa is associated with pulmonary function decline and high disease severity in non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis. The prevalence of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in non-CF bronchiectasis patients has increased recently. This study investigated the impact of NTM with or without P. aeruginosa isolates in non-CF bronchiectasis patients. Patients and methods Our retrospective study included 96 non-CF bronchiectasis patients from January 2005 to December 2014. We recorded the presentation, exacerbations, emergency department (ED) visits, hospitalization, serial pulmonary function, radiologic studies, and sputum culture results. All patients were followed up for at least 2 years. Results The 96 patients were divided into four groups: patients with concomitant negative NTM and P. aeruginosa isolates (n=41; group 1), patients with positive NTM isolates (n=20; group 2), patients with positive P. aeruginosa isolates (n=20; group 3), and patients with concomitant positive NTM and P. aeruginosa isolates (n=15; group 4). Compared with group 1 patients, patients in groups 2 and 3 showed a significant decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). They also had more frequent annual acute exacerbations (AE), ED visits, and hospitalization. Group 4 patients had the greatest FEV1 and forced vital capacity (FVC) decline and the most frequent AE, ED visits, and hospitalization. Conclusion Concomitant NTM and P. aeruginosa isolates in non-CF bronchiectasis are associated with the greatest pulmonary function decline and the worst disease severity. This result suggested that early recognition and prompt treatment of concomitant NTM and P. aeruginosa isolates may improve the outcome in non-CF bronchiectasis patients.
Cognition among individuals along a spectrum of increased risk for Parkinson’s disease

Introduction Several characteristics associated with increased risk for Parkinson’s disease (PD) have been identified, including specific genotypes and various non-motor symptoms. Characterizing non-motor features, such as cognitive abilities, among individuals considered at-risk for PD is essential to improving prediction of future neurodegeneration. Methods Participants belonging to the following cohorts of the Parkinson Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) study were included: de novo PD with dopamine transporter binding deficit (n = 423), idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD, n = 39), hyposmia (n = 26) and non-PD mutation carrier (NMC; Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) G2019S (n = 88) and glucocerebrosidase (GBA) gene (n = 38) mutations)). Inclusion criteria enriched the RBD and hyposmia cohorts, but not the NMC cohort, with individuals with dopamine transporter binding deficit. Baseline neuropsychological performance was compared, and analyses were adjusted for age, sex, education, and depression. Results The RBD cohort performed significantly worse than the hyposmia and NMC cohorts on Symbol Digit Modality Test (mean (SD) 32.4 (9.16) vs. 41.8 (9.98), p = 0.002 and vs. 45.2 (10.9), p<0.001) and Judgment of Line Orientation (11.3 (2.36) vs.12.9 (1.87), p = 0.004 and vs. 12.9 (1.87), p<0.001). The RBD cohort also performed worse than the hyposmia cohort on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (25.5 (4.13) vs. 27.3 (1.71), p = 0.02). Hyposmics did not differ from PD or NMC cohorts on any cognitive test score. Conclusion Among individuals across a spectrum of risk for PD, cognitive function is worse among those with the characteristic most strongly associated with future risk of PD or dementia with Lewy bodies, namely RBD.
Color Based Clustering for Trunk Segmentation

While image segmentation is a fundamental and general task of image processing and computer vision, the segmentation of trunks in wood can be considered as a specific, ill posed, and hard problem. However, besides the lots of possible applications of it, the problems to be faced are general and can be found in other areas of open-air image analysis. In our paper we discuss these problems and propose a color clustering based approach as a feature generation step for the segmentation of trunks. The results of classification can be used as features for further segmentation techniques such as MRF. The possibility to apply for angle count based volume estimation is also discussed. The performance is shown through several tests with different types of wood.
Action Needed! Helping Users Find and Complete the Authentication Ceremony in Signal

The security guarantees of secure messaging applications are contingent upon users performing an authentication ceremony, which typically involves verifying the fingerprints of encryption keys. However, recent lab studies have shown that users are unable to do this without being told in advance about the ceremony and its importance. A recent study showed that even with this instruction, the time it takes users to find and complete the ceremony is excessively long—about 11 minutes. To remedy these problems, we modified Signal to include prompts for the ceremony and also simplified the ceremony itself. To gauge the effect of these changes, we conducted a between-subject user study involving 30 pairs of participants. Our study methodology includes no user training and only a small performance bonus to encourage the secure behavior. Our results show that users are able to both find and complete the ceremony more quickly in our new version of Signal. Despite these improvements, many users are still unsure or confused about the purpose of the authentication ceremony. We discuss the need for better risk communication and methods to promote trust.
Knockdown of Mns1 Increases Susceptibility to Craniofacial Defects Following Gastrulation‐Stage Alcohol Exposure in Mice

BACKGROUND MNS1 (meiosis-specific nuclear structural protein 1) is necessary for motile cilia function, such as sperm flagella or those found in the embryonic primitive node. While little is known regarding the function or expression pattern of MNS1 in the embryo, co-immunoprecipitation experiments in sperm have determined that MNS1 interacts with ciliary proteins, which are also important during development. Establishment of morphogenic gradients is dependent on normal ciliary motion in the primitive node beginning during gastrulation (gestational day [GD] 7 in the mouse, second-third week of pregnancy in humans), a critical window for face, eye, and brain development and particularly susceptible to perturbations of developmental signals. The current study investigates the role of Mns1 in craniofacial defects associated with gastrulation-stage alcohol exposure. METHODS On GD7, pregnant Mns1+/- dams were administered 2 doses of ethanol (5.8 g/kg total) or vehicle 4 hours apart to target gastrulation. On GD17, fetuses were examined for ocular defects by scoring each eye on a scale from 1 to 7 (1 = normal, 2 to 7 = defects escalating in severity). Craniofacial and brain abnormalities were also assessed. RESULTS Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) significantly increased the rate of defects in wild-type fetuses, as PAE fetuses had an incidence rate of 41.18% compared to a 10% incidence rate in controls. Furthermore, PAE interacted with genotype to significantly increase the defect rate and severity in Mns1+/- (64.29%) and Mns1-/- mice (92.31%). PAE Mns1-/- fetuses with severe eye defects also presented with craniofacial dysmorphologies characteristic of fetal alcohol syndrome and midline tissue loss in the brain, palate, and nasal septum. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate that a partial or complete knockdown of Mns1 interacts with PAE to increase the susceptibility to ocular defects and correlating craniofacial and brain anomalies, likely though interaction of alcohol with motile cilia function. These results further our understanding of genetic risk factors that may underlie susceptibility to teratogenic exposures.
A Planar Balanced-to-Balanced Power Divider With Wideband Filtering Responses and Common-Mode Suppressions

In this paper, a balanced-to-balanced power divider with a wideband filtering function is proposed. The power divider is simply composed of coupled-line sections, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda /4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> lines and isolation resistors, and explicit design methodology is given. From the simulated and measured results, the power divider shows 49% differential-mode filtering bandwidth with two additional transmission zeros introduced, and the common-mode transmission is suppressed below −12 dB over 141% frequency bandwidth. This power divider can be a candidate for constructing fully-balanced systems.
A Comparative Metabolomics Analysis Reveals the Tissue-Specific Phenolic Profiling in Two Acanthopanax Species

Acanthopanax senticosus (Rupr. Maxim.) Harms (ASH) and Acanthopanax sessiliflorus (Rupr. Maxim.) Seem (ASS), are members of the Araliaceae family, and both are used in Asian countries. These herbals have drawn much attention in recent years due to their strong biological activity, with innocuity and little side effects. However, the common and distinct mode of compound profiles between ASH and ASS is still unclear. In this study, a high performance liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) method was developed to simultaneously quantify the seven major active compounds, including protocatechuate, eleutheroside B, eleutheroside E, isofraxidin, hyperoside, kaempferol and oleanolic acid. Then the targeted metabolomics were conducted to identify 19 phenolic compounds, with tight relation to the above mentioned active compounds, including nine C6C3C6-type, six C6C3-type and four C6C1-type in the two Acanthopanax species studied here. The results showed that the seven active compounds presented a similar trend of changes in different tissues, with more abundant accumulation in roots and stems for both plants. From the view of plant species, the ASH plants possess higher abundance of compounds, especially in the tissues of roots and stems. For phenolics, the 19 phenols detected here could be clearly grouped into five main clusters based on their tissue-specific accumulation patterns. Roots are the tissue for the most abundance of their accumulations. C6C3C6-type compounds are the most widely existing type in both plants. In conclusion, the tissue- and species-specificity in accumulation of seven active compounds and phenolics were revealed in two Acanthopanax species.
Personalized cancer neoantigen vaccines come of age

Cancer vaccines have encountered their ideal personalized partner along with evidence for great breakthroughs in the identification and synthesis of neoantigens. Individual cancer neoantigen vaccines are capable of eliciting robust T-cell responses and have been demonstrated to achieve striking clinical efficacy due to their high immunogenicity and central thymic tolerance escape of neoantigens. Two recent phase I clinical trials have provided support for the hypothesis and have heralded a nascent era of personalized vaccines in the field of immunotherapy. This review aims to address the identification of neoepitopes and describes advances made in personalized vaccines. In addition, this review discusses the challenges related to the exploitation of vaccine therapy, and provides potential thoughts for the improvement of vaccine design and applications.
Visualizing a Million Time Series with the Density Line Chart

Data analysts often need to work with multiple series of data---conventionally shown as line charts---at once. Few visual representations allow analysts to view many lines simultaneously without becoming overwhelming or cluttered. In this paper, we introduce the DenseLines technique to calculate a discrete density representation of time series. DenseLines normalizes time series by the arc length to compute accurate densities. The derived density visualization allows users both to see the aggregate trends of multiple series and to identify anomalous extrema.
Acid-responsive activity of the Helicobacter pylori metalloregulator NikR

Significance The acid adaptation systems of the pathogen Helicobacter pylori are complex and critical to the survival of this bacterium in the harsh environment of the human stomach. One of the relatively few transcription factors in H. pylori is HpNikR, a metal-responsive protein that controls homeostasis of nickel, an essential nutrient for this organism. In this study, we show that HpNikR also regulates gene expression in direct response to acidic pH. Exposure of H. pylori to acid shock conditions depresses its cytosolic pH, which activates the regulation of multiple promoters by HpNikR. These results demonstrate that HpNikR has a multifaceted response that links nickel homeostasis and acid acclimation, two critical functions in this infectious organism. Helicobacter pylori is a human pathogen that infects the stomach, where it experiences variable pH. To survive the acidic gastric conditions, H. pylori produces large quantities of urease, a nickel enzyme that hydrolyzes urea to ammonia, which neutralizes the local environment. One of the regulators of urease expression in H. pylori is HpNikR, a nickel-responsive transcription factor. Here we show that HpNikR also regulates urease expression in response to changes in pH, linking acid adaptation and nickel homeostasis. Upon measuring the cytosolic pH of H. pylori exposed to an external pH of 2, similar to the acidic shock conditions that occur in the human stomach, a significant drop in internal pH was observed. This decrease in internal pH resulted in HpNikR-dependent activation of ureA transcription. Furthermore, analysis of a slate of H. pylori genes encoding other acid adaptation or nickel homeostasis components revealed HpNikR-dependent regulation in response to acid shock. This regulation was consistent with pH-dependent DNA binding to the corresponding promoter sequences observed in vitro with purified HpNikR. These results demonstrate that HpNikR can directly respond to changes in cytosolic pH during acid acclimation and illustrate the exquisitely coordinated regulatory networks that support H. pylori infections in the harsh environment of the human stomach.
DyPhase: A Dynamic Phase Change Memory Architecture With Symmetric Write Latency and Restorable Endurance

A major challenge for the widespread adoption of phase change memory (PCM) as main memory is its asymmetric write latency. Generally, for a PCM, the latency of a SET operation (i.e., an operation that writes “1”) is 2–5 times longer than the latency of a RESET operation (i.e., an operation that writes “0”). For this reason, the average write latency of a PCM system is limited by the high-latency SET operations. This paper presents a novel PCM architecture called DyPhase, which uses partial-SET operations instead of the conventional SET operations to introduce a symmetry in write latency, thereby increasing write performance and throughput. However, use of partial-SET decreases data retention time. As a remedy to this problem, DyPhase employs novel distributed refresh operations in PCM that leverage the available power budget to periodically rewrite the stored data with minimal performance overhead. Unfortunately, the use of periodic refresh operations increases the write rate of the memory, which in turn accelerates memory degradation and decreases its lifetime. DyPhase overcomes this shortcoming by utilizing a proactive in-situ self-annealing (PISA) technique that periodically heals degraded memory cells, resulting in decelerated degradation and increased memory lifetime. Experiments with PARSEC benchmarks indicate that our DyPhase architecture-based hybrid dynamic random access memory (DRAM)–PCM memory system, when enabled with PISA, yields orders of magnitude higher lifetime, 8.3% less CPI, and 44.3% less EDP on average over other hybrid DRAM–PCM memory systems that utilize PCM architectures from prior works.
Amplitude Modulated Line-Based Halftoning

We present a new approach for line-based halftoning of images, where banks of waveforms are modulated by the gray levels of the rendered image. We present examples that employ sinusoidal and triangular waveforms, and highlight some applications, including stylized rendering, halftoning in line-based devices, and education.
The Balanced Objectification Hypothesis: The Effects of Objectification Valence and Body Sentiment on Source Sentiment

In this work, we introduced and tested the balanced objectification hypothesis (BOH). Derived from an integration of balance theory and objectification research, the BOH suggests that people seek psychological balance during objectifying interactions with others. Corresponding with the BOH, men and women perceived objectification sources as higher in warmth and intended to approach the objectification source more when they experienced complimentary objectification in conjunction with positive body sentiment (vs. negative body sentiment) and critical objectification in conjunction with negative body sentiment (vs. positive body sentiment) across four experiments. Self–other congruency emerged as a mediator and inconsistency between the content of the objectification experience and body sentiment (whether they were both focused on weight or sex appeal or not) emerged as a boundary condition, in line with the BOH. Theoretical implications and critical next steps for testing the BOH are discussed.
Epidemic spreading on time-varying multiplex networks

Social interactions are stratified in multiple contexts and are subject to complex temporal dynamics. The systematic study of these two features of social systems has started only very recently, mainly thanks to the development of multiplex and time-varying networks. However, these two advancements have progressed almost in parallel with very little overlap. Thus, the interplay between multiplexity and the temporal nature of connectivity patterns is poorly understood. Here, we aim to tackle this limitation by introducing a time-varying model of multiplex networks. We are interested in characterizing how these two properties affect contagion processes. To this end, we study susceptible-infected-susceptible epidemic models unfolding at comparable timescale with respect to the evolution of the multiplex network. We study both analytically and numerically the epidemic threshold as a function of the multiplexity and the features of each layer. We found that higher values of multiplexity significantly reduce the epidemic threshold especially when the temporal activation patterns of nodes present on multiple layers are positively correlated. Furthermore, when the average connectivity across layers is very different, the contagion dynamics is driven by the features of the more densely connected layer. Here, the epidemic threshold is equivalent to that of a single layered graph and the impact of the disease, in the layer driving the contagion, is independent of the multiplexity. However, this is not the case in the other layers where the spreading dynamics is sharply influenced by it. The results presented provide another step towards the characterization of the properties of real networks and their effects on contagion phenomena.
PAC-L EARNING IS U NDECIDABLE A P REPRINT

The problem of attempting to learn the mapping between data and labels is the crux of any machine learning task. It is, therefore, of interest to the machine learning community on practical as well as theoretical counts to consider the existence of a test or criterion for deciding the feasibility of attempting to learn. We investigate the existence of such a criterion in the setting of PAC-learning, basing the feasibility solely on whether the mapping to be learnt lends itself to approximation by a given class of hypothesis functions. We show that no such criterion exists, exposing a fundamental limitation in the decidability of learning. In other words, we prove that testing for PAC-learnability is undecidable in the Turing sense. We also brieﬂy discuss some of the probable implications of this result to the current practice of machine learning.