Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhancing color-based particle filter algorithm with ORB feature for real-time video tracking

In this paper, we propose an enhancement of color-based particle filter algorithm with oriented FAST and rotated BRIEF (ORB) feature detector (ORBPF). By carefully defining the size and position of the search window, ORB will generate interesting key-point close to the object being tracked. The location of matched key-point with high color similarity is then selected to replace the particles from the original filter. This matched key-point can be used to manage the particle spread and minimize the disadvantages of a random selection of the particle set such as degeneracy and sample impoverishment problem. The number of particles can be significantly reduced by using this method while maintaining the accuracy of the tracker. We test our tracker on numerous video sequences and using real-time video input from CCD camera in an indoor and outdoor application that involves some challenging situations including variations in illumination, scale, rotation, and occlusions. From the experiment, we show that our tracker performs more efficiently than standard color-based particle filter without ORB feature detector (CPF).
Bots Mind the Social-technical Gap

Mobile workers experience the social-technical gap when moral dilemmas occur on communication platforms, and technology cannot adapt to social contexts on ethical matters. On messaging applications, bots are non-human team members and/or assistants that can aid mobile workers manage ethical challenges. We present excerpts from qualitative interviews with mobile workers that illuminate examples of moral challenges across communication channels. We then discuss how bots may be helpful intermediaries on these channels. Bots bridge the gap between mobile workers’ need for moral support and the communication medium’s incapability of having an intentionally moral stance.
Beyond the Trial: Systematic Review of Real-World Uptake and Engagement With Digital Self-Help Interventions for Depression, Low Mood, or Anxiety

Background Digital self-help interventions (including online or computerized programs and apps) for common mental health issues have been shown to be appealing, engaging, and efficacious in randomized controlled trials. They show potential for improving access to therapy and improving population mental health. However, their use in the real world, ie, as implemented (disseminated) outside of research settings, may differ from that reported in trials, and implementation data are seldom reported. Objective This study aimed to review peer-reviewed articles reporting user uptake and/or ongoing use, retention, or completion data (hereafter usage data or, for brevity, engagement) from implemented pure self-help (unguided) digital interventions for depression, anxiety, or the enhancement of mood. Methods We conducted a systematic search of the Scopus, Embase, MEDLINE, and PsychINFO databases for studies reporting user uptake and/or usage data from implemented digital self-help interventions for the treatment or prevention of depression or anxiety, or the enhancement of mood, from 2002 to 2017. Additionally, we screened the reference lists of included articles, citations of these articles, and the titles of articles published in Internet Interventions, Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), and JMIR Mental Health since their inception. We extracted data indicating the number of registrations or downloads and usage of interventions. Results After the removal of duplicates, 970 papers were identified, of which 10 met the inclusion criteria. Hand searching identified 1 additional article. The included articles reported on 7 publicly available interventions. There was little consistency in the measures reported. The number of registrants or downloads ranged widely, from 8 to over 40,000 per month. From 21% to 88% of users engaged in at least minimal use (eg, used the intervention at least once or completed one module or assessment), whereas 7-42% engaged in moderate use (completing between 40% and 60% of modular fixed-length programs or continuing to use apps after 4 weeks). Indications of completion or sustained use (completion of all modules or the last assessment or continuing to use apps after six weeks or more) varied from 0.5% to 28.6%. Conclusions Available data suggest that uptake and engagement vary widely among the handful of implemented digital self-help apps and programs that have reported this, and that usage may vary from that reported in trials. Implementation data should be routinely gathered and reported to facilitate improved uptake and engagement, arguably among the major challenges in digital health.
Impact of Glutathione on Wines Oxidative Stability: A Combined Sensory and Metabolomic Study

This paper is a comprehensive study regarding the role of glutathione as a natural antioxidant on white wines aging potential. It includes sensory and ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry (FTICR-MS) metabolomics of aged chardonnay wines from 2008 to 2009 vintages, made after glutathione spiking at alcoholic fermentation or bottling. The closure effect was also considered. The sensory analysis revealed a clear vintage, closure and glutathione effect on wines oxidative character after several years of bottle aging. Spearman rank correlation was applied to link the sensory analysis and the exact mass information from FT-ICR-MS. FTICR–MS along with multivariate statistical analyses put in evidence that glutathione efficiency against wines sensory oxidative stability is related to wines antioxidant metabolome consisting of N- and S- containing compounds like amino acids, aromatic compounds and peptides. The chemical composition and origin of wines antioxidant metabolome suggests that its management since the very beginning of the vinification process is a key factor to estimate wines aging potential.
Parallelizing and Optimizing LHCb-Kalman for Intel Xeon Phi KNL Processors

Real time data processing is an important component of particle physics experiments with large computing resource requirements. As the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is preparing for its next upgrade the LHCb experiment is upgrading its detector for a 30x increase in data throughput. In preparation for this upgrade the experiment is considering a number of architectural improvements encompassing both its software and hardware infrastructure. One of the hardware platforms under consideration is the Intel Xeon-Phi Knights Landing processor. Thanks to its on-package high-bandwidth memory and many-core architecture it offers an interesting alternative to more traditional server systems. We present a scalable, multi-threaded and NUMA-aware Kalman filter proto-application for particle track fitting expressed in terms of generic parallel patterns using the GrPPI interface. We show how code maintainability and readability improves, while maintaining comparable levels of performance to the baseline implementation. This is achieved by keeping the parallel algorithms in the underlying framework generic, but topology aware through the use of the Portable Hardware Locality (hwloc) library, which allows us to target different architectures with the same program. We measure the performance of our topology-aware GrPPI Kalman filter implementation on the Intel Xeon-Phi Knights Landing platform and conclude on the feasibility of integrating such high-level parallelization libraries in complex software frameworks such as LHCb's Gaudi framework.
Tomographic Imaging of Sparse Low-Contrast Targets in Harsh Environments Through Matrix Completion

A new methodology that exploits the matrix completion (MC) paradigm is proposed to image weak and sparse scatterers in heavy noise conditions. The 2-D inverse problem, mathematically formulated under the first-order Born approximation, is addressed with a three-phase algorithm that consists of: 1) an initial estimation step where a preliminary reconstruction of the distribution of the contrast and the associated “confidence map” are computed by means of a Bayesian compressive sensing method; 2) a filtering step devoted to identify and discard the less reliable contrast coefficients; and 3) a final dielectric profile completion step aimed at recovering a faithful image of the whole scattering scenario by exploiting a customized MC procedure. Representative numerical results and comparisons with competitive state-of-the-art inversion techniques are reported and discussed to assess the accuracy, the robustness, and the numerical efficiency of the proposed approach.
Comparison of conventional and soft computing-based control methods in a power regulation application

We give a comparison between the conventional power control scheme and a soft computing-based approach in a mobile communications application. At the base station, the 'bang-bang' control strategy and a neural network-based prediction control method are employed respectively. In addition, full power command, single-bit command transmission mode, and fuzzy logic-based power command enhancement unit, are considered. Based on numerical simulation experiments, we quantitatively evaluate the performance of various combinations of these control methods and command transmission modes. Finally, conclusions on the optimal configuration are given.
2-D Scannable 40-GHz Folded Reflectarray Fed by SIW Slot Antenna in Single-Layered PCB

Folded reflectarray antenna features high gain, low profile, and low sidelobe level, but also faces several challenges in scannability, manufacturing, assembling, and integration with planar circuits, especially at millimeter-wave and terahertz frequencies. To alleviate these issues, this paper presents a slot antenna based on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) to replace conventional horn. This SIW slot antenna is then inherently integrated with reflectarray elements in the same single-layered printed circuit board (PCB) for the first time. Moreover, this folded reflectarray is able to scan its narrow beams in 2-D, by controlling the polarizing grids. The whole reflectarray is fabricated by the commercial low-cost PCB process and can be highly integrated with planar active circuits. Measured results show that the proposed reflectarray achieves a 2-D scanning zone of 14° $\times$ 14°, a gain of 27.4 dBi, and a cross-polarization level less than −24 dB. The proposed folded reflectarray is promising for several application scenarios including millimeter-wave high-resolution imaging and fifth-generation communications.
A fast numerical test of multivariate polynomial positiveness with applications

The paper presents a simple method to check a positiveness of symmetric multivariate polynomials on the unit multi-circle. The method is based on the sampling polynomials using the fast Fourier transform. The algorithm is described and its possible applications are proposed. One of the aims of the paper is to show that presented algorithm is significantly faster than commonly used method based on the semi-definite programming expression.
Investigation of the bandwidth of resonators for frequency-coded chipless radio-frequency identification tags

Conventional radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags consist of a chip and a printed antenna. As the chip set is manufactured via the fabrication technology of application-specific integrated circuit, the cost of the chip is much higher than that of the antenna. Furthermore, soldering the chip to the antenna requires an additional procedure, so the main cost of an RFID tag comes from the chip. To eliminate this main cost, “chipless RFID” removes the use of a tag chip. Chipless RFID tags encode data by using several electromagnetic resonators, which can be directly printed on paper or plastic films; thus, the cost of chipless tags is reduced to a level as low as barcodes. Nevertheless, in order to increase the capacity of chipless RFID, the resonators are required to depict a narrow bandwidth. Although several resonators have been proposed for this application, the design that leads to the narrowest bandwidth is still inconclusive. In this study, we investigate the bandwidth of twenty-four resonators that have been employed in chipless RFID tags. It is observed that the quarter-wavelength slot, the circular slot and the Hilbert-curve resonators provide a narrowband feature. These resonators have a potential to enable the chipless tag to enhance capacity.
A method of inertial integrated navigation based on low cost MEMS sensors

With the rapid development of computer technology and communication technology, pedestrian navigation system(PNS) began to enter the real practical stage. PNS is a method of track reckoning based on strapdown inertial navigation system. However, inertial navigation system is prone to error accumulation with time, resulting in low positioning accuracy and practicability. Low cost inertial measurement unit(IMU) device has low accuracy, and the inertial navigation system has accumulated error, and the system is easy to diverge. Apart from those above, civil GPS accuracy is not stable, and poor GPS signal in a multipath environment may lead to errors, and GPS signals can not be used indoors. It is necessary to design a kind of navigation method to adapt low cost IMU. In this paper, it is presented that a foot inertial navigation system which is based on low cost MEMS inertial sensors is presented. According to the characteristics of pedestrian zero-velocity during walking steady state, an inertial navigation method based on Zero Velocity Update (ZUPT) is adopted. This paper uses air pressure, GPS to assist ZUPT method to correcting navigation parameters through Kalman filter. Based on the implementation scheme of pedestrian navigation system proposed in this paper, the steady state of walking were experimentally verified through the actual test data. The experimental results show that the proposed method can provide efficient, reliable and continuous position and navigation services.
Registration of 3D Point Clouds Using Mean Shift Clustering on Rotations and Translations

In this paper a novel registration algorithm between 3D point clouds is presented. It exploits the fact that current 3D point descriptors (e.g., RoPS) are accompanied by local reference frames(LRF). LRFs of corresponding points are used to estimate the relative rotation between the point clouds. Thus, inlier matches will generate a cluster of rotation matrices. The size and shape of this cluster is unknown. We therefore develop a mean shift clustering algorithm for noisy rotation matrices. It finds the mode of the distribution to estimate the relative rotation. It is then used for estimating the translation vectors from the matched points. Here again mean shift is used for finding the translation component. The algorithm has been tested on different types of sources of 3D data (3D scanner, Lidar, and Structure from Motion(SfM)) of small scanned objects and urban scenes. In all these cases, the algorithm performed well outperforming state of the art algorithms in accuracy and in speed.
Gamma-irradiated rotavirus: A possible whole virus inactivated vaccine

Rotavirus (RV) causes significant morbidity and mortality in developing countries, where children and infants are highly susceptible to severe disease symptoms. While live attenuated vaccines are available, reduced vaccine efficacy in developing countries illustrates the need for highly immunogenic alternative vaccines. Here, we studied the possible inactivation of RV using gamma(γ)-irradiation, and assessed the sterility and immunogenicity of γ-irradiated RV (γ-RV) as a novel vaccine candidate. Interestingly, the inactivation curve of RV did not show a log-linear regression following exposure to increased doses of γ-rays, and consequently the radiation dose required to achieve the internationally accepted Sterility Assurance Level could not be calculated. Nonetheless, we performed sterility testing based on serial passages of γ-RV, and our data clearly illustrate the lack of infectivity of γ-RV preparations irradiated with 50 kGy. In addition, we tested the immunogenicity of 50 kGy γ-RV in mice and our data illustrate the induction of strong RV-specific neutralising antibody responses following administration of γ-RV without using adjuvant. Therefore, whilst γ-RV may not constitute a replacement for current RV vaccines, this study represents a proof-of-concept that γ-irradiation can be applied to inactivate RV for vaccine purposes. Further investigation will be required to address whether γ-irradiation can be applied to improve safety and efficacy of existing live attenuated vaccines.
Bootstrapping of Parameterized Skills Through Hybrid Optimization in Task and Policy Spaces

Modern robotic applications create high demands on adaptation of actions with respect to variance in a given task. Reinforcement learning is able to optimize for these changing conditions, but relearning from scratch is hardly feasible due to the high number of required rollouts. We propose a parameterized skill that generalizes to new actions for changing task parameters, which is encoded as a meta-learner that provides parameters for task-specific dynamic motion primitives. Our work shows that utilizing parameterized skills for initialization of the optimization process leads to a more effective incremental task learning. In addition, we introduce a hybrid optimization method that combines a fast coarse optimization on a manifold of policy parameters with a fine grained parameter search in the unrestricted space of actions. The proposed algorithm reduces the number of required rollouts for adaptation to new task conditions. Application in illustrative toy scenarios, for a 10-DOF planar arm, and a humanoid robot point reaching task validate the approach.
Impact of Dietary Pattern on Human LifeQuality and Life Expectancy: A Mini-Review

During the lifespan, there are multiple factors influence the longevity including genotype, metabolism, physiology, sociodemographic and environmental factors, nutritional and lifestyle habits. Nutrition during the life time has an effect on the health status. Dietary indexes, certain dietary patterns and dietary guidelines have been used for analysing dietary pattern and life expectancy relationship in many studies. Dietary pattern has an important effect on longevity. The cohort study results indicate that diet quality and Medittarenean diet have potential effects on longevity. The important effects of nutrition on longevity related with quality, quantity, frequency, variety and emotional satisfaction. Therefore, nutritional strategies that provide clear benefits for ageing linked with both physiological and psychological functions to maintain life quality. The aspiration is not only to “live longer” but to “live better,” and to maintain optimal qual¬ity of life during the later stages of life.
Visual Tracking Based on Cooperative Model

In this paper, we propose a cooperative model combined the multi-task reverse sparse representation model (MTRSR) and the AdaBoost classifier, which were used to cope with the disturbing of target gradient information caused by motion blur or target serious occlusion, and a descriptive dictionary were used to estimate the weights of each candidates. First, we use the MTRSR model to get the blur kernel which were used to get the blur target template set, meanwhile the confidence of the candidates is also obtained by the reconstruction error. Then we use the HOG features of the target templates to get the descriptive dictionary to calculate the weights of the candidates, and a AdaBoost classifier is used to calculate the confidences of all candidates. Finally, the best target is retrieved by the sum of production of weight value and the two confidences. The experimental data show that the proposed algorithm can fully cope with the target's information change which were caused by motion blur and target occlusion in the complex scene, and our algorithm can further improve the accuracy and robustness in visual tracking.
Oblique Sagittal Images Prevent Underestimation of the Neuroforaminal Stenosis Grade Caused by Disc Herniation in Cervical Spine MRI

Abstract Purpose To identify whether standard sagittal MRI images result in underestimation of the neuroforaminal stenosis grade compared to oblique sagittal MRI images in patients with cervical spine disc herniation. Materials and Methods 74 patients with a total of 104 cervical disc herniations compromising the corresponding nerve root were evaluated. Neuroforaminal stenosis grades were evaluated in standard and oblique sagittal images by one senior and one resident radiologist experienced in musculoskeletal imaging. Oblique images were angled 30° towards the standard sagittal plane. Neuroforaminal stenosis grades were classified from 0 (no stenosis) to 3 (high grade stenosis). Results Average neuroforaminal stenosis grades of both readers were significantly lower in standard compared to oblique sagittal images (p < 0.001). For 47.1 % of the cases, one or both readers reported a stenosis grade, which was at least 1 grade lower in standard compared to oblique sagittal images. There was also a significant difference when looking at patients who had neurological symptoms (p = 0.002) or underwent cervical spine surgery subsequently (p = 0.004). Interreader reliability, as measured by kappa value, and accordance rates were better for oblique sagittal images (0.94 vs. 0.88 and 99 % vs. 93 %). Conclusion Standard sagittal images tend to underestimate neuroforaminal stenosis grades compared to oblique sagittal images and are less reliable in the evaluation of disc herniations within the cervical spine MRI. In order to assess the potential therapeutic consequence, oblique images should therefore be considered as a valuable adjunct to the standard MRI protocol for patients with a radiculopathy. Key Points Neuroforaminal stenosis grades are underestimated in standard compared to oblique sagittal images Interreader reliability is higher for oblique sagittal images Oblique sagittal images should be performed in patients with a cervical radiculopathy Citation Format Kintzele L, Rehnitz C, Kauczor H et al. Oblique Sagittal Images Prevent Underestimation of the Neuroforaminal Stenosis Grade Caused by Disc Herniation in Cervical Spine MRI. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2018; 190: 946 – 954
Development of synchronized voltage modulation techniques for seven-phase voltage source inverters

The use of synchronized Pulse Width Modulation PWM techniques have been studied in the last years in order to minimize the voltage/current harmonics generated by the power converter, for situations where low switching frequencies are required. This paper introduces a set of PWM techniques for 7-phase drives that meets seven phase symmetry, half-wave symmetry and quarter wave symmetry. The switching pattern are designed from the space vector perspective, in order to meet the requirements. Switching patterns, output voltage and current spectra corresponding to introduced methods are presented and their effectiveness are validated by simulation results. The minimum switching frequency that can be achieved is 7 times the fundamental frequency.
Effects of ketamine on the fetal transcriptomic response to umbilical cord occlusion: comparison with hypoxic hypoxia in the cerebral cortex

The cerebral response to fetal asphyxia is characterized by an upregulation of nucleic acid and chromatin modification processes, as well as a downregulation of metabolic processes at 1 h post‐umbilical cord occlusion (UCO). Twenty‐four hours post UCO, there was an upregulation of metabolic processes and protein modifications. UCO did not alter bacterial gene expression levels, nor did it produce a robust inflammatory response compared to maternal hypoxia. The administration of ketamine produced minimal effects on the fetal response to UCO in the cerebral cortex.