Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Computationally Simple MMSE (A-Optimal) Adaptive Beam-Pattern Design for MIMO Active Sensing Systems via a Linear-Gaussian Approximation

This paper presents an approximate minimum mean squared error (MMSE) adaptive beam-pattern design (ABD) method for MIMO active sensing systems. The proposed approximate MMSE ABD method leverages the physics of the MIMO arrays to provide a linear-Gaussian approximation that is specific to MIMO active sensing systems, and yields a computationally simple optimization problem. Computational complexity analysis confirms this theoretical reduction in the number of floating-point operations required, most notably that evaluation of the proposed approximate optimization cost function grows polynomially with the number of targets being tracked, whereas for evaluation of the exact cost the growth is exponential. Additionally, numerical results indicate that, even for a simple scenario with a single target being tracked, the proposed approximate MMSE ABD method does indeed reduce the mean squared error of target parameter estimation compared to the nonadaptive case, with a reduction in computation time of four orders of magnitude compared to exact MMSE ABD.
High-Capacitance-Density  ${p}$ -GaN Gate Capacitors for High-Frequency Power Integration

The <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${p}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-GaN gate capacitors with a metal/<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${p}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-GaN/AlGaN/GaN structure are demonstrated on an enhancement-mode (E-mode) GaN-on-Si power device platform. High capacitance density of >170 nF/cm<sup>2</sup> is obtained with an operating voltage range of 0 ~ 7 V. Frequency response of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${p}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-GaN gate capacitors with circular and interdigitated layout design are characterized. It is found that the interdigitated layout can suppress the distribution effect and reduce the equivalent series resistance, and thus can significantly enhance the capacitor’s high-frequency performance. The fabrication process of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${p}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-GaN gate capacitors is fully compatible with the E-mode GaN power transistors, and thus can be seamlessly implemented as one of the on-chip peripheral components for GaN-based power integrated circuits.
Quadcopter Control Approaches and Performance Analysis

This article presents the kinematic and dynamic model of a X8 quadcopter, as well as control methodologies based on the PID controller and Sliding Mode Controller. The main contributions are centered on the controllers tuning based on particle swarm optimization algorithm and on the controllers performance comparison for nominal operation and for faulty situations. In order to show the overall performance, simulation results for trajectory and orientation tracking control are presented.
REGMAPR - Text Matching Made Easy

Text matching is a fundamental problem in natural language processing. Neural models using bidirectional LSTMs for sentence encoding and inter-sentence attention mechanisms perform remarkably well on several benchmark datasets. We propose REGMAPR - a simple and general architecture for text matching that does not use inter-sentence attention. Starting from a Siamese architecture, we augment the embeddings of the words with two features based on exact and para- phrase match between words in the two sentences. We train the model using three types of regularization on datasets for textual entailment, paraphrase detection and semantic related- ness. REGMAPR performs comparably or better than more complex neural models or models using a large number of handcrafted features. REGMAPR achieves state-of-the-art results for paraphrase detection on the SICK dataset and for textual entailment on the SNLI dataset among models that do not use inter-sentence attention.
Monitoring Progress of Parkinson's Disease Based on Changes in Phonation: a Pilot Study

Hypokinetic dysarthria (HD) is a frequent symptom of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). Although it is hypothesized its progress is tightly linked with changes in other motor/non-motor features of PD, it has not been proved yet. The aim of this work is to employ acoustic analysis of sustained phonation in order to identify significant correlates between phonatory measures and motor/non-motor deficits in a two-year follow-up study. For this purpose, we repeatedly quantified a sustained vowel/a/in 51 PD patients who were also assessed by 5 common clinical scales. In addition, a multivariate regression model was trained to predict the motor/non-motor deficits in the horizon of two years. Results suggest that mainly instability in vocal folds oscillation increases with the progress of PD and with overall cognitive decline. Based on the acoustic analysis, the change in clinical scores could be predicted with the error in the range of 11.83-19.60 %.
Engineering and Psychological Problems of Multidimensional Interfaces

The problem of effectiveness of two-dimensional and three-dimensional presentations of the visual information and their conjunction with physical reality is considered. Several problems are analyzed which occur while embedding more dimensions into user interfaces, their probable fields of application are being studied. The question of implementation of multidimensional spatial solutions in multimodal interfaces is stated.
Evidence-based position paper on Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine professional practice for persons with stroke. The European PRM position (UEMS PRM Section).

BACKGROUND Stroke is a major cause of disability worldwide, with an expected rise of global burden in the next twenty years throughout Europe. This EBPP represents the official position of the European Union through the UEMS Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (PRM) Section and designates the professional role of PRM physicians for people with stroke. The aim of this study is to improve PRM physicians' professional practice for persons with stroke in order to promote their functioning and enhance quality of life. METHODS A systematic review of the literature including a ten-year period and a consensus procedure by means of a Delphi process has been performed involving the delegates of all European countries represented in the UEMS PRM Section. RESULTS The systematic literature review is reported together with 78 recommendations resulting from the Delphi procedure. CONCLUSIONS The professional role of PRM physicians for persons with stroke is to improve specialized rehabilitation services worldwide in different settings and to organize and manage the comprehensive rehabilitation programme for stroke survivors considering all impairments, comorbidities and complications, activity limitations and participation restrictions as well as personal and environmental factors.
A Survey of Caching Techniques in Cellular Networks: Research Issues and Challenges in Content Placement and Delivery Strategies

Mobile data traffic is currently growing exponentially and these rapid increases have caused the backhaul data rate requirements to become the major bottleneck to reducing costs and raising revenue for operators. To address this problem, caching techniques have attracted significant attention since they can effectively reduce the backhaul traffic by eliminating duplicate data transmission that carries popular content. In addition, other system performance metrics can also be improved through caching techniques, e.g., spectrum efficiency, energy efficiency, and transmission delay. In this paper, we provide a systematical survey of the state-of-the-art caching techniques that were recently developed in cellular networks, including macro-cellular networks, heterogeneous networks, device-to-device networks, cloud-radio access networks, and fog-radio access networks. In particular, we give a tutorial on the fundamental caching techniques and introduce caching algorithms from three aspects, i.e., content placement, content delivery, and joint placement and delivery. We provide comprehensive comparisons among different algorithms in terms of different performance metrics, including throughput, backhaul cost, power consumption, and network delay. Finally, we summarize the main research achievements in different networks, and highlight main challenges and potential research directions.
Variable Topology Truss: Hardware Overview, Reconfiguration Planning and Locomotion

The variable topology truss (VTT) system is a new type of modular platform that enables control over both the shape and topology of a truss, bringing both the efficiency of variable geometry trusses and the flexibility of self-reconfigurable robots. A VTT has the capability to enter a disaster site and shore damaged structures to assist with rescue work. This paper presents a revised overview of the VTT hardware design, enhanced from our previous works. We propose an active VTT spherical joint, which can address the hardware-related issues and also simplify the VTT software. Additionally, reconfiguration and locomotion planning algorithms for VTT are presented. We propose a retraction-based RRT method especially suitable for VTT and show our algorithm is superior to basic RRT in a practical 21-member VTT scenario. The locomotion algorithm implements a rolling gait under kinematic constraints; simulation results for a 21-member VTT show our algorithm yields accurate trajectory tracking.
Bayesian Machine Learning Algorithm for Flow Prediction in SDN Switches

Software Defined Network (SDN) has been devised to solve many problems related to the current structure of the computer networks. SDN reallocates the control planes of all Networking Function Devices (NFDs) to a central entity (called controller) and keeps forwarding planes locally at each NFDs (called switches). Notwithstanding, segregation of data and control plans impose latency and overheads to SDN-based networks as a NFD needs to consult the controller how to handle each traffic. In order to overcome such shortcoming of SDN, this paper makes use of the Bayesian Machine Learning (BML) to allow switches to infer the underlying stochastic process by which controller classifies packets into flows. Based on this inference a switch can assign those packets whose flows are not given previously by the controller to the most appropriate flow. Extensive simulation conducted to assess the performance of the proposed algorithm highlights its advantages compared to the standard mechanism defined in the-state-of-the-art SDN implementation.
What Will I Bring: Nurse Scientists' Contributions to Interdisciplinary Collaboration.

“What will I bring? ” The question arose during a seminar involvingPhDstudents and theeditor (R. P.),whowas the course faculty.Our guest, a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded nurse scientist doing exciting biobehavioral work on prematurity prevention in women of diverse racial backgrounds had just “reminded” students that they would not need to “know everything” to conduct research. Rather, she emphasized in her remarks that students should build their research teamswith expertswhere needed, including scientists with a background in immunology, genetics, statistics, and other fields as appropriate. Good advice, often repeated. And then, a student raised her hand, and when called on, she said, “We are often told to build an interdisciplinary team. But with all those experts, what will I bring to that team? ” Therewas amoment of stunned quiet. Our guest fell silent. The student and her classmates, who nodded in agreement, looked expectantly in the direction of the course faculty. Fortunately, there was an answer to the question provided eloquently by the guest faculty. Before our guest had mentioned the interdisciplinary contributions of her team members and their collaborative work, she had told the story of how she had started as a staff nurse in obstetric nursing. She had talked about her clinical experiences and about the people (aka as patients) she had met when she started her career and how their stories, their concerns, their hopes, and their needs inspired her to help them. She discovered she needed to learn more in order to help. She returned to school to learn more about how to provide clinical care and was encouraged to pursue a PhD in order to be able to systematically solve the clinical problems she was observing. She had explained that, even with this advanced educational preparation, she always knew she would need greater expertise about biological and behavioral aspects of her research questions than she possessed or even wished to obtain. Thus, she started building a team, which continues to work together after many years. And there was the answer. What our guest, the student asking the question, her classmates in the seminar, and each of us who are nurse scientists bring to that exquisite research team is our nursing perspective. It is our perspectives on the human condition, health and illness, prevention and healing, and understanding and care that help us see the person holistically (McBride, 2010). That holistic perspective is concerned with the hopes and needs of those for whomweprovide care. What we bring to the team is that perspective on personwho,
Performance Metrics Evaluation of Secured Zigbee Communication Networks in Smart Distribution Grid

Smart grid endorsing unification of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) with traditional grid leads to privacy threat. Safeguarding confidential data from imposters is a challenging task in the smart distribution grid's communication network, with limited resources. Experimental setup of smart distribution grid has been established, where Xbee nodes with Zigbee protocol have been adopted. An average of 110 bytes is optimal for transmitting essential data from smart meter to a data concentrator / aggregator. Unique identity of Xbee node is deliberated to avoid intrusion of malicious nodes into the smart distribution grid. Data obtained from the meter is hashed using MD5 hashing algorithm to retain anonymity of the end user data. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) protocol is embraced for transport layer and the performance metrics are derived for network layer routing protocols: Ad Hoc on Demand Distance Vector (AODV) and Dynamic Source Routing (DSR). Based on the results, it is evident that alteration of routing protocol makes notorious effect in the performance of wireless communication network. DSR protocol in network layer reduces the average time delay of packet transmission, when compared with AODV protocol applied for same network sizes.
ORTE: Robot for Upper Limb Rehabilitation. Biomechanical Analysis of Human Movements.

This work presents ORTE, an upper limb rehabilitation system that includes: 1) a three-dimensional musculoskeletal model of the upper limb in order to study normal and pathological movements and to simulate a particular shoulder injury and its effect in muscular force, ranges of movement and muscle length changes; and 2) a 5 degrees-of-freedom upper limb robotic exoskeleton that can serves as a tool for the treatment of different injuries in the human arm. We performed the simulation of several upper arm movements of a healthy subject and one with upper brachial plexus injury in a postoperative state to compare and study the differences between them. The development of the musculoskeletal model and the results obtained by the simulations was used to design an adaptable exoskeleton prototype. Tests with different subjects was carry out and the functionality of the rehabilitation system can be demonstrated to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of upper limb injuries.
The Threat of Multidrug-resistant Tuberculosis

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is one of the main challenges to TB control globally. [1] It has been defined as infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin. [1] The exact estimate of the incidence of this infection is difficult to obtain because of variations in testing and reporting in different regions of the world. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates state that approximately 480,000 new cases of MDR-TB occur each year all over the world. Out of them, almost 10% report additional drug resistance and are categorized as extensively drug-resistant TB. However, out of these estimated MDR-TB cases, only 132,000 cases were detected globally each year. [1] In other words, out of the estimated number of people with MDR-TB, only about 27% are actually detected, and an even lesser number are put on proper treatment each year. Hence, as the threat of MDR-TB is rising, there is still a wide chasm in case detection and treatment initiation rates. This is leading to increased morbidity and mortality due to TB. MDR-TB causes approximately 250,000 deaths globally each year, the majority of these being from Asia. [1]
Long bone diaphyseal shape follows different ontogenetic trajectories in captive and wild gorillas.

OBJECTIVES A number of studies have demonstrated the ontogenetic plasticity of long bone diaphyseal structure in response to mechanical loading. Captivity should affect mechanical loading of the limbs, but whether captive apes grow differently than wild apes has been debated. Here, we compare captive and wild juvenile and adult Gorilla to ascertain whether growth trajectories in cross-sectional diaphyseal shape are similar in the two environments. MATERIALS AND METHODS A sample of young juvenile (n = 4) and adult (n = 10) captive Gorilla gorilla gorilla specimens, with known life histories, were compared with age-matched wild G.g. gorilla (n = 62) and G. beringei beringei (n = 75) in relative anteroposterior to mediolateral bending strength of the femur, tibia, and humerus. Cross sections were obtained using peripheral quantitative CT. RESULTS Captive and wild adult G.g. gorilla differed in bending strength ratios for all three bones, but these differences were not present in young juvenile G.g. gorilla. In comparisons across taxa, captive juvenile G.g. gorilla were more similar to wild G.g. gorilla than to G.b. beringei, while captive adult G.g. gorilla were more similar in shape to G.b. beringei in the hind limb. DISCUSSION Captive and wild G. gorilla follow different ontogenetic trajectories in long bone diaphyseal shape, corresponding to environmental differences and subsequent modified locomotor behaviors. Differences related to phylogeny are most evident early in development.
Formation-Based Tracking Method for Human Following Robot

Mobile robots are widely used in real-world applications, and the interactions between a person and a robot are important. Following a person is one of the interaction functions of mobile robots. To implement this function, most robots track the person from behind. In this case, the person experiences two inconveniences. First, the person often looks back to check whether the robot is following her or him well. Second, it is difficult to operate the robot immediately. In this study, we develop a method that helps a robot follow a person without these inconveniences. A set of candidate goal positions are determined based on the location of a person and the density of obstacles. These positions include a preferred location and a safe location. The robot tracks the goal position that is decided by considering obstacles around itself. This method was tested in a simulation environment. Two performance metrics were defined, and the effectiveness of this method was verified using the metrics.
A Revisit to Gradient-Descent Bearing-Only Formation Control

This paper addresses the problem of bearing-only formation control of multi-agent systems, where each agent can merely obtain the relative bearing measurements of their neighbor neighbors whereas relative distance or position measurements are unavailable. In particular, we revisit a bearing-only formation control law proposed in [1]. Unlike many other existing ones, this control law is gradient-descent, which is favorable from the stability analysis point of view. It has the potential to be extended to handle more complex agent models and moving target formations. Up to now, this control law has not attracted sufficient attention probably because its stability analysis is based on optimization techniques and challenging to generalize. The contribution of this paper is to present a new stability analysis of this formation control law based on Lyapunov approaches. The new stability analysis reveals some new properties of the control law such as exponential convergence rate and lays a foundation for deriving new bearing-only control laws in the future.
Genetic Analysis of Babesia Isolates from Cattle with Clinical Babesiosis in Sri Lanka

Bovine babesiosis is a serious threat to the cattle industry. We prepared blood DNA samples from 13 cattle with clinical babesiosis from the Badulla (n = 8), Jaffna (n = 3), and Kilinochchi (n = 2) districts in Sri Lanka. ABSTRACT Bovine babesiosis is a serious threat to the cattle industry. We prepared blood DNA samples from 13 cattle with clinical babesiosis from the Badulla (n = 8), Jaffna (n = 3), and Kilinochchi (n = 2) districts in Sri Lanka. These DNA samples tested positive in PCR assays specific for Babesia bovis (n = 9), Babesia bigemina (n = 9), and Babesia ovata (n = 1). Twelve cattle were positive for B. bovis and/or B. bigemina. One cow was negative for the tested Babesia species but was positive for Babesia on microscopic examination; the phylogenetic positions of 18S rRNA and cytochrome oxidase subunit III gene sequences suggested that the cow was infected with Babesia sp. Mymensingh, which was recently reported from a healthy cow in Bangladesh. We then developed a novel Babesia sp. Mymensingh-specific PCR assay and obtained positive results for one other sample. Analysis of gene sequences from the cow with positive B. ovata-specific PCR results demonstrated that the animal was infected not with B. ovata but with Babesia sp. Hue-1, which was recently reported from asymptomatic cattle in Vietnam. The virulence of Babesia sp. Hue-1 is unclear, as the cow was coinfected with B. bovis and B. bigemina. However, Babesia sp. Mymensingh probably causes severe clinical babesiosis, as it was the sole Babesia species detected in a clinical case. The present study revealed the presence of two bovine Babesia species not previously reported in Sri Lanka, plus the first case of severe bovine babesiosis caused by a Babesia species other than B. bovis, B. bigemina, and Babesia divergens.
Multidisciplinary Design of Ultra-High-Speed Electrical Machines

This paper presents a multidisciplinary design algorithm of the ultra-high-speed electrical machine (UHSEM). Presented algorithm enables UHSEM design with a rotational speed of 0.5–1.2 Mrpm, taking into account the mutual influence of thermal, mechanical, and electromagnetic processes. Based on the algorithm, the 138 W UHSEM with a 1.2 Mrpm rotational speed was calculated. Material selection for the active parts of the machine is described. Analysis of the suitable bearings for UHSEM application is presented. Mechanical, electromagnetic, and cooling design aspects are shown with example of the calculated machine. To evaluate the effectiveness of the developed computer models and the calculation method, the experimental model of the 100 W UHSEM was tested in the motor mode at the rotational speed of 500 000 rpm. The test results demonstrated that the multidisciplinary design algorithm has high accuracy and is suitable for UHSEMs. The discrepancy between developed models and experimental results does not exceed 7%.