Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aeromechanic Models for Flapping-Wing Robots With Passive Hinges in the Presence of Frontal Winds

Following the emergence of small flight-capable flapping-wing micro air vehicles, efforts toward autonomous outdoor operations of these small robots outside controlled laboratory conditions have been made. For the robots to overcome wind disturbances, it necessitates better insights into the interaction between the aerodynamics of flapping wings in the presence of winds and the robot’s actuation system. In this paper, we consider the effects of constant frontal wind on a direct-drive flapping wing robot with passively rotating hinges and a compliant transmission. A simplified quasi-steady model that encapsulates the effects of frontal wind on aerodynamic forces is proposed. The model facilitates the calculation of periodic aerodynamic forces from nominal flapping kinematics. When combined with the dynamics of the actuation system, we are able to predict the lift force generated by the robot from the driving signals, without direct measurements of the flapping kinematics or the angle of attack. The proposed framework was experimentally verified on a flapping-wing robot prototype with a single wingspan of 76 mm. The results reveal up to 40% increases in lift when the robot was subject to 2.5 m/s horizontal winds. An analysis of the frequency response of the system is also provided to explain the resonance principles of the robot in the presence of frontal winds.
Dispositif d’Orientation de Panneaux Solaires

Un dispositif de guidage automatique des panneaux solaires dans la direction de provenance du flux lumineux améliore sensiblement le rendement de ces générateurs . Dans cet article, il est proposé un capteur basé sur un asservissement extrémal de la tension. Cette dernière est délivrée par un module photovoltaïque placé à proximité du foyer d’un concentrateur de rayonnement solaire. La caractéristique de tension en fonction de l’écart angulaire (angle formé par les directions du soleil et de la normale au capteur) présente un maximum localisé pour un écart nul. Le dispositif recherche en permanence la position optimale de la caractéristique et délivre un signal au système d’entraînement du panneau qui corrige ainsi l’orientation.
What Is Required to End the AIDS Epidemic as a Public Health Threat by 2030? The Cost and Impact of the Fast-Track Approach

In 2011 a new Investment Framework was proposed that described how the scale-up of key HIV interventions could dramatically reduce new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in low and middle income countries by 2015. This framework included ambitious coverage goals for prevention and treatment services for 2015, resulting in a reduction of new HIV infections by more than half, in line with the goals of the declaration of the UN High Level Meeting in June 2011. However, the approach suggested a leveling in the number of new infections at about 1 million annually—far from the UNAIDS goal of ending AIDS by 2030. In response, UNAIDS has developed the Fast-Track approach that is intended to provide a roadmap to the actions required to achieve this goal. The Fast-Track approach is predicated on a rapid scale-up of focused, effective prevention and treatment services over the next 5 years and then maintaining a high level of programme implementation until 2030. Fast-Track aims to reduce new infections and AIDS-related deaths by 90% from 2010 to 2030 and proposes a set of biomedical, behavioral and enabling intervention targets for 2020 and 2030 to achieve that goal, including the rapid scale-up initiative for antiretroviral treatment known as 90-90-90. Compared to a counterfactual scenario of constant coverage for all services at early-2015 levels, the Fast-Track approach would avert 18 million HIV infections and 11 million deaths from 2016 to 2030 globally. This paper describes the analysis that produced these targets and the estimated resources needed to achieve them in low- and middle-income countries. It indicates that it is possible to achieve these goals with a significant push to achieve rapid scale-up of key interventions between now and 2020. The annual resources required from all sources would rise to US$7.4Bn in low-income countries, US$8.2Bn in lower middle-income countries and US$10.5Bn in upper-middle-income-countries by 2020 before declining approximately 9% by 2030.
Lycopsamine Exerts Protective Effects and Improves Functional Outcome After Spinal Cord Injury in Rats by Suppressing Cell Death

Background Spinal cord injury (SCI) is an injury-triggered event that is associated with permanent neurologic deficit. The deficit instigated by SCI leads to medical co-morbidity, not only affecting sensory and motor capabilities, but also having an impact on the physiological and economic condition of the patient. Against this backdrop, the present study was carried out to investigate the effect of lycopsamine, a plant-derived alkaloid in SCI rats. Material/Methods The traumatic SCI injury in rats was created using a force-calibrated weight-drop device. The Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor rating scale was used to investigate the functional consequences of SCI. DAPI (4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) and Tunnel staining were used to detect apoptosis. Western blot and qRT-PCR was used to examine the protein and gene expressions, respectively. Results The results revealed that lycopsamine significantly (p<0.01) improved locomotory function in SCI rats. Lycopsamine also significantly (p<0.01) decreased the lesion area of the SCI rats. Investigation of the effect of lycopsamine on cell death following SCI revealed that lycopsamine reduces apoptotic cell death following SCI. The lycopsamine-induced reduction in apoptosis was allied with downregulation of calpain, cleaved caspase 3 and 9, and Bax. However, the expression of BCl-2 was significantly upregulated. Furthermore, lycopsamine significantly (p<0.01) upregulated the expression of interleukin-10 (IL-10) and decreased the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Conclusions Lycopsamine exerts protective effects in PCI rats by improving functional recovery and suppressing apoptosis.
A Dynamic Priority Service Provision Scheme for Delay-Sensitive Applications in Fog Computing

The massive numbers of connected devices in the IoT era impose a real challenge in the management of both communication and computing resources. Moreover, the competition of those devices on the limited resources will inherently raise the delay experienced by users. To this end, we propose a priority service provision scheme to reduce the latency experienced by delay-sensitive services. Here, incoming tasks are classified into delay-sensitive and delay-insensitive whereby priority classes are assigned using a matching theory approach. Then, the queue delay experienced by each class is investigated at the computing node i.e., the edge device, and the communication node i.e., the small base station (SBS). To maintain high quality of experience (QoE) in regard with time delay for all tasks, a dynamic priority scheme is proposed and controlled using a heuristic algorithm. The goal of the dynamic priority scheme is to minimize the delay at the communication node (SBS) for users requesting non-computing tasks (e.g., regular phone calls) by promoting their class when the delay exceeds a threshold value. The combined delay experienced at both communication and computing nodes is compared using the prioritized, non-prioritized, and the dynamic priority schemes. Results show that undertaking a dynamic priority service provision can achieve significant reduction in the amount of delay experienced by users.
[Neurogenesis and gliogenesis modulation in cerebral ischemia by CDK5 RNAi-based therapy].

INTRODUCTION Cerebral ischemia is the third cause of death risk in Colombia and the first cause of physical disability worldwide. Different studies on the silencing of the cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) have shown that reducing its activity is beneficial in ischemic contexts. However, its effect on neural cell production after cerebral ischemia has not been well studied yet. OBJECTIVE To evaluate CDK5 silencing on the production of neurons and astrocytes after a focal cerebral ischemia in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS We used 40 eight-week-old male Wistar rats. Both sham and ischemia groups were transduced at CA1 hippocampal region with an adeno-associated viral vector using a noninterfering (shSCRmiR) and an interfering sequence for CDK5 (shCDK5miR). We injected 50 mg/kg of bromodeoxyuridine intraperitoneally from hour 24 to day 7 post-ischemia. We assessed the neurological abilities during the next 15 days and we measured the immunoreactivity of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), doublecortin (DCX), NeuN, and glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) from day 15 to day 30 post-ischemia. RESULTS Our findings showed that CDK5miR-treated ischemic animals improved their neurological score and presented increased BrdU+ cells 15 days after ischemia, which correlated with higher DCX and lower GFAP fluorescence intensities, and, although mature neurons populations did not change, GFAP immunoreactivity was still significantly reduced at 30 days post-ischemia in comparison with untreated ischemic groups. CONCLUSION CDK5miR therapy generated the neurological recovery of ischemic rats associated with the induction of immature neurons proliferation and the reduction of GFAP reactivity at short and longterm post-ischemia.
Network Intrusion Detection Using Clustering and Gradient Boosting

An unauthorized activity on the network is called network intrusion and device or software application which monitors the network parameters in order to detect such an intrusion is called network intrusion detection system (NIDS). With high rise in malicious activities on the internet, it is extremely important for NIDS to quickly and correctly identify any kind of malicious activity on the network. Moreover, the system must refrain from raising false alarms in case of normal usage detected as malicious. This paper proposes use of machine learning classification algorithms - XGBoost and AdaBoost with and without clustering to train a model for NIDS. The models are trained and tested using NSL KDD dataset and the results are an improvement over the previous works related to intrusion detection on the same dataset.
Managing Uncertainty in Implementation Times of Competitively-Procured Transmission via Risk-Sharing and Winner Selection Functions

We develop a MILP framework to design risk-sharing and winner-selection mechanisms, applying a principal-agent approach to competitive bidding processes to select transmission agents, with attention to cases where uncertainties in implementation times of transmission facilities are an issue and regulators must deal with uncertain information regarding efficiency and risk-aversion of possible competitors. Conclusions are drawn with aid of case studies.
Ring Magnet Design Considerations for Obtaining Magnetic Resonance Signals in Low Non-Uniform Fields

Use of low static magnetic fields for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal detection remains a challenge due to low signal-to-noise ratio, low energy difference between energy levels, and less spin transitions due to limited availability of spins. Despite these challenges, different measurement techniques based on low static magnetic fields, stray magnetic fields, and non-uniform fields have been implemented. In this paper, an approach toward using low static fields generated by permanent magnets for portable magnetic resonance applications is described. Finite element simulation models of different magnet geometries are used to develop an estimate of the magnetic field distribution exterior to the magnet. A concentric ring magnet geometry is selected to obtain flexible control of localized regions of uniform magnetic field. An estimate of the NMR voltage for different magnet sizes and orientations is presented. It is expected that the findings of this paper would be valuable for design of future portable magnetic resonance systems.
Handwritten Hindi character recognition: a review

As the years passed by, computers became more powerful and automation became the need of generation. Humans tried to automate their work and replace themselves with machines. This effort of transition from manual to automatic gave rise to various research fields, and document character recognition is one such field. From the last few years, there is a sincere contribution from researchers for the development of optical character recognition systems for various scripts and languages. As a result of intensive research and development, there has been a significant improvement in handwritten devnagari text recognition. The main focus of this study is detailed survey of existing techniques for recognition of offline handwritten Hindi characters. It addresses all the aspects of Hindi character recognition starting from database to various phases of character recognition. The most relevant techniques of preprocessing, feature extraction and classification are discussed in various sections of this study. Moreover, this study is a zest of work accepted and published by research community in recent years. This study benefits its readers by discussing limitations of existing techniques and by providing beneficial directions of research in this field.
BIRDS-1 CubeSat Constellation Using Compact UHF Patch Antenna

BIRDS-1 satellites, a constellation of five identical 1U CubeSats, were designed, manufactured, assembled, integrated, and tested at LASINE Laboratory, Kyutech, Japan. Students from five nations (Japan, Ghana, Mongolia, Nigeria, and Bangladesh) collaborated to develop a number of CubeSats with coordinated ground coverage, named “Joint Global Multi-Nation BIRDS,” or abbreviated as “BIRDS. ” To establish the downlink communication between satellite and Earth, an UHF patch antenna was utilized. Patch antennas offer an ideal solution to Cube satellite communication requirements due to their compact dimension and lightweight. However, the limited surface area available in CubeSats, conventional UHF and VHF patch antennas cannot be used. In this paper, a compact coaxial fed UHF (437.375 MHz) patch antenna system for 1U BIRDS-1 CubeSat (small satellite) is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a spiral meander line patch at the top side and partial ground plane another side of the substrate. A shorting pin has also been utilized to change the resonance to the required UHF band. For the intended 1U BIRDS-1 application, the goal is to mount on satellite body within a limited area of 1U BIRDS-1 satellite. The proposed antenna dimension ( $0.105\lambda \times 0.047\lambda \times 0.002 \lambda $ at 437.375 MHz) and characteristics are compatible with any CubeSat standard structure. A prototype of the antenna was developed with a 1.57-mm-thick single layer Roger’s substrate having a relative permittivity of 2.2, and measured results are consistent with simulation. The proposed UHF antenna has integrated and tested with 1U BIRDS-1 satellite. Finally, the satellite was successfully launched on June 3, 2017, from the John F. Kennedy Space Center, the USA at Low Earth Orbit for earth observations, message relay, space environment, and technology demonstration through the International Space Station.
Efficient and Robust Detection of Code-Reuse Attacks Through Probabilistic Packet Inspection in Industrial IoT Devices

Industrial IoT devices are vulnerable to code-reuse attacks in which benign codes of these devices are reused for malicious activities. In the sense that adversary can compromise industrial IoT devices by means of code-reuse attacks and impair entire industrial IoT ecosystems through the compromised industrial IoT devices, it is very imperative to detect code-reuse attacks in industrial IoT devices. Although different types of code-reuse attack detection schemes have been devised in the literature, they are mainly system level or inefficient/vulnerable network level defense techniques. For the efficient and robust network level defense, we propose a scheme that detects code-reuse attacks efficiently and resiliently by incorporating the sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) with the probabilistic inspection on the packets incoming into industrial IoT devices. Through experimental and analytical study, we demonstrate that our proposed detection scheme resiliently and efficiently defends against code-reuse attacks in industrial IoT devices. In particular, our simulation results show that the SPRT with probabilistic packet inspection achieves at least 93.2% and 99.0% average detection rate for small and large set of code-reuse packets, respectively, while demanding below five samples for detection on an average. They also exhibit that it achieves at most 0.4% average false positives with below four samples on an average.
Moving toward Tuberculosis Elimination. Critical Issues for Research in Diagnostics and Therapeutics for Tuberculosis Infection

Tuberculosis (TB) has surpassed HIV to become the leading infectious killer of adults globally, causing almost 2 million deaths annually. Although this airborne disease has been treatable since 1948, global rates of TB have dropped less than two percent per year; an estimated 10 million incident cases continue to occur annually, including one million in children. While transmission of active disease is an important driver of the epidemic, the seedbed that feeds the epidemic is the more than two billion people estimated to have TB infection, five to ten percent of whom will progress to active disease during their lifetime. While any successful strategy aimed at TB elimination needs to address this reservoir of TB infection worldwide, much remains to be understood about host and pathogen factors that can be used to identify increased risk for progression to disease, and intervened upon to prevent progression from occurring. The Division of AIDS of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, USA, and the Harvard Medical School Center for Global Health Delivery-Dubai convened a group of scientists and stakeholders on September 28 and 29, 2017, to address knowledge gaps that affect our ability to rapidly find and treat individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis who are most likely to progress to active disease. The meeting identified a number of efforts underway to address this important gap in the collective ability to stop the global TB epidemic. Here, we review and outline the priority areas for research, diagnosis and treatment of TB infection that emerged from the meeting (Table 1), building on recent reviews in this area.
Impact of prenatal exercise on maternal harms, labour and delivery outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To perform a systematic review of the relationships between prenatal exercise and maternal harms including labour/delivery outcomes. Design Systematic review with random effects meta-analysis and meta-regression. Datasources Online databases were searched up to 6 January 2017. Study eligibility criteria Studies of all designs were included (except case studies) if they were published in English, Spanish or French and contained information on the population (pregnant women without contraindication to exercise), intervention (subjective or objective measures of frequency, intensity, duration, volume or type of exercise), comparator (no exercise or different frequency, intensity, duration, volume and type of exercise, alone [“exercise-only”] or in combination with other intervention components [e.g., dietary; “exercise + co-intervention”]) and outcome (preterm/prelabour rupture of membranes, caesarean section, instrumental delivery, induction of labour, length of labour, vaginal tears, fatigue, injury, musculoskeletal trauma, maternal harms (author defined) and diastasis recti). Results 113 studies (n=52 858 women) were included. ‘Moderate’ quality evidence from exercise-only randomised controlled trials (RCTs) indicated a 24% reduction in the odds of instrumental delivery in women who exercised compared with women who did not (20 RCTs, n=3819; OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.92, I 2= 0 %). The remaining outcomes were not associated with exercise. Results from meta-regression did not identify a dose–response relationship between frequency, intensity, duration or volume of exercise and labour and delivery outcomes. Summary/conclusions Prenatal exercise reduced the odds of instrumental delivery in the general obstetrical population. There was no relationship between prenatal exercise and preterm/prelabour rupture of membranes, caesarean section, induction of labour, length of labour, vaginal tears, fatigue, injury, musculoskeletal trauma, maternal harms and diastasis recti.
Comment on: Comorbidities in coexisting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea - overlap syndrome.

We read with interest the article, by Papachatzakis et al1, addressing the role of comorbidities that lead to the overall burden of overlap syndrome i.e. coexisting Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS). In this study, authors have reported that patients with overlap syndrome, may present multiple comorbidities, more frequently than ageand BMI-matched OSAS patients. Recently, we have addressed the role of mean platelet volume (MPV), as a marker of enhanced cardiovascular risk in patients with overlap syndrome2, reporting that these patients exhibit higher MPV values compared with OSAS patients or controls. Unfortunately, COPD patients were not included. Several issues arising from both studies warrant further discussion. In general, a limitation in most studies of overlap syndrome is the lack of COPD patients as a comparator group versus patients with overlap syndrome and/or OSAS. The use of this group could clarify the exact contribution of COPD in the overall burden of overlap syndrome and may answer several questions. For example, which component of overlap syndrome, COPD or OSAS, is mainly responsible for the cardiovascular morbidity and its related, fatal or non fatal, events; or does the survival of patients with overlap syndrome differ from those with COPD alone, when both conditions are appropriately managed? Moreover, which biomarkers could be applied in order to improve diagnosis and management of overlap syndrome, as it happens in OSAS? 3 This concern was also raised by a recent American Thoracic Society statement4 in order to improve clinicians’ approach to the diagnosis and treatment of overlap syndrome. Thus, research priorities in this field, should include large well-designed studies, together with COPD (and not only OSAS) patients, in order to shed more light on the pathogenetic mechanisms leading to the increased morbidity and mortality especially in untreated overlap syndrome.
Angle Quantization Index Modulation Based on Block Compressive Sensing for Robust and Secure Image Watermarking

A novel angle quantization index modulation watermarking scheme based on block compressive sensing (BCS-AQIM) is proposed to embed robust and secure watermark. In this algorithm, sparse random matrices constructed by chaotic sequence are chosen as the measurement matrix and the measurement vector of host image is obtained by block compressive sensing. In each block, two optimal measurements are chosen to embed the watermark into their angle. Then, the watermarked image is recovered through reconstruction algorithm. The measurement matrix and the position of watermarked measurements are used as a key. The performance of BCS-AQIM under AWGN attacks and its security are analyzed and assessed by simulations. Experiment results demonstrate that the proposed method is robust to different types of attacks and outperforms common existing methods in terms of the robustness.