Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Minimal Idle-Listen Centralized Scheduling in TSCH Wireless Sensor Networks

Centralized scheduling in IEEE 802.15. 4e Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH), uses a centralized entity to perform scheduling of nodes in cells to generate collision-free communication amongst neighboring nodes. Although many centralized scheduling algorithms have been proposed, they still suffer from idle-listening, a state in which nodes stay awake without transmitting or receiving data, which causes wastage of the limited sensor node energy. This paper proposes a minimal-idle-listen centralized 6TiSCH scheduling algorithm (MILS) with the aim of minimizing idle listening amongst sender nodes. MILS is formulated as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) problem, which schedules relay links in parallel with leaf links while maximizing the channels available in order to minimize waiting at bottleneck regions. Minimizing the number of packets in nodes close to the sink reduced delays by approximately 19% and idle-listening by 50% in MILS compared to OTF.
Stat3 is indispensable for damage-induced crypt regeneration but not for Wnt-driven intestinal tumorigenesis

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) has been shown to play a role in intestinal regeneration and colitis‐associated colon carcinogenesis. However, the role of Stat3 in the Wnt‐driven sporadic intestinal tumorigenesis remains poorly understood. We examined the roles of Stat3 in intestinal regeneration and tumorigenesis by organoid culture experiments using Stat3ΔIEC mouse–derived intestinal epithelial cells in which Stat3 was disrupted. The regeneration of intestinal mucosa and organoid formation were significantly suppressed by Stat3 disruption, which was compensated by Wnt activation. Furthermore, once organoids were recovered, Stat3 was no longer required for organoid growth. These results indicate that Stat3 and Wnt signaling cooperatively protect epithelial cells at the early phase of intestinal regeneration. In contrast, intestinal tumorigenesis was not suppressed by Stat3 disruption in adenomatous polyposis coli (Apc)Δ716 and ApcΔ716 Tgfbr2ΔIEC mice, thus indicating that Stat3 is not required for Wnt activation–driven intestinal tumorigenesis. Mechanistically, Itga5 and Itga6 were down‐regulated by Stat3 disruption, and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) activation was also suppressed. Notably, FAK inhibitor suppressed the organoid formation of wild‐type epithelial cells. These results indicate that Stat3 is indispensable for the survival of epithelial cells through the activation of integrin signaling and the downstream FAK pathway; however, it is not required for the Wnt signaling‐activated normal or tumor epithelial cells. —Oshima, H. , Kok, S. ‐Y. , Nakayama, M. , Murakami, K. , Voon, D. C. ‐C. , Kimura, T. , Oshima, M. Stat3 is indispensable for damage‐induced crypt regeneration but not for Wnt‐driven intestinal tumorigenesis. FASEB J. 33, 1873–1886 (2019). www.fasebj. org
A numerical study on using guided GPR waves along metallic cylinders in boreholes for permittivity sounding

We performed a numerical study on using guided ground-penetrating radar (GPR) waves in boreholes for permittivity soundings using finite-difference (FDTD) simulations. The method presented here uses a GPR antenna that is placed next to a borehole in which a metal waveguide is lowered. Electromagnetic (EM) signals that the antenna sends out on the surface, couple to the waveguide and are reflected from the bottom end of the metal waveguide. Analysing the traveltimes yields accurate vertical distributions of the wave velocity, permittivity and water content in specified depth intervals. We performed numerical studies of the field distribution around the waveguide, the influence of the plastic borehole casing, as well as the resolution capabilites of the method in layered media. In this study, as a source, the GPR signal is introduced in the simulation via a 3D model of a real 400 MHz bowtie GPR antenna. We replicated the essential components of the antenna, e.g. the antenna bowties and metal casing, to accurately reproduce the transmitted signal. The guided wave has a skin depth drop in amplitude away from the waveguide of about 4.1 cm, Furthermore a maximum vertical resolution of high-contrast permittivity layers of about 5 cm is possible, and a formula for correcting the effect of the borehole casing on permittivity calculations is derived. We envision that this method and the insight from this study enables more precise soil soundings than other established GPR methods or time-domain reflectometry (TDR).
The Orbital Angular Momentum Encoding System With Radial Indices of Laguerre–Gaussian Beam

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) in optical vortices (OV) beams offers a new dimension of space mode because coaxially propagating OV beams with different azimuthal OAM states are mutually orthogonal. As a result, the beams can be efficiently multiplexed and de-multiplexed to potentially increase the capacity of the optical communication system. Therefore, up to now, the azimuthal indices of the transverse spatial mode has been investigated for many times. This paper focuses on another mode, which can be called as radial indices of Laguerre–Gaussian beam. A novel OAM encoding system with high-order radial indices is established by simulation for the optical communication system. At the transmitter, a series of holograms of the Laguerre–Gaussian mode with different radial indices are used to achieve coaxial transmission of multiplexing beams, where each beam represents one data bit. At the receiver, we use the superposition of a conjugate light field corresponding to the transmitted beams for de-multiplexing the multiplexed beams. Meanwhile, the combination of the phase-shift factor and centroid algorithm can realize the simultaneous detection of the radial indices in each channel and efficient decoding of information. We also analyze the measurement deviation on the performance of an encoding system and give the corresponding discussions.
Expanding Human Computer Interaction Methods to Understand User Needs in the Design Process of Personal Health Systems

Summary Objectives: To review innovative human computer interaction methods researchers utilize to identify stakeholders' needs that inform the design of personal health systems outside of clinical environments. Methods: A selective review of recent literature. Results: Summaries of exemplar needs analysis papers showing how researchers utilize novel methods to surface the lived experiences of users. Conclusions: The medical informatics community is encouraged to ensure that we are designing health technology for all individuals - including underrepresented and underserved populations — by investigating the complex needs of target users. This paper summarizes the novel ways researchers have explored target populations via social media and engaged populations as part of the design team. Medical informaticians should continue investigating the soundness of these methods by comparing the design outcomes with currently utilized user-centered methods and to report on unintended consequences
A Compact Ultra-Wideband Load-Pull Measurement System

This paper presents an oscilloscope based load pull measurement system for an ultra-wideband ranging chip. Such a system is intended to characterize a chips radio frequency circuits' behavior under different operating conditions. The gathered measurement results should then be used for the optimization of the chips external circuitry, to reduce power consumption and improve pulse shaping. In this way we want to accomplish longer battery lifetime and higher ranging accuracy. By postprocessing the measurement results the de-embedding of the measurement circuitry is accomplished. Using verification measurements, we validate the performance of the measurement setup and the implemented postprocessing approach.
Sleep disruption explains age-related prospective memory deficits: implications for cognitive aging and intervention

ABSTRACT The high prevalence of sleep disruption among older adults may have implications for cognitive aging, particularly for higher-order aspects of cognition. One domain where sleep disruption may contribute to age-related deficits is prospective memory—the ability to remember to perform deferred actions at the appropriate time in the future. Community-dwelling older adults (55–93 years, N = 133) undertook assessment of sleep using actigraphy and participated in a laboratory-based prospective memory task. After controlling for education, sleep disruption (longer awakenings) was associated with poorer prospective memory. Additionally, longer awakenings mediated the relationship between older age and poorer prospective memory. Other metrics of sleep disruption, including sleep efficiency and wake after sleep onset, were not related to prospective memory, suggesting that examining the features of individual wake episodes rather than total wake time may help clarify relationships between sleep and cognition. The mediating role of awakening length was partially a function of greater depression and poorer executive function (shifting) but not retrospective memory. This study is among the first to examine the association between objectively measured sleep and prospective memory in older adults. Furthermore, this study is novel in suggesting sleep disruption might contribute to age-related prospective memory deficits; perhaps, with implications for cognitive aging more broadly. Our results suggest that there may be opportunities to prevent prospective memory decline by treating sleep problems.
The Use of Modified Monte Carlo Simulation for the Analysis of Transient States of the Industrial Power Network

Nowadays, when analyzing the industrial power network operation, the assessment of the possibility of cooperation of existing power sources with newly planned ones is required more and more often. During the power system (PS) analysis, a problem of the lack of reliable parameters of the mathematical models of newly designed and already operating in PS devices often appears. This problem can be solved in many ways, i.a. by carrying out repeated calculations for the values of unknown parameters being changed in a given search interval. In the paper, a method for estimating the reliability of the obtained results based on monitoring the statistic factors describing the set of solutions obtained is presented. This method is similar to methods called Monte Carlo simulation. The analysis of different statistic factors was performed within the framework of the research. The analysis was made for a factory medium voltage (15 kV) power network. The investigated network included the already installed asynchronous generator of 1.9 MW rated power and a newly designed synchronous generator of 4.56 MW rated power. Low-voltage induction motors were connected to the network. The transient states associated with a transient short-circuit in a line connecting the network of the factory with a high voltage network were investigated. The uncertainty of the mathematical model parameters of the generating units and the uncertainty of the PS load state were taken into account based on the measured and recorded average values of the active power taken from the PS.
Virtual collaborative gaming as social skills training for high-functioning autistic children

Abstract: Using OpenSimulator, we constructed a 3D virtual playground that affords competition‐themed social gaming, role‐play gaming and design‐themed architectural gaming among high‐functioning autistic (HFA) children. A mixed‐method, multi‐case study was conducted to examine the association between the game task and setting features, learners' participation patterns, and their game‐based social interaction performance. Eight 10–14‐year‐old HFA children participated in the study. Data were collected via screen recording and observation of participants' gaming actions and reactions. We conducted a behavioral analysis with the recorded social interaction performance of participants in the virtual gaming sessions. The study found that virtual reality‐based gameplay promoted the social interaction performance of HFA children. The study findings also suggested that gameplay should be adapted based on the competencies and in‐situ reactions of learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
An Amalgam Approach to Detect Edges Using Ultrametric Contour Map in Natural Scene Images

Detection of straight lines in digital images is a reappearing problem in image processing and computer vision tasks. Typically the edges or lines in an image are considered as a very influential component which carries crucial information about the whole image. This important component can be extracted by employing various edge detection methods. Generally, the lines are formed by boundary pixels which connect two isolated regions, hence it easy to detect such edges between the regions. Still, it has some obstacles to detect weak edge pixels that form a continuous straight line in natural scenes. Here in this paper, we proposed a method to detect straight lines in such natural scene images which contain “Roads”, “Bridge”, “Pavement”, and similar type of archaeological and natural structures. Such structures in photographs start from the bottom of the frame and move towards some region, object or meet at a vanishing point. The proposed method has been tested on our own dataset of natural scene images and we have seen that our proposed method to detect lines for some specific images performs much better upon current state-of-the-art in the line detection techniques.
Adaptions for Automotive Radar Based Occupancy Gridmaps

Environment models are necessary for autonomous driving. The distinction between drivable and non-drivable underground is elementary. This paper presents adaptions for radar based occupancy gridmaps, which are a common representation of the environment. In contrast to standard occupancy gridmaps or in general standard inverse radar sensor models, our approach works with velocity dependent parameters and extends free space calculations. Consequently, the map quality varies less and the information content of the ego vehicle's immediate vicinity is higher. Experiments with ground truth data show that the proposed algorithm produces accurate environment models in urban scenes.
ECG Electrode Placements for Magnetohydrodynamic Voltage Suppression

This study aims to investigate a set of electrocardiogram (ECG) electrode lead locations to improve the quality of four-lead ECG signals acquired during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This was achieved by identifying electrode placements that minimized the amount of induced magnetohydrodynamic voltages (VMHD) in the ECG signals. Reducing VMHD can improve the accuracy of QRS complex detection in ECG as well as heartbeat synchronization between MRI and ECG during the acquisition of cardiac cine. A vector model based on thoracic geometry was developed to predict induced VMHD and to optimize four-lead ECG electrode placement for the purposes of improved MRI gating. Four human subjects were recruited for vector model establishment (Group 1), and five human subjects were recruited for validation of VMHD reduction in the proposed four-lead ECG (Group 2). The vector model was established using 12-lead ECG data recorded from Group 1 of four healthy subjects at 3 Tesla, and a gradient descent optimization routine was utilized to predict optimal four-lead ECG placement based on VMHD vector alignment. The optimized four-lead ECG was then validated in Group 2 of five healthy subjects by comparing the standard and proposed lead placements. A 43.41% reduction in VMHD was observed in ECGs using the proposed electrode placement, and the QRS complex was preserved. A VMHD-minimized electrode placement for four-lead ECG gating was presented and shown to reduce induced magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) signals, potentially allowing for improved cardiac MRI physiological monitoring.
The Anatomy of Sleep; or, the Art of Procuring Sound and Refreshing Slumber at Will

of the English language, while the officers and servants of the English lunatic asylums are equally ignorant of the Welclh. The inconveniences which arise from this circumstance are thus forcibly pointed ouit by Dr. Hitch:" When the poor Welchman is sent to an English asyluim, he is submitted to the most refined ofmodem cruelties, by being doomed to an imprisonment amongst strange people, and an association with his fellow-men, whom he is prohibited from holding communion with. Nothing can exceed his misery, himself unable to communicate, or to receive communication; harassed by wants which he cannot make known, and appealed to by sounds which he cannot comprehend, he becomes irritable and irritated; and it is proverbial in our English asylums that the ' Welchthan is the most turbulent patient wherever lhe happens to become an inmate. ' In vain is it in these cases that the professional treatment is judicious-the moral humane-that the a,ttendants are kind, or the locality cheering; suspicious, from the nature of his disease, and unconscious of the directions given him, he finds himself required to conform to the regulations of the establishment, which differ from his previous habits, and to submit to discipline for his own benefit, and he assumes all this to be so much insult and unkindness shown to him personally; and as he is not susceptible of an explanation to the contrary, he resents them with violence, and opposes them on the principle of self-defence. Then, again, as he cannot be approached by conversation, he loses those great advantages which, in well regulated asylums, are carried to a great extent, of personal communion with educated minds, who lead, direct, and control the wandering spirit of the lunatic, and bring it back, by insensible degrees, to his own guidance; he loses, indeed, all the advantages of the greatest of modern improvements in the treatment of the insane-judicious conversation with properly selected persons. It will not, then, be matter of purprise if the poor Welchman, after having undergone this species of solitary confinement in our English asylums, should leave it at least no better, and often worse, than when he entered it, and this, I believe, is usually the case. " It is unnecessary for us to pursue this distressing subject further. The attention of the executive has, we believe, been directed to it, and we trust that an effort will soon be made to extend the benefits of a well-directed system of medical aid to the insane poor of the Welch community.
Improved Prediction of Eukaryotic Protein Subcellular Localization Using Particle Swarm Optimization of Multiple Classifiers

This paper proposes an improved prediction of protein subcellular localization in eukaryotes based on multiple classifiers' prediction results. A modified Particle Swarm Optimization was used to screen the prediction results and determine the optimal answer for protein locations. By weighting the probabilities from each classifier's result, the final set of prediction results were formed. The location with highest probability in each final set was selected and checked with the given class labels. The number of correct answers was calculated to evaluate the PSO performance. Then, the results were compared with other classifiers in terms of accuracies. The overall accuracy achieved by the proposed PSO method is 75.63%.
Effects of high‐ and low‐dose aspirin on adaptive immunity and hypertension in the stroke‐prone spontaneously hypertensive rat

Despite its well‐known antithrombotic properties, the effect of aspirin on blood pressure (BP) and hypertension pathology is unclear. The hugely varying doses used clinically have contributed to this confusion, with high‐dose aspirin still commonly used due to concerns about the efficacy of low‐dose aspirin. Because prostaglandins have been shown to both promote and inhibit T‐cell activation, we also explored the immunomodulatory properties of aspirin in hypertension. Although the common preclinical high dose of 100 mg/kg/d improved vascular dysfunction and cardiac hypertrophy, this effect was accompanied by indices of elevated adaptive immunity, renal T‐cell infiltration, renal fibrosis, and BP elevation in stroke‐prone spontaneously hypertensive rats and in angiotensin II‐induced hypertensive mice. The cardioprotective effects of aspirin were conserved with a lower dose (10 mg/kg/d) while circumventing heightened adaptive immunity and elevated BP. We also show that low‐dose aspirin improves renal fibrosis. Differential inhibition of the COX‐2 isoform may underlie the disparate effects of the 2 doses. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of low‐dose aspirin in treating a vast array of cardiovascular parameters and suggest modulation of adaptive immunity as a novel mechanism underlying adverse cardiovascular profiles associated with COX‐2 inhibitors. Clinical studies should identify the dose of aspirin that achieves maximal cardioprotection with a new awareness that higher doses of aspirin could trigger undesired autoimmunity in hypertensive individuals. This work also warrants an evaluation of high‐dose aspirin and COX‐2 inhibitor therapy in sufferers of inflammatory conditions who are already at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. —Khan, S. I. , Shihata, W. A. , Andrews, K. L. , Lee, M. K. S. , Moore, X. ‐L. , Jefferis, A. ‐M. , Vinh, A. , Gaspari, T. , Dragoljevic, D. , Jennings, G. L. , Murphy, A. J., Chin‐Dusting, J. P. F. Effects of high‐ and low‐dose aspirin on adaptive immunity and hypertension in the stroke‐prone spontaneously hypertensive rat. FASEB J. 33, 1510–1521 (2019). www.fasebj. org
2017 Ninth International Conference on Advanced Computing (ICoAC) Simulation Study on Tokamak Relevant Visual Servoing System

Tokamak is a plasma confinement device that can be used to achieve magnetically confined nuclear fusion within a reactor. Owing to the harsh environment, human access is not possible inside the reactor and Remote Handling (RH) systems are used for inspection and maintenance of the tokamak in-vessel components. These RH systems are long and cantilevered articulated robotic arms. Thus, inherent structural deformations or minor errors in assembly cause the position of the Tool Center Point (TCP) to vary largely than the anticipated position by the joint controller. Visual Servoing can rectify these errors by providing a photometric information to the control system using feedback from a pre-calibrated camera mounted on the arm of the robot. This paper presents the development and simulation of a visual-servo mechanism for a 6-axis tokamak relevant Articulated Robotic Inspection Arm (ARIA). The image based visual servo controller for ARIA is implemented using a C++ based controller. The controller subscribes the in-vessel component images from a camera topic and computes the instantaneous joint velocity based on difference in errors of the image feature. A virtual reality simulation is performed to show the response of ARIA based on the controller output. A short review of visual servoing is presented along with the kinematics of the ARIA arm. Results from the simulations show a good convergence of thejoint trajectories and smooth alignment of the TCP with respect to the in-vessel component.
Comparative Analysis of FLR Approach Based Inverse Tree and Modern Fisher-Yates Algorithm Based Random Interleavers for IDMA Systems

‘Interleave-division multiple-access’ (IDMA) systems are interleaver centric advanced multiple access systems for modern day's communication. These systems can effectively combat with multiuser and multiple access interferences. In recent years, several interleaving approaches compatible with IDMA system have been designed and analyzed. In this paper, two of such recently developed interleaver generation techniques namely flip left-right approach based inverse tree interleaving (FLRITI) and modern Fisher-Yates algorithm based random interleaving (MFYI) techniques have been reviewed and compared for IDMA systems. ‘Bit error rate (BER), computation complexity, computation delay and memory requirements are the main parameters used in this performance comparison.