Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Active Electrode IC for EEG and Electrical Impedance Tomography With Continuous Monitoring of Contact Impedance

The IC presented integrates the front-end for EEG and Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) acquisition on the electrode, together with electrode-skin contact impedance monitoring and EIT current generation, so as to improve signal quality and integration of the two techniques for brain imaging applications. The electrode size is less than 2 cm2 and only 4 wires connect the electrode to the back-end. The readout circuit is based on a Differential Difference Amplifier and performs single-ended amplification and frequency division multiplexing of the three signals that are sent to the back-end on a single wire which also provides power supply. Since the system's CMRR is a function of each electrode's gain accuracy, an analysis is performed on how this is influenced by mismatches in passive and active components. The circuit is fabricated in 0.35 μm CMOS process and occupies 4 mm2, the readout circuit consumes 360 μW, the input referred noise for bipolar EEG signal acquisition is 0.56 μVRMS between 0.5 and 100 Hz and almost halves if only EEG signal is acquired.
HIV – Is a cure possible?

HIV is a chronic well manageable disease. Highly active antiretroviral therapy improves the quality of life of people living with HIV, but the treatment has to be continued lifelong, as the total cure has not been established. Cost of treatment, drug toxicities, interaction with other drugs and persistence of inflammation and acceleration of the aging process, all put together, warrant an urgent need for a total cure. Even though one case had been proved to be cured, still a practical cure is far beyond the reach. Numerous approaches and strategies had been put forth to achieve a cure; still they are to be proved with human studies. This article reviews the major approaches, recent advances in the venture of HIV cure, and the safety concerns involved.
Workgroup Distribution File System (WDFS) for personal cloud system

Most of the Small Business Company (SME), Small Office and Home Office (SOHO) do have one common major problem, how to have a good backup system. While there are many technologies that offer to the solution, but users finds too complicated or sometime too costly to implement. This paper proposed the solution for saving important information by having a WDFS drive or directory in the machine, which supports drag and drop files. WDFS drive or directory automatically backup information by distributing and duplicating the same file onto the other machine inside the domain. The process is transparency to users.
A miniature switching phase shifter in 0.18-µm CMOS

A miniature 3-bit switching phase shifter using standard 0.18-µm CMOS process is presented in this paper. By using thin-film meander-line to shrink the size of inductor, the chip area can be reduced to 0.285 mm2. This circuit demonstrates an RMS phase error of smaller than 5.3° and an RMS amplitude error of smaller than 1.3 dB from 21–29 GHz. The average insertion loss and return loss at 24 GHz are 11 and 7 dB, respectively. To the authors' knowledge, this phase shifter achieves lowest RMS phase error and insertion loss among all Si-based switching phase shifters above 10 GHz.
Analyse de données de surveillance et synthèse d’indicateurs de défauts et de dégradation pour l’aide à la maintenance prédictive de parcs de turbines éoliennes

Le secteur de l’energie eolienne est en pleine expansion depuis les 10 dernieres annees. Le nombre et la taille des eoliennes ont ete multiplies, ce qui accroit la difficulte et la criticite de la maintenance, et impose aux industriels de passer d’une maintenance corrective et systematique a une maintenance conditionnelle et predictive. L'objectif de ces travaux est de developper des indicateurs de degradation, en utilisant les donnees numeriques fournies par le SCADA, disponibles a faible cout mais enregistrees a une faible frequence d'echantillonnage (10 min) dans un objectif de suivi de production. Une analyse bibliographique approfondie des travaux realises sur la surveillance de parcs eoliens a partir de donnees SCADA montre que deux types d’approches sont generalement proposes. Les methodes dites mono-turbines ou un modele de comportement d’une turbine est appris sur des periodes de bon fonctionnement, a partir duquel il est possible de creer des residus mesurant la difference entre la valeur predite par le modele et la mesure en ligne, qui servent d’indicateurs de defaut. Les modeles mono-turbines ont la particularite d’utiliser des variables provenant de la meme turbine du parc. Les deuxiemes methodes, dites multi-turbines, sont des methodes ou l'effet parc et la similarite entre machines sont utilises. La ou les recherches les plus recentes proposent principalement de creer des courbes de performances pour chaque machine du parc pendant une periode de temps et de comparer ces courbes entre elles, nous faisons la proposition originale de combiner les deux approches et de comparer les residus mono-turbines a une reference parc traduisant le comportement majoritaire des turbines du parc. Nous validons de maniere extensive ces indicateurs en analysant leurs performances sur une base de donnees composee d’enregistrements de variables SCADA d’une duree de 4 ans sur un parc de 6 machines. Nous proposons aussi des criteres de performances pertinents permettant d’evaluer de maniere realiste les gains et eventuels surcouts que genereraient ces indicateurs s’ils etaient integres dans un outil de maintenance. Ainsi, nous montrons que le taux d’interventions inutiles associees a des fausses alarmes produites par les indicateurs de defaut, et qui provoquent un surcout tres important pour l’entreprise, peut etre fortement diminue par la fusion d’indicateurs mono-turbines que nous proposons, tout en conservant une avance a la detection suffisante pour planifier la mise en place d’interventions par les equipes de maintenance.
Decontamination of Airborne Bacteria in Meat Processing Plants1

Air has been established as a source of bacterial contamination in meat processing facilities. Airborne bacteria may affect product shelf life, and have food safety implications. The effectiveness of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generating AirOcare equipment on the reduction of airborne bacteria in a meat processing environment was determined. Bacterial strains found in ground beef were used to artificially contaminate the air using a 6-jet Collison nebulizer. Airborne bacterial populations in the meat processing room were monitored every 24 h at multiple locations using a Staplex 6 stage air sampler. Total aerobic, Gram-negative, and lactic acid bacterial populations were determined by sampling on R2A agar, MacConkey agar and Lactobacilli MRS agar, respectively. Approximately 3 log reductions of lactic acid bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria were observed after 24 hours of treatment (P < 0.05) compared to ~1.5 log reduction in the control treatment. Further exposure with ROS significantly reduced lactic acid bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria in the air at 48 and 96 h sampling intervals. These findings reveal that reactive oxygen species treatment using AirOcare unit significantly reduces airborne contamination in a meat processing environment.
Quality of life in elderly with dizziness Abstract

Nancy Akemi Takano , Silvia Sper Cavalli , Maurício Malavasi Ganança , Heloísa Helena Caovilla , Mônica Alcantara de Oliveira Santos , Érica de Toledo Piza Peluso , Fernando Freitas Ganança 7 1 Master’s degree iミ Neuroマotor RehaHilitaioミ SIieミIe, Sao Paulo Baミdeiraミte Uミiversit┞. Ph┞siIal therapist. 2 Master’s degree iミ Neuroマotor RehaHilitaioミ SIieミIe, Sao Paulo Baミdeiraミte Uミiversit┞. Ph┞siIal therapist. 3 Full professor of otorhiミolar┞ミgolog┞, UNIFESP-EPM. Professor of the マaster’s degree prograマ oミ RehaHilitaioミ of Bod┞ BalaミIe aミd SoIial IミIlusioミ, UNIBAN. 4 AssoIiate professor, Otorhiミolar┞ミgolog┞ aミd Head & NeIk Surger┞ Departマeミt, UNIFESP-EPM. SpeeIh therapist. 5 Masters degree iミ Otorhiミolar┞ミgolog┞, MediIal SIhool of the Sao Paulo Saミta Casa. 6 Masters degree iミ Otorhiミolar┞ミgolog┞, MediIal SIhool of the Sao Paulo Saミta Casa. 7 Post-doItoral degree, UNIFESP-EPM. Ps┞Ihologist. Post-doItoral degree, UNIFESP EPM. AdjuミIt professor. Head of the Otolog┞ aミd Otoミeurolog┞ DisIipliミe, UNIFESP EPM. Sao Paulo Federal Uミiversit┞ aミd Sao Paulo Baミdeiraミte Uミiversit┞ ふUミiversidade Federal de São Paulo e Uミiversidade Baミdeiraミte de São Pauloぶ Seミd IorrespoミdeミIe to: Prof. Dr. Ferミaミdo Freitas Gaミaミça Rua Pedro de Toledo, ΓヴΑ Vila Cleマeミiミo ヰヴヰンΓ-ヰンヲ São Paulo SP. Phoミe/Fa┝ ふヰ┝┝ヱヱぶ ヵヵヴΓ-Αヰヴヱ E-マail: fgaミaミIa@terra. Ioマ. Hr Paper suHマited to the BJORL-SGP ふPuHlishiミg Maミageマeミt S┞steマ – Braziliaミ Jourミal of Otorhiミolar┞ミgolog┞ぶ oミ DeIeマHer ヲン, ヲヰヰΓ; aミd aIIepted oミ FeHruar┞ ヲヲ, ヲヰヱヰ. Iod. ヶΒヵン Dizziness is frequent in elderly people. Aims: To evaluate the Quality of Life (QoL) in elderly subjects with dizziness, relate it with gender and age. Material and Method: A prospective study comprising 120 elderly patients with dizziness evaluated with Brazilian versions of the Whoqol-bref and the dizziness handicap inventory (DHI). The factor analysis (FA), the Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests, and the Spearman correlation were applied to study the results. Results: The most compromised domains were the DHI physical domain and the Whoqol-bref physical and environment domains. FA resulted in 3 factors in the DHI and 5 factors in the Whoqolbref. There was a moderate correlation (-0.596) in the total scores of both instruments. Males had a better QoL in the “environment perception and introspectivity” and “health perception” factors of the Whoqol-bref test. Females had a better QoL in the “functionality perception” factor of the Whoqol-bref test. There were no significant age differences. Conclusions: Elderly patients with dizziness have a worse QoL. Elderly females with dizziness have worse QoL scores in “environment perception and introspectivity” and “health perception” and better QoL in the “functionality perception” factor compared to elderly males. ORIGINAL ARTICLE Braz J Otorhinolaryngol. 2010;76(6):769-75. BJORL
Experimental study of intra- vs. inter-superchannel spectral equalization in flexible grid systems

Benefits of intra-superchannel spectral-equalization are demonstrated in a production 8Tbps system. ~1.2dB OSNR improvement and ~4.5dB reduction in power-spread is measured relative to inter-superchannel equalization. Tradeoff between OSNR and nonlinearity dictates the net reach improvement.
Ten-year longitudinal study of the effect of impulse noise exposure from gunshot on inner ear function

This longitudinal study investigated how chronic gunshot noise exposure affects cochlear and saccular function in police officers who engaged in regular target shooting practice using dual protection (ear plugs plus earmuffs) for >10 years. In 1997, 20 male police officers underwent audiometry before and two weeks after shooting. Twelve of the original subjects were re-examined by audiometry coupled with vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) test in 2007. Significant deterioration of mean hearing thresholds at frequencies of 500 Hz through 4000 Hz was noted ten years later, affecting both ears. However, only the frequencies of 4000 and 6000 Hz on the left ear revealed significant difference in mean hearing thresholds compared with healthy controls. Abnormal VEMP responses were evident in nine police officers (75%), including absent VEMPs 7 and delayed VEMPs 2. In conclusion, deterioration to hearing may occur after long term exposure to gunshots, even when double hearing protection is used. Further study is in progress regarding how to preserve both cochlear and saccular function during long term gunshot exposure.
A novel blood test for tuberculosis prevention and treatment.

Almost 1 in every 100 South Africans is diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) disease every year, an incidence that ranks among the highest of the world’s 22 high-TB-burden countries; TB accounted for an astounding 14.6% of deaths among 15 - 44-year-olds in South Africa (SA) in 2014. Globally, TB is recognised as the leading cause of mortality by an infectious agent, with 1.4 million deaths and 10.4 million new TB cases in 2015. Although most forms of TB are treatable, prompt diagnosis is challenging and passive case-finding approaches have failed to control the epidemic. The estimated 80% of SA adults who are latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis form a massive reservoir for future reactivation cases. Indeed, even if all new M. tuberculosis infections were prevented, the incidence of TB stemming from the global reservoir of 1.7 billion latently infected people (23% of the world population) would be 16.5 per 100 000 person-years in 2035, falling short of the 2050 target for eradicating TB. As preventive therapy at this scale is not feasible, no single current intervention is likely to achieve the goals of The End TB Strategy.
WhatsApp is an effective tool for obtaining second opinion in oral pathology practice

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to find out the efficacy of WhatsApp application for obtaining second opinion on histopathological diagnosis in oral pathology practice. METHODS A total of 247 cases comprising of 34 different oral pathologies were photomicrographed using smartphone cameras through compound microscopes and sent for second opinion diagnosis (SOD) to 20 different oral pathologists using WhatsApp. RESULTS Of 4795 (97.06%) total second opinion received, correct SOD were received for 4710 (98.22%) cases. Hundred percent times correct SOD was received for lesions including adenomatoid odontogenic tumor, keratinizing cystic odontogenic tumor, odontome, and dentigerous cyst. Lesions such as myoepithelial carcinoma, osteosarcoma, fibrosarcoma, and intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia received less percentage of correct SOD (85.71-75.75%). Correct SOD was obtained for variants of ameloblastoma (99.01%), grading of epithelial dysplasia (87.54%), and squamous cell carcinoma (95.26%). A positive correlation was observed between correct SOD and age (P = 0.0143) and experience (P = 0.0189) of the pathologist. The time taken for giving second opinion by the pathologists ranged from 81.98 ± 32.89 to 90.72 ± 38.88 min. CONCLUSION Smartphone camera is a handy and efficient tool in capturing photomicrographs from the compound microscope. Transfer of such photomicrograph via WhatsApp is an effective and convenient approach in procuring second opinion on histopathological diagnosis of oral pathologies.
Performance Comparison of Kalman Filter and Mean Shift Algorithm for Object Tracking

Object tracking is one of the important tasks in the field of computer vision. Some of the areas which need Visual object tracking are surveillance, automated video analysis, etc. Mean shift algorithm is one of the popular techniques for this task and is advantageous when compared to some of the other tracking methods. But this method would not be appropriate in the case of large target appearance changes and occlusion. In addition, this method fails when the object is under the action of non-linear forces like that of the gravity e.g. a ball falling under the action of gravity. Another popular method used for tracking is the one that uses Kalman filter, with measurements (often noisy) of position of object to be tracked as input to it. This paper is based on a simulative comparison of both of these algorithms which will give a proper outline of which method will be more appropriate for object tracking, given the nature of motion of object and type of surroundings. Observations based on these methods are present in the literature but there is no evidence based on implementation of these algorithms that shows a quantitative comparison of the said algorithms.
Assessment of the estrogenicity of the diet of a healthy female Spanish population based on its isoflavone content

Phytoestrogens are natural components of plants consumed by humans. The hormonal activity of these substances has long been known. Various in vitro tests have demonstrated the agonistic or antagonistic estrogenic activity of some phytoestrogens. The objective of this study was to estimate the supply of isoflavones in the diet of a healthy adult female population and to assess its estrogenic effect. The diet was assessed by questionnaire and the estrogenicity of the estimated isoflavone content was tested by E-screen, finding a mean total estrogenic capacity of 0.129 × 10−10 eq.E2 (12.9 pmol day–1), corresponding to a daily isoflavone intake of 265.8 μg day–1. This study offers a preliminary insight into the phytoestrogen content of the diet of a healthy active population of Spanish women. The effects of this additional hormonal burden are highly controversial, and this approach to estimating dietary phytoestrogen intake of specific populations may help to elucidate its implications for human health.
A Retained Secretory Signal Peptide Mediates High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Assembly and Function of Haptoglobin-related Protein*

Background: Haptoglobin-related protein (Hpr) localizes to a distinct subspecies of high density lipoproteins (HDL). Results: Hpr binds HDL via a retained signal peptide, is sensitive to lipid fluidity, and requires lipid association for hemoglobin binding. Conclusion: The signal peptide mediates localization and function of Hpr through direct interaction with HDL lipids. Significance: Sensitivity to lipid packing may be a mechanism of HDL subspeciation. Haptoglobin-related protein (Hpr) is a component of a minor subspecies of high density lipoproteins (HDL) that function in innate immunity. Here we show that assembly of Hpr into HDL is mediated by its retained N-terminal signal peptide, an unusual feature for a secreted protein and the major difference between Hpr and the soluble acute phase protein haptoglobin (Hp). The 18-amino acid signal peptide is necessary for binding to HDL and interacts directly with the hydrocarbon region of lipids. Utilizing model liposomes, we show that the rate of assembly and steady-state distribution of Hpr in lipid particles is mediated by the physical property of lipid fluidity. Dye release assays reveal that Hpr interacts more rapidly with fluid liposomes. Conversely, steady-state binding assays indicate that more rigid lipid compositions stabilize Hpr association. Lipid association also plays a role in facilitating hemoglobin binding by Hpr. Our data may offer an explanation for the distinct distribution of Hpr among HDL subspecies. Rather than protein-protein interactions mediating localization, direct interaction with phospholipids and sensitivity to lipid fluidity may be sufficient for localization of Hpr and may represent a mechanism of HDL subspeciation.
Accelerating an Ordered-Subset Low-Dose X-Ray Cone Beam Computed Tomography Image Reconstruction with a Power Factor and Total Variation Minimization

In recent years, there has been increased interest in low-dose X-ray cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) in many fields, including dentistry, guided radiotherapy and small animal imaging. Despite reducing the radiation dose, low-dose CBCT has not gained widespread acceptance in routine clinical practice. In addition to performing more evaluation studies, developing a fast and high-quality reconstruction algorithm is required. In this work, we propose an iterative reconstruction method that accelerates ordered-subsets (OS) reconstruction using a power factor. Furthermore, we combine it with the total-variation (TV) minimization method. Both simulation and phantom studies were conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. Results show that the proposed method can accelerate conventional OS methods, greatly increase the convergence speed in early iterations. Moreover, applying the TV minimization to the power acceleration scheme can further improve the image quality while preserving the fast convergence rate.
PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION BASED ON ORDINAL MEASURES OF IRIS PATTERNS

This paper introduces the rich texture information of human iris which is useful for identity authentication. A key and still open issue in iris recognition is to represent such textual information using a compact set of features. Here we propose using ordinal measures for iris feature representation with the objective of characterizing qualitative relationships between iris regions rather than precise measurements of iris image structures. Such a representation may lose some image-specific information, but it achieves a good trade-off between distinctiveness and robustness. We show that ordinal measures are intrinsic features of iris patterns and largely invariant to illumination changes. Moreover, compactness and low computational complexity of ordinal measures enable highly efficient iris recognition. Ordinal measures are a general concept useful for image analysis and many variants can be derived for ordinal feature extraction. In this paper, we develop multilobe differential filters to compute ordinal measures with flexible intralobe and interlobe parameters such as location, scale, orientation, and distance. Experimental results on three public iris image databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ordinal feature models.
The TGFβ intracellular effector Smad3 regulates neuronal differentiation and cell fate specification in the developing spinal cord

Here we show that Smad3, a transforming growth factor β (TGFβ)/activin signaling effector, is expressed in discrete progenitor domains along the dorsoventral axis of the developing chick spinal cord. Restriction of Smad3 expression to the dP6-p2 and p3 domains together with exclusion from the motoneuron progenitor domain, are the result of the activity of key transcription factors responsible for patterning the neural tube. Smad3-mediated TGFβ activity promotes cell-cycle exit and neurogenesis by inhibiting the expression of Id proteins, and activating the expression of neurogenic factors and the cyclin-dependent-kinase-inhibitor p27kip1. Furthermore, Smad3 activity induces differentiation of selected neuronal subtypes at the expense of other subtypes. Within the intermediate and ventral domains, Smad3 promotes differentiation of ventral interneurons at the expense of motoneuron generation. Consequently, the absence of Smad3 expression from the motoneuron progenitor domain during pattern formation of the neural tube is a prerequisite for the correct generation of spinal motoneurons.
Device properties in 90 nm and beyond and implications on circuit design

To reconcile scaling-driven fundamental material limitations with industry evolution requirements, flexible CMOS technologies and tighter interaction between process development and circuit/system design are needed to efficiently realize Systems on a Chip (SoC). This paper discusses issues associated with power supply scaling, performance-leakage power optimization, gate dielectric scaling, strain-Si enhancement and I/O support.