Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatio-temporal Correlated Channel Feedback for Massive MIMO Systems

Accurate channel state information (CSI) at base station (BS) is the key to achieve full multiplexing and diversity gain in traditional multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. In frequency-division-duplex (FDD) systems, it is obtained through downlink training and uplink feedback. However, the training and feedback overhead in massive MIMO systems is unacceptable for the large number of antennas equipped at BS. To reduce the CSI feedback overhead and improve CSI quantization accuracy, we propose a limited feedback scheme for spatio-temporal correlated massive MIMO channel. The proposed scheme jointly performs Karhunen-Loève transform (KLT) and polar-cap quantization on CSI. For the compactly deployed antennas at BS, there exists spatial correlation in massive MIMO channel. When the user equipment (UE) moves slowly, adjacent channels feature temporal correlation. The high dimensional and spatial correlated CSI is compressed through KLT. Then the compressed CSI is normalized to be isotropic to perform polar-cap quantization. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme is capable of improving the sum-rate performance with limited feedback bits for massive MIMO systems.
Can I Depend on you? Mapping the Dependency and Quality Landscape of ROS Packages

Since its beginnings ten years ago, the Robot Operating System (ROS) has created a huge community of developers and researchers and is now the most widespread open-source framework for robotics development. It is used in research, prototyping but also in commercial products and supports a wide range of robotic platforms, sensors and highlevel data processing functions. While for a research platform, quality of the software developed with it is typically of lower importance, ROS is gradually moving towards industrial applications making software quality a premier topic. In this paper, we want to gain insights on how ROS is used in practice, how high the quality of the ROS packages and applications is, and where potential pitfalls in the use of ROS lie. To achieve this, we have analyzed several thousands of open-source ROS packages found on GitHub and Bitbucket for their quality and their interdependencies. Our results include packages on the rosdistro index and, more importantly, packages that are not. From our results we show common issues in ROS-applications, quality implications, and also which packages of what quality are particularly popular.
Design and Emotional Evaluation of Pepe Jr: A Cost-Effective Platform For Human Robot Interaction Studies

This paper introduces Pepe Jr, a 4 DOF robotic lamp, designed as a cost-effective platform for Human Robot Interaction research. We discuss the mechanical and electronic design aspects of the robot, and the design of the motion patterns associated with each emotion expressed by the robot. We also discuss results from a battery of surveys to gauge user perception of these expressed emotions, which validate the design objectives of the robot.
Design and Simulation of Effective 90° Bend Waveguide Based on Hexagonal Lattice Photonic Crystal

One area of silicon photonics that has attracted attention lately is that of Photonic Crystal(PhC) components. Passive components based on 2D Photonic Crystals have experienced major developments in the last few years. PhCs extends an optimistic stand for upcoming small scale ICs over optical communication. The disadvantage of conventional waveguides is that, they gives high transmission loss during the light passing through sharp corners. This loss can be minimized by adjusting the fiber bending radius such that it should be several times higher than transmission wavelengths used. We can overcome the difficulties by using Photonic Crystals having Band Gaps. Photonic Crystals are considered for minimization of optical power loss during sharp bending and splitting. In this paper we focus on the design of effective 90° bend waveguide by using three channel waveguides with two 60° bends by using hexagonal lattice. The optical modelling of the proposed structures are investigated by using 2-D Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method.
A Review of SLAM Techniques and Security in Autonomous Driving

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) is a widely researched topic in the field of robotics, augmented/virtual reality and more dominantly in self-driving cars. SLAM is a technique of building a map of the environment and estimating the state of the robot in the map in which it is moving, simultaneously. SLAM has been there for more than 30 years and has contributed significantly in the industry targeting from small scale driven applications to large scale, which resulted in the advent of this decade’s self driving cars. This paper attempts to give an understanding and progress of SLAM in autonomous driving industry as well as briefly describes the SLAM techniques that have contributed significantly to the industry, which were especially evaluated on KITTI dataset. We have also attempted to compare various techniques that were presented and made a rough estimate on why the state of the art approach can be revised and refurnished to suit the complex understanding of the environment for effective localization. In the end we have briefly described the security threats related to autonomous driving industry and why this is alarming.
Convex Multi-criteria Design Optimization of Robotic Manipulators via Sum-of-Squares Programming

This paper presents a general framework for optimization of robotic manipulators via sums-of-squares (SoS) programming (semidefinite convex optimization) with multiple design objectives. Both kinematic and dynamic performance measures are discussed and an optimization problem for a proof-of-concept robotic manipulator has been formulated. SoS programming is shown to promise advantages as it can provide globally optimal results up to machine precision and scales much better with respect to the number of design variables than other methods which can obtain globally optimal solutions.
Study & Simulation For Determining The Age of Electrolytic Capacitor Using ESR

The paper describes a method for detecting the ageing of coupling capacitor i.e, Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitor (AEC) in the dc system. The life of AEC can be affected by electrical and environmental parameters. The aging of AECs can be monitored by knowing the Equivalent series resistancce (ESR). As the value of ESR increases, the ripples will be more and the AEC need to be replaced. The dc system is based on the solar photo voltaic system. When the value of ESR is less, the current and voltage ripple across the system can be reduced. The converter adopted as an interface is a dc-dc converter of boost configuration. An electrolytic capacitor of aluminum is positioned in between the solar PV and the converter in order to diminish the switching frequency variations in solar PV voltage. The life of solar PV panels are more when compared to that of AECs and it depends on the electrical and environmental parameters.
Overcoming Self-Incompatibility in Diploid Potato Using CRISPR-Cas9

Potato breeding can be redirected to a diploid inbred/F1 hybrid variety breeding strategy if self-compatibility can be introduced into diploid germplasm. However, the majority of diploid potato clones (Solanum spp.) possess gametophytic self-incompatibility that is primarily controlled by a single multiallelic locus called the S-locus which is composed of tightly linked genes, S-RNase (S-locus RNase) and multiple SLFs (S-locus F-box proteins), which are expressed in the style and pollen, respectively. Using S-RNase genes known to function in the Solanaceae gametophytic SI mechanism, we identified S-RNase alleles with flower-specific expression in two diploid self-incompatible potato lines using genome resequencing data. Consistent with the location of the S-locus in potato, we genetically mapped the S-RNase gene using a segregating population to a region of low recombination within the pericentromere of chromosome 1. To generate self-compatible diploid potato lines, a dual single-guide RNA (sgRNA) strategy was used to target conserved exonic regions of the S-RNase gene and generate targeted knockouts (KOs) using a Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) approach. Self-compatibility was achieved in nine S-RNase KO T0 lines which contained bi-allelic and homozygous deletions/insertions in both genotypes, transmitting self compatibility to T1 progeny. This study demonstrates an efficient approach to achieve stable, consistent self-compatibility through S-RNase KO for use in diploid potato breeding approaches.
Discovery of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli (STEC)-Specific Bacteriophages From Non-fecal Composts Using Genomic Characterization

Composting is a complex biodegradable process that converts organic materials into nutrients to facilitate crop yields, and, if well managed, can render bactericidal effects. Majority of research focused on detection of enteric pathogens, such as Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in fecal composts. Recently, attention has been emphasized on bacteriophages, such as STEC-specific bacteriophages, associated with STEC from the fecal-contaminated environment because they are able to sustain adverse environmental condition during composting process. However, little is known regarding the isolation of STEC-specific bacteriophages in non-fecal composts. Thus, the objectives were to isolate and genomically characterize STEC-specific bacteriophages, and to evaluate its association with STEC in non-fecal composts. For bacteriophage isolation, the samples were enriched with non-pathogenic E. coli (3 strains) and STEC (14 strains), respectively. After purification, host range, plaque size, and phage morphology were examined. Furthermore, bacteriophage genomes were subjected to whole-genome sequencing using Illumina MiSeq and genomic analyses. Isolation of top six non-O157 and O157 STEC utilizing culture methods combined with PCR-based confirmation was also conducted. The results showed that various STEC-specific bacteriophages, including vB_EcoM-Ro111lw, vB_EcoM-Ro121lw, vB_EcoS-Ro145lw, and vB_EcoM-Ro157lw, with different but complementary host ranges were isolated. Genomic analysis showed the genome sizes varied from 42kb to 149kb, and most bacteriophages were unclassified at the genus level, except vB_EcoM-Ro111lw as FelixO1-like viruses. Prokka predicted less than 25% of the ORFs coded for known functions, including those essential for DNA replication, bacteriophage structure, and host cell lysis. Moreover, none of the bacteriophages harbored lysogenic genes or virulence genes, such as stx or eae. Additionally, the presence of these lytic bacteriophages was likely attributed to zero isolation of STEC and could also contribute to additional antimicrobial effects in composts, if the composting process was insufficient. Current findings indicate that various STEC-specific bacteriophages were found in the non-fecal composts. In addition, the genomic characterization provides in-depth information to complement the deficiency of biological features regarding lytic cycle of the new bacteriophages. Most importantly, these bacteriophages have great potential to control various serogroups of STEC.
Analysis of reliability and validity of Chinese version software for pain assessment among elderly patients after surgery

Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of Chinese version software for pain assessment, so as to provide an instrument for postoperative pain assessment in elderly. Methods We strictly revised and translated the software for pain assessment into Chinese version according to the program of "translation-back translation-cultural adaptation-pre experiment". From June to July 2015, 98 elderly patients who would undergo surgery were selected as the research object, and they were evaluated by pain score to test the reliability and validity. Results Pain assessment software extracted a total of 20 items of 5 common factors including tranquillization, bed activity, eating, deep breathing and cough by principal component analysis (PCA) , which could explain 80.184% of total variances. The Correlated coefficients between each dimension and faces pain scale (FPS) and numerical rating scale (NRS) were between 0.586-0.933. The Cronbach′s α coefficient was 0.912 for the total scale. Conclusions The pain assessment software has good performance, high reliability and high validity. It can be used to evaluate the reliability of postoperative pain in elderly patients. Key words: Aged; Pain assessment; Assessment software; Reliability; Validity
Prescribing practice of pregabalin/gabapentin in pain therapy: an evaluation of German claim data

Objectives To analyse the prevalence and incidence of pregabalin and gabapentin (P/G) prescriptions, typical therapeutic uses of P/G with special attention to pain-related diagnoses and discontinuation rates. Design Secondary data analysis. Setting Primary and secondary care in Germany. Participants Four million patients in the years 2009–2015 (anonymous health insurance data). Intervention None. Primary and secondary outcome measures P/G prescribing rates, P/G prescribing rates associated with pain therapy, analysis of pain-related diagnoses leading to new P/G prescriptions and the discontinuation rate of P/G. Results In 2015, 1.6% of insured persons received P/G prescriptions. Among the patients with pain first treated with P/G, as few as 25.7% were diagnosed with a typical neuropathic pain disorder. The remaining 74.3% had either not received a diagnosis of neuropathic pain or showed a neuropathic component that was pathophysiologically conceivable but did not support the prescription of P/G. High discontinuation rates were observed (85%). Among the patients who had discontinued the drug, 61.1% did not receive follow-up prescriptions within 2 years. Conclusion The results show that P/G is widely prescribed in cases of chronic pain irrespective of neuropathic pain diagnoses. The high discontinuation rate indicates a lack of therapeutic benefits and/or the occurrence of adverse effects.
Joint observation in NICU (JOIN): study protocol of a clinical randomised controlled trial examining an early intervention during preterm care

Introduction Preterm birth may generate significant distress among the parents, who often present with difficulties in appropriating their parental role. Parental stress and low perceived parental self-efficacy may interfere with the infant’s socioemotional and cognitive development, particularly through disrupted parent–infant interactions. Perceived parental self-efficacy represents the belief of efficacy in caring for one’s own infant and successful incarnation of the parental role, as well as the perception of one’s own abilities to complete a specified task. Interventions to support parental role, as well as infant development, are needed, and parental self-efficacy represents a useful indicator to measure the effects of such early interventions. Methods and analysis This study protocol describes a randomised controlled trial that will test an early intervention in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) (JOIN: Joint Observation In Neonatology) carried out by an interdisciplinary staff team. Mothers of preterm neonates born between 28 and 32 6/7 weeks of gestational age are eligible for the study. The intervention consists of a videotaped observation by a clinical child psychologist or child psychiatrist and a study nurse of a period of care delivered to the neonate by the mother and a NICU nurse. The care procedure is followed by an interactive video guidance intended to demonstrate the neonate’s abilities and resources to his parents. The primary outcome will be the difference in the perceived maternal self-efficacy between the intervention and control groups assessed by self-report questionnaires. Secondary outcomes will be maternal mental health, the perception of the parent– infant relationship, maternal responsiveness and the neurodevelopment of the infant at 6 months corrected age. Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Canton de Vaud (study number 496/12). Results from this study will be disseminated at national and international conferences, and in peer-reviewed journals. Trial registration number NCT02736136, Pre-results.
Aetiology and risks factors associated with the fatal outcomes of childhood pneumonia among hospitalised children in the Philippines from 2008 to 2016: a case series study

Objective Pneumonia remains the leading cause of hospitalisations and deaths among children aged <5 years. Diverse respiratory pathogens cause acute respiratory infections, including pneumonia. Here, we analysed viral and bacterial pathogens and risk factors associated with death of hospitalised children. Design A 9-year case series study. Setting Two secondary-care hospitals, one tertiary-care hospital and one research centre in the Philippines. Participants 5054 children aged <5 years hospitalised with severe pneumonia. Methods Nasopharyngeal swabs for virus identification, and venous blood samples for bacterial culture were collected. Demographic, clinical data and laboratory findings were collected at admission time. Logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the factors associated with death. Results Of the enrolled patients, 57% (2876/5054) were males. The case fatality rate was 4.7% (238/5054), showing a decreasing trend during the study period (p<0.001). 55.0% of the patients who died were either moderately or severely underweight. Viruses were detected in 61.0% of the patients, with respiratory syncytial virus (27.0%) and rhinovirus (23.0%) being the most commonly detected viruses. In children aged 2–59 months, the risk factors significantly associated with death included age of 2–5 months, sensorial changes, severe malnutrition, grunting, central cyanosis, decreased breath sounds, tachypnoea, fever (≥38.5°C), saturation of peripheral oxygen <90%, infiltration, consolidation and pleural effusion on chest radiograph. Among the pathogens, adenovirus type 7, seasonal influenza A (H1N1) and positive blood culture for bacteria were significantly associated with death. Similar patterns were observed between the death cases and the aforementioned factors in children aged <2 months. Conclusion Malnutrition was the most common factor associated with death and addressing this issue may decrease the case fatality rate. In addition, chest radiographic examination and oxygen saturation measurement should be promoted in all hospitalised patients with pneumonia as well as bacteria detection to identify patients who are at risk of death.
Composition and Incremental Refinement of Skill Models for Robotic Assembly Tasks

—Skill-based approaches for programming robots promise many beneﬁts such as easier reuse of functionality across applications, encapsulation and hiding of process details, and often a certain level of hardware abstraction. While many previous approaches allow to compose high-level skills, the basic skills themselves are usually atomic, non-extensible, or are supposed to be created by experts beforehand. We designed a prototype-based skill model to create force-controlled manipulation skills for robotic assembly tasks. In this paper, we show how skills can be created by composing sub-elements, each modeling a different aspect of a skill such as kinematics, task description, or coordination. Using prototype-based inheritance, skills can be incrementally reﬁned and extended to create new skills, instead of creating each skill from scratch. Our skill model uses iTaSC for task speciﬁcation, hierarchical statecharts for coordinating the execution of skills, and provides a domain-speciﬁc language that allows to quickly compose and parameterize skills and applications.
Nucleation in aqueous NaCl solutions shifts from 1-step to 2-step mechanism on crossing the spinodal.

In this work, we use large-scale molecular dynamics simulations coupled to free energy calculations to identify for the first time a limit of stability (spinodal) and a change in the nucleation mechanism in aqueous NaCl solutions. This is a system of considerable atmospheric, geological, and technical significance. We find that the supersaturated metastable NaCl solution reaches its limit of stability at sufficiently high salt concentrations, as indicated by the composition dependence of the salt chemical potential, indicating the transition to a phase separation by spinodal decomposition. However, the metastability limit of the NaCl solution does not correspond to spinodal decomposition with respect to crystallization. We find that beyond this spinodal, a liquid/amorphous separation occurs in the aqueous solution, whereby the ions first form disordered clusters. We term these clusters as "amorphous salt. " We also identify a transition from one- to two-step crystallization mechanism driven by a spinodal. In particular, crystallization from aqueous NaCl solution beyond the spinodal is a two-step process, in which the ions first phase-separate into disordered amorphous salt clusters, followed by the crystallization of ions in the amorphous salt phase. By contrast, in the aqueous NaCl solution at concentrations lower than the spinodal, crystallization occurs via a one-step process as the ions aggregate directly into crystalline nuclei. The change of mechanism with increasing supersaturation underscores the importance of an accurate determination of the driving force for phase separation. The study has broader implications on the mechanism for nucleation of crystals from solutions at high supersaturations.
Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia – a comprehensive review

Abstract Contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) is a serious disease of goats, occasionally sheep and wild ruminants, caused by Mycoplasma capricolum subspecies capripneumoniae (Mccp). The disease is characterized by severe serofibrinous pleuropneumonia, very high morbidity (∼100%), and mortality (80–100%). CCPP affects goats in more than 40 countries of the world thereby posing a serious threat to goat farming around the globe. The characteristic clinical signs of CCPP are severe respiratory distress associated with sero-mucoid nasal discharge, coughing, dyspnea, pyrexia, pleurodynia, and general malaise. In later stages, severe lobar fibrinous pleuropneumonia, profuse fluid accumulation in pleural cavity, severe congestion of lungs and adhesion formation is observed. Mycoplasmal antigen interactions with host immune system and its role in CCPP pathogenesis are not clearly understood. CCPP is not a zoonotic disease. Diagnosis has overcome cumbersome and lengthy conventional tests involving culture, isolation, and identification by advanced serological (LAT, cELISA) or gene-based amplification of DNA (PCR, RFLP, and hybridization) and sequencing. The latex agglutination test (LAT) is rapid, simple, and better test for field and real-time diagnosis applicable to whole blood or serum and is more sensitive than the CFT and easier than the cELISA. Moreover, the studies on antibiotic sensitivity and exploration of novel antibiotics (fluoroquinolones, macrolides) can help in better therapeutic management besides preventing menace of antibiotic resistance. Re-visiting conventional prophylactic measures focussing on developing novel strain-based or recombinant vaccines using specific antigens (capsular or cellular) should be the most important strategy for controlling the disease worldwide.