Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A flexible high resolution tactile imager with video signal output

A high-resolution and sheetlike form imaging tactile sensor with video signal output has been developed. The sensor has a 64*64 array of sensing elements on a flexible PC board with 1-mm spatial resolution. Since the sensor outputs pressure distribution as a video signal, a real-time tactile image can be observed using a TV monitor. As the sensor is made up of a sheet of pressure-sensitive conductive rubber and stripe electrodes, there are undesirable currents passing between sensing elements. Thus these undesirable current passes must be cut within a short scanning period (500 ns for each element). The authors used a ground potential method and proved it useful under such a high-speed scanning condition. The properties of pressure-sensitive conductive rubber, including hysteresis and creep effects, are presented. A spatial filtering effect of an elastic cover for a tactile sensor is analyzed. <<ETX>>
On the Complexity of Mapping Feasibility in Many-Core Architectures

Many-core architectures enable the concurrent execution of multiple application programs. In this context, the well-known problem of feasibly mapping applications, i.e., their tasks and communication, to such architectures has gained importance due to the large number of cores and limited inter-processor communication capacities. This challenge is tackled by so-called Hybrid Application Mapping (HAM) approaches: These combine a design-time analysis to extract sets of mapping constraints that characterize feasible, respectively optimal mappings with the runtime determination of a concrete mapping in dependence of these mapping constraints and the set of currently available resources. A major strength of HAM approaches has been shown as their ability to give real-time and other guarantees for statically characterized application programs even in highly dynamic workload scenarios while avoiding the pessimism of static resource partitionings. However, finding a feasible mapping is an NP-complete problem. This work discusses arising implications for HAM approaches in general and investigates two exact techniques for solving the mapping constraints at runtime in particular: (I) a problem-specific backtracking approach, and (II) an approach that adopts a general-purpose SAT solver. Experimental results show that the overhead of the general-purpose solver and, in particular, processing and solving the required SAT formulation becomes significant, whereas the problem-specific backtracking technique achieves significantly lower execution times.
Sleep Timing During Adolescence: A Latent Transition Analysis Approach

ABSTRACT Objective/Background: This paper utilized a person-centered approach to examine individual differences in sleep timing cross-sectionally and prospectively in adolescents. Participants: Data from Waves 5 and 6 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children were used. At Wave 5, the sample included 3,552 Australian adolescents aged 12–13 years (51% males, 49% females); 84% provided data at two-year follow-up (Wave 6). Methods: Through structured interviews, adolescents provided information on sleep timing (bedtimes, sleep-onset times, and wake times) on weekends and weekdays, and relevant covariates. Latent profile analysis identified sleep profiles at Waves 5 and 6 separately; latent transition analysis examined stability and change in profiles across time. Results: Six sleep timing profiles were identified at age 12–13 years: Early Larks (n = 228; 6.4%); Larks (n = 1257; 35.4%); Intermediate (n = 1311; 36.9%); Owls (n = 351; 9.9%); Variable Owls (n = 308; 8.7%); and, Late Owls (n = 97; 2.7%). Six similar profiles were identified at age 14–15 years. The latent transition analysis indicated that the Early Larks, Larks, and Intermediate profiles were more stable over time compared with the Owls, Variable Owls, and Late Owls profiles. Higher body mass index (BMI) and longer screen time predicted transitions from Larks and Early Larks to the Owls, Variable Owls, and Late Owls profiles. Conclusions: Many adolescents showed healthy sleep timing, which continued with age. However, the Variable Owls, Owls, and Late Owls profiles reflected less healthy and more variable sleep patterns that may require targeted interventions.
A neural network architecture for faster dynamic scheduling in manufacturing systems

Computation of optimum schedules for dynamic scheduling of tasks introduces an overhead delay in the processing time of the programs executed in an automated system. This is particularly so if serial scheduling algorithms are used. It is proposed that tasks be dynamically scheduled with the Lawler scheduling algorithm and that, to minimise the additional delay due to the computation of optimum schedules, a neural network be used for retrieving optimal solutions. A neural network architecture that can recognise binary vector representations of scheduling problems and retrieve optimal schedules in negligible time is described. <<ETX>>
Association of pretreatment thrombocytosis with prognosis in ovarian cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To investigate the association between pre-treatment thrombocytosis and prognosis in patients with ovarian cancer (OC). Methods PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched for articles regarding the prognosis of OC patients with pre-treatment thrombocytosis by the end of March 2018. Pooled estimates for overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) events were calculated as hazard ratios (HRs) either on a fixed or random effect model by Stata 13.0 software. Funnel plot and Egger's test were applied to evaluate publication bias and sensitivity analyses were undertaken to estimate the strength of outcomes. Results Eleven studies that met the inclusion criteria were enrolled, including a total of 4,953 patients. Pooled results showed that pre-treatment thrombocytosis was significantly associated with OS (HR=1.722; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.437–2.064) and PFS (HR=1.452; 95% CI=1.323–1.593) in the cohort. Significant correlation was found in OS and PFS between pre-treatment thrombocytosis and both epithelial OC (all stages and differentiation degrees of OC) and advanced epithelial OC (III or IV) by subgroup analyses, which were performed according to publication year, country, case numbers, OC category, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, and cut-off value. However, subgroup analyses indicated no significant correlation between pre-treatment thrombocytosis and OS for patients with high-grade serous (poorly differentiated or undifferentiated) OC (HR=1.220; 95% CI=0.946–1.573; p=0.125). Egger's test demonstrated no obvious publication bias in the articles enrolled in this study (OS: p=0.226; PFS: p=0.071). Conclusion Pre-treatment thrombocytosis might be taken as an independent prognostic indicator for patients with OC.
Arquitecturas de muestreo compresivo para tareas de detección y clasificación de imágenes espectrales de cultivos

La agricultura de precision hace uso de la tecnologia para mejorar la produccion de los cultivos. Con una imagen espectral SI, se representa informacion en alta resolucion espectral, de los materiales o la vegetacion presente en la superficie de la tierra. El alto volumen de informacion que generan las SI, fomentan el uso del muestreo compresivo CS. La teoria del CS se ha adoptado para hacer un muestreo eficiente de las senales, disminuyendo la cantidad de medidas impuestas por el criterio de Nyquist. CS, se adopto como un protocolo de muestreo de imagenes espectrales, y se han desarrollado una serie de arquitecturas basadas en este principio, entre las que cabe mencionar CASSI, SSCSI, SCCSI y HYA. estas, permiten simultaneamente el muestreo y la compresion de las imagenes. Con las cuales se pueden realizar las tareas de deteccion y clasificacion de objetivos en cultivos. Este trabajo, describe las caracteristicas de estas arquitecturas, como un primer paso para determinar la de mayor calidad en el uso de la agricultura de precision.
Performance Analysis of E-Band Duplex Transceiver Based on Waveguide Diplexer Filters

This paper presents the influence of bandwidth-dependent deterministic impairments of diplexer filters on the performance of an E-band wireless link. The degradation of performance due to group delay variation and amplitude ripple in the analog front-end transmission chain is considered based on the system-level simulation and compared to measurements. The study involves the impairments characterization and their behavior in a transceiver system. The impairment decomposition method is performed in order to validate the measurements of error vector magnitude for QPSK transmission with variable baud-rates up to 4 GBd. We show that for a given RF bandwidth of 5 GHz, within an E-band RF chain configuration for downlink diplexer filters, the EVM performance related to deterministic linear impairments degrades by 3.3% (2.3 dB), while in case of uplink diplexer filters, it degrades by 4.25% (4.5 dB).
Maintain Your Brain: Protocol of a 3-Year Randomized Controlled Trial of a Personalized Multi-Modal Digital Health Intervention to Prevent Cognitive Decline Among Community Dwelling 55 to 77 Year Olds

Background: Maintain Your Brain (MYB) is a randomized controlled trial of an online multi-modal lifestyle intervention targeting modifiable dementia risk factors with its primary aim being to reduce cognitive decline in an older age cohort. Methods: MYB aims to recruit 8,500 non-demented community dwelling 55 to 77 year olds from the Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study in New South Wales, Australia. Participants will be screened for risk factors related to four modules that comprise the MYB intervention: physical activity, nutrition, mental health, and cognitive training. Targeting risk factors will enable interventions to be personalized so that participants receive the most appropriate modules. MYB will run for three years and up to four modules will be delivered sequentially each quarter during year one. Upon completing a module, participants will continue to receive less frequent booster activities for their eligible modules (except for the mental health module) until the end of the trial. Discussion: MYB will be the largest internet-based trial to attempt to prevent cognitive decline and potentially dementia. If successful, MYB will provide a model for not just effective intervention among older adults, but an intervention that is scalable for broad use.
Classification of Paved and Unpaved Road Image Using Convolutional Neural Network for Road Condition Inspection System

Image processing techniques have been actively used for research on road condition inspection and achieving high detection accuracies. Many studies focus on the detection of cracks and potholes of the road. However, in some least developed countries, there are some distances of roads are still unpaved and it escaped the attention of the researchers. Inspired by penetration and success in applying deep learning technic to computer vision and to any other fields and by the existence of the various type of smartphone devices, we proposed a low - cost method for paved and unpaved road images classification using convolutional neural network (CNN). Our model is trained with 13.186 images and validate with 3.186 images which collected using smartphone device in various conditions of roads such as wet, muddy, dry, dusty and shady conditions and with different types of road surface such as ground, rocks and sands. The experiment using 500 new testing images showed that our model can achieve high Precision (98.0%), Recall (98.4%) and F1 -Score (98.2%) simultaneously.
Understanding and Improving the Burden and Unmet Needs of Informal Caregivers of Homebound Patients Enrolled in a Home-Based Primary Care Program

The growing homebound population is heavily reliant on informal caregivers, who are increasingly burdened by their roles. This study describes informal caregivers of the homebound who remain caregivers at a 9-month follow-up and examines the impact of a home-based primary care (HBPC) program on caregiver burden and unmet needs using a prospective design with a pre—post intervention assessment. Informal caregivers of the urban homebound are similar to caregivers of other populations and have a broad range of unmet needs. The intervention described is the regular provision of multidisciplinary HBPC. Hundred fourteen caregivers of newly admitted patients complete a baseline interview. For the 56 caregivers who complete a 9-month follow-up interview, participation in HBPC is associated with a statistically significant decrease in overall caregiver burden. At 9 months, caregivers demonstrate an overall decrease in unmet needs, with a statistically significant decrease across two measured domains. These results suggest that the regular provision of multidisciplinary care in the home can mitigate the deleterious impact of informal caregiving.
A Voice Controlled E-Commerce Web Application

Automatic voice-controlled systems have changed the way humans interact with a computer. Voice or speech recognition systems allow a user to make a hands-free request to the computer, which in turn processes the request and serves the user with appropriate responses. After years of research and developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence, today voice-controlled technologies have become more efficient and are widely applied in many domains to enable and improve human-to-human and human-to-computer interactions. The state-of-the-art e-commerce applications with the help of web technologies offer interactive and user-friendly interfaces. However, there are some instances where people, especially with visual disabilities, are not able to fully experience the serviceability of such applications. A voice-controlled system embedded in a web application can enhance user experience and can provide voice as a means to control the functionality of e-commerce websites. In this paper, we propose a taxonomy of speech recognition systems (SRS) and present a voice-controlled commodity purchase e-commerce application using IBM Watson speech-to-text to demonstrate its usability. The prototype can be extended to other application scenarios such as government service kiosks and enable analytics of the converted text data for scenarios such as medical diagnosis at the clinics.
Learning Robust Representations for Automatic Target Recognition

Radio frequency (RF) sensors are used alongside other sensing modalities to provide rich representations of the world. Given the high variability of complex-valued target responses, RF systems are susceptible to attacks masking true target characteristics from accurate identification. In this work, we evaluate different techniques for building robust classification architectures exploiting learned physical structure in received synthetic aperture radar signals of simulated 3D targets.
Cereus jamacaru D.C. Hydroalcoholic Extract Promotes Anti-Cytotoxic and Antitumor Activity

Cereus jamacaru D.C. (mandacaru) is a cactus used as food and in the traditional medicine. In the present study, hydroalcoholic extract of C. jamacaru was evaluated for its chemical composition, antioxidant activity, cytotoxic and anti-cytotoxic effects in human lymphocytes and sarcoma 180 cells in vitro by MTT assay and antitumoral, mutagenic and cytotoxic effects on mice sarcoma-induced in vivo. Phytochemical characterization showed positive reactions for coumarin, flavanol and tyramine and total flavonoid content of 0.51 µg/mL. C. jamacaru showed antioxidant activity following DPPH (EC50 = 427.74 µg/mL), ABTS (EC50 = 270.57 µg/mL) and Fe2+ chelating ions assays (EC50 = 41.18 µg/mL). C. jamacaru induced significant decrease of sarcoma 180 viability at 24 h and 48 h of treatment, did not induce cytotoxicity in human lymphocytes and inhibits the cytotoxicity of cisplatin in vitro. Following in vivo assays, C. jamacaru promoted tumor reduction (86.07% of tumor inhibition), without inducing mutagenic or cytotoxic damage on mice blood cells. We propose that phenolic and alkaloid compounds in the extract are related to antioxidant activity, increasing its ability in metal chelating activity and promoting anti-cytotoxic activity against cisplatin, as well as these compounds may act on the cell cycle of the tumor cells in vitro and in vivo, leading to anticancer effects and tumor reduction.
A super resolution SAR imaging method based on CSA

Available conventional super resolution SAR imaging methods are based on complex images obtained by SAR imaging algorithms, and form super resolution SAR images via 2-D spectral estimation methods. A super resolution SAR imaging method combined with the chirp scaling algorithm (CSA) is presented in this paper. The new method forms a super resolution image by performing the range and the azimuth processing independently. This method can reduce the effects of phase errors on super resolution processing. The method is suitable for practical application since it does not require heavy computation. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the presented method.
Synergetic Modification of J. Davies’ Model for Simulation of “Sudden” Formation of Protest Activity

The paper assesses suitability of J. Davies’ model for simulation of protest activity. The authors make an attempt to show proximity of J. Davies’ model and synergetic paradigm of the order parameter. The authors’ modification of J. Davies’ model was given to display dissipative formation of short-term protest activity. Special role of current expectations and beliefs of population in formation of a protest was noted. In proposed modification of J. Davies’ model the authors offer to consider ratio of negative expectations and related political reality. The model is verified by materials of Ukrainian political process of the last two decades. In this article, the authors show fundamental consistency between retro-prediction of the model and real course of protest activity processes in Ukraine.
The High Resolution Stereo Camera HRSC for Mars 96

Introduction. The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) is one of the principal orbiter payload instruments for the Russian Mars 96 Mission to be launched in November this year. The pushbroom scanner is equipped with a single 175 mm lens and 9 linear CCD arrays (5 panchromatic and 4 narrow-band color filters) mounted in parallel providing nadir, forward, and backward looking viewing conditions for each line, respectively. In orbit, images will be acquired line by line as the spacecraft moves. The goal is to obtain large-scale high-resolution (1015dpixel) multispectral stereo images at different phase angles. In spring 1995, the flight hard-ware was tested at the prime manufacturer's facility near Lake Constance (Germany) in order to verify the geometric and radiometric performance of the camera as well as the software developed for HRSC ground data processing. It was demonstrated that instrument and processing software met or exceeded their design goals.
Vitamin D Deficiency and Immune Function in African American, HIV-Infected Men

Vitamin D Deficiency and Immune Function in African American, HIV-Infected Men by Rana H. Ismail MSc. , American University of Beirut, 1999 BS, American University of Beirut, 1995 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Health
Multi-view collaborative modeling method for complex system

It is hard to model a complex system by simply combining its partial characteristics. This paper presents a multi-view collaborative modeling method for complex system. Multi users, multi subjects, multi granularities and multi models in complex system modeling are unified to multi views. The principles and schemes for the decomposition of complex systems are introduced. According to the principle of separation of concerns, a complex system can be decomposed to a variety of model views. Collaborative modeling means that the views can be associated and integrated to form complete system model through their semantic. According to the form of representation, the models are generalizes to three kinds, i.e., view models, semantic models and storage models, which provides a unified framework for conversion and mapping between the models. Under the guidance of the method, a tool for the modeling of warship C2 system is developed. Applications show that the tool can support collaborative modeling and design for C2 system outstandingly.
Intersectionality: Multiple Group Fairness in Expectation Constraints

Group fairness is an important concern for machine learning researchers, developers, and regulators. However, the strictness to which models must be constrained to be considered fair is still under debate. The focus of this work is on constraining the expected outcome of subpopulations in kernel regression and, in particular, decision tree regression, with application to random forests, boosted trees and other ensemble models. While individual constraints were previously addressed, this work addresses concerns about incorporating multiple constraints simultaneously. The proposed solution does not affect the order of computational or memory complexity of the decision trees and is easily integrated into models post training.
The Impact of the National Health Service and Community Care Act (NHSCCA) 1990 on the 'typologies of care' of older people with functional dependence living at home in Britain (1980-2001)

This research focused on the prevalence and incidence of the number of older people (65 years and older) reporting Activities of Daily Living (ADL) limitations and falling into various ‘typologies of care’ between 1980 and 2001 in Great Britain. A pooled, cross-section of six samples of older people (n=5513) reporting one or more functional limitations in the General Household Survey (GHS) Elderly Supplements in 1980, 1985, 1991, 1994, 1998 and 2001 were assigned into seven typologies of care based on the combination of reported help for ADL limitations: unmet need, kin independence, substitution, formal care specialisation; compensation; task specificity; and, supplementation/complementarity. British population estimates of these typologies are provided using published figures from ONS (England and Wales) and General Register Office for Scotland (Scotland). The impact of the 1990 National Health Service and Community Care Act (NHSCCA) on functional limitations and typologies of care is analysed and discussed. Findings show that there has been slight increase in the number of older people reporting functional limitations between 1980 and 2001. Receipt of informal care to meet functional limitations needs increased over the period of investigation to compensate for a sizeable decline in receipt of formal services, following implementation of the NHSCCA reforms. This research has been funded by the ESRC Small Grants Scheme programme(RES-000-22-2261).
Bilgi ve İletişim Teknolojileri Kullanımı: Fen Bilgisi Öğretmen Adaylarının Görüşleri

Bu arastirmada fen bilgisi ogretmen adaylarinin bilgi ve iletisim teknolojileri (BIT) kullanimina iliskin gorusleri belirlenmeye calisilmistir. Arastirmanin katilimcilarini 20 fen bilgisi ogretmen adayi olusturmaktadir. Veriler arastirmaci tarafindan olusturulan yari yapilandirilmis gorusme formu ile toplanmistir. Toplanan veriler icerik analizi ile cozumlenmistir. Elde edilen bulgular, fen bilgisi ogretmen adaylarinin buyuk cogunlugunun fen egitiminde teknoloji kullanimi ile ilgili olumlu goruslere sahip olduklarini gostermektedir