Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tactile imaging: a method for documenting breast masses

We present a new method of imaging soft tissues that promises to improve the documentation of the size of breast masses. This system makes a series of distributed pressure measurements and averages them into a composite tactile map of the palpable structure. We estimated mass size from tactile maps made in a limited clinical trial. The system proved to be nearly three times as accurate as ultrasound and manual estimates of mass size.
Design of 3D scanner for surface contour mapping by ultrasonic sensor

Surface mapping systems have attracted great attention due to their potential applications in many areas. In this paper, a simple 3D scanner based on ultrasonic sensor was designed for mapping a contour of object surface. The scanner using an SRF02 ultrasonic sensor, a microcontroller and radio frequency (RF) module to collect coordinates of object surface (point cloud), and sent data to computer. The point cloud collection process was performed by moving two ultrasonic sensors in y and x directions. Both sensors measure a distance from an object surface to a reference point of each sensor. The measurement results represent the point cloud of object surface and the data will be sent to computer via RF module. The point cloud then converted to 3D model using MATLAB. It was found that the object contours can be reconstructed very well by the developed 3D scanner system.
Researches about Knowledge of Self-Examination and some Problems about Breast Cancer

A research on the degree of knowledge about the problem of breast self-examination was carried out in a group of 500 women in the Out-patients Department of the Cancer Institute in Milan. The women were given a questionnaire to fill up at home and to return at the moment of the medical examination. The analysis of data showed that, though the level of education of the subjects was fairly good, the knowledge and the practise of the periodical self-examination as a method for an early diagnosis was very low. 70% of the women declared to have some knowledge about the method, but only 9% declared to practise it regularly.
Robust synchronisation of networked Lagrangian systems and its applications to multi-robot teleoperation

This study studies robust synchronisation for networked Lagrangian systems under dynamic uncertainties and communication delays. Using weighted storage functions, the authors propose a robust control scheme to guarantee that networked Lagrangian systems achieve ultimately bounded solutions over strongly connected communication graphs. Since the developed control system can ensure synchronous action in the absence of a common trajectory, the robust control algorithm is applied for bilateral teleoperations with multiple remote robots. The ultimate boundedness of the solutions can enable the teleoperation system to account for the presence of uncertain dynamics when a human operator intermittently intervenes on local robots. Numerical examples of a group of two-link non-linear robotic systems are presented to validate the efficacy of the developed control algorithms.
An AI/OR hybrid expert system for data network design

Summarises the philosophy and results to date in building AI /OR hybrid expert systems to aid human users in designing large-scale (upwards of 250 nodes), low cost, packet-switched data communication networks using distributed, adaptive routing, where the goal design has constraints on node degree, node utilization, arc (channel) utilization, min-hop, node connectivity, end-to-end delay, and average packet delay. a The work described has been implemented and tested in DESI, the US Defense Communications Agency's (DCA's) network design system, which is DCA's principal tool for defense data network (DDN) design. A functional description of the expert system, known as XPRT, is given. Also provided are a short example, analysis of the system, and a discussion of areas for future work. <<ETX>>
The role of dispersal for shaping phylogeographical structure of flightless beetles from the Andes

Background Páramo is a tropical alpine ecosystem present in the northern Andes. Its patchy distribution imposes limits and barriers to specialist inhabitants. We aim to assess the effects of this habitat distribution on divergence across two independently flightless ground beetle lineages, in the genera Dyscolus and Dercylus. Methods One nuclear and one mitochondrial gene from 110 individuals from 10 sites across the two lineages were sequenced and analyzed using a combination of phylogenetics, population genetic analyses, and niche modeling methods. Results The two lineages show different degrees of population subdivision. Low levels of gene flow were found in Dyscolus alpinus, where one dominant haplotype is found in four out of the six populations analyzed for both molecular markers. However, complete population isolation was revealed in species of the genus Dercylus, where high levels of differentiation exist at species and population level for both genes. Maximum entropy models of species in the Dercylus lineage show overlapping distributions. Still, species distributions appear to be restricted to small areas across the Andes. Conclusion Even though both beetle lineages are flightless, the dispersal ability of each beetle lineage appears to influence the genetic diversity across fragmented páramo populations, where Dyscolus alpinus appears to be a better disperser than species in the genus Dercylus.
Integrated semiconductor-optical-amplifier-based switch fabrics for high-capacity interconnects [Invited]

Feature Issue on Nanoscale Integrated Photonics for Optical Networks Fast-reconfigurable integrated switch fabrics utilizing semiconductor optical amplifiers are reviewed in the context of their scaling properties for power-efficient and low-latency switched optical interconnects. The low-power-penalty operation of ultra-compact integrated switches with wavelength multiplexed payloads is assessed. Extrapolations are made through simulation to explore performance in high-connectivity integrated fabrics operating at aggregate capacities of up to 100 Gbit/s per port. Modest intrinsic switch power consumption of the order of milliwatts per gigabits per second per port is predicted with negligible delay at the physical layer. The close agreement with test-bed studies indicates a possible route to high-capacity wavelength-division-multiplexed terabit per second routing with integrated photonic solutions.
FPGA-based Implementation of Memory-Intensive Application using OpenCL

Systems with heterogeneous architectures, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and graphics processing units (GPUs), are expected to boost the throughput in high-performance computing applications. However, the user may struggle to write sophisticated programs that are performed effectively on complicated heterogeneous systems. High-level synthesis (HLS) is a solution that can reduce the development time. This study focuses on the implementation of OpenCL programming as a type of HLS design on FPGA boards. The Himeno benchmark, which is a suitable benchmark for the measurement of memory-intensive applications, is chosen as a verification program. We found that the OpenCL-based implementation achieves reasonable performance on FPGAs by demonstrating the implementation of temporal blocking combined with shift register implementation simultaneously. For Stratix V DE5-Net FPGA, our current implementation achieves 10.62 GFLOPS, or 75% of the theoretical performance. Meanwhile, for Arria 10 A10PL4 FPGA, the peak performance reaches 13.95 GFLOPS, or 76% of the theoretical performance.
1,000 Tables Under the From

The goal of operational Business Intelligence (BI) is to help organizations improve the efficiency of their business by giving every “operational worker” insights needed to make better operational decisions, and aligning day-to-day operations with strategic goals. Operational BI reporting contributes to this goal by embedding analytics and reporting information into workflow applications so that the business user has all required information (contextual and business data) in order to make good decisions. EII systems facilitate the construction of operational BI reports by enabling the creation and querying of customized virtual database schemas over a set of distributed and heterogeneous data sources with a low TCO. Queries over these virtual databases feed the operational BI reports. We describe the characteristics of operational BI reporting applications and show that they increase the complexity of the source to target mapping defined between source data and virtual databases. We show that this complexity yields the execution of “mega queries”, i.e., queries with possible a 1,000 tables in their FROM clause. We present some key optimization methods that have been successfully implemented in SAP Business Objects Data Federator system to deal with mega queries.
Active learning for visual acuity testing

We present Quantitative Visual Acuity (qVA), a novel active learning algorithm to assess visual acuity. It uses Monte Carlo simulations and an information maximization strategy during stimulus selection, and Bayesian inference to iteratively update the best estimate of the true underlying function. Compared to the state of the art, qVA uses a richer model for observer behaviour, and we use simulations to show its excellent test-retest repeatability and ability to detect change. In simulations of clinical studies with 50 "control" subjects demonstrating no visual change, and 50 "treatment" subjects demonstrating a 0.10 logMAR change (corresponding to one line of the gold-standard ETDRS letter chart), the qVA detected visual change with an AUC of 93%, relative to 78% performance by the ETDRS standard, given the same number of presented letters.
Considerations for the Use of Mutation as a Regulatory Endpoint in Risk Assessment

Assessment of a chemical's potential to cause permanent changes in the genetic code has been a common practice in the industry and regulatory settings for decades. Furthermore, the genetic toxicity battery of tests has typically been employed during the earliest stages of the research and development programs of new product development. A positive outcome from such battery has a major impact on the chemical's utility, industrial hygiene, product stewardship practices, and product life cycle analysis, among many other decisions that need to be taken by the industry, even before the registration of a chemical is undertaken. Under the prevailing regulatory paradigm, the dichotomous (yes/no) evaluation of the chemical's genotoxic potential leads to a conservative, linear no‐threshold (LNT) risk assessment, unless compelling and undeniable data to the contrary can be provided to satisfy regulators, typically in a number of different global jurisdictions. With the current advent of predictive methods, new testing paradigms, mode‐of‐action/adverse outcome pathways, and quantitative risk assessment approaches, various stakeholders are starting to employ these state‐of‐the‐science methodologies to further the conversation on decision making and advance the regulatory paradigm beyond the dominant LNT status quo. This commentary describes these novel methodologies, relevant biological responses, and how these can affect internal and regulatory risk assessment approaches. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 61:84–93, 2020. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Noninvasive staging of pressure ulcers using photoacoustic imaging

Ulcers including pressure ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers damage the skin and underlying tissue in people with compromised blood circulation. They are classified into four stages of severity and span from mild reddening of the skin to tissue damage and muscle/bone infections. Here, we used photoacoustic imaging as a noninvasive method for detecting early tissue damage that cannot be visually observed while also staging the disease using quantitative image analysis. We used a mouse model of pressure ulcers by implanting subdermal magnets in the dorsal flank and periodically applying an external magnet to the healed implant site. The magnet‐induced pressure was applied in cycles, and the extent of ulceration was dictated by the number of cycles. We used both laser‐ and light‐emitting diode (LED)‐based photoacoustic imaging tools with 690 nm excitation to evaluate the change in photoacoustic signal and depth of injury. Using laser‐based photoacoustic imaging system, we found a 4.4‐fold increase in the photoacoustic intensity in stage I vs. baseline (no pressure). We also evaluated the depth of injury using photoacoustics. We measured a photoacoustic ulcer depth of 0.38 ± 0.09 mm, 0.74 ± 0.11 mm, 1.63 ± 0.4 mm, and 2.7 ± 0.31 mm (n = 4) for stages I–IV, respectively. The photoacoustic depth differences between each stage were significant (p < 0.05). We also used an LED‐based photoacoustic imaging system to detect early stage (stage I) pressure ulcers and observed a 2.5‐fold increase in photoacoustic signal. Importantly, we confirmed the capacity of this technique to detect dysregulated skin even before stage I ulcers have erupted. We also observed significant changes in photoacoustic intensity during healing suggesting that this approach can monitor therapy. These findings were confirmed with histology. These results suggest that this photoacoustic‐based approach might have clinical value for monitoring skin diseases including pressure ulcers.
MESSAGE COMPLEXITY AND ATTENTION TO TELEVISION

Three experiments investigated the processing costs of watching television messages. Processing costs were indexed with a secondary task reaction time measure in which subjects were asked to pay attention to commercial messages while responding with button presses to randomly occuring tones or flashes. Response time to the secondary tasks was used as a measure of attention to the primary task (watching the messages). Audio and video complexity of the messages were within-subject variables, and the channels presented to subjects (audio-only, video-only, or both) was a between-subjects variable. Results indicated that: (1) for a tone secondary task, multiple-channel presentations demanded more capacity than single-channel presentations (video or audio channel only); (2) more capacity was required to process simple video and auditory information than complex information; and (3) complexity of information in an absent channel (e.g., visual information in the audio-only condition) produced the same slowed reaction times as those occurring when the channel was present.
Establishing perceptual limits for medical image compression

The acceptance and uptake of the use of lossy compression for medical digital images depends on the reliable determination of limits on the loss of visual information, which would not adversely affect utility of the images for radiologists. A lack of widely accepted thresholds determining acceptable loss for various image modalities and for different compression techniques, motivates a need for further evidence of observer performance in such cases, via comparative studies. This paper contributes results of subjective testing for perceived image quality over three different image modality collections, using test sets of 5 images from each collection compressed by conventional lossy JPEG and by wavelet techniques at 4 different compression quality settings, presented independently to 4 radiologists for viewing. The results indicate a smooth decrease in perceived image quality in all three modalities when the compression quality setting was decreased, which implies there is some intrinsic difficulty in establishing a fixed ideal compression threshold within a modality. Furthermore, substantial differences were observed in the compression quality settings at which perceived absolute image quality was judged to be similar, across the three modalities. The results also indicate that the perceived image quality was usually slightly higher for wavelet compressed images than for JPEG compressed images, at a given compression quality setting.
Oleogel production based on binary and ternary mixtures of sodium caseinate, xanthan gum and guar gum: Optimization of hydrocolloids concentration and drying method.

We report the optimization of oleogel formulation based on Sodium caseinate (CN, 0-4 g/100 g), Xanthan gum (XG, 0-1 g/100 g), Guar gum (GG, 0-1 g/100 g) and drying method (freeze and oven drier) using response surface methodology (RSM) to achieve the desired oil binding capacity, textural and rheological attributes. All the selected responses were successfully fitted by a quadratic model with determination coefficient values higher than 0.95 with the exception of firmness values which was fitted by linear model. There were considerable increases in all the responses for the samples containing ternary mixtures of protein-gum (CN:XG:GG) as well as binary mixtures (CN:GG and CN:XG) compared to samples containing protein or gums alone due to the synergistic effect of CN and gums on formation of highly ordered and strong gel network. Regression modelling demonstrated that freeze drying method led to significantly greater structure recovery values than those of oven drying method. The best formulation was the freeze dried oleogel containing 4 g/100 g CN, 0.43 g/100 g XG and 0.98 g/100 g GG. Results showed that fabrication of oleogels with at least 94.5 g/100 g sunflower oil and characteristics similar to industrial shortening is feasible. Oleogels can be used as the main alternative to structure liquid oils without changing in fatty acid profile and simulate the structural properties found in saturated fats. In this research, oleogels with maximum oil binding capacity and optimum textural and rheological attributes close to those of industrial shortening were produced. These results will be interest to the manufacturer who are studying on fat based alternatives in baked goods and confectionary industry. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
A Novel Change Detection Method Using Independent Component Analysis and Oriented-Object Method

hrough analyzing problems brought on change detection methods of high-resolution remote sensing images, a novel change detection algorithm is proposed. First, feature images of image’s objects extracted using oriented-object method serve as data of input vector to estimate sub-space for Independent Component Analysis(ICA), which can improve effect of noise suppression, simultaneously, a new algorithm using self-adapted weight is proposed in order to extract image’s object, which optimizes processing method on oriented-object deeply；new partitioning scheme using undecimated discrete wavelet transform(UDWT) overcomes effectively prominent problem which shrinking of the size of input vector becomes leads to unprecisely estimation of sub-space for ICA. Compared with typical algorithm, such as ICA and UDWT, simulation results show that new algorithm improves robust and veracity of change detection for high-resolution images greatly.
An improved voltage doubler in a standard CMOS technology

A charge pump cell is used to make a voltage doubler using improved serial switches. The PMOS transistor used for the serial switch is analyzed and a model ready for simulation is described. The importance of capacitors is shown with plots of efficiency versus load and stray capacitors. Several optimizations and problems arising at low voltage or high frequency are presented. The substrate current is totally suppressed by the technique of bulk commutation. The real efficiency, when all optimizations are implemented, approaches 80%.
Knowledge representation and general Petri net models for power grid fault diagnosis

This study deals with the idea that comprehensive knowledge representation should be established for fault diagnosis. Sufficient grid fault information including the network topology and protection knowledge are used with a diagnostic algorithm. In this way, the fault diagnosis programme not only facilitates accurate judgment of fault sections for which many kinds of information are available but also optimises knowledge to simplify the fault diagnosis method. Petri nets are used for logical reasoning on the basis of knowledge representation, which can be used to judge fault elements accurately even when the protective relays and circuit breakers malfunction. It was proved through experimentation here that this method meets the requirements of real-world diagnosis. The programme can be used as an interface to the self-healing mechanism of a smart grid. This study also posits that the smart grids should be constructed on the basis of knowledge representation for every subsystem.
The Development of an Implicit Situation Awareness Toolkit

Much of the knowledge that an experienced system operator uses is procedural, rather than declarative, and as a result this knowledge may not be available to conscious inspection. It is proposed that to access this tacit or ‘implicit’ knowledge, Human Factors practitioners need to employ implicit knowledge probes. This paper provides a rationale for testing Situation Awareness (SA) implicitly and an overview of the Implicit SA Toolkit being developed at QinetiQ Farnborough, UK. This CD ROM-based toolkit provides Human Factors practitioners with step-by-step guidance on how to measure Implicit SA - the aim being to supplement and enhance (rather than replace) existing explicit SA measurement techniques. The toolkit permits a user to design a bespoke test for measuring implicit SA from scratch. It guides the user through the design and construction stages of an implicit test in a self-explanatory manner and provides details on methodologies, number of participants required, experimental design, and so on. It also provides examples of previous applications for each test and imparts substantial background information pertaining to implicit knowledge, memory, and learning.
Teacher Knowledge and a New Domain of Expertise: Pedagogical Technology Knowledge

Although the content and nature of teachers' practical and theoretical knowledge has continued to evolve since the mid to late 1970s, current conceptualizations of teacher knowledge do not adequately reflect the knowledge and skills teachers need to successfully navigate a technologically rich educational environment. This article summarizes traditional and contemporary organizational schemes for teacher knowledge and argues that lacking from our understanding of teacher knowledge is a new domain of expertise: pedagogical technology knowledge. The theoretical development of this new knowledge base includes consideration of instructional and classroom management issues, the interplay between content and technology, and pedagogically appropriate conceptions and uses of technology. The theoretical development of this knowledge base has the potential to inform practice, frame instruction, and stimulate the thinking of both teachers and researchers.
Pyomyositis; A Diagnosis Not To Miss

Pyomyositis is a primary bacterial infection of the skeletal muscles. It is known as tropical myositis as most cases have been reported in patients living in the tropics. However, the disease is increasingly being seen in non-tropical areas, especially in the United States, with little data reported in Lebanon. The disease has a predilection for large muscles especially the quadriceps and gluteal muscles. Pyomyositis is usually diagnosed late, leading to increased morbidity and mortality rates. Time of recognition of the disease directs the course of the treatment. Early diagnosis of pyomyositis, during the pre-suppurative phase, can be treated only with IV antibiotics without the need for surgical incision and drainage. We represent here the case of a 14 year-old male patient who presented with atypical symptoms of fever, dysuria, and abdomino-pelvic pain. Patient was early diagnosed with pomposities of the right obturator muscle with extension to form osteomyelitis of the symphysis pubis. Patient was solely treated for six weeks of Intravenous antibiotics (IV), with full recovery, without the need for surgical drainage.