Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DOA and Range Estimation Using a Uniform Linear Antenna Array Without A Priori Knowledge of the Source Number

A new efficient root-propagator method based on a uniform linear antenna array is proposed to estimate the directions of arrival (DOAs) and ranges of near-field sources without a priori knowledge of the source number. A non-Hermitian matrix is first designed, which allows the applications of rooting methods. Then, by constructing two propagators, the parameter estimation for near-field sources can be achieved through rooting methods in a decoupled way without eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) and spectrum searches. Finally, the importance of a priori source number to source localization problems is studied, and especially, an improvement is proposed to get rid of this dependence. Numerical examples are carried out to show the effectiveness and validate the theoretical analysis of the proposed root-propagator method. The results show that the proposed method provides more superior performance for near-field source localization than other existing similar methods. Even in the case without a priori knowledge of the source number, the performance of the proposed method is still satisfactory.
Sequential Sensor Fusion-Based Real-Time LSTM Gait Pattern Controller for Biped Robot

This study proposes a real-time sequential sensor fusion based gait pattern controller. During the walking cycle, the sensor data is analyzed and obtained by several inertial measurement units (IMUs) and pressure sensors on the robot. Besides, in order to model the correction values of the walking parameters, this approach applies long short-term memory (LSTM) to build a feedback system for a bipedal humanoid robot. For training the network, four sequential features including two-direction Center of Pressure (CoP) and two-direction acceleration are acquired by using pressure sensors and IMUs on the robot. While these features are mapped to the network inputs, the network output is mapped by the optimal solutions generated using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The proposed LSTM feedback network comprises four layers. The effect of the proposed methodology is first tested in a robot simulation environment and then tested on a real bipedal humanoid robot. The experimental results demonstrate that this methodology can make the humanoid robot perform better than when using a fixed gait. It also provides self-adjustment capability to the robot to enable it to avoid situations like falling.
Computational analysis of high-replicate RNA-seq data in Saccharomyces cerevisiae : searching for new genomic features

In this study, RNA-seq and proteomics, two orthogonal high-throughput technologies, were used to search the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome for new genomic features. RNA-seq data were aligned to the genome with three successively stringent set of parameters for the STAR aligner (Dobin et al., 2013). The varying levels of stringency elucidated some complexities in the RNA-seq data, such as the presence of read alignments that mapped to multiple genomic locations. The RNA-seq alignments indicated the presence of RNA transcripts derived from regions of the genome without annotations (un-annotated regions) in the Saccharomyces Genome Database (SGD). To ensure that all of the high-quality curated annotations within SGD were accounted for appropriately, these datasets were categorised as either Primary or Secondary Annotations. Annotations of genomic regions where the primary sequence produced a molecule (e.g. snoRNA or peptide) were designated as Primary. Annotations of regions where other types of activity were present (e.g. histone binding sites, double-strand break hotspots) were classified as Secondary. Only the Primary Annotations were used as boundaries for determining locations of un-annotated regions. Open reading frames (ORFs) were present in these unannotated regions. Therefore, the regions were translated in six frames to build a xxii xxiii database of all theoretical peptides. Proteomics tandem mass spectra were then searched against this peptide database to find the presence of any expressed ORFs within the un-annotated regions. Two preliminary target ORFs have been found to contain RNA-seq alignments and were detected by the proteomics analysis, evidence that their transcripts may have been present in the original sample. The next step would be to verify these two preliminary target regions in the experimental laboratory to determine if they are in fact expressed as peptides, and if so, what possible functions the peptides may have. Throughout this study, the Un-Annotated Region Pipeline (UAR-Pipeline) software was constructed to facilitate the analysis of un-annotated regions given a genome sequence, a set of genomic annotations, and RNA-seq data. In addition, a Quickload Site within the Integrated Genome Browser (Nicol et al., 2009) was created to store and effectively visualise un-annotated regions against RNA-seq alignments, annotations, and other tracks of information such as conservation. The vast majority of annotations contained within the Quickload Site are also hosted by SGD; therefore, the Site would serve as a new resource for the research community through anticipated public access. Chapter 1 Literature Review 1.
Antimicrobial Activities of Nest Materials Dolichovespula saxonica (Fabricius,1793) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) in Turkey

Organization of bee societies for many years is of interest to many study topic. In this study the antimicrobial activity of diluted with ethanol five fraction nest was assayed in vitro by agar disc diffusion method against 8 bacteria and 2 fungi species. The ethanol extracts of almost all the nest exhibited antibacterial antifungal activity towards one or another bacterium against to all of microorganism used in this study. The maximum antibacterial antifungal activity was shown by diluted 25 µL (2.5 mg), 20 µL (2 mg), followed by and 15 µL (1.5 mg), respectively. The antimicrobial activities of the extracts of bees nest against bacteria were more effective than those against fungi. The obtained results show that nest may be used as possible natural, antimicrobial agents to control various human, animal and plant diseases.
Análise da Influência do Emprego de Imagens Geradas por Redes Adversárias no Desempenho de um Classificador Automático de Glóbulos Brancos

Silvan F. da S. Júnior∗, Jusciaane C. Vieira∗, Victor C. de A. Pimentel∗, Adrião Duarte D. Neto∗, Allan de M. Martins∗, Ivanise Marina M. Rebecchi† ∗Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação PPgEEC, †Departamento de Analises Clı́nicas e Toxicológicas DACT, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brasil Email: sjrmiranda@gmail.com; jusciaanechacon@gmail.com; victor.costandradep@gmail.com; adriao@dca.ufrn. br; allan@dee.ufrn. br; ivaniserebecchi@gmail.com
Age and genetic background determine hybrid male sterility in house mice

Hybrid male sterility (HMS) is a unique type of reproductive isolation commonly observed between house mouse (Mus musculus) subspecies in the wild and in laboratory crosses. We identified hybrids that display three distinct trajectories of fertility despite having identical genotypes at the major HMS gene Prdm9 and the X Chromosome. In each case, we crossed female PWK/PhJ mice representative of the M.m. musculus subspecies to males from classical inbred strains representative of M.m. domesticus: 129S1/SvImJ, A/J, C57BL/6J, and DBA/2J. PWK129S1 males are always sterile, while PWKDBA2 males escape HMS. In addition, we observe age-dependent sterility in PWKB6 and PWKAJ males. These males are fertile between 15 and 35 weeks with moderate penetrance. These results point to multiple segregating HMS modifier alleles, some of which have an age-dependent mode of action. Age-dependent mechanisms could have broad implications for the maintenance of reproductive barriers in nature. Author Summary Two subspecies of house mice show partial reproductive barriers in nature, and may be in the process of speciation. We used mice derived from each subspecies to replicate hybrid male sterility (HMS) in laboratory mice. Two major genetic factors are well established as playing a role in mouse HMS, but the number of additional factors and their mechanisms are unknown. We characterized reproductive trait variation in a set of hybrid male mice that were specifically designed to eliminate the effects of known genetic factors. We discovered that age played an important role in fertility of some hybrids. These hybrid males showed a delayed onset of fertility, then became fertile for only a few weeks. Across all hybrids males in our study, we observed three distinct trajectories of fertility: complete fertility, complete sterility, and age-dependent fertility. These results point to two or more critical HMS variants with large enough effects to completely restore fertility. This study advances our understanding of the genetic architecture and biological mechanisms of reproductive isolation in mice.
Online Monitoring of Flotation Froth Bubble-Size Distributions via Multiscale Deblurring and Multistage Jumping Feature-Fused Full Convolutional Networks

This article proposes an online bubble size distribution (BSD) monitoring scheme by incorporating a multiscale-deblurring full convolutional network (FulConNet) (MsD) and a multistage jumping feature-fused FulConNet (MsJ), having the potential of online identification of the health state of the flotation process operations. MsD can restore the blurry froth images from any complex foggy and motion-blurred scene due to air–water fogs, camera vibrations, and high-speed froth flows. MsJ is proposed to segment accurately various froth images with the fully occupied and closely adhesive fragile bubbles, involving multiple residual groups and multiple jumping feature layers to delineate the bubbles of various sizes adaptively. The Weibull distribution behavior of the left-skewed BSD is demonstrated by the sequential fragmentation theory, whose parameters can be used to identify the flotation state. Extensive comparative experiments on a real copper-mine flotation process demonstrate that the proposed method performs favorably against the state-of-the-art froth-image-segmentation approaches, and the Weibull distribution model can effectively characterize the underlying left-skewed BSD behavior, which is an effective indicator for the online flotation-state identification or health evaluation.
Endorphins – A Novel Holistic Therapeutic Approach to Cancer

Endorphins are endogenous morphine, neuropeptides produced from pituitary gland in response to stress and pain. These are of three types- beta-endorphins, dynorphins, enkephalins, binds to mu, kappa, delta receptors found on immune cells and nervous system. Beta-endorphins is the most abundant endorphin synthesized and stored in the anterior pituitary gland. It has got various activities such as Immune stimulatory activity, anti-inflammatory activity, analgesic activity, stress buster, and anti-aging activity. Immune stimulatory activity by activation of NK cells, macrophages, T-lymphocytes, anti-inflammatory activity by production of cytokines, such as IL-18, 1L-10, analgesic activity by inhibiting substance-p, anti-ageing by suppressing ROS, RNS, free radicals and lengthening telomeres, stress buster activity by decreasing cortisol and nor-adrenaline, dopamine release involved in holistic, preventive, promotive, therapeutic and palliative treatment of cancer without any adverse affects and inexpensive. This article brief’s about the current concept of novel actions of endorphins in holistic treatment of cancer .
A Disquiet Find: Anabolic-androgenic steroids and Vanishing Bile Duct Syndrome

A common practice among young athletes and body-builders is the adoption, use, and self-administration of androgenic anabolic steroid commonly referred to as AASs. Prime classification of these anabolic steroids is either testosterone or synthetic testosterone derivatives. They are primarily used for performance and endurance enhancement. However, the use of steroids is not without adverse effects. Steroid-induced liver diseases may range from chronic hepatitis to vascular or bile ductular injury and death. Presented herein is a case of Vanishing Bile Duct Syndrome due to the anabolic steroid consumption by a young, healthy male.
Urban Growth and Convergence Dynamics after COVID-19

Internet and near-instant communication services have had a strong impact on the way people communicate and exchange information since the end of the 1990s. The COVID-19 pandemic shock is likely to provide a dramatic boost to this phenomenon. In the world that will emerge from lockdown, digital communication and videoconferencing will be integral part of daily working and social life to a much higher extent than before. This will have a disproportionally strong impact on knowledge based activities, and therefore on research. This paper presents a theoretical model of endogenous economic growth with the aim of providing hints on the possible consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic shock on income per capita growth and disparities within a system of integrated urban areas. In the model, abstract technological knowledge flows at no cost across space. In contrast, flows of tacit knowledge arise from the interaction between researchers and hence tends to be hampered by distance. Within this framework, the diffusion of broadband technology, high-speed connections and videoconferencing takes the form of a reduction of the “cost of distance” for flows of tacit knowledge. This reinforces productive specialization that, in turn, yields an increase in the system-wide, common growth rate and an increase in income per capita disparities across areas. On the other hand, social distancing is likely to yield an asymmetric negative impact on the productivity of urban research systems thus leading to a decrease in the growth rate.
Influence of microtexture on ultrasonic reflection in Ti-6Al-4V alloy hot-forged in α+β region

Morphological change in regions with microtexture, i.e., macrozones, in Ti-6Al-4V alloy after hot-forging in α+β phase region was analyzed using SEM/EBSD technique, and then the correlation with ultrasonic reflection was investigated. Starting material had colony-type microstructure consisting of lamellar-α with the same crystallographic orientation. Forging (cogging and upsetting) was conducted in α+β phase region to produce a cylindrical material with smaller cross section, followed by air cooling. Thus, resulting microstructure consisted of granular-α. To estimate local change in elastic modulus within the materials, we analyzed crystallographic orientations of α-phase using SEM/EBSD in terms of an inclination angle of c-axis. The regions having the nearly common crystallographic orientations of α-phase were found. Shapes of such regions with microtexture were elongated along the axial direction, which formed quasi-periodic variation of the inclination angle, i.e., elastic modulus, of α-phase along the radial direction of the forged material. Ultrasonic measurement was conducted at a frequency of 5 MHz along the radial direction and the axial direction. Relationship between the morphology of regions having microtexture and the amplitude of backscattered noises was evaluated. It was considered that the quasi-periodicity of the inclination angle correlated with the amplitude of backscattered noises in ultrasonic measurement.
Prospective Immersive Human-Machine Interface for Future Vehicles: Multiple Zones Turn the Full Windscreen Into a Head-Up Display

The physical bottleneck of optical design and the complexity associated with the human visual system (HVS) limits the true potential of the head-up display (HUD) for use in vehicles. A full windscreen of visual information feedback is required for driving safety, and its implementation to enhance the driving experience is one of the most significant challenges. We present an immersive augmented reality (AR) HUD concept to support future vehicle design following a human-centric design approach. The limited field of view of contemporary optical solutions can be overcome by multiple display elements tiled to utilize images over the entire windscreen and so create an immersive experience. The design takes important human factors into account and improves the operator’s driving experience. Furthermore, the images are “distributed,” meaning that the physical interface generates the images via multiple optical apertures/image sources and displays these images according to HVS requirements. These configurations are tested in a laboratory environment with a replica of a real car interior and a prototype vehicle installed with distributed multiple HUD units. The proposed concept of an immersive human-machine interface (HMI) can be further extended in various forms to other parts of the vehicle interior, including surfaces and free space, which we envisage will take place in future car designs.
Misgendered in Translation?: Genderqueerness in Polish Translations of English-language Television Series

In recent years, the English-speaking world observed growing awareness of the gender non-binary/genderqueer community. Among other things, this involved the issue of inclusive language, e.g. the singular they pronoun has been declared the word of the year by the American Dialect Society in 2015, and by Merriam-Webster in 2019. There is also growing media representation of characters using singular they in popular culture. This, however, poses a challenge to translators, as some languages – like Polish – are much more heavily gendered and lack an obvious equivalent of singular they. This article analyses Polish translations of three English-language television series featuring non-binary characters and discusses good practices one can employ when dealing with similar trans-
Assessment of Human Productivity Drivers for Construction Labor through Importance Rating and Risk Mapping

Labor constitutes a significant portion of the overall cost of a construction project, where labor productivity is often the main driver of the cost. Although studies on labor productivity factors exist, their frequency of occurrence in terms of their ranking remains unexplored. This study differs from other studies in the literature by introducing the frequency component to the productivity factors, a more realistic ranking of the factors by adjusting the importance by frequency (frequency adjusted importance index) and risk mapping of the factors. Moreover, this study is the first to apply risk mapping on labor productivity drivers. The aim of this paper is to identify the project factors affecting the labor productivity in construction projects and to rank these factors considering the perception of the industry on project performance. A literature review of past relevant studies was performed to identify and draft a list of factors affecting labor productivity in construction projects. Thirty-seven labor productivity factors were presented in a questionnaire to investigate the impact and frequency of their occurrence in construction projects. A 9-point scale structured questionnaire was constructed to measure the importance and the frequency of the factors and to evaluate the ranking for different categories. The frequency adjusted importance index (FAII), Spearman’s rank correlation, and risk mapping were used to study and analyze the 105 completed responses. The participants rated the following factors as the five most significant labor productivity-influencing factors: (1) poor labor supervision, (2) delays in payments, (3) poor work environment, (4) lowly skilled labor, and (5) bad weather conditions.
Simultaneous Wireless Content and Power Transfer in F-RAN: Caching, eRRH Classification and Beamforming

Radio frequency (RF) signal based wireless power transfer (WPT) is incorporated into fog radio access network (F-RAN) in order to simultaneously satisfy the content downloading demand of the content users (CUs) and the charging requirement of the energy users (EUs). Numerous enhanced remote-radio-heads (eRRHs) of F-RAN are distributed in a wide area, which are connected to the central base-band-unit (BBU) pool by fronthaul links. In order to reduce the adverse effect of the limited fronthaul capacity on the wireless content transfer (WCT), eRRHs are equipped with the content caching capability. A greedy algorithm based near-optimal caching design is then proposed for reducing the content responsive latency by considering the geographic distribution of CUs. Furthermore, given this caching design, a joint optimisation problem of eRRH classification (some for WCT and some for dedicated WPT) and distributed transmit beamforming is solved by a low-complexity heuristic algorithm. This algorithm aims for maximising the total energy harvested by the EUs, while satisfying the CUs’ minimum WCT rate and the limited fronthaul capacity. Intensive simulation results in the scenarios of both uniform and non-uniform users’ distribution validate our caching, eRRH classification and distributed transmit beamforming design in an F-RAN.
Chronotopic Maps in Human Medial Premotor Cortex

Time is a fundamental dimension of everyday experiences. We can unmistakably sense its passage and adjust our behavior accordingly. Despite its ubiquity, the neuronal mechanisms underlying the capacity to perceive time remains unclear. Here, in two experiments using ultra-high-field 7-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging, we show that in the medial premotor cortex of the human brain, neural units tuned to different durations are orderly mapped in contiguous portions of the cortical surface, so as to form chronomaps. The response of each portion in a chronomap is enhanced by preferred and neighboring durations and suppressed by non-preferred durations represented in distant portions of the map. These findings identify duration-sensitive tuning as a neural mechanism underlying the recognition of time and demonstrate for the first time that the representation of an abstract feature such as time can be instantiated by a topographical arrangement of duration-sensitive neural populations.
Subthalamic nucleus optogenetic manipulations: a glimpse at deep brain stimulation mechanisms

Although deep brain stimulation (DBS) is now a widely used therapeutic strategy, its precise mechanism remains largely unclear. Since this approach is progressively extended to treat non-motor disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, the comprehension of its effects on motivated behaviors appears of the upmost importance for a possible application for addiction. In intact rats, we used inhibition and high frequency optogenetic activation of subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons to test whether or not we could reproduce the effects of electric deep brain stimulation on rats motivation for sweet food and cocaine. Rats motivation was assessed using fixed-ratio 5 and progressive ratio schedules of reinforcement for both rewards and illumination was applied during behavioral testing. Efficiency of optogenetic manipulations has been validated using in-vitro electrophysiological recordings. Optogenetic inhibition of STN increased motivation for food and reduced motivation for cocaine. In contrast, optogenetic high frequency stimulation reduced the motivation for food without impacting motivation for cocaine. Optical inhibition mimics the effect of electric deep brain stimulation on food and cocaine motivation, confirming that the effects observed under electric DBS result from a specific inactivation of the STN. In contrast, optogenetic high frequency stimulation induces opposite effects to those of electric one, suggesting a stimulation of the STN that only seems to affect food motivation.