Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Research issues in autonomous control of tactical UAVs

This paper summarizes the enabling technologies for an autonomous tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Current technologies are adequate for semi-autonomous UAVs that operate in a relatively structured environment. For tactical UAVs in a rapidly changing uncertain environment the present techniques are inadequate. The essence of autonomous control is rapid in-flight replanning under uncertainty. This is cast as a large optimization or decision problem. Monolithic and decomposition techniques are discussed for the solution of large decision problems. Hierarchical decomposition is the most promising approach, but suffers from an inadequate theoretical basis. Finally, research areas are proposed to address the decomposition problem.
On Reconciling Concurrency, Sequentiality and Determinacy for Reactive Systems—A Sequentially Constructive Circuit Semantics for Esterel

A classic challenge in designing reactive systems is how to reconcile concurrency with determinacy. Synchronous languages, such as Esterel, SyncCharts or SCADE, resolve this by providing a semantics that does not depend on run-time scheduling decisions. Esterel's circuit semantics is grounded in physics: An Esterel program is considered valid (constructive) iff it corresponds to a delay-insensitive circuit. The circuit semantics provides on the one hand a mathematically grounded semantics, based on constructive logic, on the other hand it gives a direct path to a data-flow style software implementation. However, Esterel's constructive semantics entails a rather restricted regime for handling sequential accesses to shared data. Thus many programs are rejected as being non-constructive, even though they have a very natural, determinate interpretation. We here present a sequentially constructive circuit semantics (SCC) that lifts this restriction, by distinguishing sequential and concurrent execution contexts. This permits an imperative style familiar to programmers versed in C, for example, without leaving the sound physical foundation of synchronous programming.
Free-Base and Total Nicotine, Reactive Oxygen Species, and Carbonyl Emissions From IQOS, a Heated Tobacco Product.

Introduction IQOS is an emerging heated tobacco product marketed by Philip Morris International (PMI). Because the tobacco in IQOS is electrically heated and not combusted, PMI claims that it generates significantly lower toxicant levels than combustible cigarettes. To date, a few independent studies have addressed IQOS toxicant emissions, and none have reported reactive oxygen species (ROS), and the form of the nicotine emitted by the device. Methods In this study, IQOS aerosol was generated using a custom-made puffing machine. Two puffing regimens were used: Health Canada Intense and ISO. ROS, carbonyl compounds (CCs), and total nicotine and its partitioning between free-base and protonated forms were quantified in the IQOS aerosol by fluorescence, high-performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography, respectively. The same toxicants were also quantified in combustible cigarette aerosols for comparison. In addition, propylene glycol and vegetable glycerin were also measured in the IQOS tobacco and aerosol. Results IQOS and combustible cigarettes were found to emit similar quantities of total and free-base nicotine. IQOS total ROS (6.26 ± 2.72 nmol H2O2/session) and CC emissions (472 ± 19 µg/session) were significant, but 85% and 77% lower than levels emitted by combustible cigarettes. Conclusions IQOS emits harmful constituents that are linked to cancer, pulmonary disease, and addiction in cigarette smokers. For a given nicotine intake, inhalation exposure to ROS and CCs from IQOS is likely to be significantly less than that for combustible cigarettes. Implications IQOS is PMI's new heated tobacco product. PMI claims that because IQOS heats and does not burn tobacco it generates low toxicant yields. We found that one IQOS stick can emit similar free-base and total nicotine yields as a combustible cigarette. A pack-a-day equivalent user of IQOS may experience significant inhalation exposure of ROS and CCs compared to background air. However, substituting IQOS for combustible cigarettes will likely result in far lower ROS and carbonyl inhalation exposure for a given daily nicotine intake.
High- Throughput Satellite Connectivity for the Constant Contact Vehicle

The modern automobile is an artificial intelligence computer requiring constant contact with data networks to upload vehicle data and maintain the processing platform with software and firmware updates. 5G roll-out must include non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) to augment terrestrial cellular networks and achieve constant contact. We have commercialized a satellite vehicle terminal based on a novel, flat-panel, electronically scanned, meta materials antenna technology (MSAT) that makes high-throughput satellite connectivity to the consumer automobile a practical reality.
Language Use in Computer-Mediated Communication: The Role of Coordination Devices

In text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC), people's language use and task performance can be affected by whether explicit coordination devices (e.g., a turn marker) are available. Analyses of 37 dialogues that emerged in text-based, CMC environments support Clark's (1996, 1997) proposal that a communication setting that disrupts the regulation of turn-taking will both undermine higher level language processes (i.e., the construal of meaning) and increase the frequency of metacommunicative signals required to coordinate the speaker's action with the listener's attention. The results indicate that the availability of a simple, explicit turn marker in a task-oriented, text-based exchange facilitates the construal of meaning and reduces the number of verbal coordination devices required to ground communication. Measures examining alternative interpretations indicate that these effects are not easily explained by differences in volubility or speed-accuracy trade-off across the 2 conditions.
The Utilization of Open Educational Resources in the Collaborative Learning Environment to Enhance the Critical Thinking Skill

Critical thinking as an outcome of learning is an essential issue in education. The application of the concept of Open Educational Resources or OER provides opportunities for students to obtain information more efficiently to support their learning. On the other hand, the collaborative learning is believed to be a robust pedagogical approach to build a good learning experience. This research describes and explores how the application of collaborative learning by using OER can enhance critical thinking skills. The method of this study was the pre-test and post-test one group design in physics lessons at secondary school students. Statistical analysis used paired t-test with an error of 5%. The teacher can measure the critical thinking skill by giving essay test. Scoring considered the process undertaken in problem-solving. The results of this study showed an increase in critical thinking skills significantly. This study also further discusses the implications associated with this research on learning physics.
A functional ex vivo assay to detect PARP1‐EJ repair and radiosensitization by PARP‐inhibitor in prostate cancer

Here, we present a functional assay to detect the repair switch to the alternative PARP1‐dependent end joining (PARP1‐EJ) pathway and the associated susceptibility to PARPi‐mediated radiosensitization in freshly collected tumor samples from prostate cancer (PCa) patients, thereby facilitating the selection of patients who should benefit from combined PARPi plus radiotherapy (RT) treatment. Our optimized ex‐vivo approach sustains tumor slices for up to 15 days under culture conditions that maintain proliferation and oxygenation rates, as measured by EdU incorporation and pimonidazole staining, respectively. We present a robust system to analyze DSB repair using, for the first time in an ex vivo tumor slice setting, two DSB‐markers simultaneously i.e. γH2AX and 53BP1. A computer‐based processing method (i) controls variations in DNA content and slicing on the number of repair foci and (ii) measures the PARPi‐mediated enhancement ratio on DSB foci numbers to ensure inter‐patient‐comparability. We validated this approach using a PC3 xenograft model with its previously described repair switch to PARP1‐EJ. More importantly, we show that approximately 30% of the analyzed tumor tissue samples collected from PCa patients display a switch to PARP1‐EJ, as indicated by the enhanced number of residual γH2AX/53BP1 foci exclusively after PARPi+RT. Furthermore, normal prostatic tissues show no repair switch to PARP1‐EJ, indicating that this repair switch and its associated radiosensitizing effect is tumor‐specific. Collectively, we present here a predictive assay for the switch to PARP1‐EJ that enables individualization of anti‐cancer treatment using a combination of RT and radiosensitizing anticancer agents such as PARPi in PCa.
Energy Harvesting from a Thermoelectric Zinc Antimonide Thin Film under Steady and Unsteady Operating Conditions

In practice, there are some considerations to study stability, reliability, and output power optimization of a thermoelectric thin film operating dynamically. In this study stability and performance of a zinc antimonide thin film thermoelectric (TE) specimen is evaluated under transient with thermal and electrical load conditions. Thermoelectric behavior of the specimen and captured energy in each part of a thermal cycle are investigated. Glass is used as the substrate of the thin film, where the heat flow is parallel to the length of the thermoelectric element. In this work, the thermoelectric specimen is fixed between a heat sink exposed to the ambient temperature and a heater block. The specimen is tested under various electrical load cycles during a wide range of thermal cycles. The thermal cycles are provided for five different aimed temperatures at the hot junction, from 160 to 350 °C. The results show that the specimen generates approximately 30% of its total electrical energy during the cooling stage and 70% during the heating stage. The thin film generates maximum power of 8.78, 15.73, 27.81, 42.13, and 60.74 kW per unit volume of the thermoelectric material (kW/m3), excluding the substrate, corresponding to hot side temperature of 160, 200, 250, 300, and 350 °C, respectively. Furthermore, the results indicate that the thin film has high reliability after about one thousand thermal and electrical cycles, whereas there is no performance degradation.
Distinct characteristics of Tregs of newborns of healthy and allergic mothers

Allergic diseases represent a major issue in clinical and experimental immunology due to their high and increasing incidence worldwide. Allergy status of the mother remains the best predictor of an individual’s increased risk of allergy development. Dysregulation of the balance between different branches of immune response, chiefly excessive polarization towards Th2, is the underlying cause of allergic diseases. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a pivotal role in the timely establishment of physiological immune polarization and are crucial for control of allergy. In our study we used flow cytometry to assess Tregs in cord blood of newborns of healthy (n = 121) and allergic (n = 108) mothers. We observed a higher percentage of Tregs (CD4+CD25+CD127lowFoxP3+) in cord blood of children of allergic mothers. However, the percentage of cells expressing extracellular (PD-1, CTLA-4, GITR) and intracellular (IL-10, TGF-β) markers of function was lower (significantly for PD-1 and IL-10) within Tregs of these children. Furthermore, Helios- induced Tregs in the cord blood of children of allergic mothers were decreased. These results were supported by a decrease in plasma levels of IL-10 and TGF-β in cord blood of newborns of allergic mothers, implying lower tolerogenic capacity on the systemic level. Taken together, these findings reflect deficient function of Tregs in the group with higher risk of allergy development. This may be caused by a lower maturation status of the immune system, specifically Tregs, at birth. Such immaturity may represent an important mechanism involved in the increased risk of allergy in children of allergic mothers.
First evidence of asexual recruitment of Pocillopora acuta in Okinawa Island using genotypic identification

Okinawa Island is located near the center of the Nansei Islands (∼24–31°N), at a relatively high latitude for coral reefs. Nevertheless, more than 80 coral genera (over 400 species) are abundant in the Nansei Islands. Since March, 2017, scleractinian corals have been held in an outdoor tank at the OIST Marine Science Station at Seragaki, Onna with natural sea water flow-through in order to be used in molecular biological and physiological studies. In January, 2018, we found small pocilloporid-like colonies suspected to have originated asexually. We collected 25 small colonies and measured their sizes and weights. Also, we validated the classification and clonality of the colonies using a mitochondrial locus and nine microsatellite loci. Almost all of the small colonies collected in the outdoor tank were ≤1 cm in both width and height. The weight of dried skeletons ranged from 0.0287 to 0.1807 g. Genetic analysis determined that they were, in fact, Pocillopora acuta. Only one mitochondrial haplotype was shared and two microsatellite multilocus genotypes were detected (20 colonies of one and four colonies of the other). The mitochondrial haplotype and one microsatellite multilocus genotype for 20 colonies corresponded to those of one P. acuta colony being kept in the tank. One small colony matched both multilocus genotypes. This may have been a chimeric colony resulting from allogenic fusion. These small colonies were not produced sexually, because the only potential parent in the tank was the aforementioned P. acuta colony. Instead, they were more likely derived from asexual planula release or polyp bail-out. Corals as Pocillopora acuta have the capacity to produce clonal offspring rapidly and to adapt readily to local environments. This is the first report of asexual reproduction by planulae or expelled polyps in P. acuta at Okinawa Island.
“A Two Glass of Wine Shift”: Dominant Discourses and the Social Organization of Nurses’ Substance Use

We undertook an institutional ethnography utilizing the expert knowledge of nurses who have experienced substance-use problems to discover: (a) What are the discourses embedded in the talk among nurses in their everyday work worlds that socially organize their substance-use practices and (b) how do those discourses manage these activities? Data collection included interviews, researcher reflexivity, and texts that were critically analyzed with a focus on institutional features. Analysis revealed dominant moralistic and individuated discourses in nurses’ workplace talk that socially organized their substance-use practices, subordinated and silenced experiences of work stress, and erased employers’ roles in managing working conditions. Conclusions included that nurses used substances in ways that enabled them to remain silent and keep working. Nurses’ education did not prepare them regarding nurses’ substance-use problems or managing emotional labor. Nurses viewed alcohol as an acceptable and encouraged coping strategy for nurses to manage emotional distress.
Multielectrode analysis of the electrocorticogram in temporal lobe epilepsy

An analysis of electrocorticographic data recorded from humans afflicted with acute temporal-lobe epilepsy is presented. Subdural recordings of the ictal phase have a characteristic electrical signature; they display large power and rhythmic patterns. At the onset of this phase the mean power at locations close to the focus shows a rapid increase followed by an exponential decay from its maximal value. Power spectra density estimates of signals at these sites reveal an evolution of the peak frequency and spectral spread. Multichannel spectral analysis discloses a greater coherence prior to and during the ictal discharge at sites close to the focus that at those farther away. The evolution of the mean power, peak-frequency, bandwidth, and coherence relationships allows possible mechanisms of the spread of ictal activity to be inferred and aids in the localization of the focus. <<ETX>>
Long-Term Effects of Early Life Seizures on Endogenous Local Network Activity of the Mouse Neocortex

Understanding the long term impact of early life seizures (ELS) is of vital importance both for researchers and clinicians. Most experimental studies of how seizures affect the developing brain have drawn their conclusions based on changes detected at the cellular or behavioral level, rather than on intermediate levels of analysis, such as the physiology of neuronal networks. Neurons work as part of networks and network dynamics integrate the function of molecules, cells and synapses in the emergent properties of brain circuits that reflect the balance of excitation and inhibition in the brain. Therefore, studying network dynamics could help bridge the cell-to-behavior gap in our understanding of the neurobiological effects of seizures. To this end we investigated the long-term effects of ELS on local network dynamics in mouse neocortex. By using the pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced animal model of generalized seizures, single or multiple seizures were induced at two different developmental stages (P9–15 or P19–23) in order to examine how seizure severity and brain maturational status interact to affect the brain’s vulnerability to ELS. Cortical physiology was assessed by comparing spontaneous network activity (in the form of recurring Up states) in brain slices of adult (>5 mo) mice. In these experiments we examined two distinct cortical regions, the primary motor (M1) and somatosensory (S1) cortex in order to investigate regional differences in vulnerability to ELS. We find that the effects of ELSs vary depending on (i) the severity of the seizures (e.g., single intermittent ELS at P19–23 had no effect on Up state activity, but multiple seizures induced during the same period caused a significant change in the spectral content of spontaneous Up states), (ii) the cortical area examined, and (iii) the developmental stage at which the seizures are administered. These results reveal that even moderate experiences of ELS can have long lasting age- and region-specific effects in local cortical network dynamics.
Private selection from private candidates

Differentially Private algorithms often need to select the best amongst many candidate options. Classical works on this selection problem require that the candidates’ goodness, measured as a real-valued score function, does not change by much when one person’s data changes. In many applications such as hyperparameter optimization, this stability assumption is much too strong. In this work, we consider the selection problem under a much weaker stability assumption on the candidates, namely that the score functions are differentially private. Under this assumption, we present algorithms that are near-optimal along the three relevant dimensions: privacy, utility and computational efficiency. Our result can be seen as a generalization of the exponential mechanism and its existing generalizations. We also develop an online version of our algorithm, that can be seen as a generalization of the sparse vector technique to this weaker stability assumption. We show how our results imply better algorithms for hyperparameter selection in differentially private machine learning, as well as for adaptive data analysis.
Channel Modeling and Parameter Optimization for Hovering UAV-Based Free-Space Optical Links

Recently, the use of multi-rotor (MR) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has emerged as a promising solution for establishing flexible free-space optical communication links. We address, in this paper, the accurate channel modeling to assess the benefits of MR UAV-based deployment for such links. In particular, in the absence of active tracking subsystems, we derive statistical models for ground-to-UAV, UAV-to-UAV, and UAV-to-ground links over both Gamma–Gamma and log-normal atmospheric turbulence models. Unlike previous works on this topic, our proposed model considers the joint effect of atmospheric turbulence along with position and angle-of-arrival fluctuations. The high accuracy of the proposed analytical models is verified by comparing numerically solved and Monte Carlo simulation results in terms of link outage probability. We further discuss the impact of different transmitter/receiver parameters and their optimization in view of maximizing the link availability.
A framework for planning dexterous manipulation

The authors present a general methodology based on R.S. Desai's (1988) concept of contact formations and combine it with a model of contact mechanics to solve the dexterous manipulation planning problem. The model of contact mechanics supports the analysis of contact situations with multiple sliding contacts, allowing it to solve problems not solvable if only rolling contacts are allowed. Based on the proposed methodology, a planner would effectively solve two-point boundary value problems by using contact formation transitions to discretize the configuration space of, for example, a hand/object system. Within each discrete cell, or contact formation a model of contact mechanics is used to generate trajectories joining the cells and building a contact formation tree. If a solution exists, the tree grows until it contains a path from the initial grasp to the goal grasp. Then the individual input trajectories (assigned to the arcs of the tree) are combined to generate the complete manipulation trajectories. <<ETX>>
Cause-specific child mortality performance and contributions to all-cause child mortality, and number of child lives saved during the Millennium Development Goals era: a country-level analysis

ABSTRACT Background: During the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) era, impressive reductions in the under-5 mortality rate (U5MR) have been observed, although the MDG 4 target was not met. So far, cause-specific progress in child mortality has been analyzed and discussed mainly at the global and regional levels. Objectives: We aimed to explore annual changes in cause-specific mortality at the country level, assess which causes contributed the most to child mortality reduction in 2000–2015, and estimate how many child lives were saved. Methods: We used the cause-specific child mortality estimates published by Liu and colleagues. We derived average annual changes in cause-specific child mortality rates and cause-specific contribution to overall child mortality in 2000–2015. We estimated the number of cause-specific child deaths averted during the MDG era, assuming that cause-specific child mortality remained the same as in 2000. We targeted the 75 Countdown countries where 95% of maternal and child deaths occurred during the MDG era. Results: Wide disparities existed across causes within countries, both in neonatal and post-neonatal mortality reduction, except for a few countries such as China, Rwanda, and Cambodia. In 20 of the 45 sub-Saharan African countries, malaria was the main contributor to post-neonatal mortality reduction, and pneumonia was the main contributor in only six countries. A single disease often contributed to a substantial proportion of the child mortality reduction, particularly in west and central African countries. Diarrhea-specific post-neonatal child mortality reduction accounted for 7.1 million averted child deaths (24.5%), while pneumonia accounted for another 6.7 million averted child deaths (23%). Conclusions: This study demonstrates country-specific characteristics with regards to cause-wise child mortality that could not be identified by global or regional analyses. These findings provide the global community with evidence for formulating national policies and strategies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in child mortality reduction.