Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THANK YOU ! Special Thanks to the RISS Working Papers

The United States Federal Department of Transportation (DOT) regulates traffic sign sizes as a way to ensure the general public’s safety. Compliance of such regulations requires manual inspection, a tedious and costly process. In this paper, we present a solution to estimate the size of traffic signs using a smartphone-based system. Our process takes advantage of the Pinhole Camera Model’s mathematical relationship between a 3D world point and a corresponding 2D image plane. Our formulated Dual-image Pinhole Model includes a second pinhole camera which provides additional information, allowing us to relate one 3D world point to two corresponding 2D image planes. The Dual-image Pinhole Model relies on the measured distance between the two image planes. To obtain this distance we implemented Visual Odometry(VO) and sensor fusion of IMU and GPS data. No markers, specific lighting conditions, or expensive stereo cameras are needed in the scene. The system presented is extremely cost-effective and generalized, which makes it accessible for a larger scale use, such as the one needed by the DOT. Keywords-Visual Odometry, Sensor Fusion, Structure from Motion, Monocular Vision
Mixed anxiety/depression symptoms in a large cancer cohort: prevalence by cancer type.

BACKGROUND Mixed anxiety/depression is associated with poorer psychosocial and treatment outcomes, worse quality of life, pooreradherence to treatment, slower recovery, greater suicide risk, and highercost-utilization. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to examine the cancer-specific prevalence of these symptoms. METHOD Cross-sectional anxiety and depression symptom data were collected with the Brief Symptom Inventory from adult outpatients presenting to a tertiary cancer center (N=8,265). RESULTS Mixed anxiety/depression symptoms were seen in 12.4% of patients; overall depression symptoms in 18.3%, overall anxiety symptoms in 24.0%, pure anxiety symptoms in 11.7%, and pure depression symptoms in 6.0%; 70% had neither. Higher rates of mixed anxiety/depression symptoms were seen with stomach, pancreatic, head and neck, and lung cancers, but lower rates were seen in those with breast cancers. The mixed anxiety/depression phenotype occurs in two-thirds of depressed cancer patients. DISCUSSION The fact that 70% of patients did not meet thresholds for depression or anxiety symptoms can be interpreted as a reflection of the resistance to developing a significant level of these symptoms. However, because stomach, pancreatic, head and neck, and lung cancers have higher levels of mixed anxiety/depression symptoms, the question can be raised as to whether these are associated with a more biological type of anxiety/depression (e.g., due to cytokine release) and whether this phenotype should be actively targeted because of its frequent occurrence in these cancers.
Monitoring Soil Salinization in Keriya River Basin, Northwestern China Using Passive Reflective and Active Microwave Remote Sensing Data

Soil salinization is one of the most widespread soil degradation processes on Earth, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. The salinized soil in arid to semi-arid Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China accounts for 31% of the area of cultivated land, and thus it is pivotal for the sustainable agricultural development of the area to identify reliable and cost-effective methodologies to monitor the spatial and temporal variations in soil salinity. This objective was accomplished over the study area (Keriya River Basin, northwestern China) by adopting technologies that heavily rely on, and integrate information contained in, a readily available suite of remote sensing datasets. The following procedures were conducted: (1) a selective principle component analysis (S-PCA) fusion image was generated using Phased Array Type L-band SAR (PALSAR) backscattering coefficient (σ°) and Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) multispectral image of Keriya River Basin; and (2) a support vector machines (SVM) classification method was employed to classify land cover types with a focus on mapping salinized soils; (3) a cross-validation method was adopted to identify the optimum classification parameters, and obtain an optimal SVM classification model; (4) Radarsat-2 (C band) and PALSAR polarimetric images were used to analyze polarimetric backscattering behaviors in relation to the variation in soil salinization; (5) a decision tree (DT) scheme for multi-source optical and polarimetric SAR data integration was proposed to improve the estimation and monitoring accuracies of soil salinization; and (6) detailed field observations and ground truthing were used for validation of the adopted methodology, and quantity and allocation disagreement measures were applied to assess classification outcome. Results showed that the fusion of passive reflective and active microwave remote sensing data provided an effective tool in detecting soil salinization. Overall accuracy of the adopted SVM classifier with optimal parameters for fused image of ETM+ and PALSAR data was 91.25% with a Kappa coefficient of 0.89, which was further improved by the DT data integration and classification method yielding an accuracy of 93.01% with a Kappa coefficient of 0.92 and lower disagreement of quantity and allocation.
Knowledge creation and exploitation in collaborative R&D projects: lessons learned on success factors

This paper examines the management of collaborative R&D projects with customers. Prior research on social network theory and the knowledge-based view has identified some of the key conditions of successful collaboration. However, the actual management of project dynamics has received less attention. This paper addresses this gap in existing research through a case study on the management of inter-firm R&D projects in a large European telecommunications operator. It provides a cross-project comparison on the process of knowledge creation and exploitation in five collaborative R&D projects with customers. The objective of this research is to increase current understanding on the success factors of collaborative R&D projects. As a result of this paper, the creation of a genuine ‘win-win’ situation, clear roles and responsibilities, the customer-oriented approach and the exchange of complementary specialist knowledge are found to be key critical success factors in the process of inter-firm knowledge creation. Moreover, this paper indicates that the viability of the business opportunity is the primary success factor in knowledge exploitation. In addition to identifying these success factors, the paper provides a more complete list of lessons learned from collaborative R&D projects with customers. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Adverse Effects of Prolonged Sitting Behavior on the General Health of Office Workers

Background Excessive sitting behavior is a risk factor for many adverse health outcomes. This study aimed to survey the prevalence of sitting behavior and its adverse effects among Iranian office workers. Methods This cross-sectional study included 447 Iranian office workers. A two-part questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. The first part surveyed the demographic characteristics and general health of the respondents, while the second part contained the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) to assess symptoms. Statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software using Mann-Whitney U and Chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results The respondents spent an average of 6.29 hours of an 8-hour working shift in a sitting position. The results showed that 48.8% of the participants did not feel comfortable with their workstations and 73.6% felt exhausted during the workday. Additionally, 6.3% suffered from hypertension, and 11.2% of them reported hyperlipidemia. The results of the NMQ showed that neck (53.5%), lower back (53.2%) and shoulder (51.6%) symptoms were the most prevalent problem among office workers. Based upon a multiple logistic regression, only sex had a significant association with prolonged sitting behavior (odds ratio = 3.084). Our results indicated that long sitting times were associated with exhaustion during the working day, decreased job satisfaction, hypertension, and musculoskeletal disorder symptoms in the shoulders, lower back, thighs, and knees of office workers. Conclusion Sitting behavior had adverse effects on office workers. Active workstations are therefore recommended to improve working conditions.
Intranasal vaccines for protection against resipratory and systemic bacterial infections

More than 4 million deaths per year are due to respiratory diseases. Although licensed vaccines are available, bacteria, such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Bordetella pertussis and Neisseria meningiditis, among others, continue to be the major agents of diseases in young children, the elderly and/or immunocompromized individuals. Following respiratory tract infection, some microorganisms may also invade the epithelial tissue, achieving systemic circulation and/or other organs. Nasal administration of different antigen formulations has shown promising results in the induction of immune responses and the defeat of the pathogens at the site of infection. This review will focus on the main nasal vaccine strategies and technologies being investigated against the most common infections caused by respiratory bacteria.
Characteristics of the binding of 32P-labelled human relaxins to the human fetal membranes.

The two human relaxin genes termed H1 and H2 are expressed in the choriodecidua and placenta and have been proposed to act via specific receptors as local modulators of collagenolysis in the fetal membranes. Such receptors have been inferred, but not demonstrated, from studies of the effect of adding exogenous relaxin to these tissues. Thus conditions were optimized for the binding of 32P-labelled human relaxin H2 to membrane-enriched particulate fractions of human fetal membranes, amnion and chorion, with adhering decidua. The membrane protein concentration was optimal at 250 micrograms, when incubated at 27 degrees C for 60 min, at pH 7.5 with Mn2+ and Mg2+ ion concentrations of 2.0 mM. Incubation of membrane particulate fractions with increasing amounts of labelled relaxin H2 suggested the presence of a single class of binding sites with an affinity constant (Ka) of 2.15 nM. The binding was primarily to the chorion and decidua with very little to the amnion layer. The competition for binding of the 32P-labelled human relaxin H2 with unlabelled relaxin H2 gave an IC50 of 28 pM, while an IC50 of 60 pM and 280 pM was obtained for relaxin H1 and porcine relaxin respectively. In contrast, unlabelled guinea-pig relaxin inhibited this binding by only 10% even at a 1000-fold greater concentration than H2, and human recombinant insulin failed to inhibit even at a million-fold concentration of unlabelled relaxin H2. Relaxins H2 and H1 can readily displace the binding of either 32P-labelled human relaxins H1 or H2 and gave very similar displacement curves. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Theory and Practice of Directors' Remuneration: New Challenges and Opportunities

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KalmanFilteringOverAPacket-delayingNetwork : A ProbabilisticApproach ⋆

In this paper, we consider Kalman filtering over a packet-delaying network. Given the probability distribution of the delay, we can completely characterize the filter performance via a probabilistic approach. We assume the estimator maintains a buffer of length D so that at each time k, the estimator is able to retrieve all available data packets up to time k − D + 1. Both the cases of sensor with and without necessary computation capability for filter updates are considered. When the sensor has no computation capability, for a given D, we give lower and upper bounds on the probability for which the estimation error covariance is within a prescribed bound. When the sensor has computation capability, we show that the previously derived lower and upper bounds are equal to each other. An approach for determining the minimum buffer length for a required performance in probability is given and an evaluation on the number of expected filter updates is provided. Examples are provided to demonstrate the theory developed in the paper.
Energy-Efficiency of RACH-Based small data transmission scheme in LTE networks

This paper analyzes the performance of RACH-based small data transmission scheme for LTE/LTE-A networks. Power consumption at random access, signaling, and data transmission phases are analyzed. The energy efficiency of the scheme under different number of preambles, offered loads, packet size and packet inter-arrival time is investigated. The results show that RACH-based small data transmission scheme consumes less energy when more preambles are used and less contending devices are involved. More importantly, the energy consumption of this scheme can be further decreased by increasing the bearer timer.
Enumeration and identification of airborne viable mould propagules in houses

A number of techniques for the enumeration and identification of viable mould propagules in the indoor air of houses were evaluated in order to document to what extent different results are obtained when different methods are used. A comparison was made between the results obtained with five commercially available air sampling devices (Slit‐to agar sampler, N6‐Andersen sampler, Surface Air System sampler, Reuter Centrifugal Air sampler. Gelatine Filter sampler) and a non‐volumetric sampler (the Open Petri Dish), in combination with four culture media (malt extract agar, dichloran glycerol‐18 agar, oxytetracycline glucose yeast extract agar and dichloran rose bengal chloramphenicol agar). The coefficients of variation were high (generally < 20%) for all combinations. Statistical analysis showed that the Slit sampler and the N6‐Andersen sampler in combination with DG18 and MEA gave the best precision and the highest yield in terms of colony forming units per square cubic meter of air (CFU/m3) and number of species isolated.
Kalman filter and LQ based speed controller for torsional vibration suppression in a 2-mass motor drive system

In this paper, a high-performance speed control for torsional vibration suppression in a 2-mass motor drive system, like a rolling mill which has a long shaft and large loadside mass or a robot arm which has flexible coupling, was studied. The speed control method which has better control response than a typical one in command following, torsional vibration suppression, disturbance rejection, and robustness to parameter variation, was proposed. The performance of command following, torsional vibration suppression, and robustness to parameter variation was satisfied by using a Kalman filter and LQ based speed control with an integrator. Also, disturbance rejection performance was improved through load torque compensation. Through various experiments of a real 22 kW field oriented controlled AC motor drive system having 2-mass mechanical system, the characteristics of the proposed speed controller and typical PI speed controller were compared and analyzed.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SKIN NEOPLASMS IN FOUR SPECIES OF PLEURONECTID FISHES *

Introd,uction Benign epithelial neoplasms, referred to as papillomas, have been 1.eported on the external surfaces of at least 21 species of fish. '. ' Seveml species were of the order Heterosomata (flounders, flatfish). Multiple papillomatous growths, described as extensive proliferations of dermis and dermal connective tissue elements covered by a relatively normal layer of epidermis, were observed on the eyeless side of a plaice, Pleuronectes platesstr. A similarly described growth was noted on the snout of one halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus. ' Tumors of similar gross, but different histological morphology, were reported on three plaice, Limnnda limanda," two sole. Solea solea," and on flathead sole, Hippoglossaides elassodon. These lesions were characterized by cauliflower-like proliferations of the epidermis, supported by th in dermal connective tissue stalks, but with little dermal i n volvement. Skin lesions similar to those just described were noted on two specimens of winter flounder, Pseudopkuronectes americanus, but were referred to as hyperplastic epidermal disease. " This report describes and compares the occurrence and morphology of epidermal papillomas in four species of Pleuronectidae : the sand sole, Psettichthys melanostictus; the rex sole, Glyptocephalus zacliirits; thi. English sole, Parophrys vetulus; and the flathead sole, H . elassodon. Sonw of the data have previously been reported in abstract form,'. ' tumors of the flathead sole have been described in some detail. '
Enhanced GaN HEMT technology for E-band power amplifier MMICs with 1W output power

This paper reports the enhancement of the 100 nm GaN high-electron-mobility transistor and circuit technology by two evolutionary process development steps. Both, the application of a new gate-metallization and an optimized nitride deposition increases the high-frequency performance of the GaN-based technology significantly, up to measured ft = 100 GHz and fmax = 300 GHz values, respectively. The enhancement of the considered process development is also verified on circuit level by the realization of a power amplifier. The circuit, targeting the E-band satellite communication frequencies (71–76 GHz & 81–86 GHz), demonstrates a high gain at a maximum of 27 dB, along with a high saturated output power of more than 1 W within the entire frequency range of interest.
Airway responses to eucapnic hyperpnea, exercise, and methacholine in elite swimmers.

PURPOSE The International Olympic Committee Medical Commission (IOC-MC) requires athletes to provide the result of an objective test to support a diagnosis of asthma or exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) if they want to inhale a beta-2-agonist. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the airway response to a methacholine challenge and to hyperpnea induced by exercise in the field and in the laboratory or that induced voluntarily by eucapnic hyperpnea in a group of female elite swimmers. METHODS Sixteen female nonasthmatic elite swimmers performed a eucapnic voluntary hyperpnea (EVH) test, a field-based exercise test (FBT), a laboratory-based exercise test (LBT), and a methacholine challenge. The criteria suggested by the IOC-MC were used to define a positive response to the challenges (EVH, field test, and laboratory test: minimum 10% decrease in FEV1; methacholine: PD20 < or = 2 micromol). RESULTS Eight swimmers (50%) had at least one positive test to hyperpnea. Five were identified with the EVH test, four with FBT, and four with LBT. None were identified using methacholine. Three swimmers with airway hyperresponsiveness to exercise would have been identified using a higher cutoff for methacholine (PD20 < or = 8 micromol). CONCLUSIONS The EVH test is the test that diagnoses most swimmers with an abnormal response to hyperpnea, but not all cases of EIB are identified with the EVH test. Performing a methacholine test using IOC-MC's cutoff value does not improve the chances of diagnosing EIB. We recommend performing the EVH test when diagnosing and evaluating EIB in elite swimmers and if EVH test negative then proceeding to a strenuous LBT.
Standardizing self-reported surveys in critical care: a good idea.

relate with measures of central cardiovascular function (8, 9). The finding that StO2 varies by location even within the same patient does raise important questions of standardization and generalization of StO2 measurement in the management of shock. Critical aspects of near-infrared spectroscopy measurement include not only the location, but also the measurement probe characteristics and the mathematical algorithm used to calculate the StO2. In the present study, Colin and colleagues used a near-infrared spectroscopy probe with a 25-mm depth. It is not known if other commercially available probes with 15-mm depths will produce the same results. For StO2 measurement to become broadly applied in sepsis management, standardization of equipment and technique must be achieved. A significant potential advantage of tissue StO2 measurement for prognostication and as a therapeutic monitor is that it does not carry the risks, time, and expense of central venous catheter placement. Colin and colleagues have shown that masseter StO2 may rapidly and noninvasively identify sepsis patients with superior vena cava oxygen saturation 70%. These results in combination with previously published results offer the possibility for clinicians to combine both central hemodynamic as well as microcirculatory factors to develop individualized treatment plans. However, before any monitor can be considered truly valuable in the management of shock or sepsis, it must be shown to be consistent over time, characterized in a broad range of patient populations, and responsive to the success or failure of treatment. Interpretation of the test results should be directly related to meaningful, patient-centered outcomes. Finally, because our management of sepsis remains imperfect, the ideal clinical patient monitoring technique should provide additional insight into the pathophysiology of the disease and suggest new avenues for treatment. Masseter muscle StO2 measurement has not yet achieved this status, but it certainly gives us something to chew on. Karl Thomas, MD Kevin Doerschug, MD Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Iowa City, IA
Formalization and Combination of Touch and Point Interaction

Gestural interfaces have been the subject of research in the HCI community for a long time. In contrast to existing examples of multimodal interfaces, which combine freehand gestures with speech, this paper proposes the combination of both touch and point gestures. Touch requires users to actually initiate contact with the interaction surface, whereas point interaction allows them to use hand movements in the proximity of the user interface. Formalization is deemed necessary to subsequently combine the two gestural interaction styles to realize engineering patterns for multi-touch interfaces. A prototype is presented, showing the potential of combined touch and point interaction in map navigation. ACM Classification