Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perceptual compensation for effects of echo and of reverberation on speech identification

In an ideal "reverberant" room, the energy of the impulse responses decays smoothly, at a constant rate of dB/s, so that gradually-decaying tails are added at the ends of sounds. Conversely, a single echo gives a flat energy-decay up to the echo's arrival time, which then drops abruptly, so that sounds with only echoes lack the decaying-tail feature of reverberation. The perceptual effects of these types of reflection pattern were measured with test-words from a continuum of steps between "sir" and "stir", which were each embedded in a carrier phrase. When the proportion of reflected sound in test-words is increased, to a level above the amount in the carrier, the test words sound more like "sir". However, when the proportion of reflected sound in the carrier is also increased, to match the amount in the test word, there can be a perceptual compensation where test words sound more like "stir" again. A reference condition used real-room reverberation from recordings at different source to receiver distances. In a synthetic-reverberation condition, the reflection pattern was from a "colorless" impulse response, comprising exponentially-decaying reflections that were spaced at intervals. In a synthetic-echo condition, the reflection pattern was obtained from the synthetic reverberation by removing the intervals between reflections before delaying the resulting cluster relative to the direct sound. Compensation occurred in the reference condition and in different types of synthetic reverberation, but not in synthetic-echo conditions. This result indicates that the presence of tails from reverberation informs the compensation mechanism.
Dielectric Properties Extraction using Complementary Metamaterial Sensor with Enhanced Performance

In this paper, a modified Complementary Split ring resonator is presented with enhanced accuracy. This is a single resonator based sensor with deep notch in S21. The sensor is designed to have a resonance frequency of 4.96GHz. This sensor comprising of a unit cell CSRR can be represented as a narrow band reject filter. This compact sensor is designed on the commercially available RO4003C material. The dependence of resonance frequency based on structural parameters is simulated in CST Microwave studio. After parametric analysis this sensor is optimized to give a deep notch in C-Band. S-parameters simulation shows that this resonator can be utilized as high accuracy sensor for dielectric constant and loss tangent measurements.
Wideband Miniaturized Planar Patch TX/RX Antenna Arrays For Microwave FMCW Doppler Radars

Wideband miniaturized patch linear transmit and planar receive (TX/RX) antenna arrays are presented for microwave FMCW radar applications. RT/duroid 5880LZ laminate is used as the substrate to miniaturize the antenna elements and to provide the required FMCW short range radar system bandwidth. The resonance frequency and bandwidth are set to be 5.8 GHz and 400 MHz. The TX antenna is a 1x4 linear array while the RX antenna is a 2x4 planar array to improve the gain and SNR performance of the radar receiver. TX/RX arrays show pure radiation patterns with proper alignment and the gain of ~12.9/15.2 dB and 15.5/17.5 dB of front-to-back ratio, respectively while achieving a ~70 dB of TX-to-RX isolation.
Compact Bandwidth-Extended CRLH-TL based Monopole Antenna

A compact bandwidth extended Composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH TL) based monopole antenna is presented in this paper. The antenna's higher order resonant mode is merged with the zeroth-order resonant (ZOR) mode and other multiple resonant modes (created by the shunt inductor’s connecting arm). The antenna is designed on a lossy FR4 substrate with a compact foot print of 33 mm × 40 mm. The proposed antenna has a wide impedance bandwidth of 57.1 % (2.3 GHz to 4.14 GHz) and covers major applications like WIFI, Bluetooth, SHF RFID, WIFI (802.11b, g, & n), WIMAX (2.5 GHz –2.69 GHz, 3.4 GHz –3.69 GHz), CBRS.
Validation of Physics-Based Circuit Model For Multiport Microstrip Antennas Using DCIM

The previously proposed circuit model for general planar antennas of arbitrary geometry is extended to antennas over microstrip substrates. Using discrete complex image method (DCIM) together with matrix pencil technique, the microstrip dyadic green’s function is modeled analytically and used for characteristic mode analysis (CMA) and field calculation of arbitrary microstrip antennas. The characteristic modal responses are then used as the basis to expand antenna input responses at arbitrary feed positions. A 2-port antenna system is numerically investigated to validate the extended circuit model, and illustrate its utility for antenna feed placement and input parameter visualization.
Ray Tracing Prediction of Path Loss for 5G Wireless Communications within Hospital Patient Room

Millimeter (mm)-waves band has become a promising option for fifth-generation (5G) near-infinite data rate and ultra-low latency communications. Despite all recent achievements, engineers are still facing technical challenges for the assessment of indoor propagation mechanisms at extremely short wavelengths. In this paper, a mathematical-based deterministic Ray-Tracing Model (RTM) has been derived for the prediction of Path Loss (PL) within a hospital patient room while ensuring users freedom of mobility. Directional, and omnidirectional radiation patterns have been considered at both transmitting and receiving ends of the channel, respectively. For the RTM validation, broadband propagation measurements have been conducted under Line-Of-Sight (LOS) condition. The predicted and measured channel responses are found to be in a good match for all RX positions throughout the room. Furthermore, both predicted and measured path loss exponents (n) are found to be about 1.55. The predicted n agrees with the values reported in the literature.
A V-band Phased-Array Antenna for Millimeter-Wave-Based 3D Beam Steering Applications

This paper presents a compact phased-array antenna for efficient and high-gain millimeter-wave-based 3D beam steering applications. The proposed antenna array consists of 2 × 2 unit cells and each unit cell is a sub-array comprising of 2 × 2 patch elements connected to microstrip lines that are co-fed by a single coaxial cable. Two 45° phase shifting lines are incorporated in each sub-array to facilitate the wide beamsteering range. The dimensions of the proposed phased array antenna are 24 × 24 × 0.324 mm3. Simulation results show that the proposed phased-array antenna has a resonating frequency at 58.4 GHz with an operational bandwidth from 50.1 GHz to 77.5 GHz along with a high gain of 26.8 dBi. The array exhibits a maximum beam steering range of 105° in the elevation plane and 195° in the azimuth plane with a gain variation less than 0.9 dBi.
Bayesian Optimization for Expensive Smooth-Varying Functions

Bayesian optimization (BO) is a powerful class of data-driven techniques for the maximization of expensive-to-evaluate objective functions. These techniques construct a Gaussian process (GP) regression for representing the objective function according to the latest available function evaluations and sequentially select samples and evaluate the function by maximizing an acquisition function. The primary assumption in most BO policies is that the objective function has a uniform level of smoothness over the input space, modeled by a kernel function. However, the uniform smoothness assumption is likely to be violated in a wide range of practical problems, primary domains in which the objective function is evaluated differently at various regions of input space (e.g., through different experiments, software, or approximators). This article develops a BO framework capable of optimizing expensive smooth-varying functions. Unlike the existing techniques that rely on a single GP model, the proposed framework constructs a set of local and global GP models to represent the objective function. The predictive mean and variance at any given sample in the input space are computed according to the posterior probabilities of the local and global GP models. Local and global models are adaptively controlled through a single parameter, which can be optimized along with other GP models’ parameters during the optimization process. Using the predicted local and global values, the expected improvement acquisition function is employed as one of the possible acquisition functions for the selection process. The performance of the proposed framework is assessed extensively through two optimization benchmark problems.
A Novel Angularly Stable Wide Passband Frequency Selective Surface

A novel wide passband frequency selective surface (FSS) design operating at 15 GHz with a -3dB bandwidth of 5.6 GHz is proposed in this study. As the proposed FSS design is symmetric structure, it shows good angle stability characteristic under different EM incident angles. The equivalent circuit is provided to explain the working principle of the design. The proposed FSS design is a good candidate for radome.
Path Loss Characterization for a Pulse-based Wireless Power Transfer System Using Ultrawideband (UWB) Phased Array Antenna

This paper presents a path loss characterization of a wireless power transfer (WPT) network for deployment in unmanned aerial system (UAS) applications. The intended WPT system consists of two novel 4 × 4 phased array antennas of the same design integrated with a combiner/splitter network placed 1m distance apart. The path loss of the proposed system is characterized based on both simulation and measurement results which are presented in the paper. The antennas operate at ultrawideband (UWB) frequency ranges of 5.65−6.6GHz and 7.2−7.8GHz. The overall system achieves 22.7dB path loss with a maximum of 7.33% power transfer efficiency for 1m distance.
Supernova Explosions inside Carbon-Oxygen Circumstellar Shells

Motivated by a recent discovery of Supernova 2010gx and numerical results of Fryer et al.(2010), we simulate light curves for several type I supernova models, enshrouded by dense circumstellar shells, or "super-wind", rich in carbon and oxygen and having no hydrogen. We demonstrate that the most luminous events like SN2010gx can be explained by those models at moderate explosion energies (2-3) foe if the total mass of SN ejecta and a shell is (3-5) Msun and the radius of the shell is ~10^{16} cm.
Dielectric Resonator Antenna With Low-cost Paddle-controlled Circuit for Flexible Beam Steering

In this paper, a dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with paddle-controlled circuit is proposed for flexible beam steering. The dielectric resonator antenna is fed by a monopole and a patch for alternative modes. A sliding paddle is used to control the input phase between two modes to achieve the flexible beam steering over the horizontal plane. The steering beam is tilted to the z-axis with an angle of 45 degrees to achieve indoor coverage. Compared with the traditional beam switching antenna, the proposed DRA is low-cost by avoiding the switching circuit with discrete state. The DRA is fabricated and measured with its center frequency of 2.95 GHz, high gain (5dBi) and high efficiency (86.1%). The measured results are in good agreement with the simulation results and will be demonstrated in the conference. The proposed DRA can be applied to the indoor wireless systems with flexible beam Steering requirement.
Numerical Simulations of Quantum Plasmonic Hong-Ou-Mandel Effects

The new Langevin noise (LN) formalism, proposed in [1], [2], is promising for studying quantum electromagnetic phenomena involving in both open boundary and media with ohmic losses. We incorporate computational electromagnetic methods into the new LN formalism so that one can study practical quantum optics problems in the developed numerical framework. Particularly, we present a test numerical simulation result on Hong-Ou-Mandel effects on a plasmonic platform to verify the quantum statistical behaviors of surface plasmon polaritons.
Low-Frequency-Stabilized Electric Field Integral Equation on Topologically Non-Trivial Geometries for Arbitrary Excitations

The low-frequency preconditioned electric field integral equation (EFIE) based on quasi-Helmholtz decompositions is widely used to determine the radiated or scattered field by a given structure over a wide frequency range. However, if the excitation source is not a plane wave but, for instance, a line current, the standard preconditioners cannot recover all current components required to accurately obtain the fields. In this work, we propose an adaptive frequency normalization scheme of the discretized system that overcomes this problem irrespective of the specific excitation and irrespective of the underlying topology of the structure. To this end, the appropriate scaling factors are derived solely based on the norms of the right-hand side (RHS) components. Numerical results demonstrate the importance of our approach to obtain accurate results.
Design of SIW Filter Transition Structure Based on Quarter-Wavelength Impedance Matching

The substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) filter is usually unable to satisfy the two advantages of high unloaded quality factor (Qu) and easy integration at the same time, so it is necessary to carry out a unique transition design for microwave circuits between the SIW region and non-SIW region. It is known that microwave circuits in different regions can be converted by using the open-circuit characteristics of parallel-coupled microstrip lines (PCMLs) filters. However, due to the impedance inconsistency of the trapezoidal transition structure from SIW to microstrip lines, the resonance near the passband of the overall filter is generated after the cascade. Based on the traditional quarter-wavelength impedance matching theory, this paper proposes a novel transition structure to reduce the reflection caused by impedance inconsistency. The simulation results show that when the center frequency of both the SIW filter and PCMLs filter is 10GHz, the proposed transition structure has an obvious inhibition effect on the resonance near the passband.
Design of Truncated Microstrip Square Patch Antenna for Terahertz Communication

This paper presents the effect of truncation on each corner of a microstrip square patch that can be utilized for Terahertz (THz) communication. The truncated microstrip patch antenna has a bandwidth of 410 GHz (-10 dB impedance bandwidth from 3.48 THz to 3.90 THz). Moreover, the proposed antenna reveals a minimum reflection coefficient of about -29 dB, maximum gain of 5.01 dBi, directivity 6.06 dBi and a total radiation efficiency of 80.2% at 3.65 THz frequency. The proposed antenna is suitable for future Terahertz communication and imaging.applications.
Conformal Irregular-Grid Metasurfaces Comprising a Dense Array of Free-Standing Dipoles

For large or infinite metasurfaces, a design technique for a dense array of subwavelength resonators on an irregular grid is presented. For a given incident wave, the desired induced dipole moment distribution determines the local electric field that excites individual meta-atoms. The interaction field that accounts for mutual coupling is evaluated via a combination of discrete coupling from nearby resonators and continuous sheet current coupling from far-separated resonators. Meta-atoms placed on an irregular grid can be treated, greatly enhancing the flexibility in surface profile in practical conformal metasurfaces.
Recombinant VEGF-C restores mesenteric lymphatic drainage and improves gut immune surveillance in experimental cirrhosis

Gut lymphatic vessels (LVs) are crucial for maintaining immunity and abdominal fluid homeostasis. In experimental liver cirrhosis with ascites, gut LVs are dilated and dysfunctional with impaired gut immune response. Therapy with pro-lymphangiogenic factor, vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C), promotes functional LVs growth and attenuates inflammation. However, therapeutic role of VEGF-C in cirrhosis has not been explored. Here we developed a nanoformulation comprising VEGF-C-loaded reverse-micelles (E-VEGF-C) and delivered orally in rat models of liver cirrhosis to specifically target mesenteric LVs (mLVs). E-VEGF-C treated cirrhotic rats displayed increased density of mLVs, improved functional drainage, and reduced abdominal fluid/ascites and portal pressures without any adverse events. E-VEGF-C also enhanced the proliferation of LVs in mesenteric lymph nodes triggering active immune responses, which helped to contain spreading of bacteria to other organs preventing systemic infection. Collectively, E-VEGF-C in cirrhotic rats ameliorates drainage of mLVs, ascites formation, and immunity; thus, represents potential treatment to manage ascites and immune dysfunction in cirrhosis . vitro 90% uptake by LyECs vitro release release hrs. alternate days for 2 weeks during the 13 th -14 th week. Ascites was graded as mild, moderate, or severe based on fluid volume. Less than 10 ml was mild, 10-30 ml was moderate, and >30 ml was severe. These rats were sacrificed 48 hrs. after the last dose of saline, vehicle, or E-VEGF-C, after performing the hemodynamic studies. The two groups were prepared for the PPVL study. PPVL vehicle (PPVL with nanocarriers alone) and PPVL+E-VEGF-C. Non-cirrhotic animal models of portal hypertension were developed using partial portal vein ligation (PPVL), as previously described 48 . Briefly, under isoflurane anesthesia, using a single ligature of 3-0 silk tied around the portal vein, a calibrated constriction was performed with a 19-gauge blunt-tipped needle. The needle was then removed, leaving a calibrated constriction of the portal vein. For the PPVL animals, the two groups were randomized. In the PPVL+vehicle group, the lipid nanocarrier formulation was administered orally on alternate days for 2 week after the PPVL surgery. In the PPVL+E-VEGF-C group, E-VEGF-C was orally administered at a dose of 600 μ g/kg of the body weight of the animal on alternate days for 2 weeks one day after the PPVL surgery week. In a few rats, the plasma volume was measured using Evans Blue dye. cell lakh test. compared using one-way ANOVA followed by a post hoc Tukey test. Bar diagrams with various data points, dot plots, and box whisker plots were plotted using GraphPad Prism (version 8.0.1.; GraphPad Software, USA), and statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. E-VEGF-C
Spectra of Quantized Walks and a $\sqrt{\delta\epsilon}$ rule

We introduce quantized bipartite walks, compute their spectra, generalize the algorithms of Grover \cite{g} and Ambainis \cite{amb03} and interpret them as quantum walks with memory. We compare the performance of walk based classical and quantum algorithms and show that the latter run much quicker in general. Let $P$ be a symmetric Markov chain with transition probabilities $P[i,j]$, $(i ,j\in [n])$. Some elements of the state space are marked. We are promised that the set of marked elements has size either zero or at least $\epsilon n$. The goal is to find out with great certainty which of the above two cases holds. Our model is a black box that can answer certain yes/no questions and can generate random elements picked from certain distributions. More specifically, by request the black box can give us a uniformly distributed random element for the cost of $\wp_{0}$. Also, when ``inserting'' an element $i$ into the black box we can obtain a random element $j$, where $j$ is distributed according to $P[i,j]$. The cost of the latter operation is $\wp_{1}$. Finally, we can use the black box to test if an element $i$ is marked, and this costs us $\wp_{2}$. If $\delta$ is the eigenvalue gap of $P$, there is a simple classical algorithm with cost $O(\wp_{0} + (\wp_{1}+\wp_{2})/\delta\epsilon)$ that solves the above promise problem. (The algorithm is efficient if $\wp_{0}$ is much larger than $\wp_{1}+\wp_{2}$.) In contrast,we show that for the ``quantized'' version of the algorithm it costs only $O(\wp_{0} + (\wp_{1}+\wp_{2})/\sqrt{\delta\epsilon})$ to solve the problem. We refer to this as the $\sqrt{\delta\epsilon}$ rule. Among the technical contributions we give a formula for the spectrum of the product of two general reflections.
Radiation effects on MHD flows past an infinite vertical plate with variable temperature and uniform mass diffusion

Thermal radiation effects on unsteady flow of a viscous incompressible and electrically conducting fluid past an impulsively started infinite vertical plate in presence of (i) variable temperature, (ii) uniform mass diffusion and (iii) a uniform magnetic field applied transversely to the flow, are studied. The dimensionless governing equations are solved by using the Laplace transform technique. The velocity, concentration as well as temperature distributions and skin-friction are studied for different values of the parameters involved. Results obtained are presented with the help of graphs and table.
MACs and Collision-Resistance

We discussed at the beginning of the lecture that HW1 is out and is due in one week. Everyone is asked to start early, collaborate and make abundant use of office hours. To recap, in the last lecture, we started looking at Message Authentication Codes (MACs). These are cryptographic primitives which allow one party, say Alice, to communicate with another party, say Bob, a message and a tag. The security guarantee provided by MACs allows Bob to be rest assured that the message is indeed coming from Alice and has not been tampered. In this lecture we will continue our discussion of MACs and see how to build it for messages of unbounded length from block ciphers and collision resistant hash functions. Thereafter, we see how to build these collision resistant hash functions themselves.
The Roles of Probiotics in the Gut Microbiota Composition and Metabolic Outcomes in Asymptomatic Post-Gestational Diabetes Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Probiotics are widely used as an adjuvant therapy in various diseases. Nonetheless, it is uncertain how they affect the gut microbiota composition and metabolic and inflammatory outcomes in women who have recently experienced gestational diabetes mellitus (post-GDM). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial involving 132 asymptomatic post-GDM women was conducted to close this gap (Clinical Trial Registration: NCT05273073). The intervention (probiotics) group received a cocktail of six probiotic strains from Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus for 12 weeks, while the placebo group received an identical sachet devoid of living microorganisms. Anthropometric measurements, biochemical analyses, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing results were evaluated pre- and post-intervention. After the 12-week intervention, the probiotics group’s fasting blood glucose level significantly decreased (mean difference −0.20 mmol/L; p = 0.0021). The HbA1c, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels were significantly different between the two groups (p < 0.05). Sequencing data also demonstrated a large rise in the Bifidobacterium adolescentis following probiotic supplementation. Our findings suggest that multi-strain probiotics are beneficial for improved metabolic and inflammatory outcomes in post-GDM women by modulating gut dysbiosis. This study emphasizes the necessity for a comprehensive strategy for postpartum treatment that includes probiotics to protect post-GDM women from developing glucose intolerance.