Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Research on Blind path Obstacle ranging based on improved ORB Feature Matching

For the problem of poor real-time and accuracy of distance measurement of obstacles on blind corridors with the traditional ORB (Oriented FAST (Features from Accelerated Segment Test) and Rotated BRIEF (Binary Robust Independent Elementary Features)) matching algorithm, a method of narrowing the search domain is proposed to optimize the ORB algorithm. Firstly, the image is fed into the trained SegNet network model to obtain the segmented blind image, which is converted into a binary image to obtain the position information of the blind in the x-direction of the whole image, and then feature point extraction is performed in the blind area. Secondly, the polar line constraint is added to the feature matching part and the RANSAC algorithm is combined to optimize the matching to obtain the obstacle feature point pairs in the blind area. Finally, the parallax is calculated according to the two-dimensional planar structure of binocular stereo vision to find the precise distance of the obstacle. The experimental results show that the improved ORB algorithm has better real-time performance and accuracy.
Fast Design Space Exploration of Nonlinear Systems: Part II

Nonlinear system design is often a multiobjective optimization problem involving the search for a design that satisfies a number of predefined constraints. The design space is typically very large since it includes all possible system architectures with different combinations of components composing each architecture. In this article, we address nonlinear system design space exploration through a two-step approach encapsulated in a framework called fast design space exploration of nonlinear systems (ASSENT). In the first step, we use a genetic algorithm to search for system architectures that allow discrete choices for component values or else only component values for a fixed architecture. This step yields a coarse design since the system may or may not meet the target specifications. In contrast to prior works on design space exploration that rely on forward design, we use an inverse design in step 2 to search over a continuous space and fine-tune the component values with the goal of improving the value of the objective function. We use a neural network (NN) to model the system response. The NN is converted into a mixed-integer linear program for active learning to sample component values efficiently. We illustrate the efficacy of ASSENT on problems ranging from nonlinear system design to the design of electrical circuits. Experimental results show that ASSENT achieves the same or better value of the objective function compared to various other optimization techniques for nonlinear system design by up to 53%. We improve sample efficiency by 6– $12\times $ compared to reinforcement learning-based synthesis of electrical circuits.
Discrimination, Misogyny and Harassment: Examples from OSS : Content Analysis of Women-focused Online Discussion Forums

Open Source Software (OSS) communities are notorious for discrimination and hostility towards women and currently, only 23 percent of OSS developers are women. Despite that, less than five percent of the online communities have “safe spaces” focused on supporting women. In this article, we present the results of our in-depth study of these women-focused spaces. These spaces exist to provide a common forum for discussion, support, empowerment, and engagement of minorities in OSS. Our analysis focuses on the messages related to sexism and discrimination experiences as posted on these discussion forums by women of OSS. The results demonstrate examples of harassment, the support that these spaces provide, and the impact of the discrimination on the presence of women in OSS in general. We conclude with recommendations for OSS community organizers for creating a friendly, equitable environment for women in OSS. ACM Reference format: Vandana Singh and William Brandon. 2022. Discrimination, Misogyny, and Harassment: Examples from OSS: Content Analysis of Women-focused Online Discussion Forums. In Proceedings of ACM Conference [GE@ICSE'22] Third Workshop on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Software Engineering, May 20, 2022, Pittsburg, PA, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3524501.3527602
Forecasting the Real Exchange Rates Behavior: An Investigation of Nonlinear Competing Models

There is a large amount of literature which finds that real exchange rates appear to be characterized by several non-linear specifications. While each of these nonlinear models “fits” some particular real exchange rates series especially well, leading to good in-sample properties, the recent studies have not come to any consensus whether the nonlinear models provide a better specification than the linear model and/or the random walk model according to their out of sample forecasting performance. Our goal is to examine two important nonlinear methods (Band-TAR and ESTAR models) concerning their ability to generate out of sample forecasts, when estimating real exchange rate series for 20 OECD countries. We find strong evidence that the ESTAR model outperforms the random walk model and that neither the linear model nor the Band-TAR model significantly outperforms the random walk model, when forecasting out of sample. On the other hand, a comparison between the nonlinear models and the linear models would not be conclusive due to the low power of tests for predictive ability when bootstrapping critical values.
Therapeutic Benefits of Xbox Kinect Training on Upper Limb Motor Function in Chronic Stroke Patients

Objective: The use Xbox Kinect in stroke rehabilitation is recently increased due to its therapeutic effects. The current study aims to investigate the effect of Xbox based Kinect training for rehabilitation of upper limb function in stroke patients. Methods: A single blinded randomized control experiment was carried out on chronic stroke patients referred from the outpatient rehabilitation department of the Railway General Hospital in Rawalpindi. A total of 56 patients were included in the trial, with 50 completing the intervention (25 in the Xbox Kinect Training Group and 25 in the Exercise Training Group). The outcome measures were measured using the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and the Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT) before and after the 6-week intervention. The study was approved by Riphah International University's ethical committee, and all participants signed a written informed consent form before taking part. Results: Mean age of participants in Xbox training group was $57.48\pm 10.60$ and in exercise training group mean age was 57.68 $\pm 10.43$. MAS had no significant difference across the two group $(\mathrm{p}=0.338)$ however, it was significantly improved in both groups (XKTG $\mathrm{p} < 0.001$, ETG $\mathrm{p}=0.009)$. Significant improvement across group was observed in WMFT $(\mathrm{p} < 0.001)$ both within subject and across subjects favoring Xbox Kinect training group. Conclusion: When used as adjunct virtual reality training through Xbox Kinect is advantageous in accelerating motor recovery of upper extremity and therefore improves activities of daily living. We recommend virtual reality based training to be a part of routinely rehabilitation techniques for better outcomes in chronic stroke patients.
Implementation of Code Tracking Loop using Narrow Correlator for GNSS

The GNSS receiver processes the information transmitted by the satellites to decode the navigation message. The signals contain the spreaded code modulated with a high frequency carrier wave and to get the navigation data, the processing block needs to accurately tracks the phase of the incoming signal. Usually a delay lock loop with early-late spacing of 1-chip is used at code tracking stage but to have more precise tracking a narrow correlator is used which tracks with 0.1 chip accuracy. In this paper first basic working of code tracking loop is discussed, then the significance of narrow correlator is briefed. This paper focuses on the simulation results of both standard normal correlator and the designed narrow correlator. The design and simulation of code tracking loop is carried out in Xilinx ISE platform.
Research and Application of HOG Feature Based Power Grid Key Area Out of Bounds Detection

With the rapid development of electric power industry and the acceleration of the marketization process of electric power system reform, the importance of electric power safety production is more prominent. The traditional electronic fence mostly adopts radio frequency or infrared monitoring, which cannot be accurately identified. False positives will be generated when animals or inanimate objects enter the monitoring area. This paper aims to use interval capture method to extract feature through HOG, PCA and other feature extraction methods in real time, and then use SVM classifier to discriminate for the transgression detection system in key monitoring areas of power grid. In order to achieve the key areas of personnel crossing the precise monitoring.
Recognition of road signs in the intelligent transport geographic information system ITSGIS

This article describes the recognition of road signs using convolutional neural networks, as well as the implementation of the plug-in “Road signs” in the intelligent transport geographic information system ITSGIS. Plugin “Road signs” will facilitate the work of users of the above development. The goal of the work is to elaborate an effective method for recognizing road signs, which has a high degree of invariance to distortions. Experimental studies have shown that with the help of convolutional neural networks, high accuracy of image recognition might be achieved.
Modeling of Five-Band High efficiency Rectifier for RF Energy Acquisition

As a way of wireless energy collection, radiofrequency energy collection technology is attracting wide attention in academic circles. In the previous research on RF energy collection, many achievements have been made in the 2.4-2.5GHz band. In the field of higher-frequency millimeter waves, there has been corresponding research abroad, but the radiofrequency energy absorption of the millimeter-wave band in China needs to be developed. In the era of the Internet of everything, to obtain RF energy efficiently in the traditional frequency band and the latest 5G band, a five-band rectifier composed of two single series diode rectifiers is designed in this paper. The simulation results show that when the input power level is-20dBm~0dBm, the maximum RF-DC conversion efficiency of the rectifier in 1.9GHz, 3.53GHz, and 4.83GHz is 67%, 63%, 54%, 48%, and 38%, respectively. It makes the rectifier make full use of the radio frequency energy in the space and can be widely used in the future.
Na+K+2Cl co-transporter (NKCC2) in thick ascending limb of Henle (TAL); thiazide-sensitive NaCl co-trans- porter (NCC) in distal convoluted tubule; and amiloride- sensitive epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) in connecting tubules

Thyroid disorders are accompanied by major changes in renal sodium handling and blood pressure. Sodium transporters play a crucial role in regulating sodium excretion. We determined the function and expression of type 3 Na/H (NHE3) exchanger, type 2 Na+K+2Cl co-transporter (NKCC2) co-transporter, NaCl co-transporter (NCC) cotransporter, and epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) in hypoand hyperthyroid rats at 6 weeks after each thyroid disorder induction. We measured the renal response to functional blockade of the tubular sodium transporters, using acetazolamide to inhibit the activity of NHE3, furosemide for NKCC2, hydrochlorotiazide for NCC, and amiloride for ENaC. Expression of sodium transporters was analyzed by measuring the protein abundance by Western blot. The responsiveness to NHE3 inhibition and NHE3 protein was lower in hypothyroid rats and higher in hyperthyroid rats vs controls. Hypothyroid rats showed greater diuretic and natriuretic responses to NKCC2 and ENaC blockade and higher protein abundance of NKCC2 vs controls. Hyperthyroid rats showed greater protein expression of NKCC2 and NCC vs controls. Groups did not differ in responsiveness to NCC blockade. The expression and activity of ENaC were lower in hyperthyroid rats. In conclusion, reduced NHE3 activity may participate in the low blood pressure of hypothyroid rats and elevated NHE3 activity in the high blood pressure of hyperthyroid rats. These proximal alterations are counter-balanced by functional upregulation of NKCC2 and ENaC in downstream nephron segments of hypothyroid rats and by downregulation of αENaC activity and expression in hyperthyroid rats. (J. Endocrinol. Invest. 35: 735-741, 2012) ©2012, Editrice Kurtis
A BCF Bionic Robot Fish Driven by A Dielectric Elastomer Actuator

Bionic robot fish have been widely used in various underwater exploration activities due to their advantages of low noise, low resistance, high flexibility and high concealment. A dielectric elastomer (DE) is a soft material that significantly deforms under the action of an electric field. It has the characteristics of large strain, flexibility, high energy density and fast response speed, which lead to its unique advantages in the actuation of bionic fish. In this paper, the actuation characteristics of a dielectric elastomer are used to design and prepare a limit-type antagonistic dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA). A BCF bionic robot fish is proposed based on the DEA, which has a maximum swimming speed of 22.7 mm/s.
Bases de datos no convencionales

Con la evolución de las tecnologı́as de información y comu nicación, han surgido almacenamientos no estructurados de información. No sólo se consultan nuevos tipos de datos tales como texto libre, imágenes, audio y video; sino que además, en algunos casos, ya no se puede estr ucturar más la información en claves y registros. Aún cuando sea posible una estructuración clásica, nuev as aplicaciones tales como la minerı́a de datos requieren acceder a la base de datos por cualquier campo y no sólo por aq uellos marcados como “claves”. Los escenarios anteriores requieren modelos más generale s tales comobases de datos de texto o espacios métricos, entre otros; y contar con herramientas que permitan realiz ar búsquedas eficientes sobre estos tipos de datos. Las técnicas que emergen desde estos campos muestra n n área de investigación propicia para el desarrollo de herramientas que resuelvan eficientemente los problemas involucrados en la administración de bases de datos no convencionales. La búsqueda por similitud es un tema de investigación que a bstrae varias nociones de las ya mencionadas. Este problema se puede expresar como sigue: dado un conjunto de objetos de naturaleza desconocida, una función de distancia definida entre ellos, que mide cuán diferentes son, y dado otro objeto, llamado la consulta, encontrar todos los elementos del conjunto suficientemente similares la consulta. El conjunto de objetos junto con la función de distancia se denomina espacio métrico [3]. En algunas aplicaciones, los espacios métricos resultan s er de un tipo particular llamado “espacio vectorial”, donde los elementos consisten de D coordenadas de valores reales. Existen muchos trabajos que explotan las propiedades geométricas sobre espacios vectoriales (ver [5] para más detalles); pero normalmente éstas no se pueden extender a los espacios métricos generales. Por otra parte, una base de datos de texto es un sistema que deb e proveer acceso eficiente a grandes volúmenes de texto no estructurado, donde existe la necesidad de const ruir ı́ndices que no sólo permitan realizar búsquedas eficientes de patrones ingresados por el usuario, sino que ad emás usen tan poco espacio como sea posible. En el escenario más simple, el texto se ve como una secuencia de s ́ ımbolos y el patrón a buscar como otra secuencia más breve, y ası́ el problema de búsqueda consiste en encon trar todas las apariciones del patrón en el texto, y en algunos casos admitiendo un número pequeño de errores. La necesidad de una respuesta rápida y adecuada, y un eficien t uso de memoria, hace necesaria la existencia de estructuras de datos especializadas que incluyan estos a spectos. En particular, nos vamos a dedicar a dos tipos de bases de datos no convencionales: los Espacios Ḿetricos y las Bases de Datos de Texto , y cómo resolver eficientemente no sólo las búsquedas en esos ámbitos, sin también algunas otras operaciones de interés en el área de bases de datos. Por lo tanto, la investigación apunta a po ner estas nuevas bases de datos a un nivel de madurez similar al de las bases de datos tradicionales.
Analysis of Refrigeration Units in Off Grid PV/Wind Hybrid Systems on Tribal Land

This paper looks at the performance of residential refrigeration units in off-grid photovoltaic and small wind hybrid (PV/wind) systems with battery storage. Off grid hybrid power systems, dispatched by Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), allow Navajo Nation residents in rural areas to have the benefits of electricity. On the Navajo Nation, the rural and rugged nature of the land results in a high capital cost to connecting a house to the grid. In this case, a hybrid PV/wind power generation system may be used at a much lower cost to the customer. In providing affordable power systems to customers, the systems are designed to provide adequate power for use. This requires a constant conservative use of electricity. For systems with refrigerators which are large alternating current (AC) loads, there are performance issues that arise. NTUA reports that new energy star rated refrigerators have performance issues in working with these off grid systems. This paper looks at ways to improve the performance of these systems with the use of a refrigeration unit. This involves looking at conventional refrigerators with its operation. This paper also looks at alternative methods of refrigeration. Also, the power system is looked at to increase the performance in maintaining a proper balance of the system. Lastly, solutions will be recommended to solve the refrigeration issues faced by NTUA. 1 Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DENA0003525
ON ERDÖS' THEOREM FOR MONOTONIC SUBSEQUENCES

1. Definitions Before beginning our considerations, we will introduce the following notations: DEFINITION 1. For every finite sequence a = of reals three particular positive integers will be defined: 1(a) := n — the number of elements of sequence a, which is called the length of sequence a; d(a) — the number of elements of "the longest" decreasing subsequence of sequence a; i(a) — the number of elements of "the longest" increasing subsequence of sequence a. DEFINITION 2. Let a = {AJ}TM= 1 be a sequence of reals. For every element ai, l G { 1 , 2 , . , n} four accessory notations will be attributed:
Colossal magnetoresistance of spin-glass perovskite La0.67Ca0.33Mn0.9Fe0.1O3

The magnetic and magnetotransport properties of the perovskite La0.67Ca0. 33Mn0.9Fe0. 1O3 have been investigated, and the spin-glass behavior with a spin freezing temperature of 42 K has been well confirmed for this compound. A metal-to-insulator transition and colossal magnetoresistance have been observed near its spin freezing temperature; besides, the insulator behavior has been found to reappear at lower temperature. The formation of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic clusters and the competition between them with the introduction of Fe3+ ions, which do not participate in the double-exchange process, have been suggested to explain the experimental results.
Neurophenomenal structuralism. A philosophical agenda for a structuralist neuroscience of consciousness

Abstract The program of “neurophenomenal structuralism” is presented as an agenda for a genuine structuralist neuroscience of consciousness that seeks to understand specific phenomenal experiences as strictly relational affairs. The paper covers a broad range of topics. It starts from considerations about neural change detection and relational coding that motivate a solution of the Newman problem of the brain in terms of spatiotemporal relations. Next, phenomenal quality spaces and their Q-structures are discussed. Neurophenomenal structuralism proclaims a homomorphic mapping of the structures of self-organized neural maps in the brain onto Q-structures, and it will be demonstrated how this leads to a new and special version of structural representationalism about phenomenal content. A methodological implication of neurophenomenal structuralism is that it proposes measurement procedures that focus on the relationships between different stimuli (as, for instance, similarity ratings or representational geometry methods). Finally, it will be shown that neurophenomenal structuralism also has strong philosophical implications, as it leads to holism about phenomenal experiences and serves to reject inverted qualia scenarios.
Ralstonia mannitolilytica: an emerging multidrug-resistant opportunistic pathogen in a tertiary care hospital setting

Introduction. Ralstonia mannitolilytica is a rare opportunistic pathogen capable of causing a serious infection in immunocompromised patients. Our objective was to describe all cases of R. mannitolilytica bloodstream infection identified within 2 years at our tertiary care centre, focusing on clinical characteristics, risk factors, antibiotic sensitivity patterns, management and outcomes. Case Series. We compiled a descriptive case series including 14 non-duplicate R. mannitolilytica isolates obtained from bloodstream infection samples from the microbiology laboratory of a tertiary care centre from June 2019 to June 2021. All isolates were initially identified based on their morphological properties and biochemical reactions, and then underwent matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) examination for confirmation of identity. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed using the Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method and Vitek 2. All 14 patients presented with symptoms of fever and/or chills, and a positive blood culture for R. mannitolilytica . After 48 h of incubation, no Ralstonia growth was reported from any of the current environmental or pharmaceutical water samples. Chemotherapy (9/14), mechanical ventilation (4/14), steroid use (2/14) and diabetes mellitus (1/14) were associated risk factors in our patients. The antibiotic sensitivity panel showed maximum resistance to aminoglycosides (64.3%) and no resistance to cefoperazone/sulbactum. Patients received treatment with cefoperazone/sulbactum and meropenem or ceftazidime. Thirteen patients recovered with antibiotic therapy and one patient succumbed to his illness. Conclusion. R. mannitolilytica can cause bloodstream infections in immunocompromised patients. It is likely to be missed or underreported due to lack of clinical awareness. MALDI-TOF MS is helpful in rapid identification. R. mannitolilytica is resistant to many routinely used antibiotics, including carbapenems.