Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interfacing Real-Time Spiking I/O with the SpiNNaker Neuromimetic Architecture

This paper describes a closed-loop robotic system which calculates its position by means of a silicon retina sensor. The system uses an artificial neural network to determine the direction in which to move the robot in order to maintain a line-following trajectory. We introduce a pure "end to end" neural system in substitution of typical algorithms executed by a standard DSP/CPU. Computation is performed solely using spike events; from the silicon neural input sensors, through to the artificial neural network computation and motor output. At the end of the experiment the robotic system using these methods was able to follow a line consistently on a plain background.
Full scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands to treat domestic wastewater by Juncus acutus and Cortaderia selloana

ABSTRACT In the present study, a full scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland was designed, constructed and operated to treat domestic wastewater of Kızılcaören village in Samsun city of Turkey. The total surface area of HSFCW was divided into equal parts. The effects of Juncus acutus L. and Cortaderia selloana (Schult.Schult.f.)Asch. &Graebn. on pollutants removal in HSFCWs were evaluated with the meteorological factors. The average removal efficiencies of J. acutus and C. selloana were determined as 60.3–57.7% for BOD; 24.2–38.9% for TN; 31.4–49.8% for OM; 35.4–43.3% for TP; 18.9–27.1% for orthophosphate; 24.4–28.7% for NH4-N; 29.5–37.2% for TSS; and 35.3–44.3% for TSM. Two-way ANOVA was applied to determine any difference for the removal of all parameters between the plant types and months on the mean values of contaminant removal. A correlation matrix of all parameters was determined. Subsurface flow constructed wetland was found quite efficient for the treatment of domestic wastewater in rural settlements. HSFCW is also more economical to install and maintain than a conventional wastewater treatment system while enhancing ecosystem services.
Distinct oxysterol requirements for positioning naïve and activated dendritic cells in the spleen

Two ligands modulate chemoattractant receptor EBI2-dependent positioning of splenic dendritic cells. Programming dendritic cells with cholesterol Strategic positioning of immune cells at sites of pathogen encounter plays a critical role in mounting effective immune responses. Epstein-Barr virus–induced gene 2 (EBI2) is a G protein–coupled receptor activated by 7α,25-hydroxycholesterol (7α,25-HC) and plays an essential function in positioning naïve dendritic cells (DCs) during antigen encounter in the mouse spleen. By studying mouse strains that lack key enzymes involved in the synthesis of 7α,25-HC and related sterols, Lu et al. have found 7α,27-HC as a second physiological ligand for EBI2. Further, they show that the role of EBI2 is multitiered, as it is also employed by activated DCs to colocalize with activated helper T cells in the outer T cell zone. They also reveal factors that help shape EBI2 ligand gradients. Their studies add to our growing appreciation of how metabolites influence immune responses. Correct positioning of dendritic cells (DCs) is critical for efficient pathogen encounter and antigen presentation. Epstein-Barr virus–induced gene 2 (EBI2) has been identified as a chemoattractant receptor required for naïve CD4+DCIR2+ DC positioning in response to 7α,25-hydroxycholesterol (7α,25-HC). We now provide evidence that a second EBI2 ligand, 7α,27-HC, is involved in splenic DCIR2+ DC positioning and homeostasis. Cyp27a1, the enzyme uniquely required for 7α,27-HC synthesis, is expressed by stromal cells in the region of naïve DC localization. After activation, DCIR2+ DCs move into the T cell zone. We find that EBI2 is rapidly up-regulated in DCIR2+ DCs under certain activation conditions, and positioning at the B-T zone interface depends on EBI2. Under conditions of type I interferon induction, EBI2 ligand levels are elevated, causing activated DCIR2+ DCs to disperse throughout the T zone. Last, we provide evidence that oxysterol metabolism by Batf3-dependent DCs is important for EBI2-dependent positioning of activated DCIR2+ DCs. This work indicates that 7α,27-HC functions as a guidance cue in vivo and reveals a multitiered role for EBI2 in DC positioning. Deficiency in this organizing system results in defective CD4+ T cell responses.
Comparative extraction methods, phytochemical constituents, fluorescence analysis and HPLC validation of rosmarinic acid content in Mentha Piperita, Mentha longifolia and Osimum basilicum

The present investigation is aimed to compare the percentage value of Mentha Piperita, Mentha longifolia and Osimum basilicum extracts by using different solvent and extraction methods, phytochemical screening of constituents present in dry leaves, also to study fluorescent characteristics of leaves powder which are responsible for the medicinal properties of the plant using various standard tests and HPLC analysis of rosmarinic acid content in three labiatae species. The highest percentage extract was yielded fromMentha longifolia (18.5%) by usingmacerationmethods and ethanol 80% solvent. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, phenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, cardioactive glycosides, tannins, carbohydrates in dry leaf extracts. Presence of alkaloids and phenolic acid was determined in high quantity in Mentha longifolia, while saponins present in high quantity in Mentha Piperita and flavonoids in Osimum basilicum. The fluorescent characteristics of leaves powder with various chemical reagents were noted under visible and UV light. HPLC analysis of dry leaf extracts revealed presence of rosmarinic acid among the investigated plants and in higher percentage in Osimum basilicum (0.306%).
Control Strategies for Transit Priority Based on Queue Modeling and Surrogate Testing

To explore the potential benefits of bus priority based on signal phasing strategy, this article proposes a simplified statistical sampling method to simulate vehicle delays at intersections instead of using conventional microscopic traffic simulations. This method greatly reduces the calculation cost and time while maintaining the estimation accuracy of the delay. This research provides a surrogate testing system and tests intuitive traffic signal phasing strategies that shorten average waiting time of queuing vehicles by letting certain buses pass the intersection with a higher priority. Interestingly, the results reveal that the length of the green time should be adaptive with the proportion of buses in the traffic flow. Moreover, a higher priority is suggested for the bus at certain positions in a queue so that it can pass the intersection in one green period with its preceding vehicles. The benefits of this approach include (1) reduced delay of both buses and other vehicles when the proportion of buses is small; (2) keeping the influence on network-wide traffic at a low level even when the proportion of buses is large, because the green time is only extended for a short while; and (3) ease to implement such control strategies by modifying current traffic control systems.
Intracytoplasmic filamentous inclusions and IGHV rearrangements in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Fil: Rodriguez, Cecilia M. Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. Facultad de Medicina. Hosp.nacional de Clinicas. Laboratorio de Biologia Molecular Citometria de Flujo del Servicio de Oncologia y Hematologia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Cordoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquimica Clinica e Inmunologia; Argentina
State of the art literature review on performance measurement

The performance measurement revolution started in the late 1970s with the dissatisfaction of traditional backward looking accounting systems. Since then the literature in this field is emerging. Most of the focus was on designing performance measurement system (PMS), with few studies illustrating the issues in implementing and using PMS. Although Management Information Systems (MIS) and change management are important enablers of PMS, their role is not very well understood. Hence the objective of this paper is to review literature on the role of MIS and change management throughout the lifecycle of performance measurement, i.e. design, implementation and use stages. This paper not only discusses the role of MIS and change management throughout PMS lifecycle but also discusses PMS in the context of emerging business environment such as globalization, servitization, and networking in the context of multi-cultural environment. Finally it identifies research challenges for PMS in the emerging business
Robust Relative Rotation Averaging

This paper addresses the problem of robust and efficient relative rotation averaging in the context of large-scale Structure from Motion. Relative rotation averaging finds global or absolute rotations for a set of cameras from a set of observed relative rotations between pairs of cameras. We propose a generalized framework of relative rotation averaging that can use different robust loss functions and jointly optimizes for all the unknown camera rotations. Our method uses a quasi-Newton optimization which results in an efficient iteratively reweighted least squares (IRLS) formulation that works in the Lie algebra of the 3D rotation group. We demonstrate the performance of our approach on a number of large-scale data sets. We show that our method outperforms existing methods in the literature both in terms of speed and accuracy.
Lanostane triterpenoids from cultivated fruiting bodies of the basidiomycete Ganoderma australe

Abstract A new lanostane triterpene (1), together with three known compounds (2–4), were isolated from cultivated fruiting bodies of the basidiomycete Ganoderma australe. The structure was elucidated on the basis of NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometry data. The olefinic geometry of methyl australate (2) was revised from 20(22)Z to 20(22)E. These compounds (1–4) were different from the lanostanes isolated from mycelial cultures of the same strain source.
A Successive Optimization Approach to Pilot Design for Multi-Cell Massive MIMO Systems

In this letter, we introduce a novel pilot design approach that minimizes the total mean square errors of the minimum mean square error estimators of all base stations (BSs) subject to the transmit power constraints of individual users in the network, while tackling the pilot contamination in multi-cell massive MIMO systems. First, we decompose the original non-convex problem into distributed optimization sub-problems at individual BSs, where each BS can optimize its own pilot signals given the knowledge of pilot signals from the remaining BSs. We then introduce a successive optimization approach to transform each optimization sub-problem into a linear matrix inequality form, which is convex and can be solved by available optimization packages. Simulation results confirm the fast convergence of the proposed approach and prevails a benchmark scheme in terms of providing higher accuracy.
Taking a Stand: The Effects of Standing Desks on Task Performance and Engagement

Time spent sitting is associated with negative health outcomes, motivating some individuals to adopt standing desk workstations. This study represents the first investigation of the effects of standing desk use on reading comprehension and creativity. In a counterbalanced, within-subjects design, 96 participants completed reading comprehension and creativity tasks while both sitting and standing. Participants self-reported their mood during the tasks and also responded to measures of expended effort and task difficulty. In addition, participants indicated whether they expected that they would perform better on work-relevant tasks while sitting or standing. Despite participants’ beliefs that they would perform worse on most tasks while standing, body position did not affect reading comprehension or creativity performance, nor did it affect perceptions of effort or difficulty. Mood was also unaffected by position, with a few exceptions: Participants exhibited greater task engagement (i.e., interest, enthusiasm, and alertness) and less comfort while standing rather than sitting. In sum, performance and psychological experience as related to task completion were nearly entirely uninfluenced by acute (~30-min) standing desk use.
Quantitative representations of an exaggerated anxiety response in the brain of female spider phobics—a parametric fMRI study

We employed a novel parametric spider picture set in the context of a parametric fMRI anxiety provocation study, designed to tease apart brain regions involved in threat monitoring from regions representing an exaggerated anxiety response in spider phobics. For the stimulus set, we systematically manipulated perceived proximity of threat by varying a depicted spider's context, size, and posture. All stimuli were validated in a behavioral rating study (phobics n = 20; controls n = 20; all female). An independent group participated in a subsequent fMRI anxiety provocation study (phobics n = 7; controls n = 7; all female), in which we compared a whole‐brain categorical to a whole‐brain parametric analysis. Results demonstrated that the parametric analysis provided a richer characterization of the functional role of the involved brain networks. In three brain regions—the mid insula, the dorsal anterior cingulate, and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex—activation was linearly modulated by perceived proximity specifically in the spider phobia group, indicating a quantitative representation of an exaggerated anxiety response. In other regions (e.g., the amygdala), activation was linearly modulated in both groups, suggesting a functional role in threat monitoring. Prefrontal regions, such as dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, were activated during anxiety provocation but did not show a stimulus‐dependent linear modulation in either group. The results confirm that brain regions involved in anxiety processing hold a quantitative representation of a pathological anxiety response and more generally suggest that parametric fMRI designs may be a very powerful tool for clinical research in the future, particularly when developing novel brain‐based interventions (e.g., neurofeedback training). Hum Brain Mapp 38:3025–3038, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids and risk of melanoma: A Mendelian randomisation analysis

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, mainly affecting populations of European ancestry. Some observational studies suggest that particular diets reduce melanoma risk, putatively through an increase in polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) consumption. However, interpretation of these observational findings is difficult due to residual confounding or reverse causality. To date, a randomized controlled trial has not been carried out to examine the relationship between PUFAs and melanoma. Hence, we performed a Mendelian randomisation (MR) study to evaluate the link between PUFAs and melanoma. To perform MR, we used summary results from the largest risk genome‐wide association study (GWAS) meta‐analysis of melanoma, consisting of 12,874 cases and 23,203 controls. As instrumental variables we selected SNPs associated with PUFA levels from a GWAS meta‐analysis of PUFA levels, from the CHARGE consortium. We used the inverse variance weighted method to estimate a causal odds ratio. To aid interpretation, we established a benchmark “large” predicted change in PUFAs in which, for example, an increase in docosahexaenoic acid (DPA) of 0.17 units (equal to 1 standard deviation) moves a person from the 17th percentile to the median. Raising PUFA levels by a large amount (increasing DPA by 0.17 units) only negligibly changed melanoma risk: odds ratio [OR] = 1.03 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.96–1.10). Other PUFAs yielded similar results as DPA. Our MR analysis suggests that the effect of PUFA levels on melanoma risk is either zero or very small.
DeepCoder: A deep neural network based video compression

Inspired by recent advances in deep learning, we present the DeepCoder — a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based video compression framework. We apply separate CNN nets for predictive and residual signals respectively. Scalar quantization and Huffman coding are employed to encode the quantized feature maps (fMaps) into binary stream. We use the fixed 32 × 32 block in this work to demonstrate our ideas, and performance comparison is conducted with the well-known H.264/AVC video coding standard with comparable rate-distortion performance. Here distortion is measured using Structural Similarity (SSIM) because it is more close to perceptual response.
Daytime Land Surface Temperature Extraction from MODIS Thermal Infrared Data under Cirrus Clouds

Simulated data showed that cirrus clouds could lead to a maximum land surface temperature (LST) retrieval error of 11.0 K when using the generalized split-window (GSW) algorithm with a cirrus optical depth (COD) at 0.55 μm of 0.4 and in nadir view. A correction term in the COD linear function was added to the GSW algorithm to extend the GSW algorithm to cirrus cloudy conditions. The COD was acquired by a look up table of the isolated cirrus bidirectional reflectance at 0.55 μm. Additionally, the slope k of the linear function was expressed as a multiple linear model of the top of the atmospheric brightness temperatures of MODIS channels 31–34 and as the difference between split-window channel emissivities. The simulated data showed that the LST error could be reduced from 11.0 to 2.2 K. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the total errors from all the uncertainties of input parameters, extension algorithm accuracy, and GSW algorithm accuracy were less than 2.5 K in nadir view. Finally, the Great Lakes surface water temperatures measured by buoys showed that the retrieval accuracy of the GSW algorithm was improved by at least 1.5 K using the proposed extension algorithm for cirrus skies.
Dung decomposition and associated beetles in a fragmented temperate forest

La fragmentacion del habitat puede cambiar el numero de especies y la abundancia poblacional entre habitats que difieren en area, estructura o en las caracteristicas del borde. Estos cambios, a su vez, pueden alterar procesos ecosistemicos como la descomposicion de la materia organica. A traves de una aproximacion experimental, comparamos un ensamble de coleopteros asociados a heces y la descomposicion de estas en una porcion continua de bosque Maulino, fragmentos de bosque y en la matriz de plantaciones de pino que rodean estos remanentes de bosque. La abundancia y riqueza de coleopteros asociados a las heces fueron mas bajas en los fragmentos de bosque que en el bosque continuo y en las plantaciones de pino. Sin embargo, la descomposicion de las heces fue similar entre los tres habitats. La abundancia de coleopteros, riqueza de especies y descomposicion no variaron en los bordes de los fragmentos ni en los bordes de las plantaciones de pino, sin embargo, la abundancia y descomposicion variaron en el borde en comparacion al centro del bosque continuo. Asi, aunque el ensamble de coleopteros cambia a traves de este paisaje fragmentado, estos cambios no se tradujeron en alteraciones en procesos ecosistemicos como la descomposicion de heces, como ocurre en bosques tropicales. El ensamble de coleopteros en las plantaciones de pino solo tuvo especies nativas y la descomposicion de heces fue similar a la de los fragmentos y a la del bosque continuo. Por lo tanto, estas plantaciones de pino mantienen por lo menos parcialmente la biodiversidad estructural y funcional de la fauna nativa, conectando remanentes de bosque nativo a traves del paisaje, un factor crucial en la conservacion de la biodiversidad
Team dynamics, clinical work satisfaction, and patient care coordination between primary care providers: A mixed methods study

Background: Team-based care is essential for delivering high-quality, comprehensive, and coordinated care. Despite considerable research about the effects of team-based care on patient outcomes, few studies have examined how team dynamics relate to provider outcomes. Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine relationships among team dynamics, primary care provider (PCP) clinical work satisfaction, and patient care coordination between PCPs in 18 Harvard-affiliated primary care practices participating in Harvard’s Academic Innovations Collaborative. Methodology: First, we administered a cross-sectional survey to all 548 PCPs (267 attending clinicians, 281 resident physicians) working at participating practices; 65% responded. We assessed the relationship of team dynamics with PCPs’ clinical work satisfaction and perception of patient care coordination between PCPs, respectively, and the potential mediating effect of patient care coordination on the relationship between team dynamics and work satisfaction. In addition, we embedded a qualitative evaluation within the quantitative evaluation to achieve a convergent mixed methods design to help us better understand our findings and illuminate relationships among key variables. Findings: Better team dynamics were positively associated with clinical work satisfaction and quality of patient care coordination between PCPs. Coordination partially mediated the relationship between team dynamics and satisfaction for attending clinicians, suggesting that higher satisfaction depends, in part, on better teamwork, yielding more coordinated patient care. We found no mediating effects for resident physicians. Qualitative results suggest that sources of satisfaction from positive team dynamics for PCPs may be most relevant to attending clinicians. Practice Implications: Improving primary care team dynamics could improve clinical work satisfaction among PCPs and patient care coordination between PCPs. In addition to improving outcomes that directly concern health care providers, efforts to improve aspects of team dynamics may also help resolve critical challenges in workforce planning in primary care.
Detecting Contingency for HRI in Open-World Environments

This paper presents a novel algorithm for detecting contingent reactions to robot behavior in noisy real-world environments with naive users. Prior work has established that one way to detect contingency is by calculating a difference metric between sensor data before and after a robot probe of the environment. Our algorithm, CIRCLE (Contingency for Interactive Real-time CLassification of Engagement) provides a new approach to calculating this difference and detecting contingency, improving the running time for the difference calculation from 2.5 seconds to approximately 0.001 seconds on an 1100-sample vector, and effectively enabling real-time detection of contingent events. We show accuracy comparable to the best offline results for detecting contingency in this way (89.5% vs 91% in prior work), and demonstrate the utility of the real-time contingency detection in a field study of a survey-administering robot in a noisy open-world environment with naïve users, showing that the robot can decrease the number of requests it makes (from 38 to 13) while more efficiently collecting survey responses (30% response rate rather than 26.3%).
Effects of trace anaesthetic gases on behavioural performance of volunteers.

Nitrous oxide and halothane, in concentrations as low as 50 p.p.m. and 1.0 p.p.m. respectively, caused measurable decrements in performance in psychological tests in healthy male volunteers. Nitrous oxide alone caused similar effects. The functions apparently most sensitive to these low concentrations of anaesthetic agents were visual perception, immediate memory, and a combination of perception, cognition and motor responses required in a task of divided attention to simultaneous visual and auditory stimuli. These effects were absent in subjects exposed to nitrous oxide 25 p.p.m. and halothane 0.5 p.p.m.