Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Pipistrellus pygmaeus in the Iberian Peninsula: An Annotated Segmented Dataset and a Proof of Concept of a Classifier in a Real Environment

Bats have an important role in the ecosystem, and therefore an effective detection of their prevalence can contribute to their conservation. At present, the most commonly methodology used in the study of bats is the analysis of echolocation calls. However, many other ultrasound signals can be simultaneously recorded, and this makes species location and identification a long and difficult task. This field of research could be greatly improved through the use of bioacoustics which provide a more accurate automated detection, identification and count of the wildlife of a particular area. We have analyzed the calls of two bat species—Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Pipistrellus pygmaeus—both of which are common types of bats frequently found in the Iberian Peninsula. These two cryptic species are difficult to identify by their morphological features, but are more easily identified by their echolocation calls. The real-life audio files have been obtained by an Echo Meter Touch Pro 1 bat detector. Time-expanded recordings of calls were first classified manually by means of their frequency, duration and interpulse interval. In this paper, we first detail the creation of a dataset with three classes, which are the two bat species but also the silent intervals. This dataset can be useful to work in mixed species environment. Afterwards, two automatic bat detection and identification machine learning approaches are described, in a laboratory environment, which represent the previous step to real-life in an urban scenario. The priority in that approaches design is the identification using short window analysis in order to detect each bat pulse. However, given that we are concerned with the risks of automatic identification, the main aim of the project is to accelerate the manual ID process for the specialists in the field. The dataset provided will help researchers develop automatic recognition systems for a more accurate identification of the bat species in a laboratory environment, and in a near future, in an urban environment, where those two bat species are common.
Exploring Efficient Neural Architectures for Linguistic–Acoustic Mapping in Text-To-Speech

Conversion from text to speech relies on the accurate mapping from linguistic to acoustic symbol sequences, for which current practice employs recurrent statistical models such as recurrent neural networks. Despite the good performance of such models (in terms of low distortion in the generated speech), their recursive structure with intermediate affine transformations tends to make them slow to train and to sample from. In this work, we explore two different mechanisms that enhance the operational efficiency of recurrent neural networks, and study their performance–speed trade-off. The first mechanism is based on the quasi-recurrent neural network, where expensive affine transformations are removed from temporal connections and placed only on feed-forward computational directions. The second mechanism includes a module based on the transformer decoder network, designed without recurrent connections but emulating them with attention and positioning codes. Our results show that the proposed decoder networks are competitive in terms of distortion when compared to a recurrent baseline, whilst being significantly faster in terms of CPU and GPU inference time. The best performing model is the one based on the quasi-recurrent mechanism, reaching the same level of naturalness as the recurrent neural network based model with a speedup of 11.2 on CPU and 3.3 on GPU.
Epidémiologie de la tuberculose et de la brucellose des bovins en zone périurbaine d'Abéché (Tchad)

This study was carried out to specify the epidemiology of bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis in the dairy basin of Abeche (district of Ouaddai, Eastern Chad). The populations studied for tuberculosis and brucellosis comprised over oneyear- old animals and over one-year-old females only, respectively. The sample was selected with a two-degree survey (village then breeder). The diagnosis of tuberculosis was established by the single intradermal tuberculin test (SIT), followed by the intradermal comparative tuberculin test (ICTT), and that of brucellosis by a serological analysis [the rose bengal test (RBT), followed by the complement fixation test (CFT)]. A questionnaire was systematically filled out to characterize the type of husbandry, and the case history of selected animals was recorded. These factors were included in a multivariate analysis. A total of 848 animals located in 58 herds were tested by SIT, then 151 of them by ICTT. In the studied populations real prevalences of Mycobacterium bovis and M. avium infections were estimated at 0.8 ± 0.6% and 2.0 ± 0.9% (α = 5%), respectively. Herd prevalences of M. bovis and M. avium infections were estimated at 12.4 ± 8.5% and 17.8 ± 9.8%, respectively. With regard to brucellosis, 634 animals located in 56 herds were tested by RBT, and 35 samples from 21 herds by CFT. Brucellosis real prevalence was estimated at 2.6 ± 1.2% (α = 5%) and herd prevalence at 20.0 ± 10.5%. The main risk factors identified for bovine tuberculosis were an older age, the origin of the animal (birth outside of the herd) and the presence of animals from other breeders left in the care of the herd-person. The main risk factors identified for avian tuberculosis were the number of birds and the attendant type (breeder’s children). The main risk factors identified for brucellosis were the ethnic group (Arab) and the attendant type (breeder’s children). Bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis seem to develop slowly within many herds, but the conditions of extensive husbandry limit their spread to the boundaries of the contaminated herd. Given this epidemiologic profile, these diseases might be eradicated on condition that animals undergo a control before being introduced into a disease-free herd. Should dairy production develop in Abeche suburbs, this approach could be adopted.
Cataclysmic Variable Stars - How and Why They Vary

Introduction. - Orbital Lightcurves and Eclipses. - The Dwarf Nova Eruption. - Tidal Instabilities in Accretion Discs. - Magnetic Systems. - Low States and Secondary Star Variability. - Flickering, Quasi-Periodic Oscillations. - The Nova Explosion. - Related Phenomena in Other Objects.
A High Resolution Differential Mode-Localized MEMS Accelerometer

A novel differential configuration of a high-resolution mode-localized resonant SOI-MEMS accelerometer is presented in this paper. An effective maximum scale factor of 11/g and a bias-stability of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.96\mu g$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is demonstrated. A minimum noise floor of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$3\mu g/\sqrt {Hz}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is shown for device operation in an optimum working region. A large bandwidth of 350Hz is reported and methods to electronically tune the working bandwidth are described. These results benchmark mode-localized accelerometers favourably with respect to other high-end low-g commercial MEMS accelerometers.
Evaluating Fuel Consumption for Continuous Descent Approach Based on QAR Data

Fuel savings are a significant aspect for evaluating the current and future technologies of civil aviation. Continuous-Descent Approach (CDA), as a representative of new concepts, requires a method for evaluating its fuel benefits. However, because of unavailability of the practical operational data, it is difficult to validate whether the previous fuel consumption mechanisms are suitable. This paper presents a unique method for quantifying potential fuel benefits. This permits an easy evaluation for the new procedures without modelling before implementing field tests. The proposed method is detailed in this paper. It derives from the inherent mechanical characteristic of aircraft engine, and utilizes historical flight data, rather than modelling, to predict fuel flow rates by matching flight conditions from Quick Access Recorder (QAR) data. The result has been shown to predict fuel consumption for conventional descent with the deviation of ±0.73%. To validate such method, a case study for our designed CDA procedure is presented. Fuel consumptions in baseline scenarios are estimated to analyse the variable impacts on fuel consumption. The estimated fuel benefits are consistent with the results in the previous field tests. This analysis helps support Air Traffic Management decisions on eventual field test by reducing the validation time and cost.
Novel biomarkers for the early prediction of acute kidney injury

Summary Acute renal failure (ARF) remains a common problem in hospitalized patients with cancer. Despite technical advances in supportive care, the associated mortality and morbidity have remained unacceptably high. Although pre-clinical studies in animals have identified successful therapeutic interventions, translational clinical trials in humans have yielded disappointing results. The reasons for this are the lack of a consensus operational definition for acute renal failure, and the paucity of predictive early biomarkers. In this review, we first propose a consensus definition for acute kidney injury that encompasses the entire spectrum of ARF, from sub-clinical injury to minimal elevation in serum creatinine to anuric renal failure. The clinical significance of ARF, especially in the setting of cancer, is reviewed, to illustrate the urgent need for identifying novel methods for the early diagnosis of acute kidney injury. The impact of modern enabling technologies such as microarrays and proteomics on the biomarker discovery process is outlined, followed by an update on emerging biomarkers. Specifically, the utility of NGAL as a novel, sensitive, specific, highly predictive early biomarkers for human AKI is examined, and the role of urinary proteomic biomarker patterns for the early diagnosis of AKI is explored.
Study on Improving the Fixation Rate of Impregnated Poplar Wood with Maltodextrin and 1,3-Dimethylol-4,5-Dihydroxyethyleneurea

The impregnation of poplar wood (Populus adenopoda Maxim) with 1,3-dimethylol-4,5-dihydroxyethyleneurea and maltodextrin and the effects of ZnCl2 and curing at 103 °C and 120 °C on the fixation rate and the leaching resistance of modified samples were investigated (103 °C curing, ZnCl2 + 103 °C curing, 120 °C curing, and ZnCl2 + 120 °C curing are denoted as 103, ZC-103, 120, and ZC-120, respectively), with the aim of improving the modification effect. The results showed that ZC-103 had the highest fixation rate, and its weight leaching ratio was higher than that of 120. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed that ZnCl2 did not affect the functional groups of the modified chemicals. The flexural strength and modulus and the compressive strength perpendicular to the grain were highest for ZC-103. In summary, ZC-103 exhibited the highest fixation rate, indicating that the hardener ZnCl2 bridged and increased the interfacial properties between the chemicals and cell walls and therefore increased the potential for macromolecule polycondensation between the chemicals and cell wall materials. This research paves the way for improving the fixation rate of impregnated wood and provides new insights into practical applications.
Academic reference service over electronic mail

R eference service using electronic mail has been around for a while in academic li­ braries. The chatter on electronic discu groups and in meetings at ALA suggests, how­ ever, that it is not thriving. No one describes “heavy” use of such a service and yet some libraries decide against initiating the service because of a fear that they will not be able to handle the volume. An assistant director of a large research library asked colleagues at a re­ cent ALA meeting if other libraries had taken this “leap into the future” having just discov­ ered, she reported, that one of the libraries under her supervision had begun to offer the service without requesting her approval. She was worried. She need not have been. At Indiana Uni­ versity in Bloomington, Indiana, we began of­ fering this service in 1987 as part of the librar­ ies’ com ponent of an electronic “Academic Information Environment. ”1 It appears from what may be gathered informally that its use is, while not heavy, at least heavier than that of other academic libraries that speak of their experi­ ence. From May through July 1991 (a quieter time of year) the Main Library Reference Department was contacted over electronic mail by 51 differ­ ent users and had a volume of 330 questions and replies. Twenty-one of those users were faculty members, 14 w ere graduate students, 15 were staff members, and one was an under­ graduate. One graduate student who maintained his computing account had moved to Wash­ ington State and contacted us from there; he s intended to continue to use our services from his new location. He felt it was still the most convenient option available. The greatest num ber of inquiries concerned addresses, phone numbers, prices, and incom­ plete citations (in various languages). Another group sought factual information; one associ­ sioante instructor uses the service to double check “facts” cited in undergraduate papers. Some sought a “start” on a larger research problem. Very rare in our experience is the “inappropri­ ate” question—too large or too vague.
A Long-Range 2.4G Network System and Scheduling Scheme for Aquatic Environmental Monitoring

Wireless communications for applications of inshore fishery and large area aquatic environmental monitoring are really challenging, due to the characteristics of a long monitoring period, large coverage area, and adverse transmission conditions. Recently, LPWAN (low-power wide-area network) became the new solution to address these challenges, due to its long transmission distance and low power consumption of end-nodes. In this paper, we designed a novel network system for aquatic environmental monitoring, based on long-range 2.4G technology, which consisted of a low cost dual-channel gateway and end-nodes. A DMSF (dual-channel multiple spreading factors)–TDMA (time division multiple access) MAC (medium access control) scheme for this system was proposed, which largely reduces the channel collision probability, and improves the real-time for urgent data and the average lifetime of end-nodes. We verified the applicability of the long-range 2.4G technology in an aquatic environment, by point-to-point communication experiments over lake water. The performance evaluation and analysis of DMSF–TDMA is presented through simulations, and comparison with other existing schemes. The results demonstrated the benefit of our proposed scheme, in terms of the packet delivery rate, delay, and energy consumption.
Gait Characteristics of Children with Spastic Cerebral Palsy during Inclined Treadmill Walking under a Virtual Reality Environment

Objective To investigate gait characteristics in children with spastic cerebral palsy during inclined treadmill walking under a virtual reality environment. Methods Ten spastic cerebral palsy (CP) children and ten typically developing (TD) children were asked to walk at their comfortable speed on a treadmill at a ground level and 10° inclined. Three-dimensional kinematic data and ground reaction force data were captured in a computer-assisted rehabilitation environment system. Kinetic parameters and dynamic balance parameters were calculated using a standard biomechanical approach. Results During uphill walking, both groups decreased walking speed and stride length and increased peak pelvis tilt, ankle dorsiflexion, and hip flexion. Compared with TD children, CP children had decreased walking speed and stride length, decreased peak hip abduction moment, increased stance phase percentage, increased peak ankle dorsiflexion and knee flexion, and increased peak hip extension moment. The peak trunk rotation angle, ankle angle at initial contact, and stride length showed a significant group∗walking condition interaction effect. Conclusions CP children showed similar adjustments for most gait parameters during uphill walking as TD children. With a lower walking speed, CP children could maintain similar dynamic balance as TD children. Uphill walking magnifies the existing abnormal gait patterns of the cerebral palsy children. We suggest that during a treadmill training with an inclination, the walking speed should be carefully controlled in the case of improving peak joint loading too much.
Why soft X-ray transients can remain in the low/hard state during outburst

In the canonical understanding of transient X-ray sources the accretion during quiescence occurs via a geometrically thin disk in the outer part and via an advection-dominated hot coronal flow/ADAF in the inner part. The inner part important for the radiation yields a hard spectrum. In most sources the luminosity increase during outburst causes a change over to a soft spectrum which can be understood as that of a multi-color black body disk reaching inward to the marginally stable orbit. A few transient sources do not display this transition to the soft state. We show that this can be understood as due to relatively low peak luminosities in outburst in systems with short orbital periods and therefore less mass accumulated in the then smaller accretion disk. This is in agreement with the observations which show that most likely short orbital period systems remain in the hard spectral state.
Improvement of Design and Motion Control for Motion Platform Based on Spherical Wheels

In this paper, a six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) motion platform based on spherical wheels is presented to improve design and motion control from the earlier design. The motion platform developed here is capable of 3-DOFs unlimited rotation and 3-DOFs translation, which has large workspace of linear motion with better stability and high rigidity. In particular, the new design offers better motion control, uniformity, and safety in motion range by additional actuators providing better motion capability for virtual reality. Kinematic analysis of the platform is investigated to provide a basis for motion controllability. In particular, the rotational motion can be independently controlled from the translation by the active driving control. The design and motion analysis are demonstrated from both numerical simulation and experiment using a prototype in an open-loop control. Slipping motion and friction as a main driving torque are experimentally evaluated for a nonslip condition. The comparison results prove the design feasibility and motion control capability.
Investigating the effect of custom‐made insoles and exercises on lower limb and back discomfort in assembly‐line workers in a rubber tire factory: A randomized controlled trial

Many occupations require standing for prolonged periods, which can be a major contributor to musculoskeletal problems and cause disturbances in different parts of the body, especially the lower back and lower extremities. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of custom‐made insoles and exercise training on the lower limb and lower back discomfort in workers on a production line at a rubber tire factory. One hundred male workers (mean age 35.96 years, work experience of 10.62 years, standing time 6.58 hr) participated in this randomized controlled trial. The men were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (a) custom‐made insole plus lower limb exercises, (b) insoles only, (c) lower limb exercises only, and (d) no intervention. Discomfort level was recorded with a visual analog scale and a body map. The data were analyzed with analysis of covariance. The results showed a significant difference in discomfort levels between groups in the lower back (p = .001), thigh (p = .001), and knee (p = .001) areas. The combined insole and exercise group had less discomfort in the lower back, thigh, and knee. In the group that used the insole only without exercises, the discomfort level in the lower back area was reduced. The results indicate that the simultaneous use of insoles and exercises might be an effective intervention to reduce discomfort in the lower limbs and lower back in workers who remain standing for prolonged periods.
Greedy Algorithm for Minimizing the Cost of Routing Power on a Digital Microgrid

In this paper, we propose the greedy smallest-cost-rate path first (GRASP) algorithm to route power from sources to loads in a digital microgrid (DMG). Routing of power from distributed energy resources (DERs) to loads of a DMG comprises matching loads to DERs and the selection of the smallest-cost-rate path from a load to its supplying DERs. In such a microgrid, one DER may supply power to one or many loads, and one or many DERs may supply the power requested by a load. Because the optimal method is NP-hard, GRASP addresses this high complexity by using heuristics to match sources and loads and to select the smallest-cost-rate paths in the DMG. We compare the cost achieved by GRASP and an optimal method based on integer linear programming on different IEEE test feeders and other test networks. The comparison shows the trade-offs between lowering complexity and achieving optimal-cost paths. The results show that the cost incurred by GRASP approaches that of the optimal solution by small margins. In the adopted networks, GRASP trades its lower complexity for up to 18% higher costs than those achieved by the optimal solution.
Multi-Frequency Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers

In this paper multi-frequency piezoelectric MEMS ultrasonic transducers (pMUTs) are designed, characterized and tested for nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of solids. The transducers operate in flexural mode, and are tuned to three different frequencies namely 1 MHz, 1.5 MHz and 2 MHz. The microstructural layers consist of aluminum nitride (AlN) as an active sensing layer sandwiched between metal and doped silicon electrodes. pMUTs are designed with octagonal and circular membranes. The vibration of silicon membrane assists piezoelectric element to convert energies. The transducers are modeled numerically to obtain their dynamic characteristics. Piezoelectric Multi-User MEMS Processes (PiezoMUMPs) are utilized to manufacture pMUTs. The electromechanical characterization shows that the circular design has higher figure of merit as compared to the octagonal design due to more uniform stress distribution transferred between silicon and AlN layers. It is demonstrated that the piezeoelectric layer should be deposited up to the inflection point of diaphragm deformation. This avoids the signal cancellation due to opposite polarization. The performance of pMUTs as receiver is evaluated to detect the creep damage by implementing nonlinear ultrasonic testing (NLUT). NLUT is based on detecting higher harmonics in solids due to heterogeneity in materials. Significant amplification in the second harmonics is obtained due to highly narrowband and low damping characteristics of pMUTs that improves the resolution of NLUT to detect subwavelength damage. Higher harmonics can be detected using small footprint pMUT device, which is not possible with conventional piezoelectric transducers. This allows better spatial resolution of nonlinear measurement.