Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Direct comparison of population receptive fields from fMRI and large-scale neurophysiological recordings in awake non-human primates

Population receptive field (pRF) modeling is a popular method to map the retinotopic organization of the human brain with fMRI. While BOLD-based pRF-maps are qualitatively similar to invasively recorded single-cell receptive fields in animals, it remains unclear what neuronal signal they truly represent. We address this question with whole-brain fMRI and large-scale neurophysiological recordings in awake non-human primates. Several pRF-models were independently fit to the BOLD signal, multi-unit spiking activity (MUA) and local field potential (LFP) power in distinct frequency bands. Our results provide a retinotopic characterization of cortical and subcortical areas, suggest brain-wide compressive (i.e., sublinear) spatial summation, and demonstrate a visually tuned deactivation of default mode network nodes. Cross-signal analysis of pRF-map structure (eccentricity-size relation) indicates that the neural underpinnings of BOLD-pRFs are area-specific. In V1, BOLD-pRFs mirror MUA, while in V4 they are more similar to the tuning of the gamma LFP-power.
Electrophysiological Indicators of Sleep-associated Memory Consolidation in 5- to 6-year-old Children

In young adults, memory consolidation during sleep is supported by a time-coordinated interplay of sleep spindles and slow oscillations. However, given tremendous developmental changes in sleep spindle and slow oscillation morphology, it remains elusive whether the same mechanisms as identified in young adults are comparably functional across childhood. Here, we characterise slow and fast sleep spindles and their temporal coupling to slow oscillations in 24 pre-school children. Further, we ask whether slow and fast sleep spindles and their modulation during slow oscillations are similarly associated with behavioural indicators of declarative memory consolidation as suggested from adult literature. Employing a development-sensitive, individualised approach, we reliably identify an inherent, development-specific fast sleep spindle type, though nested in the adult-like slow sleep spindle frequency range, along with a dominant slow sleep spindle type. Further, we provide evidence for the modulation of fast sleep spindles during slow oscillations, already in pre-school children. However, the temporal coordination between fast sleep spindles and slow oscillations is weaker and less precise than expected from adult research. While we do not find evidence for a critical contribution of the pattern of fast sleep spindle modulation during slow oscillations for memory consolidation, crucially, both inherent slow and fast sleep spindles separately are differentially related to sleep-associated consolidation of items of varying quality. While a higher number of slow sleep spindles is associated with stronger maintenance of medium-quality memories, more fast sleep spindles are linked to higher gain of low-quality items. Our results provide evidence for two functionally relevant inherent sleep spindle types in pre-school children despite not fully matured sleep spindle – slow oscillation coupling.
On the Identity of Victoria's Mouse Opossum, Marmosa regina Thomas, 1898

ABSTRACT Phylogenetic analyses of molecular sequence data obtained from the holotype of Marmosa regina Thomas, 1898, together with a reassessment of its morphological characters indicate that this species does not belong to the subgenus Micoureus as previously believed. Instead, both molecular and phenotypic data are consistent with the hypothesis that M. regina is a senior synonym of M. isthmica Goldman, 1912, in the subgenus Exulomarmosa. Because replacing isthmica with regina would create nomenclatural confusion, we recommend maintaining current usage of the former name and suppressing usage of the latter.
In vitro ruminal fermentation and methane inhibitory effect of three species of microalgae

Abstract: In this study, in vitro ruminal fermentation, anti-methanogenesis, and ammonia formation of two autotrophic algae [Nannochloropsis gaditana (NG), Phaeodactylum tricornutum (PT)], and one heterotrophic alga [Schizochytrium sp. (SS)] were investigated. The experimental diets consisted of a hay-concentrate basal diet (BD; 200 mg dry matter) supplemented with (1) no algae (just BD), (2) 40 mg of dried NG (BD + NG), (3) 40 mg of dried PT (BD + PT), and (4) 14 mg of dried SS. In total, 48 samples (four algal treatments × two replicates × three runs × two cows) were incubated for 24 h using the Hohenheim gas test method. All three algae decreased (P < 0.05) the production of short-chain fatty acids and protozoal abundance (both adjusted in amount to BD) as compared with BD. Ammonia formation of BD + NG and BD + PT was 1.2- and 1.1-fold of values in BD, respectively. The BD + NG diet enhanced the proportions of isobutyrate, valerate, and isovalerate at cost of acetate proportion of total short-chain fatty acids, whereas the BD + PT diet promoted the proportions of propionate and valerate at cost of acetate. None of the microalgae affected in vitro methane formation. In conclusion, these algae showed a very poor fermentability and no anti-methanogenic effect in vitro.
Impacts of feeding monensin sodium on production and the efficiency of milk production in dairy cows fed total mixed rations: evaluation of a confounded literature

Abstract: The amount of milk Canadian dairy farmers produce is limited to a production quota expressed in milk fat. Because milk economic value is primarily based on fat and protein, it can be advantageous to decrease the milk fat to protein ratio. Monensin sodium has been suggested to reduce milk fat proportion and outputs, but not milk protein. Publications using lactating dairy cows were utilized to assess predictability of production responses to monensin feeding based upon their base production characteristics and diet composition. Predicted animal output changes due to monensin had poor fits with low r 2 (0.31–0.44) and unevenly distributed residuals. Further assessment revealed that cow characteristics, and diets, were not independent of monensin feeding level. Thus, the 43 comparisons were clustered into levels of 10–12, 14–18, or 20–24 mg kg-1 of diet dry matter (DM). Milk fat yield reductions due to monensin differed (P < 0.05; 10–12 and 14–18 mg kg-1 DM), or tended to differ (P = 0.057; 20–24 mg kg-1 DM), from zero (i.e., no change). Monensin addition to total mixed rations of lactating dairy cows negatively impacted milk fat yield to a greater extent than milk protein.
University of Groningen Variability and effectiveness of comparator group intervention in smoking cessation trials

Aims To examine variability and effectiveness of interventions provided to comparator (control) groups in smoking cessation trials.Methods Systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of behavioral interventions for smoking cessation, with or without stop-smoking medication. We searched the Cochrane Tobacco Addiction Group Specialized Register for RCTs with objective outcomes measured at ≥ 6 months. Study authors were contacted to obtain comprehensive descriptions of their comparator interventions. Meta-regression analyses examined the relationships of smoking cessation rates with stop-smoking medication and behavior change techniques. Results One hundred and four of 142 eligible comparator groups (n= 23706) had complete data andwere included in analyses. There was considerable variability in the number of behavior change techniques delivered [mean = 15.97, standard deviation (SD) = 13.54, range = 0–45] and the provision of smoking cessation medication (43% of groups received medication) throughout and within categories of comparator groups (e.g. usual care, brief advice). Higher smoking cessation rates were predicted by provision of medication [B= 0.334, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.030–0.638, P= 0.031] and number of behavior change techniques included (B = 0.020, 95% CI = 0.008–0.032, P< 0.001). Modelled cessation rates in comparator groups that received themost intensive support were 15 percentage points higher than those that received the least (23 versus 8%). Conclusions Interventions delivered to comparator groups in smoking cessation randomized controlled trials vary considerably in content, and cessation rates are strongly predicted by stop-smokingmedication and number of behavior change techniques delivered.
Zero-Voltage-Switching Current Source Inverter Fed PMSM Drives With Reduced EMI

The silicon carbide (SiC) devices have attracted more and more attention due to the capability of withstanding higher blocking voltage, higher switching frequency, and higher temperature. However, challenges for SiC devices applied in voltage-source-inverter fed motor drives such as electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues and limited over-current capability still limit the further application of SiC devices. In this article, a novel SiC devices based zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) current-source-inverter (CSI) is proposed for permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive. The key is to propose an auxiliary resonant circuit, which achieves ZVS conditions for all switches in power circuits and reduces the dv/dt of high speed SiC devices. The resonant capacitor in the auxiliary circuit can clamp overvoltage caused by possible open-circuit faults. To further reduce the EMI, the random switching frequency pulsewidth modulation is designed for the proposed CSI motor drive. The system configuration, working principle, circuit design, and control schemes are described in detail. Both simulations and experiments are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed ZVS-CSI fed PMSM drive system.
Energy Efficient Approximate Storing of Image Data for MTJ Based Non-volatile Memory

A non-volatile memory (NVM) employing MTJ has a lot of strong points such as read/write performance, best endurance and operating-voltage compatibility with standard CMOS. However, it consumes a lot of energy when writing the data. This becomes an obstacle when applying to battery-operated mobile devices. To solve this problem, we propose an approach to augment the capability of the precision scaling technique for the write operation in NVM. Precision scaling is an approximate computing technique to reduce the bit width of data (i.e. precision) for energy reduction. When writing image data to NVM with the precision scaling, the write energy and the image quality are changed according to the write time and the target bit range. We propose an energy-efficient approximate storing scheme for NVM that allows us to write the data by optimizing the bit positions to split the data and the write time for each bit range. By using the statistical model, we obtained optimal values for the write time and the targeted bit range under the trade-off between the write energy reduction and image quality degradation. Simulation results have demonstrated that by using these optimal values the write energy can be reduced by 25-50% while maintaining the acceptable image quality. In addition, we evaluated the energy benefits when applying our approach to three types of image processing. Results showed that the write energy is reduced by further 17% at the maximum.
Implementation-Friendly and Energy-Efficient Symbol-by-Symbol Detection Scheme for IEEE 802.15.4 O-QPSK Receivers

In this article, the noncoherent detection scheme for the receiver in wireless sensor nodes is discussed. That is, an implementation-friendly and energy-efficient symbol-by-symbol detection scheme for IEEE 802.15. 4 offset-quadrature phase shift keying (O-QPSK) receivers is investigated under both pure additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel and fading channel. Specifically, the residual carrier frequency offset (CFO) of the chip sample is estimated and compensated with the aid of the preamble; then, the standard noncoherent detection scheme with perfectly known CFO is directly configured. The corresponding simulation results show that only 4 preamble symbols is sufficient for accurate CFO estimation. Compared with the conventional noncoherent detector, the average running time per data packet of our enhanced detector is only 0.17 times of the former; meanwhile, at the packet error rate of $1 \times {10^{- {\mathrm{ 3}}}}$ , our enhanced detector can obtain 2.2 dB gains in the (32, 4) direct sequence spread spectrum system. A more reasonable trade-off between complexity and reliability is thus achieved for energy-saving and maximum service life in wireless sensor networks (WSNs).
Methods for identification of power converters in automotive industry

Power electronics is application area where identification can be implemented. Thanks to identification, design of system can be improved and design time can be shorten. This article deals with synchronous buck converter identification. The article aims to map currently used identification methods and also describes the offline identification procedure for finding parametric model of real converter. Converter plant linear time-invariant model is found and described mathematically by its transfer function.
Resource Management for Maximizing the Secure Sum Rate in Dense Millimeter-Wave Networks

Due to the densifying of users and the reflections caused by small-scale objects, secure communication is an important research problem in dense millimeter-wave (mmWave) networks. In this paper, we investigate the resource management problem of joint transmission reception point (TRP) selection, power control and beamwidth selection for maximizing the secure sum rate in the dense mmWave network, while considering beamforming training overheads, blockage effect in mmWave communications, and imperfect channel state information (CSI) from a legitimate user equipment (LUE) to the corresponding malicious user equipment (MUE). To handle the problem with low complexity, we first break it down into two subproblems (i.e., TRP selection and joint power control and beamwidth allocation), and propose a two-stage game based decentralized resource management approach to solve them iteratively, where in the first stage we propose a matching game based distributed TRP selection algorithm to solve the first subproblem in which novel utilities for both LUEs and TRPs are designed to handle the high directivity transmission problem, and in the second stage we propose a weekly acyclic game based two-dimensional-strategy concurrent better response algorithm for the second subproblem to deal with the huge strategy space, which has been proved to converge to an invariant two-dimensional-strategy Nash equilibrium (NE). Moreover, to adapt to the three-dimensional optimization variables and the huge strategy space of the considered problem, we also propose a new three-dimensional-strategy iterative weekly acyclic game to solve it, where the three-dimensional optimization variables are optimized alternately during the decision-making process. Finally, extensive simulations are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.
Distributed Control of Second-Order Multi-Agent Systems: Fractional Integral Action and Consensus

This article addresses the consensus problem in multi-agent systems modeled with double-integrator dynamics under constant disturbances. Therefore, a fractional control protocol to enhance the convergence speed and robustness of the system is proposed. The communication topology of the system is represented by an undirected connected graph. In addition, the convergence of the system is analyzed with the stability boundary locus method, through which analytical expressions are deduced to ensure the stability of the agents group. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the validity of the theoretical results.
Reduction of Switching Power Losses for ZVS Operation in Switched-Capacitor-Based Resonant Converters

This article proposes a new method for the switched-capacitor-based resonant converter (SCRC) consisting of two-half bridge circuits and a series resonant circuit. The proposed method controls the switching frequency, phase-shift angle, and deadtime to turn the MOSFETs off with a minimum turn-off current and to turn them on with zero voltage, resulting in the reduction of the switching power losses under both light and heavy load conditions. The gate signals for the two half-bridge circuits are mathematically derived based on the electrical charge and/or energy stored in the switched capacitor and the resonant inductor. The experimental results obtained from a 3-kW, 350-kHz SCRC prototype showed that the proposed method exhibited a high maximum power conversion efficiency of 99.5%, and it maintained a proper zero-voltage switching operation at a wide output current range from 17% to 100% with a conversion efficiency higher than 98.8%.
Coalition Formation Game for Cooperative Content Delivery in Network Coding Assisted D2D Communications

Device-to-device (D2D) communications have shown a huge potential in cellular offloading and become a potential technology in 5G and beyond. In D2D networks, the requested contents by user devices (UDs) can be delivered via D2D links, thus offloading the content providers (CPs). In this work, we address the problem of minimizing the delay of delivering content in a decentralized and partially D2D connected network using network coding (NC) and cooperation among the UDs. The proposed optimization framework considers UDs’ acquired and missing contents, their limited coverage zones, NC, and content’s erasure probability. As such, the completion time for delivering all missing contents to all UDs is minimized. The problem is modeled as a coalition game with cooperative-players wherein the payoff function is derived so that increasing individual payoff results in the desired cooperative behavior. Given the intractability of the formulation, the coalition game is relaxed to a coalition formation game (CFG). A distributed coalition formation algorithm relying on merge-and-split rules is developed for solving the relaxed problem at each transmission. The effectiveness of the proposed solution is validated through computer simulation against existing schemes.
A Single-Stage Natural Power Factor Corrector Based on Dual Active Bridge DC–DC Converter Without Inner Current Tracking Loop

In this article, a single-stage ac–dc based on the dual active bridge with natural power factor correction is proposed. A modulation strategy and a control technique have been given to achieve the unity power factor of the ac side without inner current tracking loops and lookup tables. A notch filter is used in the output voltage feedback path to reduce the influence from the low-frequency output-voltage ripple to the regulator. All of the input-side power devices can achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS) on and all of the output-side power devices can achieve ZVS under certain load conditions with the proposed control strategy. The ZVS conditions and parameter design are given in this article. A 1.4-kW prototype has been fabricated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed converter and control strategy.
Robust H∞ Filtering for Uncertain Semi-Markov Jump Systems and Its Application

This paper studies the robust H∞ filtering problem for a class of continuous-time uncertain semi-Markov jump systems. Considering that the filter modes can be obtained via observing system modes, a semi-Markov mode-dependent filter is designed. Based on the constructed filter, the robust H∞ filtering performance analysis is proposed by minimizing the H∞ level for uncertain semi-Markov jump systems. Meanwhile, the sufficient conditions for existence of the designed filter are given with the help of linear matrix inequality method. The simulation results for a possible application are presented to ensure the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Matrix Approach to Verify Initial-State Opacity of Discrete-Event Systems

In this paper, we investigate the problem of verifying initial-state opacity (ISO) for partially-observed discrete-event systems (DES) by using the semi-tensor product (STP) theory. First, four types of ISO are introduced to extend the study of privacy in the context of DES. Second, under the framework of the STP theory, the matrix-based initial-state estimator is constructed. Accordingly, several necessary and sufficient criteria for verifying the different types of ISO are given, respectively. Furthermore, we analyze the complexity of using the proposed approaches to verify these four types of ISO. Finally, several examples are provided to illustrate the theoretical results.
Multi-Container Application Migration with Load Balanced and Adaptive Parallel TCP

Application migration in Wide Area Network (WAN) is needed in many scenarios: disaster recovery and service hand-off in edge cloud. Modern distributed applications are virtualized with multiple virtual machines or containers. This paper focuses on parallel multi-container migration in WAN environments by utilizing multiple TCP connections over a single direct path (a.k.a parallel TCP). Our application migration middleware framework utilizes a feedback controller to determine a proper number of parallel container migration (i.e., parallel window) based on changing network bandwidth. Then a middleware’s scheduler selects migration requests for the parallel window to load balance multiple pairs of hosts. The goal of our migration is to achieve the best possible balance between optimizing the total migration time and average individual migration time. This differs from most existing live migration works that attempt to optimize mainly the down time. Our proposed framework is generalized and not restricted to any particular virtualization technology implementation. For performance evaluation, we conducted a WAN-emulated experiment in static and dynamic network settings. The performance evaluation results show that the total migration time using our feedback controller is less than that of the sequential migration by 32.7% in the static network, and 43.9% in the dynamic network. Moreover, while achieving total migration time comparable to that of the best fixed parallel migration window, our approach can reduce the average individual migration time by 62.7% in the dynamic network setting.
The effect of healthy aging on change detection and sensitivity to predictable structure in crowded acoustic scenes

The auditory system plays a critical role in supporting our ability to detect abrupt changes in our surroundings. Here we study how this capacity is affected in the course of healthy ageing. Artifical acoustic ‘scenes’, populated by multiple concurrent streams of pure tones (‘sources’) were used to capture the challenges of listening in complex acoustic environments. Two scene conditions were included: REG scenes consisted of sources characterized by a regular temporal structure. Matched RAND scenes contained sources which were temporally random. Changes, manifested as the abrupt disappearance of one of the sources, were introduced to a subset of the trials and participants (‘young’ group N=41, age 20-38 years; ‘older’ group N=41, age 60-82 years) were instructed to monitor the scenes for these events. Previous work demonstrated that young listeners exhibit better change detection performance in REG scenes, reflecting sensitivity to temporal structure. Here we sought to determine: (1) Whether ‘baseline’ change detection ability (i.e. in RAND scenes) is affected by age. (2) Whether aging affects listeners’ sensitivity to temporal regularity. (3) How change detection capacity relates to listeners’ hearing and cognitive profile. The results demonstrated that healthy aging is associated with reduced sensitivity to abrupt scene changes in RAND scenes but that performance does not correlate with age or standard audiological measures such as pure tone audiometry or speech in noise performance. Remarkably older listeners’ change detection performance improved substantially (up to the level exhibited by young listeners) in REG relative to RAND scenes. This suggests that the capacity to extract and track the regularity associated with scene sources, even in crowded acoustic environments, is relatively preserved in older listeners.