Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Formal verification of neural networks for safety-critical tasks in deep reinforcement learning

In the last years, neural networks achieved ground-breaking successes in a wide variety of applications. However, for safety critical tasks, such as robotics and healthcare, it is necessary to provide some speciﬁc guarantees before the deployment in a real world context. Even in these scenarios, where high cost equipment and human safety are involved, the evaluation of the models is usually performed with the standard metrics (i.e., cumulative reward or success rate). In this paper, we introduce a novel metric for the evaluation of models in safety critical tasks, the violation rate . We build our work upon the concept of formal veriﬁcation for neural networks, providing a new formulation for the safety properties that aims to ensure that the agent always makes rational decisions. To perform this evaluation, we present ProVe (Property Veriﬁer), a novel approach based on the interval algebra, designed for the analysis of our novel behavioral properties. We apply our method to different domains (i.e., mapless navigation for mobile robots, trajectory generation for manipulators, and the standard ACAS benchmark). Results show that the violation rate computed by ProVe provides a good evaluation for the safety of trained models.
Simultaneous quantification of phenolic acids and flavonoids in Chamaerops humilis L. using LC–ESI-MS/MS

Flavonoids and phenolic acids, a class of polyphenol compounds, are widely distributed in plants kingdom. Flavonoids include over 6000 identified family members. They play an important role in protection of plants from microbial and insect attack. Many studies reported that flavonoids exhibit various effects as antioxidant (Siahpoosh et al., 2016; Balci & Özdemir, 2016), anti-cancer (Androutsopoulos et al., 2010; Ma et al., 2015), anti-allergic (Park et al., 2006), anti-thrombotic and vasodilatory (Rahimi et al., 2010), anticholinesterase (Ertas et al., 2016) actions. Finally, because of their UV-absorbing properties, flavonoids protect plants from the UV radiation of the sun and scavenge UV-generated reactive oxygen species (Shirley, 1996).
Comparison of short-term surgical and oncological outcomes of laparoscopic versus open surgery, in gastric cancer

DOI: 10.4328/ACAM.20444 Received: 2020-12-21 Accepted: 2021-01-23 Published Online: 2021-02-08 Printed: 2021-07-01 Ann Clin Anal Med 2021;12(7):765-769 Corresponding Author: Serdar Şenol, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, SBÜ Samsun Training and Research Hospital, Yenimahalle 3209.Sokak No:5 Atakum Samsun, Turkey. E-mail: serdarardaduru@gmail.com P: +90 5541164537 Corresponding Author ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1193-1567 Abstract Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the short-term outcomes of gastrectomy operations performed using laparoscopic and open surgical methods in patients with gastric cancer in light of the current literature. Material and Methods: This retrospective analysis included data of 65 patients with gastric cancer who underwent elective curative laparoscopic or open gastrectomy and D2 lymph node dissection between January 2017 and 2020 in the gastroenterological surgery and surgical oncology departments of the Samsun Training and Research Hospital. Results: The open gastrectomy group included 31 patients with a median age of 63 (42–91) years. The laparoscopic gastrectomy group included 34 patients with a median age of 57 (24–81) years. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of BMI, ASA score, tumor size, degree of invasion, or number of lymph nodes removed. Resection margin involvement was observed in 1 patient in the laparoscopic surgery group. Compared with the open gastrectomy group, the laparoscopic gastrectomy group demonstrated a significantly lower amount of intraoperative blood loss (75±15 mL vs 350±30 mL). The mean operative time was significantly longer(229±43 min vs 175±50 min). There was no statistically significant difference in the length of hospital stay (8 days vs 7 days) and mortality rates (5,8% vs 9,6%). Postoperative overall morbidity was lower (11% vs 16%, p>0,05). The surgical complication rate was lower in the laparoscopic group (2,9% vs 9,6%, p<0,05). Discussion: Laparoscopic gastrectomy and D2 lymph node dissection may be a potential therapeutic option in patients with early and locally advanced tumors.
Diploma Engineering Students’ Perceptions of Online Distance Learning

The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent Movement Control Order (MCO) has resulted all formal classroom learning for 4.9 million students at all levels of education in Malaysia was suspended since March 2020 till todate. Educators were advised to shift from traditional face-to-face classroom meetings to distance learning mode; online or offline platforms. However, the reality is, the majority of the students are still grappling with elearning, inadequate equipment, and an unconducive environment making the adoption of home-based elearning even harder. There is no evidence on how Diploma engineering students are experiencing this new normal. Having realised the importance of getting first-hand information regarding online distance learning (ODL) experiences, this study investigated Diploma engineering students’ ODL experiences amidst COVID-19. An online survey using Google Forms was utilised to collect data for three weeks from 486 Diploma level students in a university from the southern region of Peninsular Malaysia. Using descriptive quantitative and qualitative analysis, the distribution of study participants, learning experiences, and expectations on educational decisions of ODL was investigated. The findings highlight the need to transform education for more tech-based lessons for the millennials and there is a need to a properly planned ODL implementation with full support from all involved in ODL mode. As classes move online in the foreseeable future, the findings of this project will benefit UiTM and the government in restructuring digital education post-Covid-19 to develop employability and the productivity of the future generation.
Environmental Factors Affecting Wildfire Burned Area In South-Eastern France, 1970–2019

Abstract. Forest fires burn an average of about 440,000 ha each year in southern Europe. These fires cause numerous casualties and deaths and destroy houses and other infrastructures. In order to elaborate suitable fire-fighting strategies, complex interactions between human and environmental factors must be taken into account. In this study, we investigated the spatio-temporal evolution in burned area over a 50-year period (1970–2019) and its interactions between topography (slope inclination and aspect) and vegetation type in south-eastern France by exploiting Geographic Information System databases. Burned area decreased sharply after 1994, with the advent of the new fire suppression policy which focused on rapid extinction of fires in their early phase. The geographic distribution of burned area has also changed in the last 25 years, mainly in regions where large fires occurred (Var department). In other parts, even though forest fires are still frequent and occur in the same geographic locations, the total extent of the burned area is significantly reduced. Slope orientation presents an increasingly important role every decade, S-facing slopes have the greatest burned areas and increase their proportion each decade, while the opposite is observed for N-facing and W-facing ones. Fire increasingly favors low and intermediate slopes after the sharp decrease of burned area in 1990. The largest part of the BA is strongly associated with the location of sclerophyllous vegetation clusters, which exhibit high fire proneness while simultaneously expanding the region. On the contrary, natural grassland numbers decline through time as the proportion of area burned increases.
Estimating the Potential Effect of Multi-Market Contact on the Intensity of Competition

Economic theory suggests that cross-market interactions affect the intensity of competition by aggregating Incentive Compatibility Constraints over markets. Building on this insight, we develop a structural econometric model of multimarket contact. We obtain empirical estimates of these constraints, and examine the effect of their aggregation on the range of prices that are sustainable in equilibrium. This approach identifies the potential effect of multimarket contact independently of whether this potential is actually realized, giving rise to meaningful counterfactual exercises despite the presence of multiple equilibria. We derive analytical results that associate the potential impact of multimarket contact with a “symmetric positioning" property. We further establish the connection between this property and the structure of demand in the relevant industries, motivating demand estimation as a key step in the analysis of multimarket contact. We apply our model to an observed case of multimarket contact in the Israeli food sector. Our estimates indicate that, in the studied case, the potential effect of this contact on prices and profits is small. The Maurice Falk Institute for Economic Research in Israel Ltd. Jerusalem, June 2021 • Discussion Paper No. 21.02 * This paper was carved out of a larger manuscript originally circulated as “Structure, Conduct and Contact: Competition in Closely Related Markets. ” The analysis in this paper is based on Nielsen data and is entirely that of the authors and not of Nielsen. The views and analysis also do not necessarily reflect those of the Israel Consumer Protection and Fair Trade Authority. Peleg Samuels and Barak Shimoni provided excellent research assistance. We are grateful to Simon Anderson, Jorge Al ́e Chilet, Federico Ciliberto, Ying Fan, Chaim Fersthman, Gautam Gowrisankaran, Nathan Miller, Chris Sullivan, Otto Toivanen, and Jonathan Williams for helpful comments. We are also grateful to conference participants at the IDC-TAU Economic Workshop (July 2017), the INRA Workshop on Trade, Industrial Organization and the Food Industry (Paris, May 2019), the Summer Conference on Industrial Organization (Montreal, June 2019), ESEM (Manchester, August 2019), ASSA San Diego (January 2020), and to workshop participants at Tel Aviv University (March 2019), the University of Virginia (May 2020), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (June 2020), CornellUWisconsin (October 2020) and Helsinki GSE (October 2020) for helpful comments. All errors are our own. This research is supported by the Falk Institute for Economic Research. †email: alon.eizenberg@mail.huji. ac.il ‡ email: Dalias@fta.gov. il § email: daniel.blanga@mail.huji. ac.il
The association between chronological age, skeletal maturity and dental maturity

Abstract Aim The aim of this study was to analyse the correlation between skeletal and dental maturity. Materials and methods The Dental Panoramic Tomogram and Lateral Skull Radiographs of 381 subjects aged between 8.20 years and 17.96 years were examined. Calcification stages of all the teeth on the left hand side and all third molars were determined according to Demirjians 8-stages, whilst the Cervical Vertebral Maturation (CVM) Index was adopted for the assessment of skeletal maturity. Dental age (DA) was determined using the simple weighted average method. Results There was no significant difference between DA and chronological age (CA) of the male and female groups. The Spearman rank correlation between CA and CVM was moderate, whilst the correlation between DA and CVM was weak. A moderate correlation was found between the dental calcification stages and CVM for the upper right third molar in males. Conclusions The average CA of females at every CVM stage was below that of males, confirming that females undergo earlier skeletal maturation. The similarity between CA and DA confirms that CA can be closely approximated by DA. The low correlations between CA and DA with CVM suggest that these variables should not be used in determining the growth status or potential of the individual.
Tp-E interval, Tp-E/QT ratio and fragmented QRS parameters in patients with panic disorder

Aslı Kazgan1, Sevler Yıldız2, Denizhan Danacı Keleş3, Fikret Keleş4, Osman Kurt5 1 Department of Psychiatry, Siverek State Hospital, Şanlıurfa, 2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Binali Yıldırım, Erzincan, 3 Department of Psychiatry, Mental Health And Illness Hospital, Elazığ, 4 Department of Cardiology, Fethi Sekin City Hospital, Elazığ, 5 Department of Public Health, Fırat University, Medical Faculty, Elazığ, Turkey Tp-E interval, Tp-E/QT ratio and fragmented QRS in panic disorder Tp-E interval, Tp-E/QT ratio and fragmented QRS parameters in patients with panic disorder
The Arabic Version of MELASQoL Scale: Translation, Cultural Adaptation, with Assessment of Reliability and Validity

Background: Melasma has significant emotional and psychological effects and significant negative impact on patients’ quality of life (QoL). Melasma QoL Scale (MELASQoL) is a specific questionnaire that has been developed to assess the effect of melasma on patient’s QoL. Objective: Translation, cultural adaptation, reliability and validation of melasma specific QoL sale (MELASQoL) into Arabic. Patients and Methods: A total of 65 adult Egyptian female patients with melasma aged ≥18 years old with skin phototypes type III-V were enrolled in this study. Wood’s light was used for determination of the type of melasma either epidermal, dermal or mixed. Melasma severity was assessed by using the melasma area and severity index (MASI) score and the new modified score (mMASI). The impact of melasma on QoL was evaluated using the Arabic version of MELASQoL scale after translation and cultural adaptation according to the WHO guidelines. The questionnaire’s reliability and validity was assessed. Results: The internal consistency for the 10-item of the MELASQoL-A scale was excellent; Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) = 0.914 and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (Cronbach α = 0.944) indicating high reliability of the developed Arabic version. There was significant positive correlation between the MELASQoL-A scale and the MASI score (r= 0.41; p= 0.0027), and the mMASI score (r = 0.36; p= 0.0032). Conclusion: The Arabic version of the MELASQoL scale was found to be a reliable and valid measure for evaluating the QoL among Egyptian melasma patients, supporting its use in Arab communities.
Assessment of diastolic dysfunction in patients with atrial fibrillation

Patients and Methods: The study population consisted of 80 AF patients who were candidate for diagnostic coronary angiography or PCI. During the invasive procedure, the left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) was measured then all patients underwent routine clinical and appropriate mitral flow and tissue Doppler velocities as well as standard echocardiographic measurements were obtained within 24 hours of the procedure.
INFLUENCE OF SEMEN QUALITY ON SPERM SURVIVABILITY, SPERM DNA FRAGMENTATION AND FERTILITY RATE OF THE MALE DROMEDARY CAMELS

Two experiments were carried out. Twelve Maghrebi camels at <6 to 10 years of age were used in the present study. Semen samples were collected using an artificial vagina (AV) and divided into their qualities to three groups (Poor ≥20-40% motile spermatozoa, Normal, ≥40-60% motile spermatozoa and Good, ≥60-80% motile spermatozoa). Copulation time, semen characteristics, sperm DNA fragmentation Index, sperm mensuration and blood constituents of the male dromedary camels were recorded (Experiment 1). Different semen qualities were diluted with Lactose-YolkCitrate (LYC) extender and stored at 5°C for 3 days (Experiment 2). Conception rates (%) of she-camels artificially inseminated with different semen qualities were assessed. The obtained results showed that, copulation time (min) and semenejaculate volume (ml) were significantly (P<0.05) better in camels containing Normal and Good quality than Poor quality of semen. Semen colour was Thin creamy, Creamy and Creamy whereas semen consistency was Semi-viscous, Viscous and Viscous for Poor, Normal and Good quality of the dromedary camel semen, respectively. Furthermore, seminal pH value and sperm mensuration (μm) of the dromedary camels were insignificantly differences in different semen qualities. The percentage of sperm motility and sperm-cell concentration (x10 6 /ml) were significantly (P<0.05) increased, while the percentages of dead spermatozoa, abnormal spermatozoa, acrosome damage, sperm chromatin damage and sperm DNA fragmentation Index were significantly (P<0.05) decreased of the camels with Normal and Good quality than Poor quality of the dromedary camel semen. Moreover, total protein, albumin and globulin (gm/100ml) concentrations showed insignificantly higher, while total cholesterol concentration (mg/100ml) was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the camels containing Normal and Good quality than Poor quality of semen. On the other hand, Sodium concentration (mg/100ml) and activity of aspartateaminotransaminase (AST) and alanine-aminotransaminase (ALT) enzymes increased significantly (P<0.05) in the camels having Poor quality compared Egypt. J. of Appl. Sci., 35 (5) 2020 28-51
Physico-chemical characterization and antioxidant content of Physalis fruits

Physalis berries, from the Solanaceae family, have achieved wide acceptance worldwide due to the flavor of the fruit and its possible medicinal use. This study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant activity, the concentrations of vitamin C, phenolic compounds and sugars of fruits of two species of Physalis (Physalis pubescens L. and Physalis peruviana L.), as well as their variations during storage at two different temperatures. The Physalis was planted in the west of Santa Catarina. The fruits were harvested when the capsules were pale yellow in color and then divided into three groups: fresh, chilled, and frozen. The pH, total soluble solid, total soluble sugars, phenolic compounds, vitamin C and antioxidant activity were evaluated. The fresh fruits of both species presented better results for most of the parameters analyzed compared to the refrigerated and frozen fruits. Antioxidant activity was higher in fresh fruits for the two Physalis species, experiencing a decrease when conditioned at low temperatures. The antioxidant benefits and nutraceutical compounds are best exploited when the fruits are consumed fresh without any storage process at low temperatures.
Ozone + Arthroscopy: Improved Redox Status, Function and Surgical Outcome in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients

Copyright: © Leon Fernandez OS (2020). This Article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License *Corresponding Author(s): Olga Sonia Leon Fernandez Pharmacy and Food Institute, University of Havana, Calle 222 # 2317 e/23 y 31, Coronela, Lisa, Habana, Havana 10 400, Cuba. Tel: +53-7272-77-26; Email: olga@infomed.sld. cu & oleon@ifal.uh. cu International Journal of Innovative Surgery
Causal additive models with unobserved variables

Causal discovery from data affected by unobserved variables is an important but difﬁcult problem to solve. The effects that unobserved variables have on the relationships between observed variables are more complex in nonlinear cases than in linear cases. In this study, we focus on causal additive models in the presence of unobserved variables. Causal additive models exhibit structural equations that are additive in the variables and error terms. We take into account the presence of not only unobserved common causes but also unobserved intermediate variables. Our theoretical results show that, when the causal relationships are nonlinear and there are unobserved variables, it is not possible to identify all the causal relationships between observed variables through regression and independence tests. However, our theoretical results also show that it is possible to avoid incorrect inferences. We propose a method to identify all the causal relationships that are theoretically possible to identify without being biased by unobserved variables. The empirical results using artiﬁcial data and simulated functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data show that our method effectively infers causal structures in the presence of unobserved variables.
Use of blends of legume flours and manioc starch to elaborate gluten-free sweet biscuits

The base for this research work was set in the study of the interaction between legume flours and tuber starch blends to be used for sweet biscuits formulations and the successive evaluation of quality parameters. As main inputs the following were used: legume flours, manioc starch, margarine, sugar, eggs, and baking soda. Basic utensils: plastic and aluminum trays, biscuits shapers, cutters, other biscuit items. Analytical balance, mixer, and oven. Methods: Establishment of experimental units, analysis of manioc starch and legume flours, moisture analysis, ash content determination, rheological analysis of blends, gluten analysis in the blend of starch and legumes flours, dough formulation and biscuit making, textural a color analysis, sensory analysis of biscuits, statistical analysis. The results of moisture and ash analyzes in the inputs for blends were within the limits established of 14,5%. Ash content found was 2.3% in starch, 6.3% in soybean meal, and 2.9% in chickpea flour. Gluten content was around 10 mg/g in average in the 3 samples. Concerning rheological characterization, water absorption for the 3 blends was relatively low. Values resulted for the torque were within 1.1 Nm; time required to reach this value did not exceed two minutes of kneading stability. The 3 blends denoted low amylasic activity, as well as low starch damage. Gel stability results were due to the high amylasic activity occurred in manioc starch. The retrogradation intensity predicted that the 3 blends would have a long shelf life since retrogradation processes were low for the 3 cases. Hardness presented in samples was due to protein supply provided by soybean meal. According to the sensory analysis average results for texture, flavor, and color attribute, differences were found. The ANOVA for sensory evaluation in biscuits showed differences regarding texture, flavor, and color attributes in biscuits. The moisture values obtained for each biscuit sample were similar to each other and did not exceed 3%. Tuber starch and legume flour incorporation in formulation to produce gluten-free biscuits contributes to the development of a flavorsome product and provides an alternative for people with gluten intolerance. The results obtained may be used as the basis for the production of gluten-free biscuits.
Towards tractable optimism in model-based reinforcement learning

The principle of optimism in the face of uncertainty is prevalent throughout sequential decision making problems such as multi-armed bandits and reinforcement learning (RL). To be successful, an optimistic RL algorithm must over-estimate the true value function (optimism) but not by so much that it is inaccurate (estimation error). In the tabular setting, many state-of-the-art methods produce the required optimism through approaches which are intractable when scaling to deep RL. We re-interpret these scalable optimistic model-based algorithms as solving a tractable noise augmented MDP. This formulation achieves a competitive regret bound: $\tilde{\mathcal{O}}( |\mathcal{S}|H\sqrt{|\mathcal{A}| T } )$ when augmenting using Gaussian noise, where $T$ is the total number of environment steps. We also explore how this trade-off changes in the deep RL setting, where we show empirically that estimation error is significantly more troublesome. However, we also show that if this error is reduced, optimistic model-based RL algorithms can match state-of-the-art performance in continuous control problems.