Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Soft-decision demodulation design for COVQ over white, colored, and ISI Gaussian channels

In this work, the design of a q-bit (scalar and vector) soft-decision demodulator for Gaussian channels with binary phase-shift keying modulation is investigated. The demodulator is used in conjunction with a soft-decision channel-optimized vector quantization (COVQ) system. The COVQ is constructed for an expanded (q>1) discrete channel consisting of the concatenation of the modulator, the Gaussian channel, and the demodulator. It is found that as the demodulator resolution q increases, the capacity of the expanded channel increases, resulting in an improvement of the COVQ performance. Consequently, the soft-decision demodulator is designed to maximize the capacity of the expanded channel. Three Gaussian channel models are considered as follows: (1) additive white Gaussian noise channels; (2) additive colored Gaussian noise channels; and (3) Gaussian channels with intersymbol interference. Comparisons are made with (a) hard-decision COVQ systems, (b) COVQ systems which utilize interleaving, and (c) an unquantized (q=/spl infin/) soft-decision decoder proposed by Skoglund and Hedelin (1999). It is shown that substantial improvements can be achieved over COVQ systems which utilize hard decision demodulation and/or channel interleaving. The performance of the proposed COVQ system is comparable with the system by Skoglund and Hedelin-though its computational complexity is substantially less.
Investigations of Reaction Kinetics for Immobilized Enzymes—Identification of Parameters in the Presence of Diffusion Limitation

A method is proposed for identification of kinetic parameters when diffusion of substrates is limiting in reactions catalyzed by immobilized enzymes. This method overcomes conventional sequential procedures, which assume immobilization does not affect the conformation of the enzyme and, thus, consider intrinsic and inherent kinetics to be the same. The coupled equations describing intraparticle mass transport are solved simultaneously using numerical methods and are used for direct estimation of kinetic parameters by fitting modeling results to time‐course measurements in a stirred tank reactor. While most traditional procedures were based on Michaelis‐Menten kinetics, the method presented here is applicable to more complex kinetic mechanisms involving multiple state variables, such as ping‐pong bi‐bi. The method is applied to the kinetic resolution of (R/S)‐1‐methoxy‐2‐propanol with vinyl acetate catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase B. A mathematical model is developed consisting of irreversible ping‐pong bi‐bi kinetics, including competitive inhibition of both enantiomers. The kinetic model, which fits to experimental data over a wide range of both substrates (5–95%) and temperatures (5–56 °C), is used for simulations to study typical behavior of immobilized enzyme systems.
Low-Power and Nanosecond Switching in Robust Hafnium Oxide Resistive Memory With a Thin Ti Cap

The memory performance of hafnium oxide (HfOx)-based resistive memory containing a thin reactive Ti buffer layer can be greatly improved. Due to the excellent ability of Ti to absorb oxygen atoms from the HfOx film after post-metal annealing, a large amount of oxygen vacancies are left in the HfOx layer of the TiN/Ti/HfOx/TiN stacked layer. These oxygen vacancies are crucial to make a memory device with a stable bipolar resistive switching behavior. Aside from the benefits of low operation power and large on/off ratio (>100), this memory also exhibits reliable switching endurance (>106 cycles), robust resistance states (200°C), high device yield (~100%), and fast switching speed (<10 ns).
USABILITY OF VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNING JAVA

It is widely stated that learning to program is very difficult in the traditional manner. To help novices learn object-oriented programming in Java more easily, we have developed the electronic Java virtual learning environment. In this paper, we discuss the usability of the learning environment and principles how to implement a usable learning environment. Considering the usability testing of the environment from the beginning stage of the development process, should improve the qualitative characteristics of the learning environment thus improving the abilities of users efficiently to use the environment, to be productive and fill satisfaction. We expect this way to make the learning process more efficient. According to the usability testing results we will give recommendations how to design similar usable learning environments.
Lipopolysaccharide-Binding Protein and Phospholipid Transfer Protein Release Lipopolysaccharides from Gram-Negative Bacterial Membranes

ABSTRACT Although animals mobilize their innate defenses against gram-negative bacteria when they sense the lipid A moiety of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), excessive responses to this conserved bacterial molecule can be harmful. Of the known ways for decreasing the stimulatory potency of LPS in blood, the binding and neutralization of LPS by plasma lipoproteins is most prominent. The mechanisms by which host lipoproteins take up the native LPS that is found in bacterial membranes are poorly understood, however, since almost all studies of host-LPS interactions have used purified LPS aggregates. Using nativeSalmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium outer membrane fragments (blebs) that contained 3H-labeled lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and 35S-labeled protein, we found that two human plasma proteins, LPS-binding protein (LBP) and phospholipid transfer protein (PLTP), can extract [3H]LPS from bacterial membranes and transfer it to human high-density lipoproteins (HDL). Soluble CD14 (sCD14) did not release LPS from blebs yet could facilitate LBP-mediated LPS transfer to HDL. LBP, but not PLTP, also promoted the activation of human monocytes by bleb-derived LPS. Whereas depleting or neutralizing LBP significantly reduced LPS transfer from blebs to lipoproteins in normal human serum, neutralizing serum PLTP had no demonstrable effect. Of the known lipid transfer proteins, LBP is thus most able to transfer LPS from bacterial membranes to the lipoproteins in normal human serum.
Development of a soil quality index for the Chalmers silty clay loam from the Midwest USA

With the progressive degradation of agricultural soils, there is a new emphasis on using the concept of soil quality as a sensitive and dynamic way to document the conditions of soils, how they respond to management changes, and their resilience to stress. This study relates soil physical, chemical, and biological property changes under various long-term management systems. The study was conducted on an experimental field that had been under the same management systems for 16 years. There were 12 tillage and crop rotation combinations available for sampling. Sealing index, as a measure of aggregate stability, decreased with decreasing tillage intensity. However, infiltration rate was highest in the chisel plow system. Total C and N, microbial biomass C (MBC), particulate organic C (POC) and fluorescein released from enzyme activity, fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolysis, were significantly greater in conservation systems as compared to conventional tillage practices. Tillage appeared to be the major contributor in the soil property changes with crop rotation effect being minor. Using soil erodibility as the baseline to develop a set of soil quality indicators, a standard scoring function enabled us to rate soil quality levels. Results showed that chisel plow system had higher quality level than no-till and moldboard plow while corn/soybean/wheat presented the lowest soil quality level among crop rotations. These results suggested that soil biochemical properties are potential indicators of soil quality with regard to soil erodibility
Comparison of cephalic and extracephalic montages for Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation - A numerical study

While studies have shown that the application of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has been beneficial in the stimulation of cortical activity and treatment of neurological disorders in humans, open questions remain regarding the placement of electrodes for optimal targeting of currents for a given functional area. Placement of electrodes has traditionally relied on knowledge of human anatomy and physiology, producing electrode montages that are believed to be best suited to a desired cortical region of stimulation. Given the difficulty of obtaining in vivo measurements of current density, modeling of conventional and alternative electrode montages via the Finite Element Method (FEM) has been utilized to provide insight into tDCS montage performance. Accurate simulations using a high definition, anatomically correct female human model based on the Visible Human Project dataset (the VHP-F model) have given evidence that extracephalic cathode locations provide deeper stimulation of the primary motor cortex than the traditional cephalic electrode montage.
Facilitating software evolution research with kenyon

Software evolution research inherently has several resource-intensive logistical constraints. Archived project artifacts, such as those found in source code repositories and bug tracking systems, are the principal source of input data. Analysis-specific facts, such as commit metadata or the location of design patterns within the code, must be extracted for each change or configuration of interest. The results of this resource-intensive "fact extraction" phase must be stored efficiently, for later use by more experimental types of research tasks, such as algorithm or model refinement. In order to perform any type of software evolution research, each of these logistical issues must be addressed and an implementation to manage it created. In this paper, we introduce Kenyon, a system designed to facilitate software evolution research by providing a common set of solutions to these common logistical problems. We have used Kenyon for processing source code data from 12 systems of varying sizes and domains, archived in 3 different types of software configuration management systems. We present our experiences using Kenyon with these systems, and also describe Kenyon's usage by students in a graduate seminar class.
Prosocial Reward Learning in Children and Adolescents

Adolescence is a period of increased sensitivity to social contexts. To evaluate how social context sensitivity changes over development—and influences reward learning—we investigated how children and adolescents perceive and integrate rewards for oneself and others during a dynamic risky decision-making task. Children and adolescents (N = 75, 8–16 years) performed the Social Gambling Task (SGT, Kwak et al., 2014) and completed a set of questionnaires measuring other-regarding behavior. In the SGT, participants choose amongst four card decks that have different payout structures for oneself and for a charity. We examined patterns of choices, overall decision strategies, and how reward outcomes led to trial-by-trial adjustments in behavior, as estimated using a reinforcement-learning model. Performance of children and adolescents was compared to data from a previously collected sample of adults (N = 102) performing the identical task. We found that that children/adolescents were not only more sensitive to rewards directed to the charity than self but also showed greater prosocial tendencies on independent measures of other-regarding behavior. Children and adolescents also showed less use of a strategy that prioritizes rewards for self at the expense of rewards for others. These results support the conclusion that, compared to adults, children and adolescents show greater sensitivity to outcomes for others when making decisions and learning about potential rewards.
A design approach for noncausal robust Iterative Learning Control using worst case disturbance optimisation

In this paper, we present a novel iterative learning control (ILC) strategy that is robust against model uncertainty, as given by a system model and an additive uncertainty bound. The design methodology hinges on Hinfin optimisation, however, the procedure is modified such that the ILC controller is noncausal and inherently acts on a finite time interval. The resulting controller has the structure of a norm optimal ILC controller, so that robustness can be easily assessed. Furthermore, in an example, we show that the presented robust ILC controller can outperform linear quadratic ILC controllers.
Sensitive and quantitative measurement of gene expression directly from a small amount of whole blood.

BACKGROUND Accurate and precise quantification of mRNA in whole blood is made difficult by gene expression changes during blood processing, and by variations and biases introduced by sample preparations. We sought to develop a quantitative whole-blood mRNA assay that eliminates blood purification, RNA isolation, reverse transcription, and target amplification while providing high-quality data in an easy assay format. METHODS We performed single- and multiplex gene expression analysis with multiple hybridization probes to capture mRNA directly from blood lysate and used branched DNA to amplify the signal. The 96-well plate singleplex assay uses chemiluminescence detection, and the multiplex assay combines Luminex-encoded beads with fluorescent detection. RESULTS The single- and multiplex assays could quantitatively measure as few as 6000 and 24,000 mRNA target molecules (0.01 and 0.04 amoles), respectively, in up to 25 microL of whole blood. Both formats had CVs < 10% and dynamic ranges of 3-4 logs. Assay sensitivities allowed quantitative measurement of gene expression in the minority of cells in whole blood. The signals from whole-blood lysate correlated well with signals from purified RNA of the same sample, and absolute mRNA quantification results from the assay were similar to those obtained by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. Both single- and multiplex assay formats were compatible with common anticoagulants and PAXgene-treated samples; however, PAXgene preparations induced expression of known antiapoptotic genes in whole blood. CONCLUSIONS Both the singleplex and the multiplex branched DNA assays can quantitatively measure mRNA expression directly from small volumes of whole blood. The assay offers an alternative to current technologies that depend on RNA isolation and is amenable to high-throughput gene expression analysis of whole blood.
A 131-Year High-Resolution Record of Coccolith Assemblages in Laminated Sediments from the Arabian Sea

This study looked at a 131-year high-resolution record of coccolith assemblages in laminated sediments from the Arabian Sea. The SO90-39KG core obtained from the northeastern Arabian Sea was sampled at an annual resolution for the period of 1861-1993 A.D. Analyses of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of these samples revealed a declining trend in the relative abundances of the upper to mid photic zones coccolithophore species and an increasing trend in the relative abundances of the lower photic zone coccolithophore species over the 20 th century. These trends could be the result of a reduction in paleoproductivity caused by the deepening of the nutricline and the thermocline due to a warming climate. The 1883 A.D. Krakatau eruption was also evident in the results as decreased paleoproductivity. Similarities between the observed trends and monsoon precipitation as well as sunspot cycle records were also observed. No particular similarity with El-Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) record could be detected. Caution should be observed regarding the correlation of the results obtained here to past climatic and geologic events.
Combining Decision Trees Learned in

Very large data sets may be utilized for visualization. To focus attention on the salient regions of a data set being visualized, it is useful to have information on the interesting regions of data. It is possible to learn the salience of regions of data but very slow, if possible, to do so serially on currently available terabyte plus datasets. This paper describes an approach in which decision trees can be learned in parallel from disjoint subsets of a complete data set. The learned decision trees are converted to rules and the rules are combined into a single rule set. The combination process is based on an approach, suggested in Williams 1990 disserta-tion, in which rules that match one or more examples but assign them to diierent classes are resolved. Similar rules are also combined into more general rules. An alternate approach to combining the rule sets based on work of Provost and Hennessy 1996 is also discussed. Results on two small data sets indicate the decision tree to rules with rule connict resolution approach has promise.
Korsakoff's syndrome: radiological (CT) findings and neuropsychological correlates

Quantitative analyses were performed on computer tomography (CT) scans from 7 patients with Korsakoff's syndrome, 7 age-matched alcoholic subjects, and 7 age-matched healthy control subjects. CT values were used to estimate tissue density and fluid volume in specified brain areas. Tissue density was assessed by averaging CT values in small (5 x 5 mm) areas sampled bilaterally in 6 specified areas--thalamus, head of the caudate nucleus, putamen, anterior white matter, posterior white matter, and centrum semiovale. We assessed fluid volume using a semiautomated computer algorithm that estimated the proportion of fluid in 7 brain regions--total ventricular space, third ventricle, interventricular region, frontal sulci, peri-Sylvian region, medial cerebellum, and vertex. For the patients with Korsakoff's syndrome, we also assessed the correlation between CT measures and performance on 6 cognitive and 12 memory tests. Compared with alcoholic subjects and healthy control subjects, patients with Korsakoff's syndrome had lower CT density values bilaterally in the region of the thalamus and had greater estimated fluid bilaterally in the region of the third ventricle. Alcoholic and healthy control subjects did not differ on these measures. Significant cortical atrophy in frontal sulcal and peri- Sylvian areas was detected both in patients with Korsakoff's syndrome and in alcoholic subjects. For patients with Korsakoff's syndrome, impairment on behavioral tests, and on memory tests in particular, was correlated with low-density values in the thalamus and with high fluid values in the region of the frontal sulci. Damage to diencephalic and frontal areas may especially contribute to the memory and cognitive impairment exhibited by patients with Korsakoff's syndrome.
Swift: Compiled Inference for Probabilistic Programming Languages

A probabilistic program defines a probability measure over its semantic structures. One common goal of probabilistic programming languages (PPLs) is to compute posterior probabilities for arbitrary models and queries, given observed evidence, using a generic inference engine. Most PPL inference engines---even the compiled ones---incur significant runtime interpretation overhead, especially for contingent and open-universe models. This paper describes Swift, a compiler for the BLOG PPL. Swift-generated code incorporates optimizations that eliminate interpretation overhead, maintain dynamic dependencies efficiently, and handle memory management for possible worlds of varying sizes. Experiments comparing Swift with other PPL engines on a variety of inference problems demonstrate speedups ranging from 12x to 326x.
Optimizing Automatic Speech Recognition for Low-Proficient Non-Native Speakers

Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) applications for improving the oral skills of low-proficient learners have to cope with non-native speech that is particularly challenging. Since unconstrained non-native ASR is still problematic, a possible solution is to elicit constrained responses from the learners. In this paper, we describe experiments aimed at selecting utterances from lists of responses. The first experiment on utterance selection indicates that the decoding process can be improved by optimizing the language model and the acoustic models, thus reducing the utterance error rate from 29–26% to 10–8%. Since giving feedback on incorrectly recognized utterances is confusing, we verify the correctness of the utterance before providing feedback. The results of the second experiment on utterance verification indicate that combining duration-related features with a likelihood ratio (LR) yield an equal error rate (EER) of 10.3%, which is significantly better than the EER for the other measures in isolation.
Późnopaleozoiczne utwory piroklastyczne z Regulic k. Alwerni

LATE PALEOZOIC PYROCLASTIC DEPOSITS FROM REGULICE NEAR ALWERNIA Summary The Late Paleozoic lava cover occurring in Regulice near Cracow comprises melaphyry lava flows interbedded with pyroclastic horizons. The pyroclastics are composed of two contemporaneous subaerial fallout tephras of diverse provenance. They are: melaphyry and rhyolitic tephras, which differ in their chemical and mineral composition, as well as in their structural features. The melaphyry tephra composed of lapilli and bombs is interpreted as a near source (vent) facies of a basic eruption, consanguineous with the melaphyry lava flows. The rhyolitic tephra represented by fluvial-aeolian dust tuft is probably a distaI facies of some acidic eruption. Sedimentological features of the studied pyroclastic deposits indicate that they were formed under the conditions of continental, semi-arid environment.
Comprehending monads

Category theorists invented monads in the 1960's to concisely express certain aspects of universal algebra. Functional programmers invented list comprehensions in the 1970's to concisely express certain programs involving lists. This paper shows how list comprehensions may be generalised to an arbitrary monad, and how the resulting programming feature can concisely express in a pure functional language some programs that manipulate state, handle exceptions, parse text, or invoke continuations. A new solution to the old problem of destructive array update is also presented. No knowledge of category theory is assumed.
Determinants of the Competitive Advantage of Residential Tourism Destinations in Spain

This paper focuses on an analysis of the tourism competitiveness of residential destinations on the Spanish coast, applying Porter's competitive advantage theory. This analysis is conducted with a hypothesis test using a structural equation model based on Porter's competitive diamond. The paper shows that by analysing a range of variables, it is possible to develop attributes related to competitiveness which constitute Porter's diamond model, confirming that this theory is appropriate for explaining the tourism development processes in residential tourism destinations on the Spanish coast. The results show how the competitive difference between destinations in such a specific geographical area is based mainly on small details belonging to the advanced factors of the competitive advantage theory. Finally, there is cause for concern in the fact that the supporting and related sectors determinant has a negative influence on competitiveness.