Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Compact and Low-Power SoC Design for Spiking Neural Network Based on Current Multiplier Charge Injector Synapse

This paper presents a compact analog system-on-chip (SoC) implementation of a spiking neural network (SNN) for low-power Internet of Things (IoT) applications. The low-power implementation of an SNN SoC requires the optimization of not only the SNN model but also the architecture and circuit designs. In this work, the SNN has been constituted from the analog neuron and synaptic circuits, which are designed to optimize both the chip area and power consumption. The proposed synapse circuit is based on a current multiplier charge injector (CMCI) circuit, which can significantly reduce power consumption and chip area compared with the previous work while allowing for design scalability for higher resolutions. The proposed neuron circuit employs an asynchronous structure, which makes it highly sensitive to input synaptic currents and enables it to achieve higher energy efficiency. To compare the performance of the proposed SoC in its area and power consumption, we implemented a digital SoC for the same SNN model in FPGA. The proposed SNN chip, when trained using the MNIST dataset, achieves a classification accuracy of 96.56%. The presented SNN chip has been implemented using a 65 nm CMOS process for fabrication. The entire chip occupies 0.96 mm2 and consumes an average power of 530 μW, which is 200 times lower than its digital counterpart.
Short-Term Labor Supply Response to the Timing of Transfer Payments: Evidence from the Snap Program

IZA DP No. 16299 JULY 2023 Short-Term Labor Supply Response to the Timing of Transfer Payments: Evidence from the SNAP Program We study the effect of the timing of SNAP payments on weekly labor supply using data from the CPS. We rely on exogenous variation in the fielding of CPS interviews relative to benefit receipt to estimate labor supply of SNAP eligible individuals at the end of their SNAP benefit cycle (i.e. about to receive benefits) compared to individuals at the start of their cycle (i.e. just received benefits). We find that the timing of SNAP benefits impacts labor supply at the intensive margin, while the extensive margin is unaffected. Conditional on being employed, eligible individuals at the end of their SNAP cycle are more likely to be absent from work compared to individuals at the start of their SNAP cycle. They are also less likely to temporarily shift to full time work. Results are more pronounced for individuals with higher predicted benefit amounts. Our findings suggest that a worsening of individuals’ status (e.g. health problems, child care issues) at the end of their SNAP cycle adversely impacts short-term work presence. JEL Classification: J22, I38
Physiological Responses during Parental Conflicts as Potential Biomarkers for Adolescent Depression

Adolescents are a vulnerable population with a high prevalence of depression, yet there is a scarcity of biological markers for diagnosing depression specifically in this age group. In this case–control study, we examined physiological responses and facial expressions in adolescents with depression compared to healthy controls during parental conflict to identify potential biomarkers for adolescent depression. We recruited 33 families with adolescents diagnosed with depression and 25 families with healthy adolescents, matched for gender, age, and education. Baseline physiological measures, including electrocardiography (ECG), electrodermal activity (EDA), and respiration (RESP). During a 30 min parental conflict discussion, recorded on video, we analyzed the adolescents’ responses. The major depressive disorder (MDD) group displayed higher baseline heart rate (HR) and lower respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). During the conflict discussion, they showed increased HR and shorter tonic periods of EDA compared to the healthy group. Facial expressions of both groups included neutral, sad, angry, and surprised. The MDD group exhibited fewer happy expressions. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that HR, interbeat interval (IBI), average NN interval (AVNN), number of NN50 intervals (NN50), and percentage of NN50 intervals (pNN50) had diagnostic potential for adolescent depression, with an area under the curve (AUC) greater than 0.7. Our findings suggest that adolescents with depression experience heightened sympathetic activation (higher HR) and weakened parasympathetic activity (lower RSA and HRV). These biomarkers hold promise for diagnosing adolescent depression.
Quantized sliding mode control in delta operator framework

This paper is concerned with quantized sliding mode control in the unified delta operator system framework. To solve the quantization measurement saturating problem, a dynamic quantization strategy including discrete on‐line open‐loop zooming‐out and closed‐loop zooming‐in policies is presented. By analyzing the sign relation between the traditional linear switching function and the quantized linear switching function, a novel quantized sliding mode control method is proposed, and both the amplitude of the control gain and the value of the quantization measurement saturating parameter are reduced compared with previous results. Some simulation results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Detection of Pilot’s Mental Workload Using a Wireless EEG Headset in Airfield Traffic Pattern Tasks

Elevated mental workload (MWL) experienced by pilots can result in increased reaction times or incorrect actions, potentially compromising flight safety. This study aims to develop a functional system to assist administrators in identifying and detecting pilots’ real-time MWL and evaluate its effectiveness using designed airfield traffic pattern tasks within a realistic flight simulator. The perceived MWL in various situations was assessed and labeled using NASA Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) scores. Physiological features were then extracted using a fast Fourier transformation with 2-s sliding time windows. Feature selection was conducted by comparing the results of the Kruskal-Wallis (K-W) test and Sequential Forward Floating Selection (SFFS). The results proved that the optimal input was all PSD features. Moreover, the study analyzed the effects of electroencephalography (EEG) features from distinct brain regions and PSD changes across different MWL levels to further assess the proposed system’s performance. A 10-fold cross-validation was performed on six classifiers, and the optimal accuracy of 87.57% was attained using a multi-class K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) classifier for classifying different MWL levels. The findings indicate that the wireless headset-based system is reliable and feasible. Consequently, numerous wireless EEG device-based systems can be developed for application in diverse real-driving scenarios. Additionally, the current system contributes to future research on actual flight conditions.
A REVIEW OF ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF ARCHI-PRENEURSHIP PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

This article appraises issues and opportunities of architectural entrepreneurship (archi-preneurship) practice in Nigeria. It recognises the relevance of entrepreneurial orientation in the architectural syllabus as a consequence of the emerging issues facing the career path and derived from students' long-term educational needs to prepare them for a successful job in a competitive global economy. Hence, industrialisation, job creation, and poverty alleviation processes are accentuated by entrepreneurship. To find out these issues and opportunities of archi-preneurship, a systematic review approach was adopted to source current relevant data from Academia, Elsevier, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, MDPI, and ResearchGate databases for this study, which focused on programmes relating to the architecture profession that can help entrepreneurs grow and make conclusions. The concepts of entrepreneurship, architecture, and technology were explored. Five specialisation areas that would potentially facilitate entrepreneurial prospects in Nigeria were identified, and the challenges they present to architects. These components include architecture consultation; research and application of building information modeling (BIM) technologies; property development and construction, retrofitting and energy efficiency; sustainable building material science; and urban design. Some available skills architecture graduates could engage in include landscaping, interior design, graphics and animation, project management, architecture blogging, forensic architecture, and building pathology among others. The study outlines different aspects that architects should consider to de-emphasise the hunt for non-existent office employment and embrace self-occupation. Also, more entrepreneurial training skills and development programmes should be established, as well as a reassessment of the present syllabi to instill business knowledge at all stages of architecture education.
Time-averaged asymmetries and oscillatory global modes of vortex flows over a slender wing

Previous studies indicate that vortex pairs over slender wings can produce time-averaged asymmetries even before the occurrence of vortex breakdown, but the sources for the asymmetries are still not clear. The present investigation uses numerical simulations and experimental measurements to explore the physical nature for the symmetry breaking of vortices. The results indicate that the time-averaged asymmetries come from a spatial growth of local disturbances (spatial instability) instead of a temporal instability. In numerical simulations, the time-averaged flows around a perfectly symmetric wing exhibit symmetric vortex pairs in which any asymmetric initial perturbation will decay and eventually converge to symmetric flows. However, if a geometric micro-perturbation is asymmetrically placed on the apex, asymmetric vortex pairs can be produced; downstream sectional perturbation energy grows spatially, and the growth rates increase with increasing angle of attack. The spatial perturbation growth mainly comes from antisymmetric modes, whereas symmetric modes have smaller growth rates. The experimental results indicate that artificial apex perturbations can overwhelm natural irregularities on the apex and dominate the orientations of asymmetric vortices. Unsteady aspects of the flows were also studied before vortex breakdown, with the emphasis put on oscillatory global modes by applying dynamic mode decomposition to the entire flow field. It was found that the most energetic modes are related to vortex shedding around trailing edges and instabilities of downstream shear layers, which has significant contributions to fluctuations of aerodynamic forces and moments. The vortex shedding exhibits strong three dimensionality characterized by oblique shedding and a beating phenomenon.
Ellen Churchill Semple’s Political Economy: Slavery, Frontier, Imperium

Ellen Churchill Semple (1863–1932), the first woman president of the Association of American Geographers, was a pivotal figure in the formation of twentieth century human geography and geopolitics. Her oeuvre, however, is often situated exclusively within the tradition of Friedrich Ratzel’s Anthropogeographie. Crucially, an equally important source of inspiration predated Semple’s encounter with the German geographer and remains largely unaccounted for: Anglophone liberal political economy. This article argues that from her 1891 dissertation on slavery until her 1931 book on the geography of the ancient Mediterranean, Semple mobilized a framework of liberal political economy to reconcile tensions she imagined between her country’s legacy of slavery and her support for its growing empire. This strand of her thought highlights the political versatility of anthropogeography and sheds new light on the interplay of geopolitics and liberalism that haunts U.S. security, trade, and migration policy to this day. Key Words: anthropogeography, Ellen Churchill Semple, empire, frontier, liberalism, slavery.
Impacts of Business Architecture in the Context of Digital Transformation: An Empirical Study Using PLS-SEM Approach

Despite the critical importance of Digital Transformation, up to 95% of initiatives fail to deliver expected business benefits. This paper explores the role of Business Architecture practices in enhancing digital transformation success. Using an adapted Balanced Scorecard approach and a Structural Equation Model (SEM), we analysed survey responses from 129 industry practitioners using a Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach. Our findings indicate that effective business architecture practices significantly improve business alignment, efficiency, service delivery, and strategic outcomes, leading to successful digital transformation. The study also validates factors proposed by AL-Malaise AL-Ghamdi (2017) in the context of digital transformation. The paper presents an adapted conceptual model addressing discriminant validity issues in previous models and benefiting from the robustness of the Balanced Scorecard approach. The study concludes by highlighting the essential role of business architecture in driving digital transformation success.
Comparative Label-Free Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Milk Proteomic Profiles Highlight Putative Differences between the Autochthon Teramana and Saanen Goat Breeds

Simple Summary Milk is a valuable source of proteins and other nutrients. Changes in milk production toward systems that obtain increased milk yield have resulted in a change in milk composition in large and small ruminants, such as goats. A better characterisation of breeds that undergo a limited formal crossbreeding, such as the Teramana goat is pivotal in order to obtain useful data that could be applied for the management of the breed. Proteomic technologies have brought significant advances in the characteristion of new proteins. In this study, this technology was used to compare the proteome of the autochthon Teramana and Saanen breeds, which are commonly used by the industry to allow for the identification of a cohort of proteins that were able to discriminate the two goat breeds. Proteomics offered the potentiality for a deeper investigation of the biological differences of the breeds under study in a substrate easy to obtain. Abstract Goat’s milk is an excellent source of nutrients, with greater benefits compared to cow’s milk. Limited information is available on autochthon goat breeds, which are important for biodiversity preservation. In this study, the aim of using label-free quantification was to investigate the milk proteome of two goat breeds, the autochthon Teramana and Saanen breeds, which are commonly used by the industry. Utilising label-free proteomic analysis, 749 and 666 proteins, respectively were identified and quantified from the Teramana and Saanen goat milk. Moreover, utilising statistical analysis, 29 proteins were able to discriminate the two goat breeds, with many of the identified proteins involved in complement and coagulation cascades. This work enhances our understanding of the goat milk proteome and shows differences between the two breeds, leading to an important contribution toward a more detailed molecular-view of this unique substrate. Additionally, charactersation of the milk proteins can help in guiding genetic improvements in the goat herds, and thus increasing its use in human nutrition.
Contrail radiative dependence on ice particle number concentration

Recent studies on low aromatic fuels have shown that lower soot number emissions may reduce contrail ice particle number concentrations (N ice). Here we implemented, in a sophisticated radiative transfer model, two ice particle size distribution schemes in order to estimate the contrail radiative forcing’s (RFs) dependence on these prospective N ice reductions resulting from the introduction of sustainable aviation fuels. The results show that an 85% contrail N ice reduction produces a 35% smaller contrail RF, while neglecting all non-radiative effects. This estimate of an RF reduction only considers the effects of the N ice change assumed here, and neglects other potentially important microphysical mechanisms that may change the relationship between soot number emissions and N ice. A comparison of our results with previous published estimates from full climate model simulations, shows similar RF reductions to those which also take into account non-radiative mechanisms, evidencing the need for more studies in order to allocate the contribution from radiative and non-radiative changes, as this would guide possible mitigation implementations. Despite these modeled contrail RF reductions being largely independent of the assumed ice water content (IWC), it is only through simultaneous improvement of the IWC and N ice representation in models that contrail RF estimates can be better constrained. This is because our calculated RF varied by a factor of 3 when assuming a ±30% IWC range; and by a factor of 5 if a, still conservative, ±60% IWC range was prescribed, suggesting that the differences in the prescribed IWC and N ice values in different models may explain the large discrepancies amongst published RF estimates. Recent estimates of higher N ice values, and lower IWCs found in contrails even after several hours, compared to surrounding cirrus under similar atmospheric conditions, were assessed to conclude that it is mainly the differences in IWC that make young contrails have a smaller RF, and to reduce our previous estimate for linear contrail RF for year 2006 by 65%.
Barriers to Using Breast Cancer Screening Methods Among Adult Females in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide and it considerably increases morbidity and mortality globally. Screening methods, such as self-examination, clinical examination, and mammography, can help in early detection and treatment, which will help in improving survival rates and reducing mortality. While regular screening of the breast is essential to detect the earliest stages of breast cancer, not all women adhere to regular breast screening. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, between December 2021 to July 2022. using an online self-administered questionnaire. The total number of responses (n = 328), Data was analyzed using SPSS 25. Results In this study, out of the 328 respondents, 18.9% reported undergoing regular mammography, 14.3% reported having regular clinical breast examinations, and 38.1% reported practicing regular breast self-examinations. In addition, the participants' most known warning signs of BC were a lump under their armpit (69.1%). the most perceived barrier to breast self-examination (BSE) was Doing a breast examination will make her worry about what is wrong with her breast (47%). whereas the most barrier to clinical breast examination (CBE) was embarrassment (45.9%). On the other hand, the main barriers that prevented women from having mammograms were embarrassment (36%) and pain (32.6%). Conclusion The most perceived barrier to BSE was women’s concern, while embarrassment and painful procedures were significant barriers to performing mammography and CBE. Therefore, adult females in Jeddah need educational programs to improve their knowledge and increase public awareness of breast cancer screening for early detection.
Barriers to BIM Implementation in Bridge Construction: A Case Study

The purpose of this research was to find the barriers that hinder the implementation of BIM in bridge projects (BrIM). This was done by a bibliographic analysis and the application of an evaluation tool to a case study, corresponding to a Chilean road project with an important number of bridges. Based on the literature, twenty-three barriers were found, which were then validated through the application of the survey to the case study, resulting the main barriers: “Interoperability problems between different BIM software”, and “Differences between BIM for buildings and BIM for bridges”. Then, a risk analysis was run, concluding that the barriers in bridge projects cause high levels of impact when implementing BIM. Thus, this research may help project and engineering managers to have a first approximation to the most recurring barriers in BrIM and how to rank them according to their impact. Finally, for future research, the findings of this study can be extended to other complex projects — such as bridges — but with different levels of uncertainty, that allow finding new barriers or confirm those found here.
Clodronate Liposome-Mediated Phagocytic Hemocyte Depletion Affects the Regeneration of the Cephalic Tentacle of the Invasive Snail, Pomacea canaliculata

Simple Summary In the adult freshwater snail, Pomacea canaliculata, their cephalic sensory tentacles can regenerate after experimental amputation. Immediately after the amputation, the wound closes and a hemocyte-rich blastema is formed, but whether hemocytes play a role in blastema formation and the regeneration process is not known. Here, we have analyzed the effects of the chemical depletion of phagocytic hemocytes on tentacle regeneration. The transient depletion of phagocytic hemocytes was achieved by injecting the snails with clodronate liposomes before tentacle amputation. Flow cytometry demonstrated the effects of clodronate liposomes on molluscan phagocytic hemocytes. Histological analysis, followed by an application of an in-house developed semi-automated hemocyte count protocol, documented that in phagocytic hemocyte-depleted snails, the regeneration process was significantly delayed. When the number of circulating phagocytic hemocytes was restored to the control values, the regeneration process recovered. The expression in the blastema of genes associated with hemocyte-mediated functions, like oxygen transport, clotting and inflammation, was evaluated using RT-qPCR. Consistent with flow cytometry and histochemical observations, the blastema from clodronate liposome-injected snails, presented significantly modified gene expression levels, thus reinforcing the hypothesis of an active role of hemocytes in the onset of tentacle regeneration. Abstract After amputation, granular hemocytes infiltrate the blastema of regenerating cephalic tentacles of the freshwater snail Pomacea canaliculata. Here, the circulating phagocytic hemocytes were chemically depleted by injecting the snails with clodronate liposomes, and the effects on the cephalic tentacle regeneration onset and on Pc-Hemocyanin, Pc-transglutaminase (Pc-TG) and Pc-Allograft Inflammatory Factor-1 (Pc-AIF-1) gene expressions were investigated. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that clodronate liposomes targeted large circulating hemocytes, resulting in a transient decrease in their number. Corresponding with the phagocyte depletion, tentacle regeneration onset was halted, and it resumed at the expected pace when clodronate liposome effects were no longer visible. In addition to the regeneration progress, the expressions of Pc-Hemocyanin, Pc-TG, and Pc-AIF-1, which are markers of hemocyte-mediated functions like oxygen transport and immunity, clotting, and inflammation, were modified. After the injection of clodronate liposomes, a specific computer-assisted image analysis protocol still evidenced the presence of granular hemocytes in the tentacle blastema. This is consistent with reports indicating the large and agranular hemocyte population as the most represented among the professional phagocytes of P. canaliculata and with the hypothesis that different hemocyte morphologies could exert diverse biological functions, as it has been observed in other invertebrates.