Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A TSK-type neurofuzzy network approach to system modeling problems

We develop a neurofuzzy network technique to extract TSK-type fuzzy rules from a given set of input-output data for system modeling problems. Fuzzy clusters are generated incrementally from the training dataset, and similar clusters are merged dynamically together through input-similarity, output-similarity, and output-variance tests. The associated membership functions are defined with statistical means and deviations. Each cluster corresponds to a fuzzy IF-THEN rule, and the obtained rules can be further refined by a fuzzy neural network with a hybrid learning algorithm which combines a recursive singular value decomposition-based least squares estimator and the gradient descent method. The proposed technique has several advantages. The information about input and output data subspaces is considered simultaneously for cluster generation and merging. Membership functions match closely with and describe properly the real distribution of the training data points. Redundant clusters are combined, and the sensitivity to the input order of training data is reduced. Besides, generation of the whole set of clusters from the scratch can be avoided when new training data are considered.
Personalized Driver Stress Detection with Multi-task Neural Networks using Physiological Signals

Stress can be seen as a physiological response to everyday emotional, mental and physical challenges. A long-term exposure to stressful situations can have negative health consequences, such as increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and immune system disorder. Therefore, a timely stress detection can lead to systems for better management and prevention in future circumstances. In this paper, we suggest a multi-task learning based neural network approach (with hard parameter sharing of mutual representation and task-specific layers) for personalized stress recognition using skin conductance and heart rate from wearable devices. The proposed method is tested on multi-modal physiological responses collected during real-world and simulator driving tasks.
Contribution à la commande vectorielle d'un actionneur asynchrone avec et sans capteur mécanique : conception, réalisation et évaluation de commandes numériques par orientation du flux statorique

Le travail realise dans le cadre de cette these presente une commande vectorielle numerique par orientation du flux statorique d'un actionneur asynchrone avec et sans capteur mecanique. L'analyse de l'evolution des grandeurs caracteristiques de la machine nous a permis d'adopter la commande par orientation de flux statorique. La sensibilite des algorithmes de commandes (directe et indirecte) et de la reconstitution du flux statorique (par estimation ou par observation) dependent essentiellement de la variation des resistances statorique et rotorique. Pour avoir une commande performante, a l'arret et a tres basse vitesse, une reactualisation des resistances statorique et rotorique est necessaire. La presentation de la methode correspondante a ete realisee. Pour la commande vectorielle sans capteur mecanique, la vitesse de rotation est determinee a partir de la frequence de glissement. La frequence de glissement est estimee a partir du courant statorique mesure et du courant de reference de l'axe en quadrature. La variation de la resistance statorique est estimee a partir du courant statorique mesure et du courant de reference de l'axe direct. L'estimation de la variation de la resistance rotorique, suppose que celle-ci varie lineairement avec la variation de la resistance statorique. Un banc d'essai experimental equipe d'une carte dspace ds1102 a base d'un processeur de traitement de signal numerique (dsp) tms320c31 a ete realise pour valider les resultats de simulation. Les resultats experimentaux montrent la qualite des performances en regime statique et dynamique de l'actionneur asynchrone et confirment la validite de la methode proposee.
The very-long-chain acyl-coA dehydrogenase gene maps to pig chromosome 12.

Source and Description of Primers. Primers for the very-long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (ACADVL) gene were designed from a bovine cDNA sequence (GenBank accession No. U30817) aligned with the human ACADVL gene (GenBank accession No. L46590). The forward primer was 5¢-TTT GGG GAG AAA ATT CAC AAC-3¢ and the reverse primer was 5¢-GCG GCC TCT ATC TGG AAG T-3¢. The amplification product was expected to span from exon 11 to exon 12 of the ACADVL gene. Exonic parts (103 bp) of the pig sequence were 91% identical at the nucleotide level with the human ACADVL sequence. The pig sequence produced here has been submitted to GenBank (accession no. AF022255).
FPGA-based lossless compressors of floating-point data streams to enhance memory bandwidth

This paper presents an FPGA-based lossless compressor which directly compresses floating-point data streams to enhance the actual memory bandwidth of lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) accelerators. We show that the compression algorithms based on the 1D polynomial prediction are suitable for high-throughput hardware design. Moreover we show that integer operations provide comparable prediction performance to a floating-point predictor, while an integer predictor is expected to have smaller circuits than a floating-point one. We evaluate the compression ratio, the operating frequency and the resource consumption of the compressors with integer-based predictors through their prototype implementation using ALTERA Stratix III FPGA. We demonstrate that the implemented compressors dominate only 0.15 to 0.23 % of the entire logic resources and operate at 95 to 174 MHz to provide the compression ratio of up to 3.5, which means that we can enhance the memory bandwidth by a factor of 3.5 on average.
A 16.5 giga events/s 1024 × 8 SPAD line sensor with per-pixel zoomable 50ps-6.4ns/bin histogramming TDC

A 1024 × 8 single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) based line sensor for time resolved spectroscopy is implemented in 0.13 μm imaging CMOS with 23.78 μm pixel pitch at 49.31% fill factor. The line sensor can operate in single photon counting (SPC) mode (65 giga-events/s), time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) mode (194 million events/s) or histogramming mode (16.5 giga-events/s), increasing the count rate up to 85 times compared to TCSPC operation. This performance is enabled by a 512 channel histogramming TDC with 50ps-6.4ns/bin zoomable time resolution.
Social and Economic Impact of Disasters: Estimating the Threshold between Low and High Levels of Risk

Catastrophes caused by natural hazards that hit “without warning” serve as grim reminders of the challenge that governments and civil society face in identifying and protecting the areas that are at risk of extreme events. This paper presents a methodology to estimate the threshold of social and economic impact of disasters that indicate events that were the manifestation of high levels of risk. It shows the result of the application of the methodology to Desinventar dataset, which covers 20 countries/regions, and the change in the level of the threshold in the past forty years. The methodology is expected to contribute to the international effort to identify, assess and monitor disaster risks to allow the effective integration of risk reduction into development strategies.
Early Real-Time Estimation of the Basic Reproduction Number of Emerging Infectious Diseases

When an infectious disease strikes a population, the number of newly reported cases is often the only available information that one can obtain during early stages of the outbreak. An important goal of early outbreak analysis is to obtain a reliable estimate for the basic reproduction number, R0, from the limited information available. We present a novel method that enables us to make a reliable real-time estimate of the reproduction number at a much earlier stage compared to other available methods. Our method takes into account the possibility that a disease has a wide distribution of infectious period and that the degree distribution of the contact network is heterogeneous. We validate our analytical framework with numerical simulations.
Solving a Dial-a-Ride Problem with a Hybrid Multi-objective Evolutionary Approach: Application to Demand Responsive Transport

Demand responsive transport allows customers to be carried to their destination as with a taxi service, provided that the customers are grouped in the same vehicles in order to reduce operational costs. This kind of service is related to the dial-a-ride problem. However, in order to improve the quality of service, demand responsive transport needs more flexibility. This paper tries to address this issue by proposing an original evolutionary approach. In order to propose a set of compromise solutions to the decision-maker, this approach optimizes three objectives concurrently. Moreover, in order to intensify the search process, this multi-objective evolutionary approach is hybridized with a local search. Results obtained on random and realistic problems are detailed to compare three state-of-the-art algorithms and discussed from an operational point of view.
Parent–Child Relationship Quality and Internet Use in a Developing Country: Adolescents’ Perspectives

Objective The goal of the study was to explore the relationship between parent–children relationships related to using the internet among kids and potentially associated factors. Materials and Methods A sample of 1.216 Vietnamese students between the ages of 12 and 18 agreed to participate in the cross-sectional online survey. Data collected included socioeconomic characteristics and internet use status of participants, their perceived changes in relationship and communication between parents and children since using the internet, and parental control toward the child’s internet use. An Ordered Logistic Regression was carried out to determine factors associated with parent–children relationship since using the internet. Results The characteristics of the relationship between children and their parents since using the Internet were divided into three levels: deterioration (7.0%), stability (78.2%), and improvement (14.8%). The topics that children most often communicate with their parents include learning, housework, and future directions. Two-way interactive activities, such as supporting parents to use the Internet, have a positive impact on the parent–child relationship. Stubborn parental control, such as establishing rules about contact or allowing Internet access and setting up global positioning system (GPS) to track negatively affecting parent–child relationships. Conclusion Findings indicated that changes in the quality of the parent–child relationship were self-assessed by participants regard to kids’ internet use, especially in the COVID-19 epidemic context. Educational campaigns and programs to raise awareness of parents as to the dangers and negative influences that their children may encounter online, psychology of children’s behaviors and effects of different responding strategies are recommended.
Optimisation des plans d'essais accélérés Application à la tenue en fatigue de pièces métalliques de liaison au sol

Dans l'industrie, et en particulier dans le domaine automobile, il est crucial de valider la fiabilite des systemes de maniere efficace, rapide et a moindre cout. Les pieces de Liaison Au Sol chez PSA sont soumises au phenomene de fatigue et leur conception est validee a partir de calculs mais aussi et principalement d'essais physiques. Les methodologies globales de qualification en fatigue sont basees sur un protocole d'essai specifique et une methode d'estimation associee. Les travaux presentes ici presentent tout d'abord un etat de l'art de methodologies globales de qualification en fatigue, issues de la litterature et des applications PSA. Ces differents axes d'etude sont compares par simulation numerique afin d'en definir la robustesse, l'efficacite et le cout. A l'issu de cette etude, une methodologie globale efficace a ete developpee, et en partie mise en place. L'ensemble des travaux permet tout d'abord d'avoir un point de vue critique sur les methodologies d'estimation de la fiabilite par les essais. Ils ont mene a la mise en place d'une amelioration des strategies actuelles et ouvre la voie a des changements d'envergure chez PSA.
Nouvelles propriétés de l'Analyse en Composantes Communes et Poids Spécifiques

L'Analyse en Composantes Communes et Poids Specifiques (ACCPS) est une methode qui permet de traiter simultanement des tableaux multiples apparies par lignes. Elle stipule l'existence de composantes communes pour tous les tableaux mais les « poids » de ces tableaux pour chacune des composantes peuvent etre differents. Cette methode a ete introduite pour analyser des tableaux dans le cadre de l'evaluation sensorielle. Par la suite, la methode a ete appliquee dans le cadre du couplage de plusieurs appareils de mesure et la caracterisation d'aliments par des methodes instrumentales telles que la spectroscopie infrarouge et l'analyse d'images multispectrales. Des proprietes de l'ACCPS sont demontrees permettant de l'enrichir en procurant de nouveaux outils d'interpretation. En particulier, une nouvelle formulation de la methode est proposee conduisant a un algorithme pour la determination des composantes communes et des poids specifiques plus rapide que l'algorithme original. L'interet de l'ACCPS et des proprietes discutees dans cet article est illustre sur la base d'une etude de cas en evaluation sensorielle.
Progress of Trachoma Mapping in Mainland Tanzania: Results of Baseline Surveys from 2012 to 2014

ABSTRACT Purpose: Following surveys in 2004–2006 in 50 high-risk districts of mainland Tanzania, trachoma was still suspected to be widespread elsewhere. We report on baseline surveys undertaken from 2012 to 2014. Methods: A total of 31 districts were surveyed. In 2012 and 2013, 12 at-risk districts were selected based on proximity to known trachoma endemic districts, while in 2014, trachoma rapid assessments were undertaken, and 19 of 55 districts prioritized for baseline surveys. A multi-stage cluster random sampling methodology was applied whereby 20 villages (clusters) and 36 households per cluster were surveyed. Eligible participants, children aged 1–9 years and people aged 15 years and older, were examined for trachoma using the World Health Organization simplified grading system. Results: A total of 23,171 households were surveyed and 104,959 participants (92.3% of those enumerated) examined for trachoma signs. A total of 44,511 children aged 1–9 years and 65,255 people aged 15 years and older were examined for trachomatous inflammation–follicular (TF) and trichiasis, respectively. Prevalence of TF varied by district, ranging from 0.0% (95% confidence interval, CI 0.0–0.1%) in Mbinga to 11.8% (95% CI 6.8–16.5%) in Chunya. Trichiasis prevalence was lowest in Urambo (0.03%, 95% CI 0.00–0.24%) and highest in Kibaha (1.08%, 95% CI 0.74–1.43%). Conclusion: Only three districts qualified for mass drug administration with azithromycin. Trichiasis is still a public health problem in many districts, thus community-based trichiasis surgery should be considered to prevent blindness due to trachoma. These findings will facilitate achievement of trachoma elimination objectives.
FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION AND HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: EVIDENCE FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COUNTRIES

Economic development must be sustainable, improving and dynamic in order to achieve the critical goal of poverty alleviation. A review of extant literature indicates that studies in this area of finance have focused on the impact of finance on economic growth arising more from developed economies. Recommendations from these works may obviously have favoured these economies to the detriment of the developing ones. It is therefore, against the need to explore the role of finance in tackling developmental issues in developing economies with bias to sub-Saharan African countries that this study examined the impact of financial intermediation on human capital development of sub Saharan African countries from 1980 to 2012 utilizing panel data set from the World Bank and applying the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression in analysis. Results reveal that financial intermediation did not have positive and significant impact on human development in sub Saharan Africa within the period of this study. This trend must be reversed as it probably might have contributed to their underdevelopment. It is recommended that policy makers should pay more attention to the quality of growth so as to support all round human development. Countries may consider establishing banks of infrastructure or even go further to have banks of development. These will further assist in addressing critical areas such as life expectancy, adult literacy and school enrolment, amongst others beyond just economic growth. JEL: N27, E24, J24 Article visualizations:
Mechanism of action of magnesium on acetylcholine‐evoked secretory responses in isolated rat pancreas

This study investigates the effects of magnesium (Mg2+) on acetylcholine (ACh)‐evoked secretory responses and calcium (Ca2+) mobilization in the isolated rat pancreas. ACh induced marked dose‐dependent increases in total protein output and amylase release from superfused pancreatic segments in zero, normal (1 x 1 mM) and elevated (10 mM) extracellular Mg2+. Elevated Mg2+ attenuated the ACh‐evoked secretory responses compared to zero and normal Mg2+. In the absence of extracellular Ca2+, but presence of 1 mM‐EGTA (ethylene glycol bis(beta‐aminoethylether)‐N,N,N',N''‐tetraacetic acid), ACh elicited a small transient release of protein from pancreatic segments compared to a larger and more sustained secretion in the absence of both Ca2+ and Mg2+. Incubation of pancreatic segments with 45Ca2+ resulted in time‐dependent uptake with maximum influx of 45Ca2+ occurring after 20 min of incubation period. ACh stimulated markedly the 45Ca2+ uptake compared to control tissues. In elevated extracellular Mg2+ the ACh‐induced 45Ca2+ influx was significantly (P less than 0.001) reduced compared to zero and normal Mg2+. ACh also evoked dose‐dependent increases in cytosolic free Ca2+ concentrations ([Ca2+]i) in pancreatic acinar cells loaded with the fluorescent dye Fura‐2 AM. In elevated Mg2+ the ACh‐induced cytosolic [Ca2+]i was significantly (P less than 0.001) reduced compared to zero and normal Mg2+. These results indicate that Mg2+ can influence ACh‐evoked secretory responses possibly by controlling both Ca2+ influx and release in pancreatic acinar cells.
Modulation of Zn-induced oxidative stress, polyamine content and metal accumulation in rapeseed ( Brassica napus cv Jumbo) regenerated from transversal thin cell layers in the presence of zinc.

The present work was designed to select hyperaccumulator plants by in vitro breeding from transversal thin cell layers. The thin layer explants of Brassica napus cv. Jumbo were cultivated directly in the presence of Zn at different concentrations (0.1-1 mM). Regenerated shoots were transferred into pots, acclimatized, and cultured in the greenhouse. After 3 weeks, the regenerants were treated with 2 mM of Zn during 7 days. Growth parameters, guaiacol peroxidase activity (GPOX), malondialdehyde (MDA), polyamines (PAs) and pigment contents were evaluated. Zn applied during the regeneration process influenced significantly both physiological and biochemical characteristics of regenerated plants. Particularly, an increase of Zn level in the tissue culture induced an increase in MDA content and GPOX activity in the leaves and a decrease in pigment contents. Exposure to 2 mM Zn induced 112 % increase in free polyamines in leaves and roots, while this increase was as high as 399 % for plants regenerated in the presence of the metal.
Elastic properties of microstructural components of human bone tissue as measured by nanoindentation.

The elastic properties of several microstructural components of dry human vertebrae (T-12 and L-1) and tibiae have been investigated in the longitudinal and transverse directions using nanoindentation. The largest Young's modulus was that for the interstitial lamellae in the longitudinal direction (25.7 +/- 1.7 GPa). This was followed in decreasing order by osteons in the longitudinal direction (22.4 +/- 1.2 GPa), trabeculae in the longitudinal direction (19.4 +/- 2.3 GPa), an average over osteons and interstitial lamellae in the transverse direction [16.6 +/- 1.1 GPa (it was difficult to microstructurally distinguish osteons from interstitial lamellae in the transverse direction)], and trabeculae in the transverse direction (15.0 +/- 2.5 GPa). An ANOVA statistical analysis revealed that the values all are significantly different (p < 0.05). Since the elastic moduli in the longitudinal direction are all greater than in the transverse, measurable elastic anisotropies exist in the components. The hardnesses also varied among the microstructural components in the range 0.52-0.74 GPa.
Spinal Cord Biopsy: A Review of 38 Cases

OBJECTIVENeurosurgeons are frequently asked to evaluate patients for spinal cord biopsies when preoperative magnetic resonance imaging studies demonstrate nonspecific features. These lesions often appear unresectable, but surgeons must decide whether a biopsy is warranted. To determine the best approach to these cases, we evaluated the clinicopathological findings for patients with unknown spinal cord lesions who underwent spinal cord biopsies. METHODSThirty-eight consecutive patients who underwent spinal cord biopsies at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) between August 1988 and July 1998 were studied. A detailed review of the case histories, radiological results, surgical notes, histological findings, and outcomes was performed. RESULTSSpinal cord biopsies were performed for 21 male and 17 female patients (mean age, 42.1 yr) with progressive neurological deficits related to spinal cord lesions. All patients underwent preoperative magnetic resonance imaging evaluations. High T2-weighted signal intensity and spinal cord expansion were identified in 92 and 87% of cases, respectively. After gadolinium infusion, the majority (94%) of the inflammatory lesions demonstrated patchy and often peripherally situated enhancement. This neuroradiological pattern was less common for neoplasms (50%) and benign lesions (40%). The most common pathological findings were inflammatory changes of demyelination or sarcoidosis, which together accounted for 13 cases (34%). Nonspecific changes or benign lesions were observed in 10 cases (26%). Neoplasms were identified in eight cases (21%). One case of tuberculosis and one of schistosomiasis were found. Overall, 47% of the preoperative diagnoses made by the attending surgeon were correct. For 26% of the patients, specific treatment was based on the biopsy results. The average follow-up period was 12 months (standard deviation, 14 mo; range, 0–50 mo). CONCLUSIONPreoperative laboratory and imaging studies are often diagnostically inconclusive in cases of spinal cord lesions with nonspecific features. Biopsies should be considered for patients with progressive symptomatic lesions.