Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fuzzy Logic and Neuro-fuzzy Systems : A Systematic Introduction

Fuzzy logic is a rigorous mathematical field, and it provides an effective vehicle for modeling the uncertainty in human reasoning. In fuzzy logic, the knowledge of experts is modeled by linguistic rules represented in the form of IF-THEN logic. Like neural network models such as the multilayer perceptron (MLP) and the radial basis function network (RBFN), some fuzzy inference systems (FISs) have the capability of universal approximation. Fuzzy logic can be used in most areas where neural networks are applicable. In this paper, we first give an introduction to fuzzy sets and logic. We then make a comparison between FISs and some neural network models. Rule extraction from trained neural networks or numerical data is then described. We finally introduce the synergy of neural and fuzzy systems, and describe some neuro-fuzzy models as well. Some circuits implementations of neuro-fuzzy systems are also introduced. Examples are given to illustrate the concepts of neuro-fuzzy systems.
Mutations in Yeast Replication Proteins That Increase CAG/CTG Expansions Also Increase Repeat Fragility

ABSTRACT Expansion of trinucleotide repeats (TNRs) is the causative mutation in several human genetic diseases. Expanded TNR tracts are both unstable (changing in length) and fragile (displaying an increased propensity to break). We have investigated the relationship between fidelity of lagging-strand replication and both stability and fragility of TNRs. We devised a new yeast artificial chromomosme (YAC)-based assay for chromosome breakage to analyze fragility of CAG/CTG tracts in mutants deficient for proteins involved in lagging-strand replication: Fen1/Rad27, an endo/exonuclease involved in Okazaki fragment maturation, the nuclease/helicase Dna2, RNase HI, DNA ligase, polymerase δ, and primase. We found that deletion of RAD27 caused a large increase in breakage of short and long CAG/CTG tracts, and defects in DNA ligase and primase increased breakage of long tracts. We also found a correlation between mutations that increase CAG/CTG tract breakage and those that increase repeat expansion. These results suggest that processes that generate strand breaks, such as faulty Okazaki fragment processing or DNA repair, are an important source of TNR expansions.
Algorithms for Sparse Nonnegative Tucker Decompositions

There is a increasing interest in analysis of large-scale multiway data. The concept of multiway data refers to arrays of data with more than two dimensions, that is, taking the form of tensors. To analyze such data, decomposition techniques are widely used. The two most common decompositions for tensors are the Tucker model and the more restricted PARAFAC model. Both models can be viewed as generalizations of the regular factor analysis to data of more than two modalities. Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF), in conjunction with sparse coding, has recently been given much attention due to its part-based and easy interpretable representation. While NMF has been extended to the PARAFAC model, no such attempt has been done to extend NMF to the Tucker model. However, if the tensor data analyzed are nonnegative, it may well be relevant to consider purely additive (i.e., nonnegative) Tucker decompositions). To reduce ambiguities of this type of decomposition, we develop updates that can impose sparseness in any combination of modalities, hence, proposed algorithms for sparse nonnegative Tucker decompositions (SN-TUCKER). We demonstrate how the proposed algorithms are superior to existing algorithms for Tucker decompositions when the data and interactions can be considered nonnegative. We further illustrate how sparse coding can help identify what model (PARAFAC or Tucker) is more appropriate for the data as well as to select the number of components by turning off excess components. The algorithms for SN-TUCKER can be downloaded from Mrup (2007).
The interplay of customer experience and commitment

Purpose This research aims to better understand customer experience, as it relates to customer commitment and provides a framework for future research into the intersection of these emerging streams of research. Design/methodology/approach This research contributes to theoretical and practical perspectives on customer experience and its measurement by integrating extant literature with customer commitment and customer satisfaction literature. Findings The breadth of the domains that encompass customer experience – cognitive, emotional, physical, sensorial and social – makes simplistic metrics impossible for gauging the entirety of customers’ experiences. These findings provide strong support of the need for new research into customer experience and customer commitment. Practical implications Given the complexity of customer experience, managers are unlikely to track and manage all relevant elements of the concept. This research provides a framework identifying empirically the most salient attributes of customer experience with particular emphasis on those elements that enhance commitment. This offers insight into service design to correspond with specific commitment and experience dimensions. Originality/value This research is the first to examine the customer experience as it relates to customer commitment – a key factor in customer loyalty, positive word of mouth and other desired outcomes for managers and marketers. This paper provides a framework for future research into these emerging topics.
Prediction of atopy via total immunoglobulin E levels andskin prick tests in patients with psoriasis.

BACKGROUND/AIM Although the etiopathogeneses of psoriasis and atopy appear to be different, psoriasis has been found to be associated with atopy and atopic dermatitis. In this study, we aimed to determine the role of atopy by examining the medical history and clinical and laboratory findings of patients with psoriasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients with psoriasis, asthma patients, and healthy volunteers were included in the study. Serum total immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels were obtained, and prick tests were administered to all groups. RESULTS Psoriatic patients demonstrated percentages of atopy history (21.3%) that were higher than those of the healthy subjects (15.7%). The median total IgE level in psoriatic patients was found to be statistically higher than that in the healthy control group (P > 0.05). With respect to mite positivity, there were statistically significant differences in the psoriatic (P < 0.05) and asthmatic groups (P < 0.001) when compared to the healthy control group. CONCLUSION Our study is the first to use skin prick tests with psoriatic patients. Skin prick test sensitivity to mites increased in psoriatic patients, and we believe that this finding may be useful in protecting psoriatic patients from activation of psoriasis and in determining the appropriate treatment approach.
THE EFFECT OF AL 3 + AND HG 2 + ON GLUCOSE 6-PHOSPHATE DEHYDROGENASE FROM CAPOETA UMBLA KIDNEY

Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.49; G6PD) is an important enzyme found in all mammal tissues, and produces NADPH in the metabolism. NADPH provides a reductive potential to maintain a balanced redox state within the cell. The aim of this study was to purify G6PD from Capoeta umbla kidney and determination of inhibition or activation effects of aluminium and mercury on enzyme activity. In this purpose, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase was purified from Capoeta umbla kidney by using preparation of homogenate, ammonium sulphate precipitation and 2’,5’-ADP Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography. Molecular weight of the enzyme was determined on sodium dodecyl sulphatepolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and the purified enzyme showed a single band on the gel with a molecular weight of 75 kDa. Moreover, Ki constants of Al 3+ and Hg 2+ were found as 0.98 ± 0.084 and 0.57 ± 0.019 mM, respectively. In conclusion, affinity of the Hg 2+ to the enzyme was higher
Interactions of hypochlorous acid with pyrimidine nucleotides, and secondary reactions of chlorinated pyrimidines with GSH, NADH, and other substrates.

HOCl-induced chlorination of pyrimidine nucleotides, PyNH, strikingly depends on the nature of the available chlorine acceptor group. For CMP, with an -NH2 group as acceptor, the reaction is slow and involves predominantly the acid [k(CMP + HOCl) approximately 100 M-1 s-1 at pH 6]; apparent rate constants of the reaction decrease around the pK alpha (HOCl), to 0 in alkaline solution. For TMP and UMP, with a heterocyclic > NH group (at 3N) as acceptor, the reaction is faster and involves mainly the conjugated CIO- anion [e.g., k(UMP + ClO-) approximately 3 x 10(4) M-1 s-1 and k(UMP + HOCl) approximately 200 M-1 s-1]. The 3-N-methylthymidine derivative is inert toward HOCl. Reactions of ClO- with TMP, UMP, and poly(U) are shown to be reversible, PyNH + ClO- = PyNCl + OH-; an increase in pH due to this reaction was confirmed, and equilibrium constants have been estimated. The chlorinated derivatives of TMP and UMP are very reactive toward GSH, disulfide, aliphatic amines, and NADH. In contrast, the PyNCl derivative of CMP is unreactive, except with GSH. Rate constants of reactions of PyNCl species with various substrates are presented. Oxidation of NADH, by both HOCl and PyNCl derivatives, leads to a stable product (not NAD+) which is irreversibly degraded by reaction with excess HOCl, but inert toward acsorbate, GSH, and H2O2. Thiols (GSH) and disulfides (DTPA) were previously found capable of scavenging up to four HOCl molecules (Prütz, W. A., Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 332, 110-120, 1996). In the present study it was established that reactions of GSH or DTPA with excess HOCl give rise to a rapid drop in the pH by release of up to four HCl molecules per GSH or DTPA, as expected for a sequence of consecutive sulfoxidations. Reactions of GSH and DTPA with PyNCl efficiently regenerate PyNH, namely up to four molecules per GSH or DTPA in the case of TMP and UMP, but only one molecule per GSH in the case of CMP. The PyNCl derivatives of TMP and UMP transfer chlorine slowly but completely to CMP or AMP. Such chlorine transfer between nucleic acid bases is likely to occur also in DNA; it is shown that HOCl in fact induces a complex series of reactions on interaction with native DNA.
First Measurement of Atmospheric Mercury Species in Qomolangma Nature
Preserve, Tibetan Plateau, and Evidence of Transboundary Pollutant Invasion

Abstract. Located in the world’s ‘Third Pole’ and a remote region connecting the Indian Ocean plate and the Eurasian plate, Qomolangma National Nature Preserve (QNNP) is an ideal region to study the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants. In this study, gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM) and particle-bound mercury (PBM) were continuously measured during the Indian monsoon transition period in QNNP. A slight increase in GEM concentration was observed from the period preceding the Indian Summer Monsoon (1.31±0.42 ng m−3) to the Indian Summer Monsoon period (1.44±0.36 ng m−3), while significant decreases were observed in GOM and PBM concentrations, decreasing from 35.2±18.7 to 19.1±11.0 pg m−3 and from 30.5±12.6 to 24.7±19.9 pg m−3, respectively. A unique daily pattern of GEM concentration in QNNP was observed, with a peak value before sunrise and a low value at noon. Unexpectedly, GOM concentrations (with a mean value of 21.3±13.5 pg m−3) in this region were considerably higher than the values in other clean or even polluted regions. A cluster analysis indicated that the air masses transported to QNNP changed significantly at different stages of the monsoon, and the major potential Hg sources shifted from north India and west Nepal to east Nepal and Bangladesh. With large coverage of glacier in QNNP, local glacier winds could enforce the transboundary transport of pollutants and transport the polluted air masses to the Tibetan Plateau. It should be noted that the atmospheric Hg concentrations in QNNP are higher than the reported values in some background regions, which addresses the need for a more specific identification of Hg sources in QNNP and the importance of international cooperation for global Hg controls.
Whole soybean supplementation and cow age class: effects on intake, digestion, performance, and reproduction of beef cows.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of whole soybean supplementation on intake, digestion, and performance of beef cows of varying age. Treatments were arranged in a 2 x 3 factorial with 2 supplements and 3 age classes of cows (2-yr-old, 3-yr-old, and mature cows). Supplements (DM basis) included 1) 1.36 kg/d of whole raw soybeans, and 2) 1.56 kg/d of a soybean meal/hulls supplement. Supplements were formulated to provide similar amounts of protein and energy, but a greater fat content with the whole soybeans. Supplements were individually fed on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings. During the treatment period, cows had free choice access to bermudagrass hay [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. ; 8.4% CP; 72% NDF; DM basis]. In Exp. 1, 166 spring-calving Angus and Angus x Hereford crossbred beef cows were individually fed supplements for an average of 80 d during mid to late gestation. During the first 50 d of supplementation, cows fed soybean meal/hulls gained more BW (10 kg; P < 0.001) and body condition (0.18 BCS units; P = 0.004) than cows fed whole soybeans. However, BW change (P = 0.87) and BCS change (P = 0.25) during the 296-d experiment were not different between supplements. Although calves from cows fed soybean meal/hulls were 2 kg heavier at birth, there was no difference in calf BW at weaning between supplements. Additionally, first service conception rate (68%; P = 0.24) and pregnancy rate (73%; P = 0.21) were not different between supplements. In Exp. 2, 24 cows from Exp. 1 were used to determine the effect of supplement composition on forage intake and digestion; cows remained on the same supplements, hay, and feeding schedule as Exp. 1. Crude fat digestibility was the only intake or digestibility measurement influenced by supplement composition; fat digestibility was higher for cows fed whole soybeans compared with cows fed the soybean meal/hulls supplement (58.1 vs. 48.8%). Hay intake and DMI averaged 1.63 and 1.92% of BW daily, respectively. Dry matter, NDF, and CP digestibility averaged 54.1, 55.1, and 63.2%, respectively. Compared with supplementation with soybean meal/ hulls, whole soybean supplementation during mid to late gestation resulted in reduced BW weight gain during supplementation, inconsistent effects on reproduction, no effect on calf weaning weight, and no effect on forage intake or digestion.
SUPPORT SYSTEMS FOR HEALTH MONITORING USING INTERNET-OF-THINGS DRIVEN DATA ACQUISITION

The Digital Health (D-Health) era is expected to be the “next big thing” since the invention of the internet, characterized by inexpensive and widespread medical data acquisition devices, widespread availability of identityremoved health data, and analytics algorithms that provide remote health monitoring feedback to doctors in realtime. Recent years have brought incremental developments in three key technological areas towards the realization of the D-Health era: data acquisition, secure data transmission/storage, and data analytics. i) For data acquisition, the emerging Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices are becoming a viable technology to enable the acquisition of remote health monitoring data. ii) For data storage, emerging system-level and cryptographic mechanisms provide secure and privacy-preserving transmission, storage, and sharing of the acquired data. iii) For data analytics, emerging decision support algorithms provide a mechanism for healthcare professionals to base their clinical diagnoses partially on machine-suggested statistical inferences that rely on a wide corpus of accumulated data. The D-Health era will create new business opportunities in all of these areas. In this paper, we propose a generalized structure for a DHealth system that is capable of remote health monitoring and decision support. We formulate our proposed structure around potential business opportunities and conduct technical feasibility studies.
Group X Secretory Phospholipase A2 Regulates Insulin Secretion through a Cyclooxygenase-2-dependent Mechanism*

Background: Arachidonic acid and its metabolites regulate pancreatic glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) through multiple mechanisms. Results: Group X secretory phospholipase A2 (GX sPLA2) suppresses GSIS; suppression was abolished when COX-2 activity or PGE2-EP3 receptor signaling were inhibited. Conclusion: GX sPLA2 inhibits GSIS by augmenting PGE2 production. Significance: GX sPLA2 may be targeted for ameliorating beta cell dysfunction in type 2 diabetes. Group X secretory phospholipase A2 (GX sPLA2) potently hydrolyzes membrane phospholipids to release arachidonic acid (AA). While AA is an activator of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), its metabolite prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is a known inhibitor. In this study, we determined that GX sPLA2 is expressed in insulin-producing cells of mouse pancreatic islets and investigated its role in beta cell function. GSIS was measured in vivo in wild-type (WT) and GX sPLA2-deficient (GX KO) mice and ex vivo using pancreatic islets isolated from WT and GX KO mice. GSIS was also assessed in vitro using mouse MIN6 pancreatic beta cells with or without GX sPLA2 overexpression or exogenous addition. GSIS was significantly higher in islets isolated from GX KO mice compared with islets from WT mice. Conversely, GSIS was lower in MIN6 cells overexpressing GX sPLA2 (MIN6-GX) compared with control (MIN6-C) cells. PGE2 production was significantly higher in MIN6-GX cells compared with MIN6-C cells and this was associated with significantly reduced cellular cAMP. The effect of GX sPLA2 on GSIS was abolished when cells were treated with NS398 (a COX-2 inhibitor) or L-798,106 (a PGE2-EP3 receptor antagonist). Consistent with enhanced beta cell function, GX KO mice showed significantly increased plasma insulin levels following glucose challenge and were protected from age-related reductions in GSIS and glucose tolerance compared with WT mice. We conclude that GX sPLA2 plays a previously unrecognized role in negatively regulating pancreatic insulin secretion by augmenting COX-2-dependent PGE2 production.
Stock Holdings in Austria

Based on micro data, this study reviews the stock holdings of Austrian households. Stock investment is not widely spread in Austria, and those stock holdings that do exist are concentrated among wealthy, high-income households. This finding from the OeNB’s Survey on Financial Household Wealth (SFHW) ties in with available international data.
Principals, Agents and Incomplete Contracts: Are Surrender of Control and Renegotiation the Solution?

Companies can be regarded as nexuses with contractual relationships between management and shareholders (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). The extent to which managerial and shareholder rewards are determined by incompleteness of contracts has been extensively studied (Hart, 1995a). Incomplete contracts affect the stability of the relationship between managers and shareholders as managers can leave or be dismissed (Oyer, 2004; Gillan, Hartzell, and Parrino, 2009). Furthermore, discretion for renegotiation of such contracts can be desirable, if stability is improved (Schwab and Thomas, 2006; Roberts and Sufi, 2009). Discretion for renegotiation of contracts between management and shareholders is increased in public companies when shareholders surrender control over management to boards (Blair and Stout, 1999; Peters and Wagner, 2014). Corporate stability, renegotiation of agreements and control rights over assets are not systematically captured by principal-agent models.
Nutrition and Disease Virgin Olive Oil Phenols Inhibit Proliferation of Human Promyelocytic Leukemia Cells ( HL 60 ) by Inducing Apoptosis and Differentiation

Although epidemiologic evidence and animal studies suggest that olive oil may prevent the onset of cancer, the components responsible for such an effect and their mechanisms of action remain largely unknown. In the present study, we investigated the effect of a virgin olive oil phenol extract (PE) on proliferation, the cell cycle distribution profile, apoptosis, and differentiation of the human promyelocytic cell line HL60. PE inhibited HL60 cell proliferation in a timeand concentration-dependent manner, as demonstrated by the viable cell count and 3-[4,5-dimethyl(thiazol-2yl)]-3,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) metabolism. Cell growth was completely blocked at a PE concentration of 13.5 mg/L; apoptosis was also induced as detected by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. Determination of the cell cycle distribution by flow cytometry revealed an accumulation of cells in the G0/G1 phase. Two compounds isolated from PE, the dialdehydic forms of elenoic acid linked to hydroxytyrosol (3,4-DHPEA-EDA) and to tyrosol (pHPEA-EDA), were shown to possess properties similar to those of PE; they account for a part of the powerful effects exerted by the complexmixture of compounds present in PE. The concentrations of the different compounds in PEwere determined byHPLC, and the purity of 3,4-DHPEA-EDAand pHPEA-EDAwas ascertained byNMR. Treatmentwith PE induced a differentiation in HL60 cells, which subsequently acquired the ability to produce superoxide ions and reduce nitroblue tetrazolium to formazan. These results support the hypothesis that polyphenols play a critical role in the anticancer activity of olive oil. J. Nutr. 136: 614–619, 2006.
Sequential Parsing with In-order Tree Traversals

We apply in-order tree traversals to the Seq2Seq parser (Vinyals et al., 2015), simplifying symbol prediction. Our simple greedy parser achieves 91.4 F1, which is the best among greedy parsers in the literature, on the Penn Treebank without any additional resources such as pre-trained embeddings, predicted part-of-speech tags, or hand-engineered features. Incorporating semi-supervised training methods, we achieve 93.0 F1 in linear time. With an ensemble of semi-supervised rerankers (Choe and Charniak, 2016) we obtain the state-of-the-art F1 of 94.7 (94.6% LAS, 96.4% UAS) on WSJ Section 23. Strong results on five other domains show the generality of our techniques.
Conventional Fiber Using a New RZ Optical Source

A multiwavelength RZ optical source with equal amplitudes and pulsewidths is successfully obtained by using wavelength conversion in a nonlinear optical loop mirror consisting of a common dispersion shifted fiber. The converted wavelengths of the eight signal pulses are in agreement with the ITU-T proposal and a commercial arrayed-waveguide grating is used for demultiplexing in the frequency-domain. By using the new source8 40 Gb/s WDM transmission over 55 km conventional fiber was realized.
Robust Quantized Control of Hybrid Stochastic Systems based on Discrete-time Observations of State and Mode

In this paper, the problems of robust quantized feedback control are studied for hybrid stochastic systems based on discrete-time observations of state and mode. All of the existing results in this area design the quantized feedback control based on continuous observations of the state and mode for all time t ≥ 0 (see [23–25]). This is the ﬁrst paper where we propose to use the quantized feedback control based on discrete-time observations of the state and mode. The key reason for this is to reduce the burden of communication by using not only the quantization (i.e. in the direction of state axis), but also discrete-time observations of state and mode (i.e. in the direction of time axis). Thus, the designed quantized feedback controllers have to be based on the discrete-time observations of state and mode. Clearly, the new quantized feedback controllers are more realistic and cost less in practice. Two examples with computer simulations will be provided to illustrate the eﬀectiveness of the proposed control method.