Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Noise immunity modeling and analysis of delay-locked loop

Delay-locked loops (DLLs) have emerged an attractive alternative to the traditional phase-locked loops (PLLs). It is essential to understand and analyze the electromagnetic susceptibility of DLLs to ensure the proper operation of the system. In order to ascertain how the performance of DLL is affected by the external noise, we design a DLL using self-biased techniques and establish the noise immunity experiment with bulk current injection (BCI) method. We also construct the equivalent circuit model for circuit simulation and demonstrate its validity by comparing with the measurement results. Consequently, the RF noise immunity characteristics of the DLL varies with its frequency and magnitude. Particularly, we detect that the DLL circuit that we designed is very sensitive to the external noise with frequency around 75 MHz.
One Decade of Universal Artificial Intelligence

The first decade of this century has seen the nascency of the first mathematical theory of general artificial intelligence. This theory of Universal Artificial Intelligence (UAI) has made significant contributions to many theoretical, philosophical, and practical AI questions. In a series of papers culminating in book (Hutter, 2005), an exciting sound and complete mathematical model for a super intelligent agent (AIXI) has been developed and rigorously analyzed. While nowadays most AI researchers avoid discussing intelligence, the awardwinning PhD thesis (Legg, 2008) provided the philosophical embedding and investigated the UAI-based universal measure of rational intelligence, which is formal, objective and non-anthropocentric. Recently, effective approximations of AIXI have been derived and experimentally investigated in JAIR paper (Veness et al. 2011). This practical breakthrough has resulted in some impressive applications, finally muting earlier critique that UAI is only a theory. For the first time, without providing any domain knowledge, the same agent is able to self-adapt to a diverse range of interactive environments. For instance, AIXI is able to learn from scratch to play TicTacToe, Pacman, Kuhn Poker, and other games by trial and error, without even providing the rules of the games. These achievements give new hope that the grand goal of Artificial General Intelligence is not elusive. This article provides an informal overview of UAI in context. It attempts to gently introduce a very theoretical, formal, and mathematical subject, and discusses philosophical and technical ingredients, traits of intelligence, some social questions, and the past and future of UAI.
Influence of the Assay Conditions on the Lipolytic Potency In Vitro of Different Adrenocorticotrophins

The lipolytic activity of ACTH-(1-39) and ACTH-(1-24) in vitro has been compared on a molar basis in assays performed with both adipose-tissue slices and isolated fat cells. In the tissue-slice assay ACTH-(1-24) displayed 29% of the potency of ACTH-(1-39), whereas in the isolated-cell assay, ACTH-(1-24) was 3.9 times more potent than the longer peptide. This discrepancy seems to be due to the fact that ACTH-peptides are inactivated in the adipose-tissue-slice assay, but remain stable in the isolated-fat-cell assay. ACTH-(1-24) is inactivated more rapidly than ACTH-(1-39). Pre-incubation and washing of the tissue slices removes the inactivating principle, which most likely consists of peptidases, and their responsiveness is increased, so that both ACTH-peptides display similar lipolytic activity to that seen in the isolated-cell system. Comparison of the responsiveness of isolated fat cells and isolated adrenal cells indicates that the affinity of ACTH for the receptor of adrenal cells is approximately 100 times greater than its affinity for the fat-cell receptor.
Criteria of geographic relevance: an experimental study

The relevance of geographic information has become an emerging problem in geographic information science due to an enormous increase in volumes of data at high spatial, temporal, and semantic resolution, because of ever faster rates of new data capturing. At the same time, it is not clear whether the concept of relevance developed in information science and implemented for document-based information retrieval can be directly applied to this new, highly dynamic setting. In this study, we analyze the criteria users apply when judging the relevance of geographic entities in a given mobile usage context. Two different experiments have been set up in order to gather users' opinions on a set of possible criteria, and their relevance judgements in a given scenario. The importance ascribed to the criteria in both experiments clearly implies that a new concept of relevance is required when dealing with geographic entities instead of digital documents. This new concept of ‘Geographic Relevance’ is highly dependent on personal mobility and user's activity, whose understanding may in turn be refined by the assimilation of ‘Geographic Relevance’ itself.
Pertussis: a Comparative Study in 64 Countries Impact of Vaccination and Birth Rate on the Epidemiology of Supplementary Data Subject Collections Impact of Vaccination and Birth Rate on the Epidemiology of Pertussis: a Comparative Study in 64 Countries

(289 articles) health and disease and epidemiology Articles on similar topics can be found in the following collections Email alerting service here right-hand corner of the article or click Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article-sign up in the box at the top Bordetella pertussis infection remains an important public health problem worldwide despite decades of routine vaccination. A key indicator of the impact of vaccination programmes is the inter-epidemic period, which is expected to increase with vaccine uptake if there is significant herd immunity. Based on empirical data from 64 countries across the five continents over the past 30 –70 years, we document the observed relationship between the average inter-epidemic period, birth rate and vaccine coverage. We then use a mathematical model to explore the range of scenarios for duration of immunity and transmission resulting from repeat infections that are consistent with empirical evidence. Estimates of pertussis periodicity ranged between 2 and 4.6 years, with a strong association with susceptible recruitment rate, defined as birth rate Â (1 2 vaccine coverage). Periodicity increased by 1.27 years on average after the introduction of national vaccination programmes (95% CI: 1.13, 1.41 years), indicative of increased herd immunity. Mathematical models suggest that the observed patterns of pertussis periodicity are equally consistent with loss of immunity that is not as rapid as currently thought, or with negligible transmission generated by repeat infections. We conclude that both vaccine coverage and birth rate drive pertussis periodicity globally and that vaccination induces strong herd immunity effects. A better understanding of the role of repeat infections in pertussis transmission is critical to refine existing control strategies. 1. INTRODUCTION Bordetella pertussis infection remains an important public health threat worldwide, causing recurrent epidemics associated with an estimated 45 million cases and approximately 300 000 paediatric deaths annually (Plotkin et al. 2008). The incidence of pertussis dramatically declined in developed countries following childhood vaccination programmes initiated in the 1940s–1960s. However, doubts remain over the consequences of pertussis immunization for transmission, as opposed to disease (Das 2002), with concerns about whether declining incidence in the vaccine era truly reflects reduced transmission or reduced clinical symptoms following infection (Fine & Clarkson 1982; Aguas et al. 2006). This distinction is especially important for understanding and managing the recent rise in reported cases that has been recently documented in countries with long vaccination history, together with an increasing proportion of cases …
Brain signal detection methodology for attention training using minimal EEG channels

This paper presents the methodology to find the appropriate locations on the scalp for detecting EEG signal for attention training. The aim was to use low cost commercial EEG sensing device to select four positions which provide strong attention related signals. We aim to use the results of this work to develop a low cost attention training set. Three experiments were conducted to collect raw EEG data from 10 examiners. All 3 experiments made the examiners focus on the specific task to stimulate attention. First experiment is to read a light-content book, second is to figure out a hidden 3D image and the last one is to answer a general questionnaire on a PC. As the result, the suggested locations for detecting Alpha wave are AF3 and F7. The suggested locations for detecting Beta wave are FC6 and F8. It also shows that Alpha wave in the relaxation state higher than Alpha wave in the attention state and Beta wave in the attention state higher than Beta wave in the relaxation state.
Lecturing and other face-to-face teaching – too much or too little? An assessment based on student feedback and fail rates

Institutes of higher learning are tending to reduce the amount of face-to-face teaching that they offer, and particularly through the traditional pedagogical method of lecturing. There is ongoing debate about the educational value of lectures as a teaching approach, in terms of both whether they facilitate understanding of subject material and whether they augment the student educational experience. In this study, student evaluation of teaching scores plus academic outcome (percentage of students who fail) was assessed for 236 course units offered by a science faculty at an Australian university over the course of one year. These measures were related to the degree to which lectures and other face-to-face teaching were used in these units, controlling for factors such as class size, school and year level. An information-theoretic model selection approach was employed to identify the best models and predictors of student assessments and fail rates. All the top models of student feedback included a measure reflecting amount of face-to-face teaching, with the evaluation of quality of teaching being higher in units with higher proportions of lectures. However, these models explained only 12–20% of the variation in student evaluation scores, suggesting that many other factors come into play. By contrast, units with fewer lectures have lower failure rates. These results suggest that moving away from lectures and face-to-face teaching may not harm, and indeed may improve the number of students who pass the subject, but that this may be incurred at the expense of greater dissatisfaction in students' learning experience.
The Ability to Promote Efflux Via ABCA1 Determines the Capacity of Serum Specimens With Similar High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol to Remove Cholesterol From Macrophages

Objective—We measured efflux from macrophages to apolipoprotein B-depleted serum from 263 specimens and found instances in which serum having similar high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) differed in their efflux capacity. Thus, we wanted to elucidate why efflux capacity could be independent of total HDL-C or apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I). Methods and Results—To understand why sera with similar HDL-C or apoA-I could differ in total efflux capacity, we assessed their ability to promote efflux via the pathways expressed in cAMP-treated J774 macrophages. Briefly, macrophages were preincubated with probucol to block ABCA1, with BLT-1 to block SR-BI, and with both inhibitors to measure residual efflux. ABCG1 efflux was measured with transfected BHK-1 cells. We used apolipoprotein B-depleted serum from specimens with similar HDL-C values at the 25th and 75th percentiles. Specimens in each group were classified as having high or low efflux based on total efflux being above or below the group average. We found that independently of HDL-C, sera with higher efflux capacity had a significant increase in ABCA1-mediated efflux, which was significantly correlated to the concentration of pre&bgr;-1 HDL. The same result was obtained when these sera were similarly analyzed based on similar apoA-I. Conclusion—Sera with similar HDL-C or apoA-I differ in their ability to promote macrophage efflux because of differences in the concentration of pre&bgr;-1 HDL.
The HWE Histidine Kinases, a New Family of Bacterial Two-Component Sensor Kinases with Potentially Diverse Roles in Environmental Signaling

ABSTRACT Two-component signal transduction pathways play a major role in the response of bacteria to external cues. These pathways are initiated by large collection of histidine kinases (HKs) containing a sensor domain that perceives the environmental signal followed by an HK domain that triggers a histidine-aspartate phosphorelay. Previous phylogenetic analyses identified 11 major families of two-component HKs by comparing signature motifs within the HK domain. Here we describe a new family with homology to Agrobacterium tumefaciens BphP2, an HK first discovered by the presence of a phytochrome sensor domain involved in light perception. Members of this sensor HK family differ from most others by the absence of a recognizable F box and the presence of several uniquely conserved residues, including a histidine in the N box and a tryptophan-X-glutamic acid sequence in the G1 box, which we have used to define the family (HWE). At least 81 members were identified in a variety of α- and γ-proteobacteria, with a significant enrichment in the Rhizobiaceae family. Several representatives were shown to have HK activity in vitro, supporting their proposed participation in phosphorelays. One or more domains related to signal transduction were evident N-terminal to the HK domain, including chemotactic methyltransferase domains, suggesting that this family has multiple roles in environmental signaling. The discovery of the HWE family further extends the diversity within the HK superfamily and expands the importance of two-component signaling in bacteria.
In-vivo xenograft murine human uveal melanoma model develops hepatic micrometastases

The purpose of the study is to develop a mouse ocular melanoma model with human uveal melanoma cells that forms hepatic micrometastases. Human uveal melanoma Mel290 cells were transfected with a lentiviral-enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) expression vector. Proliferation assays were performed by comparing Mel290–EGFP and Mel290 cells. After stable expression of EGFP and proliferation was ascertained, 1×106 Mel290–EGFP cells were introduced into NU/NU mice by posterior compartment (PC) inoculation or tail vein injection. Control groups were inoculated or injected with Mel290 cells. Ocular and hepatic frozen sections were examined by fluorescence microscopy, and the number of hepatic micrometastases was determined. EGFP expression was observed at 24 h after transfection. At 72 h after transfection, more than 70% of Mel290 cells expressed EGFP. At 45 days (six passages), 90% of Mel290 cells stably expressed EGFP. Histologic examination showed that Mel290–EGFP cells formed hepatic micrometastases after either PC inoculation or tail vein injection. A significant difference in the number of hepatic micrometastases between PC inoculation and tail vein injection (P<0.01) was observed. Mel290–EGFP cells stably expressed green fluorescent protein in vitro at 45 days (six passages). These cells formed hepatic micrometastases in NU/NU mice after PC inoculation or tail vein injection, with significantly more micrometastases developing in the PC inoculation model than after tail vein injection.
Unscented Kalman Filter for Image Estimation in Film-Grain Noise

This paper presents a novel approach based on the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) for image estimation in film-grain noise. The image prior is modeled as non-Gaussian and is incorporated within the UKF frame work using importance sampling. A small carefully chosen deterministic set of sigma points is used to capture the prior and is propagated through film-grain nonlinearity to compute image statistics. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method.
Technical Adequacy of Early Numeracy Curriculum-Based Measurement in Kindergarten

The current study examines the technical adequacy of four Early Numeracy Curriculum-Based Measurement (EN-CBM) screening tasks: Oral Counting (OC), Number Identification (NI), Quantity Discrimination (QD), and Missing Number (MN). Results from 59 kindergarten students assessed in the fall and spring reveal moderate to high test—retest and delayed alternate-form reliability. In addition, data from the four measures demonstrate adequate concurrent and predictive validity by comparing them to an established measure of early numeracy. The measures demonstrated growth over time from the beginning to the end of kindergarten. Finally, combinations of the measures were evaluated post hoc, and the combination of NI, QD, and MN produced the highest reliability, validity, and rate of growth coefficients. Overall, results support the technical adequacy of EN-CBM for use with kindergarten-aged children.
An adaptive detection and prevention architecture for unsafe traffic in SDN enabled mobile networks

The forthcoming 5G cloud networks will utilize software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) to provide new services. However, applying these technologies introduce new threats to network. To detect the security attacks and malicious traffic both on end user and cloudified mobile network, we apply centralized monitoring and combine dynamicity and programmability of SDN, traffic filtering capabilities of IDS and clustering mechanisms for load balancing. We discuss and demonstrate an adaptive detection and prevention architecture for SDN enabled mobile networks.
Antibodies against Trypanosoma cruzi alkaline antigens are elicited in sera from acute but not chronic human chagasic patients.

The aim of this work was to study the antibody response of acute and chronic chagasic patients against a Trypanosoma cruzi alkaline fraction (FI) in comparison with the reactivity against a T. cruzi acidic antigen, the main cystein proteinase of the parasite named cruzipain, and "natural" antigens. FI-specific antibodies were detected only during the acute phase of the infection and IgM was the main isotype produced, whereas cruzipain-specific antibodies were detected during all phases of the infection. By means of immunoblot and sequencing analysis we identified a 47-kDa FI proteic band recognized by IgM from acute chagasic patients as the T. cruzi glutamate dehydrogenase (GluDH). Furthermore, the antibody response against isolated GluDH showed similar characteristics as the one against FI. We also observed a strict association between the reactivity of IgM against FI and GluDH and IgM natural antibodies. However, reactivity against these alkaline antigens was not modified after absorption of natural antibodies in sera from acute chagasic patients, indicating that these parasite antigens are not recognized by the polyspecific natural antibodies. The most important goal of this report is that for the first time the T. cruzi antigen isoelectric point has been associated with its ability to trigger immunological memory, raising a novel antigen property that should be considered in the selection of antigens used in Chagas' disease diagnostic test and in the design of a vaccine against T. cruzi infection.
The ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters : Structure , Function , and Gene Family Comparison between Rice and Arabidopsis 1

Cells are separated from their external environment by a membrane barrier, which ensures that certain ions, metabolic intermediates, and macromolecules, such as proteins, remain within the cell. However, life is not possible without the exchange of material and information with the external environment. Therefore, during evolution, efficient transport systems have been developed to allow interaction with the environment, and they ensure that essential ions and metabolites enter the cell and other compounds leave it. Many molecules are transported against a concentration gradient, requiring the use of energy. For several transport systems, this energy is directly provided by ATP hydrolysis. Well known examples of ATP-powered transport systems are cation pumps, such as the Ca -, H -, Na /K -, and H /K ATPases. The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, which constitute another major class of ATPpowered transporters, are less well characterized, and the physiological function of many is still unknown. Here, we will review the structure and catalytic mechanism of these enzymes, tackle their mysterious capacity to transport a variety of substrates with unrelated structures, compare the Arabidopsis and rice (Oryza sativa subsp. japonica) gene family composition, and finish by mentioning examples of the physiological roles of ABC transporters in plants. Some of these topics have been reviewed in detail (Theodoulou, 2000; Sanchez-Fernandez et al., 2001; Martinoia et al., 2002; Rea et al., 2002). STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ABC TRANSPORTERS
Example-based Machine Translation Based on TSC and Statistical Generation

This paper proposes a novel Example-Based Machine Translation (EBMT) method based on Tree String Correspondence (TSC) and statistical generation. In this method, the translation examples are represented as TSC, which consists of three parts: a parse tree in the source language, a string in the target language, and the correspondences between the leaf nodes of the source language tree and the substrings of the target language string. During the translation, the input sentence is first parsed into a tree. Then the TSC forest is searched out if it is best matched with the parse tree. The translation is generated by using a statistical generation model to combine the target language strings in the TSCs. The generation model consists of three parts: the semantic similarity between words, the word translation probability, and the target language model. Based on the above method, we build an English-to-Chinese Machine Translation (ECMT) system. Experimental results indicate that the performance of our system is comparable with that of the state-of-the-art commercial ECMT systems.
Design of half-rate linear phase detector using MOS current-mode logic gates for 10-Gb/s clock and data recovery circuit

A 10 Gb/s clock and data recovery (CDR) circuits which extract the clock signal from non-return-zero (NRZ) random data stream are very important to the 10-gigabit -per-second integrated receivers. The half-rate linear phase detector for 10-Gb/s clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit is designed to 0.18-um standard CMOS technology. This half-rate phase detector is composed of four latches and two exclusive OR (XOR) gates. The proposed circuits of phase detector provide a linear characteristic and it has a configuration of MOS current-mode logic (MCML) gates