Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A sub-threshold halo implanted MOS implementation of Izhikevich neuron model

This work describes a current mode implementation of Izhikevich neuron model implemented with halo implanted devices 130 nm structured within matrices of order m × n capable of substantially increasing output impedance of such devices while also improving mismatch. The proposed neuron was successfully simulated in 130 nm IBM CMOS process as the dynamical translinear circuit topology adopted generates the 20 patterns defined in Izhikevich model as other similar works while improving several aspects as the low supplied voltage used 250 mV.
Contribution of Amino Acid Catabolism to the Tissue Specific Persistence of Campylobacter jejuni in a Murine Colonization Model

Campylobacter jejuni is a major cause of food-borne disease in industrialized countries. Carbohydrate utilization by C. jejuni is severely restricted, and knowledge about which substrates fuel C. jejuni infection and growth is limited. Some amino acids have been shown to serve as carbon sources both in vitro and in vivo. In the present study we investigated the contribution of serine and proline catabolism to the in vitro and in vivo growth of C. jejuni 81-176. We confirmed that the serine transporter SdaC and the serine ammonia-lyase SdaA are required for serine utilization, and demonstrated that a predicted proline permease PutP and a bifunctional proline/delta-1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase PutA are required for proline utilization by C. jejuni 81-176. C. jejuni 81-176 mutants unable to utilize serine were shown to be severely defective for colonization of the intestine and systemic tissues in a mouse model of infection. In contrast, C. jejuni 81-176 mutants unable to utilize proline were only defective for intestinal colonization. These results further emphasize the importance of amino acid utilization in C. jejuni colonization of various tissues.
Influencing factors in usability tests

This article examines the influences of situational factors on user behaviour in usability tests. Sixty participants carried out two tasks on a computer-simulated prototype of a mobile phone. Employing a 3 x 2 mixed experimental design, laboratory setup was varied as a between-subjects variable (presence of facilitator and two non-interactive observers, presence of facilitator or no person present) while task difficulty was manipulated as a within-subjects variable (low vs. high). Performance data, subjective measures, and physiological parameters (e.g. heart rate variability) were taken. The results showed that the presence of non-interactive observers during a usability test led to a physiological stress response, decreased performance on some measures and affected the emotional state of test participants. The presence of a facilitator (i.e. a participating observer) also influenced the emotional state of the test participant. Practitioners involved in usability testing need to be aware of undue influences of observers, in particular, if the observers are noninteractive.
Enforcing resource bounds via static verification of dynamic checks

We show how to limit a program's resource usage in an efficient way, using a novel combination of dynamic checks and static analysis. Usually, dynamic checking is inefficient due to the overhead of checks, while static analysis is difficult and rejects many safe programs. We propose a hybrid approach that solves these problems. We split each resource-consuming operation into two parts. The first is a dynamic check, called reserve. The second is the actual operation, called consume, which does not perform any dynamic checks. The programmer is then free to hoist and combine reserve operations. Combining reserve operations reduces their overhead, while hoisting reserve operations ensures that the program does not run out of resources at an inconvenient time. A static verifier ensures that the program reserves resources before it consumes them. This verification is both easier and more flexible than an a priori static verification of resource usage. We present a sound and efficient static verifier based on Hoare logic and linear inequalities. As an example, we present a version of tar written in Java.
A Hybrid Approach for the Acquisition of Information Extraction Patterns

In this paper we present a hybrid approach for the acquisition of syntactico-semantic patterns from raw text. Our approach co-trains a decision list learner whose feature space covers the set of all syntactico-semantic patterns with an Ex-pectation Maximization clustering algo-rithm that uses the text words as attributes. We show that the combination of the two methods always outperforms the decision list learner alone. Furthermore, using a modular architecture we investigate several algorithms for pattern ranking, the most important component of the decision list learner.
Spatial Frequency and Selective Attention to Local and Global Information

Probe methods were used to investigate whether the distribution of attention to the local or the global structure of a stimulus affects the detectability of different spatial frequencies. Four experiments are reported in which the detectability of threshold probe gratings of different spatial frequencies was measured while subjects analyzed either the local or the global information from a display. A relative shift in the detectability of low and high frequencies was observed. Low frequencies were facilitated during global processing and/or high frequencies were facilitated during local processing.
Effect of deep brain subthalamic stimulation on camptocormia and postural abnormalities in idiopathic Parkinson's disease

Camptocormia has been described in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). We present a patient with young‐onset PD in whom the disease progressed over 25 years to a crippling state with severe camptocormia and bent knees. The camptocormia along with other parkinsonian symptoms improved dramatically after bilateral subthalamic deep brain stimulation. © 2006 Movement Disorder Society
Evaluation of the Infection-Related Ventilator-Associated Events Algorithm for Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Surveillance in a Trauma Population

BACKGROUND: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently introduced new ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) surveillance on the basis of the infection-related ventilator-associated complication (IVAC) definition. We aim to evaluate the accuracy of this new IVAC algorithm for detecting VAP according to the 2008 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definition as the reference diagnosis (VAP-NHSN) in high-risk trauma patients. METHODS: This retrospective single-center study included all trauma subjects who were admitted to the ICU, required mechanical ventilation for >48 h, and received a blood transfusion. The new IVAC surveillance and the criteria for VAP-NHSN diagnosis were applied. The accuracy of the new IVAC surveillance for detecting VAP-NHSN was determined, and the clinical outcomes were compared between groups. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of IVAC for VAP-NSHN identification were 28.12%, 91.45, 58.06%, and 75.14%, respectively. Subjects with IVAC, VAP-NHSN, or both had higher morbidity when compared with those without IVAC and VAP-NHSN. Subjects with IVAC only had lower morbidity compared with those with VAP-NHSN only or those with both IVAC and VAP-NHSN. There was no significant difference in clinical outcomes between subjects with VAP-NHSN only and those with both IVAC and VAP-NHSN. CONCLUSIONS: IVAC criteria had a low accuracy for identifying VAP-NHSN in subjects with high-risk trauma.
Novel Sleep Control for EPON Optical Line Terminal Employing Layer-2 Switch Functions

This paper proposes a sleep control function for power saving in the optical line terminal (OLT) of an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) employing duplicated layer-2 switches (L2SWs). The basic idea is to make one of the duplicated L2SW sleep according to the amount of traffic. Furthermore, this paper proposes a novel sleep control function that uses dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) information. The proposed sleep control function calculates the traffic in advance from the DBA information, and switches one of the duplicated L2SW between active and sleep mode based on the accurate traffic predictions. The proposed control function provides exact predictions of the upstream traffic, thus eliminating excess latency due to prediction error. Numerical simulations show the validity of the sleep control proposal.
A Global Approach for the Detection of Vanishing Points and Mutually Orthogonal Vanishing Directions

This article presents a new global approach for detecting vanishing points and groups of mutually orthogonal vanishing directions using lines detected in images of man-made environments. These two multi-model fitting problems are respectively cast as Uncapacited Facility Location (UFL) and Hierarchical Facility Location (HFL) instances that are efficiently solved using a message passing inference algorithm. We also propose new functions for measuring the consistency between an edge and a putative vanishing point, and for computing the vanishing point defined by a subset of edges. Extensive experiments in both synthetic and real images show that our algorithms outperform the state-of-the-art methods while keeping computation tractable. In addition, we show for the first time results in simultaneously detecting multiple Manhattan-world configurations that can either share one vanishing direction (Atlanta world) or be completely independent.
Remote Stabilization of Networked Control Systems with Unknown Time Varying Delays by LMI Techniques

In this paper, the stabilization of one class of remote contorl systems with unknown time varying delays is analyzed and discussed using LMI techniques. A discrete time state space model under a static control law for remote control systems is first introduced based on some assumptions on the uncertain term. The time delay is unknown time varying, and can be decomposed into two parts: one fixed part which is unknown and is an integer multiple of the sampling time; the other part which is randomly varying but bounded by one sampling time. Static controller designs based on delay dependent stability conditions are presented. This system is then extended to a more general case when the randomly varying part of the time delay is not limited to one sampling time. The derivative of the time delay is not limited to be bounded. Hence, the contributions are as follows: i) for a given controller, we can use these stability criteria to test stability of the resulted system; ii) we can design a remote controller to stabilize an unstable system. Finally, a simulation example is presented to demonstrate the remote stabilization of open loop unstable systems.
Extracting opinion holders and targets in Romanian texts

In this paper, we propose a method for identifying opinion holders and opinion targets from Romanian texts, using an unsupervised approach. The method discriminates the opinion bearing sentences first. Then, it applies a set of rules for holder and target identification. We propose a series of identification rules in addition to an initial set existing in literature. We have performed a series of evaluations using data from several domains. The results indicate a significant performance improvement when the enhanced set of rules is considered, as opposed to the initial set.
Distortion bounds for broadcasting a Gaussian source in the presence of interference

We consider the transmission of a Gaussian source over the two-user Gaussian broadcast channel in the presence of interference that is known to the transmitter. The interference is assumed to be correlated to the source and each user is interested in estimating the source signal. We propose a hybrid digital-analog (HDA) scheme based on proper combinations of power splitting, Wyner-Ziv and HDA Costa coding. The achievable (square-error) distortion region (inner bound) of this scheme is analyzed under source-channel bandwidth expansion; the matched bandwidth is treated as a special case. An outer bound on the distortion region is also derived by assuming full/partial knowledge of the interference at both users and by adapting the approach of Reznic et al. (2006). This outer bound can be tighter than the “trivial” outer bound found by assuming point-to-point communication.
Heterogram analysis: Where the assumption of normal distribution is illogical

During the second half of the 20th century, it has been a common practice in social sciences and psychology to compare cultural or social groups in terms of statistical means and standard deviations. In this way of thinking, individual types were assumed to be subcultural, and consequenty the differences among individuals were considered as less important than the differences between groups. The possibility that there are individual types which cut across cultural and social boundaries (see Fig. l [19]) was not even thought about. The uncritical use of the assumption of normal distribution – the bell-shaped curve – dominated psychology and social sciences. But in this assumption, something important was overlooked. Researchers tended to forget or never learned how the bell-shaped curve had been mathematically derived and defined. The normal distribution occurs when both of the following conditions are satisfied: (1) The fluctuations are random; (2) They are independent of one another. But psychological and social events are neither random not independent. Therefore it is illogical to assume a normal distribution. This is what most researchers forgot or never learned. Since the assumption of normal distribution has become almost sacred, it is necessary to point out why it is fallacious. Let us first examine its forgotten rationale. An example which fulfils the two conditions for normal distribution is tossing of a coin many times. If the coin is perfect, that is to say not bent and of uniform thickness, the probability of getting a “head” is 50%. If you toss the coin twice, you may get either zero head, one head or two heads, with the following probability:
Managing Chronic Pain: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Approach Workbook

1. Overview of the program 2. Session 1: Education on chronic pain 3. Session 2: Theories of pain and diaphragmatic breathing 4. Session 3: Progressive muscle relaxation and visual imagery 5. Session 4: Automatic thoughts and pain 6. Session 5: Cognitive restructuring 7. Session 6: Stress management 8. Session 7: Time-based pacing 9. Session 8: Pleasant activity scheduling 10. Session 9: Anger management 11. Session 10: Sleep hygiene 12. Session 11: Relapse prevention and flare-up planning
Enhanced haptic device compatible with fMRI environment

Paper presents an upgrade of a Phantom Premium 1.5 haptic device for use within a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) environment. A mechanical extension attached to the Phantom allows the haptic device to operate at a safe distance away from a high-density magnetic field of an fMRI scanner. The extended haptic system was subjected to a series of tests to confirm electromagnetic compatibility with the fMRI environment, for which key results are presented. With the extended fMRI compatible haptic platform a human brain activation during controlled upper limb movements can be studied. A virtual environment reaching task was programmed to study brain motor control functions. At the end of the paper a preliminary results of an ongoing neurophysiological study are presented.
Reordering dimensions for Radial Visualization of multidimensional data — A Genetic Algorithms approach

In this paper, we propose a Genetic Algorithm (GA) for solving the problem of dimensional ordering in Radial Visualization (Radviz) systems. The Radviz is a non-linear projection of high-dimensional data set onto two dimensional space. The order of dimension anchors in the Radviz system is crucial for the visualization quality. We conducted experiments on five common data sets and compare the quality of solutions found by GA and those found by the other well-known methods. The experimental results show that the solutions found by GA for these tested data sets are very competitive having better cost values than almost all solutions found by other methods. This suggests that GA could be a good approach to solve the problem of dimensional ordering in Radviz.
Collision prediction and avoidance amidst moving objects for trajectory planning applications

A methodology for computing a collision-free trajectory for mobile robots amidst moving objects is presented. This planner is based on a technique for computing the minimum translational distance between two mobile objects. This distance is then used for predicting and avoiding a collision. The computation of this distance is based on the application of the GJK algorithm to a particular subset of the Minkowski difference set of the involved objects. This subset states the separation or penetration distance between two objects along their given motions. When a collision is predicted, a collision-free intermediate temporal-position is generated avoiding such a collision.
Does brain react on Indian music? - A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Listening to music, as per clinical neuro science, involves many cognitive components with distinct brain substrates and its study has advanced greatly in the last three decades. But the studies of Indian music and its influence in the brain have not yet been studied. This article presents sequence of image processing steps using statistical parametric mapping for the analysis of fMRI brain structures for studying the influence of two Indian ragas namely Sankarabnam and Madhyamavathi on a non-musician brain. The results shows that ragas have a very good influence on non-musician and also shows that raga named Madhyamavathi has influenced the subject more than Sankarabranam.
A Child’s Display of Sequential Knowledge through Repetition of Boundary Tones

Although repetition of prosody plays a significant role in children’s language development, few studies have investigated the interactional role of children’s use of boundary tones in talk-in-interaction. This study investigates the interaction between a two year old Korean child and her caretakers to describe the child’s ability to participate in building adjacency pair sequences using boundary tone repetition. Analysis shows that the child acts as a competent interactant by building sequences, with the adult’s evaluative repeats following immediately without delay after the child’s initiation attempts. Adults are seen to ratify the child’s turn with reference to articulation rather than with regard to interactional significance. The findings support constructivist approaches to language development by showing how the child builds up an inventory of constructions derived from interaction between what she hears and what she wants to say, specifically through boundary tones. Repeats of boundary tones are identified as providing opportunities to learn different social actions performed through sentence final intonation.
Climate elasticity of streamflow in the United States

Precipitation elasticity of streamflow, ϵP, provides a measure of the sensitivity of streamflow to changes in rainfall. Watershed model‐based estimates of ϵP are shown to be highly sensitive to model structure and calibration error. A Monte Carlo experiment compares a nonparametric estimator of ϵP with various watershed model‐based approaches. The nonparametric estimator is found to have low bias and is as robust as or more robust than alternate model‐based approaches. The nonparametric estimator is used to construct a map of ϵP for the United States. Comparisons with 10 detailed climate change studies reveal that the contour map of ϵP introduced here provides a validation metric for past and future climate change investigations in the United States. Further investigations reveal that ϵP tends to be low for basins with significant snow accumulation and for basins whose moisture and energy inputs are seasonally in phase with one another. The Budyko hypothesis can only explain variations in ϵP for very humid basins.
Space geodesy constrains ice age terminal deglaciation: The global ICE‐6G_C (VM5a) model

A new model of the last deglaciation event of the Late Quaternary ice age is here described and denoted as ICE‐6G_C (VM5a). It differs from previously published models in this sequence in that it has been explicitly refined by applying all of the available Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements of vertical motion of the crust that may be brought to bear to constrain the thickness of local ice cover as well as the timing of its removal. Additional space geodetic constraints have also been applied to specify the reference frame within which the GPS data are described. The focus of the paper is upon the three main regions of Last Glacial Maximum ice cover, namely, North America, Northwestern Europe/Eurasia, and Antarctica, although Greenland and the British Isles will also be included, if peripherally, in the discussion. In each of the three major regions, the model predictions of the time rate of change of the gravitational field are also compared to that being measured by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites as an independent means of verifying the improvement of the model achieved by applying the GPS constraints. Several aspects of the global characteristics of this new model are also discussed, including the nature of relative sea level history predictions at far‐field locations, in particular the Caribbean island of Barbados, from which especially high‐quality records of postglacial sea level change are available but which records were not employed in the development of the model. Although ICE‐6G_C (VM5a) is a significant improvement insofar as the most recently available GPS observations are concerned, comparison of model predictions with such far‐field relative sea level histories enables us to identify a series of additional improvements that should follow from a further stage of model iteration.
Cognitive radio network architecture: part I -- general structure

Cognitive radio has been considered as a key technology for future wireless communications and mobile computing. We note the cognitive radios can form cognitive radio networks (CRN) by extending the radio link features to network layer functions and above. We categorize CRN architecture into several structures and classify the unidirectional links in such structures, to pave the way for future systematic CRN research.
Cost Evaluation of Computation Offloading on Mobile Devices

2 Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my project advisor, Prof. Mohan Kumar for his continuous support of my capstone project, for his patience, guidance and invaluable knowledge. I would also like to thank Prof. Lenoid Reznik for all the valuable comments and suggestions he gave during the milestone and poster presentations of my project.