Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
La pêche artisanale au Sénégal : ressource et stratégie de pêche

Les eaux du plateau continental senegalo-mauritanien sont enrichies par un upwelling cotier qui leur assure une forte productivite. Nous avons decrit la mise en place d'un systeme d'enquetes pour la peche artisanale (plan stratifie avec plusieurs niveaux dans chaque strate) et discute les principales sources d'erreurs. L'augmentation du nombre de strates conduirait a celle de la variabilite de leur taille, vu l'aptitude des unites de peche a changer de tactique selon les circonstances. Nous avons analyse les donnees recueillies sur les sorties de peche et leurs resultats a Saint-Louis et a Kayar, en considerant 3 periodes entre 1975 et 1987. Cette etude montre une importante variabilite inter et intra-annuelle des diverses observations et indique de profondes modifications de la distribution et des schemas d'exploitation de certains stocks au cours des 15 dernieres annees. Nous avons ensuite discute des caracteristiques de modeles de dynamique des populations en examinant leur aptitude a rendre compte des changements observes. Nous avons plus particulierement etudie une formulation adaptee aux pecheries de rayon d'action limite. Nous avons presente les approches multispecifiques et multiengins en insistant sur celles decrivant la dynamique des flottilles. Nous avons presente un modele de simulation et nous l'avons utilise pour comparer l'activite et les resultats de deux pecheries. La premiere est semblable a la pecherie artisanale sur la cote nord du Senegal, la seconde en differe par un choix plus limite de tactiques a la disposition de chaque unite de peche. Les resultats obtenus permettent d'aborder l'analyse des problemes d'amenagement des pecheries artisanales.
Importance of Data Augmentation and Transfer Learning on Retinal Vessel Segmentation

Automatic segmentation of retinal fundus images for extracting blood vessels is an essential task in the diagnostic classification of hypertension, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy, which are the leading causes of blindness. In this paper, we employed a transfer learning strategy for improved retinal vessel extraction. Firstly, we trained the U-NET model on CHASE DB1 and DRIVE databases. By using data augmentations on datasets we enable the U-NET model to learn retinal vessel features better. We examined the data augmentation types, namely, pixel-level transformations and affine transformations. Secondly, we utilized the transfer learning approach on two datasets and achieved comparable results with the state-of-the-art studies on retinal vessel segmentation task. Also, we employed combination of affine and pixel-level transformations to further boost segmentation performance.
Helicobacter pylori in Dyspepsia: Phenotypic and Genotypic Methods of Diagnosis

Background: Helicobacter pylori affects almost half of the world's population and therefore is one of the most frequent and persistent bacterial infections worldwide. H. pylori is associated with chronic gastritis, ulcer disease (gastric and duodenal), mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma, and gastric cancer. Several diagnostic methods exist to detect infection and the option of one method or another depends on various genes, such as availability, advantages and disadvantages of each method, monetary value, and the age of patients. Materials and Methods: Patients with complaints of abdominal pain, discomfort, acidity, and loss of appetite were chosen for endoscopy, detailed history was contained, and a physical examination was conducted before endoscopy. Biopsies (antrum + body) were received from each patient and subjected to rapid urease test (RUT), histopathological examination (HPE), polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and culture. Results: Of the total 223 biopsy specimens obtained from dyspeptic patients, 122 (54.7%) were positive for H. pylori for HPE, 109 (48.9%) by RUT, 65 (29.1%) by culture, and 117 (52.5%) by PCR. The specificity and sensitivity were as follows: RUT (99% and 88.5%), phosphoglucosamine mutase PCR assay (100% and 95.9%), and culture (100% and 53.3%), respectively. Conclusion: In this study, we compared the various diagnostic methods used to identify H. pylori infection indicating that, in comparison with histology as gold standard for detection of H. pylori infection, culture and PCR showed 100% specificity whereas RUT and PCR showed 99% and 100% sensitivity, respectively.
Biped robot walk control via gravity compensation techniques

Past three decades witnessed a growing interest in biped walking robots because of their advantageous use in the human environment. However, their control is challenging because of their many DOFs and nonlinearities in their dynamics. Various trajectory generation and walking control approaches ranging from open loop walking to systems with many sensors and feedback loops have been reported in the literature. The tuning of the parameters of reference gait is a common complication encountered. Another important problem of the walking control is the ground force interaction of the swinging leg at landing. This paper uses position references for the upper body. Optimization techniques are employed to obtain suitable leg joint torques for the supporting leg to track body reference trajectories. Locomotion is achieved by a swinging leg control scheme which is independent of the body reference position tracking. This method is based on gravity compensation and virtual potential fields applied to the swinging leg. Soft landing of the leg can easily be handled with this scheme. 3D dynamics and ground interaction simulation techniques are employed for a 12-DOF biped robot to test the proposed method. The simulations indicate the applicability of the method in real implementations.
Fitness Consequences of Plasmodium falciparum pfmdr1 Polymorphisms Inferred from Ex Vivo Culture of Ugandan Parasites

ABSTRACT Polymorphisms in the Plasmodium falciparum multidrug resistance 1 (pfmdr1) gene impact sensitivity to multiple antimalarials. In Africa, polymorphisms at N86Y and D1246Y are common and have various impacts on sensitivity to different drugs. To gain insight into the fitness consequences of these polymorphisms, we cultured parasites isolated from children with malaria in Tororo, Uganda, where the multiplicity of infection is high, and used pyrosequencing to follow polymorphism prevalences in culture over time. Of 71 cultures, parasites in 69 were successfully analyzed at N86Y and parasites in 68 were successfully analyzed at D1246Y over 3 to 36 days of culture. For position 86, the sequences of 39/69 (56.5%) parasites remained stable (>90% prevalence over 2 to 17 time points), with 82.1% of these being stable for the 86Y mutation. For position 1246, the sequences of 31/68 (45.6%) parasites remained stable, with 64.5% of these being stable for the wild-type D1246 sequence (P = 0.0002 for comparison of stable mutant genotypes for the two alleles). Defining allele selection as a ≥15% change in prevalence between the first and last samples assessed, for position 86, 11 samples showed selection, with selection toward 86Y occurring in 72.7% of alleles; for position 1246, 14 samples showed selection, with selection toward D1246 occurring in 64.3% of alleles (P = 0.11 for comparison of selection of mutations at the two alleles). Among the 7 samples with selection at both alleles, 5 showed selection for both 86Y and D1246. Overall, consistent trends in the direction of selection were seen, although differences were not statistically significant. Our results suggest fitness advantages for parasites with the pfmdr1 86Y mutation and wild-type D1246, highlighting the complex interplay between drug resistance and fitness in malaria parasites. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrials.gov under registration no. NCT00948896 and NCT00993031.)
A Storage Slab Allocator for Disk Storage Management in File System

Absorbing the slab idea for memory management, this paper presents a novel technique for the disk storage management called a storage slab allocator. A storage slab allocator doesn’t discard the file layout during the process of deleting files, but reuses the free file layout while creating, thereby both block allocation and release will be speeded up. The file layout is the cached-object as the free storage management unit. It maintains the free blocks and their relations. The prototype system is implemented based on Ext3 and tests are also done. Measured performance results are very promising. Compared with Ext3, the allocation performance is improved to about double times and bigger file deletion is improved to hundreds of times; meanwhile, the CPU utilization is reduced to about 40%.
Robust common spatial patterns based on Bhattacharyya distance and Gamma divergence

The computation of task-related spatial filters is a prerequisite for a successful application of motor imagery-based Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). However, in the presence of artifacts, e.g., resulting from eye movements or muscular activity, standard methods such as Common Spatial Patterns (CSP) perform poorly. Recently, a divergence-based spatial filter computation framework has been proposed which enables significantly more robust computation with respect to artifacts by using Beta divergence. In this paper we integrate two additional divergence measures, namely Bhattacharyya distance and Gamma divergence, into the divergence-based CSP framework and evaluate their robustness using simulations and data set IVa from BCI Competition III.
Analysis of fractal traffic source based on Sup-FRPP model

In this paper, superposition fractal renewal point process (Sup-FRPP) is used to generate fractal traffic. The numerical simulation and analysis results demonstrate that the variation range and relative average degree of fractal of fractal traffic data created by sup-FRPP increase with the increment of Hurst parameter H. The average packet arrival rate, the fractality start-time of the generated traffic, and the approach of adjust the number of fractal point process are also analyzed.
Evaluation of Computed Tomography Scans and ltrasounds in the Differential Diagnosis of eriapical Lesions

a g bstract raditionally, the definitive diagnosis of periapical leion depends on histopathological examination of the issues, which is impractical in cases planned for nonurgical treatment. Recently, some authors have used ltrasound with power Doppler and computed tomogaphy in differential diagnosis between a cyst and a ranuloma. The aim of this study was to evaluate and ompare the use of computed tomography (CT) scan nd ultrasound with power Doppler flowmetry in diferential diagnosis of periapical lesions. Twelve periaical lesions were imaged with the help of CT scans and ltrasound with color-power Doppler flowmetry. A proisional preoperative diagnosis was made based on istory, clinical presentation, and radiographic features. he cases were treated by surgical endodontics. In all 2 cases, the diagnosis with CT scan and ultrasound oincided with the histopathological diagnosis of the esions. It is proposed that CT scans and ultrasound ith power Doppler flowmetry can provide an addiional dignostic tool without invasive surgery, where reatment option is nonsurgical. (J Endod 2008;34: 312–1315)
Distributed Tuning of Boundary Resources: The Case of Apple's iOS Service System

The digital age has seen the rise of service systems involving highly distributed, heterogeneous, and resource-integrating actors whose relationships are governed by shared institutional logics, standards, and digital technology. The cocreation of service within these service systems takes place in the context of a paradoxical tension between the logic of generative and democratic innovations and the logic of infrastructural control. Boundary resources play a critical role in managing the tension as a firm that owns the infrastructure can secure its control over the service system while independent firms can participate in the service system. In this study, we explore the evolution of boundary resources. Drawing on Pickering's (1993) and Barrett et al.'s (2012) conceptualizations of tuning, the paper seeks to forward our understanding of how heterogeneous actors engage in the tuning of boundary resources within Apple's iOS service system. We conduct an embedded case study of Apple's iOS service system with an in-depth analysis of 4,664 blog articles concerned with 30 boundary resources covering 6 distinct themes. Our analysis reveals that boundary resources of service systems enabled by digital technology are shaped and reshaped through distributed tuning, which involves cascading actions of accommodations and rejections of a network of heterogeneous actors and artifacts. Our study also shows the dualistic role of power in the distributed tuning process.
Theatre, PlayDoh and Comic Strips: Designing Organic User Interfaces with Young Adolescent and Teenage Participants

This paper presents the process and outputs from a participatory design activity with secondary school children whose task was to design organic user interfaces (OUIs) for use in energy-aware applications. Although experienced in participatory design sessions with children and teenagers, the design team faced three new challenges in this work: how to convey the idea of OUIs, how to facilitate the pupils to design OUIs and how to interpret the OUI design ideas. To convey the ideas of OUI, the Obstructed Theatre method, used in other studies with children and teenagers, was used. In this work, the salient features of the OUI conveyed in the theatre were: its malleability, its potential to bend and change shape, its association with the body and its novelty. To facilitate the design, three scenarios of increasing user interface complexity were conveyed in the theatre; and three different media (i) slime and pipe cleaners, (ii) PlayDoh and small Lego bricks, (iii) fabric and sticky shapes that afforded the creation of designs representing future organic interactive technologies were deployed. To enable the design team to make sense of the resulting designs, a Comic Strip approach was used to capture the changes in the designs as they demonstrated interaction. The paper explores this work from three perspectives; first, the effectiveness of the Obstructed Theatre approach to convey requirements of OUIs, secondly, the effectiveness of the three media used in the design sessions to encourage design solutions for OUIs and thirdly, the quality and relevance of the design ideas generated in the sessions and communicated to the design team using the Comic Strips and their applicability to other contexts. The paper concludes with some thoughts on methods and materials that could be used to encourage design ideas for OUIs and offers some of the participants more innovative ideas for the research and development community. © 2013 The Author.
Deadlock detection in conditional asynchronous circuits under mismatched branch selection

In this paper we introduce an algorithm that detects the deadlock in conditional asynchronous circuits when the selection controls are not matched. By knowing the slack in each branch and the detailed selection pattern for each Split and Merge, the algorithm detects the deadlock, specifies the branch at which the deadlock occurs, and determines how much slack is needed to free the deadlock. The proposed algorithm is implemented and tested against Verilog simulation.
Topic Introduction Prions

Infectious proteins (prions) are usually self-templating filamentous protein polymers (amyloids). Yeast prions are genes composed of protein and, like the multiple alleles of DNA-based genes, can have an array of “variants,” each a distinct self-propagating amyloid conformation. Like the lethal mammalian prions and amyloid diseases, yeast prions may be lethal, or only mildly detrimental, and show an array of phenotypes depending on the protein involved and the prion variant. Yeast prions are models for both rare mammalian prion diseases and for several very common amyloidoses such as Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson’s disease. Here, we describe their detection and characterization using genetic, cell biological, biochemical, and physical methods.
IDH Mutation Detection in Formalin‐Fixed Paraffin‐Embedded Gliomas Using Multiplex PCR and Single‐Base Extension

Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) genes are mutated in a significant portion of gliomas, myeloid leukemias and chondroid neoplasms. In gliomas, IDH mutations are prognostic, as those tumors with the mutation are associated with a proneural subclass and have longer survival compared with those without the mutation. We developed a simple, PCR‐based SNaPshot® assay (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA) to detect IDH1/2 mutations. This protocol combines a single, multiplexed PCR reaction using gene specific primers followed by a single, multiplexed SNaPshot reaction and detection by capillary electrophoresis. In a blinded study of 32 paraffin‐embedded glioma specimens previously screened for IDH mutations by a PCR/direct sequencing method, concordance of our IDH SNaPshot test with sequencing was 100%. We performed the assay on an additional 57 specimens submitted for diagnostic IDH mutation evaluation. Data analysis was much faster and easier to perform than analysis of the sequencing data, and results could be obtained in 1 day from DNA extraction to analysis. Furthermore, we could readily identify a mixture of 5% mutant allele vs. 95% wild‐type allele in our SNaPshot assay, in comparison to approximately 20% mutant allele in our PCR‐sequencing assay. Our assay represents a fast, sensitive, straightforward method of reliably detecting common mutations of IDH genes in glial neoplasms, or other tumors.
Influence of venular prostaglandin release on arteriolar diameter during functional hyperemia.

Indomethacin treatment or removal of the venular endothelium will attenuate functional arteriolar vasodilation in the hamster cremaster muscle. We tested the hypothesis that prostanoid release from venular endothelial cells was responsible for the functional vasodilation of the paired arteriole. The hamster cremaster muscle was prepared for in vivo microscopy and stimulated for 1 minute (10 V, 40 microsec, 1 Hz). Before a second muscle stimulation, the venular endothelium was removed by perfusing the venule with several air bubbles. A third muscle stimulation was performed during prostaglandin inhibition (28 micromol/L indomethacin superfusion). Arterioles (n = 9, 55+/-5 microm) dilated 25+/-4% during the initial muscle stimulation. After removal of the endothelium from the paired venules, there was no effect on resting arteriolar diameters (53+/-4 microm), but the functional arteriolar dilation was attenuated to 15+/-5% (P<.05). The additional indomethacin treatment had a significant effect on resting diameter (50+/-4 microm) but did not alter the magnitude of the functional vasodilation (11+/-4%, P>.05). In a second set of experiments, the order of the experimental protocol was reversed. Muscle stimulation resulted in a 23+/-2% increase in diameter (47+/-2 to 57+/-2 microm). Indomethacin treatment significantly attenuated the functional dilation to 8+/-3% (45+/-2 to 48+/-2 microm). Arteriolar diameter was significantly smaller after disruption of the venular endothelium with air bubbles (40+/-2 microm), but there was no effect on the functional vasodilation, 8+/-3% increase in diameter (to 43+/-2 microm). These results suggest that the arteriolar dilatory response to muscle stimulation is mediated, in part, by prostanoid release from the venular endothelium.
Development of portable sound effector

This paper presents an implementation of portable sound effector using the tiny packaged sound effect module which includes implemented sound effects, sound effect SoC, and EEPROM. The SoC integrates the embedded DSP core, an audio codec, some peripheral blocks, and various sound effect algorithms where cost savings made by reducing the chip count and size. In the implementation of sound effect algorithms, we employ the primitive functions of the DSP compiler, which provide an efficient way to optimize the compiled code. This portable sound effector is developed as an all-in-one product for the low cost and high portability.
Genome organization of human 48-kDa oligosaccharyltransferase (DDOST).

The enzyme oligosaccharyltransferase (dolichyl-diphosphooligosaccharide-protein glycosyltransferase; EC 2. 4.1.119) (DDOST) catalyzes the transfer of a high-mannose oligosaccharide (GlcNac2Man9Glc3) from a dolichol-linked oligosaccharide donor (dolichol-P-GlcNac2Man9Glc3) onto the asparagine acceptor site within an Asn-X-Ser/Thr consensus motif in nascent polypeptide chains across the membrane of the endoplasmic reticulum. We isolated mouse and human DDOST cDNAs from retinoic acid-treated mouse P19 EC cells and human NT-2 cells, respectively. DDOST mRNA is expressed intensely in heart and pancreas, but at lower levels in brain. Here we show that the human DDOST 48-kDa subunit gene (HGMW-approved symbol DDOST) is organized into 11 exons expanding about 9 kb. This DDOST subunit gene is localized on chromosome 1p36.1 by fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis.
Seasonal variation in cortisol biomarkers in Hispanic mothers living in an agricultural region

Abstract Context: Characterization of stress exposure requires understanding seasonal variability in stress biomarkers. Objective: To compare acute and chronic stress biomarkers between two seasons in a cohort of rural, Hispanic mothers. Methods: Stress questionnaires and cortisol measurements (hair, blood and saliva) were collected in the summer and fall. Results: Cortisol biomarkers were significantly different and stress questionnaires were significantly correlated between seasons. Discussion: The variability in cortisol and relative stability of questionnaires between seasons may indicate that cortisol responds to subtle stressors not addressed in questionnaires. Conclusions: There are significant differences in stress biomarkers in our cohort between seasons.
Age‐related changes in dystrophin–glycoprotein complex and in utrophin are not correlated with intrinsic laryngeal muscles protection in mdx mice

In this study we investigate whether dystrophic intrinsic laryngeal muscles (ILM) from aged mdx mice show alterations in dystrophin–glycoprotein complex (DGC) components.Immunofluorescence and immunoblotting analyses of beta‐sarcoglycan, beta‐dystroglycan, and utrophin showed that aged ILM had a similar pattern of changes in aged affected muscles (diaphragm and limb), suggesting that aging leads to changes in utrophin and DGC proteins in dystrophic ILM that cannot be correlated with their protection from dystrophic change. Muscle Nerve, 2011
Vertx: Automated Validation of Binary Transformations

The paper describes Vertx, a tool for validating software binary transformations. Vertx enables software developers and system administrators to automatically check the correctness of software binary transformations such as security hardening and optimization. Transformation validation increases user trust in binary-transformation technology and allows binary transformations to be safely used in critical applications that have narrow margins of error.
The Classification of Depressions: A Review of Contemporary Confusion

During the last fifty years, and particularly the last twenty, innumerable different classifications of depressive illness have been proposed, and several disputes are smouldering away between the protagonists of rival schools. Much of this is too well known to need, or bear, repetition. But the conflicting claims and proposals are now so numerous, and methodological problems loom so large, that those who are not intimately involved have increasing difficulty in understanding what is going on; while those who are involved are mostly too intent on developing and promoting their own particular schema to review the overall situation in any broader context. This article is an attempt to describe the main elements in a confusing situation, to outline the important problems, and to indicate the areas of agreement that are beginning to emerge, without advocating any particular solution.