Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using cyclic redundancy check to eliminate key storage for revocable iris templates

In recent years, with the increased use of biometrics for user authentication, an increase in the demand for the security of the biometric databases has occurred. Public concerns about safety of their biometric templates if the database is compromised as well as fears of cross-referencing among databases had to be addressed to ensure public acceptance of the use of biometric systems in large scale applications. In this paper, we propose a template protection system for iris-based biometric systems. A shuffling algorithm ensures revocability, while a combined Hadamard and Reed Solomon error correction coding ensures security, and as an improvement over previous research, cyclic redundancy check is introduced to eliminate the need to store user keys along with the templates in the database.
A software tool to measure the geometric distortion in x-ray image systems

A software tool is presented to measure the geometric distortion in images obtained with X-ray systems that provides a more objective method than the usual measurements over the image of a phantom with usual rulers. In a first step, this software has been applied to mammography images and makes use of the grid included into the CDMAM phantom (University Hospital Nijmegen). For digital images, this software tool automatically locates the grid crossing points and obtains a set of corners (up to 237) that are used by the program to determine 6 different squares, at top, bottom, left, right and central positions. The sixth square is the largest that can be fitted in the grid (widest possible square). The distortion is calculated as ((length of left diagonal - length of right diagonal)/ length of left diagonal) (%) for the six positions. The algorithm error is of the order of 0.3%. The method might be applied to other radiological systems without any major changes to adjust the program code to other phantoms. In this work a set of measurements for 54 CDMAM images, acquired in 11 different mammography systems from 6 manufacturers are presented. We can conclude that the distortion of all equipments is smaller than the recommendations for maximum distortions in primary displays (2%)
Global exponential stability for a class of impulsive BAM neural networks with distributed delays

In this paper, the exponential stability is investigated for a class of BAM neur al networks with distributed delays and nonlinear impulsive operators. By using Lyapunov functions and applying the Razumikhin technique, delay-independent sufficient conditions ensuring the global exponential stability of equilibrium points are d erived. These results can easily be utilized to design and verify globally stable networks. An illustrative example is given to demonstr ate the effectiveness of the obtained results.
Automatic hexaphonic guitar transcription using non-negative constraints

Automatic music transcription is a widely studied problem, Typically, recordings that are used for transcription are taken from standard instruments, in the case of electric stringed instruments-such as the electric guitar-the recordings are captured from a standard pick-up, which unwantedly mixes the signals from each string and complicates subsequent analysis. We propose an approach to electric guitar transcription where the signal generated by each string at the guitar pickup is captured and analysed separately; thus providing six separate signals as opposed to one mixed signal, which enables finger positions to be identified. Such an instrument is known as a hexaphonic guitar and is a popular instrument for spatial music performances. We build the equipment necessary to modify a standard electric guitar into a hexaphonic guitar, and present an application of non-negative matrix factorisation to the task of transcription-where a basis for each note on the fretboard is learned and fitted to a magnitude spectrogram of the hexaphonic recording, which then undergoes a nonlinearity generating a piano roll representation of the music performance.
Evolutionary Constructive Approach for Studying Dynamic Complex Systems

In this chapter, we introduce a scientific methodology called “evolutionary constructive approach”. This approach is suitable for studying dynamic features of complex systems. At first, we identify two types of simulation methodologies, realistic and constructive. The latter is especially needed to clarify complex systems, since the complex systems have distinct characteristics from objects of conventional scientific studies. We characterize such characteristics as “undecomposabilities”. We show three example simulation studies using the evolutionary constructive approach. They are about 1) dynamic change of social structures, 2) language change and displacement, and 3) dynamics of communication. These days, computer simulations have been getting popular in science and engineering. For example, the Earth Simulator developed in Japan has been producing interesting results for meteorology and environmental science (Sato, 2004). Multi-agent simulations, or agentbased simulations, are an enterprise of new method in social science (Conte et al., 1997; Gilbert & Troitzsch, 2005). The simulation techniques are expected to contribute for understanding and prediction of the future of our world. But our world is not so easy to comprehend and to deal with. We have reached good understanding of some parts of the world, when simple sub-parts can be extracted as systems. Complex systems in which extracting simple sub-parts or breaking down into simple systems are very hard have been still remaining untractable for us. If we try to use modeling and simulation for understanding such complex systems, we should establish the way of thinking, the methodologies and the approach to model the complex world. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss if constructive approach, especially, evolutionary constructive approach, can contribute to understand the complex world. The constructive approach is a scientific methodology in which an objective system is to be understood by constructing the system and operating it. In evolutionary constructive approach, evolutionary operations, not only genetic evolution but also lifetime development, individual learning and social learning, are incorporated to construct models. This chapter organizes as follows. In section 2, we describe some seminal constructive studies not limited to works using computer simulations. In section 3, we explain how complex systems are characterized as a preparation to discuss if the constructive approach is
Influence of middle school pupils’ acculturation on their readings of and expectations for physical education

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of middle school pupils’ acculturation on their readings of and expectations for physical education. Participants were 94 pupils attending one public middle school. Data were collected using five qualitative techniques. They were analysed by employing analytic induction and constant comparison. Findings indicated that the majority of pupils read the subject positively and in terms of four outcomes. These were learning and experiencing sports, health and fitness, socialising, and enjoyment and excitement. A minority of pupils, however, was more negative about physical education and viewed the subject as being of little worth. Differences in the ways in which pupils read and the expectations they had for physical education emerged based on age, gender, and ability. Key socialising agents that appeared to shape the beliefs and views of the pupils were their physical education teachers, peers, parents, coaches, and prevailing culture.
Identification of free conducting particles in transformer oils using PD signals

Transformers are known as one of the most important equipment in power system transmission and distribution network. Safety of transformer insulation is determined mainly by its insulating oil dielectric strength. A major concern which threaten the withstand strength of a liquid insulation is the presence of particle contamination. One of the best methods to detect any abnormality and insulation weakness inside the transformer insulation is based on partial discharge (PD) measurement. Here, to identify the presence of conducting particles inside the transformer insulating oil, the general routine used for PD recognition is employed. This process involves the following steps: current signal measurement, PD pulse capture, PD signal parameters extraction, signal categorization based on existing data bases, and finally its diagnosis and finding the source of PD. The PD pulse characteristics related to a floating conductive particle, with different shapes and sizes, under quasi-uniform electric field is studied in this paper. These characteristics related to the particles in transformer oil, besides data mining techniques are employed to analyze the recorded PD measured signals in time domain and subsequently to specify the shape and size of particle. PCA feature extraction method is applied on the frequency domain data, then SVM classifier is used to classify the recorded data. Results based on experimental training and testing data indicate that this method using PD signal information provides a 97 % classification success rate.
Resilience in Urban African American Adolescents: The Protective Enhancing Effects of Neighborhood, Family, and School Cohesion Following Violence Exposure

Exposure to violence (ETV) poses a serious threat to adolescents’ safety and well-being; however, some adolescents who grow up in such toxic environments are able to thrive due to a combination of internal and external characteristics. The current study examines the role of cohesion across contexts (i.e., family, school, and community) as moderating the relation between ETV and positive internal outcomes characteristic of resilient youth (i.e., ethnic identity, positive affect, and self-esteem) in a sample of low-income, urban, African American adolescents (N = 269, 60% female) from seventh grade to eighth grade. Results indicated that greater cohesion in each context was directly related to more positive outcomes. Family and neighborhood cohesion additionally served as protective enhancing factors for males exposed to high levels of violence. These findings expand the current research on positive youth development and help locate potential environmental targets for prevention and intervention research.
Multispeculative Addition Applied to Datapath Synthesis

Addition is the key arithmetic operation in most digital circuits and processors. Therefore, their performance and other parameters, such as area and power consumption, are highly dependent on the adders' features. In this paper, we present multispeculation as a way of increasing adders' performance with a low area penalty. In our proposed design, dividing an adder into several fragments and predicting the carry-in of each fragment enables computing every addition in two very short cycles at the most, with 99% or higher probability. Furthermore, based on multispeculation principles, we propose a new strategy for implementing addition chains and hiding most of the penalty cycles due to mispredictions, while keeping at the same time the resource sharing capabilities that are sought in high-level synthesis. Our results show that it is possible to build linear and logarithmic adders more than 4.7× and 1.7× faster than the nonspeculative case, respectively. Moreover, this is achieved with a low area penalty (38% for linear adders) or even an area reduction (-8% for logarithmic adders). Finally, applying multispeculation principles to signal processing benchmarks that use addition chains will result in 25% execution time reduction, with an additional 3% decrease in datapath area with respect to implementations with logarithmic fast adders.
The Tip of the Hydrophobic Hairpin of Colicin U Is Dispensable for Colicin U Activity but Is Important for Interaction with the Immunity Protein

ABSTRACT The hydrophobic C terminus of pore-forming colicins associates with and inserts into the cytoplasmic membrane and is the target of the respective immunity protein. The hydrophobic region of colicin U ofShigella boydii was mutated to identify determinants responsible for recognition of colicin U by the colicin U immunity protein. Deletion of the tip of the hydrophobic hairpin of colicin U resulted in a fully active colicin that was no longer inactivated by the colicin U immunity protein. Replacement of eight amino acids at the tip of the colicin U hairpin by the corresponding amino acids of the related colicin B resulted in colicin U(575–582ColB), which was inactivated by the colicin U immunity protein to 10% of the level of inactivation of the wild-type colicin U. The colicin B immunity protein inactivated colicin U(575–582ColB) to the same degree. These results indicate that the tip of the hydrophobic hairpin of colicin U and of colicin B mainly determines the interaction with the corresponding immunity proteins and is not required for colicin activity. Comparison of these results with published data suggests that interhelical loops and not membrane helices of pore-forming colicins mainly interact with the cognate immunity proteins and that the loops are located in different regions of the A-type and E1-type colicins. The colicin U immunity protein forms four transmembrane segments in the cytoplasmic membrane, and the N and C termini face the cytoplasm.
Ising models on locally tree-like graphs

We consider Ising models on graphs that converge locally to trees. Examples include random regular graphs with bounded degree and uniformly random graphs with bounded average degree. We prove that the `cavity' prediction for the limiting free energy per spin is correct for any temperature and external field. Further, local marginals can be approximated by iterating a set of mean field (cavity) equations. Both results are achieved by proving the local convergence of the Boltzmann distribution on the original graph to the Boltzmann distribution on the appropriate infinite random tree.
Manipulating Implicit Beliefs About Decision-Making Ability Affects Decision-Making Performance Under Submaximal Physiological Load

This experiment manipulated elite endurance cyclists’ implicit beliefs about the nature of decision-making ability and explored subsequent change in performance on a decision-making task under submaximal physiological load. In total, 54 elite-level endurance cyclists (10 women and 44 men) were manipulated to endorse a limited (susceptible to depletion) or nonlimited (unsusceptible to depletion) implicit belief about decision-making ability. Results showed that after the manipulation cyclists assigned to the limited resource condition had higher levels of limited beliefs and lower levels of nonlimited beliefs than those assigned to the nonlimited resource condition. Those in the limited resource condition also showed a decrease in decision-making performance, whereas those in the nonlimited resource condition showed an increase in decision-making performance. Findings suggest that implicit beliefs about decision-making ability can be manipulated in an elite sport sample and that such manipulation can alter performance on a decision-making task under submaximal physiological load.
Recording and simulation of hippocampal neural networks with bicuculline

In this study we compare the neural activity of a population of neurons recorded with a MEA to simulations of equivalent networks obtained on a computer when bicuculline, an antagonist of inhibitory connections, is introduced into the nutritive solution. The aim of this study is to obtain a model producing extra-cellular data that match the synchronicity of two different real networks: a cell culture and an oraganotypic hippocampus slice. A one compartment model of neuron and a neuron-electrode model are used to simulate experiments. Parameters of the models are fitted to match in vivo data. It is shown that the variation of the noise level at the synaptic level induces a variation in the period of the bursting effect of bicuculline and produces variation in amplitude of the recorded signal.
Risk factors for persistent and new chronic opioid use in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty: a retrospective cohort study

Objectives To determine chronic opioid use pre-THA (total hip arthroplasty) and post-THA, and risk factors for persistent or new chronic opioid use post-THA. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs health claims database. Participants 9525 patients who had an elective unilateral THA between 1/01/2001 and 12/31/2012. Primary outcome measure Chronic opioid use. Defined as 90 days of continuous opioid use or 120 days of non-continuous use. Results Pre-THA, 6.2% (n=593) of patients were chronic users, while 5.2% (n=492) were post-THA. Among the 492 postoperative chronic users, 302 (61%) were chronic users pre-THA and post-THA and 190 (39%) became new chronic users after surgery. Risk factors for persistent chronic use were younger age (OR=0.96, 95% CI 0.93 to 0.99/1-year increment), back pain (OR=1.99, 95% CI 1.20 to 3.23), diabetes (OR=3.52, 95% CI 1.05 to 11.8), hypnotics use (OR=2.52, 95% CI 1.48 to 4.30) and higher pre-THA opioid exposure (compared with opioid use for 94–157 days, 157–224 days (OR=3.75, 95% CI 2.28 to 6.18), 225+ days (OR=5.18, 95% CI 2.92 to 9.19). Risk factors for new chronic opioid use post-THA were being a woman (OR=1.40, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.96), back pain (OR=3.90, 95% CI 2.85 to 5.33), depression (OR=1.70, 95% CI 1.20 to 2.41), gastric acid disease (OR=1.62, 95% CI 1.16 to 2.25), migraine (OR=5.11, 95% CI 1.08 to 24.18), liver disease (OR=4.33, 95% CI 1.08 to 17.35), weight loss (OR=2.60, 95% CI 1.06 to 6.39), dementia (OR=2.19, 95% CI 1.04 to 4.61), hyperlipidaemia (OR=1.38, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.91), hypnotics (OR=1.56, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.16) and antineuropathic pain medication use (OR=3.11, 95% CI 2.05 to 4.72). Conclusions Patients undergoing THA are exposed to opioids for long periods of time, putting them at high risk of harm related to opioid use. We identified groups at risk of chronic opioid use, including younger patients and women, as well as modifiable risk factors of chronic opioid use, including level of opioid exposure presurgery and hypnotic use. These indicators of chronic opioid use can be used by clinicians to target patient groups for suitable pain management interventions.
Polonium and Lung Cancer

The alpha-radioactive polonium 210 (Po-210) is one of the most powerful carcinogenic agents of tobacco smoke and is responsible for the histotype shift of lung cancer from squamous cell type to adenocarcinoma. According to several studies, the principal source of Po-210 is the fertilizers used in tobacco plants, which are rich in polyphosphates containing radio (Ra-226) and its decay products, lead 210 (Pb-210) and Po-210. Tobacco leaves accumulate Pb-210 and Po-210 through their trichomes, and Pb-210 decays into Po-210 over time. With the combustion of the cigarette smoke becomes radioactive and Pb-210 and Po-210 reach the bronchopulmonary apparatus, especially in bifurcations of segmental bronchi. In this place, combined with other agents, it will manifest its carcinogenic activity, especially in patients with compromised mucous-ciliary clearance. Various studies have confirmed that the radiological risk from Po-210 in a smoker of 20 cigarettes per day for a year is equivalent to the one deriving from 300 chest X-rays, with an autonomous oncogenic capability of 4 lung cancers per 10000 smokers. Po-210 can also be found in passive smoke, since part of Po-210 spreads in the surrounding environment during tobacco combustion. Tobacco manufacturers have been aware of the alpha-radioactivity presence in tobacco smoke since the sixties.
Estimation and compensation of TX and RX IQ imbalance in OFDM-based MIMO systems

This paper studies the influence, estimation and digital compensation of IQ imbalance at both transmitter and receiver side of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) OFDM system. Hereto a preamble is designed, which enables simultaneous estimation of the channel and imbalance parameters. New estimation approaches for TX, RX and joint TX and RX IQ imbalance in MIMO OFDM systems are proposed and evaluated. Results from a numerical study show that all three proposed compensation approaches are able to significantly suppress the influence of IQ mismatch.
Mapping DNA polymerase errors by single-molecule sequencing

Genomic integrity is compromised by DNA polymerase replication errors, which occur in a sequence-dependent manner across the genome. Accurate and complete quantification of a DNA polymerase's error spectrum is challenging because errors are rare and difficult to detect. We report a high-throughput sequencing assay to map in vitro DNA replication errors at the single-molecule level. Unlike previous methods, our assay is able to rapidly detect a large number of polymerase errors at base resolution over any template substrate without quantification bias. To overcome the high error rate of high-throughput sequencing, our assay uses a barcoding strategy in which each replication product is tagged with a unique nucleotide sequence before amplification. This allows multiple sequencing reads of the same product to be compared so that sequencing errors can be found and removed. We demonstrate the ability of our assay to characterize the average error rate, error hotspots and lesion bypass fidelity of several DNA polymerases.
A joint factor analysis approach to whispering speaker identification under mismatched speaking manners and channels

In order to increase the recognition accuracy under different speaking manners and different channels, the paper introduces joint factor analysis into the recognition system by training speaker and channel space. Then based on analyzing distribution of the channel factor by principal component analysis method, vector quantization algorithm is proposed by the paper to achieve the optimal channel space matrix which avoids the instability of channel factor caused from the randomness of initial channel space. The experiment result shows that the modified joint factor analysis system can increase the recognition accuracy compared to traditional joint factor analysis method under complex conditions.
Investigation by Design: Developing Dialogue Models to Support Reasoning and Conceptual Change

Theories of learning suggest that dialogue is important in shaping conceptual development. However, there is widespread debate as to the forms and content of educational dialogue and the roles participants should play in them. In addressing these issues we have adopted an approach of 'investigation by design'. Based on an examination of dialogue from case studies of tutoring in physics, we have abstracted a semi-natural set of dialogue moves thought to be effective, and designed them into system-user interaction scenarios aimed at supporting learning. This approach focuses on patterns of interaction emerging as possibly effective and refines them to render them computationally tractable. For this we adopt dialogue game theory as a design paradigm. Debating style dialogue games are applied according to a formal pedagogic framework called 'learning as knowledge refinement'. This specifies a collaborative framework for argumentation aimed at stimulating belief revision, and conceptual change. In this framework the learner adopts the role of an 'explainer' whilst the system plays a facilitating role and these participants collaborate to develop a shared explanatory model of a qualitative physics domain. A prototype CoLLeGE (Computer based Lab for Language Games in Education) system implements the framework and validates the model. An empirical study using CoLLeGE demonstrates the educational potential of the approach.