Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of a real-time heart rate estimation algorithm on a low-power device

This paper introduces an algorithm for the estimation of heart rate during physical activities through photoplethysmographic signals, acquired by a wearable device. Firstly, the algorithm has been developed in Matlab and then ported in C language. In this way, it has been possible to test it on a low-power micro-controller (STM32F4DISCOVERY) and to check the similarity of the results, given by the two algorithm versions. Moreover, tests conducted on a public dataset show that the algorithm is real-time compliant. Finally, the power consumption estimation conducted proves the feasibility of a wearable device since the micro-controllers requires less than 20 mW.
The actions of the dimethyl and diethyl esters of glutamie acid on glutamate uptake by brain tissue

IT HAS recently been reported that glutamic acid dimethyl ester (GDME) enhanced the excitatory effects of glutamate applied electrophoretically to single neurones of various regions of the central nervous system (HALDEMAN and MCLENNAN, 1972), whereas the diethyl derivative (GDEE) usually blocked glutamate action (HALDEMAN, HUFFMAN, MARSHALL and MCLENNAN, 1972; HALDEMAN and MCLENNAN, 1972; CURTIS er al., 1972). A possible explanation for this action might be the inhibition by GDME of the high affinity uptake system for glutamate demonstrated in brain tissue by WO~SEY, KUHAR and SNYDER (1971) and by -AN and SNYDER (1971,1972). If this were thecase, the glutamate applied extracellularly by electrophoresis might be expected to persist for a longer time in the perineuronal space and thus to manifest a greater excitatory action.
Cortical activation in confrontation naming

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to detect cortical activation in the right and left perisylvian cortex of seven young adult right-handed volunteers in response to a letter fluency task and to a visual naming task using standardized line drawings. Both letter fluency and visual naming activated left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's areas 6, 9, 44 and 45). Only visual naming activated area 37 (a cortical region with strong connections to visual association areas), visual association area 19, and areas 39 and 21 previously shown to activate with auditory semantic tasks. This study supports a role for area 37 as participant in a visual lexicosemantic processing network which may otherwise overlap the auditorysemantic network.
IMPROVING REGIONAL ORIGINAL INCOME WITH TAX RECEIPT, REGIONAL RETRIBUTION AND REGIONAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT RESULTS IN SOLO RAYA

This study uses secondary data, which comes from the realization of District / City Regional Revenues in the Surakarta Residency 2012-2016 Fiscal Year. The data analysis using multiple linear regression analysis with the help of SPSS 20. The results of the study indicate that tax revenue has a significant effect on the Original Revenue of District / City Regions in the Surakarta Residency. Whereas the regional retribution does not have a significant effect on the Original Revenue of District / City Regions in the Surakarta Residency. Regional wealth management has a significant effect on the District / City Regional Original Revenue in the Residency. Tax revenues, regional retributions and management of regional wealth together influence the Original Revenue of District / City Regions in the Surakarta Residency. The calculation results show that tax revenue has a value of beta coefficient of 0.442 which is greater than the variable regional levies and regional wealth management. This shows that tax revenue is more dominant in influencing the Original District / City Revenue in the Surakarta Residency. Keywords : tax revenue, regional retribution, management of regional wealth, local revenue.
Reproducibility of in vivo metabolite quantification with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging

To investigate intra‐ and interscanner in vivo reproducibility of brain metabolite quantification using 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (1H‐MRSI) (PRESS localization, TE = 30 msec, voxel volume = 2.3 mL) and the linear combination model (LCModel).
Effects of the 1998 Coral Morality Event on Kenyan Coral Reefs and Fisheries

Abstract Data were collected in southern Kenya on coral reef ecosystems and fisheries to assess the influence of the 1998 coral bleaching and mortality event. We compared benthic cover, sea urchin and fish abundance in unfished marine parks and fished reefs and the reef-associated fisheries 3 years before and after 1998. Hard and soft coral decreased while coralline algae increased in both management areas. Turf increased in marine parks and sponge and fleshy algae increased in the fished reefs. Sea urchin grazer biomass was unchanged over this period and the fish community changed less than benthic cover. In general, butterflyfish, damselfish and wrasses were negatively influenced while surgeonfish and a few uncommon families were positively influenced by the substratum change. There was a 17% increase in fishing effort as measured by fishermen per day at each landing site and the total demersal catch declined by 8% and the catch per man declined by 21% after 1998. The decline in the total catch and CPUE combined with the increase in effort suggest an overexploited fishery and this makes it difficult to distinguish changes caused by coral mortality or fishing effort. The price of fish increased over this period and this caused an 18% increase in the total value of the fishery but no difference in the net income of individual fishermen.
Efficient Range Estimation in Beat Radio Interferometry

The beat radio interferometry (BRI) is a novel ranging scheme that achieves high accuracy with low-cost devices. A major problem with BRI is the lack of an efficient range estimation method that is valid in general measurement configurations and accommodates large-scale scenarios. In this paper, we present a new model of BRI and reveal that range estimation in it is equivalent to single tone frequency estimation. Such a revelation has two natural outcomes: the first is the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of BRI range estimation; the second is an efficient fast Fourier transform (FFT)-based method that works in arbitrary measurement configurations and large-scale scenarios. Simulation results show that the FFT-based method asymptotically attains the CRLB and is orders of magnitude faster than currently available methods.
Comparative immunological studies on somatic antigens and secretion-excretion products of blood stream and culture forms of Trypanosoma lewisi. I. Protective immunity and the agglutinin response.

Trypanosoma lewisi is a parasitic protozoan hemoflagellate of the rat. Morphological, physiological, and antigenic alterations of the parasites are observed during the course of the infection. The blood stream forms (BSF) of T. lewisi show 2 morphologically distinguishable types as reported by Taliaferro [1]. The reproducing forms of the parasites, so-called dividing forms, exhibit variability in their size and shape. The parasites cease reproduction by the eight to ninth day, become slender and uniform in size, and are known as nondividing or adult forms. The change from dividing forms to adult forms occurs in response to a host factor, ablastin, the "reproduction-inhib
Crystal structure of the thioesterification conformation of Bacillus subtilis o-succinylbenzoyl-CoA synthetase reveals a distinct substrate-binding mode

o-Succinylbenzoyl-CoA (OSB-CoA) synthetase (MenE) is an essential enzyme in bacterial vitamin K biosynthesis and an important target in the development of new antibiotics. It is a member of the adenylating enzymes (ANL) family, which reconfigure their active site in two different active conformations, one for the adenylation half-reaction and the other for a thioesterification half-reaction, in a domain-alternation catalytic mechanism. Although several aspects of the adenylating mechanism in MenE have recently been uncovered, its thioesterification conformation remains elusive. Here, using a catalytically competent Bacillus subtilis mutant protein complexed with an OSB-CoA analogue, we determined MenE high-resolution structures to 1.76 and 1.90 Å resolution in a thioester-forming conformation. By comparison with the adenylation conformation, we found that MenE's C-domain rotates around the Ser-384 hinge by 139.5° during domain-alternation catalysis. The structures also revealed a thioesterification active site specifically conserved among MenE orthologues and a substrate-binding mode distinct from those of many other acyl/aryl-CoA synthetases. Of note, using site-directed mutagenesis, we identified several residues that specifically contribute to the thioesterification half-reaction without affecting the adenylation half-reaction. Moreover, we observed a substantial movement of the activated succinyl group in the thioesterification half-reaction. These findings provide new insights into the domain-alternation catalysis of a bacterial enzyme essential for vitamin K biosynthesis and of its adenylating homologues in the ANL enzyme family.
Double barrier long Josephson junctions with a contact to the intermediate superconducting layer

We demonstrate a double barrier long Josephson tunnel junction device of overlap geometry with an external electric contact to the middle electrode. The junctions were fabricated with a standard Nb/Al-AlO/sub x//Nb process. To exhibit fluxon coupling effects in stacked junctions, the intermediate Nb layer thickness between two barriers has to be of the order of the London penetration depth, i.e. 90 nm for sputtered Nb films. By using a planarization process, we were able to avoid steep steps on the wafer and so to reduce the intermediate layer thickness to 90 nm. Double-junction stacks with areas from 10/spl times/10 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ to 20/spl times/600 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ were fabricated. In the best stacks, the difference in the critical currents of two junctions was less than 3%. Clear voltage locking effects were observed in current-voltage (I-V) characteristics. <<ETX>>
Qualitative analysis of guidance and control methods for wind gradients exploitation with small fixed wing UAS

In this paper, different Guidance and Control (GC) methods for trajectory tracking are analyzed. This effort considers the ongoing research effort regarding wind features characterization and trajectory generation. The investigation of GC methods is contextualized for long duration missions of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). These are often hampered by the platform characteristics with cost and weight stringent restrictions. Therefore, innovative ways of increasing flight duration are necessary to fulfill the safety and reliability requirements for such missions fulfilling the cost and weight constraints. Atmospheric Energy Harvesting has been studied as an alternative for flight duration enhancement. The guidance and control strategies have been focused in the dynamic soaring case, in which the trajectories require precise tracking for energy gain. This gain depends on the tracking ability of the autopilot which motivates this analysis. As a conclusion to this analysis, two methodologies are chosen as candidates for GC, one based on pure differential geometry techniques to formulate simple error equations, and the other that uses adaptive control strategies based on vector field theory to formulate error equations and a Lyapunov function ensuring asymptotic stability with complex curve shapes and wind disturbances.
New MEMS technologies for integrated vehicle health management and fluid sensing applications

The purpose of this paper is to present an embedded MEMs fluid sensing embedded detection system that incorporates new nondestructive inspection (NDI) sensors for the advancement of diagnostics, prognostics, and health management of complex aircraft system and hardware. With the advent of MEMS NDI sensors, it is now possible to embed these sensors for detection of fuel leaks, moisture intrusion, hydraulic fluid leaks and pressure loss across all aircraft environments. This new NDI embedded detection technology can be used to validate and improve (SHM) Structural Health Management, and integrates concepts and hardware from MEMS and nano-optical technology with spectrometers and microfluidic and wireless capabilities. This paper highlights nano- inspection MEMS Device (NIMD) concepts and their application to SHM system development.
Distribution of the a-type ganglion cells in the chicken retina.

The distribution of retinal ganglion cells, particularly the α-type ganglion cells, in the chicken retinae was studied with whole mount preparations stained with cresyl violet. The density maps of all the cells including the glial cells and the displaced amacrine cells in the retinal ganglion cell layer showed that the area centralis was the region of the highest cell density. There was a drop in density about the circumference of the area centralis in all directions without the formation of the visual streak. However, the decrease in cell density was not so remarkable toward the superior-temporal region. The α-type ganglion cells in the area centralis were less numerous than those in the peripheral regions. The density of the α-type ganglion cells was higher in the inferior-temporal, inferior, inferior-nasal, nasal and superior-nasal fegions compared with that in the other regions. The distribution of the α-type ganglion cells in the chicken retina differed considerably from that in mammals.
Streamlining Workflow Using Existing Technology

Processing rehabilitation admissions and case management records in a three-person office in a major academic medical center had become cumbersome and redundant due to multiple information management approaches and requirements from various sources. Simple questionnaires and brief, casual meetings with pertinent personnel defined what was working well and what was problematic and helped establish a foundation for change management. Analysis of the existing paper system revealed more than 300 data items used more than once throughout the departmental processes. A simple timing trial, based on selected segments of a workflow diagram, revealed the potential to save 3 to 3½ hours per case by revising a departmental database, decreasing work redundancy, and creating an electronic case file. Because the work environment utilized Microsoft Office and Access databases, a plan was developed to utilize these resources to streamline the workflow and eliminate duplication of effort in the admission/case management documentation processes.
Design and Chromatic Aberration Analysis of Plasmonic Lenses Using the Finite Element Method

We designed plasmonic lenses and analyzed their chromatic aberration using the finite element method (FEM) in frequency domain with perfectly matched layers (PML). Plasmonic lenses permit subwavelength focusing of light in the visible and in the near infrared. The focal distance of these devices depends on the wavelength operation due to the dispersive characteristics of the lens structures and the refractive index of their constituent materials. With a uniform incident wave normal to the lens surface, focusing of light by surface plasmon polariton (SPPs) through a plasmonic lens is obtained in the axial direction. The design of three plasmonic lenses in Silver (Ag), Gold (Au) and Copper (Cu) films at two central operation wavelengths of 650 nm and 810 nm, in both, cylindrical and rectangular geometries were considered and the chromatic aberration of the lenses were analyzed by monitoring the peak position of the electromagnetic (EM) field when the wavelength changes from 625 nm to 675 nm and from 785 nm to 835 nm.
Memristor based 8-bit iterative full adder with space-time notation and sneak-path protection

Memristor technology is receiving an increased attention as a potential solution to meet the scaling demands in integrated circuit design. Memristor provides advantages like high-density, low-power, non-volatility and good scalability. In this paper, an 8-bit iterative full adder design is proposed that uses space-time based circuit notation. It uses stateful logic with memristive nanowire crossbar. The proposed design provides good protection against sneak-path current. The 8-bit full adder requires only 165 micro pulses to perform its operation with greatly reduced sneak-path.
Nanocomposites et effet de dimensionnalité pour le stockage de l'énergie

Dans le stockage d’energie, les alternatives aux energies fossiles sont peu nombreuses. Le stockage d’energie dans un condensateur, permet d’atteindre de grande puissances electriques, mais pour une densite d’energie trop faible. La presente these a pour objectif la comprehension des nano-ceramiques ferroelectriques afin d’augmenter leur densite d’energie et de se diriger ainsi vers un super-condensateur ceramique. Nous avons developpe dans un premier temps un modele par champs effectif moyen du systeme core-shell. Une fois introduit dans l’energie libre de Landau, ce modele donne une idee de la densite d’energie d’un systeme ferroelectrique donne. Les calculs – sur quelques perovskites courantes - indiquent que la densite d’energie reste relativement faible. Neanmoins nos calculs montrent que l’on peu optimiser le stockage d’energie dans de telles ceramiques en enrobant des grains de forme allongee comme des disques ou des fils. En outre, ce modele phenomenologique permet d’expliquer de nombreuses mesures experimentales sur les ceramiques, y compris dans le cas ou s’ajoute de la conductivite et de la relaxation de Maxwell-Wagner. Nous nous sommes tournes par la suite vers une modelisation ab-initio : l’Hamiltonien effectif. La modelisation de nano-systeme core-shell de BaTiO3 a montre la presence d’un parametre d’ordre particulier : le moment toroidale. Ce parametre d’ordre peut impliquer un comportement dielectrique different. Introduit dans une description phenomenologique de type Landau, ce dernier est responsable de la disparition de la phase orthorhombique dans BaTiO3. La synthese de nanoparticules de BaTiO3 de formes cubiques et homogenes, nous a permis de faire une serie de mesure. Les mesures MET, RAMAN, RX, dielectriques sur les poudres et les ceramiques, suggerent la presences de transitions de phases generees par la presence d’un parametre d’ordre similaire a celui observe dans modelisation ab-initio.
An evaluation of the public sector optometric service provided within the health districts in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Background: In South Africa, optometry has been traditionally positioned within the private sector. The situation has gradually changed over the past two decades, with optometry being introduced into the public sector in many parts of the country. Despite the growing numbers, optometrists are still new within the public health sector, motivating this study to evaluate the eye care services they provide. Methods: A cross-sectional, retrospective, descriptive study was undertaken. Stratified random selection was applied to select the study sites, and systematic sampling was used to select patients’ files. A saturated sample of public sector optometrists employed in the selected districts completed study questionnaires. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences, Version 21. Results: A total of 2968 records were reviewed, and gender distribution was 67.6% female and 32.4% male. Refraction (86.73%) was the most frequently conducted test, followed by ophthalmoscopy (74.73%), colour vision (0.07%) and gonioscopy (0.03%). The response rate for the questionnaires was 64.7%. Optometric outreach services were conducted by 54.5% of optometrists, and the majority (83.3%) reported that the farthest outreach facility was more than 50 km from their base hospital. The availability of equipment at outreach facilities was less as compared to base hospitals, while some reported not having the necessary equipment even at base hospitals. None of the optometrists did contact lens fitting at outreach facilities. A lack of equipment was cited as one of the reasons for not providing this service by 100% of optometrists. Most optometrists (63.6%) believed that more than 30% of their referrals might have been avoided if they had prescribed therapeutic agents to manage ocular conditions. Conclusion: Introducing optometrists within the public sector improves access to services for rural communities. However, the minimum standard of optometric care is not practised, allegedly because of a lack of equipment. Therefore, resources should be made available to enable optometrists to provide comprehensive optometric services. In addition, the study highlighted the need for more optometry posts in rural communities and for the implementation of career growth paths to attract and retain optometrists within the public sector.
Identification of four novel RHD alleles with altered expression of D in Brazilians

T he high similarity as well as the close proximity and opposite orientation of RHD and RHCE promote molecular rearrangements giving rise to variant alleles. The D variants encoded by these alleles can arise from different mechanisms including nucleotide insertions or deletions, singleor multiplemissense mutations, splice site mutations, or gene conversions. D antigen variants are classified into partial D, weak D, and DEL types and their identification is of clinical relevance. Genetic RHD variations differ among ethnic groups and populations. Although there is much of evidence regarding frequency and molecular basis of D variants, the majority of reports comprise Caucasian and African populations. Identification of D variants in admixed populations, like Brazilians, is of interest, since there is an atypical ethnic background. Here, we report four novel RHD alleles found in Brazilian blood donors resulting from nucleotide changes.
Creation of unstructured big data from customer service: The case of parcel shipping companies on Twitter

Customer service provision is a growing phenomenon on social media and parcel shipping companies have been among the most prominent adopters. This has coincided with greater interest in the development of analysis techniques for unstructured big data from social media platforms, such as the micro-blogging platform, Twitter. Given the growing use of dedicated customer service accounts on Twitter, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness with which parcel shipping companies use the platform. ,This paper demonstrates the use of a combination of tools for retrieving, processing and analysing large volumes of customer service-related conversations generated between parcel shipping companies and their customers in Australia, UK and the USA. Extant studies using data from Twitter tend to focus on the contributions of individual entities and are unable to capture the insights provided by a holistic examination of the interactions. ,This study identifies the key issues that trigger customer contact with parcel shipping companies on Twitter. It identifies similarities and differences in the approaches that these companies bring to customer engagement and identifies the opportunities for using the medium more effectively. ,The development of consumer-centric supply chains and relevant theories require researchers and practitioners to have the ability to include insights from growing quantities of unstructured data gathered from consumer engagement. This study makes a methodological contribution by demonstrating the use of a set of tools to gather insight from a large volume of conversations on a social media platform.