Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonlinear estimation with a network of heterogenous algorithms

Centralized state-estimation algorithms, such as the original Kalman filter, are no longer feasible in large scale sensor networks, due to practical limitations on communication bandwidth and spatial distribution of resources. To cope with these limitations, various distributed estimation algorithms have been proposed that estimate the state of a process in each sensor node using local measurements. State fusion of this local estimate with the estimates obtained in neighboring nodes ensures that the difference between local estimates is reduced. A common perspective in distributed state-estimation is that each individual node performs the same algorithm locally. This paper investigates whether it is beneficial to have some nodes that can perform a different, more accurate estimation method, i.e., heterogenous. To that extent, a networked system where each node employs the same local state-estimator is compared to a similar system where different nodes can perform different types of local estimation algorithms. Their performances are assessed on a Van-der-Pol oscillator and on a benchmark application to estimate speed profiles in traffic shockwaves. The results of these examples encourage further investigation of heterogeneous, distributed state-estimation.
Bayesian spatio-temporal motion detection under varying illumination

The detection of moving objects in image sequences acquired by a static camera is a demanding task in the presence of noise. With fast illumination variations detection becomes even more difficult since simple motion detection will always be subject to illumination artifacts. To solve these problems, we propose a Bayesian spatio-temporal motion detection algorithm combined with homomorphic filtering. The image sequence is modelled as being generated by an illumination and a reflectance component that are approximately separated by the filter. Detection of changes in the reflectance component is directly related to scene changes, i.e. object motion. Experimental results show that the presented method is considerably less sensitive to noise and time-varying scene illumination.
THE PROCESS OF POROUS TANTALUM IMPLANTS OSSEOUS INTEGRATION A REVIEW

Porous tantalum is a biomaterial that was recently introduced in orthopaedics in order to overcome problems of the past related to implant loosening. Its use has led to very good results, especially in difficult cases where severe bone defect is present, as it is found to have osteoconductive and possibly, osteoinductive properties. So, it is of great inter est to shed light to the mechanisms through which t his material leads to new bone formation after being im planted. For this reason, a review of the current literature was undertook. Porous tantalum is, biolo gically, relatively inert, meaning that its bonding capacity to the bone is restricted. In order to overcome this o bstacle, it undergoes thermal processing in alkalin e environment. This process leads to extensive hydroxyapatite form ation on its surface and thus, to better integratio n of porous tantalum implants. Apart from this, new bone tissue formation occurs inside the pores of porous tantal um after its implantation and this new bone retains the characte ristics of normal bone, i.e., bone remodeling and H aversian systems formation. This finding is enhanced by the observation that porous tantalum is an appropriate substrate for osteoblast adherence, proliferation and differe ntiation. Furthermore, the finding that osteoblasts derived from old women (>60 years old) and cultivated on porous tantalum may grow faster than osteoblasts taken fro m younger women (<45 years old) and cultivated on other substrates, can partially explain porous tantalu m good performance in cases of patients with severe bone d efects. In conclusion, porous tantalum chemical and mechanical properties are those that, probably, def ine the already noticed good performance of this ma terial. However, further research is needed to totally clar ify the mechanisms through which they contribute to that.
Predicting the helpfulness of online customer reviews: The role of title features

Nowadays, many people refer to online customer reviews that are available on most shopping websites to make a better purchase decision. An automated review helpfulness prediction model can help the websites to rank reviews based on their level of helpfulness. This study examines the effect of review title features on predicting the helpfulness of online reviews. Moreover, a new method is proposed to categorize action verbs in a review text. Text, reviewer, readability, and title features are the four main categories that are used in this article. We examine our proposed prediction model on two real-life Amazon datasets using machine learning techniques. The results show a promising performance of the model. However, feature importance analysis reveals the low importance of title features in the predictive model. It means that the title characteristics cannot be a powerful determinant of online review helpfulness. The results of this study can be beneficial to both buyers and website owners to have a deep insight into online reviews helpfulness.
Threat modeling and circumvention of Internet censorship

Research on Internet censorship is hampered by poor models of censor behavior. Censor models guide the development of circumvention systems, so it is important to get them right. A censor model should be understood not just as a set of capabilities—such as the ability to monitor network traffic—but as a set of priorities constrained by resource limitations.My research addresses the twin themes of modeling and circumvention. With a grounding in empirical research, I build up an abstract model of the circumvention problem and examine how to adapt it to concrete censorship challenges. I describe the results of experiments on censors that probe their strengths and weaknesses; specifically, on the subject of active probing to discover proxy servers, and on delays in their reaction to changes in circumvention. I present two circumvention designs: domain fronting, which derives its resistance to blocking from the censor's reluctance to block other useful services; and Snowflake, based on quickly changing peer-to-peer proxy servers. I hope to change the perception that the circumvention problem is a cat-and-mouse game that affords only incremental and temporary advancements. Rather, let us state the assumptions about censor behavior atop which we build circumvention designs, and let those assumptions be based on an informed understanding of censor behavior.
The Employment Consequences of SMEs’ Credit Constraints in the Wake of the Great Recession

This article takes advantage of access to confidential matched bank-firm data relative to the Belgian economy to investigate whether and how employment decisions of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been affected by credit constraints in the wake of the Great Recession. Variability in banks’ financial health following the Great Recession is used as an exogenous determinant of firms’ access to credit. Two-stage least squares and bivariate probit estimates suggest that SMEs borrowing money from pre-crisis less healthy banks were significantly more likely to be affected by a credit constraint and, in turn, to adjust their labour input downwards than pre-crisis clients of more healthy banks. More precisely, estimates show that credit-constrained SMEs were ceteris paribus between 40 and 65% more likely to reduce their workforce than their counterparts not facing such constraints. Yet, findings also indicate that employment consequences of credit shortages depend heavily on the environment in which SMEs operate. Results indeed indicate that credit constraints have been essentially detrimental for employment among SMEs experiencing a negative demand shock or facing severe product market competition. Finally, in terms of adjustment channels, results show that credit-constrained SMEs adjusted their workforce significantly more at the extensive margin (through individual layoffs, reduction of temporary employment and early retirement) than their non-constrained counterparts, but also that they relied more intensively on temporary layoff schemes (for economic reasons).
Performance Evaluation of a Semi-Dual-Bridge Resonant DC/DC Converter With Secondary Phase-Shifted Control

In this work, a unidirectional series-resonant dc/dc converter with a semi-dual-bridge structure is evaluated comprehensively. This converter can realize buck–boost conversion by means of the simple secondary phase-shifted control. With the variations of load level and converter gain, the converter may enter into different operation modes. Features of all possible operation modes and the boundary conditions among them are identified explicitly. Despite the differences between the modes, the steady-state solution for all modes with continuous resonant current could be obtained uniformly by using the fundamental harmonics approximation approach. Verifications of each operation modes are exemplified through experimental tests on a 300-W prototype converter. The measured efficiency can be maintained over 90% at low-load level when the input voltage is varied. Through comparison with reported topologies having similar structures, it is shown that this converter has lower circulation energy than a dual-bridge series-resonant converter. And the secondary arrangement of this converter is advantageous in terms of simpler driver circuit, no-risk of shoot-through fault, and low conduction loss.
Personalised Online Activity Recognition with Smartphone Accelerometer

Mobile phone based activity recognition uses data obtained from embedded sensors to infer users physical activities. The traditional approach for activity recognition employs machine learning algorithms to learn from collected labelled data and induce a model. The model generation is usually performed offline on a server system and later deployed to the phone for activity recognition. This approach produces a static model which does not adapt to variations in user profile. We overcome this barrier through an integrated mobile application that combined data collection, training and recognition into a single application. The system collected user labelled data to generate a personalised model on the phone for accurate recognition. The model can be updated by collecting more data to retrain it. Evaluations of the resource consumption of both the training and recognition phases show a comparable resource footprints to other common user applications. Keywords—Activity Recognition, Smartphone, Accelerometer sensor data, Machine learning algorithms.
Lysosomal trapping of amodiaquine: impact on transport across intestinal epithelia models

The lipophilic weak base amodiaquine is an antimalarial drug that has been in use for over 40 years. Little is known of amodiaquine's mechanism of transport across membranes. Transport experiments of amodiaquine in Caco‐2 cells showed a low recovery of 30% and rapid disappearance from the apical chamber. Compounds structurally similar to amodiaquine, and those affecting non‐specific binding of amodiaquine or the pH of the system, were tested to unravel the mechanism behind these observations. Chloroquine and ammonium chloride increased the transmonolayer permeability of amodiaquine and decreased its accumulation in Caco‐2 cells, whereas BSA had no effect. Chloroquine and BSA decreased plastic binding whereas ammonium chloride had no effect. This suggests that amodiaquine is trapped in acidic cell compartments such as lysosomes. Amodiaquine was also trapped in rat intestinal tissue. In addition, permeability from the apical to basolateral direction was significantly higher, suggesting an active uptake over the apical membrane of the rat tissue. It can be concluded that amodiaquine is trapped in acidic cell compartments due to its base properties and recovery may be improved by the use of ammonium chloride rather than BSA in transport experiments. Further studies are required to confirm whether amodiaquine is actively absorbed in the intestine. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Role of Video-Assisted Thoracoscopy in Scoliosis Treatment

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has gained in popularity in the treatment of scoliosis in the last years. It is a minimally invasive surgery that prevents blood loss and results in minimal damage to the thoracic wall, better cosmetic appearance and shorter hospitalization time compared to conventional thoracotomy. Technical difficulty, a steep learning curve, longer operation times and applicability in a limited patient group with a certain type of curve are the disadvantages of this procedure. The role, indication, surgical technique and clinical results of the procedure were reviewed. Despite the small number of reports on VATS, the results are promising. VATS seems to be as effective as conventional thoracotomy in performing discectomy and anterior release. However, accepting VATS as an alternative to posterior instrumented fusion in adolescent idiopathatic scoliosis has not been clarified and randomized clinical trials are still lacking. KeY woRdS: Minimal invasive surgery, Scoliosis,Thoracoscopy, Vats
Automated document metadata extraction

Web documents are available in various forms, most of which do not carry additional semantics. This paper presents a model for general document metadata extraction. The model, which combines segmentation by keywords and pattern matching techniques, was implemented using PHP, MySQL, JavaScript and HTML. The system was tested with 40 randomly selected PDF documents (mainly theses). An evaluation of the system was done using standard criteria measures namely precision, recall, accuracy and F-measure. The results show that the model is relatively effective for the task of metadata extraction, especially for theses and dissertations. A combination of machine learning with these rule-based methods will be explored in the future for better results.
West Nile Virus Genome with Glycosylated Envelope Protein and Deletion of Alpha Helices 1, 2, and 4 in the Capsid Protein Is Noninfectious and Efficiently Secretes Subviral Particles

ABSTRACT Flavivirus genomes with deletions in the capsid (C) gene are attractive vaccine candidates, as they secrete highly immunogenic subviral particles (SVPs) without generating infectious virus. Here, we report that cytomegalovirus promoter-driven cDNA of West Nile virus Kunjin (KUNV) containing a glycosylation motif in the envelope (E) gene and a combined deletion of alpha helices 1, 2, and 4 in C produces significantly more SVPs than KUNV cDNAs with nonglycosylated E and various other deletions in C.
Stabilization with event-driven controllers over a digital communication channel with random transmissions

We consider stabilization of nonlinear dynamical systems with hybrid feedback control laws when the communication between the plant and the controller is carried over a digital communication channel, where the information may be subjected to random uncertainties. Adopting the framework of stochastic hybrid systems, we model the randomness in transmissions occurring in the physical communication layer, and the transmission protocols. Stability analysis is carried out for two particular examples: a) Uniting local and global controllers when communicating the discrete variable to the actuator with random dropouts, and b) Event-triggered control algorithms when communicating the state value to the controller where the protocols choose a random time to transmit data after the occurrence of an event.
Identification of Escherichia coli Outer Membrane Protein A Receptor on Human Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells

ABSTRACT Neonatal Escherichia coli meningitis continues to be a diagnostic and treatment challenge despite the availability of active antibiotics. Our earlier studies have shown that outer membrane protein A (OmpA) is one of the major factors responsible for Escherichia coli traversal across the blood-brain barrier that constitutes a lining of brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMEC). In this study we showed that OmpA binds to a 95-kDa human BMEC (HBMEC) glycoprotein (Ecgp) for E. coli invasion. Ecgp was partially purified by wheat germ agglutinin and Maackia amurensis lectin (MAL) affinity chromatography. The MAL affinity-purified HBMEC proteins bound to OmpA+E. coli but not to OmpA−E. coli. In addition, the deglycosylated MAL-bound proteins still interact with OmpA+E. coli, indicating the role of protein backbone in mediating the OmpA binding to HBMEC. Interestingly, the MAL affinity-bound fraction showed one more protein, a 65-kDa protein that bound to OmpA+E. coli in addition to Ecgp. Further, the 65-kDa protein was shown to be a cleavage product of Ecgp. Immunocytochemistry of HBMEC infected with OmpA+E. coli by using anti-Ecgp antibody suggests that Ecgp clusters at the E. coli entry site. Anti-Ecgp antibody also reacted to microvascular endothelium on human brain tissue sections, indicating the biological relevance of Ecgp in E. coli meningitis. Partial N-terminal amino acid sequence of Ecgp suggested that it has 87% sequence homology to gp96, an endoplasmic reticulum-resident molecular chaperone that is often expressed on the cell surface. In contrast, the 65-kDa protein, which could be the internal portion of Ecgp, showed 70% sequence homology to an S-fimbria-binding sialoglycoprotein reported earlier. These results suggest that OmpA interacts with Ecgp via the carbohydrate epitope, as well as with the protein portion for invading HBMEC.
Development of the Portable Blood Glucose Meter for Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose

The work outlined in this paper is towards developing a portable, economy blood glucose meter for self-monitoring of blood glucose, which has high performance-price ratio with multifunction and is attractive to the average people. Its functions include blood glucose concentration measurement, LCD display, historical records restore, calendar/timer. It enables the patients with diabetes to detect blood glucose with a glucose oxidase electrode independently at home. This paper will outline hardware configuration in the implementation and software management. Especially, graphic trend curve on LCD allows individuals to easily see how actual blood glucose readings compare with historical records stored in the meter and show how individuals stay within their specific target range so that they can determine how well they are controlling their diabetes. Experimental results indicate that this device is easy-to-use and suitable for home blood glucose monitoring for patients
Entrepreneurship and Knowledge Management: Knowledge Requirements, Utility, Creation, and Competency

The study examines knowledge management in the context of entrepreneurship: in particular, how entrepreneurs utilize and create knowledge, and build on knowledge as a core competency. Scientific research (SR) as knowledge type, and its relevance to the entrepreneur, are also investigated. With regards to knowledge creation, entrepreneurs excel at speed, originality and relevance, creativity, and business acumen. They have well-developed knowledge bases, and synthesize a lot of knowledge. Entrepreneurs both push and pull knowledge. The entrepreneur may source and acquire knowledge to advance and close the knowledge gaps of an identified opportunity, or may peruse knowledge in search of opportunity. The study elaborates on the relationship between knowledge and innovation, as well as the relationship between knowledge, creativity, and innovation. Entrepreneurs extensively consume scientific research, particularly to expand their knowledge bases. Similar to knowledge, entrepreneurs both push and pull scientific research. The extent by which they pull scientific research is determined by the extent that their opportunities require it. Entrepreneurs may also look to find application for scientific research as output. In this regard, the quality - measured as relevance - of the scientific research is important. Although presently and practically in shambles, collaboration between entrepreneurs and universities, can unlock further opportunities and value in this regard. Collaboration is much dependent on healthy relationship that permits bidirectional input and feedback.
[Recent experience with mites in stored products].

The A.A. refer a recent experience about the isolation and identification of same species of storaged timber mites. They believe that these mites are responsible of dermatitis at the trunk and the arms of timber workers. Mites are the most elderly living species on the earth, they can live and grow in different environments, such as plants, flowers, animals, men, earth, lake and sea waters, organical rubles, houses, mattresses, old books etc. There are free-living, saprophitic, parasitic and predator mites. Generally, primary mites live either freely or as commensals feeding on conserved foodstuff and on what they find available. Secondary mites, i.e. parasites and predators, live off primary mites and insects infesting foodstuff. Direct damage to foodstuff are not to be considered important, whereas indirect damages are more serious, due to the contamination of bodies and stools of mites that are rich in nitrogen. Some secondary mites may attack foodstuff workers causing characteristic dermatitis: they can act either directly, by sting and bites, or indirectly, provoking on allergic hypersensitivity. In this study the A.A. used the floating method to isolate timber mites, and then, these have been photographed at the microscope to obtain an easier and more complete identification. The A.A. describe a heterogeneous fauna consisting of both adult and larval-status insects, some species of free-living mites (Oribatula Tibialis) and, in particular, of two species secondary mites, predator, belonging to the Prostigmata sub-order. The Cheyletus Eruditus (Cheylatidae family) is a whitish mite feeding mostly on insect larva and primary mites living in foodstuff. When no prey is available, the Cheyletus Eruditus eats individuals of its own species. The Pyemotes Herfsi (Pyemotidae family) is a little white mite feeding on insect larva. It lives in conserved foodstuff and may attack man causing characteristic dermatitis such as those described by the A.A. The A.A. conclude dealing with the possible preventive and therapeutic measures tend to keep phisic-chemicals parameters of foodstuff and others conserved products afar from the values suitable for the growth of parasites (water content min. 13%, environmental humidity min. 60-65%, appropriate temperature etc.). Therapeutic procedure are based either on physical media: infra-red rays, gamma-rays, electric fields for the transformation of temperature or using chemical mixtures containing methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride and hydrogen sulphide. Among the therapeutic procedures, however, the biological pest control using chemical media associated with antagonist mites of the infesting species is to be preferred.
¿ What ’ s in a structure ?

I. On Propositional Structure According to the hypothesis of structured propositions, propositions have constituents such as objects, properties and/or concepts, and this helps explain many of their epistemological and representational properties. As Speaks (manuscript) has noticed, “Structured propositionalists have not always been as clear as they could have been, either about what the claim that propositions have constituents means, or about what, exactly, this claim is supposed to explain. ” Still, looking at the literature, one can identify at least some of the uses that have been given to the notion of propositional constituents in philosophy have been: