Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chemical composition, antioxidant capacity, and mineral extractability of Sudanese date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) fruits

The aim of the present work was to investigate the chemical composition, mineral extractability, and antioxidant capacity of six date palm varieties grown in Sudan. The results showed that Sudanese date varieties contained significantly different (P < 0.05) amounts of moisture, ash, fiber, oil, and carbohydrates, but have almost similar amounts of protein. Moreover, results revealed that date varieties contained significantly varied (P < 0.05) amounts of total polyphenols and total flavonoids, which ranged between 35.82 and 99.34 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g and 1.74–3.39 mg catechin equivalent/100 g, respectively. The antioxidant activities of the studied date varieties were as follows: ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) was within the range of 2.82–27.5 mmol/100 g, chelation of Fe2+ ion ranged from 54.31% to 94.98%, and scavenging of H2O2 ranged from 38.48% to 49.13%. There were many correlations (positive, negative, and weak) between antioxidant and mineral extractability of Sudanese date fruits.
A new approach to voice activity detection based on self-organizing maps

Accurate discrimination between speech and non-speech is an essentialpartinmanytasksofspeechprocessingsystems. Inthis paper an approach to the classiﬁcation part of a Voice Activity Detector (VAD) is presented. Some possible shortcomings of presentVAD-systemsaredescribedandaclassiﬁcationapproach whichovercomestheseweaknessesisderived.Thisapproach isbasedonaSelf-OrganizingMap(SOM),aneuralnetwork, whichisabletodetectclusterswithinthefeaturespaceofits trainingdata. Trainingoftheclassiﬁertakesplaceintwosteps: First the SOM has to be trained. When ﬁnished, it is used in the second training step to learn the mapping between its classes and the desired output "speech" resp. "non-speech". Experiments on a database containing audio-samples obtained under different noisy conditions show the potential of the proposed algorithm.
Study of antioxidant activity of fullerenols by inhibition of adrenaline autoxidation

In this paper, we describe application of the adrenaline autoxidation reaction to determine the antioxidant activity of fullerenols C60, C70 their mixture with higher fullerenol and endohedral fullerenol Y@C82. It was shown that the adrenaline autoxidation reaction can be applied to determine the antioxidant activity of fullerenols. The antioxidant activity of C70 fullerenol was higher than that of C60 fullerenol Additionally, the antioxidant activity of Y@C82 fullerenol was higher than that of C70 fullerenol.
Fast Supervised LDA for Discovering Micro-Events in Large-Scale Video Datasets

This paper introduces fsLDA, a fast variational inference method for supervised LDA, which overcomes the computational limitations of the original supervised LDA and enables its application in large-scale video datasets. In addition to its scalability, our method also overcomes the drawbacks of standard, unsupervised LDA for video, including its focus on dominant but often irrelevant video information (e.g. background, camera motion). As a result, experiments in the UCF11 and UCF101 datasets show that our method consistently outperforms unsupervised LDA in every metric. Furthermore, analysis shows that class-relevant topics of fsLDA lead to sparse video representations and encapsulate high-level information corresponding to parts of video events, which we denote "micro-events".
A framework for designing concurrent and recoverable abstract data types based on commutativity

In this paper, we try to focus the reader's interest on the problems that transactional systems have to resolve for taking advantage of commutativity in a serializable and recoverable way. Our framework is, (as others), based on the use of conditional commutativity on abstract date types. We present new features that have not been found in the literature hitherto, that both increase concurrency and simplify recovery.
HIERARCHICAL SELECTION THEORY AND SEX RATIOS. II. ON APPLYING THE THEORY, AND A TEST WITH FIG WASPS

Predictions from the theory of sex ratios in subdivided populations are tested by studying fig wasps (Agaonidae). Observations strongly support the qualitative prediction that fig wasp sex ratios (males/total) decrease with increasing amounts of both inbreeding and competition among male relatives for access to mates (local mate competition). However, the observed sex ratio is consistently lower than predicted by previous quantitative models. Many assumptions underlying these models are unrealistic. Each unrealistic assumption is discussed as it applies to fig wasps, and where appropriate, new quantitative predictions are derived based on more realistic assumptions. New predictions are compared to the data in an a posteriori fashion and are found to be much closer to the observations than previous models from the literature, but further work will be required before a close match between theory and observation can be claimed.
Dynamic Motion Control: Adaptive Bimanual Grasping for a Humanoid Robot

The ability to grasp objects of different size and shape is one of the most important skills of a humanoid robot. There are a lot of different approaches tackling this problem; however, there is no general solution. The complexity and the skill of a possible grasping motion depend hardly on a particular robot. In this paper we analyze the kinematic and sensory grasping abilities of the humanoid robot Nao. Its kinematic constraints and hand's mechanical structure represent an interesting case of study due to lack of actuators for fingers and the limited computation power. After describing the platform and studying its capabilities, we propose some simple controllers and we present a benchmark based on some experimental data. (The authors are grateful to the members of the Nao Team Humboldt for technical support and also to Manfred Hild and Philipp Hahnel for inspiring discussions.) (Both authors contributed equally to this paper.)
Queuing or Distributed Priority Queuing ? On the Design of Cache-Coherence Protocols for Distributed Transactional Memory

Distributed transactional memory (TM) promises to alleviate difficulties with lock-based (distributed) synchronization and object performance bottlenecks in distributed systems. In distributed TM systems, both the management and consistency of a distributed transactional object are ensured by a cache-coherence protocol. In this paper, we formalize two classes of cache-coherence protocols: distributed queuing cache-coherence (DQC) protocols and distributed priority queuing cache-coherence (DPQC) protocols, both of which can be implemented based on a given distributed queuing protocol. We analyze the two classes of protocols for a set of dynamically generated transactions and compare their time complexities against that of an optimal offline clairvoyant algorithm. We show that a DQC protocol is O(N log Dδ)-competitive and a DPQC protocol is O(log Dδ)-competitive for a set of N transactions requesting the same object, where Dδ is the normalized diameter provided by the underlying distributed queuing protocol.
Managing Operational Proactiveness to Facilitate Functional Area Alignment and Enhance Business Performance

The aim of this paper is to explore the role of operational proactiveness with respect to achieving functional alignment and enhancing business performance. Using data from the retail banking industry, we investigate how operational proactiveness impacts strategic alignment and business performance. Results show that the operational proactiveness contributes to business performance through enhanced strategic alignment. Additionally, with assistance from a panel of experts, outcomes of the study were subjected to a reality check in order to develop managerial guidelines for operationalizing the findings of this research.
Wellness Tourism among Seniors in Taiwan: Previous Experience, Service Encounter Expectations, Organizational Characteristics, Employee Characteristics, and Customer Satisfaction

This study aimed to investigate the influence of the service encounter expectations of senior customers during wellness tours on customer satisfaction. The organizational attributes of hotels, organizational characteristics and employee characteristics, were adopted as mediating variables. A total of 346 valid questionnaires were retrieved from 50 year-old and above seniors in Taiwan. The results showed that the service encounter expectations of seniors had an indirect influence on customer satisfaction and the organizational attributes mediated the service encounter expectations of seniors and customer satisfaction. The moment of truth in the interactions between service staff members and seniors represents the pivotal management implication of this study.
Between-Lesion Discrepancies in Terms of Dysplasia, Cell Turnover and Diagnosis in Patients with Multiple Potentially Malignant Oral Lesions

Objective: The present study assessed patients with multiple oral lesions to evaluate the mis-estimation rate in terms of diagnosis and risk of malignant transformation when only one biopsy is performed. Study Design: Thirty-five patients presenting at least two white and/or red lesions in different oral mucosa sites with a final diagnosis of leuko/erythroplakias or lichenoid lesions were included, for a total of 70 biopsies. Results: Nineteen patients (54%) had at least one between-lesion discrepancy considering the presence/absence of dysplasia (10 patients), normal/high cell turnover (13 patients) or diagnosis (5 patients). Discrepancies were not related to clinical aspect or within-patient similarity of lesions. Conclusions: Multiple oral lesions in the same patient can significantly differ in terms of dysplasia, high cell turnover and, even diagnosis. Multiple biopsies are imperative and diagnosis as well as risk of malignant transformation should be formulated for each single lesion rather than for each individual patient.
Potential crosstalk between cofilin-1 and EGFR pathways in cisplatin resistance of non-small-cell lung cancer

Current challenge in oncology is to establish the concept of personalized medicine in clinical practice. In this context, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) presents clinical, histological and molecular heterogeneity, being one of the most genomically diverse of all cancers. Recent advances added Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) as a predictive biomarker for patients with advanced NSCLC. In tumors with activating EGFR mutations, tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) are indicated as first-line treatment, although restricted to a very small target population. In this context, cofilin-1 (a cytosolic protein involved with actin dynamics) has been widely studied as a biomarker of an aggressive phenotype in tumors, and overexpression of cofilin-1 is associated with cisplatin resistance and poor prognosis in NSCLC. Here, we gather information about the predictive potential of cofilin-1 and reviewed the crosstalk between cofilin-1/EGFR pathways. We aimed to highlight new perspectives of how these interactions might affect cisplatin resistance in NSCLC. We propose that cofilin-1 quantification in clinical samples in combination with presence/absence of EGFR mutation could be used to select patients that would benefit from TKI's treatment. This information is of paramount importance and could result in a possibility of guiding more effective treatments to NSCLC patients.
Design and Performance Evaluation of a NoC-Based Router Architecture for MPSoC

NOC is an approach in designing communication subsystems between intelligent property (IP) cores in SOC with greater efficiency. Packet switched network are being proposed as global communication architecture for future soc designs and implementation. For effective global on-chip communication, on-chip routers provide expected routing functionality with low complexity and better performance. This paper provides Analytical Design and implementation of on-chip router architecture for MPSOC, which is the concept of high efficiency architectural design.
WLAN location fingerprinting technique for device-free indoor localization system

Device-free indoor localization (DFIL) system can locate the position of human body in the indoor environment by observing the changes in the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the wireless local area network (WLAN). The accuracy of a DFIL system is depreciated, as the change in the indoor environment due to furniture and other infrastructure movement. This paper investigates the development of testbed of the Wi-Fi network for measuring the RSSI in various indoor environment, as the initial step for designing the fingerprinting-based algorithms for Wi-fi network. The database of RSSI fingerprint is created initially and then a fingerprint-based algorithm is developed for locating the position of a human body in the indoor environment. The localization algorithm tests the minimum distance in the RSSI values related to the different test points in the indoor environment. This work further demonstrates that how the fingerprints of RSSI are collected and which network configurations generate the most reliable RSSI measurement. For the first phase of designing the testbed, the configurations of different equipment and various tools are elaborated in the indoor environment. For the second phase the RSSI is measured in different propagation indoor environment. The extensive experiments were performed that allow quantification of how changes in an environment affect accuracy. Thus, it is demonstrated that each link offers a viable approach to developing a more robust system for device-free localization that is less susceptible to changes in the environment.
A role-based analysis model for the evaluation of novices' programming knowledge development

The development of high level programming knowledge is not well known and there are no direct techniques to evaluate and measure it. Measurement of programming skills is mostly based on the evaluation of programs written by students but the final programs do not reveal the correctness of students' mental models of programming concepts. This paper presents a new analysis model that can be used to evaluate students' mental models based on their program writing protocols with three different measures. The analysis model is based on the concept of roles of variables and extends the methodology of Rist's theory of schema expansion in programming but has a better coverage and is more finely grained than Rist's model. This paper also reports a study in which the applicability and the general validity of the model was studied by following the emergence of novice students' programming knowledge during their first programming course. The results suggest that the model is generally applicable for analyzing programming knowledge in novice level and that the three measures can be applied when focusing on different aspects of this knowledge.
What tone teaches us about language

Abstract:In 'Tone: Is it different? ' (Hyman 2011a), I suggested that 'tone is like segmental phonology in every way—only more so', emphasizing that there are some things that only tone can do. In this presidential address my focus extends beyond phonology, specifically addressing what tone tells us about the integration (vs. compartmentalization) of grammar. I discuss some rather striking examples that demonstrate problems for the strict separation of phonology, morphology, and syntax, each time posing the question, 'What else is like this outside of tone? '. A particularly interesting property that is strictly limited to tone is what I term syntagmatic relativity. I suggest that the uniqueness of tonal phenomena is due to the versatility of pitch, which can be manipulated with a wide range of linguistic functions. Given this versatility, I end by considering the question, 'Why isn't tone universal? '. *
Centering in Italian

Abstract. This chapter explores the correlation between centering and diﬀerent forms of pronominal ref-erence in Italian, in particular zeros and overt pronouns in subject position. In previous work (Di Eugenio,1990), I proposed that such alternation could be explained in terms of centering transitions. In this chapter,I verify those hypotheses by means of a small corpus of naturally occurring data. In the process, I extendmy previous analysis in several ways, for example by taking possessives into account; I also provide a moredetailed analysis of continue: more speciﬁcally, I show that pronouns are used in a markedly diﬀerent wayin continue’s preceded by another continue or by a shift, and in continue’s preceded by a retain. 1 Introduction Italian is a pro-drop language, in that the subject of a clause need not be overt. Thus, an Italian speaker hasa variety of choices in realizing a subject, including using a null subject or an overt pronoun. In previouswork (Di Eugenio, 1990), I proposed that the alternation of null and overt pronominal subjects could beexplained in terms of centering transitions. However, the hypotheses I put forward in my earlier work weresupported only by a few constructed examples. In this chapter, I report on a corpus study that I conductedin order to ﬁnd more solid evidence for those hypotheses. Analyzing real data had the added beneﬁt ofbringing me to address issues still problematic for centering, such as how possessives and subordinates aﬀectthe ordering on the Cf list, and to provide a more detailed analysis of continue’s.The version of centering that I use is basically the one described in the overview by Walker, Prince andJoshi (this volume). However, the ordering for the Cf list I use is modiﬁed with respect to the usual onepostulated for Western languages:(1) subject > object2 > object > othersVarious researchers (Kameyama, 1985; Walker, Iida, and Cote, 1994) had pointed out that in languagessuch as Japanese,
Does information about what things are influence children's memory for where things are?

Two experiments examined how information about what objects are influences memory for where objects are located. Seven-, 9-, and 11-year-old children and adults learned the locations of 20 objects marked by dots on the floor of a box. The objects belonged to 4 categories. In one condition, objects belonging to the same category were located in the same quadrant of the box. In another condition, objects and locations were randomly paired. After learning, participants attempted to replace the objects without the aid of the dots. Children and adults placed the objects in the same quadrant closer together when they were related than when they were unrelated, indicating that object information led to systematic biases in location memory.
Full-order terminal sliding-mode control for wind energy integration into power network

This paper proposes full-order terminal sliding-mode control strategies for wind energy conversion systems. Nonsingular terminal sliding-mode manifolds and related second-order sliding-mode control strategies are designed respectively for the d- and q-axis currents respectively. The control signals in the proposed sliding-mode controllers are continuous and have no chattering phenomenon. So the proposed controllers are suitable for practical applications.
Anti-Mullerian hormone in the diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome: can morphologic description be replaced?

STUDY QUESTION Can anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) level replace the morphologic description in the diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and what is the relationship between AMH and different diagnostic criteria of PCOS? SUMMARY ANSWER AMH may be a good substitute for polycystic ovarian morphology (PCOM) in diagnosing PCOS. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY AMH has been suggested as an alternative to antral follicle count (AFC) in diagnosing PCOS. Cut-off values for AMH studied so far show an acceptable specificity but a rather poor sensitivity, leaving up to one-third of PCOS women undiagnosed. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION We used data from a cross-sectional, case-control study on women with prior preterm birth and their controls, i.e. women with prior full-term birth. Among 262 women, 56 met the Rotterdam criteria (PCOS-R) and 44 the Androgen Excess-PCOS Society (PCOS-AES) criteria of PCOS. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Fasting blood samples were collected, a transvaginal ultrasound investigation and a clinical examination were performed. PCOS-R and PCOS-AES were re-diagnosed by replacing PCOM with AMH. Main outcome measures were the prevalence of PCOS, PCOM, hirsutism, oligoamenorrhoea and serum levels of AMH and androgens. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE When replacing PCOM with AMH, the specificity and sensitivity for identifying PCOS were 97.1 and 94.6% according to the PCOS-R criteria and 97.2 and 95.5% according to the PCOS-AES criteria, respectively, at an AMH cut-off value of 20 pmol/l. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION The results need to be confirmed when international standards and methods for AMH measurements are established. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS AMH may be a good substitute for PCOM in diagnosing PCOS. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This study was financed by the Cooperative of Central Norway Regional Health Authority and Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The authors have no interests to disclose. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials. gov as NCT01355536.