Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SaFIN: A Self-Adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network

There are generally two approaches to the design of a neural fuzzy system: (1) design by human experts, and (2) design through a self-organization of the numerical training data. While the former approach is highly subjective, the latter is commonly plagued by one or more of the following major problems: (1) an inconsistent rulebase; (2) the need for prior knowledge such as the number of clusters to be computed; (3) heuristically designed knowledge acquisition methodologies; and (4) the stability-plasticity tradeoff of the system. This paper presents a novel self-organizing neural fuzzy system, named Self-Adaptive Fuzzy Inference Network (SaFIN), to address the aforementioned deficiencies. The proposed SaFIN model employs a new clustering technique referred to as categorical learning-induced partitioning (CLIP), which draws inspiration from the behavioral category learning process demonstrated by humans. By employing the one-pass CLIP, SaFIN is able to incorporate new clusters in each input-output dimension when the existing clusters are not able to give a satisfactory representation of the incoming training data. This not only avoids the need for prior knowledge regarding the number of clusters needed for each input-output dimension, but also allows SaFIN the flexibility to incorporate new knowledge with old knowledge in the system. In addition, the self-automated rule formation mechanism proposed within SaFIN ensures that it obtains a consistent resultant rulebase. Subsequently, the proposed SaFIN model is employed in a series of benchmark simulations to demonstrate its efficiency as a self-organizing neural fuzzy system, and excellent performances have been achieved.
On the Pros and Cons of Delay of Gratification

Polivy's analysis of the possible costs of self-control is cogent, persuasive, and almost comprehensive. But despite the wide range of research cited in her article, one important, large literature is neglected. When its findings are included, at least some of the phenomena described in the article appear in a somewhat different light. The neglected literature concerns delay of gratification. Both Walter Mischel (e.g., 1974; Mischel, Shoda & Peake, 1988) and Jack Block (e.g., Block & Block, 1980; Funder & Block, 1989), and their colleagues have conducted experiments on this behavior for decades. In the basic paradigm the participant (usually but not always a child) is offered a choice between a small reward available immediately and a larger reward for which he or she must wait. This paradigm has obvious relevance to the issues discussed in Polivy's article. The situational and personal variables related to this kind of delay behavior have received extensive research attention. Two rather different conceptualizations of the nature of delay of gratification have developed out of this research. The first, promoted by Mischel and his collaborators (e.g., Mischel et al., 1988), interprets delay of gratification as an "ability" (p. 694) derived from "cognitive and social competencies and meta-cognitive insight" (p. 688). As might be expected given this interpretation, delay behavior is seen as having "some possible overlap [with] . performance on intelligence tests" (p. 693). Of importance to the issues raised in Polivy's article, Block and I observed some years ago that:
Accelerating read atomic multi-partition transaction with remote direct memory access

Many applications these days require data processing that is both efficient and reliable. Distributed databases are one way to meet these requirements, but must be updated using distributed transactions. To manage foreign key constraints, secondary indices, and materialized views in distributed environments, read atomic multi-partition (RAMP) transactions demonstrate high efficiency. RAMP transactions achieved high performance distributed transaction processing by relaxing the isolation level. However, the use of fast interconnect to accelerate performance has not yet been considered. This paper proposes the acceleration of RAMP transactions by exploiting remote direct memory access (RDMA) on the InfiniBand interconnect. We first present GET+ and PUT+ operations that accelerate the RAMP transaction by exploiting RDMA write operations. We then present the GET* operation, which further accelerates GET+ operations exploiting RDMA read operations. To evaluate the proposed methods, we implemented a prototype distributed in-memory key-value store in C/C++. The results of the experiments show that compared with RAMP transactions on IP over InfiniBand, GET* and PUT+ achieve a 2.67× performance improvement on the Yahoo! Cloud Serving Benchmark. All of our code is publicly available.
Parsing spontaneous speech

In this paper we will present work carried out lately on the 50,000 words Italian Spontaneous Speech Corpus called AVIP, under national project API, made available for free download from the website of the coordinator, the University of Naples. We will concentrate on the tuning of the parser for Italian which had been previously used to parse 100,000 words corpus of written Italian within the National Treebank initiative coordinated by ILC in Pisa. The parser receives as input the adequately transformed orthographic transcription of the dialogues making up the corpus, in which pauses, hesitations and other disfluencies have been turned into most likely corresponding punctiation marks, interjections or truncation of the word underlying the uttered segment. The most interesting phenomenon we will discuss is without any doubts "overlapping", i.e. a speech event in which two people speak at the same time by uttering actual words or in some cases nonwords, when one of the speakers, usually the one which is not the current turntaker, interrupts the current speaker. This phenomenon takes place at a certain point in time where it has to be anchored to the speech signal but in order to be fully parsed and subsequently semantically interpreted, it needs to be referred semantically to a following turn.
Hybrid Orientation Based Human Limbs Motion Tracking Method

One of the key technologies that lays behind the human–machine interaction and human motion diagnosis is the limbs motion tracking. To make the limbs tracking efficient, it must be able to estimate a precise and unambiguous position of each tracked human joint and resulting body part pose. In recent years, body pose estimation became very popular and broadly available for home users because of easy access to cheap tracking devices. Their robustness can be improved by different tracking modes data fusion. The paper defines the novel approach—orientation based data fusion—instead of dominating in literature position based approach, for two classes of tracking devices: depth sensors (i.e., Microsoft Kinect) and inertial measurement units (IMU). The detailed analysis of their working characteristics allowed to elaborate a new method that let fuse more precisely limbs orientation data from both devices and compensates their imprecisions. The paper presents the series of performed experiments that verified the method’s accuracy. This novel approach allowed to outperform the precision of position-based joints tracking, the methods dominating in the literature, of up to 18%.
A Quality by Experimental Design Approach to Assess the Effect of Formulation and Process Variables on the Extrusion and Spheronization of Drug-Loaded Pellets Containing Polyplasdone® XL-10

Successful pellet production has been reported in literature with cross-linked poly(vinylpyrrolidone), Polyplasdone® XL-10 and INF-10. In the present study, a quality by experimental design approach was used to assess several formulation and process parameter effects on the characteristics of Polyplasdone® XL-10 pellets, including pellet size, shape, yield, usable yield, friability, and number of fines. The hypothesis is that design of experiments and appropriate data analysis allow optimization of the Polyplasdone product. High drug loading was achieved using caffeine, a moderately soluble drug to allow in vitro release studies. A five-factor, two-level, half-fractional factorial design (Resolution V) with center point batches allowed mathematical modeling of the influence of the factors and their two-factor interactions on five of the responses. The five factors were Polyplasdone® level in the powder blend, volume of water in the wet massing step, wet mixing time, spheronizer speed, and spheronization time. Each factor and/or its two-factor interaction with another factor influenced pellet characteristics. The behavior of these materials under various processing conditions and component levels during extrusion-spheronization have been assessed, discussed, and explained based on the results. Numerical optimization with a desirability of 0.974 was possible because curvature and lack of fit were not significant with any of the model equations. The values predicted by the optimization described well the observed responses. The hypothesis was thus supported.
Multiple ATP‐binding cassette transporters are involved in insecticide resistance in the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus

ATP‐binding cassette (ABC) transporters are membrane‐bound proteins involved in the movement of various substrates, including drugs and insecticides, across the lipid membrane. Demonstration of the role of human ABC transporters in multidrug resistance has led to speculation that they might be an important mechanism controlling the fate of insecticides in insects. However, the role of ABC transporters in insects remains largely unknown. The small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus Fallén, has developed resistance to most of the insecticides used for its control. Our goals were to identify the ABC transporters in La. striatellus and to examine their involvement in resistance mechanisms, using related strains resistant to chlorpyrifos, deltamethrin and imidacloprid, compared with the susceptible strain. Based on the transcriptome of La. striatellus, 40 full‐length ABC transporters belonging to the ABCA–ABCH subfamilies were identified. Quantitative PCR revealed that over 20% of genes were significantly up‐regulated in different resistant strains, and eight genes from the ABCB/C/D/G subfamilies were up‐regulated in all three resistant strains, compared with the susceptible strain. Furthermore, synergism studies showed verapamil significantly enhanced insecticide toxicity in various resistant strains but not in the susceptible strain. These results suggest that ABC transporters might be involved in resistance to multiple insecticides in La. striatellus.
The cognitive underpinnings of emerging mathematical skills: executive functioning, patterns, numeracy, and arithmetic.

BACKGROUND Exposure to mathematical pattern tasks is often deemed important for developing children's algebraic thinking skills. Yet, there is a dearth of evidence on the cognitive underpinnings of pattern tasks and how early competencies on these tasks are related to later development. AIMS We examined the domain-specific and domain-general determinants of performances on pattern tasks by using (a) a standardized test of numerical and arithmetic proficiency and (b) measures of executive functioning, respectively. SAMPLE Participants were 163 6-year-olds enrolled in primary schools that typically serve families from low to middle socioeconomic backgrounds. METHOD Children were administered a battery of executive functioning (inhibitory, switching, updating), numerical and arithmetic proficiency (the Numerical Operations task from the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-II), and three types of pattern tasks. RESULTS Contrary to findings from the adult literature, we found all the executive functioning measures coalesced into two factors: updating and an inhibition/switch factor. Only the updating factor predicted performances on the pattern tasks. Although performance on the pattern tasks were correlated with numerical and arithmetic proficiency, findings from structural equation modelling showed that there were no direct or independent relationships between them. CONCLUSIONS The findings suggest that the bivariate relationships between pattern, numeracy, and arithmetic tasks are likely due to their shared demands on updating resources. Unlike older children, these findings suggest that for 6-year-olds, better numerical and arithmetic proficiency, without accompanying advantages in updating capacities, will no more likely lead to better performance on the pattern tasks.
Bat Algorithm Based Hybrid Filter-Wrapper Approach

This paper presents a new hybrid of Bat Algorithm (BA) based on Mutual Information (MI) and Naive Bayes called BAMI. In BAMI, MI was used to identify promising features which could potentially accelerate the process of finding the best known solution. The promising features were then used to replace several of the randomly selected features during the search initialization. BAMI was tested over twelve datasets and compared against the standard Bat Algorithm guided by Naive Bayes (BANV). The results showed that BAMI outperformed BANV in all datasets in terms of computational time. The statistical test indicated that BAMI has significantly lower computational time than BANV in six out of twelve datasets, while maintaining the effectiveness. The results also showed that BAMI performance was not affected by the number of features or samples in the dataset. Finally, BAMI was able to find the best known solutions with limited number of iterations.
Developing Teacher Capacity for Serving ELLs' Writing Instructional Needs: A Case for Systemic Functional Linguistics

Abstract Although explicit grammar instruction has been a source of considerable debate in second-language teaching, increasingly educational linguists assert instruction in academic language is critical, given the current assessment reform in K–12 contexts. Of particular concern is that contemporary English-Language-Learner (ELL) instruction focuses on making the content comprehensible to ELLs in a manner that may lead to inadequate exposure to academic language, which is considered paramount to ELLs' educational success. Therefore, it is necessary to develop methods for increasing teachers' capacity to address this issue instructionally. Informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), this study presents the effectiveness and instructional impact of a professional-development program designed to increase teachers' understanding of the characteristics of academic language. Differences in teacher evaluations of student work prior to and after SFL training suggest that teachers were better able to analyze student writing in a manner that also informed further instructional needs. Classroom observations and teacher interviews also suggest that the training impacted teacher practice in writing instruction. Writing instruction that explicitly focuses on language is needed to develop ELLs' skills in academic genres and is essential in moving them to more-advanced levels of English proficiency.
Robotic assistants for health care

The main objective of this work is to develop a robots' fleet working together to make assistance tasks in a hospital, geriatric or home in a collaborative way. This paper focus on multi-robot mapping and localization system for robotic assistants and a camera based system for tracking people. This paper presents a method to detect, recognize and track people using mount cameras fixed on a building and an algorithm for collaborative mobile robot mapping and localization based on probabilistic methods. The performance of this system has been tested successfully. Some experimental results and conclusions are presented.
A Frameshift Deletion in Peripherin Gene Associated with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis*

Peripherin is a neuronal intermediate filament associated with inclusion bodies in motor neurons of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). A possible peripherin involvement in ALS pathogenesis has been suggested based on studies with transgenic mouse overexpressors and with a toxic splicing variant of the mouse peripherin gene. However, the existence of peripherin gene mutations in human ALS has not yet been documented. Therefore, we screened for sequence variants of the peripherin gene (PRPH) in a cohort of ALS patients including familial and sporadic cases. We identified 18 polymorphic variants of PRPH detected in both ALS and age-matched control populations. Two additional PRPH variants were discovered in ALS cases but not in 380 control individuals. One variant consisted of a nucleotide insertion in intron 8 (PRPHIVS8–36insA), whereas the other one consisted of a 1-bp deletion within exon 1 (PRPH228delC), predicting a truncated peripherin species of 85 amino acids. Remarkably, expression of this frameshift peripherin mutant in SW13 cells resulted in disruption of neurofilament network assembly. These results suggest that PRPH mutations may be responsible for a small percentage of ALS, cases and they provide further support of the view that neurofilament disorganization may contribute to pathogenesis.
Efficacy of sunitinib in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma: initial experience in two Chinese centers

Background The advent of targeted therapy has proved a milestone in the history of metastatic renal cell carcinoma treatment, and several guidelines now recommend sunitinib as first‐ or second‐line treatment. But little is known about its efficacy in Asian patients. The aim of this article was to evaluate the efficacy of sunitinib monotherapy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated at two Chinese centers. Methods One hundred and forty‐one patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma were included in the study. Of them, 119 patients received single‐agent sunitinib as first‐line therapy and the remaining 22 patients received it as second‐line therapy. One hundred and twenty patients received sunitinib in a dosage of 50 mg orally once daily on a 4‐2 schedule (4 weeks on treatment, 2 weeks off), while 21 patients received 37.5 mg/day continuously until either disease progression or unacceptable toxicity occurred. The overall response rate, survival outcomes, and safety were evaluated. Results Over a median follow‐up time of 23 months (16 cycles; range 2‐45 months), complete responses, partial responses, and stable disease lasting two cycles or longer were achieved in 2.8%, 24.1%, and 60.3% of patients respectively (objective response rate 26.9%; overall benefit 87.2%). The median progression‐free survival was 14.2 months (range 3‐39 months). During the study, 53 patients died and the median survival time was 13.5 months (range 7‐25 months). Dose modification or treatment interruption due to adverse events was required in 36.9% of the patients. The most common adverse events were hand‐foot syndrome (71.4%), thrombocytopenia (68.8%), hypertension (47.1%), and fatigue (46.3%). Conclusion Sunitinib had a favorable efficacy/tolerability profile in Chinese patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
MATE-EC2: a middleware for processing data with AWS

Recently, there has been growing interest in using Cloud resources for a variety of high performance and data-intensive applications. While there is currently a number of commercial Cloud service providers, Amazon Web Services (AWS) appears to be the most widely used. One of the main services that AWS offers is the Simple Storage Service (S3) for unbounded reliable storage of data, which is particularly amenable to data-intensive processes. Certainly, for these types of applications, we need support for effective retrieval and processing of data stored in S3 environments. In this paper, we focus on parallel and scalable processing of data stored in S3 using compute instances in AWS. We describe a middleware that allows the specification of data processing using a high-level API, which is a variant of the Map-Reduce paradigm. We show various optimizations, including data organization, job assignment, and data retrieval strategies, that can be leveraged based on the performance characteristics of S3. Our middleware is also capable of effectively using a heterogeneous collection of EC2 instances for data processing. Our detailed experimental study further evaluates what factors impact efficiency of retrieving and processing S3 data. We compare our middleware with Amazon Elastic Map-Reduce and show how we determine the best configuration for data processing on AWS.
Inorganics and Hormesis

The article is a comprehensive review of the occurrence of hormetic dose-response relationships induced by inorganic agents, including toxic agents, of significant environmental and public health interest (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium, and zinc). Hormetic responses occurred in a wide range of biological models (i.e., plants, invertebrate and vertebrate animals) for a large and diverse array of endpoints. Particular attention was given to providing an assessment of the quantitative features of the dose-response relationships and underlying mechanisms that could account for the biphasic nature of the hormetic response. These findings indicate that hormetic responses commonly occur in appropriately designed experiments and are highly generalizeable with respect to biological model responses. The hormetic dose response should be seen as a reliable feature of the dose response for inorganic agents and will have an important impact on the estimated effects of such agents on environmental and human receptors.
Contouring Controller for Precise Motion Control Systems

This paper discusses the trajectory generation algorithm, contour error construction method and finally the contour controller design. In the trajectory generation algorithm combination of elliptical Fourier descriptors (EFD) and time based spline approximation (TBSA) is used to generate position, velocity and acceleration references. Contour error is constructed using transformation of trajectory tracking errors. Transformation is computationally efficient and requires only reference velocity information. Contour controller is designed using sliding mode control. Experiments are performed on planar linear motion stage and significant contour error reduction is observed.
Evaluation of simulator tools and power-aware scheduling model for wireless sensor networks

The sharp increase of the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) performance has increased their power requirements. However, with a limited battery lifetime it is more and more difficult to deploy many more sensors with today's solutions. Therefore, the authors need to implement autonomous WSNs without any human intervention or external power supply. To this end, this study proposes an effective strategy to ensure an energy consumption gain that takes into account time constraints through a power-aware model based on the dynamic voltage and frequency scaling and the dynamic power management that are appropriate to the WSNs and on a global Earliest Deadline First scheduler. To select the most suitable simulator to integrate and simulate the developed models, >25 of the existing WSN simulators are outlined and evaluated. On the basis of this comparative study analysis, the authors chose the simulation tool for real-time multiprocessor scheduling (STORM) to validate their work for its multiple advantages.