Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emerging Researcher Perspectives: Finding Your People: My Challenge of Developing a Creative Research Methods Network

My focus is on using creative methods within research, which I approach as an all-encompassing term that includes artistic and arts-based work but also the broader sense of creating, making, and doing. Of course, there are academics and researchers who focus on embodied aspects of research (Chadwick, 2017), on performative and artistic creations and research as arts and arts as research (Barrett & Bolt, 2014), on research using creative methods (Mason & Davies, 2009; Nind & Vinha, 2014; Orr & Phoenix, 2015; Tarr,Gonzalez-Polledo, & Cornish, 2017) and bridging the gap between arts and sciences (Leavy, 2015). So where does my feeling of isolation stem from? Is this something that needs to be addressed at all? And if yes, then what can be done?
The ins and outs of fibronectin matrix assembly

Cell phenotype is specified by environmental cues embedded in the architecture and composition of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Much has been learned about matrix organization and assembly through analyses of the ECM protein fibronectin (FN). FN matrix assembly is a cell-mediated process in which soluble dimeric FN is converted into a fibrillar network. Binding of cell surface integrin receptors to FN converts it to an active form, which promotes fibril formation through interactions with other cell-associated FN dimers. As FN fibrils form on the outside of the cell, cytoplasmic domains of integrin receptors organize cytoplasmic proteins into functional complexes inside. Intracellular connections to the actin cytoskeletal network and stimulation of certain key intracellular signaling pathways are essential for FN–integrin interactions and propagation of FN fibril formation. Thus, assembly of native functional ECM depends on exquisite coordination between extracellular events and intracellular pathways.
Investigating the feasibility of LEAP+ in ZigBee specification

The ZigBee specification is an emerging wireless technology designed to address the specific needs of low-cost, low-power wireless sensor networks and is built upon the physical and medium access control layers defined in IEEE 802.15. 4 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs). A key component for the wide-spread success and applicability of ZigBee-based networking solutions will be its ability to provide enhanced security mechanisms that can scale to hundreds of nodes. Currently, however, an area of concern is the ZigBee key management scheme, which uses a centralized approach that introduces well-known issues of limited scalability and a single point of vulnerability. Moreover, ZigBee key management uses a public key infrastructure. Due to these limitations, we suggest replacing ZigBee key management with a better candidate scheme that is decentralized, symmetric, and scalable while addressing security requirements. In this work, we investigate the feasibility of implementing Localized Encryption and Authentication Protocol (LEAP+), a distributed symmetric based key management. LEAP+ is designed to support multiple types of keys based on the message type that is being exchanged. In this paper, we first conduct a qualitative security analysis of LEAP+ and the current ZigBee key management scheme. Using the QualNet 5.0. 2 simulator, we implement LEAP+ on the ZigBee platform for the very first time. Experimental results show that a distributed key management scheme such as LEAP+ provides improved security and offers good scalability.
Sensor fault detection and estimation for heat exchanger using Unscented Kalman Filter

The main objective of this paper is to describe the application of Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) estimation algorithm to the problem of fault detection and estimation of the sensor failures in the heat exchanger systems. The proposed fault detection is based on innovation sequence implementing UKF which is used to generate residuals when a sensor fault is presented. By evaluating the generated residual, it is possible to see if any problems of sensor have occurred. And the estimated state and decision function are built; the indication of sensor malfunction is achieved by UKF, so makes it possible for us to see where the fault is. Experiments in a heat exchanger have demonstrated the power of this method. The proposed algorithm has evident advantages such as less computation, easy programming, easy application and generalization and so on.
An Orientation Selective Neural Network for Pattern Identification in Particle Detectors

We present an algorithm for identifying linear patterns on a two-dimensional lattice based on the concept of an orientation selective cell, a concept borrowed from neurobiology of vision. Constructing a multi-layered neural network with fixed architecture which implements orientation selectivity, we define output elements corresponding to different orientations, which allow us to make a selection decision. The algorithm takes into account the granularity of the lattice as well as the presence of noise and inefficiencies. The method is applied to a sample of data collected with the ZEUS detector at HERA in order to identify cosmic muons that leave a linear pattern of signals in the segmented calorimeter. A two dimensional representation of the relevant part of the detector is used. The algorithm performs very well. Given its architecture, this system becomes a good candidate for fast pattern recognition in parallel processing devices.
Application of a new logically complete ATMS to digraph and network-connectivity analysis

The binary decision diagram (BDD) and the metaproduct technologies have made possible to perform interactively exact qualitative and quantitative analysis of fault trees that could not previously be exactly analysed. This paper shows that these technologies can also be used to build an interactive tool to perform exact analysis of digraphs and of network connectivity problems. The paper also shows that the basic functionalities needed to perform these analyses are exactly those of an assumption-based truth maintenance system (ATMS), and it describes a new logically complete ATMS built using BDDs and metaproducts. The usefulness and the efficiency of this approach is demonstrated through the analysis of the feedwater system of a nuclear plant. <<ETX>>
Biosensors Applications in Agri-food Industry

The dynamic worldwide agri-food market has produced increased biological, chemical and physical threats to food products, and a bigger consumer demand on process control, quality and safety of these products. As a result, farmers and processors are using technological tools to allow for the quick, effective and efficient determination of hazards inherent to safety and quality of products. Biosensors are an important option in the agricultural and food sectors to control production processes and ensure food quality and safety by reliable, fast and cost effective procedures. Biosensors are promising alternatives to conventional analytical tools since they offer advantages in size, cost, specificity, rapid response, precision and sensitivity. The agricultural and food industry integrates the production, processing and commercialization of agricultural materials for specific markets and consumer demands. Each step in the agricultural and food production chain is susceptible to several threats since agricultural materials and food products are transported to different parts of the world, favoring the loss of quality and the transmission of diseases. The biological, chemical and/or physical threats may be the result of environmental contamination or failures during food handling, processing, packing and distribution. Detect, correct and prevent these failures are the basis for the development of quality management systems to ensure food safety. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year millions of people around the world are affected by foodborne diseases. Biological risks produced by bacteria, viruses and biotoxins, chemical substances (e.g., additives), food nutrients used to add product value, pesticides, veterinary drugs residues, and processing operations and technologies that may generate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) derived from proteins decomposition, or mutagenic agents (e.g., tryptophan) in cooked foods, constitute risks to consumers health. On the other hand, consumer demands have contributed to dramatic changes in the production and commercialization of foods, leading producers to search for innovative products and technologies. Furthermore, recent food crises have caused concerns regarding the safety of food products, resulting in increased sanitary standards. Today, food safety and food quality are key elements that influence consumers purchasing behavior. However, consumer perception varies with ethnicity, purchasing power, education level and awareness. Consequently, there are consumer groups that make purchasing decisions based on product price, regardless of food handling practices and potential public health risks;
A Digital CMOS Parallel Counter Architecture Based on State Look-Ahead Logic

We present a high-speed wide-range parallel counter that achieves high operating frequencies through a novel pipeline partitioning methodology (a counting path and state look-ahead path), using only three simple repeated CMOS-logic module types: an initial module generates anticipated counting states for higher significant bit modules through the state look-ahead path, simple D-type flip-flops, and 2-bit counters. The state look-ahead path prepares the counting path's next counter state prior to the clock edge such that the clock edge triggers all modules simultaneously, thus concurrently updating the count state with a uniform delay at all counting path modules/stages with respect to the clock edge. The structure is scalable to arbitrary N-bit counter widths (2-to-2N range) using only the three module types and no fan-in or fan-out increase. The counter's delay is comprised of the initial module access time (a simple 2-bit counting stage), one three-input and-gate delay, and a D-type flip-flop setup-hold time. We implemented our proposed counter using a 0.15-μ m TSMC digital cell library and verified maximum operating speeds of 2 and 1.8 GHz for 8- and 17-bit counters, respectively. Finally, the area of a sample 8-bit counter was 78 125 μ m2 (510 transistors) and consumed 13.89 mW at 2 GHz.
Developmental changes in heparan sulfate expression: in situ detection with mAbs

Two mAbs that are specific for heparan sulfate-related epitopes have been raised and used to analyze the cellular and tissular distribution of this glycosaminoglycan during development. mAb 10E4 reacts with an epitope that occurs in native heparan sulfate chains and that is destroyed by N-desulfation of the glycosaminoglycan. The antibody does not react with hyaluronate, chondroitin sulfate, or DNA, and reacts only poorly with heparin. The reactivity of proteoglycan extracts or tissue sections with the 10E4 antibody is completely abolished by heparitinase, but is only partially affected by heparinase. mAb 3G10, in contrast, reacts only with heparitinase-treated heparan sulfate chains, proteoglycans, or tissue sections. The 3G10 epitope is destroyed by treatment with mercuric acetate, which indicates that the desaturated uronate generated by the lyase is essential for the reactivity of the antibody. The 3G10 epitope is not generated by treating heparan sulfate proteoglycans with heparinase or chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans with chondroitin sulfate lyases, which indicates that the 3G10 antibody recognizes desaturated uronates that occur in specific structural contexts. The antibody 10E4 and, after heparitinase treatment, the antibody 3G10 decorate the surfaces of many cell types and the extracellular matrix in proximity of the cells, in particular, the basement membranes. The analysis of embryonic and adult tissues reveals important temporal and regional differences in the abundance of the 10E4 and 3G10 epitopes at these sites. Moreover, the staining pattern of the two antibodies is not always superimposable, which is indicative of regional differences in the exposure or structure of the tissular heparan sulfates. As a whole the results suggest that heparan sulfate abounds at sites of active morphogenesis and that the expression of this glycosaminoglycan is developmentally regulated.
Visual servoing of 8-DOF arm for mobile robot platform

This paper suggests the control technique that end-effector of manipulator can chase an object using an image gained from a stereo camera installed in a mobile robot platform and the camera positioned at the end of redundant manipulator in a wide working space. By using the stereo camera for searching the object in the wide working space, it is controlled to enable the end-effector of manipulator to approach the object. When the image of object is inputted to the camera equipped in end-effector, the manipulator is operated by reducing a position error between end-effector and object. Servo control system is verified through inter-layerpsilas autonomous navigation experiment using the mobile robotpsilas elevator with 8 DOF robot arms.
WAN-in-Lab: motivation, deployment and experiments

WAN-in-Lab is a hardware testbed for the design, development, testing and evaluation of high speed network protocols. It uses real carrier-class networking hardware to avoid the artifacts introduced by network simulation and emulation, while being localized to allow detailed measurement of network performance. WAN-in-Lab is an open resource, available for use by the networking community. This paper describes the structure of WAN-in-Lab and the rationale behind it, issues encountered, and experimental results that illustrate its applications.
Policy Competition and the Spatial Economy

policies to attract firms or highly skilled workers, or to raise more tax revenues. Since government competition could lead to large wastes of public money, it is important to understand how governments compete exactly. This thesis shows that the spatial characteristics of economies strongly affect the interactions between their governments. The forces that result in clustering of firms, and that govern commuting flows and housing markets, also influence the obstacles that policymakers face in developing their policies. As a result, even if governments have the best intentions, the overall effects of their policies may be far from socially optimal. Central governments can try to steer lower governments towards the welfare-maximizing policies. This thesis shows, however, that the ideal instruments and policies for central governments vary strongly with the agglomeration forces, the trade and commuting flows, and the residential and firm location choices that shape the spatial economy.
Algebraic Bethe ansatz approach to the asymptotic behavior of correlation functions

We describe a method to derive, from first principles, the long-distance asymptotic behavior of correlation functions of integrable models in the framework of the algebraic Bethe ansatz. We apply this approach to the longitudinal spin–spin correlation function of the XXZ Heisenberg spin- 1/2 chain (with magnetic field) in the disordered regime as well as to the density–density correlation function of the interacting one-dimensional Bose gas. At leading order, the results confirm the Luttinger liquid and conformal field theory predictions.
Salmonellosis in Lagos, Nigeria: Incidence of Plasmodium falciparum-associated Co-infection, Patterns of Antimicrobial Resistance, and Emergence of Reduced Susceptibility to Fluoroquinolones

The present study was undertaken to examine the status of antimicrobial resistance in Salmonella-associated diseases, by verifying possible emergence of reduced susceptibility to fluoroquinolones in Salmonella isolates and determining the incidence of Plasmodium falciparum-associated co-infection with Salmonella serotypes. Antimicrobial resistance in clinical isolates of Salmonellae was examined for a 12-month period. Four hundred and forty-one patients comprising two groups were recruited. Group A comprised 235 patients diagnosed by clinicians of having pyrexia, and group B included stool samples of 206 patients presenting with gastroenteritis. Samples were cultured and isolates identified, and drug susceptibility testing was performed using the standard methods. Of the 235 samples screened in group A, 42 Salmonella isolates and 107 Plasmodium spp. were identified. Of the 42 Salmonella isolates, 19 (45.2%) were Salmonella Typhi, 9 (21.4%) S. Enteritidis, and 7 (16.7%) each of S. Paratyphi and S. Arizonae. Plasmodium spp. -associated co-infection with Salmonellae was observed in 16 patients mostly in complicated typhoidal cases and S. Enteritidis-associated bacteraemia. Fiftty-three of the 206 stool samples from group B patients were confirmed positive for bacterial pathogens, made up of 35 Salmonella and 18 Shigella isolates. Of the Salmonella isolates, 18 (51.4%) were S. Enteritidis, 11 (31.4%) S. Arizonae, 4 (11.4%) S. Paratyphi, and 2 (5.7%) S. Typhi. There was no statistically significant difference (p<0.01) in antimicrobial resistance patterns exhibited among typhoidal Salmonellae isolated in 2000 and 2005. A similar trend in resistance was recorded for non-typhoidal Salmonellae (p<0.05). For the first time in Lagos, Nigeria, Salmonella isolates (10–18%) with reduced susceptibility to both ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin at MIC50 and MIC90 values of 0.015 and 0.03 μg/mL respectively were found. Despite this development, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin remain the drug of choice for severe cases of salmonellosis, although caution should be exercised by clinicians in their pres-criptions such that fluoroquinolone antibiotic therapy is used only in laboratory-proven cases of typhoid fever and Salmonella-associated bacteraemia to preserve its efficacy.
Structural Breaks, Cointegration and Demand for Money in Nigeria

This paper estimates the money demand function in Nigeria in the aftermath of the recent global financial crisis and examines whether its underlying properties has changed over the years. Specifically, the existence of a stable long-run demand for money function during the period 1991:Q1-2013:Q4, while accounting for the possibility of structural breaks is investigated. The Gregory-Hansen residual based test for cointegration detected both intercept and regime shifts in 2007:Q1 as the null of no cointegration is rejected at 1 per cent significance level, indicating that long run relationship exists between real money supply, real income, real monetary policy rate, exchange rate spread and movements in exchange rate in Nigeria. This estimation technique is robust to structural break, which ensures that the estimated parameters are unbiased. The CUSUMSQ test provides evidence of a stable money demand function before and after the crisis. The paper infers that since the relationship among the variables holds over a fairly long period of time, the estimated money demand model provides important foundations for monetary policy setting in Nigeria.
A Network Meta-Analysis of Efficacy and Evaluation of Safety of Subcutaneous Pegylated Interferon Beta-1a versus Other Injectable Therapies for the Treatment of Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Subcutaneous pegylated interferon beta-1a (peginterferon beta-1a [PEG-IFN]) 125 μg every two or four weeks has been studied in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients in the pivotal Phase 3 ADVANCE trial. In the absence of direct comparative evidence, a network meta-analysis (NMA) was conducted to provide an indirect assessment of the relative efficacy, safety, and tolerability of PEG-IFN versus other injectable RRMS therapies. Systematic searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, and conference proceedings from relevant annual symposia were hand-searched. Included studies were randomized controlled trials evaluating ≥1 first-line treatments including interferon beta-1a 30, 44, and 22 μg, interferon beta-1b, and glatiramer acetate in patients with RRMS. Studies were included based on a pre-specified protocol and extracted by a team of independent reviewers and information scientists, utilizing criteria from NICE and IQWiG. In line with ADVANCE findings, NMA results support that PEG-IFN every 2 weeks significantly reduced annualized relapse rate, and 3- and 6-month confirmed disability progression (CDP) versus placebo. There was numerical trend favoring PEG-IFN every 2 weeks versus other IFNs assessed for annualized relapse rate, and versus all other injectables for 3- and 6-month CDP (6-month CDP was significantly reduced versus IFN beta-1a 30 μg). The safety and tolerability profile of PEG-IFN beta-1a 125 μg every 2 weeks was consistent with that of other evaluated treatments. Study limitations for the NMA include variant definitions of relapse and other systematic differences across trials, assumptions that populations were sufficiently similar, and inability to perform NMA of adverse events. With similar efficacy compared to other RRMS treatments in terms of annualized relapse rate and 3- and 6-month CDP, a promising safety profile, and up to 93% reduction in number of injections (which may improve adherence), PEG-IFN every 2 weeks offers a valuable alternative treatment option for patients with RRMS.
Coordination in the formation of the transversal skills needed for university-level assignments and support tools for their assessment

In this paper, we discuss the need for coordination among the faculty members responsible for the programs of university degrees as regards generic skills training and assessment through the completion of assignments. A map of training activities in the different courses of two undergraduate degrees was prepared, which allowed to detect in what aspects and courses of each of the degrees the continuous training of the students in relation to aforementioned skills needed to be reinforced. In relation to the support tools for the assessment of these skills, an analysis of different plagiarism detection software -compatible with texts in Spanish language- is presented. These actions have been taken in the Environmental Sciences (CCAA) and in the Rural and Agrifood Engineering (IAMR) degrees taught at the Higher Polytechnic School of Huesca (EPSH), at the University of Zaragoza (Spain).
Stochastic models of natural gas prices

The paper is a survey on some recent literature in natural gas spot modelling without plunging into calibration, spot-futures and spot-forward dynamics. This work, based on the fact that the crucial property of spot price in energy markets, as a commodity market, is mean-reverting. We observe that the natural gas spot modelling can be divided into essential categories, i.e. mean-reversion models and regime-switching models. We then examine their historical extensions in the form of new techniques. In the former models, one-factor, twofactor and three-factor spot mean-reverting models as well as their extensions are resulted from splitting the longrun mean into two stochastic and deterministic components. We also consider the Levy diffusion based on alphastable process and normal inverse Gaussian process as well as affine structure for seasonality term. As the latter category, one-factor regime-switching model is considered, which consists of two regimes either mean-reverting process or geometric Brownian motion with positive/negative drift.