Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Opposite Fuzzy Sets with Applications in Image Processing

Diverse forms of the concept of opposition are already existent in philosophy, linguistics, psychology and physics. The inter- play between entities and opposite entities is apparently fundamental for balance maintenance in almost a universal manner. However, it seems that we have failed to incorporate oppositional thinking in en- gineering, mathematics and computer science. Especially, the set theory in general, and fuzzy set theory in particular, do not offer a formal framework to incorporate opposition in inference engines. Considering sets along with their opposites can establish a new com- puting scheme with a wide range of applications. In this work, pre- liminary definitions for opposite fuzzy sets will be established. The underlaying idea of opposition-based computing is the simultaneous consideration of guess and opposite guess, and estimate and opposite estimate, in order to accelerate learning, search and optimization. To demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of opposite fuzzy sets, a new image segmentation algorithm will be proposed as well. Keywords— Fuzzy sets, opposition, opposite fuzzy sets, antonym, antonymy, complement
Workshop on component-based software engineering: composing systems from components

Component-based Software Engineering (CBSE) is concerned with the development of systems from reusable parts (components), the development of components, and system maintenance and improvement by means of component replacement or customization. Building systems from components and building components for different systems requires established methodologies and processes not only in relation to development/maintenance phases, but also to the entire component and system lifecycle including organizational, marketing, legal, and other aspects. In addition to objectives such as component specification, composition, and component technology development that are specific to CBSE, there are a number of software engineering disciplines and processes that require methodologies be specialized for application in component-based development. Many of these methodologies are not yet established in practice, some have not yet been developed. The progress of software development in the near future will depend very much on the successful establishment of CBSE; this is recognized by both industry and academia. The growing interest in CBSE is reflected in the number of workshops and conferences with CBSE tracks [2-5].
Improving Spectral Efficiency of FBMC-OQAM Through Virtual Symbols

Filter bank multicarrier (FBMC) systems based on offset quadrature amplitude modulation (OQAM), namely FBMC-OQAM, have been criticized for their inefficiency in the use of spectral resources, because of the long ramp-up and ramp-down tails at the beginning and the end of each data packet, respectively. We propose a novel method for shortening these tails. By appending a set of virtual (i.e., none data carrying) symbols to the beginning and the end of each packet, and clever selection of these symbols, we show that the ramp-up and ramp-down tails in the FBMC-OQAM can be suppressed to the extent that they are deemed negligible and thus may be ignored. This shortens the length of signal burst in each FBMC-OQAM packet and improves its spectral efficiency, viz., the same data is transmitted over a shorter period of time. We develop an optimization method that allows computation of virtual symbols for each data packet. Simulation results show that, compared with the existing methods, the proposed tail-shortening approach leads to superior out-of-band emissions performance and a much lower error vector magnitude for the demodulated symbols.
Origins and Genetic Legacy of Neolithic Farmers and Hunter-Gatherers in Europe

Farmer Displaced European Hunters Our understanding of prehistoric demography and human evolution has been improved by analysis of ancient DNA. Skoglund et al. (p. 466) describe the retrieval and analysis of genomic DNA from ancient (~5000-year-old) northern European Neolithic individuals within modern Sweden. These include three hunter-gatherers from the Pitted Ware Culture horizon and one farmer ascribed to the Mid-Neolithic North-Central TRB culture. The hunter-gatherers displayed a distinct genetic signature, similar to that of extant northern Europeans, whereas the farmer's genetic signature more closely resembled southern Europeans, suggesting migration and admixture during the spread of farming. Genomic analysis of ancient Scandinavians reveals that agricultural expansion was driven by long-range population movement. The farming way of life originated in the Near East some 11,000 years ago and had reached most of the European continent 5000 years later. However, the impact of the agricultural revolution on demography and patterns of genomic variation in Europe remains unknown. We obtained 249 million base pairs of genomic DNA from ~5000-year-old remains of three hunter-gatherers and one farmer excavated in Scandinavia and find that the farmer is genetically most similar to extant southern Europeans, contrasting sharply to the hunter-gatherers, whose distinct genetic signature is most similar to that of extant northern Europeans. Our results suggest that migration from southern Europe catalyzed the spread of agriculture and that admixture in the wake of this expansion eventually shaped the genomic landscape of modern-day Europe.
Rotation Velocities of Red and Blue Field Horizontal-Branch Stars

We present measurements of the projected stellar rotation velocities (v sin i) of a sample of 45 candidate field horizontal-branch (HB) stars spanning a wide range of effective temperatures, from red HB stars with Teff ≃ 5000 K to blue HB stars with Teff of 17,000 K. Among the cooler blue HB stars (Teff = 7500-11500 K), we confirm prior studies showing that, although a majority of stars rotate at v sin i < 15 km s-1, there exists a subset of "fast rotators" with v sin i as high as 30-35 km s-1. All but one of the red HB stars in our sample have v sin i < 10 km s-1, and no analogous rotation bimodality is evident. We also identify a narrow-lined hot star (Teff ≃ 16,000 K) with enhanced photospheric metal abundances and helium depletion, similar to the abundance patterns found among hot BHB stars in globular clusters, and four other stars that may also belong in this category. We discuss details of the spectral line fitting procedure that we use to deduce v sin i and explore how measurements of field HB star rotation may shed light on the issue of HB star rotation in globular clusters.
Dressing up Tinderella: interrogating authenticity claims on the mobile dating app Tinder

ABSTRACT Mobile dating applications (‘apps’) have increased in popularity over recent years, with Tinder among the first to break into the mainstream heterosexual market. Since mobile dating intensifies the need to confirm that potential dates are not misrepresenting themselves and are safe to meet in person, Tinder’s success indicates that it has allayed these concerns regarding the authenticity of its users. This article combines Giddens’ conceptualization of authenticity, as the ability to reference a coherent biographical narrative, with Callon’s sociology of translation to investigate Tinder’s framing of authenticity within mobile dating. Applying a walkthrough method that interrogates Tinder’s technological architecture, promotional materials, and related media, this hybrid theoretical framework is used to identify how Tinder configures an actor-network that establishes its app as the solution to users’ concerns, enrols individuals in using its features in authenticity claims, and popularizes Tinder’s framing across public discourse. This network of human and non-human actors frames authenticity as being established through one’s Facebook profile and adherence to normative standards relating to age, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic status. However, user discourses on other social media identify and challenge negative outcomes of this framing, with normativity fostering discrimination and Facebook verification failing to prevent abusive behaviour. This case study of Tinder paves the way for future investigation into user responses to its framing. Furthermore, it demonstrates the efficacy and broader applicability of this theoretical approach for identifying both human and technological influences on the construction of authenticity with digital media.
Weaving aspects in a persistent environment

This paper discusses two mechanisms for weaving aspects in persistent environments founded on object-oriented databases. The first mechanism is based on exploiting existing aspect languages and their associated weavers while the second mechanism is based on building weaving functionality into the database management system (DBMS). The first mechanism has been used to integrate AspectJ and its associated weaver with the Jasmine ODBMS. The second approach has been used to implement a weaver within the SADES object database evolution system.
Pulmonary rehabilitation: overwhelming evidence but lost in translation?

PURPOSE This report highlights the current international gap between the availability of high-quality evidence for pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) and its low level of implementation. Key barriers are outlined, and potentially effective strategies to improve implementation are presented. SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS Although pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is recommended by international guidelines as part of the management of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), participation in PR remains low. Physician referral to PR ranges from 3% to 16% of suitable patients. Barriers to participation include limited availability of suitable programmes and interrelated issues of referral and access. Individual patient barriers, including factors relating to comorbidities and exacerbations, perceptions of benefit, and ease of access, contribute less overall to low participation rates. Chronic care programmes that incorporate self-management support have some benefit in patients with COPD. However, the demonstrated cost-effectiveness of PR is substantial, and efforts to improve its implementation are urgently indicated. CONCLUSION To improve implementation, a holistic examination of the key issues influencing a patient's participation in PR is needed. Such an examination should consider the relative influences of environmental (e.g., health-service-related) factors, organizational factors (e.g., referral and intake procedures), and individual factors (e.g., patient barriers) for all participants. On the basis of these findings, policy, funding, service delivery, and other interventions to improve participation in PR can be developed and evaluated.
Structure‐based functional motif identifies a potential disulfide oxidoreductase active site in the serine/threonine protein phosphatase‐1 subfamily

In previous work, 3‐dimensional descriptors of protein function (‘fuzzy functional forms’) were used to identify disulfide oxidoreductase active sites in high‐resolution protein structures. During this analysis, a potential disulfide oxidoreductase active site in the serine/threonine protein phosphatase‐1 (PP1) crystal structure was discovered. In PP1, the potential redox active site is located in close proximity to the phosphatase active site. This result is interesting in view of literature suggesting that serine/threonine phosphatases could be subject to redox control mechanisms within the cell; however, the actual source of this control is unknown. Additional analysis presented here shows that the putative oxidoreductase active site is highly conserved in the serine/threonine phosphatase‐1 subfamily, but not in the serine/threonine phosphatase‐2A or ‐2B subfamilies. These results demonstrate the significant advantages of using structure‐based motifs for protein functional site identification. First, a putative disulfide oxidoreductase active site has been identified in serine‐threonine phosphatases using a descriptor built from the glutaredoxin/thioredoxin family, proteins that have no apparent evolutionary relationship whatsoever to the PP1 proteins. Second, the proximity of the putative disulfide oxidoreductase active site to the phosphatase active site provides evidence toward a regulatory control mechanism. No sequence‐based method could provide either piece of information. —Fetrow, J. S. , Siew, N. , Skolnick, J. Structure‐based functional motif identifies a potential disulfide oxidoreductase active site in the serine/threonine protein phosphatase‐1 subfamily. FASEB J. 13, 1866–1874 (1999)
Empathy for education : a naturalist utilitarian argument

In this work I argue that opportunities exist to develop frameworks for moral or empathy education (hereafter EfE) more consistent with emerging understandings of the way we arrive at moral judgments. I argue that a rapidly evolving construal of moral judgment is more accurate than (still influential) rationalist accounts. The essence of this shifting perspective is a construal of moral judgment as characterised by (1) "primacy of affect" and (2) heightened emphasis on the socially embedded nature of moral judgments. While variously compatible with long established traditions in moral philosophy (particularly the moral sense theories of, inter alia, David Hume or Adam Smith) this distinct view of human moral nature is emerging across a range of empirical disciplines with renewed vigour and enhanced empirical support. Moral psychology and neuroscience play leading, but not exclusive, roles in this emphatically interdisciplinary process. Shifting paradigms in economics, anthropology, and moral psychology are converging on strikingly similar construals of human moral nature. I will argue that the potential of these insights to explain and justify particular approaches to teaching and learning have yet to be fully exploited in contemporary moral education discourse. It will be argued that encouraging the development of dispositional empathy in learners is a choice-worthy and attainable goal of EfE. EfE approaches used to elicit affective/empathic responses and social reflection, such as moral life narrative and other storytelling techniques, comport with emerging views of moral experience and judgment. It is argued that these approaches are, therefore, potentially more effective than rationality-centred systems given a goal of increased dispositional empathy.
Two-degree-of-freedom current regulation of grid-connected inverters in microgrid

Microgrid is an effective way to integrate the distributed energy resources into the utility networks. Conventionally, the voltage-source inverters in microgrid with sinusoidal current regulation are used in grid-connected mode. In this paper, a two-degree-of-freedom nonsinusoidal current regulation (NCR) is proposed for both the distributed power generation and power quality enhancement. The equivalent Thevenin-Norton circuit is provided to clarify the concept that NCR with virtual admittance leads to the power quality improvement. It is demonstrated that without any harmonic current sensor or additional compensating device, the harmonics of the voltages at the point of common coupling and currents in microgrid can be mitigated significantly. Time-domain performance evaluation results confirm the concept.
Revision of Loosened Iliac Screws: A Biomechanical Study of Longer and Bigger Screws

Study Design. The present study compared the biomechanics of 2 revision iliac screws: longer and bigger screws, on human cadaveric pelves. Objective. To determine if a bigger screw resists loosening under cyclic loading better than a longer screw in revising loosened iliac screws. Summary of Background Data. Iliac screws have been used in treating spinal deformity, spondylolisthesis and many other spinal diseases. Because of the cancellous bone along the screw trajectory, screw loosening over cyclic loading has been experienced in clinical applications. Two popular revision choices are: a longer screw and a bigger screw. However, their biomechanics has not been characterized. The objective of this study is to determine the rate of loosening of longer or larger revision iliac screws under cyclic loading. Methods. Eight pairs of human cadaver pelves were harvested. Each side was randomly assigned for a longer revision screw or a larger revision screw. Because of different bone quality in each specimen, applied load was varied according to the peak insertion torque of the primary iliac screws. The load was applied at an anatomic angle with a frequency of 2 Hz. The motion of screw with respect to the pelvis at the bone entry point was recorded with a motion tracking system. The amount of loosening after a specific number of cycles was determined from the screw motion data. Results. The average maximal insertion torque of bigger revision screws (3.2 Nm) was greater than that of longer revision screws (2.7 Nm) with P = 0.03. The average loosening rate was 0.28 ± 0.13 (SE) mm/thousand cycles for longer revision screws and 0.06 ± 0.05 (SE) mm/thousand cycles for bigger revision screws. The difference between these 2 revision screws was significant (P = 0.03). In addition, the bigger revision screws had a lower loosening rate than that of the primary screws (P = 0.03). Conclusion. Iliac screws are susceptible to loosening under cyclic loading due to the cancellous bone structure surrounding the screw body. Experimental data showed that the bigger revision iliac screw resists loosening better than the longer screw and the primary screw. Thus, the bigger revision screw is favored if the patient’s anatomy allows such operation.
Luteinizing Hormone-Releasing Factor Potentiates Lordosis Behavior in Hypophysectomized Ovariectomized Female Rats

Subcutaneous injection of luteinizing hormone-releasing factor (LRF) in estrogen-primed hypophysectomized, ovariectomized female rats facilitates the appearance of the lordosis response. The LRF effect on lordosis was seen 90, 180, and 360 minutes after injection. This effect could help to synchronize the female's mating behavior with the ovulatory discharge of luteinizing hormone.
Action-Effect Bindings and Ideomotor Learning in Intention- and Stimulus-Based Actions

According to ideomotor theory, action-effect associations are crucial for voluntary action control. Recently, a number of studies started to investigate the conditions that mediate the acquisition and application of action-effect associations by comparing actions carried out in response to exogenous stimuli (stimulus-based) with actions selected endogenously (intention-based). There is evidence that the acquisition and/or application of action-effect associations is boosted when acting in an intention-based action mode. For instance, bidirectional action-effect associations were diagnosed in a forced choice test phase if participants previously experienced action-effect couplings in an intention-based but not in a stimulus-based action mode. The present study aims at investigating effects of the action mode on action-effect associations in more detail. In a series of experiments, we compared the strength and durability of short-term action-effect associations (binding) immediately following intention- as well as stimulus-based actions. Moreover, long-term action-effect associations (learning) were assessed in a subsequent test phase. Our results show short-term action-effect associations of equal strength and durability for both action modes. However, replicating previous results, long-term associations were observed only following intention-based actions. These findings indicate that the effect of the action mode on long-term associations cannot merely be a result of accumulated short-term action-effect bindings. Instead, only those episodic bindings are selectively perpetuated and retrieved that integrate action-relevant aspects of the processing event, i.e., in case of intention-based actions, the link between action and ensuing effect.
Improving wireless link simulation using multilevel markov models

Modeling the behavior of 802.15. 4 links is a nontrivial problem, because 802.15. 4 links experience different level of dynamics at short and long time scales. This makes the design of a suitable model that combines the different dynamics at different time scales a nontrivial problem. We propose a novel multilevel approach, the M&M model, involving hidden Markov models (HMMs) and mixtures of multivariate Bernoullis (MMBs) for modeling the long and short time-scale behavior of wireless links from 802.15. 4 test beds. We characterize the synthetic traces generated from our model of the wireless link in terms of the mean and variance of the packet reception rates from the data traces, comparison of distributions of run lengths, and conditional packet delivery functions of successive packet receptions (1's) and losses (0's). Our results show that when compared to the closest-fit pattern matching model in TOSSIM, the proposed modeling approach is able to mimic the behavior of the data traces quite closely, with differences in packet reception rates of the empirical and simulated traces of less than 1.9%; on average and 6.6% in the worst case. Moreover, the simulated links from our proposed approach were able to account for long runs of 1's and 0's as observed in empirical data traces.
A fluid model of the RED AQM algorithm and its implementation in a fluid-based network simulator

The simulation of communication networks using a continuous-state, or fluid modeling approach, has shown to be very efficient for a wide range of performance evaluation scenarios. In this paper we present a fluid model of the RED active queue management algorithm for FluidSim, a simulation tool based on the fluid paradigm. We compare the behavior and efficiency of our model against the results provided by NS, a well known packet-based network simulator. The proposed model does capture RED's characteristics with acceptable precision providing good accelerations in typical network evaluation configurations.
Is there a Core Curriculum across Higher Education Doctoral Programs

Currently the study of higher education has been referred to as a multidisciplinary field. Consensus is continuing to evolve regarding both what is considered the appropriate coursework and the foundational knowledgebase of this field. The study of higher education is maturing and has the potential to transition from being seen as a field to being respected as an academic discipline. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the status of the core curriculum in higher education doctoral programs from the perspective of program directors with programs that required the completion of standardized coursework prior to beginning a dissertation. We used online survey analytic techniques to query program directors about their EdD and PhD programs in higher education, credit hours, and curricular content. Our study confirms previous work finding that there is common agreement in the subject matter areas of organization, leadership, administration, and history. What our work adds is that there is a growing consensus among higher education doctoral programs about the position of higher education law and finance in the curricular core. In addition, we find there is a growing interest in public policy and community colleges over time, with a majority of EdD programs including instruction in these areas. Nevertheless, majoritarian agreement does not meet at a level wherein consensus can be inferred, especially within PhD programs where requirements are more varied across programs. In addition, while there is an increasing trend in the inclusion of multiculturalism in higher education doctoral programming, multiculturalism is not currently part of higher education’s core. We conclude with research and practice implications for doctoral programs in higher education as a field of study.