Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Emergent Auditory Feature Tuning in a Real-Time Neuromorphic VLSI System

Many sounds of ecological importance, such as communication calls, are characterized by time-varying spectra. However, most neuromorphic auditory models to date have focused on distinguishing mainly static patterns, under the assumption that dynamic patterns can be learned as sequences of static ones. In contrast, the emergence of dynamic feature sensitivity through exposure to formative stimuli has been recently modeled in a network of spiking neurons based on the thalamo-cortical architecture. The proposed network models the effect of lateral and recurrent connections between cortical layers, distance-dependent axonal transmission delays, and learning in the form of Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP), which effects stimulus-driven changes in the pattern of network connectivity. In this paper we demonstrate how these principles can be efficiently implemented in neuromorphic hardware. In doing so we address two principle problems in the design of neuromorphic systems: real-time event-based asynchronous communication in multi-chip systems, and the realization in hybrid analog/digital VLSI technology of neural computational principles that we propose underlie plasticity in neural processing of dynamic stimuli. The result is a hardware neural network that learns in real-time and shows preferential responses, after exposure, to stimuli exhibiting particular spectro-temporal patterns. The availability of hardware on which the model can be implemented, makes this a significant step toward the development of adaptive, neurobiologically plausible, spike-based, artificial sensory systems.
Utilization of an ultra sound atomizer for spray granulation of oxide ceramic fine powder

Spray drying based granulation processes aim for flowable granules neither containing voids nor hard shells thus leading to a homogenous microstructure in the green and sinter bodies without strength reducing large pores. The increase of the specific surface area due to the utilization of finer powders as raw materials makes the production of granules of demanded quality more sophisticated. Innovations regarding additives as well as process engineering are therefore required. While conventional spray granulation processes of ceramic materials are based on rotational, one stream or two stream nozzles for nebulization, the investigations in the ZIM project concentrate on the applicability of an ultra sound atomizer unit. A spray dryer comprised of the aforementioned ultra sound atomization unit implemented in a commercial spray dryer (Niro, Denmark) was used as test system. Potential advantages of the ultra sound nebulization are investigated for model systems of alumina, zirconia and a ZTA composite while focusing on solids content, yield, pressability and granule properties (size, size distribution, flowability, shape and microstructure) as well as the final sinter body properties (density, microstructure and flexural strength). First ultra sound spray drying experiments yielded granules with excellent processability. Spray drying of identical slurries, as before tested and optimized for a two stream nozzle atomization process, resulted in a more suitable size distribution for dry pressing (less particles below 20 µm) and a higher yield. Furthermore, sinter bodies produced of ultra sound granules seem to have less large pores and a more homogenous microstructure
Antidiabetic activity of Cassia occidentalis (Linn) in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats

Objective: To evaluate the hypoglycemic activity of various extracts, petroleum ether, chloroform and aqueous extract of Cassia occidentalis in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: Petroleum ether, chloroform and aqueous extract of whole plant of Cassia occidentalis were orally tested at the dose of 200 mg/kg for hypoglycemic effect in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats. In addition, changes in body weight, serum cholesterol, triglyceride and total protein levels, assessed in the ethanol extract-treated diabetic rats, were compared with diabetic control and normal animals. Histopathological observations during 21 days treatment were also evaluated. Results: Aqueous extract of C. occidentalis produced a significant reduction in fasting blood glucose levels in the normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Apart from aqueous extract, petroleum ether extract showed activity from day 14 and chloroform extract showed activity from 7 days. Significant differences were observed in serum lipid profiles (cholesterol and triglyceride), serum protein, and changes in body weight by aqueous extract treated-diabetic animals, when compared with the diabetic control and normal animals. Concurrent histopathological studies of the pancreas of these animals showed comparable regeneration by extract which were earlier necrosed by alloxan. Conclusion: Aqueous extract of C. occidentalis exhibited significant antihyperglycemic activity in normal and alloxan-induced diabetic rats. They also showed improvement in parameters like body weight and serum lipid profiles as well as histopathological studies showed regeneration of β-cells of pancreas and so might be of value in diabetes treatment.
Linear constellation-precoding for OFDM with maximum multipath diversity and coding gains

This paper introduces linear constellation precoding (LCP) for OFDM transmissions over frequency-selective fading channels. Exploiting the correlation structure of OFDM subchannels, and choosing system parameters properly, we first perform optimal subcarrier grouping to divide the set of correlated subchannels into subsets. Within each subset, a non-redundant constellation-specific unitary precoder is then designed to achieve maximum multipath diversity and coding gains. While greatly reducing the decoding complexity and simplifying the LCP design, subcarrier grouping offers optimal performance by maximizing multipath diversity and coding gains. In addition, the proposed system does not sacrifice the transmission rate. Analytic evaluation and corroborating simulations reveal its performance merits.
Own waves in planar continuously heterogeneous structures with optical bianisotropy

We obtained the dispersion equations for calculating eigen values of the wave numbers of magnetic and electric discrete spectrum surface waves in bianisotropic gradient structure, as well as other basic parameters characterizing its waveguide properties. We researched an asymmetric planar waveguide, which central waveguide layer has special transverse dimensions and non-standard, but very important for applications in optics physical characteristics.
Droplet Impact, Spreading and Freezing on Metallic Surfaces of varying Wettability

Ice formation and accumulation can lead to operational failure and risks for structures, including power transmission lines, aircraft, offshore platforms, marine vessels, and wind turbines. Liquid repellent and icephobic surfaces can reduce ice accretion and improve asset integrity and safety in harsh environments. There are significant needs to probe how wettability affects the droplet impact, ice nucleation and ice accretion processes on different kinds of micro-structured surfaces. This paper presents experimental results of droplet impact, icing delay time and ice accumulation on metallic surfaces with varying wettability. Several different designs of the hydrophobic surfaces are considered. A commercial hydrophobic coating is also used to enhance liquid repellent features and reduce ice accumulation. The results demonstrated that when the static contact angle increases, the total icing time increases, suggesting desirable icing delays. The total icing time decreases with lower surface temperature, higher impact velocity or smaller droplet diameter.
Nutritional strategies and gut microbiota composition as risk factors for necrotizing enterocolitis in very-preterm infants.

Background: The pathophysiology of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) remains poorly understood.Objective: We assessed the relation between feeding strategies, intestinal microbiota composition, and the development of NEC.Design: We performed a prospective nationwide population-based study, EPIPAGE 2 (Etude Epidémiologique sur les Petits Ages Gestationnels), including preterm infants born at <32 wk of gestation in France in 2011. From individual characteristics observed during the first week of life, we calculated a propensity score for the risk of NEC (Bell's stage 2 or 3) after day 7 of life. We analyzed the relation between neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) strategies concerning the rate of progression of enteral feeding, the direct-breastfeeding policy, and the onset of NEC using general linear mixed models to account for clustering by the NICU. An ancillary propensity-matched case-control study, EPIFLORE (Etude Epidémiologique de la flore), in 20 of the 64 NICUs, analyzed the intestinal microbiota by culture and 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing.Results: Among the 3161 enrolled preterm infants, 106 (3.4%; 95% CI: 2.8%, 4.0%) developed NEC. Individual characteristics were significantly associated with NEC. Slower and intermediate rates of progression of enteral feeding strategies were associated with a higher risk of NEC, with an adjusted OR of 2.3 (95% CI: 1.2, 4.5; P = 0.01) and 2.0 (95% CI: 1.1, 3.5; P = 0.02), respectively. Less favorable and intermediate direct-breastfeeding policies were associated with higher NEC risk as well, with an adjusted OR of 2.5 (95% CI: 1.1, 5.8; P = 0.03) and 2.3 (95% CI: 1.1, 4.8; P = 0.02), respectively. Microbiota analysis performed in 16 cases and 78 controls showed an association between Clostridium neonatale and Staphylococcus aureus with NEC (P = 0.001 and P = 0.002). Conclusions: A slow rate of progression of enteral feeding and a less favorable direct-breastfeeding policy are associated with an increased risk of developing NEC. For a given level of risk assessed by propensity score, colonization by C. neonatale and/or S. aureus is significantly associated with NEC. This trial (EPIFLORE study) was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01127698.
Named Series : Diet , Inflammation and the Brain Nutritional n-3 PUFAs deficiency during perinatal periods alters brain innate immune system and neuronal plasticity-associated genes

Low dietary intake of the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) is a causative factor of neurodevelopmental disorders. However the mechanisms linking n-3 PUFAs low dietary intake and neurodevelopmental disorders are poorly understood. Microglia, known mainly for their immune function in the injured or infected brain, have recently been demonstrated to play a pivotal role in regulating maturation of neuronal circuits during normal brain development. Disruption of this role during the perinatal period therefore could significantly contribute to psychopathologies with a neurodevelopmental neurodevelopmental component. N-3 PUFAs, essential lipids and key structural components of neuronal membrane phospholipids, are highly incorporated in cell membranes during the gestation and lactation phase. We previously showed that in a context of perinatal n-3 PUFAs deficiency, accretion of these latter is decreased and this is correlated to an alteration of endotoxin-induced inflammatory response. We thus postulated that dietary n-3 PUFAs imbalance alters the activity of microglia in the developing brain, leading to abnormal formation of neuronal networks. We first confirmed that mice fed with a n-3 PUFAs deficient diet displayed decreased n-3 PUFAs levels in the brain at post-natal days (PND)0 and PND21. We then demonstrated that n-3 PUFAs deficiency altered microglia phenotype and motility in the post-natal developing brain. This was paralleled by an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines expression at PND21 and to modification of neuronal plasticity-related genes expression. Overall, our findings show for the first time that a dietary n-3 PUFAs deficiency from the first day of gestation leads to the development of a pro-inflammatory condition in the central nervous system that may contribute to neurodevelopmental alterations. 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
In vitro antiherpes effects of a C‐glycosylflavonoid‐enriched fraction of Cecropia glaziovii Sneth *

Aims: To investigate the in vitro antiherpes effects of the crude aqueous extract obtained from Cecropia glaziovii leaves and their related fractions, the n‐butanol fraction (n‐BuOH) and the C‐glycosylflavonoid‐enriched fraction (MeOHAMB), and to determine the viral multiplication step(s) upon which this C‐glycosylflavonoid‐enriched fraction acts.
The lipid treatment assessment project (L-TAP): a multicenter survey to evaluate the percentages of dyslipidemic patients receiving lipid-lowering therapy and achieving low-density lipoprotein cholesterol goals.

OBJECTIVE To determine the percentage of patients in the multicenter Lipid Treatment Assessment Project receiving lipid-lowering therapy who are achieving low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals as defined by National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) guidelines. METHODS Adult patients with dyslipidemia, who had been receiving the same lipid-lowering therapy for at least 3 months, were assessed at investigation sites. Lipid levels were determined once in each patient at the time of enrollment. The primary end point was the success rate, defined as the proportion of patients who achieved their LDL-C target level as specified by NCEP guidelines. RESULTS A total of 4888 patients from 5 regions of the United States were studied. Of these, 23% had fewer than 2 risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD) and no evidence of CHD (low-risk group), 47% had 2 or more risk factors and no evidence of CHD (high-risk group), and 30% had established CHD. Overall, only 38% of patients achieved NCEP-specified LDL-C target levels; success rates were 68% among low-risk patients, 37% among high-risk patents, and 18% among patients with CHD. Drug therapy was significantly (P< or =.001) more effective than nondrug therapy in all patient risk groups. However, many patients treated with lipid-lowering drugs did not achieve LDL-C target levels. CONCLUSIONS Large proportions of dyslipidemic patients receiving lipid-lowering therapy are not achieving NCEP LDL-C target levels. These findings indicate that more aggressive treatment of dyslipidemia is needed to attain goals established by NCEP guidelines.
Fabrication of a high-fill-factor microlens array using different thermal reflow process

Thermal reflow is widely used in the fabrication of microlenses as a simple and low-cost process, which includes the direct contact heating and the upside-down reflow. To compare the difference in the shapes of the microlenses obtained by these two approaches, the cylindrical microstructure arrays obtained rapidly via DMD-based lithography system were used for different thermal reflow processes, and subsequently, two types of high-fill-factor microlens arrays (MLAs) were fabricated and measured in the experiment. Results indicate that the MLAs obtained by these two kinds of thermal reflow have different surface profiles, while these MLAs are good in surface quality because the profile curves of each microlens are very similar and continuous. The comparison results provided in this paper can be used as a reference for selecting the appropriate thermal reflow process for fabrication of other microlenses.
Leishmania donovani targets tumor necrosis factor receptor‐associated factor (TRAF) 3 for impairing TLR4‐mediated host response

Intramacrophage pathogen Leishmania donovani escapes host immune response by subverting Toll‐like receptor (TLR) signaling, which is critically regulated by protein ubiquitination. In the present study, we identified tumor necrosis factor receptor‐associated factor (TRAF) 3, degradative ubiquitination of which is essential for TLR4 activation, as a target for Leishmania to deactivate LPS‐mediated TLR4 signaling. We used LPS‐treated RAW 264.7 cells and compared the TLR4‐mediated immune response in these cells with L. donovani and L. donovani + LPS costimulated macrophages. TRAF3, which was ubiquitinated (2.1‐fold over control) at lys 48 position and subsequently degraded following LPS treatment, persisted in L. donovani and L. donovani + LPS costimulated cells due to defective lys 48 ubiquitination. Lys 63‐linked ubiquitination of upstream proteins in the cascade (cIAP1/2 and TRAF6), mandatory for TRAF3 degradation, was also reduced postinfection. This may be attributed to reduced association between ubiquitin‐conjugating enzyme Ubc13 and TRAF6 during infection. Inhibition of TRAF3 before infection by shRNA in Balb/c mice showed enhanced IL‐12 and TNF‐α (10.8‐ and 8.1‐fold over infected control) and decreased spleen parasite burden (61.3% suppression, P<0.001), thereby marking reduction in disease progression. Our findings identified TRAF3 as a novel molecular regulator exploited by Leishmania for successful infection. —Gupta, P., Giri, J., Srivastav, S. , Chande, A. G. , Mukhopadhyaya, R. , Das, P. K. , Ukil, A. Leishmania donovani targets tumor necrosis factor receptor‐associated factor (TRAF) 3 for impairing TLR4‐mediated host response. FASEB J. 28, 28–1756 (1768). www.fasebj. org
A novel hybrid incentive mechanism for node cooperation in mobile cyber-physical systems

The high quality of information transmission in mobile cyber-physical systems mainly relies on the assumption that nodes are willing to participate in the forwarding service. As a result, uncooperative behaviours of selfish nodes may degrade network performance greatly. The existing incentive mechanisms cannot find the balance between detecting selfish behaviours and providing cooperation motivations. In this study, we present a novel hybrid incentive mechanism with reputation-formed payment risk, called reputation-based credit mechanism (RCM). Combined with a forwarding cost model, neighbouring nodes achieve a Nash equilibrium in the non-cooperation game, which economically provides a rational decision on the allocation of forwarding tasks for transmitters under an optimal reward. The intermediate nodes also acquire their maximal gains. We evaluate the performance of RCM on GloMoSim. Through enough comparison with existing solutions, we found that when the percentage of selfish nodes is not above 60, RCM can improve the network performance while the necessary payment is lower.
Biopsy of brain stem gliomas: Changing trends?

Brain stem gliomas have been recognized as a group of heterogeneous tumors with a varying biological behavior and differing potential of growth. The diffuse, non‐enhancing pontine gliomas in children demonstrate a uniform, rapidly progressive course, and are usually fatal within a year or two, even with treatment. [1] At the other end of the spectrum, most of the focal upper mid brain and tectal tumors have a very slow growth with a non‐progressive indolent course. Similarly cervicomedullary gliomas have also been found to have a slow growth and often have a favorable survival rate, with surgical excision.
Learning environmental factors through playful interaction

In this paper we describe the design of an educational game for learning about energy and the environment using an interactive board called TagTiles. Learning activities, manipulation of tangible objects and the use of physical activity were combined as elementary components to develop a playful and engaging learning environment in which 8 to 10 year old children could learn independently, whilst also linking these learning activities to their daily behaviors. A contextual environment, RFID tagged cubes, kinetic energy generator, randomization function, and RFID tagged cards were used as basic building blocks for the game environment. The final game was evaluated in a classroom.
Comparison of cepstrum based methods for radial blind deconvolution of ultrasound images

Compares the performance of seven different cepstrum based methods for radial blind deconvolution of medical ultrasound images. The first is the generalized cepstrum method and the second is the spectral root cepstrum method. All the last five methods calculate the complex cepstrum, but different computational techniques are employed to reduce or eliminate aliasing, phase unwrapping or effects of noise. The third method simply computes the real cepstrum. The fourth method computes the complex cepstrum using phase unwrapping, the fifth substitutes differentiation for phase unwrapping, the sixth uses polynomial rooting in the spatial domain, and the seventh computes the complex cepstrum from the bispectrum. Using in vivo radio frequency data from a clinical scanner, the generalized cepstrum method gave the best images. This result is an important guideline for selecting a specific cepstrum based radial deconvolution method for real time implementation in ultrasound scanners.
A Benchmark for Testing Instance-based Ontology Matching Methods

The matching of ontologies is a problem solved by many different matching systems using various algorithms. To test different methods or a complete system or to compare the systems among each other a common data set is needed. There are already some benchmarks containing many test scenarios available, but they mainly focus on concept-based matching algorithms or on instance matching (the process of finding similar instances). Instance-based methods cannot be tested sufficiently, because the ontologies do not contain instances at all or the number of instances is very small. In this poster we introduce a new benchmark, ONTOBI, which makes use of Wikipedia to create a benchmark test series with ontologies that contain many instances.
Towards boiling Taylor-Couette turbulence

Taylor-Couette (TC) flow is the flow in-between two concentric cylinders which rotate independently. It is together with Rayleigh-Benard (RB) convection, the flow in-between two plates, heated from below and cooled from above, one of the canonical flows where turbulence can be probed and put to the test. As compared to RB flow, where the flow is thermally-driven, the driving in TC flow is purely mechanical which is far more efficient when designing experiments. In this thesis, we focus our investigation towards a better understanding on the effect of vapor bubbles in high-Reynolds TC flow. These bubbles are the product of boiling a low-boiling point liquid which we use as the working fluid. We have designed an experiment, where the boiling can be well-controlled and monitored in order to quantify the physical response of the flow due to the bubbles, in particular its drag. We find that vapor bubbles are just as efficient in reducing the drag in the flow as air bubbles. Almost 50% drag reduction can be achieved when the volume fraction of the bubbles is ~8% , the Taylor number is ~10^12 and the Weber number is We>1.