Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantifying Synergistic Information Using Intermediate Stochastic Variables

Quantifying synergy among stochastic variables is an important open problem in information theory. Information synergy occurs when multiple sources together predict an outcome variable better than the sum of single-source predictions. It is an essential phenomenon in biology such as in neuronal networks and cellular regulatory processes, where different information flows integrate to produce a single response, but also in social cooperation processes as well as in statistical inference tasks in machine learning. Here we propose a metric of synergistic entropy and synergistic information from first principles. The proposed measure relies on so-called synergistic random variables (SRVs) which are constructed to have zero mutual information about individual source variables but non-zero mutual information about the complete set of source variables. We prove several basic and desired properties of our measure, including bounds and additivity properties. In addition, we prove several important consequences of our measure, including the fact that different types of synergistic information may co-exist between the same sets of variables. A numerical implementation is provided, which we use to demonstrate that synergy is associated with resilience to noise. Our measure may be a marked step forward in the study of multivariate information theory and its numerous applications.
Nonvolatile logic and memory devices based on spintronics

New computer memory hierarchy based on spintronics is proposed for low-power electronics that will evolve in two steps from the current volatile system. At first, memories for internal states and pipeline registers and cache memories etc. are made nonvolatile by using spintronics. Then, computers can be made totally nonvolatile by additionally adopting spintronics-based logic-in-memory architecture. Nonvolatile MPU, recognition processor and cache memory that use magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) have been designed and fabricated to demonstrate their superior features in low static power and high speed data store and restore operations.
Automatic Feature Detection and Pose Recovery for Faces

In this paper, we propose an approach for detecting facial features and recovering pose in presence of high out of plane rotations for both still images and video streams. To detect the correct features, we assign a confidence number to combinations of feature candidates given the edge map of the face. Feature candidates are determined using probability distribution of color space of skin, eyes and eyebrows. To increase the accuracy of feature detection for video streams, we incorporate motion history information for individual features by weighing the confidence measure according to potential regions of features. Once the best feature combination is obtained, we recover the pose using the centroid of the features assuming orthographic projection. We conducted experiments on both still images and eleven video sequences including two CNN interviews. In most of the cases, the system performed very well and correctly determined the pose.
Validation of the SOPLAY direct observation tool with an accelerometry-based physical activity monitor.

BACKGROUND The System for Observing Play and Leisure Activities (SOPLAY) is a direct observation instrument designed to assess group physical activity and environmental contexts. The purpose of this study was to test the convergent validity of the SOPLAY using temporally matched data from an accelerometry-based activity monitor. METHODS Accelerometry-based physical activity data were obtained from 160 elementary school children from 9 after-school activity programs. SOPLAY coding was used to directly observe physical activity during these sessions. Analyses evaluated agreement between the monitored and observed physical activity behavior by comparing the percent of youth engaging in physical activity with the 2 assessments. RESULTS Agreement varied widely depending on the way the SOPLAY codes were interpreted. Estimates from SOPLAY were significantly higher than accelerometer PA levels when codes of walking and vigorous were used (in combination) to reflect participation in moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA). Estimates were similar when only SOPLAY codes of vigorous were used to define MVPA (Difference = 1.33 ± 22.06%). CONCLUSIONS SOPLAY codes of walking corresponded well with estimates of Light intensity PA. Observations provide valid indicators of MVPA if coding is based on the percentage of youth classified as "vigorous. "
The promise of DNA barcoding for taxonomy.

DNA barcoding is a novel system designed to provide rapid, accurate, and automatable species identifications by using short, standardized gene regions as internal species tags. As a consequence, it will make the Linnaean taxonomic system more accessible, with benefits to ecologists, conservationists, and the diversity of agencies charged with the control of pests, invasive species, and food safety. More broadly, DNA barcoding allows a day to be envisioned when every curious mind, from professional biologists to schoolchildren, will have easy access to the names and biological attributes of any species on the planet. In addition to assigning specimens to known species, DNA barcoding will accelerate the pace of species discovery by allowing taxonomists to rapidly sort specimens and by highlighting divergent taxa that may represent new species. By augmenting their capabilities in these ways, DNA barcoding offers taxonomists the opportunity to greatly expand, and eventually complete, a global inventory of life’s diversity. Despite the potential benefits of DNA barcoding to both the practitioners and users of taxonomy, it has been controversial in some scientific circles (Wheeler, 2004; Will and Rubinoff, 2004; Ebach and Holdredge, 2005; Will et al., 2005). A few have even characterized DNA barcoding as being “anti-taxonomy,” arguing that its implementation will signal the death of a system 250 years in the making. We feel that this opposition stems from misconceptions about the DNA barcoding effort. As such, we welcome this opportunity to clarify both the rationale and potential impacts of DNA barcoding. In responding to this set of questions, we emphasize the multiple positive impacts of this approach for taxonomy and biodiversity science.
A low-complexity joint angle-of-arrival and channel estimation for single-input-multiple-output OFDM systems

In future wireless communication system, beam-forming plays an important role in improving link quality. As a result, the angle information is required. In this paper, a low complexity joint angle-of-arrival (AoA) and channel estimation for single-input-multiple-output (SIMO) OFDM system is considered. By exploiting the sparsity of wireless channel, we first propose a compressive-sensing (CS) based channel estimation for pilot-assisted OFDM systems with multiple receive antennas. Then, a low-complexity method is proposed to conduct AoA estimation. Finally, simulations are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
Human-Inspired Robotic Grasp Control With Tactile Sensing

We present a novel robotic grasp controller that allows a sensorized parallel jaw gripper to gently pick up and set down unknown objects once a grasp location has been selected. Our approach is inspired by the control scheme that humans employ for such actions, which is known to centrally depend on tactile sensation rather than vision or proprioception. Our controller processes measurements from the gripper's fingertip pressure arrays and hand-mounted accelerometer in real time to generate robotic tactile signals that are designed to mimic human SA-I, FA-I, and FA-II channels. These signals are combined into tactile event cues that drive the transitions between six discrete states in the grasp controller: Close, Load, Lift and Hold, Replace, Unload, and Open. The controller selects an appropriate initial grasping force, detects when an object is slipping from the grasp, increases the grasp force as needed, and judges when to release an object to set it down. We demonstrate the promise of our approach through implementation on the PR2 robotic platform, including grasp testing on a large number of real-world objects.
Common Neural Mechanisms Underlying Reversal Learning by Reward and Punishment

Impairments in flexible goal-directed decisions, often examined by reversal learning, are associated with behavioral abnormalities characterized by impulsiveness and disinhibition. Although the lateral orbital frontal cortex (OFC) has been consistently implicated in reversal learning, it is still unclear whether this region is involved in negative feedback processing, behavioral control, or both, and whether reward and punishment might have different effects on lateral OFC involvement. Using a relatively large sample (N = 47), and a categorical learning task with either monetary reward or moderate electric shock as feedback, we found overlapping activations in the right lateral OFC (and adjacent insula) for reward and punishment reversal learning when comparing correct reversal trials with correct acquisition trials, whereas we found overlapping activations in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) when negative feedback signaled contingency change. The right lateral OFC and DLPFC also showed greater sensitivity to punishment than did their left homologues, indicating an asymmetry in how punishment is processed. We propose that the right lateral OFC and anterior insula are important for transforming affective feedback to behavioral adjustment, whereas the right DLPFC is involved in higher level attention control. These results provide insight into the neural mechanisms of reversal learning and behavioral flexibility, which can be leveraged to understand risky behaviors among vulnerable populations.
A 1.5 V high-linearity CMOS mixer for 2.4 GHz applications

A folded-cascode mixer with a modified class-AB transconductor for 2.4 GHz ISM band applications is presented in this paper. The mixer is composed of a modified class-AB transconductor and a low-voltage design technique. The proposed architecture improves the performance of linearity in the RF front-end. Simulation results for the proposed mixer using TSMC 0.8 /spl mu/m mixed signal CMOS process are: input 1-dB compression point (P -1dB) -1.15 dBm, input third-order intercept point (IIP3) 11 dBm, power conversion gain 1 dB, and single side-band noise figure 17.3 dB. The mixer consumes 5.86 mA of current from a 1.5 V power supply.
Autophagy in Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Autophagy (macroautophagy) is a degradative process that involves the sequestration of cytosolic material including organelles into double membrane vesicles termed autophagosomes for delivery to the lysosome. Autophagy is essential for preimplantation development of mouse embryos and cavitation of embryoid bodies. The precise roles of autophagy during early human embryonic development, remain however largely uncharacterized. Since human embryonic stem cells constitute a unique model system to study early human embryogenesis we investigated the occurrence of autophagy in human embryonic stem cells. We have, using lentiviral transduction, established multiple human embryonic stem cell lines that stably express GFP-LC3, a fluorescent marker for the autophagosome. Each cell line displays both a normal karyotype and pluripotency as indicated by the presence of cell types representative of the three germlayers in derived teratomas. GFP expression and labelling of autophagosomes is retained after differentiation. Baseline levels of autophagy detected in cultured undifferentiated hESC were increased or decreased in the presence of rapamycin and wortmannin, respectively. Interestingly, autophagy was upregulated in hESCs induced to undergo differentiation by treatment with type I TGF-beta receptor inhibitor SB431542 or removal of MEF secreted maintenance factors. In conclusion we have established hESCs capable of reporting macroautophagy and identify a novel link between autophagy and early differentiation events in hESC.
Thermophysical properties of hydrophobised lime plasters – The influence of ageing

The building envelope is a principal responsible for buildings energy loses. Lime plasters as the most popular finishing materials of historical buildings and culture monuments influence the thermal behaviour as well as construction material of masonry. On this account, the effect of ageing on the thermophysical properties of a newly designed lime plasters containing hydrophobic admixture is analysed in the paper. For the comparative purposes, the reference lime plaster is tested. The ageing is accelerated with controlled carbonation process to simulate the final plasters properties. Basic characterization of the tested materials is done using bulk density, matrix density, and porosity measurements. Thermal conductivity and volumetric heat capacity are experimentally assessed using a transient impulse method. The obtained data revealed the significant changes of the both studied thermal parameters in the dependence on plasters composition and age. The assessed material parameters will be stored in a mater.
Density-Functional Calculation of Methane Adsorption on Graphenes

The adsorption behaviors of methane adsorbed on different graphenes (pristine, and B-, N-, P-, and Al-doped monolayer and multilayer) are analyzed using density-functional theory. The results demonstrate that the sensing performance of graphene as a methane sensor strongly depends on the selection of dopants and the number of layers. The adsorption energy on monolayer P-doped or Al-doped graphene shows about one order of magnitude higher than that with other dopants. In addition, graphenes doped with different impurities show different responses to the charge transfer. A further analysis indicates that the multilayer structure has a positive effect on the adsorption energy on the pristine, B-doped, and N-doped graphene, while the P-doped or Al-doped graphene shows a significant decrease with the increase in the number of layers. Moreover, the multilayer structure has a minor effect on the charge transfer. Based on the combined effects on the adsorption energy and the charge transfer, Al-doped monolayer graphene is the optimal candidate for methane sensing.
SISTA South Africa: The adaptation of an efficacious HIV prevention trial conducted with African-American women for isiXhosa-speaking South African women

Although new HIV treatments continue to offer hope for individuals living with HIV, behavioural interventions shown to reduce HIV risk behaviour remain one of the most powerful tools in curbing the HIV epidemic. Unfortunately, the development of evidencebased HIV interventions is a resource-intensive process that has not progressed as quickly as the epidemiology of the disease. As the epidemic continues to evolve, there is a need to expedite the development of evidence-based HIV interventions for populations that are often disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS. One mechanism of accelerating the development process is to adapt evidence-based HIV interventions for vulnerable populations. The aim of this paper was to describe the adaptation process of a HIV intervention for African-American women for black South African Xhosa women. For African-American women the intervention was effective in increasing consistent condom use, sexual self-control, sexual communication, sexual assertiveness and partner adoption of norms supporting consistent condom use.
Wavelet Transform With Histogram-Based Threshold Estimation for Online Partial Discharge Signal Denoising

Online condition assessment of the power system devices and apparatus is considered vital for robust operation, where partial discharge (PD) detection is employed as a diagnosis tool. PD measurements, however, are corrupted with different types of noises such as white noise, random noise, and discrete spectral interferences. Hence, the denoising of such corrupted PD signals remains a challenging problem in PD signal detection and classification. The challenge lies in removing these noises from the online PD signal measurements effectively, while retaining its discriminant features and characteristics. In this paper, wavelet-based denoising with a new histogram-based threshold function and selection rule is proposed. The proposed threshold estimation technique obtains two different threshold values for each wavelet sub-band and uses a prodigious thresholding function that conserves the original signal energy. Moreover, two signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) estimation techniques are derived to fit with actual PD signals corrupted with real noise. The proposed technique is applied on different acoustic and current measured PD signals to examine its performance under different noisy environments. The simulation results confirm the merits of the proposed denoising technique compared with other existing wavelet-based techniques by measuring four evaluation metrics: 1) SNR; 2) cross-correlation coefficient; 3) mean square error; and 4) reduction in noise level.
When is an abstract data type a functor?

A parametric algebraic data type is a functor when we can apply a function to its data components while satisfying certain equations. We investigate whether parametric abstract data types can be functors. We provide a general definition for their map operation that needs only satisfy one equation. The definability of this map depends on properties of interfaces and is a sufficient condition for functoriality. Instances of the definition for particular abstract types can then be constructed using their axiomatic semantics. The definition and the equation can be adapted to determine, necessarily and sufficiently, whether an ADT is a functor for a given implementation.
Personalization of Semantic Web Services

Nowadays web users have clearly expressed their wishes to receive and interact with personalized services directly. However, existing approaches, largely syntactic content-based, fail to provide robust, accurate and useful personalized services to its users. Towards such an issue, the semantic web provides enabling technologies to annotate and match services’ descriptions with a users’ features, interests and preferences, thus allowing for more efficient access to services and then information. The aim of our work, part of service personalization, is on automated instantiation of services which is crucial for advanced usability i.e., how to prepare and present services ready to be executed while limiting useless interactions with users? To this end, we exploit Description Logics reasoning through semantic matching to i) identify useful parts of a user profile that satisfy services requirements (i.e., input parameters) and ii) compute the description required by a service to be executed but not provided by the profile. Finally, the scalability of our approach has been evaluated through its integration in the service consumption of the EC-funded project SOA4All.
Experimental study on nonlinear vibrating of aluminum foam using electronic speckle pattern interferometry

Due to its multi properties, including excellent stiffness-to-weight and strength-to-weight ratios, closed-cell aluminum and its alloy foams become candidate materials for use in many high-technology industries, such as the automotive and aerospace industries. For the efficient use of closed-cell foams in structural applications, it is necessary and important to detailly understand their mechanical characteristics. In this paper, the nonlinear vibration responses of the cantilever beams of closed-cell aluminum foams were investigated by use of electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI). The nonlinear resonant mode shapes of testing specimens under harmonic excitation were measured. It is first time to obtain from the experimental results that there exist super-harmonic responses when the cantilever beams of closed-cell aluminum foam were forced to vibrate, which was caused by its specific cellular structures.
Localization of Epstein-Barr virus cytotoxic T cell epitopes using recombinant vaccinia: implications for vaccine development

There is considerable interest in designing an effective vaccine to the ubiquitous Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). An important role for EBV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) in eliminating virus-infected cells is well established. Limited studies using a small number of immune donors have defined target epitopes within the latent antigens of EBV. The present study provides an extensive analysis of the distribution of class I-restricted CTL epitopes within EBV-encoded proteins. Using recombinant vaccinia encoding individual EBV latent antigens (Epstein- Barr nuclear antigen [EBNA] 1, 2, 3A, 3B, 3C, LP, and LMP 1), we have successfully localized target epitopes recognized by CTL clones from a panel of 14 EBV-immune donors. Of the 20 CTL epitopes localized, five were defined at the peptide level. Although CTL clones specific for nine epitopes recognized both type 1 and type 2 transformants, a significant number of epitopes (7/16 epitopes for which EBV type specificity was determined) were detected only on type 1 EBV transformants. Vaccinia recombinants encoding EBNA 3A and EBNA 3C were recognized more frequently than any other vaccinia recombinants used in this study, while no CTL epitopes were localized in EBNA 1. Surprisingly, epitope specificity for a large number of EBV-specific CTL clones could not be localized, although vaccinia recombinants used in this study encoded most of the latent antigens of EBV. These results suggest that any EBV vaccine based on CTL epitopes designed to provide widespread protection will need to include not only latent antigen sequences but also other regions of the genome. The apparent inability of human CTLs to recognize EBNA 1 as a target antigen, often the only latent antigen expressed in Burkitt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, suggests that EBV-specific CTL control of these tumors will not be feasible unless the down-regulation of latent antigens can be reversed.
Divalent cation conduction in the ryanodine receptor channel of sheep cardiac muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum

The conduction properties of the alkaline earth divalent cations were determined in the purified sheep cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum ryanodine receptor channel after reconstitution into planar phospholipid bilayers. Under bi-ionic conditions there was little difference in permeability among Ba2+, Ca2+, Sr2+, and Mg2+. However, there was a significant difference between the divalent cations and K+, with the divalent cations between 5.8- and 6.7-fold more permeant. Single-channel conductances were determined under symmetrical ionic conditions with 210 mM Ba2+ and Sr2+ and from the single-channel current-voltage relationship under bi-ionic conditions with 210 mM divalent cations and 210 mM K+. Single-channel conductance ranged from 202 pS for Ba2+ to 89 pS for Mg2+ and fell in the sequence Ba2+ greater than Sr2+ greater than Ca2+ greater than Mg2+. Near-maximal single- channel conductance is observed at concentrations as low as 2 mM Ba2+. Single-channel conductance and current measurements in mixtures of Ba(2+)-Mg2+ and Ba(2+)-Ca2+ reveal no anomalous behavior as the mole fraction of the ions is varied. The Ca(2+)-K+ reversal potential determined under bi-ionic conditions was independent of the absolute value of the ion concentrations. The data are compatible with the ryanodine receptor channel acting as a high conductance channel displaying moderate discrimination between divalent and monovalent cations. The channel behaves as though ion translocation occurs in single file with at most one ion able to occupy the conduction pathway at a time.