Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparative study on the circuit topologies for offline passive light-emitting diode (LED) drivers with long lifetime & high efficiency

In this paper, we present a practical comparison on a range of circuit topologies suitable for passive LED drivers. These circuits consist of passive components and do not require any semiconductor controlled switches, auxiliary power supply and control integrated circuits. The power loss components, the energy efficiency and the output current ripple are examined. These passive LED drivers are particularly suitable for outdoor applications such as street lighting in which extreme weather conditions including lightning and wide temperature range, and maintenance issues are major concerns but the size of the LED drivers is not critical. With extremely simple and reliable circuitry, these passive LED drivers achieve remarkably high energy efficiency. Energy efficiency of 92–94% has been achieved for LED systems of 50W in this study.
SENTIMENT ANALYSIS OF GOVERNMENT SOCIAL MEDIA TOWARDS AN AUTOMATED CONTENT ANALYSIS USING SEMANTIC ROLE LABELING

In this paper, we propose to develop an automated content analysis tool to help the Malaysian government’s cyber and legal advisors, as well as the government leaders, to understand public sentiment via their comments which are posted on the official government leaders' or ministerial social media sites (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, etc.). In this study, we explore and apply the Semantic Role Labeling (SRL) techniques that generate new methods to filter and classify the social media content data set, advancing the state of the art in sentiment detection approaches. This proposed automated content analysis tool would be able to provide a platform to measure the impact of public sentiment over the government leader’s postings, and the public’s comments, on their officials’ social media sites. The results and findings from the impact measurement could then be used as a recommendation in the developing or reviewing the national’s cyber communication policy.
Knowing what to look for: Voice affects face race judgements

The study examined the effect that auditory information (speaker language/accent: Japanese or French) had on the processing of visual information (the speaker's race: Asian or Caucasian) in two forced-choice tasks: Classification and perceptual judgement on animated talking characters. Two (male and female) sets of facial morphs were constructed such that a 3-D head of Caucasian appearance was gradually morphed (in 11 steps) into one of Asian appearance. Each facial morph was animated in association with spoken French/Japanese or English with a French/Japanese accent. To examine the auditory effect, each animation was played with or without sound. Experiment 1 used an Asian or Caucasian classification task. Results showed that faces heard in conjunction with Japanese or a Japanese accent were more likely to be classified as Asian compared to those presented without sound. Experiment 2 used a same or different judgement task. Results showed that accuracy was improved by hearing a Japanese accent compared to without sound. These results were discussed in terms of the voice information acting as a cue to assist in organizing and attending to face features.
Safe Semi-Supervised Learning of Sum-Product Networks

In several domains obtaining class annotations is expensive while at the same time unlabelled data are abundant. While most semi-supervised approaches enforce restrictive assumptions on the data distribution, recent work has managed to learn semi-supervised models in a non-restrictive regime. However, so far such approaches have only been proposed for linear models. In this work, we introduce semi-supervised parameter learning for Sum-Product Networks (SPNs). SPNs are deep probabilistic models admitting inference in linear time in number of network edges. Our approach has several advantages, as it (1) allows generative and discriminative semi-supervised learning, (2) guarantees that adding unlabelled data can increase, but not degrade, the performance (safe), and (3) is computationally efficient and does not enforce restrictive assumptions on the data distribution. We show on a variety of data sets that safe semi-supervised learning with SPNs is competitive compared to state-of-the-art and can lead to a better generative and discriminative objective value than a purely supervised approach.
A personal perspective on the Royal Statistical Society report of the working party on statistical issues in first‐in‐man studies

1. Governance arrangements for NHS Research Ethics Committees ensure that statistical expertise relevant to research is brought to bear. Since the Central Office for Research Ethics Committees has advised that ethics committees may generally rely on the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to assess the safety of medicinal trials, the MHRA should make at least equivalent provision for statistical expertise. 2. All participants in first-in-man studies in healthy volunteers should be insured. 3. Studies wherein even the remote possibility of such complications as cytokine storm has been foreseen should be carried out only in hospitals with full facilities for giving tertiary care. 4. Before proceeding to a first-in-man study, there should be: * Quantitative justification of the starting dose – based on suitable preclinical studies and relevant calculations. * A priori assessment of the risk level for the recommended study dose(s). * Appraisal of the uncertainty about these recommendations. 5. Sponsors, and MHRA assessors independently, should classify the finally proposed doses of an investigational medicinal product by level of a priori assessed risk (low, medium high), having regard to the confidence in pre-clinical data. High a priori risk would rule out participation by healthy volunteers. 6. Besides first-in-man studies of any monoclonal (regardless of intended target) or of other novel molecules that target the immune system via a novel mechanism, a precautionary approach to study design is appropriate for any experimental medicine which is ‘first in class’ (and therefore high
Breastfeeding, brain activation to own infant cry, and maternal sensitivity.

BACKGROUND Research points to the importance of breastfeeding for promoting close mother-infant contact and social-emotional development. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified brain regions related to maternal behaviors. However, little research has addressed the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the relationship between breastfeeding and maternal behavior in human mothers. We investigated the associations between breastfeeding, maternal brain response to own infant stimuli, and maternal sensitivity in the early postpartum. METHODS Seventeen biological mothers of healthy infants participated in two matched groups according to feeding method - exclusive breastfeeding and exclusive formula-feeding at 2-4 weeks postpartum. fMRI scanning was conducted in the first postpartum month to examine maternal brain activation in response to her own baby's cry versus control baby-cry. Dyadic interactions between mothers and infants at 3-4 months postpartum were videotaped in the home and blindly coded for maternal sensitivity. RESULTS In the first postpartum month, breastfeeding mothers showed greater activations in the superior frontal gyrus, insula, precuneus, striatum, and amygdala while listening to their own baby-cry as compared to formula-feeding mothers. For both breastfeeding and formula-feeding mothers, greater activations in the right superior frontal gyrus and amygdala were associated with higher maternal sensitivity at 3-4 months postpartum. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest links between breastfeeding and greater response to infant cues in brain regions implicated in maternal-infant bonding and empathy during the early postpartum. Such brain activations may facilitate greater maternal sensitivity as infants enter their social world.
Qos-driven runtime adaptation of service oriented architectures

Runtime adaptation is recognized as a viable way for a service-oriented system to meet QoS requirements in its volatile operating environment. In this paper we propose a methodology to drive the adaptation of such a system, that integrates within a unified framework different adaptation mechanisms, to achieve a greater flexibility in facing different operating environments and the possibly conflicting QoS requirements of several concurrent users. To determine the most suitable adaptation action(s), the methodology is based on the formulation and solution of a linear programming problem, which is derived from a behavioral model of the system updated at runtime by a monitoring activity. Numerical experiments show the effectiveness of our approach. Besides the methodology, we also present a prototype tool that implements it.
Stochastic replicator dynamics

This article studies the replicator dynamics in the presence of shocks. I show that under these dynamics, strategies that do not survive the iterated deletion of strictly dominated strategies are eliminated in the long run, even in the presence of nonvanishing perturbations. I also give an example that shows that the stochastic dynamics in this article have equilibrium selection properties that differ from other dynamics in the literature.
A large-scale full-length cDNA analysis to explore the budding yeast transcriptome

We performed a large-scale cDNA analysis to explore the transcriptome of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We sequenced two cDNA libraries, one from the cells exponentially growing in a minimal medium and the other from meiotic cells. Both libraries were generated by using a vector-capping method that allows the accurate mapping of transcription start sites (TSSs). Consequently, we identified 11,575 TSSs associated with 3,638 annotated genomic features, including 3,599 ORFs, to suggest that most yeast genes have two or more TSSs. In addition, we identified 45 previously undescribed introns, including those affecting current ORF annotations and those spliced alternatively. Furthermore, the analysis revealed 667 transcription units in the intergenic regions and transcripts derived from antisense strands of 367 known features. We also found that 348 ORFs carry TSSs in their 3′-halves to generate sense transcripts starting from inside the ORFs. These results indicate that the budding yeast transcriptome is considerably more complex than previously thought, and it shares many recently revealed characteristics with the transcriptomes of mammals and other higher eukaryotes. Thus, the genome-wide active transcription that generates novel classes of transcripts appears to be an intrinsic feature of the eukaryotic cells. The budding yeast will serve as a versatile model for the studies on these aspects of transcriptome, and the full-length cDNA clones can function as an invaluable resource in such studies.
Lean4Lean: Towards a formalized metatheory for the Lean theorem prover

In this paper we present a new"external verifier"for the Lean theorem prover, written in Lean itself. This is the first complete verifier for Lean 4 other than the reference implementation in C++ used by Lean itself, and our new verifier is competitive with the original, running between 20% and 50% slower and usable to verify all of Lean's mathlib library, forming an additional step in Lean's aim to self-host the full elaborator and compiler. Moreover, because the verifier is written in a language which admits formal verification, it is possible to state and prove properties about the kernel itself, and we report on some initial steps taken in this direction to formalize the Lean type theory abstractly and show that the kernel correctly implements this theory, to eliminate the possibility of implementation bugs in the kernel and increase the trustworthiness of proofs conducted in it. This work is still ongoing but we plan to use this project to help justify any future changes to the kernel and type theory and ensure unsoundness does not sneak in through either the abstract theory or implementation bugs.
Identification of a Novel Toluene-Degrading Bacterium from the Candidate Phylum TM7, as Determined by DNA Stable Isotope Probing

ABSTRACT The dominant bacterium responsible for carbon uptake from toluene in an agricultural soil was identified by stable isotope probing. Samples were amended with unlabeled toluene or labeled [ring-13C6]toluene, and DNA was extracted over time. Sequencing indicated that the organism involved belongs to the candidate phylum TM7. Microorganisms in this candidate phylum are of particular interest because although they have been found in a variety of habitats, no stable culture of any species exists, so their general metabolic capabilities are largely unknown.
Percutaneous laser disc decompression: clinical experience at SCTIMST and long term follow up.

BACKGROUND Low backache (LBA) is now increasing in younger population due to misdirected spinal kinetics secondary to improper posture, heavy load lifting and motorbike driving. Hence minimally invasive procedures are increasingly sought after. Among these, PLDD is currently popular and in use. We present our long term follow-up in the use of Nd:YAG laser for PLDD. AIM To evaluate the efficacy of PLDD in treatment of contained herniation of lumbar discs & long term follow up results. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty patients with contained lumbar disc herniation on MRI and who did not respond to 6 weeks conservative treatment were subjected to PLDD. L4-5 disc was treated in 31, L5-S1 in 12 and L1-2 and L3-4 in one each. Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm was used for the procedure. Total laser energy of 1500-2000 Joules was delivered at the disc space depending upon the size. RESULTS There was immediate pain relief in 32/40 (80%). According to MacNab criteria good to fair response was seen in 37/40 (92%) and 3 patients (7.5%) responded poorly to this treatment. On follow up which ranged from 1 to 7 years, 34/40 (85%) had pain relief with no need for further treatment. COMPLICATIONS Significant pain at local puncture site was experienced by 8 (20%), pain during lasing was experienced by one. One patient developed muscular spasm. CONCLUSION Percutaneous laser disc decompression is a safe, relatively noninvasive and effective treatment modality for contained, nonsequestered, herniated lumbar disc disease in carefully selected patients.
Simultaneous Feature and Model Selection for High-Dimensional Data

The paper proposes an Evolutionary-based method to improve the prediction performance of Support Vector Machines classifiers applied to both artificial and real-world datasets which suffer from the curse of dimensionality. This method performs a simultaneous feature and model selection to discover the subset of features and the SVM parameters' values which provide a low prediction error. Moreover, it does not require a pre-processing step to filter the features so it can be applied to a whole dataset.
Clustering Heuristics for Robust Energy Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (ECVRP)

The paper presents an approach to solving the Robust Energy Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (RECVRP), focusing on electric vehicles and their limited battery capacity. A finite number of customers, each with their own demand, have to be serviced by an electric vehicle fleet while ensuring that none of the vehicles run out of energy. The time and energy it takes to travel between any two points is modeled as a random variable with known distribution. We propose a Mixed Integer Program (MIP) for computing an exact solution and introduce clustering heuristics to enhance the solution speed. This enables efficient re-planning of routes in dynamic scenarios. The methodology transforms the RECVRP into smaller problems, yielding good quality solutions quickly compared to existing methods. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach using a well-known benchmark problem set as well as a set of randomly generated problems.
Two-Way Coupled SPH and Particle Level Set Fluid Simulation

Grid-based methods have difficulty resolving features on or below the scale of the underlying grid. Although adaptive methods (e.g., RLE, octrees) can alleviate this to some degree, separate techniques are still required for simulating small-scale phenomena such as spray and foam, especially since these more diffuse materials typically behave quite differently than their denser counterparts. In this paper, we propose a two-way coupled simulation framework that uses the particle level set method to efficiently model dense liquid volumes and a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method to simulate diffuse regions such as sprays. Our novel SPH method allows us to simulate both dense and diffuse water volumes, fully incorporates the particles that are automatically generated by the particle level set method in under-resolved regions, and allows for two-way mixing between dense SPH volumes and grid-based liquid representations.
The roots of conflict over US census counts in the late 20th century and prospects for the 21st century

Journal of Economic and Social Measurement 31 (2006) 185–205 IOS Press The roots of conflict over US census counts in the late 20 th century and prospects for the 21 st century 1 Paula J. Walashek a and David A. Swanson b,∗ a College of Graduate Business and Management, University of Phoenix, USA of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, USA b Department Although not originally intended as such, the US census has become a “Commons” in which private benefits are gained at the expense of public costs. The historical development of the census as a Commons first clearly emerged with the release of the 1970 census results, and since that time contentious litigation over census undercount error has become a standard part of the decennial census landscape. Political battles within the federal government have gone hand-in-hand with these litigation activities. They culminated with a Supreme Court decision on the legality of statistically adjusting census 2000 counts for estimated undercount error. As these battles raged, professional interest in providing methodological fixes for net census undercount error increased while public participation in the census generally declined. This paper examines the history behind these legal battles, the legislative acts, and judicial decisions that led to the 16th Amendment and the loss of the careful balance between public costs and private benefits crafted by the Founding Fathers in Article I of the Constitution. The paper identifies the role that historical actions played in making the census into a Commons, thereby setting the stage for modern day census litigation and other forms of conflict. We observe that as a Commons, the census is facing a potential collapse that cannot be prevented by methodological developments. We conclude by noting that a course of political action may be the best course for preventing such a collapse. Keywords: Census, litigation, Commons, 16 th amendment 1. The Source of Conflict: The Census as Commons In Article I, Section 2, the US Constitution requires Congress to conduct an “actual Enumeration” of the population every ten years “in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. ” Accordingly, each decade since 1790, the United States has taken a count of its population – the decennial census. Congress delegated the authority to conduct the decennial census to the Secretary of Commerce in the Census Act. The Secretary, through the Census Bureau, has attempted to answer two important questions: how many people live in the United States and where are these people located? Answers to these questions are important because they determine how many representatives each state is allocated in the federal House of Representatives and 1 An earlier version was presented at the 2004 Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences. author: David A. Swanson, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677-1848, USA. E-mail: dswanson@olemiss.edu. ∗ Corresponding 0747-9662/06/$17.00  2006 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved
Elimination of Redundant Protein Identifications in High Throughput Proteomics

Tandem mass spectrometry followed by data base search is the preferred method for protein identification in high throughput proteomics. However, standard analysis methods give rise to highly redundant lists of proteins with many proteins identified by the same sets of peptides. In essence, this is a list of all proteins that might be present in the sample. Here we present an algorithm that eliminates redundancy and determines the minimum number of proteins needed to explain the peptides observed. We demonstrate that application of the algorithm results in a significantly smaller set of proteins and greatly reduces the number of "shared" peptides
Nude rat (F344/N‐rnu) tuberculosis

As many mononuclear cells from Mycobacterium tuberculosis‐infected lung tissues are not available for fluorescence‐activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis and the tuberculin test is not feasible in a mouse tuberculosis model, we attempted to develop a rat tuberculosis model. We have previously reported that rat tuberculosis is associated with granulomas that lack central necrosis. In order to develop a better animal model of tuberculosis in immunocompromised humans (tuberculosis associated with HIV infection or tuberculosis of the elderly), we infected F344/N‐rnu nude rats with M. tuberculosis via the airborne route. The animals developed pulmonary granulomas with central necrosis encapsulated by dense collagen fibres, closely resembling those of human tuberculosis. The nude rats died of disseminated tuberculosis by the 85th day after aerosol infection, while F344 wild‐type rats did not. Interestingly, T‐cells that were reactive with anti‐CD4 antibody and anti‐CD8 antibody, indicating the presence of remnant thymus, were observed in the infected lung tissues of the nude rats. Therefore, T‐cell precursors may be present in nude rats. The nude rat tuberculosis model mimics tuberculosis in immunocompromised humans and may provide a suitable model for immunological studies in vivo.
Preliminary Analysis of Life within a Former Subglacial Lake Sediment in Antarctica

Abstract: Since the first descriptions of Antarctic subglacial lakes, there has been a growing interest and awareness of the possibility that life will exist and potentially thrive in these unique and little known environments. The unusual combination of selection pressures, and isolation from the rest of the biosphere, might have led to novel adaptations and physiology not seen before, or indeed to the potential discovery of relic populations that may have become extinct elsewhere. Here we report the first microbiological analysis of a sample taken from a former subglacial lake sediment in Antarctica (Lake Hodgson, on the Antarctic Peninsula). This is one of a number of subglacial lakes just emerging at the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet due to the renewed onset of deglaciation. Microbial diversity was divided into 23.8% Actinobacteria, 21.6% Proteobacteria, 20.2% Planctomycetes and 11.6% Chloroflexi, characteristic of a range of habitat types ( Overall, common sequences were neither distinctly polar, low temperature, freshwater nor marine). Twenty three percent of this diversity could only be identified to ―unidentified bacterium‖. Clearly these are diverse ecosystems with enormous potential.