Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Levels and distribution of synthetic musks and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sludge collected from Guangdong Province

The levels and distribution of six polycyclic musks, three nitromusks and 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were investigated in sludge collected from 19 municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in six cities in Guangdong Province, China. PAHs were detected in all of the sludge samples, and the levels of the total 15 PAHs ranged from 177.2–4421.8 μg/kg dry weight (dw). Four polycyclic musks, 4-acetyl-1,1-dimethyl-6-tert-butylindan (ADBI), 6-acetyl-1,1,2,3,3,5-hexamethylindan (AHMI), 1,3,4,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,6,6,7,8,8-hexamethylcyclopenta (g) -2-benzopyran (HHCB) and 7-acetyl -1,1,3,4,4,6-hexamethyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro naphthalene (AHTN), were found in these samples. The total concentrations of polycyclic musks varied from 794.4–12960.3 μg/kg dw, with HHCB and AHTN being the main components. Of the three nitromusks, 2,6-dinitro-3-methoxy-4-tert- butyl - toluene (MA) was only found in one sludge sample at the limit of detection (LOD) level, while 1-tert-butyl-3,5-dimethyl-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (Musk xylene, MX) and 4-acetyl-1-tert-butyl-3,5-dimethyl-2,6-dinitrobenzene (Musk ketone, MK) were found at levels ranging from the LOD to 65.8 μg/kg dw and LOD to 172.7 μg/kg dw, respectively, in most of the sludge samples. The PAHs, polycyclic musks and nitro musks were also shown to have various distribution patterns, possibly due to their different wastewater sources and wastewater treatment technology.
Integrity of mitochondrial membrane potential reflects human sperm quality

The aim of this work was to evaluate intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, phosphatidylserine (PS) externalisation and mitochondrial membrane potential integrity in the spermatozoa of healthy donors and outpatients who consulted for infertility and to correlate the results with the classic sperm parameters. For the evaluation of intracellular ROS levels, PS externalisation and mitochondrial membrane potential integrity, the fluorescent compounds dihydroethidium, annexin V‐FITC and JC‐1, respectively, were used and analysed by using flow cytometry. Conventional seminal analysis, including motility, viability, morphology, sperm count and volume, was performed according to the WHO criteria. The mitochondrial membrane potential and ROS results showed significant differences between the spermatozoa of individuals with a normal semen analysis and those of the group presenting abnormality in at least one of the sperm parameters. Mitochondrial membrane potential showed a significant and direct correlation with all the sperm parameters analysed. ROS were inversely correlated with motility, viability and morphology. PS externalisation, however, did not show any differences between the two groups, nor was it correlated with the sperm parameters examined. The evaluation of mitochondrial membrane potential integrity is a test that reflects sperm quality, which makes it highly recommendable to be applied as a complement to routine sperm analyses.
Hyperparameter Selection under Localized Label Noise via Corrupt Validation

Existing research on label noise often focuses on simple uniform or classconditional noise. However, in many real-world settings, label noise is often somewhat systematic rather than completely random. Thus, we first propose a novel label noise model called Localized Label Noise (LLN) that corrupts the labels in small local regions and is significantly more general than either uniform or class-conditional label noise. LLN is based on a k-nearest neighbors corruption algorithm that corrupts all neighbors to the same wrong label and reduces to a class-conditional label noise if k = 1. Given this more powerful model of label noise, we propose an empirical hyperparameter selection method under LLN that selects better hyperparameters than traditional selection strategies, such as cross validation, by synthetically corrupting the training labels while leaving the test labels unmodified. This method can provide an approximate and more robust validation for hyperparameter selection. We design several label corruption experiments on both synthetic and real-world data to demonstrate that our proposed hyperparameter selection yields better estimates than standard methods.
FROM STATE-OFTHE-ART SCIENTIFIC MODEL TO ON-FARM DECISION SUPPORT TOOL IN DAIRY HERDS

Introduction: SimHerd is a computer model of a dairy herd developed within the research field of animal health economics and continuously refined during the last two decades. The model ́s technical development has been documented in 28 scientific articles. Besides this fruitful scientific application, the potential as a decision support tool in dairy management was acknowledged by StrateKo who initiated a project supported by the Danish Law of Innovation during 2007 to 2009. The specific aim was to develop a user friendly web application of SimHerd in a collaboration between StrateKo, Danish Cattle Federation and Aarhus University.
Dynamic routing of dependable connections with different QoP grades in WDM optical networks

This paper presents an efficient protection scheme to provide differentiated survivability services for dynamic traffic in mesh WDM optical networks. In the deterministic quality of protection (QoP) framework, connections with different reliability requirements are classified by assigning a continuous spectrum of QoP grades. The backup bandwidth of those connections with low QoP grades is treated as low-speed traffic and may be multiplexed into one backup lightpath for the purpose of efficient bandwidth utilization. In this way, the bandwidth can be efficiently allocated by two-level backup bandwidth aggregation: backup bandwidth sharing and backup bandwidth multiplexing. To allocate the connections with different QoP grades, we propose two efficient routing algorithms: minimum delay QoP routing (MDQR) and maximum aggregation QoP routing (MAQR). Through simulation experiments, we demonstrate that our algorithms work well in terms of blocking performance and the ability of providing differentiated survivability services.
Miniature Thermoelectric Modules with Increased Cooling Power

Progress in developing high cooling power, short-legged thermoelectric coolers (TECs) for local cooling of high power density electro-optic components is represented. Different competitive methods aimed toward TEC miniaturization, such as processing of bulk materials as well as thin-film and thick-film technique, are analyzed and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. Bulk material based technology is developed which allow production of TECs with TE leg height below 0.2 mm. The TECs show temperature differences comparable to those for standard bulk coolers
Transmit Signal Design for One-Bit Dual-Function Radar-Communication System

In this paper, we investigate the problem of transmit design for a Dual-Function Radar-Communication (DFRC) system with one-bit DACs. The problem is formulated by minimizing the symbol mean-square error, while ensuring the target localization performance for radar. In order to tackle the nonconvex discrete problem, a new approach based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm is presented, and the closed-form solution of each primal variable in the ADMM framework is provided. Numerical simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.
A case similarity metric for software reuse and design

When the idea of software reuse appeared in 1968, new horizons for software design were open. But some major problems appeared and most of the expectations were not met. One of the problems encountered is the selection of the right software component. This is related not only to the similarity between the desired functionality and the function delivered by the retrieved software component, but also to the effort needed to modify the chosen component to accommodate the desired functionality. Most of the research done in the case-based reasoning area has been in developing accurate and efficient retrieval algorithms. We think that case-based reasoning retrieval concepts and ideas can be successfully applied to software reuse. In this article we propose a metric to assess similarity between software cases supported on functional and behavioral knowledge. One important aspect of this metric is that reusability is taken into account to estimate the amount of effort needed to reuse retrieved software cases. We also present experimental work that shows that similarity at the functional level is the most important aspect of the similarity metric proposed.
High sensitivity measurement of CRP and disease progression in multiple sclerosis

The authors measured serum C-reactive protein (CRP) serially in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who participated the PRISMS study using a high-sensitivity technique. CRP values were similar in patients with MS and in healthy controls but higher during MS relapses than in remission (p = 0.010). CRP levels were lower during treatment with high-dose interferon beta 1a than placebo (p = 0.035) and higher during first 12 months of study in patients who progressed by year 4 compared with stable patients (p = 0.007).
High incidence of clinically relevant depressive symptoms in vulnerable persons of 75 years or older living in the community

Objectives: Clinically relevant depressive symptoms are highly prevalent in people who are 75 years of age or older. However, very old people with a vulnerable health status are under-represented in studies focussing on incidence and risk factors, while the risk of developing depressive symptoms is expected to be very high in this group. The incidence rates of clinically relevant depressive symptoms and their predictors were investigated in a vulnerable elderly population. Methods: In a community-based cohort, 651 vulnerable elderly (75+) people were identified by means of the COOP-WONCA charts (Dartmouth Coop Functional Health Assessment Charts/World Organisation of Family Doctors). To study the incidence of clinically relevant symptoms of depression and their predictors, 266 people with no symptoms (Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, CES-D score <16 at baseline) were selected and measured again at six and 18 months. The incidence of clinically relevant symptoms of depression was defined as a CES-D score ≥16, in combination with at least a five-point change between measurements. Logistic regression analyses were applied to determine risk indicators. Results: After 18 months, the incidence rate of all clinically relevant symptoms of depression was 48% (95% confidence interval, CI 44.2–51.8). No specific risk factors were identified within this population. Conclusion: Our estimates of the incidence of depressive symptoms were considerably higher than those previously found in elderly populations living in the community. A vulnerable health status is associated with a high risk of depressive symptoms.
Autonomous navigation in ill-structured outdoor environment

Presents a methodology for autonomous navigation in weakly structured outdoor environments such as dirt roads or mountain ways. The main problem to solve is the detection of an ill-defined structure-the way-and the obstacles in the scene, when working in variable lighting conditions. First, we discuss the road description requirements to perform autonomous navigation in this kind of environment and propose a simple sensors configuration based on vision. A simplified road description is generated from the analysis of a sequence of color images, considering the constraints imposed by the model of ill-structured roads. This environment description is done in three steps: region segmentation, obstacle detection and coherence evaluation.
L'argumentation dans la langue

Mettant en question l'opposition courante entre semantique et pragmatique, les AA. developpent la theorie des echelles argumentatives, presentee dans O. Decrot, La Preuve et le Dire, Paris, 1973, et introduisent une description semantique a trois composants conduisant a reviser la notion d'illocutoire.
Evaluation of biomolecular metrics in microphysiological systems: Technical challenges associated with multiplex arrays

The emergence of organs-on-a-chip microfabricated devices and integrated microphysiological systems has facilitated study of human physiology in an organ-specific context, enabling the development and validation of predictive models relevant in drug discovery. Quantitative investigations of cytokine profiles and signaling networks across a range of physiological perturbations, in a highly multiplexed fashion, can provide powerful insights into inflammatory processes. Here, we discuss the challenges associated with multiplex suspension arrays and guidelines to improve validation methods. Advancements in these best practices using multiplex technologies are essential for obtaining quantitative measures of signaling networks in disease progression and biomarker-assisted drug development.
Absorption enhancement in thin-film silicon solar cells in SOI configuration using physical and geometrical optics

High performance in crystalline thin (∼ 10 μm) film silicon solar cells requires complete optical absorption over its spectral range. Geometrical schemes are ineffective due to their large feature dimensions. Enhanced optical absorption can be achieved through two mechanisms based on diffractive and physical optics. In diffractive approach, light confinement is achieved through obliquely propagating transmission orders that effectively fill the frequency space. In the physical optics approach, rigorous coupled wave analysis is used to calculate optical absorption in subwavelength grating structures based on wave guiding mechanism, A 10-μm thick Si film in SOI configuration was chosen to perform a comparative evaluation of these two approaches. Optical transmission of planar Si films was compared with randomly textured and deeply etched two-dimensional gratings structures. Transmission from random structures was diffuse and translucent, while that from gratings, was weak and wavelength-dependent. Although SOI substrates are not practical for large-scale manufacturing, they have been determined to highly effective for understanding and optimizing optical transmission and device performance.
Labor Markets, Academic Performance and the Risk of School Dropout: Evidence for Spain

Labor market dynamics and the expectations of finding a job are believed to be strong determinants of individuals’ educational decisions. Thus, the academic performance and permanency of students in the school system are closely related to their perceptions of unemployment. The impact of high unemployment rates on schooling decisions may operate through, at least, two effects: a “family” effect, which urges individuals to dropout owing to limited access to educational resources, and a “local labor market” effect that encourages them to remain in school. In this paper we, specifically, analyze the impact of a household’s labor market situation and the effect of local labor unemployment on i) the risk of early school dropout and ii) academic performance, which typically declines before the decision to dropout is taken. These relations are assessed via a set of multilevel linear and logistic regression analyses using PISA 2006, 2009 and 2012 microdata. Results suggest that both parental unemployment and local labor market unemployment increase the risk of school dropout by reducing student academic performance. However, the negative “family” and “local labor market” effects seem to decrease as labor market conditions worsen.
Statistical recognition of motion patterns

This paper addresses the problem of people detection in dynamic environments in real-time and the extraction of typical motion patterns. The need for estimation of peoples movements with a mobile robot is essential for many applications in the field of service robotics. One key prerequisite for a machine to interact intelligently with people is its ability to recognize humans and their behavior. This paper presents an approach for tracking people in dynamic environments and to determine their behavior.
Literature Survey on Contour Point based Recognition

- Contour is a main role for object recognition. In this paper, a new contour related feature to detect and depict local contour point information images. There are two features. The first one is contour patch detector used for detecting images into patches exotic information of object contour which is called as Maximal/Minimal Torque Patch (MTP) detector. The second one is contour patch descriptor describes Multiscale Torque (MST) descriptor. It models the torque values in the region of the patch in a multi-scale manner. Observation for object recognition on the Caltech-101 datasets are should in proposed contour features of this paper also explained contour point features and included in other types of features.
Early and Middle Latency Evoked Potentials in Medically and Psychiatrically Normal Daily Marihuana Users: A Paucity of Significant Findings

The use of evoked potentials to study CNS effects of marihuana (THC) have produced inconsistent findings. Our previous pilot studies suggested that auditory P300 latencies and amplitudes, auditory P50 and somatosensory P30 amplitudes and brainstem auditory evoked potential latencies were altered in THC users. Because these findings were flawed by uncontrolled psychiatric diagnostic and medication variables, we undertook a controlled investigation of screened medically and psychiatrically normal THC users and controls. When age effects were controlled, THC related alterations of brain stem and both auditory and visual P300 responses could not be seen. This report extends our analyses to other auditory, somatosensory and visual evoked potentials. With the possible exception of an elevated auditory P50 amplitude, significant evoked potential correlates to daily THC use were not seen when normals were studied and age effects controlled.
Hybrid GDI-NCL for area/power reduction

Null Convection Logic is a well-known paradigm for designing asynchronous logic circuits. The conventional CMOS-based NCL designs suffers larger area overhead and power consumption. A low power design technique called Gate Diffusion Input (GDI) has been adopted to overcome this limitation. In GDI technology, voltage swing exhibits significant voltage drop across the circuit. Therefore, not suitable for designing large combinational circuits. A novel HYBRID (CMOS+GDI) design is proposed in this work to efficiently address this issue. The HYBRID design utilizes both CMOS and GDI technology to reduce the number of transistor and power dissipation when compared to CMOS NCL circuits. The proposed approach is implemented in NCL Ripple Carry Adder (RCA) and simulated in Cadence Virtuoso for verification.
Genetic relationships between three indigenous cattle breeds in Mozambique

This study provides the first account of genetic relationships between three indigenous cattle breeds from Mozambique. Forty-two blood group factors and six blood proteins revealed genetic variation of 84% (Angone), 88% (Bovine de Tete) and 90% (Landim) at the loci studied. Average heterozygosity values ranged from 33% for Angone and Bovine de Tete to 35% for the Landim. The genetic distance was greatest between the Landim and both the Bovine de Tete and the Angone breeds, whereas the smallest genetic distance was observed between the Bovine de Tete and the Angone. These results show the intermediate relationship of Bovine de Tete with the Angone and Landim breeds and show that the Bovine de Tete is an admixture of taurine and indicus genes. (South African Journal of Animal Science, 2000, 30(2): 92-97)
Big Data Over SmartGrid-A Fog Computing Perspective

Nowadays, the Cloud is migrating to the edge of the network and the traditional Cloud Computing (CC) paradigm is not enough for the storage of Big Data (BD) produced by Internet of Things (IoT). To meet this requirement, a new platform is needed, namely ”Fog Computing”. Under Fog Computing, most of the functions of data processing are performed out from the Cloud, so that a reliable and efficient communication system is required, in order to get a robust, affordable and secure power supply through SmartGrids (SGs). Computational requirements for SG applications can be met by using the Fog Computing (FC) model. Flexible resources and services shared in network, parallel processing and omnipresent access are some features of FC. In order to apply locally Fog-supported nodes over SGs, we need to introduce SmartLocalGrid (SLG) as a communication paradigm between micro-grids. Even though, the FC model is considered efficient for SLGs and SGs, but it has some constraints, such as security and reliability. In this work, Fog platform, technical support, security, BD analysis and utilization issues are further unveiled according to current FC paradigm. In FC, the Fog Nodes (FNs) can gather BD and transport them to the remote Cloud, in order to perform in-depth data analysis. There are still several issues and challenges to be addressed to achieve a better utilization of this technology. The future of the Cloud should support the idea of the Internet of Everything (IoE), where FC implements BD applications that support, in turn, SG and SLG applications. Finally, Cloud services based on existing SG and SLG prototypes and open research issues are presented. Keywords—Fog Computing, Cloud Computing, Big Data, SmartLocalGrid, SmartGrid, IoT, IoE
Adolescent and young adult medicine in Australia and New Zealand: towards specialist accreditation

Abstract In Australia and New Zealand, a critical mass of academic and clinical leadership in Adolescent Medicine has helped advance models of clinical services, drive investments in teaching and training, and strengthen research capacity over the past 30 years. There is growing recognition of the importance of influencing the training of adult physicians as well as paediatricians. The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) is responsible for overseeing all aspects of specialist physician training across the two countries. Following advocacy from adolescent physicians, the RACP is advancing a three-tier strategy to build greater specialist capacity and sustain leadership in adolescent and young adult medicine (AYAM). The first tier of the strategy supports universal training in adolescent and young adult health and medicine for all basic trainees in paediatric and adult medicine through an online training resource. The second and third tiers support advanced training in AYAM for specialist practice, based on an advanced training curriculum that has been approved by the RACP. The second tier is dual training; advanced trainees can undertake 2 years training in AYAM and 2 years training in another area of specialist practice. The third tier consists of 3 years of advanced training in AYAM. The RACP is currently seeking formal recognition from the Australian Government to have AYAM accredited, a process that will be subsequently undertaken in New Zealand. The RACP is expectant that the accreditation of specialist AYAM physicians will promote sustained academic and clinical leadership in AYAM to the benefit of future generations of young Australasians.
A New Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm with Adaptive Mutation Operator

The paper presents a new particle swarm optimization algorithm with adaptive mutation operator. In the algorithm, a new adaptive mutation operator is given by fitness variance and space position aggregation degree and implemented at the best position of each particle at each iteration. The experiments on six problems show that the modified PSO algorithm can increases diversity of swarm and greatly enhance the ability to leap the local optimization.