Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetic Algorithms for Gait Synthesis in a Hexapod Robot

This paper describes the staged evolution of a complex motor pattern generator (CPG) for the control of the leg movements of a six-legged walking robot. The CPG is composed of a network of neurons. In contrast to the main stream work in neural networks, the interconnection weights are altered by a Genetic Algorithm (GA), rather than a learning algorithm. Staged evolution is used to improve the convergence rate of the algorithm, thus obtaining rapid evolution of behavior toward a goal set. First, an oscillator for the individual leg movements is evolved. Then, a network of these oscillators is evolved to coordinate the movements of the different legs. In this way, the designer specifies "islands of fitness" on the way to the final goal, rather than using a single fitness function or determining the explicit solution to the control problem. By introducing a staged set of manageable challenges, the algorithm's performance is improved. These techniques may be applicable to other complex or ill-posed control problems in robot control. The system itself determined how to evolve from one island to the next through the GA.
Memory Allocation Exploiting Temporal Locality for Reducing Data-Transfer Bottlenecks in Heterogeneous Multicore Processors

High performance and low-power very large-scale integrations are required to implement complex media processing applications on mobile devices. Heterogeneous multicore processors are a promising way to achieve this objective. They contain multiple accelerator cores and CPU cores to increase the processing speed. Since media processing applications access a huge amount of data, fast address generation is very important. To increase the address generation speed, accelerator cores contain address generation units (AGUs). To reduce the power consumption, the AGUs have limited hardware resources such as adders and counters. Therefore, the AGUs generate simple addressing patterns where the address increases linearly in each clock cycle. Media processing applications frequently encounter addressing patterns where the same data are accessed in different time slots. To implement such addressing patterns, the same data have to be allocated into multiple memory addresses in such a way that those addresses can be generated by the AGUs. Allocation of the same data in multiple addresses is called the “data-duplication. ” The data-duplication increases the data-transfer time and also the total processing time significantly. To remove such data-transfer bottlenecks, this paper proposes a memory allocation method that exploits the temporal and spatial locality of the memory access in media processing applications. We evaluate the proposed method using media processing applications to validate its effectiveness. According to the results, the proposed method reduces the total processing time by 14% to more than 85% compared to previous works.
A Novel Method to Isolate Primordial Germ Cells and Its Use for the Generation of Germline Chimeras in Chicken1

Abstract A novel method was developed to isolate chick primordial germ cells (PGCs) from circulating embryonic blood. This is a very simple and rapid method for the isolation of circulating PGCs (cPGCs) using an ammonium chloride-potassium (ACK) buffer for lysis of the red blood cells. The PGCs were purified as in vitro culture proceeded. Most of the initial red blood cells were removed in the first step using the ACK lysis buffer. The purity of the cPGCs after ACK treatment was 57.1%, and the recovery rate of cPGCs from whole blood was 90.3%. The ACK process removed only red blood cells and it did not affect cPGC morphology. In the second step, the red blood cells disappeared as the culture progressed. At 7 days of in vitro culture, the purity of the PGCs was 92.9%. Most of these cells expressed germline-specific antibodies, such as those against chicken vasa homolog (CVH). The cultured PGCs expressed the Cvh and Dazl genes. Chimeric chickens were produced from these cultured PGCs, and the donor cells were detected in the gonads, suggesting that the PGCs had biological function. In conclusion, this novel isolation system for PGCs should be easier to use than previous methods. The results of the present study suggest that this novel method will become a powerful tool for germline manipulation in the chicken.
Measurements and simulations of low-wavenumber pedestal turbulence in the National Spherical Torus Experiment

Previous pedestal turbulence measurements in the National Spherical Torus Experiment assessed the spatial and temporal properties of turbulence in the steep gradient region of H-mode pedestals during edge localized mode (ELM)-free, MHD-quiescent periods. Here, we extend the analysis to fluctuation amplitudes and compare observations to pedestal turbulence simulations. Measurements indicate normalized fluctuation amplitudes are about 1–5% in the steep gradient region. Regression analysis indicates fluctuation amplitudes scale positively with electron density gradient, collisionality, and poloidal beta, and scale negatively with magnetic shear, electron density, ion temperature gradient (ITG), toroidal flow and radial electric field. The scalings are most consistent with trapped electron mode, kinetic ballooning mode, or microtearing instabilities, but, notably, least consistent with ITG turbulence. Gyrokinetic simulations of pedestal turbulence with realistic pedestal profiles show collisional instabilities with growth rates that increase at higher density gradient and decrease at higher ITG, in qualitative agreement with observed scalings. Finally, Braginskii fluid simulations of pedestal turbulence do not reproduce scalings from measurements and gyrokinetic simulations, and suggest electron dynamics can be a critical factor for accurate pedestal turbulence simulations.
Aristotle' paradox of monarchy and the biographical tradition

Scholarly controversies over Aristotle's �paradox of monarchy� may be partially resolved by examining the biographical evidence of Aristotle's involvement in Macedonian politics. This evidence suggests Aristotle worked as an agent of Macedon in Athens, and his statements on monarchy were intentionally contradictory due to his own dangerous and ambiguous political status in Athens.
Towards a Family Approach in a Psychiatric Day Hospital

Summary In a day hospital all staff members must be able to make rapid decisions, even when they cannot refer to their seniors. It is difficult to develop this capability in a teaching day hospital where the staff and student groups are constantly changing. It has, however, been facilitated by regular staff discussions with a visiting psychotherapist. In these staff groups, the study of role attributions and dynamics characteristic of families has diminished the interference caused by ‘family’ type dynamics in daily professional interaction. The paper describes the effect of such discussion in stimulating the adoption of a treatment approach which takes the family situation into account. This family approach is distinguished from family therapy, and its advantages are discussed.
Development of high resolution LIF spectroscopy with saturated absorption spectrum

High resolution flow velocity measurement of neutrals has been performed by using a laser induced fluorescence (LIF) system installed with a saturated absorption spectroscopy unit. The improvement of accuracy is achieved by utilizing Lamb dip as the reference of laser wavelength. The newly-developed LIF system can determine neutral flow velocity with an accuracy of 2 m/s, which is one order of magnitude higher than the velocity resolution of LIF systems with ordinary calibration technique utilizing iodine absorption spectrum.
Types of case series—the anatomically based approach: Commentary on M. F. Schwartz & G. S. Dell: Case series investigations in cognitive neuropsychology

The paper addresses a weakness in the Schwartz and Dell paper (2010)—namely, its discussion of the inclusion criteria for case series. The paper distinguishes the different types that exist and how they constrain the theoretical conclusions that one can draw about the organization of the normal cognitive system. Four different types of inclusion criteria are considered. Two are those treated by Schwartz and Dell—namely, theoretically derived clinical criteria, such as the example of semantic dementia, and broad clinical criteria such as the presence of aphasia. In addition, in the present paper two different types of anatomically based criteria are assessed—those using anatomical regions selected a priori and also regions selected as a result of an anatomical group study analysis. Putative functional syndromes are argued to be the empirical building blocks for cognitive neuropsychology. Anatomically based case series can aid in their construction or in their fractionation.
Seroprevalence of neutralizing antibodies to human adenovirus type 5 in healthy adults in China

Human adenoviruses have been used to develop candidate HIV vaccine vectors, but a major obstacle to the use of vectors derived from Ad5 and other common serotypes is the high prevalence of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) in humans. Prior studies have reported a prevalence of Ad5 between 60% and 70% in Europe and US, and up to 98% in surveyed African and Asian (Thai) tropical countries. However, few studies have reported on the Ad5 prevalence in Chinese populations. In this study, a total of 1,250 healthy adult serum samples from six administratively separate regions of China were screened by high‐throughput luciferase‐based virus neutralization assays. Results showed that overall 72% of healthy adults were Ad5 seropositive, and 46.4% with baseline Ad5 NAb titers of >200 in China. Comprehensive analysis by geographical region and age showed that the seroprevalence of Ad5 in southern China such as Guangxi was higher than that in other regions. Geographical differences and climate were considered as the major factors affecting the titer levels of Ad5 in healthy adults. In addition, no apparent gender and ethnic difference was found in any group classified according to region, age, or NAb titer. The present study may provide useful insights for the future development of Ad5‐based vaccines and gene therapy. J. Med. Virol. 84:1408–1414, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Improving Predicition of Protein Secondary Structure Using Structured Neural Networks and Multiple Sequence Alignments

The prediction of protein secondary structure by use of carefully structured neural networks and multiple sequence alignments has been investigated. Separate networks are used for predicting the three secondary structures alpha-helix, beta-strand, and coil. The networks are designed using a priori knowledge of amino acid properties with respect to the secondary structure and the characteristic periodicity in alpha-helices. Since these single-structure networks all have less than 600 adjustable weights, overfitting is avoided. To obtain a three-state prediction of alpha-helix, beta-strand, or coil, ensembles of single-structure networks are combined with another neural network. This method gives an overall prediction accuracy of 66.3% when using 7-fold cross-validation on a database of 126 nonhomologous globular proteins. Applying the method to multiple sequence alignments of homologous proteins increases the prediction accuracy significantly to 71.3% with corresponding Matthew's correlation coefficients C alpha = 0.59, C beta = 0.52, and Cc = 0.50. More than 72% of the residues in the database are predicted with an accuracy of 80%. It is shown that the network outputs can be interpreted as estimated probabilities of correct prediction, and, therefore, these numbers indicate which residues are predicted with high confidence.
Predicting protected sexual behaviour using the Information-Motivation-Behaviour skills model among adolescent substance abusers in court-ordered treatment

The Information-Motivation-Behavioural skills model (Fisher & Fisher, 1992) was used to predict condom use among adolescents residing in a court-ordered inpatient substance abuse treatment programme ( N = 271; 181 male and 90 female, primarily of minority ethnicity). In a predictive structural equation model, demographic variables, HIV transmission knowledge, and motivational variables of pro-condom norms and attitudes, and perceived susceptibility predicted condom use skills and condom use self-efficacy. Along with the other variables in the model, condom skills and condom self-efficacy were hypothesized to predict condom use over a three-month period. It was found that condom skills were predicted by greater age, pro-condom attitudes and greater perceived susceptibility. Condom self-efficacy was predicted by gender, pro-condom norms and condom attitudes. Condom use was significantly predicted by pro-condom norms and stronger condom self-efficacy. Both condom skills and knowledge did not significantly predict condom use. Significant demographic predictors of condom use included greater age and gender. Results suggest that changing personal attitudes about condoms and reinforcing the power of pro-condom beliefs among significant others will encourage condom use among adolescents who are at high risk for HIV and other STDs.
License plate recognition with hierarchical temporal memory model

Development of high quality license plate recognition system is a challenging task, not fully solved nowadays. License plate recognition process consists of the following steps: license plate detection, individual characters segmentation and recognition. This paper contains methods, connected with license plate allocation, segmentation and characters recognition. The noise on the plate and its angular inclination are main problems raised during developing such systems. In this article a new method of license plate recognition is presented. The proposed method includes preliminary image filtering, connected component method for segmentation and hierarchical temporal memory model for recognition. Image prefiltering improves the efficiency of subsequent binarization. Generally, license plate segmentation is provided by the histogram method, with different angles of inclination of the registration plate. As a result the rotation of the plate reduces the image quality. The connected component method eliminates rotation from this process, and provides no loss of image quality. Separate symbols can be represented under a small angle after such segmentation, which could complicate their identification. However, the application of the hierarchical temporal memory model for character recognition, previously trained at the sloping characters images, gives positive results. The proposed algorithms can also be used for distorted text segmentation and recognition.
Inversion of the Flap at the Lower Ear and Restoration of the Flap at Postauricular Skin for Reconstruction of the Earlobe

AbstractWe describe a technique for reconstruction of the earlobe. This technique is to reconstruct the earlobe by inversing the flap at the lower ear and restoring the flap at postauricular skin. Although there are many procedures that aim to reconstruct the earlobe naturally, the aesthetic results of using our method are better because the scar tissue that remains behind the ear is hidden.
Detecting changes in speech expressiveness in participants of a radio program

A method for speech expressiveness change detection is presented which combines a dimensional analysis of speech expression, a Principal Component Analysis technique, as well as multiple regression analysis. From the three inferred rates of activation, valence, and involvement, two PCA-factors explain 97 % of the variance of the judges’ evaluations of a corpus of radio show interaction. The multiple regression analysis predicted the values of the two listener-oriented, PCA-derived dimensions of promptness and empathy from the acoustic parameters automatically obtained from a set of 206 utterances produced by radio show’s participants. Analysed chronologically, the utterances reveal expression change from automatic acoustic analysis.
Stomatal and non-stomatal fluxes of ozone to a northern mixed hardwood forest

Measurements of ozone, sensible heat, and latent heat fluxes and plant physiological parameters were made at a northern mixed hardwood forest located at the University of Michigan Biological Station in northern Michigan from June 27 to September 28, 2002. These measurements were used to calculate total ozone flux and partitioning between stomatal and non-stomatal sinks. Total ozone flux varied diurnally with maximum values reaching 100 μmol m-2 h-1 at midday and minimums at or near zero at night. Mean daytime canopy conductance was 0.5 mol m-2 s-1. During daytime, non-stomatal ozone conductance accounted for as much as 66% of canopy conductance, with the non-stomatal sink representing 63% of the ozone flux. Stomatal conductance showed expected patterns of behaviour with respect to photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) and vapour pressure defecit (VPD). Non-stomatal conductance for ozone increased monotonically with increasing PPFD, increased with temperature (T) before falling off again at high T, and behaved similarly for VPD. Day-time non-stomatal ozone sinks are large and vary with time and environmental drivers, particularly PPFD and T. This information is crucial to deriving mechanistic models that can simulate ozone uptake by different vegetation types
A Distributed Algorithm for Training Nonlinear Kernel Machines

This paper concerns the distributed training of nonlinear kernel machines on Map-Reduce. We show that a re-formulation of Nystr\"om approximation based solution which is solved using gradient based techniques is well suited for this, especially when it is necessary to work with a large number of basis points. The main advantages of this approach are: avoidance of computing the pseudo-inverse of the kernel sub-matrix corresponding to the basis points; simplicity and efficiency of the distributed part of the computations; and, friendliness to stage-wise addition of basis points. We implement the method using an AllReduce tree on Hadoop and demonstrate its value on a few large benchmark datasets.
Evidence-Based Management Education

Snyder (2013) strongly claims we should do away with introductory textbooks because they ineffectively present theory in a nonengaging manner, use academic language, and get zero or minimal use by students. Certainly, some students do not read their textbooks, particularly when lectured to day after day; passive instructional methods (e.g., lecturing), as well as failing to assess the knowledge gained from a textbook, push students into adopting such habits. And, yes, some management texts are research-deficient (Rynes, Giluk, & Brown, 2007); management texts have negated advances in not only neuroscience but also in educational psychology, adult learning, and cognition. Regarding the poor organization and presentation used in some texts, the “staging” could be improved with the use of engaging captioned illustrations, visuals, and content linkages to help students digest important concepts (see multimedia learning theory in Burke, 2007; Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, & Tapangco, 1996). Publishers, authors, and instructors should therefore invoke established theory and evidence in order to keep their message for students current, concise, clear, coherent, and coordinated (Mayer et al., 1996). Put simply, just as we advocate evidence-based management to guide executives in their field of practice (Rousseau & McCarthy, 2007), publishers, authors, and management faculty should pursue evidence-based teaching and education (see Davies, 1999).
Shannon's Energy Based Algorithm in ECG Signal Processing

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) database is electrocardiograms (ECGs) set from healthy volunteers and patients with different heart diseases. PTB is provided for research and teaching purposes by National Metrology Institute of Germany. The analysis method of complex QRS in ECG signals for diagnosis of heart disease is extremely important. In this article, a method on Shannon energy (SE) in order to detect QRS complex in 12 leads of ECG signal is provided. At first, this algorithm computes the Shannon energy (SE) and then makes an envelope of Shannon energy (SE) by using the defined threshold. Then, the signal peaks are determined. The efficiency of the algorithm is tested on 70 cases. Of all 12 standard leads, ECG signals include 840 leads of the PTB Diagnostic ECG Database (PTBDB). The algorithm shows that the Shannon energy (SE) sensitivity is equal to 99.924%, the detection error rate (DER) is equal to 0.155%, Positive Predictivity (+P) is equal to 99.922%, and Classification Accuracy (Acc) is equal to 99.846%.
Tool Support for Event-B Code Generation

The Event-B method is a formal approach to modelling systems, using refi? nement. Initial specifi? cation is done at a high level of abstraction; detail is added in refi? nement steps as the development proceeds toward implementation. In previous work we developed an approach to bridge the gap between abstract specifi? cations and implementations using an implementation level specifi? cation notation. In this paper we present details of the tool support for our notation and some of our experiences using the tool.
Genetic and Acquired Thrombotic Factors in Chronic Hepatitis C

OBJECTIVES:During the progression of chronic liver disease towards cirrhosis, morphological studies have shown a close association between parenchymal remodeling and obliterative lesions of intrahepatic small portal and hepatic veins. These lesions are highly suggestive of intrahepatic thrombotic events, which may have a key role in the pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis. The aim of the study was to investigate thrombotic risk factors in chronic hepatitis C patients with different extent of liver fibrosis.METHODS:The following thrombotic factors were evaluated in 68 hepatitis C patients with prothrombin activity ≥ 80% (34 consecutive patients with extensive fibrosis and/or cirrhosis compared with 34 consecutive patients without extensive fibrosis and/or cirrhosis): factor V Leiden, G20210A prothrombin mutation, antithrombin, protein C and S deficiencies, hyperhomocysteinemia, elevated factor VIII level, and lupus anticoagulant.RESULTS:Three thrombotic risk factors were significantly more frequent in patients with extensive fibrosis and/or cirrhosis than in those without extensive fibrosis: protein C deficiency present in 14 patients (41%) as compared with three patients (9%), p = 0.004; elevated factor VIII level present in 19 patients (56%) as compared with six patients (18%), p = 0.002; and hyperhomocysteinemia present in 10 patients (29%) as compared with two patients (6%), p = 0.023. The association of two or three prothrombotic factors was present in 19 patients (56%) with extensive fibrosis and/or cirrhosis as compared with one patient (3%) without extensive fibrosis and/or cirrhosis, p < 0.001. CONCLUSIONS:Multiple thrombotic risk factors coexist frequently in patients with extensive fibrosis and early stage of cirrhosis. Their association with local inflammation could favor thrombotic events in the liver micro-circulatory bed.
Three-Stage DEA Models for Incorporating Exogenous Inputs

In this paper, we discuss three-stage models that control for exogenous, non-discretionary inputs in data envelopment analysis. In a recent article in this journal, Monte Carlo analysis was employed to compare and contrast alternative DEA models that measure efficiency in the presence of exogenous variables. The methodology for comparison was flawed, calling into question the results presented. We introduce new second-stage models and compare and contrast them with simulated data.