Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Faster Simulated Annealing

By cooling slightly more slowly than the canonical schedule and simulating direct self-loop sequences implicitly, the computer time to execute simulated annealing given the number of accepted moves becomes proportional to that number in expectation and, in a certain sense, almost surely. This is generally orders of magnitude faster than naive schemes, while (in contrast to previous work) not implicitly altering the cooling schedule. Running simulated annealing on m independent parallel processors gives, in a certain sense, a further computer-time speedup asymptotically linear in m, under an attractive way of constructing (not entirely local) neighborhoods, given that the computer time is large. Roughly speaking, this happens as the set of optimal states gets hard enough to reach. A pathology of purely local neighborhoods is pointed out.
Building Blocks for an Ultra Low-Power MEMS-based Radio

The recent advances made in MEMS and particularly in RF MEMS technology are enabling new architectures for the integration of RF transceivers with improved performance and smaller size. Several fundamental building blocks benefit from the availability of high-Q resonators in the RF front-end and the frequency synthesizer to lower power consumption, phase noise and die area. In addition, the compatibility of MEMS with CMOS opens the door to a higher integration level using for example an above-Q approach. This paper presents the recent work made at CSEM in the field of low-power transceiver for wireless sensor network applications. It first presents the high-Q resonators, including the BAW resonators used in the RF front-end and in the RF oscillator together with MEMS used in the low frequency reference oscillators. These MEMS are activated thanks to an AlN piezo layer avoiding the need for high voltage generation which is incompatible with the low-power and low-voltage requirement. These MEMS are also temperature compensated by the combination of additional layers and electronics means. The paper then focuses on the main building blocks that can take advantage of high-Q resonators. The fundamentals of oscillators built around high-Q devices is described, highlighting the basic trade-offs. It is also described how to take advantage of such devices within a receiver front-end.
Improved Laboratory Transition Probabilities for Nd II and Application to the Neodymium Abundances of the Sun and Three Metal-poor Stars

Radiative lifetimes, accurate to ±5%, have been measured for 168 odd-parity levels of Nd II using laser-induced fluorescence. The lifetimes are combined with branching fractions measured using Fourier-transform spectrometry to determine transition probabilities for over 700 lines of Nd II. This work is the largest-scale laboratory study to date of Nd II transition probabilities using modern methods. This improved data set is used to determine Nd abundances for the Sun and three metal-poor giant stars with neutron-capture enhancement: CS 22892-052, HD 115444, and BD +17°3248. In all four stars the line-to-line scatter is considerably reduced from earlier published results. The solar photospheric abundance is determined to be log ϵ(Nd) = 1.45 ± 0.01(σ = 0.05), which is in excellent agreement with meteoric data. The ratio of Nd/Eu is virtually identical in all three metal-poor Galactic halo stars. Furthermore, the newly determined stellar Nd abundances, in comparison with other heavy neutron-capture elements, are consistent with an r-process-only origin early in the history of the Galaxy. These more accurate Nd abundance determinations might help to constrain the predicted solar system r-process abundances, and suggest other elements for further neutron-capture abundance studies.
Ritonavir inhibits intratumoral docetaxel metabolism and enhances docetaxel antitumor activity in an immunocompetent mouse breast cancer model

Docetaxel (Taxotere®) is currently used intravenously as an anticancer agent and is primarily metabolized by Cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A). The HIV protease inhibitor ritonavir, a strong CYP3A4 inhibitor, decreased first‐pass metabolism of orally administered docetaxel. Anticancer effects of ritonavir itself have also been described. We here aimed to test whether ritonavir co‐administration could decrease intratumoral metabolism of intravenously administered docetaxel and thus increase the antitumor activity of docetaxel in an orthotopic, immunocompetent mouse model for breast cancer. Spontaneously arising K14cre;Brca1F/F;p53F/F mouse mammary tumors were orthotopically implanted in syngeneic mice lacking Cyp3a (Cyp3a−/−) to limit ritonavir effects on systemic docetaxel clearance. Over 3 weeks, docetaxel (20 mg/kg) was administered intravenously once weekly, with or without ritonavir (12.5 mg/kg) administered orally for 5 days per week. Untreated mice were used as control for tumor growth. Ritonavir treatment alone did not significantly affect the median time of survival (14 vs. 10 days). Median time of survival in docetaxel‐treated mice was 54 days. Ritonavir co‐treatment significantly increased this to 66 days, and substantially reduced relative average tumor size, without altering tumor histology. Concentrations of the major docetaxel metabolite M2 in tumor tissue were reduced by ritonavir co‐administration, whereas tumor RNA expression of Cyp3a was unaltered. In this breast cancer model, we observed no direct antitumor effect of ritonavir alone, but we found enhanced efficacy of docetaxel treatment when combined with ritonavir. Our data, therefore, suggest that decreased docetaxel metabolism inside the tumor as a result of Cyp3a inhibition contributes to increased antitumor activity.
Slip-Sliding Along in Linguistic Creativity : Building A Fluid Space for Connecting Disparate Ideas

The art of linguistic creativity lies not in finding new truths to express in language (if there are any), but in finding new and more resonant ways to express truths that are already known or implicitly accepted. Creative expression thus requires that we take adopt a new and revealing perspective on a familiar idea, one that may prompt an audience to conceptually re-represent this idea to draw out new meaning or new relevance to a situation. As such, a computational model of linguistic creativity requires a knowledge representation that is as semantically agile and accommodating as the creative speakers who use it. We thus present a flexible and very concise knowledge representation for dealing with creative metaphors, called Talking Points, and show how talking points can be acquired on a large scale both from WordNet and from the web to form a fluid connected structure called a slipnet.
Design and stability analysis of an indirect variable structure model reference adaptive control

This paper presents the stability and robustness analysis of an indirect adaptive control based variable structure algorithm for uncertain plants with relative degree one. The indirect approach has been proposed as a way to get an easier design of the switching laws, compared to the direct relationship between the plant transfer function parameters and the physical parameters of the system. Here, a singular perturbation approach is used to establish the robustness of the controller in the presence of unmodelled dynamics and disturbances. It is shown that, for sufficiently small parasitics, the system remains stable with respect to some small residual set.
Feature based moving robot localization using Doppler radar: Achievable accuracy

Doppler radars are low cost and light weight sensors that have a potential to find wide applications in building a large team of mobile vehicle platforms. Because of the nonlinearity associated with the measurement from Doppler radars, it is both interesting and challenging to extract meaningful information from the low cost sensors. Building upon the authors' previous work on self localization with a feature-based map with known landmark associations using Doppler radars and an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), this paper investigates the effects of positioning and the number of landmarks in a feature-based map on the accuracy of the position estimation of a robot. The computations of Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) at the terminating sample show that the CRLB has a drastic reduction when the number of landmarks is increased from 1 to 2 while the root mean square errors (RMSE) of EKF indicate a gradual error reduction for the first 4 landmarks. The results presented in this paper will provide an essential guideline on the experiment design for feature-based robot self-localization.
COCCULUS LAURIFOLIUS : A RICH ANTIMICROBIAL , ANTIOXIDANT AND PHYTOCHEMICAL SOURCE

The study was carried out to investigate the antimicrobial, antioxidant potential and the qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analysis of the bark and leaf of Cocculus laurifolius DC. by using polar and non-polar solvents, i.e. Petroleum ether, Chloroform, Methanol and distilled water. Chloroform bark extracts showed maximum % yield. Antimicrobial activity was determined by using 4 bacterial strains (2 gram-negative and 2 grampositive) and 2 fungal strains. Leaf and bark extracts of C. laurifolius showed significant to average results against bacterial and fungal strain. Bark extracts of chloroform and methanol revealed a maximum zone of inhibition against S. aureus in agar-well diffusion method with values of 37±3.1mm and 37±2.2mm respectively and bark extract of methanol exhibited MIC value with 0.06±0.01 (at 0.9 mg/L) against E. coli. In antifungal activity, all extracts showed average results against fungal strains. Maximum result exhibited by bark extract of methanol with values 29±1.4 and 0.70±0.01 (at 1 mg/L) against F. solani in zone of inhibition and MIC analysis. Significant DPPH free radical scavenging activity of chloroform extracts of bark i.e. 92.45±0.1 while extract of chloroform bark display IC50: 28.27±1.03 μg/mL. Antioxidant activity of plant further confirmed by conducting three more activities i.e. Total phenolic contents (TPC), Metal chelating (MC) and Total antioxidant activity (TAA). Chloroform extracts of bark showed a maximum value of TPC, i.e. 293±1.3 GAE mg/mL while bark extract of methanol exhibited maximum MC value, i.e. 262±0.01mg/mL and leaf extracts of methanol showed highest TAA value, i.e. leaf 1.1753± 0.3. Cocculus laurifolius contain many phytochemical constituents, i.e. Alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins and phenolic compounds Bark contain high amount of alkaloids and flavonoids, i.e., 17.13±0.78 and 16.73±0.56 respectively as compared to leaf but phenolic contents and saponins were present in leaf in significant amount.
[Informal coercion to enhance treatment adherence among psychiatric patients].

OBJECTIVE We aimed at assessing prevalence and risk factors of interventions including informal coercion to enhance treatment adherence (leverage) in Switzerland. Additionally, we studied attitudes of psychiatric patients towards these methods. METHODS A sample of 187 psychiatric patients with outpatient treatment underwent a semi structured interview. RESULTS 29% had experience with one or more methods to enhance treatment adherence. The most prevalent intervention was to link housing to patients' readiness to consent with psychiatric treatment. Announcing a less invasive criminal sanction to a psychiatric patient who was arrested or convicted due to a criminal offence was the method to enhance treatment adherence study subjects' endorsed the most. The use of child custody as a tool to enhance treatment acceptance was rejected by the majority of the sample. CONCLUSIONS Interventions including informal coercion are prevalent in the treatment of psychiatric patients. In order to assess if and under what circumstances implementation of these interventions is justified we need to consider the subjective perspective of the affected individuals.
Electron paramagnetic resonance: a new techniquein skin research

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of nitroxide spin probes have been used for studying biological membranes and chemical‐membrane interaction. We have investigated the influence of surfactants on the intercellular lipid structure of cadaver stratum corneum and the possibility of EPR spectral measurements on the stripped stratum corneum utilizing cyanoacrylate resin, which might reflect the actual skin lipid conditions.
Disinfection kinetics: a new hypothesis and model for the tailing of log‐survivor/time curves

A new hypothesis for the understanding of chemical disinfection, which we have termed the Intrinsic Quenching hypothesis, is presented. This mechanistic treatment of disinfection kinetics is based on the hypothesis that the biocide concentration may not be in vast excess over the microbes, as is normally assumed. A mathematical model was developed and found to be useful in describing the observed kinetics of several disinfectants. The model suggested that the reason for the observation of non‐linear, log‐survivor curves was due to the ability of the microbes, in clean, soil‐free conditions, to intrinsically quench the bulk concentration of biocide.
Performance of the IMx tacrolimus II assay and practical limits of detection.

Recent correspondence to Clinical Chemistry (1)(2) addressed the performance of the second generation Tacrolimus assay for the IMx analyzer (Abbott Diagnostics), with the former letter identifying nonequivalence in results from its predecessor and the latter considering performance approaching the lower limits of detection. Our own published results (3) have considered these points, and we report here our additional experience. In their comparison of the second- vs the first-generation assays, Garg et al. (1) described comparable coefficients of variation (CVs), but this is not the case when identical control samples are used in each assay at low concentrations (≤5 μg/L), e.g., 14.2% vs 42.4% at 4.2 μg of tacrolimus per liter of blood (1). In common with previous findings (3)(4)(5), Garg et al. (1) reported lower values with the second-generation assay using 36 samples of undefined origin. The slopes and intercepts reported for these various comparisons differed (as did the comparison methods applied), but Garg et al. (1) did not relate …
Development of Glatopa® (Glatiramer Acetate): The First FDA-Approved Generic Disease-Modifying Therapy for Relapsing Forms of Multiple Sclerosis

The multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment landscape in the United States has changed dramatically over the past decade. While many disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of relapsing forms of MS, DMT costs continue to rise. The availability of generics and biosimilars in the MS-treatment landscape is unlikely to have a major impact on clinical benefit. However, their availability will provide alternative treatment options and potentially lower costs through competition, thus increasing the affordability of and access to these drugs. In April 2015, the first generic version of the complex drug glatiramer acetate (Glatopa® 20 mg/mL) injection was approved in the United States as a fully substitutable generic for all approved indications of the 20 mg/mL branded glatiramer acetate (Copaxone®) dosage form. Despite glatiramer acetate’s complex nature—being a chemically synthesized (ie, nonbiologic) mixture of peptides—the approval occurred without conducting any clinical trials. Rather, extensive structural and functional characterization was performed to demonstrate therapeutic equivalence to the innovator drug. The approval of Glatopa signifies an important milestone in the US MS-treatment landscape, with the hope that the introduction of generic DMTs and eventually biosimilar DMTs will lead to future improvements in the affordability and access of these much-needed treatments for MS.
A Digital Image Watermarking for Authentication Based on the Dual-Tree Complex discrete Wavelet Transform and Interval Arithmetic

We propose a new digital image watermarking method for authentication based on the dual-tree complex discrete wavelet transform (DT-CDWT) and interval arithmetic (IA). This method is a kind of content-based watermarking, because it generates a watermark from the host image and authenticates the test image by comparing two types of watermarks constructed using the test image. We describe our watermarking and authentication procedure in detail and present experimental results demonstrating that our method produces high-quality watermarked images and can locate the areas that have been tampered with.
Fast B-spline Transforms for Continuous Image Representation and Interpolation

Efficient algorithms for the continuous representation of a discrete signal in terms of B-splines (direct B-spline transform) and for interpolative signal reconstruction (indirect B-spline transform) with an expansion factor m are described. Expressions for the z-transforms of the sampled B-spline functions are determined and a convolution property of these kernels is established. It is shown that both the direct and indirect spline transforms involve linear operators that are space invariant and are implemented efficiently by linear filtering. Fast computational algorithms based on the recursive implementations of these filters are proposed. A B-spline interpolator can also be characterized in terms of its transfer function and its global impulse response (cardinal spline of order n). The case of the cubic spline is treated in greater detail. The present approach is compared with previous methods that are reexamined from a critical point of view. It is concluded that B-spline interpolation correctly applied does not result in a loss of image resolution and that this type of interpolation can be performed in a very efficient manner. >
Searching for grey literature for systematic reviews: challenges and benefits

There is ongoing interest in including grey literature in systematic reviews. Including grey literature can broaden the scope to more relevant studies, thereby providing a more complete view of available evidence. Searching for grey literature can be challenging despite greater access through the Internet, search engines and online bibliographic databases. There are a number of publications that list sources for finding grey literature in systematic reviews. However, there is scant information about how searches for grey literature are executed and how it is included in the review process. This level of detail is important to ensure that reviews follow explicit methodology to be systematic, transparent and reproducible.
Beamforming algorithm for physical layer security of multi user large scale antenna network

The traditional network security uses encryption and decryption operations in the application layer. However, this will not only increase the computational overhead of network, and there is no way to avoid user eavesdropping and attack from the physical layer, aiming at this problem, this paper proposes multi user large scale antenna network physical layer security beamforming algorithm, according to the optimization criterion the dual criterion beamforming design method. The simulation results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the network security capacity.
Time‐varying effect moderation using the structural nested mean model: estimation using inverse‐weighted regression with residuals

This article considers the problem of examining time‐varying causal effect moderation using observational, longitudinal data in which treatment, candidate moderators, and possible confounders are time varying. The structural nested mean model (SNMM) is used to specify the moderated time‐varying causal effects of interest in a conditional mean model for a continuous response given time‐varying treatments and moderators. We present an easy‐to‐use estimator of the SNMM that combines an existing regression‐with‐residuals (RR) approach with an inverse‐probability‐of‐treatment weighting (IPTW) strategy. The RR approach has been shown to identify the moderated time‐varying causal effects if the time‐varying moderators are also the sole time‐varying confounders. The proposed IPTW+RR approach provides estimators of the moderated time‐varying causal effects in the SNMM in the presence of an additional, auxiliary set of known and measured time‐varying confounders. We use a small simulation experiment to compare IPTW+RR versus the traditional regression approach and to compare small and large sample properties of asymptotic versus bootstrap estimators of the standard errors for the IPTW+RR approach. This article clarifies the distinction between time‐varying moderators and time‐varying confounders. We illustrate the methodology in a case study to assess if time‐varying substance use moderates treatment effects on future substance use. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In-vitro Antimicrobial Activities of Methanol Extracts of Zanthoxylum xanthoxyloides and Pseudocedrela kotschyi

The antimicrobial activities of two Nigerian medicinal plants ( Zanthoxylum xanthoxyloides and Pseudocedrela kotschyi ) commonly used as chewing sticks were investigated against 7 clinical strains of Streptococcus mutans, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis and Candida krusei ATCC 6825. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the extracts were determined using the agar well diffusion and surface plate method respectively. Zanthoxylum xanthoxyloides was active against all the isolates especially on the bacteria with MIC and MBC of 12.5 mg/mL and 25 mg/L respectively. Pseudocedrela kotschyi showed no activity on all the tested isolates except C. krusei ATCC 6825 with MIC of 6.25 mg/L. Streptococcus mutans , Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and C. albicans were completely killed within the time period of 4hrs by Z. xanthoxyloides extracts in time- kill study. A good correlation was found between the killing curves and the MIC of Z. xanthoxyloides against the tested isolates. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins and trace of terpenoids. Ability of Z. xanthoxyloides crude extracts to inhibit the growth of the bacteria and fungi in this study is an indication that the plant can be used as a source for antimicrobial agent in the formulation of toothpaste, thus justifying the use of the plant locally as chewing sticks