Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pattern Recognition of Spiking Neural Networks Based on Visual Mechanism and Supervised Synaptic Learning

Electrophysiological studies have shown that mammalian primary visual cortex are selective for the orientations of visual stimuli. Inspired by this mechanism, we propose a hierarchical spiking neural network (SNN) for image classification. Grayscale input images are fed through a feed-forward network consisting of orientation-selective neurons, which then projected to a layer of downstream classifier neurons through the spiking-based supervised tempotron learning rule. Based on the orientation-selective mechanism of the visual cortex and tempotron learning rule, the network can effectively classify images of the extensively studied MNIST database of handwritten digits, which achieves 96% classification accuracy based on only 2000 training samples (traditional training set is 60000). Compared with other classification methods, our model not only guarantees the biological plausibility and the accuracy of image classification but also significantly reduces the needed training samples. Considering the fact that the most commonly used deep learning neural networks need big data samples and high power consumption in image recognition, this brain-inspired computational neural network model based on the layer-by-layer hierarchical image processing mechanism of the visual cortex may provide a basis for the wide application of spiking neural networks in the field of intelligent computing.
New-onset Delirium Among Elderly Acute Care Orthopedic Trauma Patients: Sleep Disturbance And Nutritional Status As Modifiable Risk Factors.

Background: Among elderly orthopedic trauma patients, the prevalence of delirium during acute care hospitalization may be as high as 60%. Recent evidence suggests that a history of sleep disturbance may increase the risk of delirium in elective surgery patients; however, such an association remains underexplored in trauma patients. Objective: To investigate the relationship between pre-admission history of sleep disturbance and new-onset delirium (NOD) among elderly orthopedic trauma patients. Design: We conducted a retrospective, cross-sectional study. Setting: Data was abstracted from the Massachusetts General Hospital Geriatric Inpatient Fracture Trauma Service (GIFTS) research repository. Participants: The analytical cohort was composed of 467 individuals, all >65 years of age, who were hospitalized between 01/01/2017 and 08/31/2018 for an extremity fracture. Intervention: All patients received GIFTS consultation within 24 hours of admission. Measurements: Patients were considered to have a history of sleep disturbance if it was documented in the medical record before hospitalization or if they self-reported a history of chronic sleep disturbance. Delirium was assessed daily using the Confusion Assessment Method. To investigate whether a history of sleep disturbance is associated with NOD, we performed a multiple variable logistic regression, controlling for several biologically relevant covariates known to be associated with sleep disturbance and risk of delirium. Results: Incidence of NOD was 20% (n = 91). Multiple variable regression analysis demonstrated that patients with a history of sleep disturbance were 75% more likely to develop NOD compared to patients with no history of sleep disturbance (OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.08-3.12).
SR-MVS : multi-view stereo enhancement through super-resolution

Nowadays, 3D reconstruction algorithms have reached incredible levels of accuracy and robustness, especially when the images of the environment to be reconstructed are equipped with a high resolution. There are cases in which, unfortunately, the quality of these images is not high enough, as in the case of old photographs, or cases in which the hardware used to immortalize them is a limitation. In this thesis, we discuss a new way to improve the quality of 3D reconstructions performed starting from a set of images of the scene to be modelled. More precisely, we will examine whether the increase in the resolution of these input images results in an improvement of the reconstructed model. In particular, we study whether, how and how much the depth map estimation, being the most relevant step of the most successful Multi-View Stereo pipelines, can benefit from SuperResolution based on Deep Learning algorithms. Although these latter techniques can generate artifacts, we demonstrate how their application before restoring the depth maps leads to the realization of a better 3D model both in the case of algorithms based on PatchMatch and in those based on autonomous learning.
Contributions to data-driven model-based identification using small-size datasets for estimating bearings remaining useful life

Remaining useful life (RUL) estimation for bearings degradation monitoring is an important metric for decision making in condition based maintenance of rotating mechanics. RUL estimation involves generally two steps: degradation indicator extraction and model identification. Common vibration signal based features for bearings degradation monitoring are sensible on the last stage of the degradation process. In this thesis, we propose new bearing degradation monitoring indicators that are monotonic and incorporate historical degradation information. To overcome the drawback of a small size training datasets for model identification, we elaborated a mixture distribution analysis based fuzzy model identification method for RUL estimation. Furthermore, we proposed a method to tune the parameters of the fuzzy models for bearings RUL estimation when new knowledge becomes available. The aim is to improve the accuracy of the RUL estimation through a knowledge accumulation process.
Overcoming The Blood Brain Barrier: In Vivo And In Vitro Perfusion Model For Delivery Of Avidin.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB), consists of brain microvascular endothelial cells, pericytes and astrocytes, is a major obstacle that needs to be overcome for drug delivery systems in the brain. Adsorptive-mediated transcytosis (AMT) is one of seven different ways in which drugs or molecules can be transported across the blood-brain barrier. Due to its basic nature, Avidin is expected to penetrate through BBB via AMT, however, its cationic nature can result in non-specific binding with serum proteins, further limiting its availability for transport across the BBB. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) modified Avidin shields some of its net cationic charge thereby reducing non-specific binding interactions and increasing its circulation retention time in vivo. HF-750 labeled Avidin was conjugated with two 10 kDa PEG-Biotin using Avidin/Biotin reaction and IVIS (in vivo imaging system) spectrum was then used to observe the distribution of HF-750 or Avidin-PEG-HF-750 in the mouse after intravenous (IV) injection. The data proved that PEGylation of Avidin (Av-PEG) enhanced Avidin’s residence time in the circulation of healthy mice. However, we were not able to show that Avidin or the free dye could penetrate across the BBB as no fluorescence intensity was measured in brain of healthy mice using IVIS. In second part of the work, we developed in vitro BBB models using bovine brain microvascular endothelial cells (BBMVEC) and rat astrocytes (RA) by altering media composition, surface area and materials, and culture patterns. We reported that use of a 24-well plate insert with 0.4 μm permeable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) membrane along with commercial media supplemented with 500 nM Dexamethasone (Dex) can help strengthen the BBB integrity, resulting in increased transepithelial/ endothelial electrical resistance (TEER) values (117.15 ± 7 Ω  cm 2 ) and thus reduced solute permeability, consistent with prior published vs. FITC (p<0.05). in (p<0.05). vs. FITC in non-contact co-culture (p<0.05). difference vs. FITC in contact co-culture
Nanometer Size Effect on Magnetic Properties of Sm0.8Ca0.2MnO3 Nanoparticles

Magnetic properties of compacted Sm0.8Ca0. 2MnO3 (SCMO) particles with average particle size of 23–100 nm, prepared by the glycine-nitrate method, have been investigated. It was found that the relative volume of the ferromagnetic phase decreases with decreasing particle size. Curves of field-cooled and zero-field-cooled magnetization (MZFC) exhibit a bifurcation just below the Curie temperature, TCdc ≈ 55–64 K, determined from magnetization measurements for all particles studied. The field dependence of MZFC peak shows reasonable agreement with both the de Almeida–Thouless H2/3 line and the H2 power law. Measurements of ac susceptibility in the temperature range 5–300 K and the frequency range f = 10 Hz to 10 kHz show a sharp peak for both real and imaginary components in the vicinity of TCdc, apparently attributed to the Hopkinson effect. The Curie temperature determined by zeroing the imaginary part of ac susceptibility χ″(T) shows a larger value of TC ≈ 85–90 K in compliance with TC of bulk Sm0.8Ca0. 2Mn.
Plasmon de surface de particules métalliques toroïdales

Ce travail de these est consacre aux proprietes optiques de nanoparticules metalliques toroidales. Le developpement d'une methode de resolution de l'equation de Laplace en coordonnees toroidales permet d'analyser les proprietes radiatives des nanoparticules toriques metalliques dans le cadre de l'electrostatique. L'etude sur la distribution spatiale des modes propres suggere que des nanotores metalliques peuvent soutenir un moment dipolaire magnetique tout en annulant la valeur du moment dipolaire electrique au frequences optiques. Les expressions analytiques des sections efficaces de diffusion et d'extinction du tore sont egalement trouvees et comparees a des simulations numeriques et des resultats experimentaux obtenus dans le cadre de collaborations. La sensibilite de la frequence de resonance plasmon a l'indice de refraction du milieu exterieur ainsi qu'au facteur de forme est mis en evidence.
FST and the Triangle Inequality for Biallelic Markers

The population differentiation statistic FST, introduced by Sewall Wright, is often treated as a pairwise distance measure between populations. As was known to Wright, however, FST is not a true metric because allele frequencies exist for which it does not satisfy the triangle inequality. We prove that a stronger result holds: for biallelic markers whose allele frequencies differ across three populations, FST never satisfies the triangle inequality. We study the deviation from the triangle inequality as a function of the allele frequencies of three populations, identifying frequency vectors at which the deviation is maximal. We also examine the implications of the failure of the triangle inequality for the four-point condition for groups of four populations. Next, we examine the extent to which FST fails to satisfy the triangle inequality in genome-wide data from human populations, finding that some loci have frequencies that produce deviations near the maximum. We discuss the consequences of the theoretical results for various types of data analysis, including multidimensional scaling and inference of neighbor-joining trees from pairwise FST matrices.
Probing Ligand and Cation Binding Sites in G-Quadruplex Nucleic Acids by Mass Spectrometry and Electron Photodetachment Dissociation Sequencing

Mass spectrometry provides exquisite detail on ligand and cation binding stoichiometries with a DNA target. The next important step is to develop reliable methods to determine the cation and ligand binding sites in each complex separated by the mass spectrometer. To circumvent the caveat of ligand derivatization for cross-linking, which may alter the ligand binding mode, we explored a tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method that does not require ligand derivatization, and is therefore also applicable to localize metal cations. By obtaining more negative charge states for the complexes using supercharging agents, and by creating radical ions by electron photodetachment, oligonucleotide bonds become weaker than the DNA-cation or DNA-ligand noncovalent bonds upon collision-induced dissociation of the radicals. This electron photodetachment (EPD) method allows to locate the binding regions of cations and ligands by top-down sequencing of the oligonucleotide target. The very potent G-quadruplex ligands 360A and PhenDC3 were found to replace a potassium cation and bind close to the central loop of 4-repeat human telomeric sequences.
When Sharing Economy Meets Traditional Business: Coopetition between Ride-Sharing Platforms and Car-Rental

We examine coopetition between a ride-sharing platform and a car-rental firm. A distinctive aspect of this context is that the platform operates under the sharing-economy model where the supply is self-scheduled by drivers depending on the wage, whereas the car-rental firm operates under the traditional model with a fixed supply and cost structure. The platform and the car-rental firm compete for riders looking for transportation. If the platform and the rental firm choose to cooperate, they allow a (secondary) driver to rent from the rental firm and drive for the platform. In the absence of cooperation, only those with their own vehicles (i.e., primary drivers) are allowed to drive for the platform. We show that such supply-side (i.e., driver-side) cooperation intensifies the demand-side (i.e., rider-side) price competition and decreases total revenue. Therefore, coopetition is mutually beneficial only when it leads to a significant decrease in the supply or driver cost. Moreover, when coopetition is mutually beneficial, the benefit arises solely because of the improved profit margin from riders that switch from the rental firm to the platform and from those that are switched from primary to secondary drivers under cooperation. We find that cooperation is more likely to occur when the total rider market size is not high, the degree of rider substitutability between the platform and the rental firm is low, and the platform has a significant market-size advantage over the rental firm. Coopetition between the platform and the rental firm benefits the riders and hurts the drivers, but benefits society overall. The presence of cross-side network effects on the platform enhances the incentives to engage in coopetition.
Towards a Better Understanding of Human Caused Wildfire in Colorado with Spatial Data Mining

This study investigated the circumstances of human caused wildfire from 1992-2015 within Colorado’s Forested Mountain and North American Desert eco-regions using spatial data mining. This process successfully extracted the associations amongst human caused wildfire variables by utilizing the Apriori data mining algorithm while allowing various spatial predicates to present complex iterative behaviors of variables across space. This research also examined changes in the spatial associations between three time periods, 1992-1999, 2000-2007, and 2008-2015. The findings were compared against existing wildfire literature. The data mining methodology extracted frequent itemset rules from Colorado wildfire data to evaluate the state’s patterns against previous wildfire occurrence research. This study suggests new knowledge regarding human caused wildfire and the variable of population spillover effects. The results indicated that as human population centers increase in population size the spillover effects further influence the spatial association patterns of human caused wildfire. Other variable results proved consistent with existing literature. The evidence also showed low population density and low housing unit density as the most dominant spatial association features with in the study. A novel mapping methodology rendered the extracted frequent itemset rules in a manner that weighted their consistency over time. The information developed here can potentially be used for informing human caused wildfire mitigation, risk analysis, and future human caused wildfire modeling studies within Colorado. iv For those effected by wildfire
Damegender: Writing and Comparing Gender Detection Tools

Diversity in software development teams has been identiﬁed as one of the main ingredi-ents of a more productive and healthy software community. Thus, the interest in identifying who is contributing to a project has increased in the last years. In the software domain, although other types of diversity exist, the case of gender is particularly important. Given the large amount of publicly available data on the software development process that can be retrieved and analyzed from the Internet (e.g., GitHub, StackOverﬂow), the importance of having methods and tools that help to identify the participation of women in it is desirable. In this paper we present a free software tool, damegender , conceived to infer the gender from the name of a participant. damegender is based on open databases from oﬃcial census and uses Machine Learning. An experimental branch is currently under development for those cases where diminutives or nicknames are used instead of names. We have compared damegender with other name-to-gender inference tools, obtaining good re-sults. We hope damegender will become a cornerstone for the advancement of gender and diversity studies (including gender gap) in Information Technology, and in particular in the free software community.
Electronic properties of quantum dot systems realized in semiconductor nanowires

Catalyst-assisted growth of semiconductor nanowires has opened up several new and exciting possibilities for low-dimensional semiconductor structures. The authors review progress on the realization of quantum dots in semiconductor nanowires, and their characterization by transport spectroscopy. Emphasis is placed on the wide range electronic properties exhibited due to flexibility of the growth process in terms of nanostructure composition and size. Particular attention is placed on studies of spin in few-electron quantum dots.
Women Empowerment in Talent Group Interest Activities at Satya Wacana Christian University

This research aims to obtain an overview of gender equality in the Talent Group Interest (KBM) activities at Satya Wacana Christian University. This research used a qualitative method, where each data is taken from the observation and interviews with the research subject consisting of the Chairman and members of the KBM existing in the University and the validity technique of data using the triangulation of the source and method. The results found in this study were that gender equality and the opportunities that women had in occupying certain positions existed in each KBM were the same and there was no distinction between women and men, especially in terms of leadership. It is explained that anyone can occupy a specific position with conditions and criteria that have been determined and must be able to be accountable to the KBM. It proves that men and women have the same rights to continue to arise and strive for the sake of the KBM. Besides some of the advantages of the KBM if led by women have the opportunity to be more advanced, because women are seen more thoroughly and more attention to detail matters. The weakness that can arise when it is not possible to decline when women are difficult in determining decisions and need support from other members of both men and women to find the solutions.
The regulatory network of PITX1 during mouse limb and craniofacial development

In multicellular organisms, cell fates are established through precise patterns of gene expression. This requires a complex set of interactions among cis-regulatory elements and transcription factors. Enhancers, in particular, play a central role in driving cell-type specific gene expression patterns and are capable of activating transcriptional target genes. Both the limb and the mandible are classic model systems for the study of developmental regulation. In mouse, the hindlimb and mandible share similar developmental processes, including specification of the prospective field, induction of tissue outgrowth, maintenance of the outgrowth and patterning tissue along different axes. Many major signaling pathways contribute to the development of both organs, including FGF, SHH, BMP and WNT. Beyond signaling pathways, there is a relatively narrow network of hindlimb-restricted or mandible-restricted regulators, such as PITX1, TBX4, ISL1, DLX5/6 and HAND1/2. PITX1 is a tissue-specific transcription factor, which is encoded by the paired-like homeodomain 1. Strong Pitx1 expression is found in both the hindlimb and mandible mesenchyme. Haploinsufficiency for Pitx1 in mice and humans can result in clubfoot, mandibular hypoplasia and other hindlimbor jaw-related malformations. However, the hindlimb and mandible PITX1-transcriptional targets that are misregulated in the absence of PITX1 remain largely unknown. In this work, I have applied a combination of comparative genomics, epigenetic profiles and functional analyses to study the regulatory network of PITX1 transcriptional targets that direct mouse hindlimb and mandible development. I performed a genome-wide ChIP-seq analysis to identify the location of cis-regulatory elements bound by PITX1 during embryonic development of the mouse hindlimb and mandible. The transcriptional targets of PITX1 in developing hindlimbs and mandibles are revealed by performing RNA-seq. PITX1-dependent enhancers and target genes of hindlimb and mandible are defined with the combination of sequence conservation, ChIP-seq, RNA-seq and functional analyses. The results support the conclusions that PITX1 can promote chondrogenic and myogenic differentiation in mouse hindlimb through conserved regulatory targets, and modulate both hindlimb and mandible development through the shared regulatory network. INDEX WORDS: PITX1, Hindlimb, Mandible, Chromatin Immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq), RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), Chondrogenesis, Myogenesis THE REGULATORY NETWORK OF PITX1 DURING MOUSE LIMB AND CRANIOFACIAL DEVELOPMENT
Evaluation of the potential biocontrol activity of Dicyma pulvinata against Cladosporium fulvum, the causal agent of tomato leaf mould

Y. Iida* , K. Ikeda, H. Sakai, H. Nakagawa, O. Nishi and Y. Higashi National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, Kusawa 360, Tsu-city, Mie 514-2392; Gunma Agricultural Technology Center, 493 Nishiobokata-cho, Isesaki-shi, Gunma 379-2224; Food Research Institute, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 2-1-12 Kannon-dai, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8642; and Advanced Analysis Center, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 2-1-12 Kannon-dai, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8642, Japan
The potential use of bacterial endophytes recovered from tropical fruits to control foodborne pathogens

THE POTENTIAL USE OF BACTERIAL ENDOPHYTES RECOVERED FROM TROPICAL FRUITS TO CONTROL FOODBORNE PATHOGENS Bowornnan Chantapakul University of Guelph, 2020 Advisor(s): Dr. Jeff Farber Listeria monocytogenes and Cronobacter sakazakii are both important foodborne pathogens. Bacterial endophytes, which reside in plant cells, can provide antimicrobial compounds and protect the host organism from plant pathogens. These biological compounds could be used in agriculture and the food industry. In this thesis, we investigated the culturable bacterial community from tropical fruits and their ability to reduce and/or inhibit the growth of L. monocytogenes and/or C. sakazakii. A total of 196 bacterial endophytes were recovered from tropical fruits. Among all these bacterial endophytes, 33 (16.8%) isolates showed an inhibition zone against L. monocytogenes, while 13 (6.6%) isolates showed inhibition against C. sakazakii. The inhibitory strains were identified as Bacillus spp. , Enterobacter spp. , Microbacterium spp. , Pantoea spp. and Pseudomonas spp. Furthermore, Pantoea spp. and Enterobacter spp. were used in challenge studies with cantaloupe and liquid infant formula and demonstrated some antagonistic activity against L. monocytogenes and C. sakazakii, respectively.