Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A VLSI Neuro-Fuzzy Controller

ABSTRACTIn this paper, a new analog neuro-fuzzy controller is presented. Standard CMOS technology was used for implementation of the building blocks. Internal architecture provides the trade-off between speed and the number of fuzzy rules and/or number of antecedents. Although the input signals, output signals and the processor circuits are all analog, the chip is digitally programmable. Analog processing permits the design of efficient circuits, which are low power, fast and very compact. In addition, since all the membership functions and fuzzy rules are digitally programmable, the controller can be used for a large variety of processes. For high speed and flexible defuzzification, a 3-layer neural network is used which can perform different methods of defuzzification: the center of gravity (COG), the mean of maxima (MOM), and so on. The proposed approach departs from other approaches, since it eliminates any need for division or normalizing feedback which are the speed bottlenecks of most previous work.
Impact Analysis of Demand Response Intensity and Energy Storage Size on Operation of Networked Microgrids

Integration of demand response (DR) programs and battery energy storage system (BESS) in microgrids are beneficial for both microgrid owners and consumers. The intensity of DR programs and BESS size can alter the operation of microgrids. Meanwhile, the optimal size for BESS units is linked with the uncertainties associated with renewable energy sources and load variations. Similarly, the participation of enrolled customers in DR programs is also uncertain and, among various other factors, uncertainty in market prices is a major cause. Therefore, in this paper, the impact of DR program intensity and BESS size on the operation of networked microgrids is analyzed while considering the prevailing uncertainties. The uncertainties associated with forecast load values, output of renewable generators, and market price are realized via the robust optimization method. Robust optimization has the capability to provide immunity against the worst-case scenario, provided the uncertainties lie within the specified bounds. The worst-case scenario of the prevailing uncertainties is considered for evaluating the feasibility of the proposed method. The two representative categories of DR programs, i.e., price-based and incentive-based DR programs are considered. The impact of change in DR intensity and BESS size on operation cost of the microgrid network, external power trading, internal power transfer, load profile of the network, and state-of-charge (SOC) of battery energy storage system (BESS) units is analyzed. Simulation results are analyzed to determine the integration of favorable DR program and/or BESS units for different microgrid networks with diverse objectives.
Exploring the biopsychosocial effects of renal replacement therapy amongst patients in a state hospital in South Africa

Continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis In this form of dialysis, the patient’s blood is filtered inside the body by means of a catheter in the patient’s abdomen, which acts as a permanent pathway into the peritoneal cavity. Patients This article described a qualitative study that investigated the bio-psychosocial effects of renal replacement therapy on patients in a state hospital in South Africa. The study aimed to investigate the level of debility experienced by patients undergoing haemodialysis (HD) and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and to explore how this debility affects their bio-psychosocial functioning. Respondents comprised a small sample of HD and CAPD patients. Using an interview schedule as the research tool allowed rich data to be uncovered. Content analysis and reducing data into themes facilitated data analysis. Although the study was not quantitative and thus did not allow for comparative analysis, themes regarding the levels of stress emerged amongst participants. The HD group voiced greater concerns regarding the degree of debility and psychosocial distress than the CAPD group. Governmental support for holistic kidney disease treatment and careful teaming of key role players to reduce the severity and far-reaching bio-psychosocial effects of HD and CAPD treatment are recommended. Page 1 of 10
Prognostic value of enzymatic liver function for the estimation of short‐term survival of liver transplant candidates: a prospective study with the LiMAx test

LiMAx has been recently proposed as a new quantitative liver function test. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic ability of LiMAx to assess short‐term survival in liver transplant candidates and compare its performance to the model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) and indocyanine green plasma disappearance rate (ICG‐PDR). Liver function of 167 chronic liver failure patients without hepatocellular carcinoma was prospectively investigated when they were evaluated for liver transplantation. Primary study endpoints were liver‐related death within 6 months of follow‐up. Within 6 months of follow‐up, 18 patients died and 36 underwent liver transplantation. Median LiMAx results on evaluation day were significantly lower in patients who died (99 μg/kg/h vs. 55 μg/kg/h; P = 0.024), while median ICG‐PDR results did not differ within both groups (4.4%/min vs. 3.5%/min; P = 0.159). LiMAx showed a higher negative predictive value (NPV: 0.93) as compared with ICG‐PDR (NPV: 0.90) and the MELD (NPV: 0.91) in predicting risk of death within 6 months. In conclusion, LiMAx provides good prognostic information of liver transplant candidates. In particular, patients who are not at risk of death can be identified reliably by measuring actual enzymatic liver function capacity.
Subglacial Refugia in Iceland Enabled Groundwater Amphipods to Survive Glaciations

An endemic family of subterranean amphipods (Crustacea) has recently been discovered in Iceland, in addition to a new species of a previously known amphipod family. These findings are remarkable because Iceland was covered by glaciers from about 2.6 million BP to about 10,000 BP and is isolated on the mid‐Atlantic Ridge, far from the North American and European continents. We argue that there were subglacial refugia in Iceland during the Quaternary glacial period. The presence of subterranean amphipods, belonging to an old group with its present distribution mainly in North America and the Eurasian continent, indicates past contact of subterranean fresh waters of Iceland and the North Atlantic continent. The amphipods currently found in Iceland may have been present in Greenland at 40 Ma, when the precursor of Iceland drifted together with the hot spot (Iceland plume) from Greenland.
Efficient Simulation of Clustering Jumps with CIR Intensity

We introduce a broad family of generalised self-exciting point processes with CIR-type intensities, and we develop associated algorithms for their exact simulation. The underlying models are extensions of the classical Hawkes process, which already has numerous applications in modelling the arrival of events with clustering or contagion effect in finance, economics, and many other fields. Interestingly, we find that the CIR-type intensity, together with its point process, can be sequentially decomposed into simple random variables, which immediately leads to a very efficient simulation scheme. Our algorithms are also pretty accurate and flexible. They can be easily extended to further incorporate externally excited jumps, or, to a multidimensional framework. Some typical numerical examples and comparisons with other well-known schemes are reported in detail. In addition, a simple application for modelling a portfolio loss process is presented. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/op.
Secondary Aspergillus in Bronchoalveolar Lavages (BALs) of Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients from North-India

To find out the prevalence of Aspergillus spp. in Bronchoalveolar Lavages (BALs) of pulmonary tuberculosis patients, to study the anti-Aspergillus antibodies in patient's sera and to study the anti-fungal susceptibility of the isolated Aspergillus strains. BALs obtained from sixty-five patients of pulmonary tuberculosis and 10 healthy volunteers were studied. Direct microscopy was performed by 10% KOH and Lacto- Phenol Cotton Blue (LPCB) mounts and fungal cultures were performed on two sets of Czapek Dox agar (CDA) after adding chloramphenicol (0.05 mg/ml). Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MICs) were determined for fluconazole, itraconazole and amphotericin B by broth micro-dilution method. Finally, fungal serology was performed by Double Immunodiffuion (DID), Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and Dot Blot Assay (DBA) to evaluate the efficacies of these tests for detection of anti-aspergillus antibodies. Aspergillus species were isolated from 13.8% (9/65) patients. A. fumigatus was isolated in 5 (55.5%) patients while A. flavus and A. niger were isolated from 3 (33.3%) and 1 (11.1%) patients respectively. None from the control group showed growth of any Aspergillus species. All the Aspergillus species were consistently resistant to fluconazole (MIC >16 µg/ml). MICs for itraconazole and amphotericin B ranged between 0.12- >16 µg/ml and 0.12- 0.5 µg/ml, respectively. Anti-aspergillus antibodies were detected in 14 (21.5%) patients by DID as well as by ELISA; whereas, 12 (18.4%) patients showed presence of anti-aspergillus antibodies by DBA. The prevalence of Aspergillus in BAL of pulmonary tuberculosis patients was 13.8%. Aspergillus fumigatus was the predominant species, however the isolation of A. flavus (33.3%) was also significant. We suggest that the diagnostic tests for Aspergillosis, including culture and serology, should be incorporated in routine clinical laboratories so that we may not miss the secondary Aspergillosis in tuberculosis patients.
Performance Enhancement of Multiwavelength Conversion of RZ-DPSK Based on Four-Wave Mixing in Semiconductor Optical Amplifier

In this letter, we propose two methods to enhance the performance of multichannel wavelength conversion of return-to-zero differential phase-shift-keying signal in a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) based on four-wave-mixing effect. The first one is optimizing the relative time delay of the multichannel signal to reduce the crosstalk-induced penalty in SOA. The second one is using the synchronous clock pumping to raise the power of converted signal. The experiment on wavelength conversion of two channels at 10-Gb/s signal showed the power penalty was improved more than 1 dB in the first method and about 1.5 dB in the second method.
Apart from its known function, the plasma membrane Ca2+ATPase can regulate Ca2+ signaling by controlling phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate levels

ABSTRACT Plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPases (PMCAs, also known as ATP2B1–ATP2B4) are known targets of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PtdIns(4,5)P2], but if and how they control the PtdIns(4,5)P2 pool has not been considered. We demonstrate here that PMCAs protect PtdIns(4,5)P2 in the plasma membrane from hydrolysis by phospholipase C (PLC). Comparison of active and inactive PMCAs indicates that the protection operates by two mechanisms; one requiring active PMCAs, the other not. It appears that the mechanism requiring activity is the removal of the Ca2+ required for sustained PLC activity, whereas the mechanism not requiring activity is PtdIns(4,5)P2 binding. We show that in PMCA overexpressing cells, PtdIns(4,5)P2 binding can lead to less inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (InsP3) and diminished Ca2+ release from intracellular Ca2+ pools. Inspection of a homology model of PMCA suggests that PMCAs have a conserved cluster of basic residues forming a ‘blue collar’ at the interface between the membrane core and the cytoplasmic domains. By molecular dynamics simulation, we found that the blue collar forms four binding pockets for the phosphorylated inositol head group of PtdIns(4,5)P2; these pockets bind PtdIns(4,5)P2 strongly and frequently. Our studies suggest that by having the ability to bind PtdIns(4,5)P2, PMCAs can control the accessibility of PtdIns(4,5)P2 for PLC and other PtdIns(4,5)P2-mediated processes.
On the lower order ( R ) of an entire Dirichlet series

© Annales de l’institut Fourier, 1974, tous droits réservés. L’accès aux archives de la revue « Annales de l’institut Fourier » (http://annalif.ujf-grenoble.fr/) implique l’accord avec les conditions générales d’utilisation (http://www.numdam.org/conditions). Toute utilisation commerciale ou impression systématique est constitutive d’une infraction pénale. Toute copie ou impression de ce fichier doit contenir la présente mention de copyright.
Assessment of identity disequilibrium and its relation to empirical heterozygosity fitness correlations: a meta‐analysis

Heterozygosity fitness correlations (HFCs) have frequently been used to detect inbreeding depression, under the assumption that genome‐wide heterozygosity is a good proxy for inbreeding. However, meta‐analyses of the association between fitness measures and individual heterozygosity have shown that often either no correlations are observed or the effect sizes are small. One of the reasons for this may be the absence of variance in inbreeding, a requisite for generating general‐effect HFCs. Recent work has highlighted identity disequilibrium (ID) as a measure that may capture variance in the level of inbreeding within a population; however, no thorough assessment of ID in natural populations has been conducted. In this meta‐analysis, we assess the magnitude of ID (as measured by the g2 statistic) from 50 previously published HFC studies and its relationship to the observed effect sizes of those studies. We then assess how much power the studies had to detect general‐effect HFCs, and the number of markers that would have been needed to generate a high expected correlation (r2 = 0.9) between observed heterozygosity and inbreeding. Across the majority of studies, g2 values were not significantly different than zero. Despite this, we found that the magnitude of g2 was associated with the average effect sizes observed in a population, even when point estimates were nonsignificant. These low values of g2 translated into low expected correlations between heterozygosity and inbreeding and suggest that many more markers than typically used are needed to robustly detect HFCs.
Production of Polyclonal Antibodies to Bean Yellow Mosaic Virus Isolates Affecting Legumes and Ornamental Plants In Taif Province

Bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV) was detected in Phaseolus vulgaris and Vigna unguiculata L. plants in different local farms at Al-Haweia, AL-Hada and Al-Shefa, during 2014, throughout Taif Province, Saudi Arabia. The virus was also detected for the first time in up to 10% of commercially grown ornamental plants (Taif Roses) Rosa damascena, in which it caused mosaic symptoms on leaf and moderate flower breaking. Large quantities of highly specific polyclonal antibodies was produced against BYMV and other serological related isolates for both capture and detection. The yield of purified virus was 2.0 mg/100 gm of infected Phaseolus vulgaris L. plants. Production of specific antiserum was obtained by immunization of New Zealand white rabbits with a total of 10 mg purified virus preparations using three different methods of injections. The titer of the produced antiserum as determined by an indirect ELISA was 1/2048. Results of enzyme-linked- immunosorbent serologic assay disclosed that the prepared antiserum had cross reactivity with different BYMV isolates like clover yellow vein virus (ClYVV) and Pea mosaic virus (PMV). Purified IgG and IgG conjugate polyclonal antibodies made against BYMV proved that it's as extremely economical as compared with the commercially accessible antibodies. Polyclonal antibodies derived from animals immunized with purified viral proteins are particularly valuable for use in the laboratory.
Securing the anonymity of content providers in the World Wide Web

Nowadays the World Wide Web (WWW) is an established service used by people all over the world. Most of them do not recognize the fact that they reveal plenty of information about themselves or their affiliation and computer equipment to the providers of web pages they connect to. As a result, a lot of services offer users to access web pages unrecognized or without risk of being backtracked, respectively. This kind of anonymity is called user or client anonymity. But on the other hand, an equivalent protection for content providers does not exist, although this feature is desirable for many situations in which the identity of a publisher or content provider shall be hidden. We call this property server anonymity. We will introduce the first system with the primary target to offer anonymity for providers of information in the WWW. Beside this property, it provides also client anonymity. Based on David Chaum's idea of mixes and in relation to the context of the WWW, we explain the term 'server anonymity' motivating the system JANUS which offers both client and server anonymity.
Role of Phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-Trisphosphate (PIP3) 5-Phosphatase Skeletal Muscle- and Kidney-enriched Inositol Polyphosphate Phosphatase (SKIP) in Myoblast Differentiation*

Background: SKIP is a PIP3 5-phosphatase that negatively regulates insulin signaling in the skeletal muscle. Results: Overexpression of SKIP inhibited IGF-II expression and the myoblast cell differentiation. Conclusion: SKIP negatively regulated muscle cell differentiation through the attenuation of IGF-II-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway. Significance: SKIP is a key regulator if muscle cell differentiation. Insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) are essential for the development, regeneration, and hypertrophy of skeletal muscles. IGF-II promotes myoblast differentiation through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase), Akt, and mTOR signaling. Here, we report that skeletal muscle- and kidney-enriched inositol polyphosphate phosphatase (SKIP) negatively regulates myogenesis through inhibition of IGF-II production and attenuation of the IGF-II-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway. We also demonstrate that SKIP expression, which was markedly elevated during differentiation, was controlled by MyoD in C2C12 cells. Expression of SKIP inhibited IGF-II at the transcription level. These results indicate that SKIP regulates MyoD-mediated muscle differentiation. Silencing of SKIP increased IGF-II transcription and myoblast differentiation. Furthermore, knockdown of SKIP resulted in thick myotubes with a larger number of nuclei than that in control C2C12 cells. Taken together, these data indicate that SKIP controls the IGF-II-PI 3-kinase-Akt-mTOR auto-regulation loop during myogenesis. Our findings identify SKIP as a key regulator of muscle cell differentiation.
Comparative Study of Longevity, Growth, and Biomarkers of Metal Detoxication and Oxidative Stress Between Normal and Deformed Aphanius fasciatus (Pisces, Cyprinodontidae)

This study compared fish longevity, growth, and oxidative stress between normal and deformed Aphanius fasciatus collected from the Gulf of Gabes. For this purpose, fish were collected from control (S1) and polluted (S2) sites in Tunisian coast and percentages of spinal deformities were determined. Oxidative stress biomarkers were also compared between normal and deformed fish, including levels of protein sulfhydryl (SH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and metallothioneins (MT), as well as activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and alkaline phosphatase (AP). Levels of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, and Zn) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were also measured. Data showed that the highest occurrence of deformities was observed in younger fish and decreased significantly thereafter with age. Chemical analysis demonstrated high levels of heavy metals and PAH at polluted sites compared to a reference location. In deformed fish, a growth perturbation marked by a decrease of growth rate and condition index (CI), a high accumulation of Cd was noted. In addition, oxidative stress marked by changes in the studied biomarkers was observed. Taken together, oxidative stress, diminished longevity, and a disturbance of growth may be considered to be responsible factors contributing to spinal deformities.
Polynomial PDF of the Smallest Eigenvalue of Complex Central Wishart Matrix with Correlation at the Side with the Smallest Number of Antennas

In the literature, the marginal probability density function (pdf) of the smallest eigenvalue of Wishart matrix has been known in the form of determinants having elements with special functions. In this letter, a polynomial expression is derived on the pdf of the smallest eigenvalue of complex central Wishart matrix with correlation at the side with the smallest number of antennas.
An Exchange Market Approach to Mobile Crowdsensing: Pricing, Task Allocation, and Walrasian Equilibrium

Pricing and task allocation are vital to improving the efficiency in mobile <italic>crowdsensing</italic>, an emerging human-in-the-loop application paradigm. Previous studies focused on incentive mechanism design for specific sensing applications where one party (either task initiators or platform) can dominate the pricing and task allocation process. These results, however, are not applicable to a free crowdsensing market where multiple task initiators and task participants (mobile users), as peers, are engaged to maximize their own interests. New incentive mechanisms are pressingly needed to produce a solution, so that the interests of all participating parties can be considered. In this paper, appealing to exchange economy theory, we employ the notion of “Walrasian Equilibrium” as a comprehensive metric, at which there exists a <italic>price vector for mobile users</italic> and an <italic>allocation for task initiators</italic> such that the allocation is Pareto optimal and the market gets cleared (i.e., all sensing tasks are performed). We consider a standard model where the utility function for sensing quality is monotonically increasing, differentiable, and concave, and the payoff function for a mobile user is linear. To address the problem, we first characterize the supply–demand pattern for a given price vector, which is the subset of mobile users selected by each task initiator to perform the task. We then devise methods for validating the existence of a <italic>Walrasian Equilibrium</italic> within each supply–demand pattern. One key step is to divide the space of prices into a collection of appropriate cells, based on the hyperplane arrangement, so that each cell has a unique supply–demand pattern. We devise an algorithm that can find a <italic>Walrasian Equilibrium</italic> in polynomial time, for a case of practical interest where the classes of mobile devices are bounded. Based on the insight, we further consider the general case and design an efficient pattern search (EPS) algorithm to reduce the search space, thus accelerating the search process accordingly. This is realized by choosing the supply–demand pattern which is closer to the “Walrasian Equilibrium” than the pattern in previous iteration in the search process. Our results show that EPS can find an <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\epsilon $ </tex-math></inline-formula>-approximation <italic>Walrasian Equilibrium</italic> in polynomial time for the general case, given a constant <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\epsilon $ </tex-math></inline-formula>.