Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multiobjective Control for T–S Fuzzy Singularly Perturbed Systems

This paper investigates the problem of multiobjective control for a class of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy singularly perturbed systems. Based on a linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach, a state feedback controller that depends on the singular perturbation parameter epsiv is developed such that: 1) the H infin performance of the resulting closed-loop system is less than or equal to some prescribed value; 2) the closed-loop poles of each local system are within a prespecified LMI stability region; and 3) for a given upper bound epsivmacr for the singular perturbation parameter epsiv, both 1) and 2) are guaranteed for all epsiv isin [0,epsivmacr. ] It is shown that the epsiv-dependent controller is well defined for any epsiv isin [0,epsivmacr], and can be reduced to an epsiv-independent one if epsiv is sufficiently small. Finally, a practical example is given to show the feasibility and effectiveness of the obtained method.
Blind Source Separation of Continuous-Time Chaotic Signals Based on Fast Random Search Algorithm

Blind source separation (BSS) of continuous-time chaotic signals from a linear mixture is addressed in this brief. It is assumed that the functional forms of the generating systems of chaotic signals are known, and the parameters of the generating systems and the mixture matrix are unknown. The problem of determining the parameters and the mixture matrix is formulated as an optimization one. A fast random search (FRS) algorithm is, therefore, proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that the FRS algorithm can solve the indeterminacy problem in BSS and show the separability of mixed signals in a high noise background.
Connectedness in graph limits

We define direct sums and a corresponding notion of connectedness for graph limits. Every graph limit has a unique decomposition as a direct sum of connected components. As is well-known, graph limits may be represented by symmetric functions on a probability space; there are natural definitions of direct sums and connectedness for such functions, and there is a perfect correspondence with the corresponding properties of the graph limit. Similarly, every graph limit determines an infinite random graph, which is a.s. connected if and only if the graph limit is connected. There are also characterizations in terms of the asymptotic size of the largest component in the corresponding finite random graphs, and of minimal cuts in sequences of graphs converging to a given limit.
Heart rate variability characterization in daily physical activities using wavelet analysis and multilayer fuzzy activity clustering

A portable data recorder was developed to parallel measure the electrocardiogram and body accelerations. A multilayer fuzzy clustering algorithm was proposed to classify the physical activity based on body accelerations. Discrete wavelet transform was incorporated to retrieve time-varying characteristics of heart rate variability under different physical activities. Nine healthy subjects were included to investigate activity-related heart rate variability during 24 h. The results showed that the heartbeat fluctuations in high frequencies were the greatest during lying and the smallest during standing. Moreover, very-low-frequency heartbeat fluctuations during low activity level (lying) were greater than during high activity level (nonlying).
RC(L) interconnect sizing with second order considerations via posynomial programming

There has been substantial work on interconnect sizing algorithms for delay and area optimization in terms of the Elmore delay. Recently, however, signal integrity issues have become of equal or greater importance than delay and area for deep submicron designs. Modeling signal integrity requires more than the Elmore delay approximation, especially when interconnect inductance effects are considered. This paper studies a new interconnect sizing formulaðtion with signal attenuation and transition time constraints that capðtures the same global optimality as the Elmore delay based approaches. With the signal attenuation (or the signal transition time) modeled by the second order central moment of the circuit response, we formulate a provably posynomial optimization probðlem for RC trees such that the well studied algorithms for geometric programming can be applied with guaranteed convergence to a gloðbal minima. For RCL cases we demonstrate that this formulation remains convex and posynomial under reasonable conditions. Suffiðcient conditions are given in terms of the technology parameters and termination conditions.
Supporting Bandwidth Guarantees in Buffer-Limited Networks †

Flows traversing a buffer-limited network can suffer rapid throughput deterioration with increasing path length. This paper introduces a distributed transmission scheduling scheme that supports strong bandwidth guarantees for flows routed over a large number of hops, without compromising network utilization. The scheme is defined within a reservation-based transmission control framework. Through randomization at the ingress routers and batch scheduling of transmission requests at the links, it ensures that a fraction of transmissions from each ingress–egress connection consistently experience low blocking probability at every hop. These requests are therefore likely to survive long paths. The scheme supports provable bounds on the expected blocking rate and its tail probability. We compare the bounds achieved under this scheme to those obtained when the blocking probability of each request at a link is equal to the link’s blocking rate. We find that the proposed scheme improves the bounds for connections experiencing blocking at multiple hops without weakening the bounds for other connections.
PlantCARE, a database of plant cis-acting regulatory elements and a portal to tools for in silico analysis of promoter sequences

PlantCARE is a database of plant cis-acting regulatory elements, enhancers and repressors. Regulatory elements are represented by positional matrices, consensus sequences and individual sites on particular promoter sequences. Links to the EMBL, TRANSFAC and MEDLINE databases are provided when available. Data about the transcription sites are extracted mainly from the literature, supplemented with an increasing number of in silico predicted data. Apart from a general description for specific transcription factor sites, levels of confidence for the experimental evidence, functional information and the position on the promoter are given as well. New features have been implemented to search for plant cis-acting regulatory elements in a query sequence. Furthermore, links are now provided to a new clustering and motif search method to investigate clusters of co-expressed genes. New regulatory elements can be sent automatically and will be added to the database after curation. The PlantCARE relational database is available via the World Wide Web at http://sphinx.rug. ac.be:8080/PlantCARE/.
Mechanical stiffness control of a three DOF wrist joint that mimics musculo-skeletal system

This paper shows a prosthetic wrist joint that has 3 rotary axes controlled in antagonistic actuation similar to a human musculo-skeletal system. Some dexterous actions of human arm toward external entities are much attributed to adjustability of its joint stiffness. The joint stiffness of human articulations or of those of any other vertebrate animals is adjustable due to an antagonistic structure of their musculoskeletal system and non-linear elasticity of individual muscle. In our previous studies we have developed a mechanical system that mimics the human musculoskeletal system, in which muscle-like actuators: ANLES (actuator with non-elasticity system) was developed and deployed in antagonistic configuration to control rotation angles and rotary stiffness of a multi-DOF robotic joint. This paper shows a subsequent development of the 3 DOF wrist joint. Main points of refinement are as follows. First is a downsizing to serve it as a forearm prosthesis having an active wrist joint, second is an extension of stiffness adjustable range especially that of inner/outer rotation.
Evaluation of Auditory Evoked Potentials as a Hearing aid Outcome Measure

This thesis aimed to explore the applicability of Cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials (CAEPs) and Envelope Following Responses (EFRs) as objective aided outcome measures for use in infants wearing hearing aids. The goals for CAEP-related projects were to evaluate the effect of speech stimulus source on CAEPs, non-linear hearing aid processing on tone-evoked CAEPs, and the effect of inter-stimulus intervals on non-linear hearing aid processing of phonemes. Results illustrated larger amplitude CAEPs with shorter latencies for speech stimuli from word-medial positions than word-initial positions, and no significant effect of the tone burst onset overshoot due to non-linear hearing aid processing. Inter-stimulus intervals in CAEP protocols resulted in significantly lower aided phoneme levels compared to when they occurred in running speech, illustrating potential inaccuracies in representation of relevant hearing aid function during testing. The major contribution of this thesis includes the proposal and validation of a test paradigm based on speech-evoked EFRs for use as an objective aided outcome measure. The stimulus is a naturally spoken token /susaSi/ modified to enable recording of eight EFRs from low, mid and high frequency regions. The projects aimed to evaluate previously recommended response analysis methods of averaging responses to opposite polarities for vowel-evoked EFRs as well as sensitivity of the proposed paradigm to changes in audibility due to level and bandwidth in adults with normal hearing and additionally, due to amplification in adults with hearing loss. Results demonstrated a vowel-specific effect of averaging opposite polarity responses when the first harmonic was present, however the averaging did not affect detection in the majority of participants. The EFR test paradigm illustrated carrier-specific changes in audibility due to level, bandwidth and amplification suggesting that the paradigm may be a useful tool in evaluating unaided and aided
NF-κB and STAT3 signaling in glioma: targets for future therapies

Glioblastoma remains the most clinically challenging tumor of the CNS, as evidenced by the dismal change in overall survival over the past 50 years. However, recent advances in high-throughput screening techniques have given rise to a wealth of new information regarding the aberrant signaling pathways that drive the tumor phenotype. Two of these so-called ‘oncopathways’ are NF-κB and JAK/STAT. This review will describe the basic mechanisms of these pathways, explore the relevance of NF-κB and JAK/STAT signaling in glioblastoma, and look ahead to experimental compounds that will integrate our knowledge of these pathways into existing therapies.
The vacuolar H+-ATPase: a universal proton pump of eukaryotes.

The vacuolar H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) is a universal component of eukaryotic organisms. It is present in the membranes of many organelles, where its proton-pumping action creates the low intra-vacuolar pH found, for example, in lysosomes. In addition, there are a number of differentiated cell types that have V-ATPases on their surface that contribute to the physiological functions of these cells. The V-ATPase is a multi-subunit enzyme composed of a membrane sector and a cytosolic catalytic sector. It is related to the familiar FoF1 ATP synthase (F-ATPase), having the same basic architectural construction, and many of the subunits from the two display identity with one another. All the core subunits of the V-ATPase have now been identified and much is known about the assembly, regulation and pharmacology of the enzyme. Recent genetic analysis has shown the V-ATPase to be a vital component of higher eukaryotes. At least one of the subunits, i.e. subunit c (ductin), may have multifunctional roles in membrane transport, providing a possible pathway of communication between cells. The structure of the membrane sector is known in some detail, and it is possible to begin to suggest how proton pumping is coupled to ATP hydrolysis.
Spherical cluster analysis for beam angle optimization in intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment planning

An intuitive heuristic to establish beam configurations for intensity-modulated radiation therapy is introduced as an extension of beam ensemble selection strategies applying scalar scoring functions. It is validated by treatment plan comparisons for three intra-cranial, pancreas, and prostate cases each. Based on a patient specific matrix listing the radiological quality of candidate beam directions individually for every target voxel, a set of locally ideal beam angles is generated. The spherical distribution of locally ideal beam angles is characteristic for every treatment site and patient: ideal beam angles typically cluster around distinct orientations. We interpret the cluster centroids, which are identified with a spherical K-means algorithm, as irradiation angles of an intensity-modulated radiation therapy treatment plan. The fluence profiles are subsequently optimized during a conventional inverse planning process. The average computation time for the pre-optimization of a beam ensemble is six minutes on a state-of-the-art work station. The treatment planning study demonstrates the potential benefit of the proposed beam angle optimization strategy. For the three prostate cases under investigation, the standard treatment plans applying nine coplanar equi-spaced beams and treatment plans applying an optimized non-coplanar nine-beam ensemble yield clinically comparable dose distributions. For symmetric patient geometries, the dose distribution formed by nine equi-spaced coplanar beams cannot be improved significantly. For the three pancreas and intra-cranial cases under investigation, the optimized non-coplanar beam ensembles enable better sparing of organs at risk while guaranteeing equivalent target coverage. Beam angle optimization by spherical cluster analysis shows the biggest impact for target volumes located asymmetrically within the patient and close to organs at risk.
Is There an Unconscious Discrimination Against Women in Science

Much progress has been made by women in science in the last 25 years, but "unconscious discrimination" still remains. I offer the following tentative theory of unconscious discrimination, along with possible strategies for improving the situation. While I have struggled with these issues, I wish to emphasize that I am not an expert. This is a personal attempt to understand the troubling fact of gender discrimination that I see in science.
Tumor necrosis factor identified in multiple sclerosis brain

Frozen brain specimens from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurologic diseases were analyzed using immunocytochemical techniques for the presence of TNF. In brain lesions in MS, and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, TNF+ cells were demonstrated. At the lesion site in MS, TNF+ staining is associated with both astrocytes and macrophages. These observations were not made in Alzheimer's disease or normal brain tissue. The presence of TNF in MS lesions suggests a significant role for cytokines and the immune response in disease progression.
Role of the C-terminal helix 9 in the stability and ligandin function of class alpha glutathione transferase A1-1.

Helix 9 at the C-terminus of class alpha glutathione transferase (GST) polypeptides is a unique structural feature in the GST superfamily. It plays an important structural role in the catalytic cycle. Its contribution toward protein stability/folding as well as the binding of nonsubstrate ligands was investigated by protein engineering, conformational stability, enzyme activity, and ligand-binding methods. The helix9 sequence displays an unfavorable propensity toward helix formation, but tertiary interactions between the amphipathic helix and the GST seem to contribute sufficient stability to populate the helix on the surface of the protein. The helix's stability is enhanced further by the binding of ligands at the active site. The order of ligand-induced stabilization increases from H-site occupation, to G-site occupation, to the simultaneous occupation of H- and G-sites. Ligand-induced stabilization of helix9 reduces solvent accessible hydrophobic surface by facilitating firmer packing at the hydrophobic interface between helix and GST. This stabilized form exhibits enhanced affinity for the binding of nonsubstrate ligands to ligandin sites (i.e., noncatalytic binding sites). Although helix9 contributes very little toward the global stability of hGSTA1-1, its conformational dynamics have significant implications for the protein's equilibrium unfolding/refolding pathway and unfolding kinetics. Considering the high concentration of reduced glutathione in human cells (about 10 mM), the physiological form of hGSTA1-1 is most likely the thiol-complexed protein with a stabilized helix9. The C-terminus region (including helix9) of the class alpha polypeptide appears not to have been optimized for stability but rather for catalytic and ligandin function.
Lactose Uptake Driven by Galactose Efflux in Streptococcus thermophilus: Evidence for a Galactose-Lactose Antiporter

Galactose-nonfermenting (Gal-) Streptococcus thermophilus TS2 releases galactose into the extracellular medium when grown in medium containing excess lactose. Starved and de-energized Gal- cells, however, could be loaded with galactose to levels approximately equal to the extracellular concentration (0 to 50 mM). When loaded cells were separated from the medium and resuspended in fresh broth containing 5 mM lactose, galactose efflux occurred. De-energized, galactose-loaded cells, resuspended in buffer or medium, accumulated [14C]lactose at a greater rate and to significantly higher intracellular concentrations than unloaded cells. Uptake of lactose by loaded cells was inhibited more than that by unloaded cells in the presence of extracellular galactose, indicating that a galactose gradient was involved in the exchange system. When de-energized, galactose-loaded cells were resuspended in carbohydrate-free medium at pH 6.7, a proton motive force (Δp) of 86 to 90 mV was formed, whereas de-energized, nonloaded cells maintained a Δp of about 56 mV. However, uptake of lactose by loaded cells occurred when the proton motive force was abolished by the addition of an uncoupler or in the presence of a proton-translocating ATPase inhibitor. These results support the hypothesis that galactose efflux in Gal-S. thermophilus is electrogenic and that the exchange reaction (lactose uptake and galactose efflux) probably occurs via an antiporter system.
Molecular identification of adrenal inner zone antigen as a heme‐binding protein

The adrenal inner zone antigen (IZA), which reacts specifically with a monoclonal antibody raised against the fasciculata and reticularis zones of the rat adrenal, was previously found to be identical with a protein variously named 25‐Dx and membrane‐associated progesterone receptor. IZA was purified as a glutathione S‐transferase‐fused or His6‐fused protein, and its molecular properties were studied. The UV‐visible absorption and EPR spectra of the purified protein showed that IZA bound a heme chromophore in high‐spin type. Analysis of the heme indicated that it is of the b type. Site‐directed mutagenesis studies were performed to identify the amino‐acid residues that bind the heme to the protein. The results suggest that two Tyr residues, Tyr107 and Tyr113, and a peptide stretch, D99–K102, were important for anchoring the heme into a hydrophobic pocket. The effect of IZA on the steroid 21‐hydroxylation reaction was investigated in COS‐7 cell expression systems. The results suggest that the coexistence of IZA with CYP21 enhances 21‐hydroxylase activity.
A Semantic Clustering Approach for Indexing Documents

Information retrieval (IR) models process documents for preparing them for search by humans or computers. In the early models, the general idea was making a lexico-syntactic processing of documents, where the importance of the documents retrieved by a query is based on the frequency of its terms in the document. Another approach is return predefined documents based on the type of query the user make. Recently, some researchers have combined text mining techniques to enhance the document retrieval. This paper proposes a semantic clustering approach to improve traditional information retrieval models by representing topics associated to documents. This proposal combines text mining algorithms and natural language processing. The approach does not use a priori queries, instead clusters terms, where each cluster is a set of related words according to the content of documents. As result, a document-topic matrix representation is obtained denoting the importance of topics inside documents. For query processing, each query is represented as a set of clusters considering its terms. Thus, a similarity measure (e.g. cosine similarity) can be applied over this array and the matrix of documents to retrieve the most relevant documents.
A wide variation in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in chronic pancreatitis: a Dutch national survey.

CONTEXT Optimal diagnostic and treatment modalities in chronic pancreatitis are controversial due to lack of evidence. OBJECTIVE To evaluate current clinical practice, we conducted a survey with the primary objective to evaluate decisions regarding the diagnosis, management and screening in chronic pancreatitis. DESIGN We developed a vignette survey. SETTING We surveyed Dutch gastroenterologists, internists, gastrointestinal surgeons and an international expert panel. RESULTS A total of 110 questionnaires (31% gastroenterologists, 39% internists and 20% gastrointestinal surgeons) were returned out of the 1,324 sent (response 8.3%). There was a wide variation in strategies regarding diagnosis, treatment and screening in chronic pancreatitis. As a diagnostic test, serum amylase is used frequently by internists, while gastroenterologists and experts often use fecal elastase. Most respondents preferred CT-scanning for diagnosis, while experts preferred transabdominal ultrasonography as an initial test. Respondents frequently use pancreatic enzymes for treatment of pain in chronic pancreatitis. The majority advised to perform an intervention (endoscopic or surgical) in case of morphological changes of the pancreatic duct. CONCLUSIONS The results of our survey identify important differences between physicians in diagnosis and management of chronic pancreatitis. This is often due to lack of evidence and consensus in literature. Certain wide-spread practices are in contrast with available evidence, and should be addressed by improved education and adherence to guidelines.
A miniature optical breathing sensor

We demonstrate a novel miniature optical breathing sensor based on an Agarose infiltrated photonic crystal fiber interferometer. The sensor detects the variation in relative humidity that occurs between inhaled and exhaled breath. The sensor interrogation system can determine the breathing pattern in real time and can also predict the breathing rate and the breathing status during respiration. The sensor is suitable for monitoring patients during a magnetic resonance imaging scan where use of sedatives and anesthetics necessitates breathing monitoring; electronic sensors are not suitable in such an environment and a visual observation of the patient's respiratory efforts is often difficult.