Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An arduino based system provided with GPS/GPRS shield for real time monitoring of traffic flows

In the past, few Public Administrations provided traffic monitoring services in real time due to the high cost of the car traffic monitoring system. The paper aims at proposing a low cost system based on the GPS signals coming from Arduino based systems to collect the traffic measurements needed to compute colored traffic map and the minimum path to the destination depending on the current position. The comparison carried between the performance of the proposed system and the one based on GPS signals coming from the user mobiles points out a higher accuracy of Arduino based tracking system. Also the system may send the user data to the main information center as anonymous messages thus satisfying the privacy requirements needed for a wide activation of such a monitoring methodology.
Risk Prediction Scores for Recurrence and Progression of Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: An International Validation in Primary Tumours

Objective We aimed to determine the validity of two risk scores for patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer in different European settings, in patients with primary tumours. Methods We included 1,892 patients with primary stage Ta or T1 non-muscle invasive bladder cancer who underwent a transurethral resection in Spain (n = 973), the Netherlands (n = 639), or Denmark (n = 280). We evaluated recurrence-free survival and progression-free survival according to the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and the Spanish Urological Club for Oncological Treatment (CUETO) risk scores for each patient and used the concordance index (c-index) to indicate discriminative ability. Results The 3 cohorts were comparable according to age and sex, but patients from Denmark had a larger proportion of patients with the high stage and grade at diagnosis (p<0.01). At least one recurrence occurred in 839 (44%) patients and 258 (14%) patients had a progression during a median follow-up of 74 months. Patients from Denmark had the highest 10-year recurrence and progression rates (75% and 24%, respectively), whereas patients from Spain had the lowest rates (34% and 10%, respectively). The EORTC and CUETO risk scores both predicted progression better than recurrence with c-indices ranging from 0.72 to 0.82 while for recurrence, those ranged from 0.55 to 0.61. Conclusion The EORTC and CUETO risk scores can reasonably predict progression, while prediction of recurrence is more difficult. New prognostic markers are needed to better predict recurrence of tumours in primary non-muscle invasive bladder cancer patients.
Decision Device Optimization for Soft Decision Feedback Equalization

This paper considers the use of soft deci- sions to mitigate error propagation in a decision feedback equalizer (DFE). The decision device for the soft decision feedback equalizer is optimized by minimizing the mean- squared error (MSE) cost function defined at the input of the decision device. Furthermore, a bit error rate (BER) optimized soft decision device is derived for a BPSK mod- ulation scheme. Simulation results comparing the perfor- mance of the MSE/BER optimized soft DFE and the con- ventional DFE are presented.
Reporting Empirical Evidence in Distributed Software Development: An Extended Taxonomy

Distributed Software Development (DSD) has been discussed by industry and academia for almost two decades now, and, as consequence, there is a large number of empirical scientific papers and industrial reports on it. However, the description of the context in which the empirical study was conducted is not always clear or complete, making the process of searching for empirical evidence burdensome. It becomes difficult to understand or to judge the relevance of study given that DSD scenarios are diverse. What works in one context might not apply to another. To reduce such difficulty, we need, as a research community, to have means to standardize how we report empirical studies and their findings aiming to make them more readily available to practitioners and researchers. In this paper we present an extended taxonomy to classify empirical DSD evidence. We conducted an expert opinion survey with researchers and practitioners to identify elements to compose the taxonomy. Preliminary evaluation of the proposed taxonomy suggests that it can be used to synthesize existing knowledge, to identify gaps in literature, to identify related work and to help researchers who will publish or review further empirical work, as well as practitioners who are interested in published empirical studies.
The Benefits and Risks of Consuming Brewed Tea: Beware of Toxic Element Contamination

Background. Increasing concern is evident about contamination of foodstuffs and natural health products. Methods. Common off-the-shelf varieties of black, green, white, and oolong teas sold in tea bags were used for analysis in this study. Toxic element testing was performed on 30 different teas by analyzing (i) tea leaves, (ii) tea steeped for 3-4 minutes, and (iii) tea steeped for 15–17 minutes. Results were compared to existing preferred endpoints. Results. All brewed teas contained lead with 73% of teas brewed for 3 minutes and 83% brewed for 15 minutes having lead levels considered unsafe for consumption during pregnancy and lactation. Aluminum levels were above recommended guidelines in 20% of brewed teas. No mercury was found at detectable levels in any brewed tea samples. Teas contained several beneficial elements such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus. Of trace minerals, only manganese levels were found to be excessive in some black teas. Conclusions. Toxic contamination by heavy metals was found in most of the teas sampled. Some tea samples are considered unsafe. There are no existing guidelines for routine testing or reporting of toxicant levels in “naturally” occurring products. Public health warnings or industry regulation might be indicated to protect consumer safety.
Learning and Survival of Newly Generated Neurons: When Time Matters

New interneurons are continually added to the olfactory bulb (OB), the first central relay for processing olfactory information, throughout life. It remains unknown how these adult-generated interneurons integrate into preexisting networks or die. We used immunohistochemical approaches to quantify adult neurogenesis in mice subjected to olfactory training. We identified a critical period in the life of an adult-generated OB interneuron, during which learning triggers distinct consequences. Using a discrimination learning task performed at various times after the birth of new interneurons, we found that olfactory training could increase, decrease, or have no effect on the number of surviving newly generated neurons. Cell survival and elimination depend on both the age of the cell and its location within the granule cell layer. This study provides new insight into the contribution of the newly generated interneurons to OB function. It demonstrates that neuronal elimination is an active process, rather than a simple consequence of nonuse.
Determining the small solutions to S-unit equations

In this paper we generalize the method of Wildanger for finding small solutions to unit equations to the case of S-unit equations. The method uses a minor generalization of the LLL based techniques used to reduce the bounds derived from transcendence theory, followed by an enumeration strategy based on the Fincke-Pohst algorithm. The method used reduces the computing time needed from MIPS years down to minutes.
A Trajectory generation of cloth object folding motion toward realization of housekeeping robot

In our research, we aim to construct a house-keeping robot system which folds laundry. And, we propose a way for folding clothes without vision sensing device. To realize this system, we prepare appropriate fixed folding motion. We analyzed cloth folding motions by human. And, we found fixed folding motion pattern for the robot. Furthermore, we generated a trajectory of folding motion which is applicable to different size of towels. We confirmed the effectiveness of our method through experiments without the use of vision sensing device.
The Economics of Product-Line Restrictions with an Application to the Network Neutrality Debate

We examine the welfare effects of product-line restrictions, such as those called for by some proponents of network neutrality regulation. We find that restricting a monopoly supplier to a single product has the following effects: (a) consumers who would otherwise have consumed a low-quality variant are excluded from the market; (b) consumers "in the middle" of the market consume a higher and more efficient quality; and (c) consumers at the top of the market consume a lower and less efficient quality. Total surplus may rise or fall. We also examine a duopoly model and find that imposition of a single-product restriction always reduces welfare. Absent the restriction, the two firms engage in head-to-head competition across full product lines. In some circumstances, the restriction induces the two firms to offer identical products. The resulting loss of variety reduces welfare. In other circumstances, the restriction induces the firms to offer non-overlapping, or vertically differentiated, products. Here, the resulting loss of competition harms both consumers and economic efficiency. Lastly, we find that, to the extent that the regulation is intended to eliminate low-quality products, it may fail. Even though any one firm can offer only a single product, various firms can collectively offer a menu of products.
Acclimatizing Taxonomic Semantics for Hierarchical Content Classification

Hierarchical models have been shown to be effective in content classification. However, we observe through empirical study that the performance of a hierarchical model varies with given taxonomies; even a semantically sound taxonomy has potential to change its structure for better classification. By scrutinizing typical cases, we elucidate why a given semantics-based hierarchy does not work well in content classification, and how it could be improved for accurate hierarchical classification. With these understandings, we propose effective localized solutions that modify the given taxonomy for accurate hierarchical classification. We conduct extensive experiments on both toy and real-world data sets, report improved performance and interesting findings, and provide further analysis of algorithmic issues such as time complexity, robustness, and sensitivity to the number of features.
Mapping the Social Class Structure: From Occupational Mobility to Social Class Categories Using Network Analysis

This article develops a new explorative method for deriving social class categories from patterns of occupational mobility. In line with Max Weber, our research is based on the notion that, if class boundaries do not inhibit social mobility then the class categories are of little value. Thus, unlike dominant, theoretically defined class schemes, this article derives social class categories from observed patterns in a mobility network covering intra-generational mobility. The network is based on a mobility table of 109 occupational categories tied together by 1,590,834 job shifts on the Danish labour market 2001–2007. The number of categories are reduced from 109 to 34 by applying a new clustering algorithm specifically designed for the study of mobility tables (MONECA). These intra-generational social class categories are related to the central discussions of gender, income, education and political action by providing empirical evidence of strong patterns of intra-generational class divisions along these lines.
Gamma-Herpesvirus Latency Requires T Cell Evasion during Episome Maintenance

The gamma-herpesviruses persist as latent episomes in a dynamic lymphocyte pool. Their consequent need to express a viral episome maintenance protein presents a potential immune target. The glycine–alanine repeat of the Epstein–Barr virus episome maintenance protein, EBNA-1, limits EBNA-1 epitope presentation to CD8+ T lymphocytes (CTLs). However, CTL recognition occurs in vitro, so the significance of such evasion for viral fitness is unclear. We used the murine gamma-herpesvirus-68 (MHV-68) to define the in vivo contribution of cis-acting CTL evasion to host colonisation. Although the ORF73 episome maintenance protein of MHV-68 lacks a glycine–alanine repeat, it was equivalent to EBNA-1 in conferring limited presentation on linked epitopes. This was associated with reduced protein synthesis and reduced protein degradation. We bypassed the cis-acting evasion of ORF73 by using an internal ribosome entry site to express in trans-a CTL target from the same mRNA. This led to a severe, MHC class I–restricted and CTL-dependent reduction in viral latency. Thus, despite MHV-68 encoding at least two trans-acting CTL evasion proteins, cis-acting evasion during episome maintenance was essential for normal host colonisation.
Outcomes of Comprehensive Care for Children Empirically Treated for Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis in a Setting of High HIV Prevalence

Background Few studies have examined outcomes for children treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), including those receiving concomitant treatment for MDR-TB and HIV co-infection. In Lesotho, where the adult HIV seroprevalence is estimated to be 24%, we sought to measure outcomes and adverse events in a cohort of children treated for MDR-TB using a community-based treatment delivery model. Methods We reviewed retrospectively the clinical charts of children ≤15 years of age treated for culture-confirmed or suspected MDR-TB between July 2007 and January 2011. Results Nineteen children, ages two to 15, received treatment. At baseline, 74% of patients were co-infected with HIV, 63% were malnourished, 84% had severe radiographic findings, and 21% had extrapulmonary disease. Five (26%) children had culture-confirmed MDR-TB, ten (53%) did not have culture results available, and four (21%) subsequently had results indicating drug-susceptible TB. All children with HIV co-infection who were not already on antiretroviral therapy (ART) were initiated on ART a median of two weeks after the start of the MDR-TB regimen. Among the 17 patients with final outcomes, 15 (88%) patients were cured or completed treatment, two (12%) patients died, and none defaulted or were lost to follow-up. The majority of patients (95%) experienced adverse events; only two required permanent discontinuation of the offending agent, and only one required suspension of MDR-TB treatment for more than one week. Conclusions Pediatric MDR-TB and MDR-TB/HIV co-infection can be successfully treated using a combination of social support, close monitoring by community health workers and clinicians, and inpatient care when needed. In this cohort, adverse events were well tolerated and treatment outcomes were comparable to those reported in children with drug-susceptible TB and no HIV infection.
Comparison of language models trained on written texts and speech transcripts in the context of automatic speech recognition

We investigate whether language models used in automatic speech recognition (ASR) should be trained on speech transcripts rather than on written texts. By calculating log-likelihood statistic for part-of-speech (POS) n-grams, we show that there are significant differences between written texts and speech transcripts. We also test the performance of language models trained on speech transcripts and written texts in ASR and show that using the former results in greater word error reduction rates (WERR), even if the model is trained on much smaller corpora. For our experiments we used the manually labeled one million subcorpus of the National Corpus of Polish and an HTK acoustic model.
A Study of Parasitic and Bacterial Pathogens Associated with Diarrhea in HIV-Positive Patients

Introduction Diarrhea is a common complication of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), occurring in almost 90% of AIDS patients in developing countries like India. The present study was aimed to determine the prevalence and microbiological profile of pathogens associated with diarrhea in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients and their relation to CD4 counts. Materials and methods Forty-five successive HIV-positive patients, 27 with diarrhea (study group) and 18 without diarrhea (control group), were included in the three-month study. The HIV infection was confirmed by three different antibody detection tests. The stool samples were collected on two consecutive days and were examined for parasites by microscopy using wet mount and modified Ziehl-Neelsen stain. They were examined for bacteria by Gram stain and conventional Ziehl-Neelsen stain and were inoculated on appropriate culture media. The isolates were identified by standard biochemical tests, followed by antibiotic susceptibility testing using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Results Twenty-four pathogens were detected in diarrheal HIV-positive patients, including 14 parasites (58.33%), seven bacteria (29.17%), and three fungi (12.50%). Isospora sp. was the most common parasite (25.9%) followed by Cryptosporidium sp. (14.8%). Other parasites included Cyclospora sp. , Strongyloides stercoralis, and Entamoeba histolytica (3.7% each). Escherichia coli (18.5%) was the most common bacterial isolate, of which, 80% were Enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) while 20% were Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC). Other isolates included Shigella flexneri and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (3.7% each). The isolates were sensitive to furazolidone (94.11%), chloramphenicol (76.47%), and gentamicin (52.94%). The isolates from diarrheal patients showed resistance to norfloxacin (5.88% vs. 50%, p<0.05) as compared to those from non-diarrheal patients. The diarrheal HIV-positive patients had lower mean CD4 counts (202.6 cells/µL), as compared to those without diarrhea (239.28 cells/µL). Conclusion Isospora sp. is the most common parasite and Escherichia coli is the most common bacterium associated with diarrhea in HIV patients. The antibiotic sensitivity patterns should be monitored regularly to detect resistance to commonly used drugs. The prevalence of organisms in a region, various clinical manifestations, sensitivity patterns of isolates, and relation with CD4 count should be considered while instituting therapy in HIV patients with diarrhea.
Melatonin enhances vertical bone augmentation in rat calvaria secluded spaces

Background Melatonin has many roles, including bone remodeling and osseointegration of dental implants. The topical application of melatonin facilitated bone regeneration in bone defects. We evaluated the effects of topical application of melatonin on vertical bone augmentation in rat calvaria secluded spaces. Material and Methods In total, 12 male Fischer rats were used and two plastic caps were fixed in the calvarium. One plastic cap was filled with melatonin powder and the other was left empty. Results Newly generated bone at bone defects and within the plastic caps was evaluated using micro-CT and histological sections. New bone regeneration within the plastic cap was increased significantly in the melatonin versus the control group. Conclusions Melatonin promoted vertical bone regeneration in rat calvaria in the secluded space within the plastic cap. Key words:Melatonin, bone regeneration, bone defects, secluded space, rat calvarium.
The Fifth Adaptor Protein Complex

Adaptor protein (AP) complexes sort cargo into vesicles for transport from one membrane compartment of the cell to another. Four distinct AP complexes have been identified, which are present in most eukaryotes. We report the existence of a fifth AP complex, AP-5. Tagged AP-5 localises to a late endosomal compartment in HeLa cells. AP-5 does not associate with clathrin and is insensitive to brefeldin A. Knocking down AP-5 subunits interferes with the trafficking of the cation-independent mannose 6-phosphate receptor and causes the cell to form swollen endosomal structures with emanating tubules. AP-5 subunits can be found in all five eukaryotic supergroups, but they have been co-ordinately lost in many organisms. Concatenated phylogenetic analysis provides robust resolution, for the first time, into the evolutionary order of emergence of the adaptor subunit families, showing AP-3 as the basal complex, followed by AP-5, AP-4, and AP-1 and AP-2. Thus, AP-5 is an evolutionarily ancient complex, which is involved in endosomal sorting, and which has links with hereditary spastic paraplegia.
Profiling with the INFOrmer Text Filtering Agent

INFOrmer is an intelligent ltering system, currently being applied to the management of USENET News articles. An individual may h a v e one or more prooles, each representing a long-term interest of that user. The user proole is then used to measure the relevance of incoming articles and lter out irrelevant documents. A user proole may be modiied as a result of relevance feedback, so that it adjusts to users' changing interests. This paper discusses the architecture of INFOrmer and covers the prooleedocument representation and comparison techniques adopted within the system .
Spiking Neural Networks Encoding & Decoding Algorithms for Time Series Estimation & System Identification

This study focuses on the third generation artificial neural networks (ANNs) which are biologically inspired and operate on the same principles as the living neurons. These are also known as biologically inspired artificial neural networks (BIANNs). Spiking neural networks (SNNs) and polychronous spiking neural networks (PSNs) are among the mostly researched BIANNs [1-3]. The advantage of BIANNs over traditional ANNs is their ability to scale up. But encoding and decoding information in and out of SNNs is a big challenge. This study addresses this challenge. Izhikevich’s PSN model [3] is used for the experimental simulation purposes in this study. Gaussian receptive field (GRF) encoding [4] is used to convert real world data into spike streams which can be used by the SNNs. A novel decoding technique is introduced and implemented which extracts the required information from the PSN spike outputs. The PSN has a lot of internal dynamics and when some information is processed by the PSN, the information gets encrypted along with the PSN’s internal dynamics. The proposed decoding technique uses a leaky integrate & fire (LIF) module to accumulate and convert the PSN spikes to real world magnitude values. These values are then fed into a multilayer perceptron (MLP) decoder which maps the input to the target output and extracts the required encrypted information from the PSN spikes. The MLP is trained using particle swarm optimization (PSO). Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the system used for time series estimation. Figure 1. Schematic block diagram of the complete system and decoder for time series estimation Figures 2 & 3 show the results of the time series estimation using the framework of Figure 1. The benchmark functions used were variable frequency sine and triangular functions. The decoding technique is shown to successful perform estimation of benchmark time dependent functions from the information generated by the PSN. A second case study for system identification is carried out. The system studied is a two-area four-machine power system and the problem is the estimation of the speed deviation of a single generator [5]. The GRF encoder takes the speed deviation and bus voltage of the generator as input. Figure 4 shows the system identification results obtained at different PSO iterations used on the MLP decoder. Figure 2. Sine function Figure 3. Triangular function Figure 4. Speed deviation estimation of a single generator in a two-area four-machine system