Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Expandable Genetic Cell System for Solving Global Optimization Problem on Continuous Multimodal Functions

This study presents a simple, fast, accurate, and expandable algorithm with very few parameters for solving global optimization problem of continuous multimodal functions ¡V a calculation unit called cell based on Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm is designed. the cell consists of only three chromosomes, among which two of the chromosomes apply crossover operation, and the other chromosome performs Particle Swarm search as the mutation operation. Characteristics of this new method are compared with other hybrid methods. the experimental results on eight benchmark functions show the proposed calculation cell can find the optimal solution in fewer function calls than the published GA-PSO hybrid method. Results of multi-cell experiments are presented, and the possibility of incorporating many cells in large searching space is discussed.
Lexical Structure for Dialogue Act Recognition

This paper deals with automatic dialogue acts (DAs) recognition in Czech. Dialogue acts are sentence-level labels that represent different states of a dialogue, such as questions, hesitations, . In our application, a multimodal reservation system, four dialogue acts are considered: statements, orders, yes/no questions and other questions. The main contribution of this work is to propose and compare several approaches that recognize dialogue acts based on three types of information: lexical information, prosody and word positions. These approaches are tested on a Czech Railways corpus that contains human-human dialogues, which are transcribed both manually and with an automatic speech recognizer for comparison. The experimental results confirm that every type of feature (lexical, prosodic and word positions) bring relevant and somewhat complementary information. The proposed methods that take into account word positions are especially interesting, as they bring global information about the structure of the sentence, at the opposite of traditional n-gram models that only capture local cues. When word sequences are estimated from a speech recognizer, the resulting decrease of accuracy of all proposed approaches is very small (about 3 %), which confirms the capability of the proposed approaches to perform well in real applications.
Leveraging nonvolatility for architecture design with emerging NVM

Emerging nonvolatile memory (NVM), such as spin-transfer torque magnetic Memory (STT-RAM), phase-change memory (PCM), and resistive memory (ReRAM), are widely expected to become the next generation cache and main memory, in order to migrate the “power wall” and overcome the DRAM stability challenge. Previous effort has well explored NVM's feature of ultra-low leakage and high density at various memory hierarchy. Furthermore, challenges such as asymmetric read/write, expensive write operation, and limited lifetime have also been tackled. However, the benefit from NVM's nonvolatility has never been fully exploited. This paper points out the potential benefit by leveraging nonvolatility for architecture design. Two case studies are described. The first one is to leveraging multi-level cell (MLC) STT-RAM for ultra-low overhead local checkpointing. The second one is persistent memory design, which support persistency in NVM based main memory. Potential benefit and design challenge for those two cases are described. Future research topic around exploring NVM's nonvolatility is also discussed.
Social movement and conflict in igboland: a response to fragile state of nigeria

Historically, social movement arises out of political, social and economic conditions at the material time in any political society. The conflict that arose in Nigeria in the hey days of political independence gave parturition of social movement in Igbo land. At the dawn of democracy in 1999, gave rise to the formation of ethnic militias and radical organisations in the Nigerian Fourth Republic. Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), emerged as social movement in Igbo land to protect her from extinction meted on her by the Nigerian State. The paper tries to look at the roles of the social movements that arose in defence of the Igbo people in the fragile Nigeria. It also attempts to exhume the social and political prospect of the Igbo people in the fragile, conflict ridden and failing State of Nigeria. The study equally makes appropriate recommendations.
Functional Disconnection of the Orbitofrontal Cortex and Basolateral Amygdala Impairs Acquisition of a Rat Gambling Task and Disrupts Animals' Ability to Alter Decision-Making Behavior after Reinforcer Devaluation

An inability to adjust choice preferences in response to changes in reward value may underlie key symptoms of many psychiatric disorders, including chemical and behavioral addictions. We developed the rat gambling task (rGT) to investigate the neurobiology underlying complex decision-making processes. As in the Iowa Gambling task, the optimal strategy is to avoid choosing larger, riskier rewards and to instead favor options associated with smaller rewards but less loss and, ultimately, greater long-term gain. Given the demonstrated importance of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) in acquisition of the rGT and Iowa Gambling task, we used a contralateral disconnection lesion procedure to assess whether functional connectivity between these regions is necessary for optimal decision-making. Disrupting the OFC-BLA pathway retarded acquisition of the rGT. Devaluing the reinforcer by inducing sensory-specific satiety altered decision-making in control groups. In contrast, disconnected rats did not update their choice preference following reward devaluation, either when the devalued reward was still delivered or when animals needed to rely on stored representations of reward value (i.e., during extinction). However, all rats exhibited decreased premature responding and slower response latencies after satiety manipulations. Hence, disconnecting the OFC and BLA did not affect general behavioral changes caused by reduced motivation, but instead prevented alterations in the value of a specific reward from contributing appropriately to cost-benefit decision-making. These results highlight the role of the OFC-BLA pathway in the decision-making process and suggest that communication between these areas is vital for the appropriate assessment of reward value to influence choice.
BOM-Vis : A Visualization of Network Health and Status

As businesses and organizations expand, their networks evolve correspondingly, growing both in their size and their complexity. Coupled with the increasing threats to network security and the increasing costs of network failures, administrators require sophisticated tools for monitoring the health and status of their networks which can meet the demands of scalability. In this paper, I present BOM-Vis, a visualization tool for monitoring network health and status. Using data provided by the 2012 VAST challenge, BOM-Vis serves as a case study in how scalable visualizations of network health and status can be designed.
Essentials, Accidents, and “Book-Trailers”: A Pragmatic Review of Grounded Theory and Grounded Theorizing: Pragmatism in Research Practice

This review of Grounded Theory and Grounded Theorizing: Pragmatism in Research Practice, by Anthony Bryant (2017), aims to provide a perspective on the grounded theory method (GTM) from a pragmatic worldview. The book offers case examples of dissertations build on GTM. Bryant speaks about research in general, describes the development and an overview of GTM concepts, and provides step-by-step examples for practicing GTM. In this book review I, the reviewer, offer personal reflections as a novice researcher to GTM and pragmatism. I provide two “book-trailers” of the book that identify highlights of the book for me.
Development and In Vitro Evaluation of Ceramic Nanoparticles of Piroxicam

SUMMARY. The objective of the present study was to prepare ceramic nanoparticles of a poorly aqueous soluble drug (piroxicam) to explore the relationship between particle size and dissolution profile. Ceramic nanoparticles were prepared by self-assembling of hydroxyapatite using colloidal precipitation technique, with the aid of refluxing. Then the nanoparticles were coated with trehalose (polyhydroxyl oligomer) and subsequently piroxicam was allowed to adsorb. These ceramic nanoparticles were characterized for the shape, size, size distribution, yield, drug loading and release profile. The SEM analysis indicated spherical particles with a particle size median of 238 nm. The percent yield of ceramic nanoparticles was 66.7 %. The dissolution profile of piroxicam aquasomes was obtained in 0.1 mol/L hydrochloric acid solution. The release of piroxicam from ceramic nanoparticles was linear and exhibited zero order kinetics. Studies indicated that the piroxicam ceramic nanoparticle formulations elicited release of piroxicam in 1 h 15 min. This result also indicated specific interaction of piroxicam and trehalose. In the absence of sugar adsorption, the piroxicam release was to the tune of 90% in 60 min., which can be usefully exploited for the immediate action.
Qualitative and Quantitative Detection of Pesticides With Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy

This paper used the newly developed terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) to detect pesticides, especially imidacloprid, qualitatively and quantitatively in the frequency range of 0.5-1.6 THz. All together, four pesticides and three food powders, as well as polyethylene, were investigated. Different weight ratios of imidacloprid in polyethylene and in sticky rice powder were detected and analyzed with the partial least squares (PLS) regression method. Results show that all four pesticides exhibit unique absorption peaks in the terahertz range, and can thus be easily discriminated between each other and from those food powders that show similar and featureless absorption coefficients. Differences in the refractive indices can also be observed between the pesticides and food powders. Imidacloprid can be identified with its absorption fingerprints in the imidacloprid and polyethylene and imidacloprid and sticky rice powder mixtures. We have achieved the relative error of less than 5% predicting the weight ratio of imidacloprid in these two mixtures with the PLS method, according to the linear relationship found between the absorption coefficient and the weight ratio. In all, the THz-TDS technique is quite promising for the nondestructive pesticide residual detection in food safety control in the near future.
A Real Minsky Moment in an Artificial Stock Market

Many authors have contributed to the idea that financial markets are dynamically unstable. Much of this line of thinking suggests that bubbles and crashes will be a generic feature of most any speculative market, and that removing them would be difficult, if not impossible. Hyman Minsky is probably the one of the earlier contributors to this area, and recently his work has been looked at with new respect. This paper shows that some of his basic thinking about risk and extreme portfolio positions hold in agent-based financial markets in a way that appears close to his thinking. The advantage of this is that it presents a fully operational computer generated model with testable Minsky like effects which can be used to connect our understanding of Minsky to more modern, and rigorous approaches to macroeconomics.
On Transmission Mechanism from Social Security to Consumption Using First Order Difference Function

Social Security plays an important role in "social power systems" as well as in "social stability system". This paper selected the two variables of social security and the consumption, made analysis using the tool of first-order differential equation. By model analysis, we have concluded that (1) different levels of social security will affect inhabitant expected income, further to change the consumption level. Under the constant external conditions, the expected income increase, the consumption level will be promoted more. If the social security reduced, it will reduce the expected income, further lower the people's consumption levels. (2) the different models have varied effects. If the reaction coefficient is between 0 and 2, social security model is most stable and can maintain the level of consumption in a good level. If the reaction coefficient out the range 0-2, it will lead the social security-consumption model into instable state. And the instability, both increase and decrease out the range 0-2, will increase the difficulty of promoting consumption level.
Novel robotic 3D surface mapping using range and vision fusion

This paper describes a novel approach to surface fitting for the creation of a 3D surface map for use by a small articulated wall-climbing robot. Both a laser range finder and a low-resolution camera are used to acquire data in a sparse manner. By scanning at large intervals, such as every 5–10°, and then fusing the data, it is shown that it is possible to fit planar surfaces at an accuracy comparable to dense range scanning. Infinite planes are fit to lines extracted from the range scans and then the image corners and lines are used to provide polygon boundaries on these planes. This method is faster and more flexible, both in acquiring data and in computing the planar features and less memory is required. This method also works well in feature poor environments where stereo vision can struggle and does not need to process the feature correspondences in the typical fashion which also saves time. This surface fitting approach is demonstrated using a real data set and results show promise in providing quick yet accurate 3D planar surfaces which could be integrated into SLAM and motion planning frameworks.
AN ALGORITHM FOR REAR-END COLLISION AVOIDANCE WARNING SYSTEMS

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), supported by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), has developed an algorithm for use with rear-end collision avoidance systems that alerts drivers to potentially dangerous driving situations and the need to take evasive action. This algorithm is to be integrated into a General Motors (GM) developed collision warning system for use during the Automotive Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) Field Operational Test (FOT). The NHTSA algorithm uses the host vehicle velocity and acceleration along with the collision warning system-supplied values for range, range rate, and relative acceleration of the lead vehicle to calculate a miss-distance between the host and lead vehicles at 0.1-second intervals. The miss-distance is the closest distance that occurs between the two vehicles if the driver of the host vehicle were to initiate braking after a delay time at a designated host vehicle maximum braking capability. This calculated distance is compared to a miss-distance threshold and if it is less, a warning is provided to the driver. The algorithm accounts for a driver sensitivity setting and includes a look-ahead calculation to determine if the threshold would be passed before the next time interval. The performance of the algorithm has been examined against designated operational scenarios. These scenarios include cases of a constant speed host vehicle encountering a stopped lead vehicle, a constant speed host vehicle encountering a constant but slower speed lead vehicle, and a constant speed host vehicle encountering a lead vehicle braking from the same initial speed. For the covering abstract see ITRD E111577.
Neural Network Rule Extraction and the LED Display Recognition Problem

This paper presents the results from a neural network rule extraction algorithm applied to the LED display recognition problem. We show that pruned neural networks with small number of hidden nodes and connections are able to recognize all the 10 digits from 0 to 9. Earlier work by other researchers demonstrated how symbolic fuzzy rules can be extracted from trained neural networks to solve this problem. Our rules in contrast are crisp rules, and they are obtained from smaller networks. As a result, simpler and easier to understand rules are obtained. These rules give us an insight of how neural networks differentiate one digit from the rest in LED display recognition problem.
Integrating X/Open DTP into Grid services for Grid transaction processing

This paper proposes a new architecture of Grid transaction processing called GridTP based on the OGSA platform and the X/Open DTP model. It is easy to transplant the legacy transaction processing systems to Grid services because GridTP has a similar programming model and interfaces with traditional middleware (XA and TX). Moreover GridTP is independent of any existing transaction protocols (i.e., BTP WS-Transaction, etc.) in Web services. As a case study of GridTP a Grid application called the 3G Portal is presented to demonstrate the usage of this architecture. Therefore, GridTP has made a seamless mechanism for embedding the X/Open DTP model in Grid services, which provides one promising reference implementation for the future Grid transaction processing.
Zero-Metallicity Stars and the Effects of the First Stars on Reionization

We present stellar structure and atmosphere models of metal-free stars and examine them from a cosmological point of view. Metal-free stars exhibit high effective temperatures and small sizes relative to metal-enriched stars of equal mass. These unique physical characteristics enhance the ionizing photon production by metal-free stars, particularly in the He II (hν ≥ 4 ryd) continuum. The star formation rate of metal-free stars necessary to reionize the hydrogen in the universe by z = 5 is consistent with the inferred star formation rate at that epoch. However, the hard stellar spectra are inconsistent with the observations of He II opacity in the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z ∼ 3, indicating that the period of metal-free star formation ended before that epoch. We examine the effects of these stars on the ionization balance of the IGM, the radiative feedback of the first luminous objects, and the extragalactic radiation field. We comment on the prospects for detecting metal-free stellar populations with the λ1640 and λ4686 recombination lines of He II.
A method of PRACH detection threshold setting in LTE TDD femtocell system

Detection threshold is a crucial parameter in Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) receiver and determines the detection performance and efficiency. A method of PRACH detection threshold setting in Long Term Evolution (LTE) Time Division Duplex (TDD) femtocell system is proposed in this paper based on theoretical analysis. This method uses the frequency domain correlation calculation results, and benefits from multiple antennas diversity combing to adjust the relative detection threshold, which is the ratio of absolute detection threshold and time varying noise level. Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the relative threshold is modified to obtain the absolute threshold. Simulation results show that the proposed method fulfills the requirements of the system and gets a promotion in performance under certain false alarm probability and channel conditions.
Twisted vs Protaper Files in Contemporary Pediatric Endodontics

ABSTRACT Objective: To compare the cutting efficiency of twisted files with protaper files in primary teeth. Study design: It is an experimental, in vitro study comparing two groups. Results: The obtained results from the experiment were statistically analyzed with Mann-Whitney U-test. Twisted files showed better cutting efficiency when compared to protaper files. Conclusion: Since twisted files show a better cutting efficiency, they can be efficiently incorporated into the contemporary pediatric endodontic armamentarium. How to cite this article: Prabhakar AR, Yavagal C, Vallu RK. Twisted vs Protaper Files in Contemporary Pediatric Endodontics. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2014;7(2):93-96.
The Minimum Entropy Production Principle

It seems intuitively reasonable that Gibbs' variational principle de­ termining the conditions of heterogeneous equilibrium can be gener­ alized to nonequilibrium conditions. That is, a nonequilibriurn steady state should be the one that makes some kind of generalized-entropy production stationary; and even in the presence of irreversible fluxes, the condition for migrational equilibrium should still be the equality of some generalized chemical potentials. We summarize progress to date toward this goal, reviewing (a) the early history, (b) work of Onsager and first attempts at generalization, (c) the new direction the field took after 1967 with the work of Tykodi and Mitchell, and (d) the present situation and prospects. Our conclu­ sion will be, briefly, that the outlook is good in that the basic principles are believed known; but we do not yet �now whether they can be reduced to simple rules immediately useful in practice, in the way that the Gibbs phase rule is useful. For this, we need more experience in the technique of applying them to particular cases, and more data to test some conjectures.
A reuse triplet for systematic software reuse

We present the view that for systematic software reuse (SSR) to happen we need a reuse software architecture (RSA) as the invariant base and a collection of reuse software components (RSCs) as the pluggable variant part of a family of architecturally similar software systems. We shall identify a reuse situation with a RSA, RSCs and a plugging operator. SSR is then presented as a case of plugging a collection of RSCs into the appropriate RSA. We apply this view of reuse to a number of reuse cases and find evidence that for reuse to be successful we need simple, clear and easily pluggable RSAs and RSCs.
Sublingual Delivery of Vaccines for the Induction of Mucosal Immunity

The mucosal surfaces are constantly exposed to incoming pathogens which can cause infections that result in severe morbidity and/or mortality. Studies have reported that mucosal immunity is important for providing protection against these pathogens and that mucosal vaccination is effective in preventing local infections. For many years, the sublingual mucosa has been targeted to deliver immunotherapy to treat allergic hypersensitivities. However, the potential of vaccine delivery via sublingual mucosal has received little attention until recently. Recent studies exploring such potential have documented the safety and effectiveness of sublingual immunization, demonstrating the ability of sublingual immunization to induce both systemic and mucosal immune responses against a variety of antigens, including soluble proteins, inter particulate antigens, and live-attenuated viruses. This review will summarize the recent findings that address the promising potential of sublingual immunization in proving protection against various mucosal pathogens.
Monodromy Properties of Energy Momentum Tensor on General Algebraic Curves

A new approach to analyze the properties of the energy-momentum tensor T (z) of conformal field theories on generic Riemann surfaces (RS) is proposed. T (z) is decomposed into N components with different monodromy properties, where N is the number of branches in the realization of RS as branch covering over the complex sphere. This decomposition gives rise to new infinite dimensional Lie algebra which can be viewed as a generalization of Virasoro algebra containing information about the global properties of the underlying RS. In the simplest case of hyperelliptic curves the structure of the algebra is calculated in two ways and its central extension is explicitly given. The algebra possess an interesting symmetry with a clear interpretation in the framework of the radial quantization of CFT’s with multivalued fields on the complex sphere.