Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design and implementation of least mean square adaptive filter on Altera Cyclone II Field Programmable Gate Array for active noise control

This paper presents a design and implementation of least mean square (LMS) adaptive filter for use in active noise control (ANC) application. The filter has been designed and synthesized with Altera Quartus II development platform and implemented on Cyclone II FPGA available on Altera DE2 development board. Architecture of the adaptive filter is based on conventional multiplier-adder to realize the multiply and accumulate (MAC) operation for FIR, implementing 64 filter tap with 9- bit signed integer coefficients. A uniform random signal with the bandwidth of 24 KHz is used as the test and reference signal for the filter verification. This signal is generated internally on FPGA based on LFSR technique. Performance of the filter is evaluated by means of convergence speed (with different step size, µ ) and comparison of adaptive filter coefficients with the unknown system. A fixed filter is programmed to behave as a bandpass FIR Hamming-type window with the cut-off frequency from 250Hz to 3400Hz to act as the unknown system. The results conclude that the LMS adaptive filter designed have successfully adapted with the unknown system with the fastest convergence speed of 1.46 ms at 1/210 step size.
Scaling Up Integrated Community Case Management of Childhood Illness: Update from Malawi

The Government of Malawi (GoM) initiated activities to deliver treatment of common childhood illnesses (suspected pneumonia, fever/suspected malaria, and diarrhea) in the community in 2008. The service providers are Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs), and they are posted nationwide to serve communities at a ratio of 1 to 1,000 population. The GoM targeted the establishment of 3,452 village health clinics (VHCs) in hard-to-reach areas by 2011. By September of 2011, 3,296 HSAs had received training in integrated case management of childhood illness, and 2,709 VHCs were functional. An assessment has shown that HSAs are able to treat sick children with quality similar to the quality provided in fixed facilities. Monitoring data also suggest that communities are using the sick child services. We summarize factors that have facilitated the scale up of integrated community case management of children in Malawi and address challenges, such as ensuring a steady supply of medicines and supportive supervision.
Using Common Knowledge to Improve Fixed-Dependency-After-Send

Checkpoint patterns that enforce the rollbak-dependency trackability (RDT) property allow effcient solutions to the determination of consistent global checkpoints that include a given set of checkpoints. Fixed-Dependency-After-Send (FDAS) is a well-known RDT protocol that forces the dependency vector of a process to remain unchanged during a checkpoint interval after the first message-send event. In this paper, we explore processes' common knowledge about their behavior to derive a more effcient condition to induce checkpoints under FDAS. We consider that our approach can be used to improve other RDT checkpointing protocols.
Escape performance decreases during ontogeny in wild crickets

SUMMARY Increasing the ecological relevance of studies relating to the performance of organisms has been a central issue for functional biologists over the last few years. Of particular concern are changes in performance throughout the life cycle as selective forces act differently on various life stages. We addressed this issue experimentally by following ontogenic variations in the escape performance of crickets threatened by artificial predatory signals. We measured their performance under natural settings, which is a necessary approach yet one that is undocumented in insects. We analysed numeric film sequences obtained using a high-speed video camera at 1000 frames s–1 to quantify wild cricket performance and behaviour in the field. We detected significant differences in cricket escape performance throughout ontogeny. Escape performances were higher in juvenile crickets than older instars. Complementary behavioural measurements for escaping crickets suggest that these variations may be related to the lower predatory risk perceived by large adults than by juveniles. We expect that our analysis of size-refuge will also improve our understanding in the development of performance, given its importance in community and population ecology theories.
Constrained LMDS technique for human motion and gesture estimation

Body Area Networks is an emerging domain taking a big interest from developers and system designers. On the other hand, the need to localize is becoming necessary in diverse applications. Within this context, the aim of this paper is to estimate the different gestures and motions of the human body. Initially, we use information, about human motion, extracted from C3D files. In fact, these files provide us with the exact 3D coordinates of the sensors on a moving body. In a second step the IEEE 802.15. 6 channel model is used to estimate the distances between sensors which are the input of the locomotion technique based on Multidimensional Scaling. Basically, this technique did not present satisfying results, that's why we have improved our results by an SVD reconstruction algorithm and by adding distance constraints.
Cellular Basis for Contrast Gain Control over the Receptive Field Center of Mammalian Retinal Ganglion Cells

Retinal ganglion cells fire spikes to an appropriate contrast presented over their receptive field center. These center responses undergo dynamic changes in sensitivity depending on the ongoing level of contrast, a process known as “contrast gain control. ” Extracellular recordings suggested that gain control is driven by a single wide-field mechanism, extending across the center and beyond, that depends on inhibitory interneurons: amacrine cells. However, recordings in salamander suggested that the excitatory bipolar cells, which drive the center, may themselves show gain control independently of amacrine cell mechanisms. Here, we tested in mammalian ganglion cells whether amacrine cells are critical for gain control over the receptive field center. We made extracellular and whole-cell recordings of guinea pig Y-type cells in vitro and quantified the gain change between contrasts using a linear–nonlinear analysis. For spikes, tripling contrast reduced gain by ∼40%. With spikes blocked, ganglion cells showed similar levels of gain control in membrane currents and voltages and under conditions of low and high calcium buffering: tripling contrast reduced gain by ∼20–25%. Gain control persisted under voltage-clamp conditions that minimize inhibitory conductances and pharmacological conditions that block inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors. Gain control depended on adequate stimulation, not of ganglion cells but of presynaptic bipolar cells. Furthermore, horizontal cell measurements showed a lack of gain control in photoreceptor synaptic release. Thus, the mechanism for gain control over the ganglion cell receptive field center, as measured in the subthreshold response, originates in the presynaptic bipolar cells and does not require amacrine cell signaling.
Methods of unsupervised adaptation in online speech recognition

This paper deals with adaptation techniques based on maximum likelihood linear transformations, which are well suited for the task of on-line recognition. When transcriptions are available before the system starts running, we are speaking about supervised adaptation. In unsupervised adaptation the transcriptions have to be computed in the first pass of the recognition process. This is often the case in on-line recognition, where data are gathered continuously. Because the system does not work perfectly it is suitable to assign a certainty factor (CF) to each of the transcriptions. Only data that transcriptions have high CF are used for the adaptation. In the on-line recognition, the adaptation (in the sense of updating transformation formulas) has to be performed iteratively whenever the amount of recognized data reaches the pre-specified level. When small amount of adaptation data is available, it is suitable to involve regression trees to cluster similar model parameters. It is quite useful to adapt both speech and silence parameters. Because speech and silence have very different characteristics, we have separated them into two different clusters. Presented methods have been tested on short term recordings and results have proved the suitability of the proposed approach.
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi : Biocontrol against Fusarium Wilt of Chickpea

The present study shows the status of mycorrhization in three test varieties of chickpea. As the results revealed irrespective to the crops when arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were assessed under the influence of soil quality better results were obtained with unsterile soil in comparison to sterile soil. Chickpea variety ICC 11322 showed the best result against the Fusarium wilt and chickpea variety ICC 4951 was susceptible against the Fusarium wilt. Acaulospora spinosa showed best results with JG 74, Glomus mosseae with ICC 4951 and Glomus fasciculatum showed best results with ICC 11322. The lowest percentage mycorrhizal colonization was found on plants with the most severe disease symptoms.
Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor–Independent Toxicity of Weathered Crude Oil during Fish Development

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), derived largely from fossil fuels and their combustion, are pervasive contaminants in rivers, lakes, and nearshore marine habitats. Studies after the Exxon Valdez oil spill demonstrated that fish embryos exposed to low levels of PAHs in weathered crude oil develop a syndrome of edema and craniofacial and body axis defects. Although mechanisms leading to these defects are poorly understood, it is widely held that PAH toxicity is linked to aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) binding and cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) induction. Using zebrafish embryos, we show that the weathered crude oil syndrome is distinct from the well-characterized AhR-dependent effects of dioxin toxicity. Blockade of AhR pathway components with antisense morpholino oligonucleotides demonstrated that the key developmental defects induced by weathered crude oil exposure are mediated by low-molecular-weight tricyclic PAHs through AhR-independent disruption of cardiovascular function and morphogenesis. These findings have multiple implications for the assessment of PAH impacts on coastal habitats.
Anesthesia for Intraoperative Neurophysiologic Monitoring of the Spinal Cord

Summary Intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring (INM) using somatosensory and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) has become popular to reduce neural risk and to improve intraoperative surgical decision making. Intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring is affected by the choice and management of the anesthetic agents chosen. Because inhalational and intravenous anesthetic agents have effects on neural synaptic and axonal functional activities, the anesthetic effect on any given response will depend on the pathway affected and the mechanism of action of the anesthetic agent (i.e., direct inhibition or indirect effects based on changes in the balance of inhibitory or excitatory inputs). In general, responses that are more highly dependent on synaptic function will have more marked reductions in amplitude and increases in latency as a result of the synaptic effects of inhalational anesthetic agents and similar effects at higher doses of intravenous agents. Hence, recording cortical somatosensory evoked potentials and myogenic MEPs requires critical anesthetic choices for INM. The management of the physiologic milieu is also important as central nervous system blood flow, intracranial pressure, blood rheology, temperature, and arterial carbon dioxide partial pressure produce alterations in the responses consistent with the support of neural functioning. Finally, the management of pharmacologic neuromuscular blockade is critical to myogenic MEP recording in which some blockade may be desirable for surgery but excessive blockade may eliminate responses. A close working relationship of the monitoring team, the anesthesiologist, and the surgeon is key to the successful conduct and interpretation of INM.
Lightweight policing and charging for packet networks

The paper suggests that a multi-service packet network might be achieved by adding classification and scheduling to routers, but not policing. Instead, a lightweight, packet-granularity charging system is presented that emulates a highly open policing function and is completely separated from the data path. A high proportion of charging operations runs on customer systems to achieve this, the proportion being configurable per-customer. Functions dispersible to customers include not only metering, accounting and billing but also per-packet or per-flow policing and admission control. Lower cost is achieved through simplicity without sacrificing commercial flexibility or security, Inter-provider charging, multicast charging and open bundling of network charges with those for higher class services are all catered for within the same simple design. The paper is primarily architectural, referring to supporting papers for reports of early implementation experience in an Internet context.
A Versatile Traffic and Power Aware Performability Analysis of Server Virtualized Systems

We propose in this paper a workload-aware perform ability analysis of elastic server virtualized systems (SVS) based on non-Markovian SRN modeling approach. This analysis investigates correlations between several modules involving workload-aware power management (PM) mechanism, virtual machine (VM) and VM monitor (VMM) subject to aging, failure and rejuvenation. We show through numerical results how performance (i.e. waiting time), power usage as well as power-performance efficiency are impacted by power management attribute when using time varying workload with bursty nature. We show also how we can quantify PM attributes leading to small waiting time and a good utilization of the active power state.
Not all brokers are alike: Creative implications of brokering networks in different work functions

Brokers are expected to be more creative than employees embedded in closed social structures because they occupy a position in the social space that provides them with access to non-redundant knowledge. However, the extant research provides partly inconsistent findings on the creative implications of brokerage, which raises important questions about when and how brokering between otherwise disconnected colleagues leads to individual creativity. We advance the relational perspective on individual creativity by adopting a contingency view, and showing that a curvilinear (inverted U-shape) specification of the relationship between brokerage and creativity applies particularly when brokers work in research and development, as they are more likely to intensively exploit their structural opportunities. In addition, we show that brokers who work in research and development are more sensitive to work environments that protect their cognitive resources, such that they exhibit greater creativity when the work environment is free from environmental stressors, such as noise and disturbances. Thus, environmental stressors are particularly harmful for those employees who are most likely to exploit the opportunity to broker across otherwise disconnected colleagues.
Variation in glucosinolates in pak choi cultivars and various organs at different stages of vegetative growth during the harvest period

Glucosinolates (GSs) play an important role in plant defense systems and human nutrition. We investigated the content and composition of GSs in the shoots and roots of seven cultivars of pak choi. We found that ‘Si Yue Man’ had the highest total and aliphatic GS contents in the shoots and the highest benzenic GS content in the roots, ‘Shanghai Qing’ contained the highest amounts of benzenic and total GS contents in the roots, while ‘Nanjing Zhong Gan Bai’ had the lowest benzenic, indole, and total GS contents in both the shoots and roots. Therefore, the ‘Si Yue Man’ cultivar appears to be a good candidate for future breeding. Variation between the shoots and roots was also examined, and a significant correlation among the total, aliphatic, and some individual GSs was found, which is of value in agricultural breeding. GS concentrations of the leaf, petiole, and root increased dramatically during the period of rapid growth of the dry matter of the plant 10 to 20 d after transplantation, reaching peak values on Day 20 and decreasing on Day 25. We conclude that the pak choi should be harvested and consumed from 20 to 25 d after transplantation to take advantages of the high GS content in the plant.
FACS Identifies Unique Cocaine-Induced Gene Regulation in Selectively Activated Adult Striatal Neurons

Numerous studies with the neural activity marker Fos indicate that cocaine activates only a small proportion of sparsely distributed striatal neurons. Until now, efficient methods were not available to assess neuroadaptations induced specifically within these activated neurons. We used fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to purify striatal neurons activated during cocaine-induced locomotion in naive and cocaine-sensitized cfos-lacZ transgenic rats. Activated neurons were labeled with an antibody against β-galactosidase, the protein product of the lacZ gene. Cocaine induced a unique gene expression profile selectively in the small proportion of activated neurons that was not observed in the nonactivated majority of neurons. These genes included altered levels of the immediate early genes arc, fosB, and nr4a3, as well as genes involved in p38 MAPK signaling and cell-type specificity. We propose that this FACS method can be used to study molecular neuroadaptations in specific neurons encoding the behavioral effects of abused drugs and other learned behaviors.
Estimation of genetic parameters for scrotal circumference, age at puberty in heifers, and hip height in Brahman cattle.

Genetic parameters were estimated for scrotal circumference (SC; n=287), age at puberty in heifers (AP; n=292), and hip height in both sexes (HH; n=684) for Brahman cattle born from 1984 to 1994 at the Subtropical Agricultural Research Station, Brooksville, Florida. Age at puberty was defined as the age (days) at first detected ovulatory estrus. Measurements of SC and HH were taken at 18 mo of age. Fixed effects considered in the SC model were year of birth (YOB), age of dam (AOD), and age at measurement (AGE) as a linear covariate. Fixed effects fitted to the AP model were YOB and AOD. Fixed effects in the HH model were YOB, sex, AOD, and AGE as a linear covariate. Variances and covariances were estimated using REML with a derivative-free algorithm and fitting a multiple trait animal model. Estimates of heritability for SC, AP, and HH were . 28, . 42, and . 65, respectively. Estimates of genetic correlations between SC and AP, SC and HH, and AP and HH were -. 32, . 19, and . 25, respectively. Estimates of environmental correlations were . 19 between SC and HH, and -. 13 between AP and HH. Estimates of genetic parameters indicate a favorable genetic relationship between SC in Brahman bulls and AP in Brahman heifers under subtropical conditions. There was also evidence that selecting Brahman bulls for HH would not adversely affect SC but would have some detrimental effect on AP in female progeny.
Effects of aquatic interventions in children with neuromotor impairments: a systematic review of the literature

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of aquatic interventions in children with neuromotor impairments. Design: A search of electronic databases that included MEDLINE, PubMed, ERIC, PsychLit, PEDro, Sport Discus, CINAHL and Cochrane between 1966 and January 2005 was conducted using the following keywords: ‘hydrotherapy’, ‘aquatic therapy’, ‘water exercise’, ‘aquatics’, ‘adapted aquatics’, ‘aquatic exercise’ and ‘swimming’. An additional resource, the Aquatic Therapy Research Bibliography until 1999, was explored manually. Titles and abstracts were assessed manually according to the following inclusion criteria: (1) population (children with neuromotor or neuromuscular impairments), (2) intervention (aquatic programme). Articles were reviewed according to merit of design, population participants and outcome measures with respect to International Classification of Function and Disability terminology (changes in body function, activity level and participation). Results: Eleven of the 173 articles that were retrieved met the inclusion criteria: one randomized control trial, two quasi-experimental studies, one cohort study, two case control studies and five case reports. Seven articles reported improvement in body functions, and seven articles reported improvement in activity level. Two of the four articles that investigated outcome measures regarding participation described positive effects while the findings of the other two revealed no change. None of the articles reported negative effects due to aquatic interventions. Conclusion: According to this review, there is a substantial lack of evidence-based research evaluating the specific effects of aquatic interventions in this population.
MicroRNA Expression in Alzheimer Blood Mononuclear Cells

Various coding genes representing multiple functional categories are downregulated in blood mononuclear cells (BMC) of patients with sporadic Alzheimer disease (AD). Noncoding microRNAs (miRNA) regulate gene expression by degrading messages or inhibiting translation. Using BMC as a paradigm for the study of systemic alterations in AD, we investigated whether peripheral miRNA expression is altered in this condition. MicroRNA levels were assessed using the microRNA microarray (MMChip) containing 462 human miRNA, and the results validated by real time PCR. Sixteen AD patients and sixteen normal elderly controls (NEC) were matched for ethnicity, age, gender and education. The expression of several BMC miRNAs was found to increase in AD relative to NEC levels, and may differ between AD subjects bearing one or two APOE4 alleles. As compared to NEC, miRNAs significantly upregulated in AD subjects and confirmed by qPCR were miR-34a and 181b. Predicted target genes downregulated in Alzheimer BMC that correlated with the upregulated miRNAs were largely represented in the functional categories of Transcription/Translation and Synaptic Activity. Several miRNAs targeting the same genes were within the functional category of Injury response/Redox homeostasis. Taken together, induction of microRNA expression in BMC may contribute to the aberrant systemic decline in mRNA levels in sporadic AD.
The Organizational Context of Teachers' Perceived Control Over Decision Making*

This paper examines teachers' perceptions of their control over decision making. The analysis is designed to assess the adequacy of conventional organization theories for explaining individual experiences of organizational control The analysis of survey data shows neither school organizational control mechanisms, bureaucratization, environmental pressure, nor certain teacher attitudes and characteristics to account for teachers' perceptions of own control. The discussion suggests such alternative theoretical formulations as loose coupling and social construction of reality, because they rely less on constraining individual behavior to organizational roles than do conventional approaches.