Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Auto-adaptative Robot-aided Therapy based in 3D Virtual Tasks controlled by a Supervised and Dynamic Neuro-Fuzzy System

This paper presents an application formed by a classification method based on the architecture of ART neural network (Adaptive Resonance Theory) and the Fuzzy Set Theory to classify physiological reactions in order to automatically and dynamically adapt a robot-assisted rehabilitation therapy to the patient needs, using a three-dimensional task in a virtual reality system. Firstly, the mathematical and structural model of the neuro-fuzzy classification method is described together with the signal and training data acquisition. Then, the virtual designed task with physics behavior and its development procedure are explained. Finally, the general architecture of the experimentation for the auto-adaptive therapy is presented using the classification method with the virtual reality exercise.
Aromaticity of polycyclic conjugated hydrocarbons.

G. Clar 6n Rule versus Hückel 4n + 2 Rule 3464 H. Hydrocarbons versus Heteroatomic Systems 3465 IV. Hidden Treasures of Kekulé Valence Structures 3466 A. Conjugated Circuits 3467 B. Innate Degree of Freedom 3470 C. Clar Structures 3472 V. Graph Theoretical Approach to Chemical Structure 3473 A. Metric 3473 B. Chemical Graphs 3473 C. Isospectral Graphs 3473 D. Embedded Graphs 3475 E. Partial Ordering 3476 VI. On Enumeration of Benzenoid Hydrocarbons 3477 VII. Kekulé Valence Structures Count 3479 A. Non-branched Cata-condensed Benzenoids 3481 B. Branched Cata-condensed Benzenoids 3482 C. Benzenoid Lattices 3482 D. Peri-condensed Benzenoids 3483 E. Miscellaneous Benzenoids 3484 F. The Approach of Platt 3485 G. Computer Programs for Calculating K 3485 H. Transfer-Matrix Method 3486 I. Use of Recursion Relations 3486 J. Use of Signed Matrices 3487 VIII. Enumeration of Conjugated Circuits 3488 IX. Approximate Approaches versus Ambitious Computations 3490
Hyperinfectivity of Human-Passaged Vibrio cholerae Can Be Modeled by Growth in the Infant Mouse

ABSTRACT It has previously been shown that passage of Vibrio cholerae through the human intestine imparts a transient hyperinfectious phenotype that may contribute to the epidemic spread of cholera. The mechanism underlying this human-passaged hyperinfectivity is incompletely understood, in part due to inherent difficulties in recovering and studying organisms that are freshly passed in human stool. Here, we demonstrate that passage of V. cholerae through the infant mouse intestine leads to an equivalent degree of hyperinfectivity as passage through the human host. We have used this infant mouse model of host-passaged hyperinfectivity to characterize the timing and the anatomic location of the competitive advantage of mouse-passaged V. cholerae as well as the contribution of three type IV pili to the phenotype.
An iterative method of processing node flip ambiguity in wireless sensor networks node localization

In order to solve the problem of the node flip ambiguity generated by using classical least squares method in wireless sensor networks node localization, an iterative method based on triangular node blocks (IP-TNB) to process node flip ambiguity is proposed in this paper. At first, orthogonal projection detection method is adopted to detect an unknown node needed to be positioned. If the node would be detected to have a flip ambiguity, based on the stability of triangle node blocks and the whole network connectivity information, the flip ambiguity node is processed by the iterative method based on coordinate transformation and recursive optimization, so the process can detect and correct the problem of node flip ambiguity using the least squares method. The simulation results demonstrate that IP-TNB has better positioning performance and reduce node localization errors compared with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Iterative Inflexible Body Merging (IIBM) proposed by Xiao et al. By the simulation experiment of the effect of the number of beacon nodes and range errors on IP-TNB, results show that the proposed method not only can effectively deal with the problem of node flip ambiguity using the least squares method, but also improve the whole network localization accuracy.
An Alternative Approach towards Optimisation Design of Coupler Curve based Four-bar Mechanisms

This paper discusses a new methodology for the synthesis of planar four-bar linkages with rotary joints based on a desired coupler curve. This was performed by first deriving a closed-form expression relating the coupler points to the corresponding crank orientations, which in turn evaluated to zero when the desired point is reached exactly at the specified crank angle. The residual values of this expression, evaluated at a number of crank locations, were used to construct an objective function. The minima of the formulated objective function with respect to the geometry of the linkage yielded the desired solutions. Addition of penalty terms (constraints) to the above objective function ensured full-cycle mobility of the crank along with practically achievable linkage proportions. A genetic algorithm, namely the Non dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) had been used to rectify the problem of unconstrained optimization. A local optimisation process using the lsqnonlin procedure of Matlab overcome the usual sluggishness of convergence by the process of refinement while the global exploration capabilities of the GA were exploited to arrive quickly at multiple candidate solutions. The stated method had been illustrated in this paper using three numerical examples. It has been observed that the proposed method has resulted in better solutions than those reported in recent literature.
Entropy function and attractors for AdS black holes

We apply Sen's entropy formalism to the study of the near horizon geometry and the entropy of asymptotically AdS black holes in gauged supergravities. In particular, we consider non-supersymmetric electrically charged black holes with AdS2×S di2 horizons in U(1) 4 and U(1) 3 gauged supergravities in d = 4 and d = 5 dimensions, respectively. We study several cases including static/rotating, BPS and non-BPS black holes in Einstein as well as in Gauss-Bonnet gravity. In all examples, the near horizon geometry and black hole entropy are derived by extremizing the entropy function and are given entirely in terms of the gauge coupling, the electric charges and the angular momentum of the black hole.
Inhibition of cell proliferation in black‐capped chickadees suggests a role for neurogenesis in spatial learning

Following development, the avian brain continues to produce neurons throughout adulthood, which functionally integrate throughout the telencephalon, including the hippocampus. In food‐storing birds like the black‐capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus), new neurons incorporated into the hippocampus are hypothesized to play a role in spatial learning. Previous results on the relation between hippocampal neurogenesis and spatial learning, however, are correlational. In this study, we experimentally suppressed hippocampal neuronal recruitment and tested for subsequent effects on spatial learning in adult chickadees. After chickadees exhibited significant learning, we treated birds with daily injections of either saline or methylazoxymethanol (MAM), a toxin that suppresses cell proliferation in the brain and monitored subsequent spatial learning. MAM treatment significantly reduced cell proliferation around the lateral ventricles and neuronal recruitment in the hippocampus, measured using the cell birth marker bromodeoxyuridine. MAM‐treated birds performed significantly worse than controls on the spatial learning task 12 days following the initiation of MAM treatment, a time when new neurons would begin functionally integrating into the hippocampus. This difference in learning, however, was limited to a single trial. MAM treatment did not affect any measure of body condition, suggesting learning impairments were not a product of non‐specific adverse effects of MAM. This is the first evidence of a potential causal link between hippocampal neurogenesis and spatial learning in birds. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 74: 1002–1010, 2014
Proposal for Beyond 100-Gb/s Optical Transmission Based on Bit-Interleaved LDPC-Coded Modulation

An iterative bandwidth-efficient coded modulation scheme based on bit-interleaving low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, and M-ary differential phase-shift keying is proposed. A bit-interleaved LDPC-coded scheme, carrying 3 bits/symbol, provides the coding gain of 8.3 dB at a bit-error rate (BER) of 10-7. The expected coding gain at BER of 10-12 is 12.8 dB. Possible applications include 100G Ethernet, and high-speed (>100 Gb/s) long-haul transmission
Altered expression of cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 4 in azoxymethane-induced mouse colon tumorigenesis.

Alterations in the expression of the cell cycle regulators, cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (Cdk4), have been implicated in malignancies of both humans and experimental animal models. We hypothesize that altered expression of cyclin D1 and Cdk4 may also be involved in mouse colon tumorigenesis induced by the chemical carcinogen, azoxymethane (AOM). In the present study, SWR/J mice were given AOM by i.p. injection at a dose of 10 mg/kg once a week for 8 weeks, and colonic tissue and tumors were isolated 18 weeks later. The expression and localization of cyclin D1 and Cdk4 were examined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemical analyses. Cyclin D1 and Cdk4 mRNA levels in tumor samples were increased 1.3-fold (P < 0.01) and 1.2-fold (P < 0.01), respectively, when compared with control mouse colon tissue. Control colon epithelium was uniformly negative for cyclin D1 immunoreactivity, whereas minimal Cdk4 nuclear staining was confined to the lower portion of the crypts within the control tissue. Both cyclin D1 and Cdk4 immunoreactive cells were markedly increased in preneoplastic lesions and in adenomas isolated from AOM-treated mice. Furthermore, some morphologically normal colon crypts from AOM-treated mice showed positive cyclin D1 immunoreactivity. These findings suggest that overexpression of cyclin D1 and Cdk4 occurs early in the AOM-induced mouse colon tumorigenesis and may contribute to tumor progression in this model.
Phenotypic Plasticity and Genetic Variation of Vaccinium macrocarpon, the American Cranberry. I. Reaction Norms of Clones from Central and Marginal Populations in a Common Garden

Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton (Ericaceae) cranberry, a dwarf shrub and a typical taxon in temperate peat bogs, has its central distribution in cool temperate regions in eastern North America. Isolated southern marginal populations are distributed along the Appalachian corridor and on the North Carolina coastal plain. A common garden (Blacksburg, Virginia) was utilized to determine whether marginal cranberry clones exhibit greater phenotypic plasticity than central clones. Three central clones from Massachusetts (MA), Wisconsin (WI), and New York (NY) and three marginal clones from North Carolina (NC), Tennessee (TN), and West Virginia (WV) were tested. A suite of phenotypic traits was measured in response to edaphic variation in the common garden. An analysis of reaction norms took the form of an analysis of covariance to test for significant differences among clones and to estimate regression slopes (plasticity) when compared with environmental (nutrient) variation. There was no regional variation in phenotypic plasticity, but there was significant clonal differentiation for 77% of nonintercorrelated traits. However, in most cases the differences were seemingly random, with little biological importance. Hence little differentiation in relation to population origin was observed among clones. Matrix comparisons were performed using a Mantel test to check for pairwise correlations among the following matrices: geographic distances, trait means, plasticity, and molecular variation assessed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiling. No correspondence was found among matrices. The recent postglacial distribution of cranberry may account for the absence of phenotypic and genetic heterogeneity.
Design of online non-contact palmprint recognition simulation system

Palmprint has rich texture information, and palmprint recognition is a very promising biometric identification technology. To study online palmprint identification technology under non-contact mode, a novel and simple method for online palmprint identification technology is presented, and a palmprint recognition simulation system is designed in this paper. Firstly, based on the coordinate position of finger-root in palm outline and by locating the contour feature points of palm, the palmprint region of interest (ROI) is intercepted, and then the block mean gray values are extracted as the palmprint features, finally the feature matrix distance is used for the palmprint matching. The online palmprint recognition simulation system is realized including palmprint collection module, preprocessing module, feature extraction module and feature matching module, and the experimental results in the non-contact palmprint database show that the method can obtain a good recognition effect, which is simple and has application prospect.
The influence of parental depression, interparental conflict and parent-child hostility on the development of psychopathology in children and adolescents

Parental depression has been highlighted as a major risk factor for the development of psychopathology in children and adolescents (Mars et al, 2012; Sellers et al, 2013). Garber & Martin (2002) suggest that the primary environmental stressor that children living with depressed parents are exposed to relates to the impact of maternal depression on marital conflict. Interparental conflict has been demonstrated to have negative effects on various aspects of family functioning and relationships. Strong associations between conflict levels in parental relationships and negative parent-child relationships support this theory (Erel & Burmann, 1995). The parent- child relationship is viewed as a central mechanism for the transmission of psychopathology across generations of a family (Rutter et al., 2010). This thesis examines the relationship between parental depression and family processes (specifically interparental and parent-child relationships) on the development of depressive and aggressive symptoms in children and adolescents. Four data sets examine these associations: a high risk sample of parents with recurrent depression and their adolescent children (Early Prediction of Adolescent Depression, EPADS), a community sample of low-risk adolescents and their families (Welsh Family Study, WFS), a sample of families who have conceived children using Artificial Reproductive Technologies (the Cardiff IVF Study, C-IVF) and a longitudinal adoption study (Early Growth and Development Study, EGDS). Findings from this thesis presents evidence that a process exists by which parental depressive symptoms contribute to the development of psychopathology in children and adolescents through disrupted interparental and parent-child relationships. Parental depression was consistently associated with interparental conflict, which in turn was associated with higher levels of parent-child hostility. For child outcomes, the most consistent finding was the association between parent-child hostility and child and adolescent symptoms of aggression. This was observed in all four data sets, in a variety of samples and across a range of developmental periods. The association was observed where adolescents were classed as being at either a high or low-risk for the development of psychopathology, and for those families where parents were rearing genetically related and genetically unrelated children.
Some prospects for ensemble solid-state NMR quantum computers

As an ensemble scheme of solid-state NMR quantum computers the extension of Kane's many-qubits silicon scheme based on the array of 31 P donor atoms are spaced lengthwise of the strip gates is considered. The possible planar topology of such ensemble quantum computer is suggested. The estimation of the output NMR signal was performed and it was shown that for the number N>=10^5 of ensemble elements involving L~10^3 qubits each, the standard NMR methods are usable. As main mechanisms of decoherence for low temperature (<0.1K), the adiabatic processes of random modulation of qubit resonance frequency determined by secular part of nuclear spin hyperfine interaction with electron magnetic moment of basic atom and dipole-dipole interaction with nuclear moments of neighboring impurity atoms was considered, It was made estimations of allowed concentrations of magnetic impurities and of spin temperature whereby the required decoherence suppression is obtained. Semiclassical decoherence model of two qubit entangled states is also presented. As another variant of the solid-state ensemble quantum computer, the gateless architecture of cellular-automaton with antiferromagnetically ordered electron spins is also discussed here.
Growing Alike or Growing Apart? Industrial Specialization of EU Countries

This paper documents specialisation trends in 32 manufacturing industries across 13 European countries over the 1972-1996 period. We find that sectoral employment specialisation measured by locational Gini indices has been generally increasing, and that the dissimilarity of industrial structures among the sample countries has grown. Specialisation is most pronounced in “traditional” resourceand labour-intensive sectors, but there are signs of increasing clustering in technology-intensive industries since the mid-1980s. Specialisation of exports, whilst decreasing on average, is stronger than specialisation of employment. A continuation of the observed specialisation trend might reduce the scope for cyclical convergence of EMU countries and increase the pressure for greater market flexibility in the face of asymmetric fluctuations.
Spatial Models for Fuzzy Clustering

A novel approach to fuzzy clustering for image segmentation is described. The fuzzy C-means objective function is generalized to include a spatial penalty on the membership functions. The penalty term leads to an iterative algorithm that is only slightly different from the original fuzzy C-means algorithm and allows the estimation of spatially smooth membership functions. To determine the strength of the penalty function, a criterion based on cross-validation is employed. The new algorithm is applied to simulated and real magnetic resonance images and is shown to be more robust to noise and other artifacts than competing approaches.
Intra-speaker variation and units in human speech perception and ASR

Research on speech perception and ASR has resulted several important advances in our understanding of speech variation: one is that speaker dependent variation is systematic, another is that inter-speaker and intra-speaker variation diverge in their root causes and characteristics. Therefore, a successful approach to one may not always transfer to the other. Intertalker variation, or indexical information, results from talker-dependent physiologic, demographic and social factors. Thus, it can be addressed with corpora that are representative of the population and appropriate language descriptions. This is because inter-talker variation remains constant across contexts and is shared by significant sectors of the population. Intratalker variation results from factors including linguistic-structural effects, such as the influence of phonetic and prosodic contexts, discourse and lexical factors, emotion, and the talker’s adjustment in clarity to accommodate listeners’ needs. Task appropriate corpora will help; however, intra-speaker variation does not remain static across an utterance and therefore requires dynamic adaptation. Moreover, many of the changes are sub-phone in nature and are therefore best modeled in terms of existing features rather than a proliferation of novel phones. Recent research on speech perception and word recognition suggests that word recognition is affected by inter- and intra-speaker variation, and that human listeners adapt dynamically to listening conditions using partial information. That is, listeners can use underspecified information in making lexical decisions, modifying the weighting of extracted features as the listening conditions change using a sort of coarse coding of features that group speech sounds into meta-phone groupings based on similarity distances. Moreover, feature-based pronunciation models are more efficient, are better suited for incorporating factors like prosody, are better for sparse data, and are better suited for dynamic adaptation to changes in the speech signal.
The First Modern Human Dispersals across Africa

The emergence of more refined chronologies for climate change and archaeology in prehistoric Africa, and for the evolution of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), now make it feasible to test more sophisticated models of early modern human dispersals suggested by mtDNA distributions. Here we have generated 42 novel whole-mtDNA genomes belonging to haplogroup L0, the most divergent clade in the maternal line of descent, and analysed them alongside the growing database of African lineages belonging to L0’s sister clade, L1’6. We propose that the last common ancestor of modern human mtDNAs (carried by “mitochondrial Eve”) possibly arose in central Africa ~180 ka, at a time of low population size. By ~130 ka two distinct groups of anatomically modern humans co-existed in Africa: broadly, the ancestors of many modern-day Khoe and San populations in the south and a second central/eastern African group that includes the ancestors of most extant worldwide populations. Early modern human dispersals correlate with climate changes, particularly the tropical African “megadroughts” of MIS 5 (marine isotope stage 5, 135–75 ka) which paradoxically may have facilitated expansions in central and eastern Africa, ultimately triggering the dispersal out of Africa of people carrying haplogroup L3 ~60 ka. Two south to east migrations are discernible within haplogroup LO. One, between 120 and 75 ka, represents the first unambiguous long-range modern human dispersal detected by mtDNA and might have allowed the dispersal of several markers of modernity. A second one, within the last 20 ka signalled by L0d, may have been responsible for the spread of southern click-consonant languages to eastern Africa, contrary to the view that these eastern examples constitute relicts of an ancient, much wider distribution.
Prevalence of Pneumoconiosis in Hubei, China from 2008 to 2013

We have investigated newly reported pneumoconiosis cases in the province of Hubei, China from 2008 to 2013, to identify the major problems and challenges, and explore possible solutions for its prevention and control. We analyzed the data on new cases of pneumoconiosis from annual reports, including case distributions, patient ages, exposure duration, disease stages, and enterprise types. A total of 3665 new pneumoconiosis cases were reported between 2008 and 2013 in Hubei Province. Coal workers’ pneumoconiosis and silicosis, which accounted for 97.19% of the total, were the most common types. The duration of exposure of 33.32% cases was less than 10 years. Most of the new pneumoconiosis cases worked in industries that produced coal, nonferrous metal, or building materials. About 42.46% of pneumoconiosis cases were from small and medium-sized enterprises. The proportion of cases with combined pneumoconiosis and tuberculosis was 6.6%, and the incidence of tuberculosis was highest in workers with silicosis. The current situation of pneumoconiosis in China is serious. Lack of attention to occupational health, inefficient surveillance, and weak occupational health services may have contributed to the increased new pneumoconiosis cases.