Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Fuzzy-Neural Adaptive Iterative Learning Control for Freeway Traffic Flow Systems

In this paper, a fuzzy-neural adaptive iterative learning control (AILC) is proposed for traffic flow systems of a single lane freeway with random bounded off-ramp traffic volumes. It is assumed that the system dynamic functions and input gains are unknown for controller design. An adaptive fuzzy neural network (FNN) controller and an adaptive robust controller are applied to compensate for the unknown system nonlinearity and input gain respectively. On the other hand, to deal with the disturbance from random bounded off-ramp traffic volumes, a dead zone like auxiliary error with the time-varying boundary layer is introduced as a bounding parameter. This proposed auxiliary error is also utilized for the construction of adaptive laws without using the bound of the input gain for all the adaptation parameters. The traffic density tracking error is shown to converge along the axis of learning iteration to a residual set whose level of magnitude depends on the width of boundary layer.
pH-induced alterations in the fusogenic spike protein of Semliki Forest virus

The spike glycoproteins of Semliki Forest virus mediate membrane fusion between the viral envelope and cholesterol-containing target membranes under conditions of mildly acidic pH (pH less than 6.2). The fusion reaction is critical for the infectious cycle, catalyzing virus penetration from the acidic endosome compartment. To define the role of the viral spike glycoproteins in the fusion reaction, conformational changes in the spikes at acid pH were studied using protease digestion and binding assays to liposomes and nonionic detergent. A method was also developed to prepare fragments of both transmembrane subunit glycopolypeptides of the spike, E1 and E2, which lacked the hydrophobic anchor peptides. Unlike the intact spikes the fragments were monomeric and therefore useful for obtaining information on conformational changes in individual subunits. The results showed that both E1 and E2 undergo irreversible conformational changes at the pH of fusion, that the conformational change of E1 depends, in addition to acidic pH, on the presence of cholesterol, and that no major changes in the solubility properties of the spikes takes place. On the basis of these findings it was concluded that fusion involves both subunits of the spike and that E1 confers the stereo-specific sterol requirement. The results indicated, moreover, that acid-induced fusion of Semliki Forest virus differs in important respects from that of influenza virus, another well-defined model system for protein-mediated membrane fusion.
Sonographic detection of hepatocellular carcinoma and dysplastic nodules in cirrhosis: correlation of pretransplantation sonography and liver explant pathology in 200 patients.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of sonography as an aid in detecting hepatocellular carcinomas and dysplastic nodules using explantation correlation in patients with cirrhosis and no known hepatocellular carcinomas. MATERIALS AND METHODS The sonography reports of 200 patients with cirrhosis who underwent sonography and then underwent liver transplantation within 90 days were retrospectively reviewed for focal solid liver lesions. All focal solid masses detected on sonography were considered possible hepatocellular carcinomas. The sonographic findings were compared with thin-section explanted liver pathologic results. RESULTS Twenty-seven patients (13.5%) had hepatocellular carcinoma at explantation, including four patients with diffuse, multifocal tumors. Eight of the 39 lesions were detected on sonography for a patient sensitivity of 29.6% and a lesion sensitivity of 20.5%. Sonography revealed three (75%) of four hepatocellular carcinomas larger than 5 cm in diameter, one (50%) of two hepatocellular carcinomas with diameters of 3.1-5.0 cm, one (20%) of five hepatocellular carcinomas with diameters of 2.1-3.0 cm, three (13.6%) of 22 hepatocellular carcinomas with diameters of 1-2 cm, and no lesions with diameters smaller than 1 cm. Forty-two patients (21%) had a total of 126 dysplastic nodules including two patients with innumerable lesions. Sonography depicted only two dysplastic nodules, for a patient sensitivity of 4.8% and a lesion sensitivity of 1.6%. The overall specificity of sonography for either hepatocellular carcinomas or dysplastic nodules was 96%. CONCLUSION Sonography has low sensitivity but high specificity in revealing hepatocellular carcinomas and dysplastic nodules in patients with a cirrhotic liver requiring liver transplantation. In these patients, sonography should not be the sole imaging modality used for lesion detection before transplantation.
Op zoek naar innovatie in het beleidsimplementatieonderzoek: de meerwaarde van ‘Qualitative Comparative Analysis’

Sinds de introductie van de term ‘implementatie’ in de beleidsanalyse in de jaren zeventig en tachtig van de vorige eeuw (o.a. DeLeon, 1999: 312-313; Slack, 2005: 3) is het beleidsimplementatieproces voorwerp geweest van heel wat studies (o.a. Berman, 1980; Hill, 2003; Hill & Hupe, 2002; Hill & Hupe, 2009; Hogwood & Gunn, 1984; Lipsky, 1980; Matland, 1995; McLaughlin, 1987; O’Toole, 1986; Pressman & Wildavsky, 1973; Ryan, 1995; Sabatier & Mazmanian, 1980; Smith, 1973; Van Meter & Van Horn, 1975). Hoewel deze studies nuttige inzichten opleverden, kenmerken ze zich door enkele belangrijke tekortkomingen. Zo blijkt er tot op heden nog steeds geen duidelijkheid te bestaan over de ‘kritieke’ implementatie beïnvloedende variabelen (DeLeon, 1999: 314; O’Toole, 1986: 184; Saetren, 2014: 10). Matland (1995: 146) suggereert bijvoorbeeld dat er meer dan driehonderd variabelen zijn die de implementatie van beleid kunnen beïnvloeden. Daarnaast bestaat er te weinig duidelijkheid over de manier waarop een variabele in combinatie met andere variabelen implementatiesucces en -falen kan beïnvloeden. Een andere beperking verwijst naar de onduidelijkheid over de afhankelijke variabele in implementatieonderzoek (Winter, 2006: 158-159). Vaak wordt deze niet of nauwelijks gedefinieerd, zodat het niet altijd duidelijk is waarop de aangehaalde onafhankelijke variabelen een impact hebben. Niet alleen deze theoretische tekortkomingen kenmerken het implementatieonderzoek, ook methodologisch zijn er beperkingen. Zo werd de voorbije decennia in implementatiestudies voornamelijk gebruikgemaakt van onderzoeksdesigns met een beperkt aantal cases. Daarnaast werd er weinig aan hypothesetoetsing gedaan. Diverse auteurs (o.a. Goggin, 1986: 335-342; Saetren, 2014: 8-9) wezen dan ook op de nood aan nieuwe onderzoeksdesigns en analysetechnieken om theorieontwikkeling in het implementatieonderzoek te versterken.
Response to pegylated interferon plus ribavirin among HIV/hepatitis C virus-coinfected patients with compensated liver cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of pegylated interferon (peg-IFN) plus ribavirin (RBV) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related compensated liver cirrhosis, as well as the predictors of response in these individuals. METHODS All subjects enrolled in a prospective cohort of 841 HIV/HCV-coinfected patients who received peg-IFN and RBV and who had a liver biopsy or a liver stiffness measurement within the year before starting peg-IFN plus RBV were included in this study. The sustained virologic response (SVR) rate and predictors of SVR response were analyzed. RESULTS A total of 629 patients were included in this study; 175 (28%) had cirrhosis. In an intention-to-treat analysis, 44 (25%) patients with cirrhosis and 177 (39%) without cirrhosis achieved SVR (P = .001). Among patients with cirrhosis, SVR was observed in 14%, 47%, and 30% of individuals with HCV genotypes 1, 2-3, and 4, respectively. Discontinuation of therapy owing to adverse events was observed in 30 (17%) individuals with cirrhosis and 37 (8%) subjects without cirrhosis (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS The efficacy of peg-IFN plus RBV among HIV/HCV-coinfected patients with cirrhosis is lower than in those without cirrhosis, although this antiviral combination still leads to a substantial rate of SVR in those carrying HCV genotype 3. A higher rate of discontinuations of HCV therapy due to adverse events among cirrhotic patients could partially explain the differences in the SVR rate between both populations.
Glucocorticoid Receptor Activation of the Ciz1-Lcn2 Locus by Long Range Interactions*

The cellular response to glucocorticoid receptor (GR) activation involves a highly orchestrated series of regulatory actions influenced at multiple levels by a variety of mechanisms including the action of transcription factors and chromatin modifiers. Because the majority of GR binding sites (glucocorticoid-responsive elements (GREs)) are distant from promoters, it is likely that interactions at a distance play an important role in GR action. To determine whether long range chromosomal associations play a role in transcription regulation by GR, we utilized a chromosome conformation capture-based technique (associated chromosome trap) to identify unknown, remote sequences that interact with the GR-induced Lipocalin2 (Lcn2) gene. Our screen revealed that the Lcn2 GRE interacts with the Ciz1 gene, nearly 30 kb upstream. Ciz1 was subsequently found to be a novel GR-responsive gene. The GRE proximal to the Lcn2 promoter apparently functions to regulate both the Lcn2 gene and the distal Ciz1 gene. Using quantitative chromosome conformation capture, we find that a loop structure is organized between these two genes. This structure is hormone-independent and present only in cell types where the genes are active. The strong correlation between gene expression and loop structure in different cell lines suggests that high order interactions play a role in determining tissue-specific gene regulation.
Personal Dialysis Capacity

C urea kinetic modeling (UKM) has been widely used as a means to assess the efficiency and adequacy of hemodialysis (HD). In HD, rather sophisticated mathematical models and calculation techniques are usually needed to correctly determine the relevant urea kinetic coefficients (1). This is mainly due to the non-constancy of, e.g., the urea distribution volume and of tissue and plasma urea concentrations during and between dialysis sessions. In continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), however, the removal of urea or creatinine from the body during dialysis is very easily assessed by just sampling the dialysate and urine over 24 hours. The variations in urea distribution volume or plasma and tissue concentrations during the sampling period are so minor that they can be neglected, and calculations can be made in a simple way, e.g., in terms of clearance. The mass of urea (or creatinine) removed daily via the peritoneum is calculated as the drained dialysate volume times the dialysate urea (or creatinine) concentration at drainage, and the results can be summed up for the four to five dwells during the day. The amount of urea (or creatinine) cleared via the urine is assessed as the urine volume per 24 hours times the urea (or creatinine) concentration in the daily urine portion. The total mass of urea removed from the body by urine and the peritoneum has to be divided by the average plasma urea concentration to give a total whole body (24 hour) urea clearance, and this clearance can be standardized to (1.73 m) body surface area (BSA). Black-box models, assuming one body fluid compartment and one peritoneal compartment separated by a permeable membrane and assuming a constant
Qualitative Analysis of Clustering on Verbal Fluency in Young Adults

Tests of verbal fluency or word list generation are frequently used in clinical and experimental research of cognitive function. In general, these are operationalized as the number of words produced, usually within a restricted category and within a given time limit (Spreen & Strauss, 1998). There are several types of tasks that measure verbal fluency. It is typically tested in letter and category domains. The most common tasks used are letter or phonemic fluencies, where participants need to generate as many words as possible beginning with a specified letter such as F, A, or S in a limited time (Raskin, Sliwinski, & Borod, 1992; Troyer, Moscovitch, Winocur, Alexander & Stuss, 1998), and semantic fluencies, where words must belong to a specified semantic category like “Animal” , “Fruit” or “Supermarket” (Beatty, Monson, & Goodkin, 1989; Troyer, 2000).
Admission control for multi-tenant Radio Access Networks

The sharing of Radio Access Networks is gaining momentum in small cell scenarios, due to the associated reduction in capital and operational costs. In this scenario, the split of radio resources among tenants sharing the network becomes a fundamental problem to provide each one with its required capacity. In this respect, this paper proposes a multi-tenant admission control scheme for performing this split with the target of ensuring an efficient use of the radio resources by exploiting traffic multiplexing principles at both intra-cell and multi-cell level in order to cope with heterogeneities in the spatial traffic distribution of the different tenants. A simulation-based analysis is presented to assess the flexibility of the proposed approach under different traffic mixes of the different tenants in each cell. Substantial bit rate improvements (e.g. up to 106%) and blocking probability reductions are obtained with respect to a baseline scheme.
Coherent Multiple-Antenna Block-Fading Channels at Finite Blocklength

In this paper, we consider a channel model that is often used to describe mobile wireless scenarios: multiple-antenna additive white Gaussian noise channels subject to random (fading) gains with full channel state information at the receiver. The dynamics of the fading process are approximated by a piecewise-constant process (frequency non-selective isotropic block fading). This paper addresses the finite blocklength fundamental limits of this channel model. Specifically, we give a formula for the channel dispersion—a quantity governing the delay required to achieve capacity. The multiplicative nature of the fading disturbance leads to a number of interesting technical difficulties that required us to enhance traditional methods for finding the channel dispersion. Alas, one difficulty remains: the converse (impossibility) part of our result holds under an extra constraint on the growth of the peak-power with blocklength. Our results demonstrate, for example, that while the capacities of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n_{t}\times n_{r}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n_{r} \times n_{t}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> antenna configurations coincide (under fixed received power), the coding delay can be sensitive to this switch. For example, at the received SNR of 20 dB, the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$16\times 100$ </tex-math></inline-formula> system achieves capacity with codes of length (delay) which is only 60% of the length required for the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$100\times 16$ </tex-math></inline-formula> system. Another interesting implication is that for the MISO channel, the dispersion-optimal coding schemes require employing orthogonal designs such as Alamouti’s scheme—a surprising observation considering the fact that Alamouti’s scheme was designed for reducing demodulation errors, not improving coding rate. Finding these dispersion-optimal coding schemes naturally gives a criteria for producing orthogonal design-like inputs in dimensions where orthogonal designs do not exist.
Extracting Partial Parsing Rules from Tree-Annotated Corpus: Toward Deterministic Global Parsing

It is not always possible to find a global parse for an input sentence owing to problems such as errors of a sentence, incompleteness of lexicon and grammar. Partial parsing is an alternative approach to respond to these problems. Partial parsing techniques try to recover syntactic information efficiently and reliably by sacrificing completeness and depth of analysis. One of the difficulties in partial parsing is how the grammar might be automatically extracted. In this paper we present a method of automatically extracting partial parsing rules from a tree-annotated corpus using the decision tree method. Our goal is deterministic global parsing using partial parsing rules, in other words, to extract partial parsing rules with higher accuracy and broader expansion. First, we define a rule template that enables to learn a subtree for a given substring, so that the resultant rules can be more specific and stricter to apply. Second, rule candidates extracted from a training corpus are enriched with contextual and lexical information using the decision tree method and verified through cross-validation. Last, we underspecify non-deterministic rules by merging substructures with ambiguity in those rules. The learned grammar is similar to phrase structure grammar with contextual and lexical information, but allows building structures of depth one or more. Thanks to automatic learning, the partial parsing rules can be consistent and domain-independent. Partial parsing with this grammar processes an input sentence deterministically using longest-match heuristics, and recursively applies rules to an input sentence. The experiments showed that the partial parser using automatically extracted rules is not only accurate and efficient but also achieves reasonable coverage for Korean.
Auditory spectral integration in the perception of static vowels.

PURPOSE To evaluate potential contributions of broadband spectral integration in the perception of static vowels. Specifically, can the auditory system infer formant frequency information from changes in the intensity weighting across harmonics when the formant itself is missing? Does this type of integration produce the same results in the lower (first formant [F1]) and higher (second formant [F2]) regions? Does the spacing between the spectral components affect a listener's ability to integrate the acoustic cues? METHOD Twenty young listeners with normal hearing identified synthesized vowel-like stimuli created for adjustments in the F1 region (/Λ/-/α/, /i/-/ε/) and in the F2 region (/Λ/-/æ/). There were 2 types of stimuli: (a) 2-formant tokens and (b) tokens in which 1 formant was removed and 2 pairs of sine waves were inserted below and above the missing formant; the intensities of these harmonics were modified to cause variations in their spectral center of gravity (COG). The COG effects were tested over a wide range of frequencies. RESULTS Obtained patterns were consistent with calculated changes to the spectral COG, in both the F1 and F2 regions. The spacing of the sine waves did not affect listeners' responses. CONCLUSION The auditory system may perform broadband integration as a type of auditory wideband spectral analysis.
Game-theoretic Interpretation of Type Theory Part I: Intuitionistic Type Theory with Universes

We present a game semantics for intuitionistic type theory. Concretely, we propose categories with families of games and strategies for both extensional and intensional type theories, which support dependent product, dependent sum, and Id-types as well as universes. The intensional interpretation of the Id-types in particular has interesting phenomena: It admits the principle of uniqueness of identity proofs as well as Streicher's first and second Criteria of Intensionality, but refutes the third criterion, the principles of equality reflection and function extensionality, and the univalence axiom.
Framework for Assessing Biogenic CO2 Emissions from Stationary Sources

In January 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a series of steps it would take to address biogenic CO2 emissions from stationary sources. EPA committed to conduct a detailed examination of the science and technical issues related to assessing biogenic CO2 emissions from stationary sources and to develop a framework for evaluating those emissions. The draft study was released in September 2011 and subsequently peer reviewed by the SAB Ad-Hoc Panel on Biogenic Carbon Emissions (SAB Panel). The final peer review report was published September 2012.
FreeCam: A Hybrid Camera System for Interactive Free-Viewpoint Video

We describe FreeCam - a system capable of generating live free-viewpoint video by simulating the output of a virtual camera moving through a dynamic scene. The FreeCam sensing hardware consists of a small number of static color video cameras and state-of-the-art Kinect depth sensors, and the FreeCam software uses a number of advanced GPU processing and rendering techniques to seamlessly merge the input streams, providing a pleasant user experience. A system such as FreeCam is critical for applications such as telepresence, 3D video-conferencing and interactive 3D TV. FreeCam may also be used to produce multi-view video, which is critical to drive new-generation autostereoscopic lenticular 3D displays.
Influence of tissue characteristics at margins on leakage of Class II indirect porcelain restorations.

PURPOSE To evaluate the sealing ability of Class II porcelain inlays with margins placed in cementum-dentin and enamel, luted by two new different cementing materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty extracted molars, free from caries and restorations, were selected. The sample cavities were prepared in a standardized manner and then were divided in three groups (n = 10) at random. Group 1: The cervical margin was located 1 mm below the CEJ and the inlays were luted with EBS Multi (Espe) bonding system in combination with Compolute 1.0 Aplicap (CLA 1.0, Espe) experimental resin cement. Group 2: The cervical margin was placed 1 mm below the CEJ and Syntac bonding system (Vivadent) and Variolink II resin cement (Vivadent) were used. Group 3: The cervical margin was placed 0.5 mm above the CEJ and the same materials selected for Group 1 were used. IPS-Empress (Ivoclar) inlays were made following manufacturer's instructions. After luting procedures and 2500 thermal cycles (5 degrees and 55 degrees C), the samples were processed and evaluated for marginal leakage at cervical and occlusal site. Samples of Group 3 were first sectioned in the center of the restorations as in Group 1 and 2 and scored (Group 3A) and then two other cuts were made along the buccal and lingual areas (Group 3B) and also scored. After scoring dye penetration of Group 1 and 2 samples, half of the sections were randomly selected to evaluate: (1) resin cement thickness, (2) Hybrid layer formation at the interface between adhesive material and dental substrate and (3) to observe the morphology of the Class II cavity margins. The leakage data were statistically evaluated with the Mann-Whitney U test (P < 0.5). RESULTS Statistically significant differences were found between Groups 3A and 3B at the occlusal site, and not at the cervical site. Samples of Group 1 showed a cement thickness of 92 microns, and 68 microns in Group 2. Hybrid layer and resin tag formation was evident in Group 1. In Group 2 samples, the hybrid layer formation was less evident and thinner than in Group 1. At cervical margins, an outer layer, not identifiable as sound dentin, of 200-300 microns thick, was noted. This layer was present in all three groups between outer margin and sound dentin. The margins located both cervically and axially in enamel mainly showed prisms cut along their long axis and a low level of structured etch pattern.