Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FPGA based FRM GDFT filter banks

Efficient channelization in flexible, reconfigurable communications systems is an ongoing challenge. Previous work in our lab has shown that designs based on the GDFT-FB (Generalized DFT modulated Filter Bank) combined with FRM (Frequency-Response Masking) can reduce prototype filter complexity and improve hardware efficiency, permitting larger scale designs. In this work we examine the design and implementation of the full FRM GDFT-FB and narrowband FRM GDFT-FB on an FPGA and describe solutions to various design issues encountered. We evaluate the DSP performance and the FPGA resource usage using a concrete channelization problem based on TETRA 25 kHz channels.
Light source design for spectral tuning in biomedical imaging

Abstract. We propose an architecture with a remote phosphor-based modular and compact light-emitting diode (LED) light source in a noncontact dermoscope prototype for skin cancer screening. The spectrum and color temperature of the output light can easily and significantly be changed depending on spectral absorption characteristics of the tissues being imaged. The new system has several advantages compared to state-of-the-art phosphor converted ultrabright white LEDs, used in a wide range of medical imaging devices, which have a fixed spectrum and color temperature at a given operating point. In particular, the system can more easily be adapted to the requirements originating from different tissues in the human body, which have wavelength-dependent absorption and reflectivity. This leads to improved contrast for different kinds of imaged tissue components. The concept of such a lighting architecture can be vastly utilized in many other medical imaging devices including endoscopic systems.
Intraocular Invasion of Adult T-Cell Leukemia Cells without Systemic Symptoms after Cataract Surgery

Adult T-cell leukemia (ATL) is an aggressive lymphoid proliferation associated with the human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). The intraocular invasion of ATL is a rare event. A 75-year-old man without any systemic disease underwent uneventful cataract surgery of the right eye. On postoperative day 6, the patient presented with blurred vision due to severe vitreous opacity in the right eye. Analysis of the vitreous fluid revealed a suspected ATL infection based on the flow cytometric analysis. Moreover, cytological examination of the vitreous specimen revealed flower cell infiltration, and HTLV-1 DNA was detected by PCR analysis of the vitreous sample. Monoclonal T-cell receptor chain rearrangement was also detected by PCR. Thorough analysis of a vitreous sample is essential for vitrectomy in vitreous opacity of unknown cause. Flow cytometric, cytological, and PCR analysis of vitreous samples is beneficial for determining the cause of this kind of severe illness.
Papers in Linguistics 55 , 1-22 A Model of the Interplay of Speech Perception and Phonology 1

1. Introduction It has proven practical over a long history of research on language sound systems to rationalize phonological units and processes in terms of speech articulation. The Sanskrit grammarians, for example, focused on vocal anatomy and articulatory processes to the exclusion of descriptions of acoustic or auditory impressions produced by speech sounds all focused primarily on speech articulation to explain sound change, describe similarities and differences across languages and in language teaching. For example, the Sweet/Bell system of vowel classification (which is still widely used in phonological description) and their iconic phonetic alphabets were based on speech articulation. This tradition of articulatory phonetics also formed the basis for the structuralists' approach to phonetics and phonology (Pike, 1943). It is arguably the case that this early and prolonged emphasis on the articulatory foundations of sound systems was due to the fact that the articulators are open to observation. The linguist can observe the movements of the lips, jaw, and (with a little more ingenuity) the tongue, and the availability of such observations provided an important point of reference for theories of phonology by making available a set of explanatory mechanisms that can be applied to phonological patterns. Rationalization of language sound systems from the point of view of the listener has, however, had a more spotted history. Some of the more obvious auditory properties have been noted (e.g., sonority, Sievers, 1881), but it was only recently-after the development of the sound spectrograph-that a comprehensive approach to language sound structure in terms of acoustic/auditory properties was attempted (Jakobson, Fant & Halle, 1952). However, JFH's attempt was impeded by the newness of the available technology and the relative paucity of perceptual data (which at the time was limited to basic psychoacoustic measures of pitch, loudness, and duration together with the earliest works on speech intelligibility for voice transmission over telephone lines). In his book on acoustic phonetics, Joos (1948) suggested that linguists would not readily accept auditory/acoustic foundations in the rationalization of language sound systems. Concerning Jespersen's (1904) chapter 'Akustisch oder Genetisch', Joos said:
Truncating Shortest Path Search for Efficient Map-Matching

We study the problem of map-matching, or finding the route on a road network from a trace of noisy and sparse observed points, particularly when a huge number of points are given. The algorithms based on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are known to achieve high accuracy for noisy and sparse data but suffer from high computational cost. We find that the bottleneck of the HMM-based map-matching is in the shortest path search for calculating transition probabilities. We propose a technique to truncate the shortest path search before finding all the shortest paths in the HMM-based map-matching without losing accuracy. We run the one-to-many shortest path search on the reversed network and terminate the search based on the log likelihood of the Viterbi algorithm. Computational experiments show that the proposed approaches can reduce the computational cost by a factor of at least 5.4.
Du capital social à la soutenabilité sociale : enseignements d'une démarche locale de construction d'indicateurs de bien-être soutenable

Based on the IBEST project, which focuses on the construction of sustainable territorial social indicators in the urban community of Grenoble, this communication questions the operationality and the quantification of social capital, two notions which are extensively used at the present time in the construction of alternative indicators. The analysis of the data emerging from Grenoble’s area research on institutional and interpersonal social connections provides valuable material for estimating the contribution of social capital to the apprehension and characterization of various forms of sociability. Since the approach of sociability in terms of “capital” is limited, we have instead decided to adopt a social sustainability approach which could be used to improve the understanding of territorial “realities” and solidarities. This stance led us to include in our research non-monetary resources that are part of the social dimension of well-being.
The pathophysiology of organophosphorus pesticide self-poisoning is not so simple.

The paper by Aardema and colleagues in this issue of the Netherlands Journal of Medicine illustrates well the problems that clinicians face with organophosphorus pesticide self-poisoning. Yet the toxicological literature’s image of this poisoning is beguilingly simple. Ingestion of an organophosphorus pesticide results in inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. The resulting build up of acetylcholine causes overstimulation of cholinergic synapses in the autonomic nervous system, central nervous system and neuromuscular junction, producing the acute cholinergic crisis. Patients die from respiratory failure during this crisis, or from a delayed respiratory failure called the intermediate syndrome. Atropine and oximes treat the poisoning.
Informing Accessible Design Through Selfreported Quality of Visual Health

This study investigates the potential utility of the VFQ-25 as an alternative to clinically acquired measures of visual function for investigations of computer-based performance. While clinical measures of visual function have been used as predictors of performance on psychomotor tasks for people with impaired vision, the VFQ-25 represents a low cost, easy-to-administer alternative. In this study, participants with Age-related Macular Degeneration and controls responded to the VFQ-25 and completed a drag-and-drop task with different feedback modalities. Based on VFQ scores, a hierarchical clustering algorithm was used to generate five distinct participant groups. Statistical comparisons of performance between the groups under each feedback condition confirmed the efficacy of the VFQ-25 as a tool for classifying user interaction. Consistent with previous studies comparing performance based solely on visual acuity, these results encourage the use of the VFQ-25 in research and design in circumstances that are not conducive to gathering clinically acquired measures.
In situ imaging of the mouse cochlea using two-photon microscopy

Intracochlear imaging is of great interest clinically because cochlea is the central organ of hearing. However, intracochlear imaging is technologically challenging due to the cochlea’s small size and encasement in bone. The state-of- the-art imaging techniques are not adequate for high resolution cellular imaging to establish diagnosis without destroying the cochlea. We report in situ imaging of intact mouse cochlea using endogenous two-photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) as the contrast mechanism. TPEF eliminates the need for exogenous labeling and eradicating the staining-induced artifacts. We used a natural, membranous opening into the cochlea, the round window, as the optical access to reach the organ of Corti, requiring no additional slicing or opening. Our approach provides the maximum non-invasiveness in the imaging process. TPEF exhibits strong contrast allowing deep imaging of mouse cochlea with cellular and even subcellular resolution. Inner hair cell, outer hair cell and supporting cell are clearly identifiable in TPEF images. Distinct morphological differences are observed between healthy and noise-exposed cochleae, allowing detection of specific, noise-induced pathologic changes. The TPEF images taken through the round window are correlated with the whole mount sections, verifying their reliability. Compared with one-photon excitation fluorescence (OPEF) confocal microscope and wide-field transmission microscope images taken under the same magnification and resolution, TPEF images demonstrate clear advantages in terms of sharpness, signal to noise ratio and contrast. These capabilities provide a working foundation for microendoscopy-based clinical diagnostics of sensorineural hearing loss.
Birth weight for gestational age among Flemish twin population

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop birth weight references for twins. Mean birth weights of individual twins are lower than those of singletons, hence singleton birth weight curves may not be suitable to assess twin birth weights. Study design: Twin birth weight curves were developed according to gestational age, gender, parity and mode of conception. The curves are based on population-based data of 40,494 twins born in Flanders, Belgium between 1987 and 2007. Results: A different growth potential was found comparing the birth weights of twins and singletons. Twins deviate from the singleton curve from 30 weeks gestational age on. Conclusion: Our study underlines that singleton birth weight curves differ from twin birth weight curves. We developed specific twin birth weight curves can be used in clinical practice in order to follow growth patterns of twins in utero.
Optimized passive dynamics improve transparency of haptic devices

For haptic devices, compensation of the robot's gravity is a frequent strategy with the aim to reduce interaction forces between robot and human in zero-impedance control. However, a closer look at the composition of these interaction forces may reveal that the net effect of uncompensated gravitational components of the robot actually reduces interaction forces during dynamic movements, because inertial and gravitational components at least partially compensate each other. This is the case in lower extremity exoskeletons, where less user force is necessary to swing the robot's leg when gravity helps. Here, we go one step further by shaping optimal passive dynamics for arbitrary haptic devices. The proposed method of Generalized Elasticies uses conservative force fields to improve haptic transparency for certain movements types. In an example realization, these force fields are generated by elasticities spanning multiple joints. Practical experiments with the Lokomat lower extremity exoskeleton show the success of the proposed method in terms of reduced interaction torques and more physiological user motion compared to gravity compensation.
Fatores Determinantes da Divulgação de Informações Voluntária Social: Evidências Empíricas no Brasil

A responsabilidade social corporativa se refere as preocupacoes sociais relacionadas ao meio ambiente, aos recursos humanos e ao envolvimento com a comunidade. A divulgacao voluntaria de informacoes sociais ocorre de forma heterogenea e algumas empresas optam por evidenciar uma quantidade maior de informacoes e com maior riqueza de detalhes. Ciente disso, esta pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar os fatores determinantes da divulgacao voluntaria de informacoes de carater social das empresas brasileiras, no periodo de 2010 a 2012. A partir das teorias (stakeholders e divulgacao voluntaria) e dos estudos anteriores, construiram-se seis hipoteses sobre os possiveis fatores determinantes da divulgacao voluntaria social (tamanho, concentracao acionaria, rentabilidade, leverage, setor regulado e reputacao). O universo desta pesquisa foram as empresas de capital aberto listadas na BM&FBOVESPA, no periodo de 2010 a 2012. A amostra foi composta pelas 100 empresas listadas na BM&FBovespa com acoes mais negociadas durante os 12 meses do ano de 2012. Quanto aos modelos econometricos, utilizou-se painel com efeitos aleatorio estimado por OLS, sendo a variavel dependente os indices de divulgacao social e as variaveis independentes, os provaveis fatores determinantes. Os resultados sugeriram que o tamanho da empresa, a rentabilidade, a reputacao e o setor regulado foram fatores considerados determinantes da divulgacao voluntaria social. Constatou-se que os stakeholders, o governo e a sociedade podem influenciar a divulgacao voluntaria social. A variavel “rentabilidade” aponta que as empresas menos rentaveis divulgaram mais informacoes voluntarias sociais, o que pode ser indicio de uma tentativa da empresa de desviar a atencao dos stakeholders do desempenho financeiro.
PAX6, brain structure and function in human adults: advanced MRI in aniridia

PAX6 is a pleiotropic transcription factor essential for the development of several tissues including the eyes, central nervous system, and some endocrine glands. Recently it has also been shown to be important for the maintenance and functioning of corneal and pancreatic tissues in adults. We hypothesized that PAX6 is important for the maintenance of brain integrity in humans, and that adult heterozygotes may have abnormalities of cortical patterning analogous to those found in mouse models.
Control and Cybernetics the Grouping Differential Evolution Algorithm for Multi-dimensional Optimization Problems *

A variant of the Differential Evolution method is presented. The classical Differential Evolution approach is very successful for simple problems, but does not perform well enough for troublesome multi-dimensional non-convex continuous functions. To overcome some of the drawbacks, the Grouped Multi-Strategy Differential Evolution algorithm is proposed here. The main idea behind the new approach is to exploit the knowledge about the local minima already found in different parts of the search space in order to facilitate further search for the global one. In the proposed method, the population is split into four groups: three of them rarely communicate with the others, but one is allowed to gain all available knowledge from the whole population throughout the search process. The individuals simultaneously use three different crossover/mutation strategies, which makes the algorithm more flexible. The proposed approach was compared with two Differential Evolution based algorithms on a set of 10-to 100-dimensional test functions of varying difficulty. The proposed method achieved very encouraging results; its advantage was especially significant when more difficult 50-and 100-dimensional problems were considered. When dividing population into separate groups, the total number of individuals becomes a crucial restriction. Hence, the impact of the number of individuals on the performance of the algorithms was studied. It was shown that increasing the number of individuals above the number initially proposed for classic Differential Evolution method is in most cases not advantageous and sometimes may even result in deterioration of results.
INSTITUIÇÕES SOCIAIS E A SUPERAÇÃO DOS DILEMAS DA AÇÃO COLETIVA EM ASSENTAMENTOS RURAIS INSTITUCIONES SOCIALES Y SUPERAR EL DILEMA DE LA ACCIÓN COLECTIVA EN LOS ASENTAMIENTOS RURALES SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND OVERCOMING THE DILEMMA OF COLLECTIVE ACTION IN RURAL SETTLEMENT

Resumo: A problematica do desenvolvimento e recorrente nos debates academicos sobre as politicas de reforma agraria executadas no Brasil a partir da redemocratizacao. Os desafios do desenvolvimento das areas reformadas tem sido abordados a partir das dificuldades enfrentadas pelos agricultores familiares em ter acesso ao credito, a assistencia tecnica, ao mercado e a inovacao tecnologica. Uma questao, no entanto, e pouco considerada: a influencia das instituicoes sociais dos assentamentos sobre as dinâmicas do desenvolvimento das areas reformadas. A conversao do latifundio em territorio da agricultura familiar passa, necessariamente, pela constituicao de novos arranjos institucionais, com regras que definem direitos de propriedade, regulam processos decisorios, instituem mecanismos de resolucao de conflitos e informam consensos coletivos previamente estabelecidos. A efetividade destes arranjos ajuda a superar os chamados dilemas sociais ou da acao coletiva, isto e, as contradicoes entre interesses individuais e do grupo. Esse trabalho analisa como os arranjos institucionais do assentamento Jose Antonio Eufrosino, localizado no Semiarido paraibano, influenciaram a execucao de projetos e acoes relacionados ao desenvolvimento socioeconomico e a resolucao de conflitos ambientais. Palavras-chave: Instituicoes Sociais, Assentamentos Rurais, Semiarido, Paraiba.
A Temporally Heterogeneous Survival Framework with Application to Social Behavior Dynamics

Social behavior dynamics is one of the central building blocks in understanding and modeling complex social dynamic phenomena, such as information spreading, opinion formation, and social mobilization. While a wide range of models for social behavior dynamics have been proposed in recent years, the essential ingredients and the minimum model for social behavior dynamics is still largely unanswered. Here, we find that human interaction behavior dynamics exhibit rich complexities over the response time dimension and natural time dimension by exploring a large scale social communication dataset. To tackle this challenge, we develop a temporal Heterogeneous Survival framework where the regularities in response time dimension and natural time dimension can be organically integrated. We apply our model in two online social communication datasets. Our model can successfully regenerate the interaction patterns in the social communication datasets, and the results demonstrate that the proposed method can significantly outperform other state-of-the-art baselines. Meanwhile, the learnt parameters and discovered statistical regularities can lead to multiple potential applications.
Evaluation of antimicrobial efficacy of calcium hydroxide paste, chlorhexidine gel, and a combination of both as intracanal medicament: An in vivo comparative study

Aim: To compare the antimicrobial efficacy of calcium hydroxide (CH), 2% chlorhexidine gel (CHX) and a combination of both, on obligate anaerobes, facultative anaerobes and Candida spp . Materials and Methods: 90 single rooted permanent teeth were included in the study. After complete disinfection and access opening, the first microbiological pre-treatment sample (S1) was collected. After completion of instrumentation, a post-instumentation sample (S2) was taken and the teeth were divided into three groups: Group I: CH, Group II: 2% CHX, Group III: 2% CHX with CH. After 1 week, a post-medication sample (S3) was collected. Results: All three medicaments were effective in the elimination of obligate anaerobes. CHX and combination showed higher antimicrobial effect against facultative anaerobes and Candida spp. in comparison with CH. But there was no statistical significant difference between Group II and Group III. Conclusion: CHX with or without CH was more effective than CH alone against all the tested micro-organisms.
BRCA1 Gene Expression in Breast Cancer: A Correlative Study between Real-time RT-PCR and Immunohistochemistry

Breast cancer is a major cause of cancer-related mortality in women. There are major discrepancies concerning the usefulness of various antibodies in detecting breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) protein and its subcellular localization. The aim of the present study was to determine the specificity and sensitivity of immunohistochemistry (IHC) as a screening method for demonstrating BRCA1 expression. BRCA1 gene expression in archival paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissues was studied simultaneously at the protein and mRNA levels, and the two findings were compared. Forty-eight archival paraffin-embedded breast cancer tissues were studied for BRCA1 gene expression at protein level by IHC using four different antibodies against different BRCA1 epitopes and at mRNA level using real-time RT-PCR. BRCA1 mRNA expression was reduced or absent in 79% of the samples, and this finding correlated significantly with loss of BRCA1 protein expression in 83% of breast cancer tissues using one BRCA1 antibody studied (AB-1, against N-terminus epitope). The specificity of this antibody was 91.3%, and its sensitivity was 66.6%. There was no significant correlation between BRCA1 mRNA and protein expression as demonstrated by the remaining three antibodies. Antibody 8F7 had the highest sensitivity of 100%, but its specificity was 30.4% if mRNA levels were considered as the reference standard.