Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy transfer and harvesting for RF-Bio applications — Invited

Biomedical systems using microwave technology consume electric energy depending upon their applications. Those systems are deployed inside or outside living bodies. Energy can be supplied through wireless power transfer to the injected biomedical devices from outside, or can be harvested using various technologies such as RF, heat and vibration. For bio-systems or devices deployed outside living bodies such as WBAN apparatus that people wear, energy is provided using energy harvesting technology. Wireless energy transfer has been up to now used for other applications such as wireless charging, which can also be applied for transmitting energy through living body, but this should guarantee no harm to human body. In this work, possible wireless energy transfer through living body and energy harvesting using RF, heat and vibration are investigated and effective energy transfer and harvesting methods are presented. Overall system architecture as well as circuit implementation is described for this purpose.
alpha-Resolution Method for Lattice-Valued Horn Generalized Clauses in Lattice-Valued First-Order Logic System

This paper presents an α-resolution method for lattice-valued Horn generalized clauses in lattice-valued first-order logic system LF(X) based on lattice implication algebra. In LF(X), we give the concepts of lattice-valued Horn generalized clause and normal lattice-valued Horn generalized clause. The α-resolvent of two lattice-valued Horn generalized clauses is also represented in LF(X). By using a substitution in each resolution process, we delete α-resolution literals and obtain their resolvent. At the same time, completeness theorems are also established. The present method can provide an efficient tool for automated reasoning in lattice-valued first-order logic system.
Prions and Prion-Like Pathogens in Neurodegenerative Disorders

Prions are unique elements in biology, being able to transmit biological information from one organism to another in the absence of nucleic acids. They have been identified as self-replicating proteinaceous agents responsible for the onset of rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorders—known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, or prion diseases—which affect humans and other animal species. More recently, it has been proposed that other proteins associated with common neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, can self-replicate like prions, thus sustaining the spread of neurotoxic entities throughout the nervous system. Here, we review findings that have contributed to expand the prion concept, and discuss if the involved toxic species can be considered bona fide prions, including the capacity to infect other organisms, or whether these pathogenic aggregates share with prions only the capability to self-replicate.
New Results on Moment Generating Functions of Generalized Wireless Fading Distributions and Applications

In this letter, new exact and approximated moment generating functions (MGF) for generalized fading distributions are derived and presented. Specifically, we consider the {\eta}-{\lambda}-{\mu}, {\alpha}-{\mu}, {\alpha}-{\eta}-{\mu}, {\alpha}-{\lambda}-{\mu}, {\alpha}-\k{appa}-{\mu}, and {\alpha}-{\lambda}-{\eta}-{\mu} generalized distributions. In contrast to earlier results in the literature, both the new exact and approximated MGFs avoids complicated and computationally expensive special functions such as the Meijer-G or the Fox H-functions. Hence, the new MGFs allow easier and more efficient analytical manipulation and code development. As an illustrative application, the average bit error rates (ABER) for each of the fading models are evaluated using the new MGFs, which are also compared with the numerically evaluated results. The presented analytical and numerical results agree with reported results from the literature for the special cases of the considered models.
Not White Enough, Not Black Enough: Racial Identity in the South African Coloured Community

Not White Enough, Not Black Enough: Racial Identity in the South African Coloured Community. By Mohamed Adhikari. Ohio University Research in International Studies, Africa Series no. 83. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2005. Pp. vii, 252. $24.00 paper. Mohamed Adhikari's most recent book explores the historical formation of the most complex and contested of identity positions in South Africa. His focus is on the political and conscious nature of Coloured identity, with particular focus on the period between Union (1910) and the era of Apartheid rule beginning in 1948. His central theme is that ambiguity has provided a stabilizing mechanism by which Coloured identity is sustained across different periods of South African history. Adhikari is offering an important and convincing challenge to those who would destabilize Coloured identity because of its racially hybrid origins, reify it for strictly racialist reasons, or deconstruct it for its nonracial political potential. The challenge is to offer insight into the capacity of an inherently unstable category to collectively cohere at the level of conscious conviction and unconscious practice. Adhikari is less interested in the unconscious domain of habituated meaning, focusing, instead, on self-making and instrumental social action. Almost all of the case studies and bodies of literature he reviews are analyzed in terms of the creative responses of political activists, intellectuals, and artists to platforms and changes in official policy and administrative structure. Adhikari succeeds in offering one of the most accessible frameworks for organizing the history behind Coloured identity to date. He does so without reducing the complexity that is the sine qua non of this category. His narrative is organized around the primary goal of assimilation and the structural constraints of a specifically Western Cape climate of political liberalism. It is the constant movement in and around the Janus-faced policies of British liberals rhetorically offering universal human rights, but practicing spatial and economic segregationism, that most notably shapes the contours of Coloured identity. The contradictions inherent in Cape liberalism keep Coloureds politically and culturally marginal as a group, all the while offering economic reward for disciplined and self-governing practice. Coloured leaders and political activists therefore compel the community to aspire to the higher goals of education, temperance, and self-restraint. They also generally compel political ideology to work within the dominant paradigm. The vigilant but thwarted pursuit of respectability is explored through several political organizations-the African Political/People's Organization (1902-mid1940s), the Teachers' League of South Africa (1913-1940), and the NonEuropean Unity Movement (1943-1963), to name a few. …
Mathematical Aspects of Mirror Symmetry

Lecture notes from 1993 Park City lectures and 1994 Trento lectures. The focus of these lectures is on giving a mathematical description of the A-model and B-model correlation functions on a Calabi--Yau manifold, and a precise mathematical conjecture relating these for a pair of mirror manifolds.
Biomolecules and Biomarkers Used in Diagnosis of Alcohol Drinking and in Monitoring Therapeutic Interventions

Background: The quantitative, measurable detection of drinking is important for the successful treatment of alcohol misuse in transplantation of patients with alcohol disorders, people living with human immunodeficiency virus that need to adhere to medication, and special occupational hazard offenders, many of whom continually deny drinking. Their initial misconduct usually leads to medical problems associated with drinking, impulsive social behavior, and drunk driving. The accurate identification of alcohol consumption via biochemical tests contributes significantly to the monitoring of drinking behavior. Methods: A systematic review of the current methods used to measure biomarkers of alcohol consumption was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar databases (2010–2015). The names of the tests have been identified. The methods and publications that correlate between the social instruments and the biochemical tests were further investigated. There is a clear need for assays standardization to ensure the use of these biochemical tests as routine biomarkers. Findings: Alcohol ingestion can be measured using a breath test. Because alcohol is rapidly eliminated from the circulation, the time for detection by this analysis is in the range of hours. Alcohol consumption can alternatively be detected by direct measurement of ethanol concentration in blood or urine. Several markers have been proposed to extend the interval and sensitivities of detection, including ethyl glucuronide and ethyl sulfate in urine, phosphatidylethanol in blood, and ethyl glucuronide and fatty acid ethyl esters in hair, among others. Moreover, there is a need to correlate the indirect biomarker carbohydrate deficient transferrin, which reflects longer lasting consumption of higher amounts of alcohol, with serum γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, another long term indirect biomarker that is routinely used and standardized in laboratory medicine.
Gap Analysis of Natural Language Processing Systems with respect to Linguistic Modality

Modality is one of the important components of grammar in linguistics. It lets speaker to express attitude towards, or give assessment or potentiality of state of affairs. It implies different senses and thus has different perceptions as per the context. This paper presents an account showing the gap in the functionality of the current state of art Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems. The contextual nature of linguistic modality is studied. In this paper, the works and logical approaches employed by Natural Language Processing systems dealing with modality are reviewed. It sees human cognition and intelligence as multi-layered approach that can be implemented by intelligent systems for learning. Lastly, current flow of research going on within this field is talked providing futurology.
THE AGONY OF THE FIFTEEN: THE CRISIS OF IMPLEMENTATION

This paper seeks to explore the problem of implementation that characterizes the integration movement of CARICOM states. It draws on the experiences of these states, particularly that of Jamaica, in attempting to replace the Privy Council zoith the Caribbean Court of Justice as the final court of appeal. It concludes that one of the main explanatory factors lay in the absence of mechanisms to involve the opposition parties, particularly, and the public, more generally, in CARICOM's decision making structures. This, in turn, was influenced by the character of national politics which effectively alienates the opposition from the governing process and which makes the regional agenda a fertile ground for projecting national hostilities. It argues for a more inclusive decision making process which should serve to depoliticize regional issues and have positive spin-off effects for cooperation at the natio7tal level. The Agony of the Fifteen', from which this paper draws its title, conjures up Arthur Lewis' frustration as he chronicles the tortuous, and ultimately unsuccessful, attempts by the Leeward and Windward Islands and Barbados, to form a federation after the collapse of the West Indies Federation. His frustration led him to declare that "Ultimately West Indians will come together again in political association, but only after the present generation of leaders is dead" (Lewis 1965: 37). Even in his frustration, however, he continued to believe in the inevitability of such a political association although, without Jamaica's participation. He declared that "Jamaica is out forever, should never have been in, since sentiment for federation was never strong in that island" (ibid: 37). The journey along the road of economic integration among the defunct West Indies Federation, Guyana and Belize, which began with the Caribbean Free Trade Area launched in 1967, and evolved into CARICOM (1973) and is now being transformed into the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) has been no less
Chemical bonding in view of electron charge density and kinetic energy density descriptors

Stalke's dilemma, stating that different chemical interpretations are obtained when one and the same density is interpreted either by means of natural bond orbital (NBO) and subsequent natural resonance theory (NRT) application or by the quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM), is reinvestigated. It is shown that within the framework of QTAIM, the question as to whether for a given molecule two atoms are bonded or not is only meaningful in the context of a well‐defined reference geometry. The localized‐orbital‐locator (LOL) is applied to map out patterns in covalent bonding interaction, and produces results that are consistent for a variety of reference geometries. Furthermore, LOL interpretations are in accord with NBO/NRT, and assist in an interpretation in terms of covalent bonding. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.J Comput Chem, 2009.
A unified approach to concurrent and parallel algorithms on balanced data structures

Concurrent and parallel algorithms are different. However, in the case of dictionaries, both kinds of algorithms share many common points. We present a unified approach emphasizing these points. It is based on a careful analysis of the sequential algorithm, extracting from it the more basic facts, encapsulated later on as local rules. We apply the method to the insertion algorithms in AVL trees. All the concurrent and parallel insertion algorithms have two main phases: a percolation phase, moving the keys to be inserted down, and a rebalancing phase. Finally, some other algorithms and balanced structures are discussed.
On the use of tight frames for optimal sensor placement in time-difference of arrival localization

In this paper we analyze the use of tight frames for the problem of localizing a source from noisy time-difference of arrival measurements. Based on the Fisher information matrix, we show that positioning the sensor network according to a tight frame that also obeys some internal symmetries provides the best average localization accuracy. We connect our result to previous approaches from the literature and show experimentally that near optimal accuracy can also be provided by random tight frames. We also make the assumption that the sensors are not fixed but placed on mobile units and we study the problem of bringing them to a tight configuration with the minimum energy consumption. Although our results hold for any dimension, for simplicity of exposition, the numerical experiments depicted are in the two dimensional case.
Mining association rules with weighted items

Discovery of association rules has been found useful in many applications. In previous work, all items in a basket database are treated uniformly. We generalize this to the case where items are given weights to reflect their importance to the user. The weights may correspond to special promotions on some products, or the profitability of different items. We can mine the weighted association rules with weights. The downward closure property of the support measure in the unweighted case no longer exists and previous algorithms cannot be applied. In this paper, two new algorithms are introduced to handle this problem. In these algorithms we make use of a metric called the k-support bound in the mining process. Experimental results show the efficiency of the algorithms for large databases.
Vascular complications are associated with poor outcome in community-acquired pneumonia.

BACKGROUND Recognition of cardiovascular risk factors is important for primary and secondary prevention strategies. Recent evidence has linked lower respiratory tract infections with the development of acute myocardial infarction. AIM The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events and the clinical outcomes, during hospitalization for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). DESIGN We performed a retrospective study of 4408 patients with CAP presenting to five hospitals over a 2-year period. Clinical information, co-morbidities, cardiovascular events and 90-day mortality were collected from review of medical case notes. The relationship between cardiovascular events and outcomes were analysed using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS From a total of 4408 patients, 2.2% developed stroke, 5% acute coronary syndrome or myocardial infarction and 9.3% new onset atrial fibrillation. These were associated with increased 90-day mortality [odds ratio (OR), 1.49 95% CI 1.18-1.87, P=0.0006]. Vascular events were independently associated with increased length of hospital stay-median 12 days (IQR 5-22), compared to patients with no vascular events 8 days (IQR 3-17 days, P<0.0001). CONCLUSION Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events are common during hospitalization for CAP and are associated with increased 90-day mortality.
On-Farm Profitability of Remote Sensing in Agriculture

Remote sensing is used in agriculture to guide application of fertilizer, pesticides and other farm inputs. Its application in agriculture is well documented. However, evidence of profitability to farmers remains fuzzy. The objective of this study is to summarize publicly available information on the economic ben efits of remote sensing in agriculture. Out of the hundreds of agricultural remote sensing documents reviewed only a few reported economic benefit estimates. Many of those documents do not provide details on how the economic benefit was estimated. Clues in the reports and the fact that the numbers are often much larger than those for detailed studies suggest that the studies not reporting details are often reporting gross benefits without deducting the associated cost. Standardizing budgeting methods and using the reported changes in yield and input application in 12 studies, remote sensing is estimated to have the potential to improve average farm profits by about $31.74/ha Most of the studies based profit estimates on a single crop season of data. Key improvements needed for studies of the eco nomics of remote sensing for field crops include: detailed reporting of budget assumptions, multiple year data sets in the same fields, and replication of studies of the same technology in different states.
Preconceptions of Taste Based on Color

Abstract The authors examined preconceptions of taste based on color with a questionnaire administered to 45 college students. The questionnaire related 8 tastes with 10 colors. The results suggested that only a limited number of colors are positively associated with preconceptions of taste. However, certain colors (e.g., red and green) showed consistent patterns of association with taste. Implications for future research examining an indirect relationship between color and taste are discussed.
Young children's acquisition of mathematical knowledge and mathematics education in kindergarten

To examine teachers' and children's classroom behaviors related to mathematics teaching and learning in kindergartens, the time-sampling method was used to study thirty kindergarten teachers and children in their classes. Relations between developmental appropriateness scores and behaviors observed in mathematics teaching and learning were examined. Results indicated that mathematics teaching and learning were integrated with other learning activities in kindergarten. Teachers spent about one-fourth of their classroom time teaching mathematics-related activities, and children in their classes spent about one-third of their classroom time engaged in such activities. Although the use of higher cognitive distancing was less infrequent than use of low cognitive distancing across all learning activities, teachers used higher cognitive distancing during a greater proportion of mathematics teaching time than of time spent teaching nonmathematics-related activities. Children's responses to cognitive distancing reflected teachers' teaching strategies in that children spent a higher percentage of mathematics learning time than nonmathematics-related learning time responding to higher cognitive distancing. Results suggest that, to some degree, the kindergarten teachers followed the NAEYC guidelines for developmentally appropriate practices and the NCTM school mathematics standards in their classroom practices and mathematics teaching. Introduction Current concerns about kindergarten focus on the developmental appropriateness of what is taught as well as how it is being taught. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has recommended developmentally appropriate practices across the
Risk Factors and Molecular Analysis of Community Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Carriage

ABSTRACT A total of 1,838 subjects from the community and 393 subjects from health care-related facilities in Taiwan were evaluated for the prevalence of nasal Staphylococcus aureus colonization and to identify risk factors associated with S. aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) colonization. Among the community subjects, 3.5% had nasal MRSA colonization. Subjects from health care-related facilities had a lower S. aureus colonization rate (19.1%) than community subjects (25.2%) but had a significantly higher rate of colonization with MRSA (7.63%). Age (P < 0.001) was a significant risk factor for S. aureus colonization, with subjects under age 20 years or between 71 and 80 years showing higher rates of colonization. Recent gastrointestinal disease (P = 0.011) and hospital admission (P = 0.026) were risk factors for nasal MRSA colonization. Comparison of hospital MRSA isolates with the colonization strains by staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) gene typing and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing revealed that most MRSA strains carried in the community were SCCmec type IV and that most clinical hospital isolates were type III, while health care facility-related carriage isolates were mainly SCCmec type III and type IV. Two new variant SCCmec types were identified. Six clusters of PFGE patterns were distinguished: two mainly comprised health care facility-related MRSA strains, three mainly comprised community MRSA strains, and one comprised mixed community and health care facility-related MRSA strains. In conclusion, a high prevalence of MRSA colonization was observed among people with no relationship to the hospital setting. The high level of multiple-drug resistance among community MRSA strains in association with the previously reported excessive use of antibiotics in Taiwan highlights the importance of the problem of antibiotic selective pressure. Our results indicate that both the clonal spread of MRSA and the transmission of hospital isolates contribute to the high MRSA burden in the community.
Cod glycopeptide with picomolar affinity to galectin-3 suppresses T-cell apoptosis and prostate cancer metastasis

Cancer metastasis and immune suppression are critical issues in cancer therapy. Here, we show that a β-galactoside–binding lectin [galectin-3 (gal3)] that recognizes the Thomsen-Friedenreich disaccharide (TFD, Galβ1,3GalNAc) present on the surface of most cancer cells is involved in promoting angiogenesis, tumor-endothelial cell adhesion, and metastasis of prostate cancer cells, as well as evading immune surveillance through killing of activated T cells. To block gal3-mediated interactions, we purified a glycopeptide from cod (designated TFD100) that binds gal3 with picomolar affinity. TFD100 blocks gal3-mediated angiogenesis, tumor-endothelial cell interactions, and metastasis of prostate cancer cells in mice at nanomolar levels. Moreover, apoptosis of activated T cells induced by either recombinant gal3 or prostate cancer patient serum-associated gal3 was inhibited at nanomolar concentration of TFD100. Because the gal3–TFD interaction is a key factor driving metastasis in most epithelial cancers, this high-affinity TFD100 should be a promising antimetastatic agent for the treatment of various cancers, including prostate adenocarcinoma.