Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serious games for analog telecommunications education

Traditional teaching-and-learning environments often do not address the learning needs of today's "millennial" generation of students who prefer team-work, experiential activities, structure and the use of technology. Serious games leverage the power of computer games to captivate and engage players for a specific purpose such as to develop new knowledge or skills while providing a learner-centered approach to learning which have shown to be effective, particularly with today's generation of students. This paper describes an ongoing project that will see the development and evaluation serious game to facilitate learning of the concepts related to Amplitude Modulation (AM) for undergraduate Electronics Engineering curriculums allowing electronic engineering students to focus on and develop an understanding of the fundamental AM process.
LOFAR/H-ATLAS: A deep low-frequency survey of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole field

We present Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) High-Band Array observations of the Herschel-ATLAS North Galactic Pole survey area. The survey we have carried out, consisting of four pointings covering around 142 deg(2) of sky in the frequency range 126-173 MHz, does not provide uniform noise coverage but otherwise is representative of the quality of data to be expected in the planned LOFAR wide-area surveys, and has been reduced using recently developed 'facet calibration' methods at a resolution approaching the full resolution of the data sets (similar to 10 x 6 arcsec) and an rms off-source noise that ranges from 100 mu Jy beam(-1) in the centre of the best fields to around 2 mJy beam(-1) at the furthest extent of our imaging. We describe the imaging, cataloguing and source identification processes, and present some initial science results based on a 5 sigma source catalogue. These include (i) an initial look at the radio/far-infrared correlation at 150 MHz, showing that many Herschel sources are not yet detected by LOFAR; (ii) number counts at 150 MHz, including, for the first time, observational constraints on the numbers of star-forming galaxies; (iii) the 150-MHz luminosity functions for active and star-forming galaxies, which agree well with determinations at higher frequencies at low redshift, and show strong redshift evolution of the star-forming population; and (iv) some discussion of the implications of our observations for studies of radio galaxy life cycles.
Enzymology of human cytosolic sulfotransferases

Conjugation of many xenobiotics, drugs, and endogenous compounds with a sulfonate moiety is an important reaction in their biotransformation. Sulfation of these compounds generally results in a decrease in biological activity and an increase in their urinary excretion. However, in certain instances, sulfation results in bioactivation to reactive electrophilic or therapeutically active forms. At least four cytosolic sulfotransferases (STs) have been identified and characterized from human tissues. These enzymes are two forms of phenol ST (PST), the phenol‐sulfating and the monoamine‐sulfating forms of PST (P‐PST and M‐PST, respectively), an estrogen sulfotransferase (EST), and a hydroxysteroid ST, dehydroepiandrosterone ST (DHEA‐ST). Although four cytosolic STs have been well characterized in human tissues, evidence is accumulating for the presence of allelic forms or additional distinct forms of the STs in human tissues. The STs possess distinct but overlapping substrate specificities, and all of the STs are capable of conjugating both xenobiotic and endogenous compounds. The individual forms of ST may display distinct patterns of tissue specific expression and different mechanisms of regulation. Although the role of sulfation in drug metabolism is well recognized, an increased understanding of the biochemistry and molecular biology of the STs should also provide additional information as to their functions in many normal physiologic processes. —Falany, C. N. Enzymology of human cytosolic sulfotransferases. FASEB J. 11, 206‐216 (1997)
Marmote SDR: Experimental Platform for Low-Power Wireless Protocol Stack Research

Over the past decade, wireless sensor network research primarily relied on highly-integrated commercial off-the-shelf radio chips. The rigid silicon implementation of the radio stack restricted access to the lower layers; thus, research focused mainly on the medium access control (MAC) layer and above. SRAM field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based software-defined radios (SDR), on the other hand, provide a flexible architecture to experiment with any and all layers of the radio stack, but usually require desktop computers and draw high currents that prohibit mobile or longer-term outdoor deployments. To address these issues, we have developed a modular flash FPGA-based wireless research platform, called Marmote SDR, that has computational resources comparable to those of SRAM FPGA-based radio platforms, but at a reduced power consumption, with duty cycling support. We discuss the design decisions underlying Marmote SDR and evaluate its power consumption. Furthermore, we present and evaluate an asynchronous and multiple access communication protocol specifically designed for data-gathering wireless sensor networks.
Instantaneous spreading and Einstein causality in quantum theory

In nonrelativistic quantum mechanics the wave‐function of a free particle which initially is in a finite volume immediately spreads to infinity. In a nonrelativistic theory this is of no concern, but we show that the same instantaneous spreading can occur in relativistic quantum theory and that transition probabilities in widely separated systems may instantaneously become nonzero. We discuss how this affects Einstein causality.
A Study of the Influence of Rule Measures in Classifiers Induced by Evolutionary Algorithms

The Pittsburgh representation is a well-known encoding for symbolic classifiers in evolutionary algorithms, where each individual represents one symbolic classifier, and each symbolic classifier is composed by a rule set. These rule sets can be interpreted as ordered or unordered sets. The major difference between these two approaches is whether rule ordering defines a rule precedence relationship or not. Although ordered rule sets are simple to implement in a computer system, the rule set is difficult to be interpreted by human domain experts, since rules are not independent from each other. In contrast, unordered rule sets are more flexible regarding their interpretation. Rules are independent from each other and can be individually presented to a human domain expert. However, the algorithm to decide a classification of a given example is more complex. As rules have no precedence, an example should be presented to all rules at once and some criteria should be established to decide the final classification based on all fired rules. A simple approach to decide which rule should provide the final classification is to select the rule that has the best rating according to a chosen quality measure. Dozens of measures were proposed in literature; however, it is not clear whether any of them would provide a better classification performance. This work performs a comparative study of rule performance measures for unordered symbolic classifiers induced by evolutionary algorithms. We compare 9 rule quality measures in 10 data sets. Our experiments point out that confidence (also known as precision) presented the best mean results, although most of the rule quality measures presented approximated classification performance assessed with the area under the ROC curve (AUC).
Disfluent speech analysis and synthesis: a preliminary approach

Despite of the existence of high quality unit selection speech synthesizers, they are based on a reading style approach. However, new applications such as Speech-to-Speech Translation or Speech User Interfaces demand a talking style which is more natural in these contexts. Disfluencies are a major characteristic of talking style so that it is convenient to be able to generate disfluent speech. In the present paper a preliminary analysis of pitch and segmental duration in repetitions and filled pauses is presented. Simple rules to predict these prosodic features are derived from the previous analysis and used for synthesis. Evaluation shows an increase in naturalness while overall quality is decreased.
5‐HT2 receptor antagonism in dysthymic disorder: a double‐blind placebo‐controlled study with ritanserin

Thirty patients suffering from dysthymic disorder participated in a 6‐week double‐blind trial comparing ritanserin 10 mg and placebo. After a single blind placebo wash‐out period of one week, the test medication was administered during 5 weeks on a double‐blind basis. Twenty‐three patients completed the study. At the end of the trial, ritanserin was significantly superior to placebo in its effect as manifested on the 19‐item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory X‐1 and X‐2. At the end of the study, the therapeutic effect was rated marked or moderate in 75% of the ritanserin‐treated patients, but only in 18% of the controls. These data are consistent with the hypothesis of serotonin abnormalities in dysthymic disorder and suggest a therapeutic role of 5‐HT2 antagonists. Ritanserin treatment was very well tolerated; no serious adverse experiences were reported.
Capacidade institucional para a gestão do turismo: definição de indicadores e análise com base no estudo de caso de Santa Catarina

Trata-se de uma pesquisa exploratorio descritiva, em forma de estudo de caso, resultado da dissertacao intitulada “Capacidade Institucional para a gestao do turismo: um estudo de caso do Estado de Santa Catarina”, apresentada para obtencao do titulo de mestre no Programa de Hospitalidade da Universidade Anhembi Morumbi no ano de 2006. Compreendendo a gestao organizacional ou institucional como um fator estrategico para a operacionalizacao do planejamento publico do turismo, enfocou-se, portanto, as habilidades estaduais para tal funcao, com base na tecnica de analise de capacidade institucional, desenvolvida por orgaos de desenvolvimento internacionais. Foi possivel verificar que o Estado de Santa Catarina apresenta cultura do turismo forte e apresenta processo de regionalizacao marcado por seus aspectos sociais refletidos na cultura, economia e politica, bem como nas caracteristicas geograficas. Conclui-se que o Estado de Santa Catarina apresenta habilidades institucionais em desenvolvimento, com plena coerencia entre a politica estipulada e alto grau de potencial para sua consolidacao.
A Requirement of TolC and MDR Efflux Pumps for Acid Adaptation and GadAB Induction in Escherichia coli

Background The TolC outer membrane channel is a key component of several multidrug resistance (MDR) efflux pumps driven by H+ transport in Escherichia coli. While tolC expression is under the regulation of the EvgA-Gad acid resistance regulon, the role of TolC in growth at low pH and extreme-acid survival is unknown. Methods and Principal Findings TolC was required for extreme-acid survival (pH 2) of strain W3110 grown aerobically to stationary phase. A tolC deletion decreased extreme-acid survival (acid resistance) of aerated pH 7.0-grown cells by 105-fold and of pH 5.5-grown cells by 10-fold. The requirement was specific for acid resistance since a tolC defect had no effect on aerobic survival in extreme base (pH 10). TolC was required for expression of glutamate decarboxylase (GadA, GadB), a key component of glutamate-dependent acid resistance (Gad). TolC was also required for maximal exponential growth of E. coli K-12 W3110, in LBK medium buffered at pH 4.5–6.0, but not at pH 6.5–8.5. The TolC growth requirement in moderate acid was independent of Gad. TolC-associated pump components EmrB and MdtB contributed to survival in extreme acid (pH 2), but were not required for growth at pH 5. A mutant lacking the known TolC-associated efflux pumps (acrB, acrD, emrB, emrY, macB, mdtC, mdtF, acrEF) showed no growth defect at acidic pH and a relatively small decrease in extreme-acid survival when pre-grown at pH 5.5. Conclusions TolC and proton-driven MDR efflux pump components EmrB and MdtB contribute to E. coli survival in extreme acid and TolC is required for maximal growth rates below pH 6.5. The TolC enhancement of extreme-acid survival includes Gad induction, but TolC-dependent growth rates below pH 6.5 do not involve Gad. That MDR resistance can enhance growth and survival in acid is an important consideration for enteric organisms passing through the acidic stomach.
Medical and surgical treatment of male infertility

Although modern assisted reproduction techniques is helping to overcome severe male factor infertility, conventional treatment modalities are still the first approach to male fertility disorders. The critical step in treating male infertility is to evaluate properly every male partner of an infertile couple and to generate the suitable treatment strategy. Specific medical management of infertility is based on identifying reversible causes of infertility and treating them with appropriate medications to achieve a pregnancy. In addition, andrologists have an extensive arsenal of surgical options that are available including varicocele repair, reconstruction of obstructed reproductive system, or retrieve sperm for assisted reproduction. In the absence of a correctable etiology, patients can be managed with either empirical medical therapy or assisted reproduction. Although empiric medical therapy continues as a viable option, patients must understand that the success rates remain suboptimal.
Abstract Syntax and Semantics of Visual Languages

Abstract The effective use of visual languages requires a precise understanding of their meaning. Moreover, it is impossible to prove properties of visual languages like soundness of transformation rules or correctness results without having a formal language definition. Although this sounds obvious, it is surprising that only little work has been done about the semantics of visual languages, and even worse, there is no general framework available for the semantics specification of different visual languages. We present such a framework that is based on a rather general notion of abstract visual syntax. This framework allows a logical as well as a denotational approach to visual semantics, and it facilitates the formal reasoning about visual languages and their properties. We illustrate the concepts of the proposed approach by defining abstract syntax and semantics for the visual languages VEX, Show and Tell and Euler circles. We demonstrate the semantics in action by proving a rule for visual reasoning with Euler circles and by showing the correctness of a Show and Tell program.
Alhambra: a system for producing 2D animation

There is a great interest in producing computer animation that looks like 2D classic animation. The flat shading, silhouettes and inside contour lines are all visual characteristics that, joined to flexible expressiveness, constitute the basic elements of 2D animation. We have developed methods for obtaining the silhouettes and interior curves from polygonal models. Virtual lights is a new method for modeling the visualization of inside curves. The need for flexibility of the model is achieved by the use of hierarchical nonlinear transformations.
Exploiting holistic approaches to model specificity in protein phosphorylation

Phosphate plays a chemically unique role in shaping cellular signaling of all current living systems, especially eukaryotes. Protein phosphorylation has been studied at several levels, from the near-site context, both in sequence and structure, to the crowded cellular environment, and ultimately to the systems-level perspective. Despite the tremendous advances in mass spectrometry and efforts dedicated to the development of ad hoc highly sophisticated methods, phosphorylation site inference and associated kinase identification are still unresolved problems in kinome biology. The sequence and structure of the substrate near-site context are not sufficient alone to model the in vivo phosphorylation rules, and they should be integrated with orthogonal information in all possible applications. Here we provide an overview of the different contexts that contribute to protein phosphorylation, discussing their potential impact in phosphorylation site annotation and in predicting kinase-substrate specificity.
Simulation evaluation of wireless Web performance in an IEEE 802.11b classroom area network

This paper presents a simulation study of an IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN (WLAN) used as a classroom area network. The simulation is conducted using OPNET modeler 9.1. The first part of the paper discusses parameterization and validation of the simulation model, based on empirical measurements in a wireless classroom environment. The second part of the paper presents a simulation study designed to estimate the number of clients that can be supported in the WLAN, as well as the user-perceived Web response time as a function of network load. The simulation results show that an IEEE 802.11b WLAN can easily support up to 100 clients with modest Web browsing activities. The results also show that protocol features such as persistent connections provide a significant performance advantage in a WLAN environment.
Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre: Social Innovation and the Dialectical Relationship of State and Civil Society

This article focuses on the identification and role of social innovation in urban development. The aim is to further the understanding of the contradictory relationship between state and civil society, using a thorough analysis of the process of participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre, the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul—the most southern state of Brazil. The first section spells out four different concepts of the relationship between state and civil society and their implications for social innovation. In the second section, these popular movements are shown to be embedded in the historically rooted structure of patrimonialism and capitalism in Brazil. The third section provides an historical analysis of Brazilian popular movements which represent new key actors in civil society. The fourth section offers a detailed description of the process of the participatory budget. In the final section, conclusions are drawn about social innovation in local politics, focusing on the empowering experiments with new public and democratic forms of the local state accessible to civil society and its interests.
Tensor network compressibility of convolutional models

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) represent one of the most widely used neural network architectures, showcasing state-of-the-art performance in computer vision tasks. Although larger CNNs generally exhibit higher accuracy, their size can be effectively reduced by"tensorization"while maintaining accuracy. Tensorization consists of replacing the convolution kernels with compact decompositions such as Tucker, Canonical Polyadic decompositions, or quantum-inspired decompositions such as matrix product states, and directly training the factors in the decompositions to bias the learning towards low-rank decompositions. But why doesn't tensorization seem to impact the accuracy adversely? We explore this by assessing how truncating the convolution kernels of dense (untensorized) CNNs impact their accuracy. Specifically, we truncated the kernels of (i) a vanilla four-layer CNN and (ii) ResNet-50 pre-trained for image classification on CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100 datasets. We found that kernels (especially those inside deeper layers) could often be truncated along several cuts resulting in significant loss in kernel norm but not in classification accuracy. This suggests that such ``correlation compression'' (underlying tensorization) is an intrinsic feature of how information is encoded in dense CNNs. We also found that aggressively truncated models could often recover the pre-truncation accuracy after only a few epochs of re-training, suggesting that compressing the internal correlations of convolution layers does not often transport the model to a worse minimum. Our results can be applied to tensorize and compress CNN models more effectively.
Comprehensive Characterization of InGaAs–InP Avalanche Photodiodes at 1550 nm With an Active Quenching ASIC

We present an active quenching application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), for use in conjunction with InGaAs-InP avalanche photodiodes (APDs), for 1550-nm single-photon detection. To evaluate its performance, we first compare its operation with that of standard quenching electronics. We then test four InGaAs-InP APDs using the ASIC, operating both in the free-running and gated modes, to study more general behavior. We investigate not only the standard parameters under different working conditions but also parameters such as charge persistence and quenching time. We also use the multiple trapping model to account for the afterpulsing behavior in the gated mode, and further propose a model to take account of the afterpulsing effects in the free-running mode. Our results clearly indicate that the performance of APDs with an on-chip quenching circuit significantly surpasses the conventional quenching electronics and makes them suitable for practical applications, e.g., quantum cryptography.
Validation of the pulmonary score: an asthma severity score for children.

OBJECTIVES In the absence of a validated "user-friendly" method of scoring asthma severity, the authors derived the pulmonary score (PS). The purpose of this study was to begin validation trials of the PS by comparing it with the peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). METHODS The study enrolled a convenience sample of children, aged 5-17 years, who came to the emergency department (ED) for treatment of an acute asthma exacerbation. The PEFR (best of three attempts) and the PS were measured before and after the first albuterol treatment by a physician and a nurse from a pool of 45 trained observers. The PS includes respiratory rate, wheezing, and retractions, each rated on a 0-3 scale. Decreasing PS and increasing PEFR indicate clinical improvement. Pre- and post-treatment PEFRs and PSs were compared using paired t-tests to establish construct validity. Correlation of pre- and post-treatment PSs with PEFRs was measured to establish criterion validity. RESULTS Forty-six subjects completed the study. Mean percent predicted PEFR improved after treatment by 20.7% (p = 0.0001), and mean PS by 1.5 for nursing-obtained scores (p < 0.0001) and 1.9 for physician-obtained scores (p < 0.0001). Pre- and post-treatment PSs were significantly correlated with PEFRs. Correlations for the nursing-obtained scores were pre-treatment r = -0.57 (p = 0.0003) and post-treatment r = -0.67 (p = 0.0001), and for the physician-obtained scores were pre-treatment r = -0.44 (p = 0.003) and post-treatment r = -0.56 (p = 0.0001). The pre-treatment interrater reliability was 0.62 and the post-treatment was 0.53. CONCLUSIONS These data support the construct and criterion validities of the PS as a measure of asthma severity among children in the ED. The PS is a practical substitute to estimate airway obstruction in children who are too young or too sick to obtain PEFRs.