Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-power adaptive control scheme using switching activity measurement method for reconfigurable analog-to-digital converters

Power consumption is a critical issue for portable devices. The ever-increasing demand for multimode wireless applications and the growing concerns towards power-aware green technology make dynamically reconfigurable hardware an attractive solution for overcoming the power issue. This is due to its advantages of flexibility, reusability, and adaptability. During the last decade, reconfigurable analog-to-digital converters (ReADCs) have been used to support multimode wireless applications. With the ability to adaptively scale the power consumption according to different operation modes, reconfigurable devices utilise the power supply efficiently. This can prolong battery life and reduce unnecessary heat emission to the environment. However, current adaptive mechanisms for ReADCs rely upon external control signals generated using digital signal processors (DSPs) in the baseband. This thesis aims to provide a single-chip solution for real-time and low-power ReADC implementations that can adaptively change the converter resolution according to signal variations without the need of the baseband processing. Specifically, the thesis focuses on the analysis, design and implementation of a low-power digital controller unit for ReADCs. In this study, the following two viii Abstract important reconfigurability issues are investigated: i) the detection mechanism for an adaptive implementation, and ii) the measure of power and area overheads that are introduced by the adaptive control modules. This thesis outlines four main achievements to address these issues. The first achievement is the development of the switching activity measurement (SWAM) method to detect different signal components based upon the observation of the output of an ADC. The second achievement is a proposed adaptive algorithm for ReADCs to dynamically adjust the resolution depending upon the variations in the input signal. The third achievement is an ASIC implementation of the adaptive control module for ReADCs. The module achieves low reconfiguration overheads in terms of area and power compared with the main analog part of a ReADC. The fourth achievement is the development of a low-power noise detection module using a conventional ADC for signal improvement. Taken together, the findings from this study demonstrate the potential use of switching activity information of an ADC to adaptively control the circuits, and simultaneously expanding the functionality of the ADC in electronic systems.
A Deep and Scalable Unsupervised Machine Learning System for Cyber-Attack Detection in Large-Scale Smart Grids

Smart grid technology increases reliability, security, and efficiency of the electrical grids. However, its strong dependencies on digital communication technology bring up new vulnerabilities that need to be considered for efficient and reliable power distribution. In this paper, an unsupervised anomaly detection based on statistical correlation between measurements is proposed. The goal is to design a scalable anomaly detection engine suitable for large-scale smart grids, which can differentiate an actual fault from a disturbance and an intelligent cyber-attack. The proposed method applies feature extraction utilizing symbolic dynamic filtering (SDF) to reduce computational burden while discovering causal interactions between the subsystems. The simulation results on IEEE 39, 118, and 2848 bus systems verify the performance of the proposed method under different operation conditions. The results show an accuracy of 99%, true positive rate of 98%, and false positive rate of less than 2%
Two optimization techniques for designing multiplierless Fir filters

Two Optimization Techniques for Designing Multiplierless FIR Filters by Torrance M. Lawton Dr. Peter Stubberud, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering University of Nevada, Las Vegas This thesis introduces two optimal design techniques for discrete time finite impulse response (FIR) multiplierless filters with constant group delay. The first technique minimizes a weighted least squared optimality criteria. The second technique minimizes a weighted least squared optimality criteria subject to user specified frequency constraints. Examples are included of transport processor applications and finite wordlength coefficient applications.
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SPACE RECEIVE DIVERSITY TECHNIQUES FOR MASSIVE MIMO

Mobile communication systems became an attractive technology, and nowadays there is a high demand for wireless communication. This paper focuses, to imp²rove the signal received by the receiver. A study comparative of space receive diversity combining techniques which are Selection Combining (SC), Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC) and Equal Gain Combining (ECG) for massive MIMO system over channel for massive MIMO system. The results indicate that the improvements of Signal to Noise Ratio and capacity is achieved by increasing number of receive antennas for tree combining techniques. The comparison made between tree techniques explains that MRC is a better performance than SC and ECG to combat multipath fading for next generation of cellular communications.
The effect of active and passive maternal smoking before and during pregnancy on neonatal weight at birth

Introduction Smoking during pregnancy is a risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Data on the correlation between passive maternal smoking and pregnancy outcomes remain limited. We investigated the effect of active smoking and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) during pregnancy on neonatal birthweight, including the risk for low birthweight (LBW). Material and methods The study was conducted between 2010 and 2012. A group of 8625 women were surveyed during postpartum hospitalization. Outcome measures included mean birthweight of newborns. Additionally, odds ratios with confidence intervals were calculated to investigate the risk for LBW in active and passive smoking groups of mothers. Results Lower birthweight (46 g – 307 g; p < 0.05) and a higher risk for LBW (OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.05–1.75; p < 0.05) were observed in all infants born to smoking mothers. A negative effect of ETS in pregnancy on the reduction of mean birthweight was also found. Additionally, we analyzed the cumulative effect of active and passive smoking on neonatal birthweight. A statistically significant reduction in neonatal weight at birth was found in a group of women who smoked actively and passively during pregnancy (130 g; p < 0.05). Conclusions Smoking is associated with decreased birthweight and in a group of active smoking mothers increased risk for LBW. This effect is dose-dependent and is also present in a group of women who smoked before pregnancy. There is also a cumulative effect of active smoking and ETS causing decreased neonatal birthweight and increased risk for low birthweight.
Effet du polymorphisme (AA/GC) au locus DGAT1 sur l'activité transcriptionnelle du tissu mammaire bovin, sur la composition du lait et sur les caractéristiques des globules gras et des micelles de caséines

La recherche de QTL laitiers bovins affectant la matiere grasse laitiere (MGL) a conduit a l'identification d'un polymorphisme (AA vs. GC) au niveau du gene specifiant l'enzyme Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) impliquee dans l'etape ultime et limitante de la synthese des triglycerides, qui composent majoritairement (97 %) la MGL. Ce polymorphisme modifie la sequence en acides amines de la proteine (K232A), ce qui entraine une reduction de la vitesse maximale de la reaction catalysee par DGAT1 et donc de son efficacite. Notre objectif etait d'etudier l'effet de ce polymorphisme: d'une part sur la composition et les caracteristiques des structures supramoleculaires du lait (globules gras et micelles de caseines), et d'autre part sur le transcriptome de la region secretrice du tissu mammaire. Pour cela, sept couples de vaches laitieres pleine-soeurs ou demi-s? urs (meme pere) et de genotypes opposes (homozygotes AA/AA et GC/GC) au locus DGAT1 ont ete choisis au sein du dispositif de detection de QTL laitiers (croisement Holstein x Normande) mis en place sur l'installation experimentale du Pin-au-Haras. La taille et la composition des globules gras et des micelles de caseines des laits ont ete analysees. Une etude transcriptomique a ete realisee a partir des ARN totaux extraits de biopsies de tissu mammaire et hybrides sur des lames bovines 22K produites par le CRB de Jouy-en-Josas et des lames bovines 4x44K d'Agilent Technologies. L'analyse des laits confirme une diminution du taux butyreux (TB) et montre une reduction de la taille des globules gras pour les individus de genotype GC/GC (A232), associe a un TB faible. La composition en acides gras des laits varie dans le sens d'une augmentation de l'acide myristique (C14:0) et des acides gras longs et insatures (C18:1 et C20:1) chez des individus homozygotes pour l'allele GC (A232). L'analyse transcriptomique a mis en evidence 1496 genes differemment exprimes entre les deux genotypes au locus DGAT1. Ces genes sont principalement impliques dans les voies du metabolisme glucidique et lipidique.
EVALUATION DE L'IMPACT ENVIRONNEMENTAL : Evaluation des potentialités de transfert de l'ADN des plantes transgéniques vers les bactéries du sol ENVIRONMENT IMPACT STUDIES: An evaluation of the possibility of transferring DNA from GM crops to soil bacteria

Resume : Les bacteries se caracterisent par leurs strategies evolutives multiples incluant mutations ponctuelles, remaniements endogenes par deplacements de sequences d'insertion ou de transposons, deletions ou amplifications de larges regions d'ADN et acquisition de nouveaux genes par transfert horizontal d'informations genetiques. Les recentes et toutes premieres analyses conduites sur les donnees des quelques genomes bacteriens totalement sequences indiquent le role tout a fait fondamental qu'ont pu jouer les transferts lateraux de genes dans l'evolution bacterienne [1-3]. Nombre de travaux sont aujourd'hui conduits afin d'elucider le role des trois mecanismes de transfert (conjugaison, transformation et transduction) dans l'evolution et l'adaptation des bacteries aux conditions changeantes de leur environnement. En particulier, l'accroissement inquietant de la proportion de germes resistants aux antibiotiques serait le fait de la dispersion de plasmides porteurs des genes de resistance parmi la microflore pathogene ? Dans ces cisconstances, la question de savoir si les plantes transgeniques, tres souvent pourvues de tels genes, pourraient constituer un facteur aggravant la dissemination d'elements menacant potentiellement la sante humaine est donc totalement justifiee. Tout au long de l'evolution, la nature a cependant etabli un certain nombre de filtres moleculaires afin de limiter les flux de genes, notamment entre organismes phyletiquement tres eloignes. La caracteristique des plantes transgeniques tient a ce que certains des genes des transgenes, et en particulier ceux conferant la resistance aux antibiotiques, ont une origine procaryotique susceptible de leur permettre de contourner les barrieres moleculaires. Cependant, d'autres facteurs environnementaux, biotiques et abiotiques vont intervenir pour favoriser ou au contraire limiter les echanges de genes entre plantes et micro-organismes. Parmi les trois mecanismes precedemment cites, seule la transformation genetique est en mesure d'assurer le transfert d'ADN entre plantes et bacteries [4]. Celle-ci se caracterise par l'acquisition d'ADN extracellulaire par une cellule bacterienne en etat de competence. En conditions naturelles, la realisation d'un tel processus requiert donc successivement la liberation d'ADN par la plante et la persistance de ces molecules dans un environnement hostile jusqu'au contact avec des cellules bacteriennes non seulement genetiquement adaptees pour la transformation mais physiologiquement dans un stade de competence. Enfin, l'ADN ayant penetre une cellule bacterienne ne s'y maintiendra que si les sequences qu'il porte et les mecanismes de la cellule hote lui permettent de s'integrer dans le genome ou, eventuellement, de se repliquer de facon autonome.
Conflict free memory addressing for dedicated FFT hardware

A multibank memory address assignment for an arbitrary fixed radix fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm suitable for high-speed single-chip implementation is developed. The memory assignment is 'in place' to minimize memory size and is memory-bank conflict-free to allow simultaneous access to all the data needed for calculation of each of the radix r butterflies as they occur in the algorithm. Address generation for table lookup of twiddle factors is also included. The data and twiddle factor address generation hardware is shown to have small size and high speed. >
The role of education in the settlement of young refugees in the UK: The experiences of young refugees

It is important that young refugees' own perspectives in relation to their experiences and needs are considered if services are to be accessible and relevant for this group. Many young refugees have to remain silent about their experiences, wishes and feelings pre-exile, during journeys and on arrival in this country. It is only recently that the voices of young refugees have begun to be presented in literature and are beginning to be heard by practitioners and those involved in policy making in this area. This paper considers the particular role of education in the lives of young refugees. It briefly describes research in relation to key issues for young refugees and how education can aid settlement. It then goes onto to consider original research (undertaken by the author and Dr Rosemary Sales of Middlesex University) with young refugees, which looked at the perspective of the young refugees on factors that they identified as helping them settle and achieve in school. Students identified three key themes as important: the presence of specialist teachers; support from friends and the whole-school attitude to refugee children allowing them to feel confident to identify themselves as refugees. Within this final theme the issues of bullying, teachers' attitudes and links between home and school are considered.
A Preliminary Study on Learning Challenges in Machine Learning-based Flight Delay Prediction

Machine learning based flight delay prediction is one of the numerous real-life application domains where the problem of imbalance in class distribution is reported to affect the performance of learning algorithms. However, the fact that learning algorithms have been reported to perform well on some class imbalance problems posits the possibility of other contributing factors. In this study, we visually explore air traffic data after dimensionality reduction with t-Distributed Stochastic Neighbour Embedding. Our initial findings suggest a high degree of overlapping between the delayed and on-time class instances which can be a greater problem for learning algorithms than class imbalance.
The joint effects of hypertension and low-dose of COC on the risk of stroke in women

Objective To investigate the associations of hypertension,low-dose of combined oral contraceptives( COC) use and their joint effects with the risk of stroke in Chinese women. Methods 453 stroke cases and 919 controls matched by region and age from Rudong and Taicang District were included in this case-control study. The peripheral veinal blood was taken for lipid tests after an overnight fast. Results The risk factors for hemorrhagic stroke included COC use, family history of stroke and hypertension. While the risk factors for ischemic stroke included family history of stroke,hypertension and hyperlipidemia. In combination of COC use with hypertension significantly increased the risk of hemorrhagic stroke( OR = 19. 51,95% CI: 9. 70-39. 23) and ischemic stroke( OR = 15. 49,95% CI: 8. 87-27. 67). Conclusions Hypertension combined with low-dose of COC use had striking effects on the risk of stroke in women.
VLSI implementation of a modular and programmable neural architecture

A mixed-signal VLSI chip architecture for multi-layer feedforward neural network implementation with digitally programmable synapses is presented. The chip realizes a fully connected single-layer network, configurable as a 48 input/48 output neurons with 2304 5-bit synapses or as a 24 input/24 output neurons with 1152 9-bit synapses. This single layer network can be reconfigured as a multi-layer network. Another important chip feature is the possibility of connecting the chips in order to obtain a more complex multi-layer neural network. The core of the authors' architecture is a very efficient circuit block, "distributed sigmoid-synapse", that they used to implement each of the 2304 5-bit synapses included in the programmable neural network. A prototyping chip, including all the basic block of neural architecture, is now processed by ES2 with 1.0 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. Finally, the authors report the architecture of a possible system for the evaluation of the VLSI chip performances. Parameter mismatches present in the chip were considered to be not critical because it is possible to account them during the training of the neural network by using a special chip-in-the-loop training algorithm. The authors planned to use this chip in pattern recognition and image processing applications.
An Effective Method for Blood Vessel Detection in Sclera

This paper proposes a new method for vessel detection in sclera by incorporating the concept of frangi filter and wavelet transform. Sclera blood vessel detection is an important step in human identification. Sclera is the white and opaque outer protective covering of an eye. Sclera area detection is used to identify the relevant portions of the sclera from the eye region for further processing and identification. Sclera area is detected based on Otsu’s thresholding method. Blood vessel structure in the sclera area portion is detected based upon frangi filter and wavelet transform. In frangi filter the eigen value analysis of the hessian matrix is performed. Then wavelet decomposition of the filtered image is used to obtain the vessel structure in the sclera.
Deep Reinforcement Learning Overview of the state of the Art

: Artificial intelligence has made big steps forward with reinforcement learning (RL) in the last century, and with the advent of deep learning (DL) in the 90s, especially, the breakthrough of convolutional networks in computer vision field. The adoption of DL neural networks in RL, in the first decade of the 21 century, led to an end-to-end framework allowing a great advance in human-level agents and autonomous systems, called deep reinforcement learning (DRL). In this paper, we will go through the development Timeline of RL and DL technologies, describing the main improvements made in both fields. Then, we will dive into DRL and have an overview of the state-of-the-art of this new and promising field, by browsing a set of algorithms (Value optimization, Policy optimization and Actor-Critic), then, giving an outline of current challenges and real-world applications, along with the hardware and frameworks used. In the end, we will discuss some potential research directions in the field of deep RL, for which we have great expectations that will lead to a real human level of intelligence.
Evaluation of hip radiographs in children

Gelisen teknoloji ve goruntuleme yontemlerindeki yeniliklere ragmen, cocuk kalcasinin goruntulemesinde standart radyografi halen onemini korumaktadir. Hem anatomik hem de radyolojik olarak eriskin kalcasindan buyuk farkliliklar gosteren cocuk kalcasinin radyolojik degerlendirmesinde ortak bir dil olusturmak adina bircok radyolojik parametre tanimlanmistir. Bu derlemede sik kullanilan ve guncel cocuk kalca radyografisi degerlendirme parametreleri ozetlenmistir.
Saute ça / “Jump this!”: The acquisition of the faire faire causative by first and second language learners of French

Do young Bengali-speaking children learning French as a second language at preschool follow the same developmental path as French first language children with respect to the acquisition of the French faire faire causative? As an initial step toward answering this question, a flexible semi-structured play protocol was developed for the elicitation of the faire faire causative from both first and second language learners. In the first part of the study, longitudinal data were collected from eight monolingual children acquiring French as a first language in Montreal. The children were audio- and video-taped in their homes for 30 to 45 minutes every two to four weeks for at least six months, and their data were analyzed for occurrences of causative constructions, such as Je fais sauter la grenouille , and single-agent infinitival complement constructions such as Je veux jouer in which the same argument (agent or actor) applies to both modal and infinitive. Causative constructions are double-agent; the grammatical subject of the sentence (and semantic agent of the verb faire ) and the grammatical object of faire (and semantic agent of the following infinitive) are two distinct arguments. The argument structure of causative constructions is therefore more complex than that of single-agent infinitival complement constructions. Both kinds of constructions emerged at the same time in the speech of the French-L1 children, sometime between the second and fourth birthdays. In the second part of the study, cross-sectional data from 24 Bengali-L1 children aged 5 and 6 were analyzed. A standardized measure of receptive vocabulary in French was taken from each L2 child, as well as a 30-minute naturalistic speech sample incorporating the causative elicitation procedure. The L2 children's receptive vocabulary and their ability to form single-agent infinitival complement constructions resembled that of the 2and 3-year-old French monolingual children, but their ability to form causative constructions lagged far behind. Some possible explanations for this finding are suggested. Differences in the input to the two groups, aspects of the syntax of causativization in French, and first language influence may all be implicated.
Cognitive Performance of Astronauts during Two Space Shuttle Missions

INTRODUCTION The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted a series of space shuttle missions to investigate the effects of microgravity on human performance. This paper presents the results of a combined analysis of data collected from two space shuttle missions. Astronaut cognitive performance data were collected from three flightcrew astronauts aboard STS-65, the Second International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2) and from four payload-crew astronauts aboard STS-78, the Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS). A computer-based task battery, the Performance Assessment Workstation (PAWS), was used to measure cognitive performance. PAWS contains six performance tasks and two subjective scales (Schlegel, Gilliland, and Shehab, 1993). For the curent analysis, three PAWS tasks were examined. Tbe Critical Tracking (TRK) task requires subjects to manipulate a trackball to maintain an unstable cursor in the center of a horizontal target. An instability parameter (lambda) represents tbe level of difficulty attained. The Dual (DUL) task combines tracking with Stemberg memory search. Root mean square error (RMSE) is a tracking measure of cursor deviation from target. The Directed Attention task simultaneously presents a spatial manikin (MAN) task and a mathematical processing (MTH) task. A cursor directs subjects to perform one of the two subtasks. Throughput integrates reaction time and accuracy into a single performance metric.