Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Hyper-Modular Associative Mind: A Computational Analysis of Associative Responses of Persons with Asperger Syndrome

Rigidity of thought is considered a main characteristic of persons with Asperger syndrome (AS). This rigidity may explain the poor comprehension of unusual semantic relations, frequently exhibited by persons with AS. Research indicates that such deficiency is related to altered mental lexicon organization, but has never been directly examined. The present study used computational network science tools to compare the mental lexicon structure of persons with AS and matched controls. Persons with AS and matched controls generated free associations, and network tools were used to extract and compare the mental lexicon structure of the two groups. The analysis revealed that persons with AS exhibit a hyper-modular semantic organization: their mental lexicon is more compartmentalized compared to matched controls. We argue that this hyper-modularity may be related to the rigidity of thought which characterizes persons with AS and discuss the clinical and more general cognitive implications of our findings.
Ethical hacking: The need for cyber security

Hacking is basically expertise in any field. Hackers are classified as per working and as per knowledge. The ethical hackers come under white hat hackers. Ethical hackers use hacking techniques in order to provide security. They are legally authorized hackers. Various tools are used in order to carry out hacking. The most common hacking technique used is phishing. Since, there is a rapid growth in the number of attack, there is a need for people to learn ethical hacking concepts to secure themselves.
Prediction of India's electricity consumption in industrial sector using soft computing techniques

The main objective of the study is the estimation of India's electricity consumption (EC) in Industrial Sector (IS) using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm. The prediction is based on the input variables Gross National Product (GNP), imports, exports and by developing a non-linear exponential model. The 34-year historical data are used for calculating the best values of the weighting parameters. The 8-year data are used to observe the accuracy of the model. The developed model is used to predict the IS-EC using three alternate growth scenarios for the future years. Based on the results, the DE algorithm is a suitable optimization technique for solving these problems. The results are compared with the 18th Electric Power Survey of India.
A taxonomy, survey on placement of virtual machines in cloud

Placement of the Virtual Machines (VMs), in context of cloud computing can be described as an operation of providing appropriate mapping between virtual machines (VMs) and physical machines (PMs). It basically aims at finding a physical machine (PM) which is best to host the virtual machines (VM). VM placement can also be understood as the method of finding most appropriate host for the VM. It aims at maximizing usage of available resources and saving of power by shutting down some servers when not in use. VM placement schemes can be categorized on the basis of type of placement algorithm to be used. Some of the algorithms for placement of virtual machines are discussed here.
Eigenvalue analysis of subsynchronous oscillation in grid-connected PV power stations

Along with the development of modern society, the fossil fuel increasingly exhausted, and living environment and energy problem have become the top challenges in our society. It is of great significance to research and make full use of renewable energy. Fast development of photovoltaic (PV) technology in recent years strongly indicates that in medium to long term, PV power stations may become more commercially attractive that there will be large-scale implementation in many countries in the world. With the increasing capacity and penetration rate of photovoltaic (PV) power stations, subsynchronous oscillation caused by grid-connected PV power stations begin to receive the attention of researchers. Subsynchronous oscillation will have a great influence on the security and stability of power system's operation. On the basis of overall considering detailed models of important components in grid-connected PV power stations, a whole system small signal model is established. Eigenvalue and participation factor analysis are used to study subsynchronous oscillation characteristics. The eigenvalues show that a subsynchronous oscillation mode may appear in the power system with PV power stations. The participation factor analysis shows that state 1 and state 6 (voltage outer-loop controller's states) are strongly correlated in subsynchronous oscillation mode. The effects of parameters in current inter-loop controller and voltage outer-loop controller of PV inverter on synchronous oscillation have been fully studied. It is found that the subsynchronous oscillation mode is sensitive to the parameters of voltage outer-loop controller.
irculating fibroblast growth factor-23 is associated with vascular ysfunction in the community ajd

Objective: Subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at higher risk for cardiovascular (CV) disease than the general population. These patients have elevated circulating levels of FGF23, which predict for increased mortality in CKD patients on hemodialysis. Since CV disease is a major cause of death in CKD, we investigated the association between FGF23 and vascular function. Methods and results: We employed a community-based cohort of subjects aged 70, the PIVUS study (n = 967), to investigate the relation between serum FGF23, endothelium function and arterial stiffness. Higher FGF23 was weakly associated with both impaired endothelium-dependent (ˇ = −0.08, p < 0.05) and endothelium-independent (ˇ = −0.08, p < 0.01) vasodilation. The association was stronger in subjects with
A new colloidal model system to study long-range interactions quantitatively in real space

We present quantitative three-dimensional real space measurements by confocal microscopy on fluorescently labelled and sterically stabilized dispersions of polymethylmethacrylate spheres dispersed in index and density-matched solvent mixtures with a relative dielectric constant 5 <e r < 10. In this new model system Debye screening lengths (κ −1 ) comparable to the particle size (diameter σ ) can be realized even for particles with sizes of several micrometres. Moreover, by addition of salt (tetrabutylammonium chloride) κ −1 can be varied and the surface charge of the particles can be set roughly in between the values +100 and −100 mV, as determined by electrophoresis. By a comparison of radial distribution functions and displacements from lattice positions with Monte Carlo computer simulations we found that both the structure in the liquid and the crystallization volume fraction could be described with a Yukawa potential characterized by one set of parameters, a surface potential of 36 mV and κσ = 5, where the particle diameter σ = 2 µm. Anomalous (‘phase’) behaviour such as extreme long-range repulsions, ‘coexistence’ of high-density and low-density colloidal crystals and void formation, previously observed for deionized dispersions in water, was observed as well, and can now be studied in ad ifferent system without ion exchange resin. These anomalous effects are seen relatively soon after preparing the systems and are absent or short-lived in systems with grounding and at higher salt concentrations.
Age-Dependent Changes in the Propofol-Induced Electroencephalogram in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often require sedation or general anesthesia. ASD is thought to arise from deficits in GABAergic signaling leading to abnormal neurodevelopment. We sought to investigate differences in how ASD patients respond to the GABAergic drug propofol by comparing the propofol-induced electroencephalogram (EEG) of ASD and neurotypical (NT) patients. This investigation was a prospective observational study. Continuous 4-channel frontal EEG was recorded during routine anesthetic care of patients undergoing endoscopic procedures between July 1, 2014 and May 1, 2016. Study patients were defined as those with previously diagnosed ASD by DSM-V criteria, aged 2–30 years old. NT patients were defined as those lacking neurological or psychiatric abnormalities, aged 2–30 years old. The primary outcome was changes in propofol-induced alpha (8–13 Hz) and slow (0.1–1 Hz) oscillation power by age. A post hoc analysis was performed to characterize incidence of burst suppression during propofol anesthesia. The primary risk factor of interest was a prior diagnosis of ASD. Outcomes were compared between ASD and NT patients using Bayesian methods. Compared to NT patients, slow oscillation power was initially higher in ASD patients (17.05 vs. 14.20 dB at 2.33 years), but progressively declined with age (11.56 vs. 13.95 dB at 22.5 years). Frontal alpha power was initially lower in ASD patients (17.65 vs. 18.86 dB at 5.42 years) and continued to decline with age (6.37 vs. 11.89 dB at 22.5 years). The incidence of burst suppression was significantly higher in ASD vs. NT patients (23.0% vs. 12.2%, p < 0.01) despite reduced total propofol dosing in ASD patients. Ultimately, we found that ASD patients respond differently to propofol compared to NT patients. A similar pattern of decreased alpha power and increased sensitivity to burst suppression develops in older NT adults; one interpretation of our data could be that ASD patients undergo a form of accelerated neuronal aging in adolescence. Our results suggest that investigations of the propofol-induced EEG in ASD patients may enable insights into the underlying differences in neural circuitry of ASD and yield safer practices for managing patients with ASD.
How does barley supplementation in lambs grazing alfalfa affect meat sensory quality and authentication?

Excessive flavour in lamb meat is undesirable for consumers and can prompt purchase resistance. Volatile indoles responsible for off-flavours accumulate more in the fat of lambs on pasture than on grain and are enhanced when lambs graze alfalfa. Here, we investigated whether barley supplementation of lambs grazing alfalfa influences meat sensory quality. Using three groups of 12 male Romane lambs, we compared three feeding regimes: alfalfa grazing (AG), alfalfa grazing + daily supplementation with barley (29 g/kg live weight0.75, AGS) and stall feeding with concentrate and hay (SF). As some of the compounds involved in meat sensory traits may act as dietary biomarkers, we also investigated potential implications for meat authentication. Although barley represented 38% of the diet in AGS lambs, it did not offer any advantage for animal average daily gain or parasitism level. Animal performance, carcass weight and fatness did not differ between feeding regimes. Dorsal fat firmness tended to be greater in AG than AGS and greater in AGS than SF. Skatole and indole concentrations in perirenal and dorsal fat were lower in SF lambs than in AG and AGS lambs (P<0.01 to P<0.0001), but did not differ between AG and AGS lambs. Yellowness, chroma and hue angle of perirenal fat were lower in SF lambs than in AG and AGS lambs (P<0.001), but did not differ between AG and AGS lambs. Absolute value of the mean integral for both perirenal fat and subcutaneous caudal fat (AVMIPF and AVMISC), quantifying the intensity of light absorption by carotenoids in perirenal and subcutaneous caudal fat, respectively, were lower in SF lambs than in AG and AGS lambs (P<0.0001 for both comparisons), but did not differ between AG and AGS lambs. Meat colour was unaffected by the treatment. We confirm that lambs grazing alfalfa accumulate high levels of volatile indoles in their fat, but we show that barley supplementation to lambs grazing alfalfa is not effective in reducing fat volatile indoles concentration and excessive odour/flavour in the meat. We also confirm that both perirenal fat skatole concentration and AVMIPF are of interest for discriminating lambs that grazed alfalfa from lambs that were stall-fed, and we show that they are not effective for discriminating supplemented from non-supplemented grazing lambs.
On algorithms for evaluating the reliability of large Hammock networks

In this paper an extensive investigation of the recent status on evaluating reliability of two-terminal networks (i.e., from an input or source S to an output or terminus T) is presented. The algorithms for evaluating the reliability for this type of network can be divided into exact and approximate ones, the approximate ones covering upper and lower bounds as well. The exact algorithms have relied, in their early stages, on the inclusion-exclusion principle applied to the union of all paths from S to T. Using directly the inclusion-exclusion principle however turns out to be toilsome, in the sense that it requires checking a number of cases depending exponentially on the number of paths from S to T. Other examples or categories of exact algorithms include: minimal path/cut enumeration, binary tree methods, brute-force enumeration, decomposition/factoring, reductions and decompositions, and sum of disjoint products. In the case of large networks such algorithms cannot be applied. After establishing theoretically that the reliability of two-terminal networks is #P-complete, attention was drawn on approximate algorithms. Here some examples are: Monte Carlo, randomly seeded genetic algorithms, efficient binary tree algorithms (heuristically searching for the most important minimal cuts), as well as many upper and lower bounds. Moore and Shannon introduced in the mid-50's a particular class of two-terminal networks, known as hammock networks, which we shall use as an example. Hammock networks are potentially important to applications in nanoelectronics as well as in biology. We conclude by arguing that radically out-of-the-box approximations and/or bounds are needed if we want to progress towards analyzing biological-sized two-terminal networks.
Abnormal Regional Homogeneity and Functional Connectivity of Baseline Brain Activity in Hepatitis B Virus-Related Cirrhosis With and Without Minimal Hepatic Encephalopathy

Background and Aims: Abnormalities in neural activity have been reported in cirrhosis with minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE). However, little is known about the neurophysiological mechanisms in this disorder. We aimed to investigate the altered patterns of regional synchronization and functional connections in hepatitis B virus-related cirrhosis (HBV-RC) patients with and without MHE using both regional homogeneity (ReHo) and region of interest (ROI)-based functional connectivity (FC) computational methods. Methods: Data of magnetic resonance imaging scans were collected from 30 HBV-RC patients with MHE, 32 HBV-RC patients without MHE (NMHE) and 64 well-matched controls. Several regions showing differences in ReHo after one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were defined as ROIs for FC analysis. Next, post hoc t-tests were applied to calculate the group differences in ReHo and FC (false discovery rate (FDR) correction, p < 0.05). Correlations between clinical variables and the altered ReHo and FC were then assessed in patient groups. Results: Across three groups, significant ReHo differences were found in nine ROI regions mainly within the visual network (VN), dorsal attention network (DAN), somatomotor network (SMN), fronto parietal control (FPC) network and thalamus. Compared with healthy controls (HC), the MHE group exhibited abnormal FC mainly between the right calcarine (CAL.R) and middle frontal gyrus (MFG.L)/right thalamus. The MHE patients showed increased FC between the MFG.L and CAL.R compared to NMHE patients. Disease duration of MHE patients was positively correlated with increased mean ReHo values in the right fusiform gyrus (FFG); psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score (PHES) test scores were negatively correlated with increased FC between MFG.L and CAL.R and positively correlated with reduced FC between the CAL.R and THA.R. For NMHE patients, the mean ReHo values in the right frontal pole were positively correlated with disease duration and positively correlated with the PHES scores. Conclusion: Our results exhibited that the functional brain modifications in patients with and without MHE are characterized by compound alterations in local coherence and functional connections in the VN, SMN, DAN, FPC networks and thalamus by using a combination of ReHo and ROI-based FC analysis. These functional imaging changes are correlated with disease duration/PHES. This study helped us gain a better understanding of the features of brain network modifications in cirrhosis.
The Neurocircuitry of fluid satiation

Fluid satiation, or quenching of thirst, is a critical homeostatic signal to stop drinking; however, its underlying neurocircuitry is not well characterized. Cutting‐edge genetically encoded tools and techniques are now enabling researchers to pinpoint discrete neuronal populations that control fluid satiation, revealing that hindbrain regions, such as the nucleus of the solitary tract, area postrema, and parabrachial nucleus, primarily inhibit fluid intake. By contrast, forebrain regions such as the lamina terminalis, primarily stimulate thirst and fluid intake. One intriguing aspect of fluid satiation is that thirst is quenched tens of minutes before water reaches the circulation, and the amount of water ingested is accurately calibrated to match physiological needs. This suggests that ‘preabsorptive’ inputs from the oropharyngeal regions, esophagus or upper gastrointestinal tract anticipate the amount of fluid required to restore fluid homeostasis, and provide rapid signals to terminate drinking once this amount has been consumed. It is likely that preabsorptive signals are carried via the vagal nerve to the hindbrain. In this review, we explore our current understanding of the fluid satiation neurocircuitry, its inputs and outputs, and its interconnections within the brain, with a focus on recent studies of the hindbrain, particularly the parabrachial nucleus.
Operation of modular multilevel converter drive with reduced submodules and DC supply

Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC ) is a subject of current research area in power electronics for both acedamic and industrial scope. This paper focuses on selection of suitable carrier based PWM technique for MMC used to drive Induction Motor (IM). The number of submodule connected in one arm can be reduced by selecting proper modulation technique. Also the design aspects shows that, the lower submodules can share common dc supply as their ground level is same. Hence in all paper focuses on reducing the number of switches and dc supply for MMC topology used for operation of electric motor drive. Simulation results are provided to show the suitability of the topology with different modulation pattern. A laboratory prototype was develop for three level output to confirm the results provided by simulation. Instead of capacitors, separate DC supply is used for each submodule as it eliminates problem of capacitor balancing.
Nocturnal Blood Pressure Is Reduced by a Mandibular Advancement Device for Sleep Apnea in Women: Findings From Secondary Analyses of a Randomized Trial

Background Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with high blood pressure. The magnitude of blood pressure effects from sleep apnea treatment is unclear. We aimed to determine the effect of mandibular advancement device therapy on ambulatory nighttime and daytime blood pressure in women and men with daytime sleepiness and snoring or mild to moderate sleep apnea (apnea‐hypopnea index, <30). Methods and Results In this 4‐month, double‐blind, randomized controlled trial comprising 96 untreated patients, 27 women and 58 men, aged 31 to 70 years, completed the study. The active group received individually made adjustable mandibular advancement devices, and the control group was given individually made sham devices, to be used during sleep. Polysomnographic sleep recordings and ambulatory 24‐hour blood pressure measurements were performed at baseline and at follow‐up. In women with mandibular advancement devices, the mean nighttime systolic blood pressure was 10.8 mm Hg (95% confidence interval, 4.0–17.7 mm Hg; P=0.004) lower than in the women in the sham group, adjusted for baseline blood pressure, age, body mass index, and the apnea‐hypopnea index. The mean nighttime adjusted diastolic blood pressure was 6.6 mm Hg (95% confidence interval, 2.7–10.4 mm Hg; P=0.002) lower in the mandibular advancement device group. In men, there were no significant differences in blood pressure at night or during the daytime between the intervention groups. Conclusions A mandibular advancement device for obstructive sleep apnea reduces nocturnal blood pressure in women. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT00477009.
Multihoming within Platform Ecosystems: The Strategic Role of Human Capital

Platform ecosystems characterized by a few platform owners and numerous other complementor firms that partner with them have become quite common across industries. Even though there has been considerable research on platform ecosystems, attention has mostly been on the platform owners and their strategies. In this paper, we focus on the complementor firms and try to understand why the incidence of multi-homing, a strategy in which a complementor firm chooses to join multiple platforms rather than one, is often quite low. We build a capability framework based on human capital and test it on micro-level data from the ERP platform ecosystem. The study has implications for our understanding of platform growth and innovation and contributes toward the literature on platform ecosystems as well as strategic human capital.
The sensitivity analysis of population projections

Background Population projections using the cohort component method can be written as time-varying matrix population models. The matrices are parameterized by schedules of mortality, fertility, immigration, and emigration over the duration of the projection. A variety of dependent variables are routinely calculated (the population vector, various weighted population sizes, dependency ratios, etc.) from such projections. Objective Our goal is to derive and apply theory to compute the sensitivity and the elasticity (proportional sensitivity) of any projection outcome to changes in any of the parameters, where those changes are applied at any time during the projection interval. Methods We use matrix calculus to derive a set of equations for the sensitivity and elasticity of any vector valued outcome ξ(t) at time t to any perturbation of a parameter vector Ɵ(s) at any time s. Results The results appear in the form of a set of dynamic equations for the derivatives that are integrated in parallel with the dynamic equations for the projection itself. We show results for single-sex projections and for the more detailed case of projections including age distributions for both sexes. We apply the results to a projection of the population of Spain, from 2012 to 2052, prepared by the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, and determine the sensitivity and elasticity of (1) total population, (2) the school-age population, (3) the population subject to dementia, (4) the total dependency ratio, and (5) the economic support ratio. Conclusions Writing population projections in matrix form makes sensitivity analysis possible. Such analyses are a powerful tool for the exploration of how detailed aspects of the projection output are determined by the mortality, fertility, and migration schedules that underlie the projection.