Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A frame for modelling collective learning behaviors based on cellular automata

In this paper, we present a general frame for modelling and simulating collective learning behaviors of human groups with interactions. In our ldquobottom-uprdquo method, we assume that individuals learn to make their decisions repeatedly, following their studies on the performances of their former behaviors. Behavior of each individual is driven by temporal situation of the system and individualpsilas anticipation with respect to future decisions of other individuals, which can be calculated from individualspsila properties, such as strategy-sets, profit functions, beliefs about history information and future situation, and so on. Some learning rules, e.g. reinforcement learning, are also discussed for updating individualspsila properties during evolution of the system. Cellular Automata is employed in the frame to compute and observe the visualized long-term behaviors of the system at higher group level. Experiments show that the modelled collective systems with certain learning schemes can reach some balanced state under restrictive conditions. Our framework is helpful for study of modelling and simulating social dynamic systems, and researching higher-level behaviors of collective system with learning techniques.
Tissue mineral concentrations and osteochondrosis lesions in proli fi c sows across parities 0 through 71 , 2 , 3

Mortality in swine herds is often associated with lameness, and trace minerals are implicated in maintaining integrity of skeletal tissues. The objectives of this study were to determine if prolifi c sows displayed evidence of trace mineral depletion with age and to determine the prevalence of osteochondrosis (OC) lesions. Reduced mineral concentrations with age would support recommendations for an increase in the amount of dietary minerals. Tissue samples were collected from 66 sows selected to represent a cross-sectional profi le of a prolifi c herd fed diets with inorganic sources of trace minerals fortifi ed at concentrations typically found in commercial diets. Females ranged from nulliparous (parity 0) to parity 7 with a lifetime average of 12.9 ± 0.5 pigs born alive per litter. Minerals were assessed in humerus, scapula, ovary, liver, and muscle (psoas major) tissues. Percent bone ash increased (P < 0.05) with parity from 64 to 66% but differed among bone sections. The Ca (39.0%) and P (18.9%) concentrations in bone ash were essentially constant in all sections and parities. Bone Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn concentrations varied among sections, but differences due to parity (P < 0.05) were only detected in Fe. Bone Fe decreased from approximately 49 μg/g ash in parity 0 and 1 sows to approximately 29 μg/g ash in parity 7, likely refl ecting loss of hemopoietic tissue with age. No evidence was detected in liver for depletion of trace minerals across parity; however, liver Cu and Zn concentrations tended to increase with age. Liver Mn concentrations varied with parity, but no consistent trend with parity was evident. Ovary Cu and Mn concentrations varied dramatically as a function of the reproductive status, but no evidence was detected for depletion with parity. Articular surfaces of the distal scapula and proximal and distal humerus were evaluated grossly for prevalence of OC; bones were then sectioned to evaluate lesions in subchondral bone and physis. Incidence of OC lesions on the articular-epiphyseal cartilage complex varied among bone sites, but differences across parities were not detected. In a subset of sows with subchondral bone lesions, the lesions appeared severe enough to contribute to clinical lameness, particularly in the distal humerus site. However, none of the sows exhibited lameness at slaughter. As no reductions in mineral concentrations with age were detected, recommendations to increase dietary mineral supplementation with age were not supported.
Multimarker Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells in Peripheral Blood of Metastatic Breast Cancer Patients: A Step Forward in Personalized Medicine

Aim: To develop an immunomagnetic assay for the isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) followed by the analysis of a multimarker panel, which will enable the characterization of these malignant cells with high accuracy. Patients and Methods: Peripheral blood (PB) was collected from 32 metastatic breast cancer patients and 42 negative controls. The antibodies BM7 and VU1D9 were used for immunomagnetic tumor cell enrichment. A real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) approach for the markers KRT19, SCGB2A2, MUC1, EPCAM, BIRC5 and ERBB2 was used for CTC detection and characterization. Results: The positivity rates for each marker were as follows: 46.9% for KRT19, 25.0% for SCGB2A2, 28.1% for MUC1, 28.1% for EPCAM, 21.9% for BIRC5, and 15.6% for ERBB2. After the creation of individualized cutoffs, the sensitivity and specificity of the combined marker gene panel increased to 56.3% and 100%, respectively. Interestingly, 27.0% of the HER2-negative tumor patients showed ERBB2 mRNA-positive CTCs. Conclusions: The described technique can be used to measure CTCs with great accuracy. The use of a multimarker panel for the characterization of CTCs may provide real-time information and be of great value in therapy monitoring.
On the validity of single-ended mixed-mode s-parameter measurements for differential active devices

This paper examines the differences occuring between virtual and true differential probing of active balanced devices in large signal region. The analysis is carried out by means of gain compression of single stage pseudo and true differential amplifiers. Based on analytical derivations, a simulation model for these amplifiers is developed and verified by measurement results. Finally, the reason for the deviation between virtual and true differential measurements is highlighted.
Synchrony and Flash Entrainment in a New Guinea Firefly

Fireflies can duplicate both faster and slower rhythms of artificial light. Since the interval between the pacer signal and the firefly's flash of the next cycle approximates the firefly's normal free-run period, it is suggested that the pacer signal resets the flash-timing oscillator in the brain, thus providing a mechanism for synchronization.
Polypharmacy as commonly defined is an indicator of limited value in the assessment of drug-related problems.

AIM To investigate whether polypharmacy defined as a definite number of drugs is a suitable indicator for describing the risk of occurrence of drug-related problems (DRPs) in a hospital setting. METHODS Patients admitted to six internal medicine and two rheumatology departments in five hospitals were consecutively included and followed during the hospital stay, with particular attention to medication and DRPs. Comparisons were made between patients admitted with five or more drugs and with less than five drugs. Clinical pharmacists assessed DRPs by reviewing medical records and by participating in multidisciplinary team discussions. RESULTS Of a total of 827 patients, 391 (47%) used five or more drugs on admission. Patients admitted with five or more and less than five drugs were prescribed the same number of drugs after admission: 4.1 vs. 3.9 drugs [P = 0.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) - 0.57, 0.23], respectively. The proportion of drugs used on admission which was associated with DRPs was similar in the patient group admitted with five or more drugs and in those admitted with less than five drugs. The number of DRPs per patient increased approximately linearly with the increase in number of drugs used; one unit increase in number of drugs yielded a 8.6% increase in the number of DRPs (95% CI 1.07, 1.10). CONCLUSION The number of DRPs per patient was linearly related to the number of drugs used on admission. To set a strict cut-off to identify polypharmacy and declare that using more than this number of drugs represents a potential risk for occurrence of DRPs, is of limited value when assessing DRPs in a clinical setting.
Reengineering in Australia: factors affecting success

Business process reengineering (BPR) is being used in many organisations worldwide to realign operations. Most of the research undertaken has been focused on North American or European practices. The study reported here replicates a US reengineering study in an Australian context by surveying large public and private sector Australian organisations. The study makes three main contributions by: (1) presenting a picture of BPR practices in Australia, (2) clarifying factors critical to the success of reengineering projects in Australia, and (3) providing a comparison of factors leading to success in Australian BPR projects with those found in the US.
Regional Hemodynamic Responses to Visual Stimulation in Awake Infants

This study presents the first measurements using near infrared spectroscopy of changes in regional hemodynamics as a response to a visual stimulus in awake infants. Ten infants aged 3 d to 14 wk viewed a checkerboard with a 5-Hz pattern reversal. The emitter and detector (optodes) of a near infrared spectrophotometer were placed over the occipital region of the head. Changes in concentration of oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin (Hbo2 and Hb) were measured and compared during 10-s epochs of stimulus on and off. A control group of 10 infants aged 18 d to 13 wk were examined with the same setup, but with the optodes over the frontoparietal region. In the test group the total hemoglobin concentration (Hbo2 + Hb) increased while the stimulus was on by a mean (±SD) of 2.51 (±1.48) μmol·L-1. Nine out of 10 infants showed an Hbo2 increase, and 9 out of 10 an Hb increase related to the stimulus. There was no significant change in any of these parameters in the control group. The results imply that there is increased cerebral blood flow due to stimulation that is specific to the visual cortex and that infants, unlike adults, show increased cerebral oxygen utilization during activation that outstrips this hemodynamic effect. The study demonstrates that near infrared spectroscopy can be used as a practical and noninvasive method of measuring visual functional activation and its hemodynamic correlates in the awake infant.
Regulation of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH)-Receptor Gene Expression in Tilapia: Effect of GnRH and Dopamine1

Abstract The present work was designed to study certain aspects of the endocrine regulation of gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor (GnRH-R) in the pituitary of the teleost fish tilapia. A GnRH-R was cloned from the pituitary of hybrid tilapia (taGnRH-R) and was identified as a typical seven-transmembrane receptor. Northern blot analysis revealed a single GnRH-R transcript in the pituitary of approximately 2.3 kilobases. The taGnRH-R mRNA levels were significantly higher in females than in males. Injection of the salmon GnRH analog (sGnRHa; 5–50 μg/kg) increased the steady-state levels of taGnRH-R mRNA, with the highest response recorded at 25 μg/kg and at 36 h. At the higher dose of sGnRHa (50 μg/kg), taGnRH-R transcript appeared to be down-regulated. Exposure of tilapia pituitary cells in culture to graded doses (0.1–100 nM) of seabream (sbGnRH = GnRH I), chicken II (cGnRH II), or salmon GnRH (sGnRH = GnRH III) resulted in a significant increase in taGnRH-R mRNA levels. The highest levels of both LH release and taGnRH-R mRNA levels were recorded after exposure to cGnRH II and the lowest after exposure to sbGnRH. The dopamine-agonist quinpirole suppressed LH release and mRNA levels of taGnRH-R, indicating an inhibitory effect on GnRH-R synthesis. Collectively, these data provide evidence that GnRH in tilapia can up- regulate, whereas dopamine down-regulates, taGnRH-R mRNA levels.
Video quality assessment using neural network based on multi-feature extraction

In this paper, we propose a new video quality evaluation method based on multi-feature and radial basis function neural network. Multi-feature is extracted from a degraded image sequence and its reference sequence, including error energy, activity-masking and luminance-masking as well as blockiness and blurring features. Based on these factors we apply a radial basis function neural network as a classifier to give quality assessment scores. After training with the subjective mean opinion scores (MOS) data of VQEG test sequences, the neural network model can be used to evaluate video quality with good correlation performance in terms of accuracy and consistency measurements.
Subsite‐specific incidence rate and stage of disease in colorectal cancer by race, gender, and age group in the United States, 1992–1997

Subsite specific incidence rates of colorectal cancer vary considerably by age, gender, and race. This variation may be related not only to distinctions in exposure to genetic and environment factors but also to current strategies of early detection screening. Patterns of stage of disease in anatomic subsite may reflect the effect of screening. This study used the largest aggregation of cancer incidence data in the U.S. to examine subsite specific incidence rates of colorectal cancer and the relation of stage of disease to anatomic subsites by race, gender, and age group.
High‐temperature short‐time pasteurisation of human breastmilk is efficient in retaining protein and reducing the bacterial count

Milk banks are advised to use Holder pasteurisation to inactivate the cytomegalovirus, but the process adversely affects the bioactive properties of human breastmilk. This study explored the antibacterial efficacy of an alternative high‐temperature short‐time (HTST) treatment of human breastmilk and its effect on marker proteins, compared with the Holder method.
A Transparent Approach on 2 D Mesh Topology using Routing Algorithms for NoC Architecture

Now days, as per the recent studies, the development of integration technology, System on-Chip (SoC), has large number of transistor. NoC has been proposed as a highly structured and scalable solution to address communication problems in SoC. As the microprocessor industry is moving from single-core to multicore architectures, which require efficient communications processors. Also both SoC and microprocessor are used for a high-performance, flexible, scalable, and design-friendly interconnection. Interconnection architectures are usually based on dedicated wires or shared buses. NoC has been proposed as a highly structured and scalable solution to address communication problems in SoC. Onchip interconnection network provides advantages over dedicated wiring and buses, i.e. high-bandwidth, low-latency, low-power consumption and scalability. Among these topologies, mesh topology has gained more consideration by designers due to its simplicity. In this paper, we compare source routing algorithm and junction based routing algorithm using 2D mesh topology of NoC architecture in terms of different performance metrics such as, latency, power consumption, and power/throughput ratio.
Identification of critical parameters affecting voltage stability in networks with renewable generations using sensitivity analysis methods

In modern power systems, the penetration of deregulated market structures, together with the integration of renewable energy source-based generations and non-conventional loads can exhibit inherent stochastic and intermittent behaviour. Hence, bringing uncertainties to the system generation and loading profile, affects the power system's dynamic behaviour. The identification and ranking of critical system uncertain parameters is important for the efficient operation of modern power systems since they can enable better system management with less monitoring. In this paper, 6 sensitivity analysis (SA) methods have been employed for the priority ranking of uncertain parameters in a network with renewable generations from the perspective of their influence on power system voltage stability. The performances of the 6 SA methods are evaluated and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The modified version of the 68 bus NETS-NYPS has been used as the test system.
Analysis and Classification of EEG Signals based on a New Quantum Inspired Wavelet Neural Network Model

this paper, electroencephalographic (EEG) signals are analyzed and classified based on a new multilevel transfer function quantum wavelet neural network (QWNN) model. The independent component analysis (ICA) is used as processing after normalization of these signals. Some features are extracted from the data using the clustering technique (CT). The classification result of the new model is compared with that of wavelet neural network (WNN), quantum neural network (QNN), and feed forward neural network (FFNN). The new QWNN model is found to achieve average classification accuracy of 94.187%, but classification accuracies using WNN, QNN and FFNN are 89.803%, 83.713% and 75.076%, respectively
Real-Time , Soft Robotic Patient Positioning System for Maskless Head-and-Neck Cancer Radiotherapy

We present an initial examination of a novel approach toward accurately positioning a patient during head and neck intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Positionbased visual-servoing of a radio-transparent soft robot is used to control the flexion/extension cranial motion of a manikin head. A Kinect RGB-D camera is used to measure head position and the error between the sensed and desired position is used to control a pneumatic system which regulates pressure within an inflatable air bladder (IAB). Results show that the system is capable of controlling head motion to within 2mm with respect to a reference trajectory. This establishes proof-ofconcept that using multiple IABs and actuators can improve cancer treatment. Index Terms Life Sciences and Health Care; Mechatronics; Emerging Topics in Automation
Conception rates and assisted reproduction in subfertility due to unilateral cryptorchidism

Summary. During 774 spontaneous cycles and 87 cycles of assisted reproduction, the conception rates were evaluated in 48 infertile couples in whom unilateral cryptorchidism was the causal factor. In spite of adjuvant therapy of the male partner, the spontaneous conception rate was very low (1% per cycle). Intra‐uterine insemination (IUI) and conventional in vitro fertilization (IVF) resulted in similar success rates of 6.1 and 8.7% per cycle/attempt respectively. After intra—cyto‐plasmic sperm injection (ICSI), 46.7% pregnancies were obtained per attempt, and sperm requirements for the latter treatment to be successful were lower than for IUI. It is concluded that subfertility in men with unilateral cryptorchidism is severe, conventional IVF has little advantage, but ICSI is highly successful.
Influence of grain boundaries and voids on the saturated magnetization in Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ films at a low magnetic field

We report the magnetic behaviors of Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ thin films grown by zero field growth (ZFG) and field growth (FG) techniques during the sputtering process. In FG conditions, an in situ 300 Oe field during growth is applied to a substrate, inducing an easy axis of magnetization. Structural observations obtained by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements clearly depicted a significant reduction of the grain boundaries and voids in the Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ films grown under FG conditions, thus explaining the saturated magnetization of the Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ films at about 0.01 T. This behavior was expected due to a remarkable reduction of the antiferromagnetic exchange couplings between grains for FG conditions. In addition, the zero-field-cooled magnetization of the ZFG samples showed an abrupt change at about 285 K, confirming the existence of defects or other phases in the ZFG films.
Three-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic motor using a 5-mm-diameter piezoelectric ceramic tube

A small three-degree-of-freedom ultrasonic motor has been developed using a simple piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-tube stator (OD 5 mm, ID 3 mm, length 15 mm). The stator drives a ball-rotor into rotational motion around one of three orthogonal (x-, y-, and z-) axes by combing the first longitudinal and second bending vibration modes. A motor prototype was fabricated and characterized; its performance was superior to those of previous motors made with a PZT ceramic/metal composite stator of comparable size. The method for further improving the performance was discussed. The motor can be further miniaturized and it has potential to be applied to medical microrobots, endoscopes or micro laparoscopic devices, and cell manipulation devices.
Similarity computation by ontology merging system: DKP-OM

One of the core tasks of mapping and merging of multiple ontologies is to produce accurate, consistent and coherent merged global ontology that promotes interoperability among heterogeneous multi-vendors semantic-based systems. Current systems for ontology mapping and merging are very restricted in terms of resolving mismatches or proposing accurate matches with no or minimum human intervention. The suggestions made by these systems do not consider all information available in the semantic knowledge of the ontologies. We developed a semantic based ontology merging system, DKP-OM that employs almost all the semantics provided in the ontologies. This paper discusses the similarity computation factors considered by DKP-OM for providing complete, consistent and coherent merged ontology. These factors find the correspondences between the concepts of ontologies and check the consistency of initial mappings found. The concept of validation during the initial stages of ontology mapping not only distinguishes our system from the existing ones' but also reduces the users' dependability for validating the consistency of the generated mappings.
Carcinogen-Induced Site-Specific Mutagenesis and Genetic Susceptibility in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck

Tobacco and alcohol have been identified as the most important risk factors for squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (HNSCC). Especially for tobacco, some of the carcinogen-induced mutations that trigger transformation have been identified. Much attempt has been made to show a relationship between the mutations of growth regulatory genes, i.e. tumor suppressor- or oncogenes, and the exposure to specific exogeneous mutagens. One of the best examined genes – harboring the most DNA damages (DNA adducts) – caused by xenobiotics is p53. This tumor suppressor gene is an important regulator of cell cycle and apoptosis and is mutated in 40–60% of all HNSCC. Further studies link specific mutations of the ras oncogene to definite carcinogens. The question of why these mutations lead to cancer in some smokers but not in others, i.e. the individual’s susceptibility to external carcinogens, remains unclear. One possibility is the individual’s ability (or non-ability) of detoxifying carcinogenic xenobiotics or repairing the DNA damages they caused. There are several known polymorphisms of enzymes involved in detoxification as well as in DNA repair – which might explain the interindividual variable susceptibility to HNSCC in smokers and drinkers. However, the results of several examined polymorphisms are diverse or even controversial. The diversity might be due to ethnical differences, study populations, tumor localizations as well as intratumoral heterogeneity. In this review, we attempt to discuss the carcinogen-specific mutations as well as the genetic polymorphisms, which may transfer an enhanced susceptibility to suffer HNSCC.