Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ASSESSMENT OF FISH COMMUNITY DISTRIBUTION AND COMPOSITION IN THE PERAK RIVER IN ORDER TO DETERMINE BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS FOR FRESHWATER HEALTH

A one-year research had been carried out to study the correlation between fish biodiversity and water quality in terms of the differences in distance from estuary, altitudes, bottom substrates and seasons. Seven study sites were chosen and located in the main channel of the Perak River comprising the lower zone, middle zone and upper zone of the river system. The water quality and bottom substrates were determined by using the standard methods. The fish populations were sampled by using the standard fishing gear and technical methods. Several fishing gear, such as five sets of gill net with various mesh sizes (2.5 cm, 5.0 cm, 7.5 cm, 10.0 cm and 12.5 cm), five sets of hoop net and a cast net were used. A total of 92 species comprising 12 orders, 33 families and 63 genres were identified among a total of 4733 specimens. Response of population for each of the 92 species had been analyzed at the multi level of fish production, taxonomic and trophic compositions. The lower zone has 11 orders (29 families, 63 species) while the middle zone has 8 orders (15 families, 48 species) and the upper zone has 6 orders (12 families, 33 species), showed a ratio of 2.86 : 1.67 : 1.00 in total species, 2.16 : 1.00 : 1.60 in total abundance and 3.01 : 1.00 : 3.05 in total biomass, whereas for Cyprinidae was 1.05 : 1.44 : 1.00 in total species and 1.29 : 1.00 : 1.62 in total abundance, which are some of the examples for the different ecological processes in each zone respectively. This was also shown by the difference in species composition, whereby 71% of species composition is different between the lower zone and middle zone, 69% different between the lower zone and upper zone while between the middle zone and upper zone it was 58%, based on Jaccard’s Coefficient. Overall, the water quality has decreased in the flowing water from the upper zone towards the lower zone, influenced the increase of the number of species towards the lower zone and influenced the biocriteria as above. As the response of fish population towards the difference in habitat criteria, four trends of species distribution had been identified, namely that are present in a specific zone (65.2%)
Brain–Computer Interfaces Handbook Technological and Theoretical Advances

Affective brain–computer interfaces (aBCIs) provide a method for individuals to interact with a computer via their emotions and without needing to move. This chapter will provide an introduction to the concept of aBCIs and their uses in applications such as music therapy and affective computing. We will first review the concept of aBCIs before going on to provide a literature review of the current state-of-the-art research in affective state detection methods and their uses in aBCI. Finally, we will describe a case study; an affective brain–computer music interface (aBCMI) and its potential for use in music therapy. Emerging and established trends in aBCI, such as the use of prefrontal asymmetry measures of affective states, are identified. Additionally, a set of recommendations are provided for researchers seeking to work in the field of aBCI.
Automatic neonatal cranial ultrasound segmentation using deep learning: A review

Ultrasound is widely used as a clinical routine tool for neonates’ brain assessment, especially for preterm neonates. This population is at high risk of developing serious complications leading to neurocognitive and motor impairments. However, the analysis of Cranial Ultrasound requires experienced personnel to perform a time-consuming visual assessment, which is nontrivial due to the low quality and artifacts in the images. For this analysis to be more objective, fast, and accurate, many automatic methods have been proposed. Such methods usually rely on segmenting brain structures or regions of interest for the extraction of subsequent clinically useful measurements. Deep Learning methods are being more adopted recently as they proved to have a huge potential in many medical image analysis tasks. In this review article, we present and discuss the Deep Learning-based methods developed for the automatic segmentation of preterm neonatal ultrasound images, more specifically the methods developed for segmenting the Cerebral Ventricle System. The performance and evaluation results of these methods are compared, and their major contributions are outlined. Furthermore, we discuss the main challenges of neonatal ultrasound automatic segmentation and possible ways to address these challenges. Finally, we discuss the future directions in this very specific context.
Effective Treatment of Vocabulary when Teaching L2 Reading: The Example of Yoko Tawada’s Wo Europa anfängt

Second language (L2) learners comprehend more when they are prepared for novel vocabulary that they encounter in a text. Input-based incremental (IBI) vocabulary instruction (Barcroft, 2012) provides L2 instructors and learners with a means of achieving this goal by (a) presenting optimal input to learners at the right time during a reading-focused lesson and (b) promoting the gradual development of different aspects of word knowledge over time. The approach draws on theoretical advances and research findings related to lexical input processing, including the benefits of acoustically varied input and opportunities for target word retrieval. This paper explains the IBI approach and demonstrates how it can be applied when teaching authentic texts, using as an example L2 German and Wo Europa anfängt (1991) by Yoko Tawada, a narrative that addresses themes such as transnationalism, migration, borders, and cultural identity.
Factors That Influence the Changing Trends of Dipo Rite Performance among the People of Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo

: The Dipo rite is a significant cultural practice among the people of Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo in Ghana, signifying the transition of girls to womanhood. However, recent trends have indicated a decline in the performance of this ritual. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that have influenced the changing trends of Dipo rite performance among the people of Yilo and Lower Manya Krobo. The paper highlights the impact of Western education and Christianity, which has led to a shift in values and beliefs among young people in the area, resulting in the view that traditional practices are outdated and irrelevant. Additionally, the changing economic landscape, characterized by rural-urban migration
Stellate Ganglion Block Reduces Anxiety Symptoms by Half: A Case Series of 285 Patients

The stellate ganglion block (SGB) procedure has been used successfully for over twelve years to treat thousands of patients suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Level 1b evidence supports this use of SGB, but no studies to date have reported specifically on anxiety symptom improvements following SGB. We collected Generalized Anxiety Disorder questionnaire (GAD-7) scores pre-procedure and at 1-week and 1-month post-procedure from 285 patients. The mean baseline GAD-7 score of 15.9 (indicating severe anxiety) declined significantly following SGB treatment. Changes in GAD-7 scores ≥ 4 were considered clinically meaningful. From baseline to 1 week, the GAD-7 scores dropped by 9.0 points (95% CI = 8.3–9.7, p < 0.001, d = 1.8), with 211 (79.6%) patients demonstrating clinically meaningful improvement. Furthermore, from baseline to 1 month, the GAD-7 scores dropped by 8.3 points (95% CI = 7.6–9.0, p < 0.001, d = 1.7), with 200 (75.5%) patients demonstrating clinically meaningful improvement. The stellate ganglion block treatment resulted in a decrease of GAD-7 scores of over twice the minimal clinically important difference in treating anxiety for at least 1 month following SGB. Given the results from this retrospective observational study, larger prospective studies should be conducted to determine the effects of SGB treatment as a novel therapeutic treatment for generalized anxiety disorder and other anxiety disorders.
Nutritional Quality and Antioxidant Properties of Brown and Black Lentil Sprouts

Lentils are known to be an integral part of a nutritionally balanced diet. Their sprouts are considered even more nutritional since they contain phytonutrients that confer health benefits. As such, incorporating them into a human diet can be advantageous. In this study, seeds from brown and black lentils were germinated aiming to study the changes in their nutritional value after they were grown for different amount of days to different lengths. Since the sprouts can be consumed at various stages of their growth, four growth stages were studied. For each stage, three batches were grown, and one sample of each batch was randomly picked and analyzed in triplicates. The sprouts were examined for their nutritional value. To this end, their content of proteins and carbohydrates was determined, as well as their content in carotenoids and vitamin C. Moreover, emphasis was placed on the phytochemical compounds contained in the sprouts. As results indicate, lentil sprouts not only exhibit high nutritional value but they are also rich in antioxidant compounds. More specifically, an increase of up to 18.8% in the protein content was recorded for 15 cm length sprouts (compared to lentil seeds), accompanied by a decrease in the carbohydrate content of up to 68.9%. Carotenoids and vitamin C content increased up to 224% and 389%, respectively. Additionally, a 34% increase in the polyphenol content was recorded. Moreover, a direct correlation between sprout length and nutritional value was observed, using principal component analysis (PCA) and multivariate correlation analysis (MCA).
APPLICATION OF LINEAR PROGRAMMING TO FIRM’S DECISION MAKING: HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE

: The study investigated the application of linear programming to firm’s decision making: Hypothetical example. The objective of the study was to apply linear programming for optimal use of time in hair and body cream production. The decision variables applied in the study are two different types of cream (hair cream and body cream) produced by Seun Cream factory limited. Simplex method of linear programming approach was employed and evidence from the finding indicated that 6.5 unit of hair cream and 27.7 unit of body cream should be produced respectively which will give a maximum profit of ₦ 1107.75. In respect to the emanating finding from the study, the study concluded that Seun factory should produce the two types of cream (hair cream and body cream) in order to satisfy her customers, however, more of body cream should be produce in order to attain maximum profit, because they contribute mostly to the profit earned by the company. Thus, it is recommended that business whether small family business or large corporate should adopt optimization technique to enhance the decision making and to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of firm’s performance.
A Defending Technology Against Co-Resident Attack Considering Early Warning Mechanism and Disguise Component

With the development of cloud services, cloud servers must provide a safe and reliable cloud environment. To defend co-resident attack launched by malicious cloud users who co-resident with normal users on the same physical server, based on FFP voting, we propose a probabilistic model for evaluating the failure probability of an N-Version service program with disguise components and early warning agents in this paper. Under the condition of defense resource constraints, the failure prediction of the NVP service program is used as the basis to select the optimal deployment strategy of NVP, which is oriented to minimize the failure probability
Temporal Attack Detection in Multimodal Cyber-Physical Systems with Sticky HDP-HMM

Modern and legacy cyber-physical systems produce logs of operational behavior from sensors to network traffic; analyzing these heterogeneous logs to consistently identify attack signals is a difficult problem. In this work, we propose a flexible temporal non-parametric Bayesian framework for identifying these attacks based on sticky Hierarchical Dirichlet Process Hidden Markov Model (sHDP-HMM). The advantage of this approach is that it does not require detailed information on the system architecture, and it works for systems with unknown multimodal behavior, yielding interpretable inference. We demonstrate the efficacy of this framework for accurate identification of attacks from cyber and physical attack vectors on two different CPS: an avionics testbed and a consumer robot.
Bitcoin Fast Payment Protocol Based on Chameleon Authentication Tree

With the development trend of distributed and decentralized, blockchain-based bitcoin payment methods are gradually gaining attention and research from academia and industry. In order to prevent the "double spend" attack in the Bitcoin payment process, it is officially recommended to wait for 6 blocks (about 1 hour) to confirm the transaction is established, which creates a serious time delay constraint for small payments and leads to inefficient payments. Therefore, this paper proposes a fast payment protocol based on the chameleon authentication tree, the main idea of which is to combat the "double spend" attack through a deposit penalty. The protocol associates the key in the scheme with the deposit key, enabling the implementation of fast payment protocols on distributed systems through deposit penalties.
Special Issue: Computational Methods in Social Neuroscience Seven computations of the social brain

The social environment presents the human brain with the most complex information processing demands. The computations that the brain must perform occur in parallel, combine social and nonsocial cues, produce verbal and nonverbal signals and involve multiple cognitive systems, including memory, attention, emotion and learning. This occurs dynamically and at timescales ranging from milliseconds to years. Here, we propose that during social interactions, seven core operations interact to underwrite coherent social functioning; these operations accumulate evidence efficiently—from multiple modalities—when inferring what to do next. We deconstruct the social brain and outline the key components entailed for successful human–social interaction. These include (i) social perception; (ii) social inferences, such as mentalizing; (iii) social learning; (iv) social signaling through verbal and nonverbal cues; (v) social drives (e.g. how to increase one’s status); (vi) determining the social identity of agents, including oneself and (vii) minimizing uncertainty within the current social context by integrating sensory signals and inferences. We argue that while it is important to examine these distinct aspects of social inference, to understand the true nature of the human social brain, we must also explain how the brain integrates information from the social world.
Punica granatum (Pomegranate) Peel Extract Pre-Treatment Alleviates Fenpropathrin-Induced Testicular Injury via Suppression of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Adult Male Rats

Fenpropathrin (FNP) is one of the commonly used insecticides in agriculture and domestically, leading to environmental and health problems. The goal of the current investigation was to determine how well pomegranate peel extract (PGPE) could prevent the testicular toxicity and oxidative stress induced by FNP. Four groups of male Wistar rats were randomly assigned: negative control (corn oil), PGPE (500 mg/kg BW), positive control (FNP; 15 mg/kg BW, 1/15 LD50), and PGPE + FNP. For four weeks, the rats received their doses daily and orally via gavage. The major phytochemical components (total phenolic, flavonoids, and tannins contents) detected in PGPE by GC-MS included ellagic acid, hydroxymethylfurfurole, guanosine, and pyrogallol with high total phenolic, flavonoids, and tannin contents. FNP-treated rats showed a marked elevation in testicular levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, hydrogen peroxide, and protein carbonyl content, as well as the activity of aminotransferases and phosphatases. Meanwhile. a significant decline in body weight, gonadosomatic index, glutathione, protein contents, enzymatic antioxidants, and hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3β HSD, and 17β HSD) activity was observed. In addition, significant alterations in testicular P53, Cas-3, Bcl-2, IL-β, IL-10, testosterone, follicle-stimulating and luteinizing hormones, and sperm quality were detected. Furthermore, biochemical and molecular changes were corroborated testicular histological abnormalities. Moreover, PGPE-pretreated FNP-intoxicated rats demonstrated considerable improvement in the majority of the studied parameters, when compared to FNP-treated groups. Conclusively, PGPE provided a potent protective effect against the testicular toxicity caused by FNP, due to its antioxidant-active components.
Classifier-guided sampling for discrete variable, discontinuous design space exploration

Estimation of density algorithms (EDAs) have been developed for optimization of discrete, continuous, or mixed discrete and continuous simulation-based design problems. EDAs construct a probability distribution on the set of highest performing designs and sample the distribution for the next generation of solutions. In previous work, the authors have demonstrated how classifier-guided sampling can also be used for discrete variable, discontinuous design space exploration. In this paper we develop the rationale for using classifier-guided sampling as a simple step beyond EDAs that not only improves the characterization of the highest performing designs but also identifies the poorly performing designs and exploits that information for faster convergence to optimal solutions. The resulting method is novel in its use of Bayesian priors to model the inherent uncertainty in a probability distribution that is based on a limited number of samples from the design space. The new classifier-guided method is applied to several example problems and convergence rates are presented that compare favorably to random search and a basic EDA implementation. © 2013 ASME
Simultaneous Localization and Active Phenomenon Inference (SLAPI)

We introduce the problem for a robot to localize itself, and, simultaneously, actively infer the existence and properties of phenomena present in its surrounding environment: the SLAPI problem. A phenomenon is a representation of an entity “as the robot experiences it” through interaction. The SLAPI problem relates to the SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) problem but differs in that it does not aim at constructing a precise map of the environment, and it can apply to robots with coarse sensors. We demonstrate a SLAPI algorithm to control a robot equipped with omni-directional wheels, an echo-localization sensor, photosensitive sensors, and an inertial measurement unit, but no precise sensors like camera, lidar, or odometry. As the robot circles around an object, it constructs the phenomenon corresponding to this object under the form of the set of the spatially-localized control loops of interaction that the object affords to the robot. SLAPI algorithms could help design companion robots that mimic intrinsic motivation such as curiosity and play-fulness. Further studies of the SLAPI problem could improve the scientific understanding of how cognitive beings construct knowledge about objects from sensorimotor experience of interaction.
Cultural Differences in Inhibitory Control: An ALE Meta-Analysis

Culture greatly influences our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, affecting how we communicate and make decisions. There is an ongoing debate regarding the belief that people from Eastern cultures possess greater self-control abilities when compared to people from Western cultures. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis using the Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) algorithm to compare 30 studies (719 subjects, 373 foci) that used fMRI to investigate the performance in Go–Nogo and Stop Signal Tasks of participants from Western and/or Eastern countries. Our meta-analysis found differences between the networks activated in Eastern and Western culture participants. The right prefrontal cortex showed distinct patterns, with the Inferior Frontal gyrus more active in the Eastern group and the middle and superior frontal gyri more active in the Western group. Our findings suggest that Eastern culture subjects have a higher tendency to activate brain regions involved in proactive inhibitory control, while Western culture subjects rely more on reactive inhibitory brain regions during cognitive control tasks. This implies that proactive inhibition may play a crucial role in promoting the collective and interdependent behavior typical of Eastern cultures, while reactive inhibition may be more important for efficient cognitive control in subjects of Western cultures that prioritize individualism and independence.
Exploring Swedish & English fastText Embeddings

In this paper, we show that embeddings from relatively smaller corpora sometimes outperform those from larger corpora and we introduce a new Swedish analogy test set and make it publicly available. To achieve good performance in Natural Language Processing (NLP) downstream tasks, several factors play important roles: dataset size, the right hyper-parameters, and well-trained embeddings. We utilize the fastText tool for our experiments. We evaluate both the Swedish and English embeddings that we created using intrinsic evaluation (including analogy & Spearman correlation) and compare them with 2 common, publicly available embeddings. Our English continuous Bag-of-Words (CBoW)-negative sampling embedding shows better performance compared to the publicly available GoogleNews version. We also describe the relationship between NLP and cognitive science. We contribute the embeddings for research or other useful purposes by publicly releasing them.
On Unions of Two Convex Sets

Valentine (3) introduced the three-point convexity property P 3 : a set S in En satisfies P 3 if for each triple of points x, y, z in S at least one of the closed segments xy, yz, xz is in S. He proved, (3 or 1) that in the plane a closed connected set satisfying P 3 is the union of some three convex subsets. The problem of characterizing those sets that are the union of two convex subsets was suggested. Stamey and Marr (2) have provided an answer for compact subsets of the plane. We present here a generalization of property P 3 which characterizes closed sets in an arbitrary topological linear space which are the union of two convex subsets.
Cellular Automata Musification Using Python and Magenta

Life Like is an audiovisual project exploring the generation and musification 1 of Life-Like Cellular Automata modeled after John H. Conway’s Game of Life using Magenta’s GANSynth Colab Notebook. This cloud-based Jupyter note-books contains pre-trained models for synthesizing timbre and audio files. A video and MIDI file of ”live” cells are created from variable birth and survival conditions set before generation in Python.