Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Advanced transformer winding deformation diagnosis: moving from off-line to on-line

On-line monitoring and diagnosis of transformers have been investigated and discussed significantly in last decade. This study has concentrated on issues arising while on-line transformer winding deformation diagnosis is going to be applied on transformers with various kinds of techniques. From technical perspective, before replacing off-line methods by on-line methods and eventually by intelligent approaches, practical challenges must be addressed and overcome. Hence, available off-line transformer winding deformation diagnosis methods are discussed precisely. Mathematical calculation in on-line short circuit impedance measurement is investigated. On-line transformer transfer function measurement setup is presented. A profound insight to the problems pertaining on-line transformer winding deformation recognition methods, characterizes existing online methods, explains the concepts behind online measurements and striving to open the discussion doors towards challenges are discussed. In the end a 400 MVA step up transformer has been taken as a case in order to clarify the capability of Frequency Response Analysis (FRA) method in fault detection while short circuit impedance could only demonstrate some rough understanding about transformer condition.
Metamorphic testing of programs on partial differential equations: a case study

We study the effect of applying metamorphic testing to alleviate the oracle problem for numerical programs. We discuss a case study on the testing of a program that solves an elliptic partial differential equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions. We identify a metamorphic relation for the equation and demonstrate the effectiveness of metamorphic testing in identifying the error. The relation identified should also be applicable to other numerical methods that yield better approximations on the refinement of grid points or step sizes.
Block-diagonal Hessian-free Optimization for Training Neural Networks

Second-order methods for neural network optimization have several advantages over methods based on first-order gradient descent, including better scaling to large mini-batch sizes and fewer updates needed for convergence. But they are rarely applied to deep learning in practice because of high computational cost and the need for model-dependent algorithmic variations. We introduce a vari- ant of the Hessian-free method that leverages a block-diagonal approximation of the generalized Gauss-Newton matrix. Our method computes the curvature approximation matrix only for pairs of parameters from the same layer or block of the neural network and performs conjugate gradient updates independently for each block. Experiments on deep autoencoders, deep convolutional networks, and multilayer LSTMs demonstrate better convergence and generalization compared to the original Hessian-free approach and the Adam method.
The Dynamics of Help-Seeking in Men and Women.

This paper will integrate a number of intriguing results from a study of help-seeking in a national representative sample of Americans. It began as a search for an explanation of why women seek professional help at a greater rate than men. I expected two general findings: various facets of demoralization would be correlated with the search for help in both men and women; and women would express more demoralization than men. The results were not so straightforward. As the analyses unfolded, especially as education and age differences were also considered, it became increasingly clear that help-seeking is not singularly dependent on feelings of demoralization and that women are not necessarily more distressed about facets of their lives that should contribute to demoralization. I have attempted to develop a more complex model of professional help-seeking for both men and women suggested by the findings of this study.
Perioperative myocardial infarction after cesarean section in a young woman with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy

modelling is possible without twitch stabilisation (3). We would like to remind readers that for some PK-PD modelling studies, an absence of twitch stabilisation may be an intentional experimental design decision and that PK-PD modelling is still possible. An absence of twitch stabilisation is not necessarily an indicator of poor quality research, despite the fact that such research does not conform to GCRP guidelines. As already clearly stated in GCRP guideline publication, ‘these guidelines are intended to be a help – not a hindrance for people working in this field’.
Genetic evidence and integration of various data sources for classifying uncertain variants into a single model

Genetic testing often results in the finding of a variant whose clinical significance is unknown. A number of different approaches have been employed in the attempt to classify such variants. For some variants, case‐control, segregation, family history, or other statistical studies can provide strong evidence of direct association with cancer risk. For most variants, other evidence is available that relates to properties of the protein or gene sequence. In this work we propose a Bayesian method for assessing the likelihood that a variant is pathogenic. We discuss the assessment of prior probability, and how to combine the various sources of data into a statistically valid integrated assessment with a posterior probability of pathogenicity. In particular, we propose the use of a two‐component mixture model to integrate these various sources of data and to estimate the parameters related to sensitivity and specificity of specific kinds of evidence. Further, we discuss some of the issues involved in this process and the assumptions that underpin many of the methods used in the evaluation process. Hum Mutat 29(11), 1265–1272, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Soluble Ig-Like Transcript 3 Inhibits Tumor Allograft Rejection in Humanized SCID Mice and T Cell Responses in Cancer Patients1

Attempts to enhance patients’ immune responses to malignancies have been largely unsuccessful. We now describe an immune-escape mechanism mediated by the inhibitory receptor Ig-like transcript 3 (ILT3) that may be responsible for such failures. Using a humanized SCID mouse model, we demonstrate that soluble and membrane ILT3 induce CD8+ T suppressor cells and prevent rejection of allogeneic tumor transplants. Furthermore, we found that patients with melanoma, and carcinomas of the colon, rectum, and pancreas produce the soluble ILT3 protein, which induces the differentiation of CD8+ T suppressor cells and impairs T cell responses in MLC. These responses are restored by anti-ILT3 mAb or by depletion of soluble ILT3 from the serum. Immunohistochemical staining of biopsies from the tumors and metastatic lymph nodes suggests that CD68+ tumor-associated macrophages represent the major source of soluble ILT3. Alternative splicing, resulting in the loss of the ILT3 transmembrane domain, may contribute to the release of ILT3 in the circulation. These data suggest that ILT3 depletion or blockade is crucial to the success of immunotherapy in cancer. In contrast, the inhibitory activity of soluble ILT3 on T cell alloreactivity in vitro and in vivo suggests the potential usefulness of rILT3 for immunosuppressive treatment of allograft recipients or patients with autoimmune diseases.
Bell's conspiracy, Schrödinger's black cat and global invariant sets

A locally causal hidden-variable theory of quantum physics need not be constrained by the Bell inequalities if this theory also partially violates the measurement independence condition. However, such violation can appear unphysical, implying implausible conspiratorial correlations between the hidden variables of particles being measured and earlier determinants of instrumental settings. A novel physically plausible explanation for such correlations is proposed, based on the hypothesis that states of physical reality lie precisely on a non-computational measure-zero dynamically invariant set in the state space of the universe: the Cosmological Invariant Set Postulate. To illustrate the relevance of the concept of a global invariant set, a simple analogy is considered where a massive object is propelled into a black hole depending on the decay of a radioactive atom. It is claimed that a locally causal hidden-variable theory constrained by the Cosmological Invariant Set Postulate can violate the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt inequality without being conspiratorial, superdeterministic, fine-tuned or retrocausal, and the theory readily accommodates the classical compatibilist notion of (experimenter) free will.
Navigation by environmental geometry: the use of zebrafish as a model

SUMMARY Sensitivity to environmental shape in spatial navigation has been found, at both behavioural and neural levels, in virtually every species tested, starting early in development. Moreover, evidence that genetic deletions can cause selective deficits in such navigation behaviours suggests a genetic basis to navigation by environmental geometry. Nevertheless, the geometric computations underlying navigation have not been specified in any species. The present study teases apart the geometric components within the traditionally used rectangular enclosure and finds that zebrafish selectively represent distance and directional relationships between extended boundary surfaces. Similar behavioural results in geometric navigation tasks with human children provide prima facie evidence for similar underlying cognitive computations and open new doors for probing the genetic foundations that give rise to these computations.
Neuronal activity in medial frontal cortex during learning of sequential procedures.

To study the role of medial frontal cortex in learning and memory of sequential procedures, we examined neuronal activity of the presupplementary motor area (pre-SMA) and supplementary motor area (SMA) while monkeys (n = 2) performed a sequential button press task, "2 x 5 task. " In this paradigm, 2 of 16 (4 x 4 matrix) light-emitting diode buttons (called "set") were illuminated simultaneously and the monkey had to press them in a predetermined order. A total of five sets (called "hyperset") was presented in a fixed order for completion of a trial. We examined the neuronal activity of each cell using two kinds of hypersets: new hypersets that the monkey experienced for the first time for which he had to find the correct orders of button presses by trial-and-error and learned hypersets that the monkey had learned with extensive practice (n = 16 and 10 for each monkey). To investigate whether cells in medial frontal cortex are involved in the acquisition of new sequences or execution of well-learned procedures, we examined three to five new hypersets and three to five learned hypersets for each cell. Among 345 task-related cells, we found 78 cells that were more active during performance of new hypersets than learned hypersets (new-preferring cells) and 18 cells that were more active for learned hypersets (learned-preferring cells). Among new-preferring cells, 33 cells showed a learning-dependent decrease of cell activity: their activity was highest at the beginning of learning and decreased as the animal acquired the correct response for each set with increasing reliability. In contrast, 11 learned-preferring cells showed a learning-dependent increase of neuronal activity. We found a difference in the anatomic distribution of new-preferring cells. The proportion of new-preferring cells was greater in the rostral part of the medial frontal cortex, corresponding to the pre-SMA, than the posterior part, the SMA. There was some trend that learned-preferring cells were more abundant in the SMA. These results suggest that the pre-SMA, rather than SMA, is more involved in the acquisition of new sequential procedures.
Preoperative Visualization of the Artery of Adamkiewicz by Intra-Arterial CT Angiography

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: CT and MR angiographies have been reported to visualize the artery of Adamkiewicz (AKA) noninvasively to prevent spinal cord ischemia in surgery of thoracic descending aortic aneurysms. The purpose of this work was to compare the usefulness of CT angiography (CTA) with intra-arterial contrast injection (IACTA) with that of conventional CTA with intravenous contrast injection (IVCTA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We enrolled 32 consecutive patients with thoracic or thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms who were scheduled for surgical repair or endovascular stent-graft treatment. All of the CTA images were obtained using a 16-detector row CT scanner and 100 mL of contrast material (370 mg/mL) injected at a rate of 5 mL/s. Contrast was injected via the antecubital veins of 15 patients and via a pig-tail catheter placed at the proximal portion of the descending aorta in 17 patients who underwent IVCTA and IACTA, respectively. Two datasets were reconstructed from 2 consecutive scans. The AKA was identified as a characteristic hairpin curved vessel in the anterior midsagittal surface of the spine and by the absence of further enhancement in the second rather than in the first phase. Continuity between the AKA and aorta was confirmed when the vessel could be traced continuously by paging the oblique coronal multiplanar reconstruction or original axial images. RESULTS: Intra-arterial contrast injection was significantly more sensitive in identifying the AKA than IVCTA: 16 (94.1%) of 17 versus 9 (60.0%) of 15 (P = .033). Continuity between the AKA and aorta through intercostal or lumbar artery was confirmed in 14 (87.5%) of 16 and 5 (55.6%) of 9 of the IACTA and IVCTA groups, respectively. CONCLUSION: Intra-arterial contrast injection detected the AKA at a high rate and verified continuity from the aorta to the AKA.
Expert Political Judgment : How Good Is It ? How Can We Know ?

Author: Philip E. Tetlock is a psychologist who is Professor of Leadership at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. The book combines several of his research interests such as how experts learn (or not) from experience and de-biasing judgment and choice to overcome common cognitive biases such as belief perseverance and over-confidence. In 2005 the American Political Science Association awarded Expert Political Judgment both the Woodrow Wilson Award for best book published on government, politics, or international affairs and the Robert E. Lane Award for best book in political psychology.
Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials

Preface - Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln About the Editors About the Contributors 1. Introduction: The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research - Norman K.Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln I. Methods of Collecting and Analyzing Empirical Materials 2. Narrative Inquiry: Still a Field in the Making - Susan E. Chase 3. Critical Arts-based Inquiry: The Pedagogy and Performance of a Radical Ethical Aesthetic - Susan Finley 4. Oral History - Linda Shopes 5. Observations on Observation: Continuities and Challenges - Michael Angrosino and Judith Rosenberg 6. Visual Methodology: Toward a More Seeing Research - Jon D. Prosser 7. Performative Autoethnography: Critical Embodiments and Possibilities - Tami Spry 8. The Methods, Politics, and Ethics of Representation in Online Ethnography - Sarah Gaston 9. Analyzing Talk and Text - Anssi Parakyla and Johanna Ruusuvuori 10. Focus Groups: Contingent Articulations of Pedagogy, Politics, and Inquiry - George Kamberelis and Greg Dimitriadis II. The Art and Practices of Interpretation, Evaluation, and Presentation 11. Qualitative Research, Science, and Government: Evidence, Criteria, Policy, and Politics - Harry Torrance 12. Reflections on Interpretive Adequacy in Qualitative Research - David L. Altheide and John M. Johnson 13. Analysis and Representation Across the Continuum - Laura L. Ellingson 14. Post Qualitative Research: The Critique and the Coming After - Elisabeth Adams St. Pierre 15. Qualitative Research and Technology: In the Midst of a Revolution - Judith Davidson and Silvana diGregorio 16. The Elephant in the Living Room, or Extending the Conversation About the Politics of Evidence - Norman K. Denzin 17. Writing into Position: Strategies for Composition and Evaluation - Ronald J. Pelias 18. Evaluation as a Relationally Responsible Practice - Tineke Abma and Guy A.M. Widdershoven, Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln Author Index Subject Index
Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein Induces Long-Term Proinflammatory Cytokine Production and Foam Cell Formation via Epigenetic Reprogramming of Monocytes

Objective— Although the role of monocytes in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is well established, the persistent vascular inflammation remains largely unexplained. Recently, our group reported that stimulation of monocytes with various microbial products can induce a long-lasting proinflammatory phenotype via epigenetic reprogramming, a process termed trained immunity. We now hypothesize that oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) also induces a long-lasting proinflammatory phenotype in monocytes, which accelerates atherosclerosis by proinflammatory cytokine production and foam cell formation. Approach and Results— Isolated human monocytes were exposed for 24 hours to medium or oxLDL. After washing and resting for 6 days, the cells were exposed to toll-like receptor 2 and 4 agonists. Pre-exposure to oxLDL increased mRNA expression and protein formation on toll-like receptor 2 and 4 stimulation of several proatherogenic proteins, including interleukin-6, interleukin-18, interleukin-8, tumor necrosis factor-&agr;, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, and matrix metalloproteinase 2 and 9. In addition, foam cell formation was enhanced after oxLDL exposure, which was associated with an upregulation of scavenger receptors CD36 and scavenger receptor-A and downregulation of ATP-binding cassette transporters, ABCA1 and ABCG1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation performed 6 days after oxLDL stimulation demonstrated increased trimethylation of lysine 4 at histone 3 in promoter regions of tnf&agr;, il-6, il-18, mcp-1, mmp2, mmp9, cd36, and sr-a. Finally, pretreatment of the monocytes with the histone methyltransferase inhibitor methylthioadenosine completely prevented the oxLDL-induced long-lasting proinflammatory phenotype. Conclusions— Brief exposure of monocytes to a low concentration of oxLDL induces a long-lasting proatherogenic macrophage phenotype via epigenetic histone modifications, characterized by increased proinflammatory cytokine production and foam cell formation.
Dental plaque microbial profiles of children from Khartoum, Sudan, with congenital heart defects

ABSTRACT Few studies have focused on the bacterial species associated with the deterioration of the dental and gingival health of children with congenital heart defects (CHD). The aims of this study were (1) to examine the dental plaque of children with CHD in order to quantify bacterial load and altered bacterial composition compared with children without CHD; and (2) to investigate the correlation between the level of caries and gingivitis and dental biofilm bacteria among those children. In this cross-sectional study, participants were children (3–12 years) recruited in Khartoum State, Sudan. A total of 80 CHD cases from the Ahmed Gasim Cardiac Centre and 80 healthy controls from randomly selected schools and kindergartens were included. Participants underwent clinical oral examinations for caries (decayed, missing, and filled teeth indices [DMFT] for primary dentition, and DMFT for permanent dentition), and gingivitis (simplified gingival index [GI]). Pooled dental biofilm samples were obtained from four posterior teeth using paper points. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used for the detection and quantification of Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcussanguinis, and Lactobacillus acidophilus. Checkerboard DNA–DNA hybridization was used for the detection of 40 additional bacterial species. CHD cases had a significantly higher caries experience (DMFT = 4.1 vs. 2.3, p < 0.05; DMFT = 1.4 vs. 0.7, p < 0.05) and a higher mean number of examined teeth with gingivitis (4.2 vs. 2.0; p < 0.05) compared with controls. S. mutans counts were significantly higher among the CHD cases (p < 0.05). Checkerboard results revealed that 18/40 bacterial species exhibited significantly higher mean counts among CHD cases (p < 0.01). Correlation analyses revealed that among CHD cases, the detection levels of Tannerella forsythia, Campylobacter rectus, Fusobacterium nucleatum subsp. vincentii, F. nucleatum subsp. nucleatum, and F. nucleatum subsp. polymorphum were highly positively correlated with GI. CHD cases harbor more cariogenic and periodontopathogenic bacterial species in their dental plaque, which correlated with higher levels of caries and gingivitis.
Diferencias de género en actitudes hacia las matemáticas en la Enseñanza obligatoria

El interes por el estudio de las actitudes y su papel determinante en el aprendizaje en el campo de las matematicas ha sido objeto de investigacion desde hace mas de 50 anos, siendo las diferencias de genero uno de los aspectos mas debatidos. En este trabajo se analizan las diferencias de genero en actitudes hacia las matematicas a lo largo de los ultimos ocho cursos de la Ensenanza Obligatoria, en base a la respuesta de 5926 estudiantes espanoles y brasilenos al Inventario de Actitudes hacia las Matematicas (IAM). Los resultados obtenidos muestran, en ambas muestras de estudiantes, un efecto estadisticamente significativo del genero en las diferentes dimensiones el IAM. Por otra parte, tambien muestran que tales efectos se encuentran mediatizados poderosamente por el curso. Finalmente, se discuten los resultados en relacion con la implantacion de nuevas tecnologias para el estudio de las matematicas tal como las pizarras electronicas y sus efectos en el control de las actitudes negativas hacia las matematicas.
Hedging-effectiveness of Milk Futures Using Value-at-risk Procedures Hedging-effectiveness of Milk Futures Using Value-at-risk Procedures

Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies. Practitioner's Abstract The effectiveness of the Class III Milk futures market is analyzed in terms of the reduction in Value-at-Risk (VaR) for milk producers located in four regions: Wisconsin, Northeast, Florida and California. Constant hedge ratios are estimated using Myers and Thompson's (1989) generalized conditional hedge ratio technique, and time-varying hedge ratios are estimated using an exponentially weighted moving average method. After defining milk price risk as the deviation of the actual milk price from its expected value, the effectiveness of uniform hedging strategies in the Class III milk futures market is assessed using three popular methods for VaR calculations: the parametric method, the historical method, and the Monte Carlo simulation method. The results suggest that uniform hedging strategies can reduce substantially the VaR of milk cash price for appropriately chosen hedge length and hedge signals. For example, a uniform hedge placed seven months prior to delivery and triggered at $11.00 cwt reduces the mailbox price tail risk more than the same uniform hedging established four months before delivery. As expected the higher the Class III utilization the more effective hedging seems. The magnitude of the hedging effectiveness seems to depend more on the hedge length and the hedge trigger than on the methodology used to obtain the hedge ratio or the VaR.