Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fiscalité carbone et progrès social : application au cas français

La these revisite les debats sur les consequences socioeconomiques et le choix des modalites d'une fiscalite carbone. Un diagnostic est d’abord tire de l’examen d’un echec francais (la taxe carbone de N. Sarkozy, 2009-2010). Il distingue les problemes d'acceptabilite politique, des limites de l'analyse economique pour definir les dispositifs. Il souligne l'importance de la discussion sur l'usage des recettes de la taxe, car ce point cristallise les difficultes politiques et conditionne la coherence economique et juridique du projet au regard des objectifs recherches (environnement, equite, competitivite). Il montre que les outils d’analyse peuvent etre ameliores pour accompagner cette discussion. Un outil de simulation numerique est ensuite propose et construit. Il permet de comparer les performances de dispositifs sur divers indicateurs (emissions de CO2, activite, emploi, inegalites, pauvrete, endettement), de decrire plusieurs points de vue sur le fonctionnement de l’economie (actuelle et future), et de lier dans une demarche prospective le dossier climatique aux autres dossiers de reforme des prelevements obligatoires (maitrise des deficits, financement des retraites). L’outil est enfin utilise pour revisiter les controverses, clarifier les arbitrages et identifier les meilleures pistes de compromis. Il apparait qu’une fiscalite carbone peut offrir des co-benefices socioeconomiques (pour l’activite et l’emploi, la reduction des inegalites, la maitrise des deficits). Mais cela n’est pas automatique, des choix politiques sensibles doivent etre faits ; ces dernier portent, au-dela du seul dossier ‘climat’, sur la gestion d’une reforme generale des finances publiques.
Potentiation in mouse lumbrical muscle without myosin light chain phosphorylation: Is resting calcium responsible?

The increase in isometric twitch force observed in fast-twitch rodent muscles during or after activity, known universally as potentiation, is normally associated with myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) phosphorylation. Interestingly, fast muscles from mice devoid of detectable skeletal myosin light chain kinase (skMLCK) retain a reduced ability to potentiate twitch force, indicating the presence of a secondary origin for this characteristic feature of the fast muscle phenotype. The purpose of this study was to assess changes in intracellular cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) after a potentiating stimulus in mouse lumbrical muscle (37°C). Lumbricals were loaded with the Ca2+-sensitive fluorescent indicators fura-2 or furaptra to detect changes in resting and peak, respectively, intracellular Ca2+ levels caused by 2.5 s of 20-Hz stimulation. Although this protocol produced an immediate increase in twitch force of 17 ± 3% (all data are n = 10) (P < 0.01), this potentiation dissipated quickly and was absent 30 s afterward. Fura-2 fluorescence signals at rest were increased by 11.1 ± 1.3% (P < 0.01) during potentiation, indicating a significant increase in resting [Ca2+]i. Interestingly, furaptra signals showed no change to either the amplitude or the duration of the intracellular Ca2+ transients (ICTs) that triggered potentiated twitches during this time (P < 0.50). Immunofluorescence work showed that 77% of lumbrical fibers expressed myosin heavy chain isoform IIx and/or IIb, but with low expression of skMLCK and high expression of myosin phosphatase targeting subunit 2. As a result, lumbrical muscles displayed no detectable RLC phosphorylation either at rest or after stimulation. We conclude that stimulation-induced elevations in resting [Ca2+]i, in the absence of change in the ICT, are responsible for a small-magnitude, short-lived potentiation of isometric twitch force. If operative in other fast-twitch muscles, this mechanism may complement the potentiating influence of myosin RLC phosphorylation.
Rate-Distortion Optimized Interactive Light Field Streaming

High-quality, photorealistic image-based rendering datasets are typically too large to download entirely before viewing, even when compressed. It is more suitable to instead stream the required image data to a remote user who can start interacting with the dataset immediately. This paper presents an interactive light field streaming system and proposes packet scheduling for transmitting the encoded image data in a rate-distortion optimized manner. An interactive light field streaming system must have low user latency. The system presented in this paper predicts the future user viewing trajectory to mitigate the effects of the low-latency constraints. Experimental results show that view prediction can improve performance, and that this improvement is limited by the prediction accuracy. The proposed packet scheduling algorithm considers network conditions and rate-distortion cost, knowledge of sent and received images, and the distortion for a set of images, to optimize the rendered image quality for the remote user. Rate-distortion optimized scheduling can be implemented either at the receiver or the sender. It is shown that this rate-distortion optimized packet scheduling can significantly improve performance over a heuristic scheduling approach. Experimental results also show that the encoding prediction dependency structure affects streaming performance both through the compression efficiency of the encoding and also through any decoding dependencies that may be introduced
Absolute proper motions of open clusters - I. Observational data

Mean proper motions and parallaxes of 205 open clusters were determined from their member stars found in the Hipparcos Catalogue. 360 clusters were searched for possible members, excluding nearby clusters with distances D < 200 pc. Members were selected using ground based information (photometry! radial velocity, proper motion, distance from the cluster centre) and information provided by Hipparcos (proper motion, parallax). Altogether 630 certain and 100 possible members were found. a comparison of the Hipparcos parallaxes with photometric distances of open clusters shows good agreement. The Hipparcos data confirm or reject the membership of several Cepheids in the studied clusters.
Set-and Code-Specific Activation in the Frontal Cortex: An fMRI Study of Encoding and Retrieval of Faces and Words

The frontal cortex has been described as playing both setspecific and code-specific roles in human memory processing. Set specificity refers to the finding of goal-oriented differences in activation patterns (e.g., encoding relative to retrieval). Code specificity refers to the finding of different patterns of activation for different types of stimuli (e.g., verbal/nonverbal). Using a two (code: verbal, nonverbal) by two (set: encoding, retrieval) within-subjects design and fMRI, we explored the influence of type of code and mental set in two regions in the frontal cortex that have been previously shown to be involved in memory. A region in the dorsal extent of the inferior frontal gyrus (BA 6/44) demonstrated code-specific effects. Specifically, an interaction of material type with hemisphere was obtained, such that words produced predominantly left-lateralized activation, whereas unfamiliar faces elicited predominantly right-lateralized activation. A region of the right frontal polar cortex (in or near BA 10), which has been activated in many memory retrieval studies, showed set-specific activation in that it was more active during retrieval than encoding. These data demonstrate that distinct regions in the frontal cortex contribute in systematic yet different ways to human memory processing.
Effects of Androgen Receptor and Androgen on Gene Expression in Prostate Stromal Fibroblasts and Paracrine Signaling to Prostate Cancer Cells

The androgen receptor (AR) is expressed in a subset of prostate stromal cells and functional stromal cell AR is required for normal prostate developmental and influences the growth of prostate tumors. Although we are broadly aware of the specifics of the genomic actions of AR in prostate cancer cells, relatively little is known regarding the gene targets of functional AR in prostate stromal cells. Here, we describe a novel human prostate stromal cell model that enabled us to study the effects of AR on gene expression in these cells. The model involves a genetically manipulated variant of immortalized human WPMY-1 prostate stromal cells that overexpresses wildtype AR (WPMY-AR) at a level comparable to LNCaP cells and is responsive to dihydrotestosterone (DHT) stimulation. Use of WPMY-AR cells for gene expression profiling showed that the presence of AR, even in the absence of DHT, significantly altered the gene expression pattern of the cells compared to control (WPMY-Vec) cells. Treatment of WPMY-AR cells, but not WPMY-Vec control cells, with DHT resulted in further changes that affected the expression of 141 genes by 2-fold or greater compared to vehicle treated WPMY-AR cells. Remarkably, DHT significantly downregulated more genes than were upregulated but many of these changes reversed the initial effects of AR overexpression alone on individual genes. The genes most highly effected by DHT treatment were categorized based upon their role in cancer pathways or in cell signaling pathways (transforming growth factor-β, Wnt, Hedgehog and MAP Kinase) thought to be involved in stromal-epithelial crosstalk during prostate or prostate cancer development. DHT treatment of WPMY-AR cells was also sufficient to alter their paracrine potential for prostate cancer cells as conditioned medium from DHT-treated WPMY-AR significantly increased growth of LNCaP cells compared to DHT-treated WPMY-Vec cell conditioned medium.
Analysis of Factors Lowering Sensitivity of Interferon-γ Release Assay for Tuberculosis

Background Imperfect sensitivity of interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) is a potential problem to detect tuberculosis. We made a thorough investigation of the factors that can lead to false negativity of IGRA. Methods We recruited 543 patients with new smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis in Hanoi, Viet Nam. At diagnosis, peripheral blood was collected and IGRA (QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube) was performed. Clinical and epidemiological information of the host and pathogen was collected. The test sensitivity was calculated and factors negatively influencing IGRA results were evaluated using a logistic regression model in 504 patients with culture-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis. Results The overall sensitivity of IGRA was 92.3% (95% CI, 89.6%–94.4%). The proportions of IGRA-negative and -indeterminate results were 4.8% (95% CI, 3.1%–7.0%) and 3.0% (95% CI, 1.7%–4.9%). Age increased by year, body mass index <16.0, HIV co-infection and the increased number of HLA-DRB1*0701 allele that patients bear showed significant associations with IGRA negativity (OR = 1.04 [95% CI, 1.01–1.07], 5.42 [1.48–19.79], 6.38 [1.78–22.92] and 5.09 [2.31–11.22], respectively). HIV co-infection and the same HLA allele were also associated with indeterminate results (OR = 99.59 [95% CI, 15.58–625.61] and 4.25 [1.27–14.16]). Conclusions Aging, emaciation, HIV co-infection and HLA genotype affected IGRA results. Assessment of these factors might contribute to a better understanding of the assay.
Cultivating critical thinking: The effects of instructions on economics students’ reasoning

markdownabstract__Abstract__ Korte, eenvoudig te organiseren instructies leiden al tot betere redeneerprestaties. Dat stelt Anita Heijltjes in haar proefschrift ‘Cultivating Critical Thinking: The Effects of Instructions on Economics Students’ Reasoning’. Heijltjes deed onderzoek naar effectieve instructiemethodes om bias in het redeneren bij economie studenten in het hoger beroepsonderwijs te voorkomen. Want het kritisch denken ontwikkelt zich niet spontaan als een bijeffect van onderwijs. Het hoger beroepsonderwijs staat voor de uitdagende taak om studenten voor te bereiden op het werken in dynamische en complexe professionele omgevingen van de 21e eeuw. Heijltjes, verbonden aan het Leer en Innovatie Centrum (LIC) van Avans Hogeschool, deed onderzoek onder studenten economie. Met name de economie en de zorg zijn risicovolle sectoren. In dergelijke contexten kunnen onjuiste beslissingen ernstige consequenties hebben, aldus de onderzoekster. Het is daarom van belang dat studenten weloverwogen tot een standpunt of besluit komen en hun eigen beslissingen kunnen toetsen. __Instructies__ In haar onderzoek toont Heijltjes aan dat expliciete instructies in kritisch denken nodig zijn om vooringenomen of onjuist redeneren te voorkomen, hoewel ook bleek dat expliciete instructies alleen waarschijnlijk niet voldoende zijn: algemene instructies gecombineerd met domein-specifieke oefentaken over beslissingen ten aanzien van een business case, leidde tot betere redeneerprestaties op zowel korte als lange termijn. Ook diepgaand verwerken van tekstuele instructies in kritisch denken bleek effectief te zijn. __Denkhouding__ Naast instructies werden aspecten van de denkhouding onderzocht, zoals het actief zoeken naar bewijs tegen de eigen opvattingen. De denkhouding is van invloed op hoe je redeneert, maar niet op hoe je redeneren leert, stelt Heijltjes in haar proefschrift. Hoewel de denkhouding de redeneerprestaties voorspelde, bleek er geen interactie te zijn met instructiemethodes. Dus van de effectieve instructiemethodes profiteerden alle studenten evenveel, ongeacht de score op de denkhouding.
Music therapy in the management of acute psychosis

reasoning, concept formation, decision making and planning of behaviour”, whilst vigilance “refers to sustaining attention on a stimulus or a certain dimension of that stimulus over a period of time”. There is a direct correlation between negative symptoms and neurocognitive deficits, and a decrease in the level of social and occupational functioning. Positive symptoms are not thought to add to this reduced level of functioning. To date, there have been no studies showing that antipsychotic medication can significantly improve these neurocognitive deficits, thus other therapies must be employed to achieve improvements in these areas (Keefe, Silva, Perkins, & Lieberman, 1999).
On Top-k Selection in Multi-Armed Bandits and Hidden Bipartite Graphs

This paper discusses how to efficiently choose from n unknown distributions the k ones whose means are the greatest by a certain metric, up to a small relative error. We study the topic under two standard settings—multi-armed bandits and hidden bipartite graphs—which differ in the nature of the input distributions. In the former setting, each distribution can be sampled (in the i.i.d. manner) an arbitrary number of times, whereas in the latter, each distribution is defined on a population of a finite size m (and hence, is fully revealed after m samples). For both settings, we prove lower bounds on the total number of samples needed, and propose optimal algorithms whose sample complexities match those lower bounds.
Boundary charges in gauge theories: using Stokes theorem in the bulk

Boundary charges in gauge theories (such as the ADM mass in general relativity) can be understood as integrals of linear conserved n − 2 forms of the free theory obtained by linearization around the background. These forms are associated one-to-one with reducibility parameters of this background (such as the time-like Killing vector of Minkowski spacetime). In this paper, closed n − 2 forms in the full interacting theory are constructed in terms of a one-parameter family of solutions to the full equations of motion that admits a reducibility parameter. These forms thus allow one to apply Stokes theorem without bulk contributions and, provided appropriate fall-off conditions are satisfied, they reduce asymptotically near the boundary to the conserved n − 2 forms of the linearized theory. As an application, the first law of black-hole mechanics in asymptotically anti-de Sitter spacetimes is derived.
Discrimination: Experimental Evidence from Psychology and Economics

Discrimination's dynamic nature means that no single theory, method, data or study should be relied upon to assess its magnitude, causes, or remedies. Despite some gains in our understanding, these remain active areas of debate among researchers, practitioners and policymakers. The specially commissioned papers in this volume, all by distinguished contributors, present the full range of issues related to this complex and challenging problem.
Evaluation of a Short-Range Multimodel Ensemble System

Abstract Forecasts from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s experimental short-range ensemble system are examined and compared with a single run from a higher-resolution model using similar computational resources. The ensemble consists of five members from the Regional Spectral Model and 10 members from the 80-km Eta Model, with both in-house analyses and bred perturbations used as initial conditions. This configuration allows for a comparison of the two models and the two perturbation strategies, as well as a preliminary investigation of the relative merits of mixed-model, mixed-perturbation ensemble systems. The ensemble is also used to estimate the short-range predictability limits of forecasts of precipitation and fields relevant to the forecast of precipitation. Whereas error growth curves for the ensemble and its subgroups are in relative agreement with previous work for large-scale fields such as 500-mb heights, little or no error growth is found for fields of mesoscale interest, s.
Training and testing object detectors with virtual images

In the area of computer vision, deep learning has produced a variety of state-of-the-art models that rely on massive labeled data. However, collecting and annotating images from the real world is too demanding in terms of labor and money investments, and is usually inflexible to build datasets with specific characteristics, such as small area of objects and high occlusion level. Under the framework of Parallel Vision, this paper presents a purposeful way to design artificial scenes and automatically generate virtual images with precise annotations. A virtual dataset named ParallelEye is built, which can be used for several computer vision tasks. Then, by training the DPM U+0028 Deformable parts model U+0029 and Faster R-CNN detectors, we prove that the performance of models can be significantly improved by combining ParallelEye with publicly available real-world datasets during the training phase. In addition, we investigate the potential of testing the trained models from a specific aspect using intentionally designed virtual datasets, in order to discover the flaws of trained models. From the experimental results, we conclude that our virtual dataset is viable to train and test the object detectors.
Prediction of Outcomes in Hypertensive Patients With Suspected Coronary Disease

Stress echocardiography has been shown to improve the diagnosis of coronary artery disease in the presence of hypertension, but its value in prognostic evaluation is unclear. We sought to determine whether stress echocardiography could be used to predict mortality in 2363 patients with hypertension, who were followed for up to 10 years (mean 4.0±1.8) for death and revascularization. Stress echocardiograms were normal in 1483 patients (63%), 16% had resting left ventricular (LV) dysfunction alone, and 21% had ischemia. Abnormalities were confined to one territory in 489 patients (21%) and to multiple territories in 365 patients (15%). Cardiac death was less frequent among the patients able to exercise than among those undergoing dobutamine echocardiography (4% versus 7%, P < 0.001). The risk of death in patients with a negative stress echocardiogram was <1% per year. Ischemia identified by stress echocardiography was an independent predictor of mortality in those able to exercise (hazard ratio 2.21, 95% confidence intervals 1.10 to 4.43, P =0.0001) as well as those undergoing dobutamine echo (hazard ratio 2.39, 95% confidence intervals 1.53 to 3.75, P =0.0001); other predictors were age, heart failure, resting LV dysfunction, and the Duke treadmill score. In stepwise models replicating the sequence of clinical evaluation, the results of stress echocardiography added prognostic power to models based on clinical and stress-testing variables. Thus, the results of stress echocardiography are an independent predictor of cardiac death in hypertensive patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease, incremental to clinical risks and exercise results.
The Binding Sites for Competitive Antagonistic, Allosteric Antagonistic, and Agonistic Antibodies to the I Domain of Integrin LFA-11

We explore the binding sites for mAbs to the α I domain of the integrin αLβ2 that can competitively inhibit, allosterically inhibit, or activate binding to the ligand ICAM-1. Ten mAbs, some of them clinically important, were mapped to species-specific residues. The results are interpreted with independent structures of the αL I domain determined in seven different crystal lattices and in solution, and which are present in three conformational states that differ in affinity for ligand. Six mAbs bind to adjacent regions of the β1-α1 and α3-α4 loops, which show only small (mean, 0.8 Å; maximum, 1.8 Å) displacements among the eight I domain structures. Proximity to the ligand binding site and to noncontacting portions of the ICAM-1 molecule explains competitive inhibition by these mAbs. Three mAbs bind to a segment of seven residues in the β5-α6 loop and α6 helix, in similar proximity to the ligand binding site, but on the side opposite from the β1-α1/α3-α4 epitopes, and far from noncontacting portions of ICAM-1. These residues show large displacements among the eight structures in response to lattice contacts (mean, 3.6 Å; maximum, 9.4 Å), and movement of a buried Phe in the β5-α6 loop is partially correlated with affinity change at the ligand binding site. Together with a lack of proximity to noncontacting portions of ICAM-1, these observations explain variation among this group of mAbs, which can either act as competitive or allosteric antagonists. One agonistic mAb binds distant from the ligand binding site of the I domain, to residues that show little movement (mean, 0.5 Å; maximum, 1.0 Å). Agonism by this mAb is thus likely to result from altering the orientation of the I domain with respect to other domains within an intact integrin αLβ2 heterodimer.
Reactions to Perceived Inequity in U.S. and Dutch Interorganizational Relationships

In an empirical examination of inequity in interorganizational relationships, we found similarities and differences in Dutch and U.S. automobile dealers' reactions to inequity in their relationships with their automobile suppliers. As predicted by equity theory, both positive and negative inequity have detrimental effects on the reactions of Dutch firms. In contrast, U.S. firms do not react negatively to positive inequity; only negative inequity has deleterious effects.