Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Talking TMAP: Automated generation of audio-tactile maps using Smith-Kettlewell's TMAP software

Traditional tactile cartography is complicated by problems associated with braille labeling and feature annotation. Audio-tactile display techniques can address many of these issues by associating spoken information and sounds with specific map elements. This article introduces Talking TMAP – a collaborative effort between The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute and Touch Graphics, Inc. Talking TMAP combines existing tools such as the World Wide Web, geographic information systems, braille embossers and touch tablet technology in new ways to produce a system capable of creating detailed and accurate audio-tactile street maps of any neighborhood. The article describes software design, user interface and plans for future implementation.
MARKET STRUCTURE AND THE DYNAMICS OF RETAIL FOOD PRICES

The effect of retail grocery market structure on the speed of adjustment of retail food prices to changes in producer prices, real wages, and the cost of energy was examined for SMSAs. Evidence failed to support the implication of the Mason-Bain paradigm that increased concentration reduces market efficiency as reflected in speed of retail price adjustment. Evidence of strong intertemporal relationships between change in producer prices and retail prices found for the categories meat, poultry, fish, eggs and cereal and baker products provide support to the hypothesis of cost-push inflation.
Fast kernel spectral clustering based on incomplete Cholesky factorization for large scale data analysis

A fast spectral clustering algorithm, suitable for large scale data clustering problems, is presented in this work. The algorithm is an improved version of the sparse multiway spectral clustering algorithm, formulated as weighted kernel principal component (PCA) analysis within primal-dual least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) framework. Sparsity is introduced by the combination of reduced set method with the incomplete Cholesky factorization based low rank approximation of the kernel matrix. The out-of-sample capability of the clustering model and the possibility of model selection provide the opportunity to obtain the optimal model parameters through classical training-validation phases and the obtained optimal model can be easily extended to unseen data points. However, the computational complexity of the original sparse algorithm is quadratic in the training set size that prevented the application of the method to large scale data analysis problems. This quadratic computational complexity is reduced to linear in the proposed algorithm while attractive properties such as the simple way of out-of-sample extension, possibility of model selection through training and validation are conserved. Furthermore, a new, soft cluster membership encoding-decoding scheme and corresponding model selection criterion are also proposed. These modifications make the algorithm capable to solve much larger size of clustering problems than the original one with a refined model selection procedure. The significantly reduced computational complexity, the improved accuracy and sparsity of the presented algorithm compared to the original version are illustrated by experimental results obtained on difficult toy as well as real life problems such as image segmentation.
Regional wage flexibility in Spain, 1989-1992

In this paper we provide a first analysis on the role of wage flexibility at a regional level for the Spanish case. To this end, we compute regional inequality indices for industry wages and productivity, which is complemented with an econometric estimation of an equation for regional and industry wages. Our results point to a high degree of rigidity of regional wages, which show a considerably lower variability than productivity levels, so that the process of wage setting would have been driven mainly by between-industries and across-regions homogeneity considerations in union behaviour.
EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS OF VESTIBULAR HAIR BUNDLE STIFFNESS IN THE RED EAR SLIDER TURTLE UTRICLE

(Abstract) The ear is the organ used for hearing and maintaining equilibrium. In the inner ear, the vestibular system is responsible for the sense of balance. The main organs of the vestibular system are the semicircular canals, the saccule, and the utricle. Within each of the vestibular organs, sensory receptors in the form of hair cells detect motion and send a message to the brain for interpretation. Hair cells found in different parts of the inner ear are structurally different and are mechanically specialized to perform different functions. In this study, the linear and torsional stiffnesses were measured for hair cells located in the red ear slider turtle utricle. The system used to measure the stiffnesses was composed of a glass whisker (attached to a pipette) used to produce a force on the tip of the bundle, an extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) to measure the displacement of the pipette, and a photoelectronic motion transducer (PMT) to measure the displacement of the bundle. Using the measured values of whisker stiffness, whisker displacement, and bundle displacement, the stiffness of the bundle was calculated using statics. For each bundle tested, the location of the bundle was determined by measuring its position from a landmark in the utricle, the line of polarity reversal, characterized by a 180 o change in direction of the hair bundles. Stiffness results showed that the linear stiffness of a bundle increased in the area surrounding the line of polarity reversal, otherwise referred to as the striolar region (average linear stiffness of 2.27 E-04 N/m). The average linear stiffness value of bundles found lateral to the striolar region was 6.30 E-05 N/m and in the region medial to the striolar region was 1.16 E-04 N/m. A wide range of linear stiffnesses were found in hair cells media l to the striolar region. There was no correlation found between the torsional stiffness of a bundle and its position and the height of a bundle and its linear or torsional stiffness. As the force applied to a hair bundle was increased, the measured linear stiffness of the bundle also increased. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. J.W. Grant, my advisor and committee chair for advising me throughout my undergraduate and graduate careers at Virginia Tech. I attribute my academic success to his continued support and guidance. A special thanks to Kirsten Felsted. She came into the lab a few …
SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT APPROACH FOR BIODERVISITY LOSS IN THE MANGROVE FOREST SWAMPS OF THE CROSS RIVER ESTUARY

The goal of this paper is to assess the principles and policy consideration for biodiversity conservation in the Cross River estuary using secondary data. This is informed by the need to document the status of the resources of the estuary as a basis for regulating the future exploitation and for the protection of the mangrove ecosystem in order to enhance sustainability. The Cross River estuary is the largest estuary along the Gulf of Guinea. It has an area of about 1500km 2 . The estuarine coastal plain is characterized by mangroves, river tributaries and creeks. Rhizophora racmosa and Avicenia Africana are the main mangrove species. The mangroves of the estuary serve as spawning and feeding grounds for shrimps, crabs, clams, periwinkles and fish. The estuary is inhabited by over 232 fishing settlements. The residents of the fishing settlements exploit the fish, shrimp stock, and the mangrove resources of the estuary both for commercial purposes and for subsistent. Obvious indications reveal that the biodiversity of the Cross River estuary has been endangered by unregulated anthropogenic activities and increasing the stock of the nypa palm. The Cross River estuary is situated in South-Eastern Nigeria with an area extent of about 1500km 2 , the tidal and sand plains inclusive. While half of the area is occupied by the amphibious mangrove species Rhizophora racemose and Avicenna African about 50% of the remaining part is, occupied by water. The Cross River estuary is connected with the neighbouring Estuarine waters in the South West Cameroun. Both together form the biggest mangrove system of the West African Coast and probably the most untouched in the world (Sighard, et al, 1997). Thus, the Cross River estuary together with us mangrove forest, swamps tends to be functionally interacting and interrelated with nature. There are, therefore, vital chains linking them with other living and even non-living component, thereby making them exist in an intricate system that tend towards a dynamic balance which allows the estuarine habitat to be perpetuated in an optimal state such that both the life-forms (biodiversity) and other activities within it are sustained. This variety of life-forms, including the millions of plants, animals and micro-organisms they contained, and their genes and the intricate and often delicate ecosystems they form is known as biodiversity.
‘We’re giving you the sack’—Social Workers’ Perspectives of Intervening in Affluent Families When There Are Concerns about Child Neglect

Few studies have examined social workers’ perspectives of child protection interventions in cases of child neglect in affluent families in the UK. Using the findings from a qualitative study, this article explores social workers’ experiences of intervening in affluent families when there are child protection concerns. Focus groups and in-depth interviews were used to gather data from thirty child protection professionals from twelve local authorities across England. Findings from the study are used to explore the complex relational dynamics and power relationships that practitioners have to traverse when intervening with affluent parents that have the material resources to resist social work intervention. The article concludes with a discussion of the skills and knowledge that are necessary for authoritative practice.
Unitary Space-Time Constellation Analysis: An Upper Bound for the Diversity

The diversity product and the diversity sum are two very important parameters for a good-performing unitary space-time constellation. A basic question is what the maximal diversity product (or sum) is. In this correspondence, we are going to derive general upper bounds on the diversity sum and the diversity product for unitary constellations of any dimension n and any size m using packing techniques on the compact Lie group U(n)
Mountaintop Removal Mining and Catchment Hydrology

Mountaintop mining and valley fill (MTM/VF) coal extraction, practiced in the Central Appalachian region, represents a dramatic landscape-scale disturbance. MTM operations remove as much as 300 m of rock, soil, and vegetation from ridge tops to access deep coal seams and much of this material is placed in adjacent headwater streams altering landcover, drainage network, and topography. In spite of its scale, extent, and potential for continued use, the effects MTM/VF on catchment hydrology is poorly understood. Previous reviews focus on water quality and ecosystem health impacts, but little is known about how MTM/VF affects hydrology, particularly the movement and storage of water, hence the hydrologic processes that ultimately control flood generation, water chemistry, and biology. This paper aggregates the existing knowledge about the hydrologic impacts of MTM/VF to identify areas where further scientific investigation is needed. While contemporary surface mining generally increases peak and total runoff, the limited MTM/VF studies reveal significant variability in hydrologic response. Significant knowledge gaps relate to limited understanding of hydrologic processes in these systems. Until the hydrologic impact of this practice is better understood, efforts to reduce water quantity and quality problems and ecosystem degradation will be difficult to achieve.
NeuCube(ST) for spatio-temporal data predictive modelling with a case study on ecological data

Early event prediction challenges most of existing modeling methods especially when dealing with complex spatio-temporal data. In this paper we propose a new method for predictive data modelling based on a new development of the recently proposed NeuCube spiking neural network architecture, called here NeuCube(ST). The NeuCube uses a Spiking Neural Network reservoir (SNNr) and dynamic evolving Spiking Neuron Network (deSNN) classifier. NeuCube(ST) is an integrated environment including data conversion into spike trains, input variable mapping, unsupervised learning in the SNNr, supervised classification learning, activity visualization and network structure analysis. A case study on a real world ecological data set is presented to demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.
Localised pericardial effusion mimicking anterior myocardial infarction following coronary angiography

Abstract The diagnosis of pericarditis is important, especially in patients assumed to have acute coronary syndrome. Distinguishing these two conditions is vital but not always easy. Accurate diagnosis is essential to provide appropriate treatment as soon as possible and to avoid inappropriate invasive procedures. By highlighting this distinction, we report a case of pericarditis that occurred after percutaneous coronary intervention and mimicked acute coronary syndrome.
Beyond core indicators of retention in HIV care: missed clinic visits are independently associated with all-cause mortality.

BACKGROUND The continuum of care is at the forefront of the domestic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) agenda, with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recently releasing clinical core indicators. Core indicators for retention in care are calculated based on attended HIV care clinic visits. Beyond these retention core indicators, we evaluated the additional prognostic value of missed clinic visits for all-cause mortality. METHODS We conducted a multisite cohort study of 3672 antiretroviral-naive patients initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) during 2000-2010. Retention in care was measured by the IOM and DHHS core indicators (2 attended visits at defined intervals per 12-month period), and also as a count of missed primary HIV care visits (no show) during a 24-month measurement period following ART initiation. All-cause mortality was ascertained by query of the Social Security Death Index and/or National Death Index, with adjusted survival analyses starting at 24 months after ART initiation. RESULTS Among participants, 64% and 59% met the IOM and DHHS retention core indicators, respectively, at 24 months. Subsequently, 332 patients died during 16 102 person-years of follow-up. Failure to achieve the IOM and DHHS indicators through 24 months following ART initiation increased mortality (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.79-2.80 and HR = 2.36; 95% CI, 1.89-2.96, respectively). Among patients classified as retained by the IOM or DHHS clinical core indicators, >2 missed visits further increased mortality risk (HR = 3.61; 95% CI, 2.35-5.55 and HR = 3.62; 95% CI, 2.30-5.68, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Beyond HIV retention core indicators, missed clinic visits were independently associated with all-cause mortality. Caution is warranted in relying solely upon retention in care core indicators for policy, clinical, and programmatic purposes.
A novel start-up scheme of stator flux oriented vector controlled induction motor drive without torque jerk

The paper proposes a novel zero speed start-up scheme of a stator flux oriented vector-controlled induction motor drive without any torque jerk. A programmable 3-stage low pass filter (LPF) method is used for flux estimation. However, the torque jerk should be generated at the transition due to the time delay of stator flux caused by 3-stage LPF. At standstill condition, a method is derived to calculate a stator flux with only stator current. A feedforward control strategy of the stator flux is suggested to prevent the torque jerk during the transition from standstill mode to the vector control mode. Through experimental results with a 32-bit DSP, the performance of the start-up scheme is verified.
The Principles of First Order Automatic Differentiation

This article provides a short overview of the theory of First Order Automatic Differentiation (AD) for readers unfamiliar with this topic. In particular, we summarize different characterisations of Forward AD, like the vector-matrix based approach, the idea of lifting functions to the algebra of dual numbers, the method of Taylor series expansion on dual numbers and the application of the push-forward operator. We give short, but precise mathematical descriptions of these methods and show why they all reduce to the same actual chain of computations (and are, hence, equivalent). Finally, we give a short summary of Reverse AD and again point out the underlying computational steps.
Fractional cut: improved recursive bisection placement

In this paper, we present improvements to recursive bisection based placement. In contrast to prior work, our horizontal cut lines are not restricted to row boundaries; this avoids a "narrow region" problem. To support these new cut line positions, a dynamic programming based legalization algorithm has been developed. The combination of these has improved the stability and lowered the wire lengths produced by our Feng Shui placement tool. On benchmarks derived from industry partitioning examples, our results are close to those of the annealing based tool Dragon, while taking only a fraction of the run time. On synthetic benchmarks, our wire lengths are nearly 23% better than those of Dragon. For both benchmark suites, our results are substantially better than those of the recursive bisection based tool Capo and the analytic placement tool Kraftwerk.
Hierarchical DFT with Combinational Scan Compression, Partition Chain and RPCT

Modular and hierarchical based test architecture are the two of the most common testing techniques used in complex SoC designs. However, modular test architectures uses an expensive (in terms of silicon area) test wrapper around each block. On the other hand hierarchical test architecture requires additional effort at block level to isolate each block from surrounding blocks and a TAM to perform scan compression. In this paper, we analyze the limitations of the modular test architecture. Based on the analysis, we propose a test plan for hierarchical test architecture by integrating partition chain, combinational scan compression and (RPCT) reduced pin count test. Experimental results show that approximately 50% of DFT area can be reduced using the partition chain as compared to standard test wrapper. It also demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed test plan using a commercial ATPG tool.
Analysis of Impact Melt and Vapor Production in CTH for Planetary Applications

This paper explores impact melt and vapor generation for a variety of impact speeds and materials using the shock physics code CTH. The study first compares the results of two common methods of impact melt and vapor generation to demonstrate that both the peak pressure method and final temperature method are appropriate for high-speed impact models (speeds greater than 10 km/s). However, for low-speed impact models (speeds less than 10 km/s), only the final temperature method is consistent with laboratory analyses to yield melting and vaporization. Finally, a constitutive model for material strength is important for low-speed impacts because strength can cause an increase in melting and vaporization. © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Hypervelocity Impact Society.
Nuclear Receptors Nur77, Nurr1, and NOR-1 Expressed in Atherosclerotic Lesion Macrophages Reduce Lipid Loading and Inflammatory Responses

Objective—Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which macrophage activation and lipid loading play a crucial role. In this study, we investigated expression and function of the NR4A nuclear receptor family, comprising Nur77 (NR4A1, TR3), Nurr1 (NR4A2), and NOR-1 (NR4A3) in human macrophages. Methods and Results—Nur77, Nurr1, and NOR-1 are expressed in early and advanced human atherosclerotic lesion macrophages primarily in areas of plaque activation/progression as detected by in situ-hybridization and immunohistochemistry. Protein expression localizes to the nucleus. Primary and THP-1 macrophages transiently express NR4A-factors in response to lipopolysaccharide and tumor necrosis factor α. Lentiviral overexpression of Nur77, Nurr1, or NOR-1 reduces expression and production of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 proinflammatory cytokines and IL-8, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α and -1β and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 chemokines. In addition, NR4A-factors reduce oxidized–low-density lipoprotein uptake, consistent with downregulation of scavenger receptor-A, CD36, and CD11b macrophage marker genes. Knockdown of Nur77 or NOR-1 with gene-specific lentiviral short-hairpin RNAs resulted in enhanced cytokine and chemokine synthesis, increased lipid loading, and augmented CD11b expression, demonstrating endogenous NR4A-factors to inhibit macrophage activation, foam-cell formation, and differentiation. Conclusion—NR4A-factors are expressed in human atherosclerotic lesion macrophages and reduce human macrophage lipid loading and inflammatory responses, providing further evidence for a protective role of NR4A-factors in atherogenesis.
Genome-wide association mapping of salinity tolerance in rice (Oryza sativa)

Salinity tolerance in rice is highly desirable to sustain production in areas rendered saline due to various reasons. It is a complex quantitative trait having different components, which can be dissected effectively by genome-wide association study (GWAS). Here, we implemented GWAS to identify loci controlling salinity tolerance in rice. A custom-designed array based on 6,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in as many stress-responsive genes, distributed at an average physical interval of <100 kb on 12 rice chromosomes, was used to genotype 220 rice accessions using Infinium high-throughput assay. Genetic association was analysed with 12 different traits recorded on these accessions under field conditions at reproductive stage. We identified 20 SNPs (loci) significantly associated with Na+/K+ ratio, and 44 SNPs with other traits observed under stress condition. The loci identified for various salinity indices through GWAS explained 5–18% of the phenotypic variance. The region harbouring Saltol, a major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on chromosome 1 in rice, which is known to control salinity tolerance at seedling stage, was detected as a major association with Na+/K+ ratio measured at reproductive stage in our study. In addition to Saltol, we also found GWAS peaks representing new QTLs on chromosomes 4, 6 and 7. The current association mapping panel contained mostly indica accessions that can serve as source of novel salt tolerance genes and alleles. The gene-based SNP array used in this study was found cost-effective and efficient in unveiling genomic regions/candidate genes regulating salinity stress tolerance in rice.