Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Block Gauss and Anti-Gauss Quadrature with Application to Networks

Approximations of matrix-valued functions of the form $W^Tf(A)W$, where $A \in {\mathbb R}^{m\times m}$ is symmetric, $W\in{\mathbb R}^{m\times k}$, with $m$ large and $ k\ll m$, has orthonormal columns, and $f$ is a function, can be computed by applying a few steps of the symmetric block Lanczos method to $A$ with initial block-vector $W\in{\mathbb R}^{m\times k}$. Golub and Meurant have shown that the approximants obtained in this manner may be considered block Gauss quadrature rules associated with a matrix-valued measure. This paper generalizes anti-Gauss quadrature rules, introduced by Laurie for real-valued measures, to matrix-valued measures, and shows that under suitable conditions pairs of block Gauss and block anti-Gauss rules provide upper and lower bounds for the entries of the desired matrix-valued function. Extensions to matrix-valued functions of the form $W^Tf(A)V$, where $A\in{\mathbb R}^{m\times m}$ may be nonsymmetric, and the matrices $V,W\in{\mathbb R}^{m\times k}$ satisfy $V^TW=I_k$ .
Gronwall-Bellman type inequalities on time scales and their applications

In this work, we investigate some new Gronwall-Bellman type dynamic inequalities on time scales in two independent variables, which provide a handy tool in deriving explicit bounds on unknown functions in certain dynamic equations on time scales. The established results generalize the main results on integral inequalities for continuous functions in [1] and their corresponding discrete analysis in [2].
Intracellular Chloride Accumulation and Subcellular Elemental Distribution During Atrial Fibrillation

Background—Ion channel remodeling occurs during atrial fibrillation (AF); however, the extent of alteration in the subcellular distribution of elements (Na, K, Cl, Ca, Mg, P) is unknown. Electron probe microanalysis was used to determine the total (free+bound) in vivo subcellular concentration of these elements during AF. Methods and Results—The left atrial appendage (LAA) was snap-frozen in situ after pacing (640 bpm) for 3 minutes (n=5 dogs), 30 minutes (n=3), or 48 hours (n=5). Dogs in sinus rhythm (n=3) served as controls. Whole-cell, cytosolic, and mitochondrial elemental concentrations were measured in cryosections. LAA effective refractory period (ERP) was measured before and after pacing. LAA ERP decreased significantly after 48 hours (116±3 to 88±10 ms, P =0.02). Whole-cell Cl increased by 9.0 mmol/L and 17 mmol/L after 3 and 30 minutes of pacing, respectively (P <0.0001), without a concomitant increase in Na. However, at 48 hours, whole-cell Na was reduced by 51% (P <0.01). Cytosolic Ca increased by 1.1 mmol/kg dry wt after 3 minutes (P <0.005), but mitochondrial Ca remained low and unchanged. Cell size measured in transverse cryosections increased after 3 minutes of pacing (75±5 to 109±11 &mgr;m2, P =0.007) but returned to baseline by 30 minutes (66±5 &mgr;m2). Conclusions—Intracellular Cl accumulation induced by rapid pacing is a novel finding and may play a role in AF pathogenesis by causing resting membrane depolarization and ERP reduction. There was no evidence of cellular or mitochondrial Ca overload despite the development of electrical remodeling and transient increase in cytoplasmic Ca.
Emergence of transformation-tolerant representations of visual objects in rat lateral extrastriate cortex

Rodents are emerging as increasingly popular models of visual functions. Yet, evidence that rodent visual cortex is capable of advanced visual processing, such as object recognition, is limited. Here we investigate how neurons located along the progression of extrastriate areas that, in the rat brain, run laterally to primary visual cortex, encode object information. We found a progressive functional specialization of neural responses along these areas, with: (1) a sharp reduction of the amount of low-level, energy-related visual information encoded by neuronal firing; and (2) a substantial increase in the ability of both single neurons and neuronal populations to support discrimination of visual objects under identity-preserving transformations (e.g., position and size changes). These findings strongly argue for the existence of a rat object-processing pathway, and point to the rodents as promising models to dissect the neuronal circuitry underlying transformation-tolerant recognition of visual objects. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.22794. 001
On Integrability of Hirota–Kimura-Type Discretizations: Experimental Study of the Discrete Clebsch System

R. Hirota and K. Kimura discovered integrable discretizations of the Euler and the Lagrange tops, given by birational maps. Their method is a specialization to the integrable context of a general discretization scheme introduced by W. Kahan and applicable to any vector field with a quadratic dependence on phase variables. According to a proposal by T. Ratiu, discretizations of Hirota–Kimura type can be considered for numerous integrable systems of classical mechanics. Due to a remarkable and not well understood mechanism, such discretizations seem to inherit the integrability for all algebraically completely integrable systems. We introduce an experimental method for a rigorous study of integrability of such discretizations. Application of this method to the Hirota–Kimura-type discretization of the Clebsch system leads to the discovery of four functionally independent integrals of motion of this discrete-time system, which turn out to be much more complicated than the integrals of the continuous-time system. Further, we prove that every orbit of the discrete-time Clebsch system lies in an intersection of four quadrics in the six-dimensional phase space. Analogous results hold for the Hirota–Kimura-type discretizations for all commuting flows of the Clebsch system, as well as for the so(4) Euler top.
Articulatory Vowel Lengthening and Coordination at Phrasal Junctures

Abstract Recent work has demonstrated that progressively stronger prosodic boundaries result in increasing amounts of lengthening for consonant gestures, both preceding and following the boundary. The present experiment extends these earlier findings by considering kinematic data collected with a magnetometer to determine (1) if vocalic gestures demonstrate lengthening patterns comparable to those of consonantal gestures due to adjacent prosodic boundaries, and (2) if the relative timing of consonant and vowel gestures is affected by adjacent boundaries. A magnetometer system was used to track articulator movements of 3 speakers producing sentences in which a /. C1V1(#)C2V2. / sequence was embedded with varying medial boundaries. All subjects demonstrated lengthening of the vocalic articulation before stronger boundaries. Additionally, effects on the relative timing of words spanning a boundary and the relative timing of segments in boundary-adjacent syllables were observed.
Effects of Salivary Gland Hypertrophy Virus on the Reproductive Behavior of the Housefly, Musca domestica

ABSTRACT Pathological studies demonstrated that the salivary gland hypertrophy virus of houseflies (MdSGHV) shuts down reproduction in infected females. The mechanism that underlay the disruption of reproduction functioned on several levels. Females infected at the previtellogenic stage did not produce eggs, reflecting a block in the gonadotropic cycle. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blot analysis of hemolymph samples demonstrated that MdSGHV infection reduced the levels of both the female-specific hexamerin and egg yolk proteins. Furthermore, reverse transcriptase quantitative real-time PCR data demonstrated that infection blocked hexamerin and yolk protein gene transcription. When females were allowed to develop eggs prior to infection (postvitellogenic stage), the outcome of mating attempts depended upon when mating took place. If egg-containing, virus-infected females were mated within 24 h of infection, they copulated and deposited a single batch of fertilized eggs. However, if mating was delayed for a longer period, the egg-containing females refused to copulate with healthy males. Both of these results suggested that a virus-induced signal influenced the central nervous system, shutting down female receptivity and egg production. All experiments demonstrated that MdSGHV-infected males did not display azoospermia and were fertile. Both healthy females mated with infected males, and the resulting F1 progeny were free of salivary gland hypertrophy symptoms, which suggests that the virus is not sexually or vertically transmitted.
European lactase persistence genotype shows evidence of association with increase in body mass index

The global prevalence of obesity has increased significantly in recent decades, mainly due to excess calorie intake and increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Here, we test the association between obesity measured by body mass index (BMI) and one of the best-known genetic variants showing strong selective pressure: the functional variant in the cis-regulatory element of the lactase gene. We tested this variant since it is presumed to provide nutritional advantage in specific physical and cultural environments. We genetically defined lactase persistence (LP) in 31 720 individuals from eight European population-based studies and one family study by genotyping or imputing the European LP variant (rs4988235). We performed a meta-analysis by pooling the β-coefficient estimates of the relationship between rs4988235 and BMI from the nine studies and found that the carriers of the allele responsible for LP among Europeans showed higher BMI (P = 7.9 × 10−5). Since this locus has been shown to be prone to population stratification, we paid special attention to reveal any population substructure which might be responsible for the association signal. The best evidence of exclusion of stratification came from the Dutch family sample which is robust for stratification. In this study, we highlight issues in model selection in the genome-wide association studies and problems in imputation of these special genomic regions.
Lending Relationships in Germany: Empirical Results from Survey Data

We examine empirically the role of lending relationships in determining the collateral requirements, costs and availability of external funding. The data originate from a recently concluded survey of small and medium-sized German firms. In our descriptive analysis, we explore the borrowing patterns and the concentration of borrowing from financial institutions. Using data on line of credit (L/C) interest rates, collateral requirements, and the firms’ use of fast payment discounts we find that relationship variables may have some bearing on the price of external funds, but much more so on loan collateralization and availability. Firms in financial distress face comparatively high L/C interest rates and reduced credit availability. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG - (Kreditbeziehungen in Deutschland: Empirische Ergebnisse einer Unternehmensbefragung) Unter Verwendung eines fur Deutschland einzigartigen Querschnittsdatensatzes untersuchen wir in diesem Papier empirisch den Einflus von Bankbeziehungen auf die Kosten und die Verfugbarkeit von Bankkrediten. Die Daten wurden im Jahre 1997 bei 1509 kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) erhoben. In einer ersten deskriptiven Analyse werden Finanzierungsmuster und Verschuldungskonzentration dargestellt. Detaillierte Angaben zu Kontokorrent- und Lieferantenkrediten ermoglichen es uns, in einer mikrookonomischen Analyse die Einflusfaktoren auf die Kosten und die Verfugbarkeit von Krediten zu bestimmen. Demnach scheinen Bankbeziehungen einen wesentlich starkeren Einflus auf die Verfugbarkeit als auf die Preisgestaltung von Krediten zu haben. Auserdem fuhren finanzielle Schwierigkeiten eines Unternehmens zu einer Verteuerung von Kontokorrentkrediten und einer sinkenden Kreditverfugbarkeit.
The Impact of ICT on Economic Development in The Arab World: A Comparative Study of Egypt and The Gulf Countries

This paper compares the ICT market in both Egypt and the Gulf countries. Both are lagging behind the developed countries, but Egypt has higher supply, while the Gulf countries have higher demand and spending. The two sides correlation between ICT and economic development is verified. ICT diffusion is positively correlated to economic growth and human capital/ education. ICT spending positively affects economic growth and human capital/ education. However, in both Egypt and the Gulf countries, the degree of significance is somewhat doubtful and ambiguous.
Dirty black holes: Symmetries at stationary nonstatic horizons

We establish that the Einstein tensor takes on a highly symmetric form near the Killing horizon of any stationary but non-static (and non-extremal) black hole spacetime. [This follows up on a recent article by the current authors, gr-qc/0402069, which considered static black holes. ] Specifically, at any such Killing horizon -- irrespective of the horizon geometry -- the Einstein tensor block-diagonalizes into ``transverse'' and ``parallel'' blocks, and its transverse components are proportional to the transverse metric. Our findings are supported by two independent procedures; one based on the regularity of the on-horizon geometry and another that directly utilizes the elegant nature of a bifurcate Killing horizon. It is then argued that geometrical symmetries will severely constrain the matter near any Killing horizon. We also speculate on how this may be relevant to certain calculations of the black hole entropy.
Toward Personality Insights from Language Exploration in Social Media

Language in social media reveals a lot about people's personality and mood as they discuss the activities and relationships that constitute their everyday lives. Although social media are widely studied, researchers in computational linguistics have mostly focused on prediction tasks such as sentiment analysis and authorship attribution.In this paper, we show how social media can also be used to gain psychological insights. We demonstrate an exploration of language use as a function of age, gender, and personality from a data set of Facebook posts from 75,000 people who have also taken personality tests, and we suggest how more sophisticated tools could be brought to bear on such data.
Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction of the Elbow

Background: Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (UCLR) is a common procedure in both professional and high-level athletes. Purpose: To determine the effect of technique and level of play with UCLR on return to sport (RTS). Hypothesis: When comparing different surgical techniques or preoperative level of sports participation, there is no difference in rate of RTS after UCLR. Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: A systematic review was registered with PROSPERO and performed following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines using 3 publicly available free databases. Therapeutic clinical outcome investigations reporting UCLR outcomes with level of evidence 1 through 4 were eligible for inclusion. All study, subject, and surgical technique demographics were analyzed and compared between continents and countries. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and 2-proportion 2-sample z-test calculators with α = . 05 were used to compare RTS between level of play and technique. Results: Twenty studies (2019 patients/elbows; mean age, 22.13 ± 4 years; 97% male; mean follow-up, 39.9 ± 16.2 months) were included. The majority of patients were baseball players (94.5%), specifically pitchers (80%). The most common level of play was collegiate (44.6%). Palmaris longus (71.2%) and the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) technique (65.6%) were the most common graft choice and surgical technique, respectively. There was a pooled 86.2% RTS rate, and 90% of players scored excellent/good on the Conway-Jobe scale. RTS rates were higher among collegiate athletes (95.5%) than either high school (89.4%, P = .023) or professional athletes (86.4%, P < .0001). RTS rates were higher for the docking technique (97.0%, P = .001) and the ASMI technique (93.3%, P = .0034) than the Jobe technique (66.7%). Conclusion: UCLR is performed most commonly in collegiate athletes. Collegiate athletes have the highest RTS rate after UCLR of all levels of competition. The docking and ASMI techniques had higher RTS rates than the Jobe technique.
Car Segmentation and Pose Estimation using 3D Object Models

Image segmentation and 3D pose estimation are two key cogs in any algorithm for scene understanding. However, state-of-the-art CRF-based models for image segmentation rely mostly on 2D object models to construct top-down high-order potentials. In this paper, we propose new top-down potentials for image segmentation and pose estimation based on the shape and volume of a 3D object model. We show that these complex top-down potentials can be easily decomposed into standard forms for efficient inference in both the segmentation and pose estimation tasks. Experiments on a car dataset show that knowledge of segmentation helps perform pose estimation better and vice versa.
Pattern Recognition System based on Distributed Computing Architectures : Clusters , Peer to Peer and Data grid

Arabic Cursive handwriting recognition is challengi ng for many important and real-world applications such as document authentica tion, form processing, postal address identification, bank check recognition, manuscripts recognition , interpretation of historical documents and Islamic ma nuscripts. Therefore, in the last few decades, researchers and research centers have put an enormous effort into developing various and robust techniques but limi ed for handwriting recognition of small and medium documents. This chap ter reviews existing handwriting recognition techniques and the current sta e of the art in cursive handwriting recognition and presents various hardwa e solutions for large scale Arabic handwritten character recognition system . This work deals with offline distributed handwriting recognition system based o n distributed computing architecture. We present a pattern recognition system for large amount of document for isolated handwritten Arabic words. Our recognition system is a Distributed Optical Cha racter Recognition (DOCR) application via distributed computing architec ture. The originality of our approach is the way we deal with large amount o f Arabic Manuscript to digitize . We have introduced a new Arabic Handwritin g Pattern Recognition designed to take advantage of distributed computing a rchitecture. We have demonstrated that our approach present a very interest ing framework which can lead to the implementation of powerful and speedup handw riting Pattern Recognition Systems. The experiments were conducted on the Omnivore plat form: Grid computing Meta-Scheduling system and P2P Technologies in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Marburg, Germany, with a real large scaled dataset from the IFN/ENIT database. Experimental results prove the validity of our appr oach to speed up the pattern recognition process.
Conduct disorder among Asians and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders in the USA

Background Conduct disorder (CD) is a relatively common disorder of childhood and adolescence in the USA with substantial associated morbidity, yet little has been published on CD among Asians and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders (NH/PI) in the USA. Method We used the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) to examine the prevalence and correlates of retrospectively reported CD within Asians and NH/PI (18 years and older). We also completed logistic regressions to explore factors associated with CD within Asians (n=1093) and, separately, NH/PI (n=139) and to explain racial differences in CD prevalence. Results Asians were about a third as likely [odds ratio (OR) 0.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.22–0.58] whereas NH/PI were about two and half times more likely (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.31–5.06) to have had CD compared with Caucasian respondents. Within Asians and NH/PI, CD was strongly associated with adult antisocial behavior, substance use and affective disorders. Demographic factors, the age that subjects came to the USA, measures of family environment and family history could not explain the observed differences in prevalence of CD for NH/PI relative to Caucasians. Conclusions Asian and NH/PI youth with CD represent a subgroup of Asian youth at very high risk for a number of serious psychiatric disorders. Further investigation is needed to explain the high CD prevalence among NH/PI.
Stacking fault energy of face-centered cubic metals: thermodynamic and ab initio approaches

The formation energy of the interface between face-centered cubic (fcc) and hexagonal close packed (hcp) structures is a key parameter in determining the stacking fault energy (SFE) of fcc metals and alloys using thermodynamic calculations. It is often assumed that the contribution of the planar fault energy to the SFE has the same order of magnitude as the bulk part, and thus the lack of precise information about it can become the limiting factor in thermodynamic predictions. Here, we differentiate between the interfacial energy for the coherent fcc(1 1 1)/hcp(0 0 0 1) interface and the ‘pseudo-interfacial energy’ that enters the thermodynamic expression for the SFE. Using first-principles calculations, we determine the coherent and pseudo-interfacial energies for six elemental metals (Al, Ni, Cu, Ag, Pt, and Au) and three paramagnetic Fe–Cr–Ni alloys. Our results show that the two interfacial energies significantly differ from each other. We observe a strong chemistry dependence for both interfacial energies. The calculated pseudo-interfacial energies for the Fe–Cr–Ni steels agree well with the available literature data. We discuss the effects of strain on the description of planar faults via thermodynamic and ab initio approaches.
Consed: a graphical tool for sequence finishing.

Sequencing of large clones or small genomes is generally done by the shotgun approach (Anderson et al. 1982). This has two phases: (1) a shotgun phase in which a number of reads are generated from random subclones and assembled into contigs, followed by (2) a directed, or finishing phase in which the assembly is inspected for correctness and for various kinds of data anomalies (such as contaminant reads, unremoved vector sequence, and chimeric or deleted reads), additional data are collected to close gaps and resolve low quality regions, and editing is performed to correct assembly or base-calling errors. Finishing is currently a bottleneck in large-scale sequencing efforts, and throughput gains will depend both on reducing the need for human intervention and making it as efficient as possible. We have developed a finishing tool, consed, which attempts to implement these principles. A distinguishing feature relative to other programs is the use of error probabilities from our programs phred and phrap as an objective criterion to guide the entire finishing process. More information is available at http:// www.genome. washington.edu/consed/consed. html.
The Optimum Quantity of Debt: Technical Appendix *

We describe the numerical method used to compute equilibria in the economies studied by Aiyagari and McGrattan, The Optimum Quantity of Debt (Journal of Monetary Economics 1998). These economies have a large number of infinitely lived households whose saving behavior is influenced by precautionary saving motives and borrowing constraints. We apply the finite element method to compute householdsi¯ saving decisions and to compute the distribution of asset holdings. To verify that the method works well for our problems, we apply them to some related test problems with known solutions.