Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison and analysis of short circuit capability of 1200V single-chip SiC MOSFET and Si IGBT

Short circuit capability of commercial SiC MOSFETs is analyzed, which is compared with that of commercial Si IGBTs. Junction temperatures during short circuit tests are analyzed in this work. A test bench is designed for short circuit tests of discrete MOSFETs and IGBTs. Commercially available 1200V SiC MOSFETs from Wolfspeed (C2M0080120D) and 1200V Si IGBTs from Infineon (IKW25N120H3) with similar current rating are tested. The short circuit withstand time (tcr) of the 1200V SiC MOSFET is much shorter than that of the 1200V Si IGBT. A 1-D transient finite element thermal model based on structure parameters is constructed to investigate the junction temperature curves during short circuit. According to the analysis of heat generation, short circuit capability of the SiC MOSFET is mainly restricted by high electric field at the P-N junction and high short circuit current density.
Regional White Matter Variation Associated with Domain-specific Metacognitive Accuracy

The neural mechanisms that mediate metacognitive ability (the capacity to accurately reflect on one's own cognition and experience) remain poorly understood. An important question is whether metacognitive capacity is a domain-general skill supported by a core neuroanatomical substrate or whether regionally specific neural structures underlie accurate reflection in different cognitive domains. Providing preliminary support for the latter possibility, recent findings have shown that individual differences in metacognitive ability in the domains of memory and perception are related to variation in distinct gray matter volume and resting-state functional connectivity. The current investigation sought to build on these findings by evaluating how metacognitive ability in these domains is related to variation in white matter microstructure. We quantified metacognitive ability across memory and perception domains and used diffusion spectrum imaging to examine the relation between high-resolution measurements of white matter microstructure and individual differences in metacognitive accuracy in each domain. We found that metacognitive accuracy for perceptual decisions and memory were uncorrelated across individuals and that metacognitive accuracy in each domain was related to variation in white matter microstructure in distinct brain areas. Metacognitive accuracy for perceptual decisions was associated with increased diffusion anisotropy in white matter underlying the ACC, whereas metacognitive accuracy for memory retrieval was associated with increased diffusion anisotropy in the white matter extending into the inferior parietal lobule. Together, these results extend previous findings linking metacognitive ability in the domains of perception and memory to variation in distinct brain structures and connections.
Dynamic Effects of Topoisomerase I Inhibition on R-Loops and Short Transcripts at Active Promoters

Topoisomerase I-DNA-cleavage complexes (Top1cc) stabilized by camptothecin (CPT) have specific effects at transcriptional levels. We recently reported that Top1cc increase antisense transcript (aRNAs) levels at divergent CpG-island promoters and, transiently, DNA/RNA hybrids (R-loop) in nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of colon cancer HCT116 cells. However, the relationship between R-loops and aRNAs was not established. Here, we show that aRNAs can form R-loops in N-TERA-2 cells under physiological conditions, and that promoter-associated R-loops are somewhat increased and extended in length immediately upon cell exposure to CPT. In contrast, persistent Top1ccs reduce the majority of R-loops suggesting that CPT-accumulated aRNAs are not commonly involved in R-loops. The enhancement of aRNAs by Top1ccs is present both in human colon cancer HCT116 cells and WI38 fibroblasts suggesting a common response of cancer and normal cells. Although Top1ccs lead to DSB and DDR kinases activation, we do not detect a dependence of aRNA accumulation on ATM or DNA-PK activation. However, we showed that the cell response to persistent Top1ccs can involve an impairment of aRNA turnover rather than a higher synthesis rate. Finally, a genome-wide analysis shows that persistent Top1ccs also determine an accumulation of sense transcripts at 5’-end gene regions suggesting an increased occurrence of truncated transcripts. Taken together, the results indicate that Top1 may regulate transcription initiation by modulating RNA polymerase-generated negative supercoils, which can in turn favor R-loop formation at promoters, and that transcript accumulation at TSS is a response to persistent transcriptional stress by Top1 poisoning.
Dlib-ml: A Machine Learning Toolkit

There are many excellent toolkits which provide support for developing machine learning software in Python, R, Matlab, and similar environments. Dlib-ml is an open source library, targeted at both engineers and research scientists, which aims to provide a similarly rich environment for developing machine learning software in the C++ language. Towards this end, dlib-ml contains an extensible linear algebra toolkit with built in BLAS support. It also houses implementations of algorithms for performing inference in Bayesian networks and kernel-based methods for classification, regression, clustering, anomaly detection, and feature ranking. To enable easy use of these tools, the entire library has been developed with contract programming, which provides complete and precise documentation as well as powerful debugging tools.
An interdisciplinary analysis of obesity: theory and empirical evidence

The dissertation is structured in three parts. The first part compares US and EU agricultural policies since the end of WWII. There is not enough evidence for claiming that agricultural support has a negative impact on obesity trends. I discuss the possibility of an exchange in best practices to fight obesity. There are relevant economic, societal and legal differences between the US and the EU. However, partnerships against obesity are welcomed. The second part presents a socio-ecological model of the determinants of obesity. I employ an interdisciplinary model because it captures the simultaneous influence of several variables. Obesity is an interaction of pre-birth, primary and secondary socialization factors. To test the significance of each factor, I use data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health. I compare the average body mass index across different populations. Differences in means are statistically significant. In the last part I use the National Survey of Children Health. I analyze the effect that family characteristics, built environment, cultural norms and individual factors have on the body mass index (BMI). I use Ordered Probit models and I calculate the marginal effects. I use State and ethnicity fixed effects to control for unobserved heterogeneity. I find that southern US States tend have on average a higher probability of being obese. On the ethnicity side, White Americans have a lower BMI respect to Black Americans, Hispanics and American Indians Native Islanders; being Asian is associated with a lower probability of being obese. In neighborhoods where trust level and safety perception are higher, children are less overweight and obese. Similar results are shown for higher level of parental income and education. Breastfeeding has a negative impact. Higher values of measures of behavioral disorders have a positive and significant impact on obesity, as predicted by the theory.
A Rate Splitting Strategy for Massive MIMO With Imperfect CSIT

In a multiuser MIMO broadcast channel, the rate performance is affected by multiuser interference when the channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) is imperfect. To tackle the detrimental effects of the multiuser interference, a rate-splitting (RS) approach has been proposed recently, which splits one selected user's message into a common and a private part, and superimposes the common message on top of the private messages. The common message is drawn from a public codebook and decoded by all users. In this paper, we generalize the idea of RS into the large-scale array regime with imperfect CSIT. By further exploiting the channel second-order statistics, we propose a novel and general framework hierarchical-rate-splitting (HRS) that is particularly suited to massive MIMO systems. HRS simultaneously transmits private messages intended to each user and two kinds of common messages that are decoded by all users and by a subset of users, respectively. We analyze the asymptotic sum rate of RS and HRS and optimize the precoders of the common messages. A closed-form power allocation is derived which provides insights into the effects of various system parameters. Finally, numerical results validate the significant sum rate gain of RS and HRS over various baselines.
[Krabbe disease, globoid cell leukodystrophy].

Krabbe disease is an autosomal recessive inherited demyelinating disease, which is deficient in lysosomal enzyme, galactocerebrosidase. Pathophysiological characteristics of this disease are extreme demyelination in white matter and peripheral nerve, existence of globoid cells, absence of accumulation of main substrates, i.e. galactocerebrosidase in tissues and accumulation of psychosine. Molecular basis of this disease including isolation of a cDNA for human and murine galactocerebrosidase and cloning of genome of this gene are reviewed. The trial of gene therapy on twitcher, the mouse model of Krabbe disease, could break through on therapy on this progressive demyelinating disease.
The Electron-scattering Region in Seyfert Nuclei

The electron-scattering region (ESR) is one of the important ingredients of Seyfert nuclei because it makes it possible to observe the hidden broad-line region (HBLR) in some type 2 Seyfert nuclei (S2's). However, little is known about its physical and geometrical properties. Using the number ratio of S2's with and without HBLR, we statistically investigate where the ESR is in Seyfert nuclei. Our analysis suggests that the ESR is located at a radius between ~0.01 and ~0.1 pc from the central engine. We also briefly discuss a possible origin of the ESR.
Nonexistence of Permutation Binomials of Certain Shapes

Suppose $x^m+ax^n$ is a permutation polynomial over ${\Bbb F}_p$, where $p>5$ is prime and $m>n>0$ and $a\in{\Bbb F}_p^*$. We prove that $\gcd(m-n,p-1)\notin\{2,4\}$. In the special case that either $(p-1)/2$ or $(p-1)/4$ is prime, this was conjectured in a recent paper by Masuda, Panario and Wang.
Catharsis in psychotherapy

The historical context of catharsis in psychotherapy is discussed, with particular reference to drama and ritual. The 'cathartic technique' of Freud and Breuer is then presented as part of the continuing development of approaches that advocate feeling-expression as a way of promoting personal change. The contemporary approaches considered include Reichian therapy, bioenergetics, primal therapy, and reevaluation counselling. Heron's theory of catharsis in human development is emphasized, and is central to the two experiential research inquiries presented later. The evidence for the efficacy of catharsis is reviewed from the perspective of the various 'schools' of emotionally-expressive therapy, and reference to the psychosomatic and bereavement literature is also made. Two research inquiries are presented which investigate the effects of catharsis on human functioning. A new paradigm experiential approach was adopted in which co-researchers engaged in a collaborative inquiry. 'Inside’ measures of subjective experiencing, contingent upon emotional catharsis, were gathered through self-report, as well as 'outside' measures of blood pressure, pulse rate, and personality functioning. Results suggest that physiologic tension decreases following somatic emotional catharsis, but that longer term changes in psycho-somatic functioning require the development of insight into the genesis of the 'symptom', as well as complementary therapeutic strategems. It is further suggested that the development of insight is contingent upon historical somatic catharsis. The results also show that where cognitive catharsis occurs without affective release, an increase in psycho-physiologic tension is effected, as shown in both the physiological measures and subjective experiencing. Finally, the implications of catharsis for therapeutic practice are discussed.
Human diseases of telomerase dysfunction: insights into tissue aging

There are at least three human diseases that are associated with germ-line mutations of the genes encoding the two essential components of telomerase, TERT and TERC. Heterozygous mutations of these genes have been described for patients with dyskeratosis congenita, bone marrow failure and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In this review, we will detail the clinical similarities and difference of these diseases and review the molecular phenotypes observed. The spectrum of mutations in TERT and TERC varies for these diseases and may in part explain the clinical differences observed. Environmental insults and genetic modifiers that accelerate telomere shortening and increase cell turnover may exaggerate the effects of telomerase haploinsufficiency, contributing to the variability of age of onset as well as tissue-specific organ pathology. A central still unanswered question is whether telomerase dysfunction and short telomeres are a much more prominent factor than previously suspected in other adult-onset, age-related diseases. Understanding the biological effects of these mutations may ultimately lead to novel treatments for these patients.
Species delimitation in trematodes using DNA sequences: Middle-American Clinostomum as a case study

SUMMARY The recent development of genetic methods allows the delineation of species boundaries, especially in organisms where morphological characters are not reliable to differentiate species. However, few empirical studies have used these tools to delineate species among parasitic metazoans. Here we investigate the species boundaries of Clinostomum, a cosmopolitan trematode genus with complex life cycle. We sequenced a mitochondrial [cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI)] gene for multiple individuals (adults and metacercariae) from Middle-America. Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of the COI uncovered five reciprocally monophyletic clades. COI sequences were then explored using the Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery to identify putative species; this species delimitation method recognized six species. A subsample was sequenced for a nuclear gene (ITS1, 5·8S, ITS2), and a concatenated phylogenetic analysis was performed through Bayesian inference. The species delimitation of Middle-American Clinostomum was finally validated using a multispecies coalescent analysis (species tree). In total, five putative species are recognized among our samples. Mapping the second intermediate hosts (fish) onto the species tree suggests that metacercariae of these five species exhibit some level of host specificity towards their fish intermediate host (at the family level), irrespective of geographical distribution.
UZurich in the BioNLP 2009 Shared Task

We describe a biological event detection method implemented for the BioNLP 2009 Shared Task 1. The method relies entirely on the chunk and syntactic dependency relations provided by a general NLP pipeline which was not adapted in any way for the purposes of the shared task. The method maps the syntactic relations to event structures while being guided by the probabilities of the syntactic features of events which were automatically learned from the training data. Our method achieved a recall of 26% and a precision of 44% in the official test run, under "strict equality" of events.
Concepciones del alumnado de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria sobre la convivencia en los centros educativos

En este estudio se exploran las concepciones del alumnado de Educacion Secundaria Obligatoria en torno a la convivencia en sus centros educativos. A traves de un diseno en el que se combinan distintas estrategias de recogida de informacion, de caracter cualitativo y cuantitativo, en el que han participado 304 alumnos y alumnas de tres centros de Madrid, se ha tratado de identificar el grado de complejidad que presentan dichas concepciones en distintos ambitos o aspectos de la convivencia escolar. Las entrevistas, los grupos de discusion y una encuesta a traves de un cuestionario de dilemas ad hoc han mostrado como el alumnado tiene una vision mayoritariamente compleja y relativista de la convivencia, aunque aun se aprecian ambitos en los que las concepciones siguen resultando muy simples, principalmente los relacionados con las causas de los distintos tipos de conflictos. En muy pocos aspectos las concepciones llegan a tener un caracter mas sistemico u holistico, a pesar de que este punto de vista teorico es el que subyace a la mayor parte de las propuestas de intervencion en la mejora de la convivencia. No se han encontrado diferencias significativas relacionadas con el sexo del alumnado o el curso (2o o 4o de ESO), aunque si en relacion con el tipo de centro en el que estan escolarizados: las concepciones han resultado mas complejas en un centro concertado, urbano, de pequeno tamano.
Basal insulin therapy in type 2 diabetes: 28-week comparison of insulin glargine (HOE 901) and NPH insulin.

OBJECTIVE To determine the safety and efficacy of the long-acting analog insulin glargine compared with NPH insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes who were previously treated with insulin alone. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 518 subjects with type 2 diabetes who were receiving NPH insulin with or without regular insulin for postprandial control were randomized to receive insulin glargine (HOE 901) once daily (n = 259) or NPH insulin once or twice daily in = 259) for 28 weeks in an open-label, multicenter trial. Doses were adjusted to obtain target fasting glucose <6.7 mmol/l. At study end point, the median total daily insulin dose in both treatment groups was 0.75 IU/kg. RESULTS The treatment groups showed similar improvements in HbA1c from baseline to end point on intent-to-treat analysis. The mean change (means +/- SD) in HbA1c from baseline to end point was similar in the insulin glargine group (-0.41 +/- 0.1%) and the NPH group (-0.59 +/- 0.1%) after patients began with an average baseline HbA1c of approximately 8.5%. The treatments were associated with similar reductions in fasting glucose levels. Overall, mild symptomatic hypoglycemia was similar in insulin glargine subjects (61.4%) and NPH insulin subjects (66.%) However, nocturnal hypoglycemia in the insulin glargine group was reduced by 25% during the treatment period after the dose-titration phase(26.5 vs. 35.5%, P = 0.0136). Subjects in the insulin glargine group experienced less weight gain than those in the NPH group (0.4 vs. 1.4 kg, P < 0.0007). CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes, once-daily bedtime insulin glargine is as effective as once- or twice-daily NPH in improving and maintaining glycemic control. In addition, insulin glargine deonstrates a lower risk of nocturnal hypoglycemia and less weight gain compared with NPH insulin.
Spatiotemporal Memory Is an Intrinsic Property of Networks of Dissociated Cortical Neurons

The ability to process complex spatiotemporal information is a fundamental process underlying the behavior of all higher organisms. However, how the brain processes information in the temporal domain remains incompletely understood. We have explored the spatiotemporal information-processing capability of networks formed from dissociated rat E18 cortical neurons growing in culture. By combining optogenetics with microelectrode array recording, we show that these randomly organized cortical microcircuits are able to process complex spatiotemporal information, allowing the identification of a large number of temporal sequences and classification of musical styles. These experiments uncovered spatiotemporal memory processes lasting several seconds. Neural network simulations indicated that both short-term synaptic plasticity and recurrent connections are required for the emergence of this capability. Interestingly, NMDA receptor function is not a requisite for these short-term spatiotemporal memory processes. Indeed, blocking the NMDA receptor with the antagonist APV significantly improved the temporal processing ability of the networks, by reducing spontaneously occurring network bursts. These highly synchronized events have disastrous effects on spatiotemporal information processing, by transiently erasing short-term memory. These results show that the ability to process and integrate complex spatiotemporal information is an intrinsic property of generic cortical networks that does not require specifically designed circuits.
Erbium : Reconciling languages, runtimes, compilation and optimizations for streaming applications. (Erbium : réconcilier les langages, les supports d'exécution, la compilation, et les optimisations pour calculs sur des flux de données)

As transistors size and power limitations stroke computer industry, hardware parallelism arose as the solution, bringing old forgotten problems back into equation to solve the existing limitations of current parallel technologies. Compilers regain focus by being the most relevant puzzle piece in the quest for the expected computer performance improvements predicted by Moores law no longer possible without parallelism. Parallel research is mainly focused in either the language or architectural aspects, not really giving the needed attention to compiler problems, being the reason for the weak compiler support by many parallel languages or architectures, not allowing to exploit performance to the best. This thesis addresses these problems by presenting: Erbium, a low level streaming data-flow language supporting multiple producer and consumer task communication; a very efficient runtime implementation for x86 architectures also addressing other types of architectures; a compiler integration of the language as an intermediate representation in GCC; a study of the language primitives dependencies, allowing compilers to further optimise the Erbium code not only through specific parallel optimisations but also through traditional compiler optimisations, such as partial redundancy elimination and dead code elimination.
Effect of Meptazinol and Ethanol on Human Psychomotor Performance and Mood Ratings

The effect of meptazinol and/or ethanol on human psychomotor performance and mood ratings has been investigated in 8 healthy volunteers in a double blind randomised study. Meptazinol (200 mg 3 hourly for 4 doses) or placebo were administered orally and ethanol (0.8 g/kg) or placebo were given 30 min after the last tablet. Peak saccadic velocity (PSV), saccade duration at 30° of amplitude (SD), smooth pursuit velocity (SPV), critical flicker fusion threshold (CFF), choice reaction time (CRT) and visual analogue scales were assessed. PSV (p < 0.01), SD (p < 0.001) and SPV (p < 0.01) were significantly impaired after ethanol, while CFF, CFT and visual analogue scales showed no significant effect. None of the tests was affected by the meptazinol treatment alone. No changes were observed in the ethanol-induced impairment of PSV, SD and SPV when meptazinol was given in combination with ethanol.