Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
First observations of SO2 from the satellite Suomi NPP OMPS: Widespread air pollution events over China

Severe smog episodes over China in January 2013 received worldwide attention. This air pollution was distinguished by heavy loadings of fine particulate matter and SO2. To characterize these episodes, we employed the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite, Nadir Mapper (OMPS NM), an ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer flying on the Suomi National Polar‐orbiting Partnership (SNPP) spacecraft since October 2011. We developed an advanced algorithm to quantify SO2 in the lower troposphere and achieved high‐quality retrievals from OMPS NM, which are characterized by high precision, ∼0.2 Dobson Units (DU; 1 DU = 2.69×1016molecules/cm2) for instantaneous field of view SO2 data and low biases (within ±0.2 DU). Here we report SO2retrievals and UV aerosol index data for these pollution events. The SO2 columns and the areas covered by high pollutant concentrations are quantified; the results reveal for the first time the full extent (an area of ∼106km2 containing up to 60 kt of SO2) of these episodes.
Automatic correction of grammatical errors in non-native English text

Learning a foreign language requires much practice outside of the classroom. Computer-assisted language learning systems can help fill this need, and one desirable capability of such systems is the automatic correction of grammatical errors in texts written by non-native speakers. This dissertation concerns the correction of non-native grammatical errors in English text, and the closely related task of generating test items for language learning, using a combination of statistical and linguistic methods. We show that syntactic analysis enables extraction of more salient features. We address issues concerning robustness in feature extraction from non-native texts: and also design a framework for simultaneous correction of multiple error types. Our proposed methods are applied on some of the most common usage errors, including prepositions, verb forms, and articles. The methods are evaluated on sentences with synthetic and real errors, and in both restricted and open domains. A secondary theme of this dissertation is that of user customization. We perform a detailed analysis on a non-native corpus, illustrating the utility of an error model based on the mother tongue. We study the benefits of adjusting the correction models based on the quality of the input text; and also present novel methods to generate high-quality multiple-choice items that are tailored to the interests of the user. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Masking of Figure-Ground Texture and Single Targets by Surround Inhibition: A Computational Spiking Model

A visual stimulus can be made invisible, i.e. masked, by the presentation of a second stimulus. In the sensory cortex, neural responses to a masked stimulus are suppressed, yet how this suppression comes about is still debated. Inhibitory models explain masking by asserting that the mask exerts an inhibitory influence on the responses of a neuron evoked by the target. However, other models argue that the masking interferes with recurrent or reentrant processing. Using computer modeling, we show that surround inhibition evoked by ON and OFF responses to the mask suppresses the responses to a briefly presented stimulus in forward and backward masking paradigms. Our model results resemble several previously described psychophysical and neurophysiological findings in perceptual masking experiments and are in line with earlier theoretical descriptions of masking. We suggest that precise spatiotemporal influence of surround inhibition is relevant for visual detection.
LINEAR ACCELERATION EMISSION. II. POWER SPECTRUM

The theory of linear acceleration emission (LAE) is developed for a large amplitude electrostatic wave in which all particles become highly relativistic in much less than a wave period. An Airy-integral approximation is shown to apply near the phases where the electric field passes through zero and the Lorentz factors of all particles have their maxima. The emissivity is derived for an individual particle and is integrated over frequency and solid angle to find the power radiated per particle. The result is different from that implied by the generalized Larmor formula which, we argue, is not valid in this case. We also discuss a mathematical inconsistency that arises when one evaluates the power spectrum by integrating the emissivity over solid angle. The correct power spectrum increases as the 4/3rd power of the frequency at low frequencies, and falls off exponentially above a characteristic frequency. We discuss application of LAE to the emission of high-frequency photons in an oscillating model for pulsars. We conclude that it cannot account for gamma-ray emission, but can play a role in secondary pair creation.
“Now you see me, now you don’t”: The assessment of impulsivity

Abstract In the neuropsychological literature, there is a debate concerning whether neuropsychological tests necessarily are better means for assessing impulsivity than are trait measures. Yet, there is an inherent problem in looking at these test results: Cognitive impulsivity (i.e. impulsive performance on a standard task, assessed looking at the speed-accuracy trade-off in the data) might only sometimes be indicative of trait impulsivity, and trait impulsivity might also only sometimes be indicative of cognitive impulsivity. There is, however, no complete overlap. This is the conclusion drawn from two studies reported in this paper. One option is to first look at those participants scoring high on trait impulsivity, and then to interpret their performance on neuropsychological tests in terms of this. Poor performance for them is most likely indicative of impulsive performance. There is, however, another option: That individuals scoring high on trait impulsivity implement this impulsivity in their performance, sometimes performing impulsively, and sometimes not. A plausible solution is to incorporate both self-report and analysis of performance in both neuropsychological assessment and personality research.
Staphylococcus sciuri Exfoliative Toxin C (ExhC) is a Necrosis-Inducer for Mammalian Cells

Staphylococcus sciuri (S. sciuri) is a rare pathogen in humans, but it can cause a wide array of human infections. Recently a S. sciuri isolate (HBXX06) was reported to cause fatal exudative epidermitis (EE) in piglets and thus considered as a potential zoonotic agent. To investigate the pathogenicity of this bacterium, we cloned exfoliative toxin C (ExhC), a major toxin of the S. sciuri isolate and performed functional analysis of the recombinant ExhC-his (rExhC) protein using in vitro cell cultures and newborn mice as models. We found that rExhC could induce necrosis in multiple cell lines and peritoneal macrophages as well as skin lesions in newborn mice, and that the rExhC-induced necrosis in cells or skin lesions in newborn mice could be completely abolished if amino acids 79-128 of rExhC were deleted or blocked with a monoclonal antibody (3E4), indicating aa 79-128 portion as an essential necrosis-inducing domain. This information contributes to further understandings of the mechanisms underlying S. sciuri infection.
Effects of combination lipid therapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND We investigated whether combination therapy with a statin plus a fibrate, as compared with statin monotherapy, would reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease. METHODS We randomly assigned 5518 patients with type 2 diabetes who were being treated with open-label simvastatin to receive either masked fenofibrate or placebo. The primary outcome was the first occurrence of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes. The mean follow-up was 4.7 years. RESULTS The annual rate of the primary outcome was 2.2% in the fenofibrate group and 2.4% in the placebo group (hazard ratio in the fenofibrate group, 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.79 to 1.08; P=0.32). There were also no significant differences between the two study groups with respect to any secondary outcome. Annual rates of death were 1.5% in the fenofibrate group and 1.6% in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.10; P=0.33). Prespecified subgroup analyses suggested heterogeneity in treatment effect according to sex, with a benefit for men and possible harm for women (P=0.01 for interaction), and a possible interaction according to lipid subgroup, with a possible benefit for patients with both a high baseline triglyceride level and a low baseline level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P=0.057 for interaction). CONCLUSIONS The combination of fenofibrate and simvastatin did not reduce the rate of fatal cardiovascular events, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke, as compared with simvastatin alone. These results do not support the routine use of combination therapy with fenofibrate and simvastatin to reduce cardiovascular risk in the majority of high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00000620.)
Rapid and Slow Chemical Synaptic Interactions of Cholinergic Projection Neurons and GABAergic Local Interneurons in the Insect Antennal Lobe

The antennal lobe (AL) of insects constitutes the first synaptic relay and processing center of olfactory information, received from olfactory sensory neurons located on the antennae. Complex synaptic connectivity between olfactory neurons of the AL ultimately determines the spatial and temporal tuning profile of (output) projection neurons to odors. Here we used paired whole-cell patch-clamp recordings in the cockroach Periplaneta americana to characterize synaptic interactions between cholinergic uniglomerular projection neurons (uPNs) and GABAergic local interneurons (LNs), both of which are key components of the insect olfactory system. We found rapid, strong excitatory synaptic connections between uPNs and LNs. This rapid excitatory transmission was blocked by the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor blocker mecamylamine. IPSPs, elicited by synaptic input from a presynaptic LN, were recorded in both uPNs and LNs. IPSPs were composed of both slow, sustained components and fast, transient components which were coincident with presynaptic action potentials. The fast IPSPs were blocked by the GABAA receptor chloride channel blocker picrotoxin, whereas the slow sustained IPSPs were blocked by the GABAB receptor blocker CGP-54626. This is the first study to directly show the predicted dual fast- and slow-inhibitory action of LNs, which was predicted to be key in shaping complex odor responses in the AL of insects. We also provide the first direct characterization of rapid postsynaptic potentials coincident with presynaptic spikes between olfactory processing neurons in the AL.
Is there a Doctor in the Crowd? Diagnosis Needed! (for less than $5)

We investigate the feasibility of crowd-based medical diagnosis by posting medical cases on a variety of crowdsourcing platforms: general and specialized volunteer question answering sites, and pay-based Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and oDesk. To assess the crowd’s ability to diagnose cases of varying difficulty, three sets of medical cases are considered. While volunteer channels proved ineffective for us, we discuss design limitations and opportunities for improvement. In contrast, Mechanical Turk workers without medical training not only correctly diagnosed easy cases, but also a previously unsolved case from CrowdMed involving extensive patient details. Likely due to varying expertise, MTurk workers and oDesk health professionals also differed in their willingness to provide uncertain diagnoses, diagnosis rationales, and reliance on personal experience with a disease to diagnose it.
Spatiotemporal and Long Lasting Modulation of 11 Key Nogo Signaling Genes in Response to Strong Neuroexcitation

Inhibition of nerve growth and plasticity in the CNS is to a large part mediated by Nogo-like signaling, now encompassing a plethora of ligands, receptors, co-receptors and modulators. Here we describe the distribution and levels of mRNA encoding 11 key genes involved in Nogo-like signaling (Nogo-A, Oligodendrocyte-Myelin glycoprotein (OMgp), Nogo receptor 1 (NgR1), NgR2, NgR3, Lingo-1, TNF receptor orphan Y (Troy), Olfactomedin, Lateral olfactory tract usher substance (Lotus) and membrane-type matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MT3-MPP)), as well as BDNF and GAPDH. Expression was analyzed in nine different brain areas before, and at eight time points during the first 3 days after a strong neuroexcitatory stimulation, caused by one kainic acid injection. A temporo-spatial pattern of orderly transcriptional regulations emerges that strengthens the role of Nogo-signaling mechanisms for synaptic plasticity in synchrony with transcriptional increases of BDNF mRNA. For most Nogo-type signaling genes, the largest alterations of mRNA levels occur in the dentate gyrus, with marked alterations also in the CA1 region. Changes occurred somewhat later in several areas of the cerebral cortex. The detailed spatio-temporal pattern of mRNA presence and kainic acid-induced transcriptional response is gene-specific. We reveal that several different gene alterations combine to decrease (and later increase) Nogo-like signaling, as expected to allow structural plasticity responses. Other genes are altered in the opposite direction, suggesting that the system prepares in advance in order to rapidly restore balance. However, the fact that Lingo-1 shows a seemingly opposite, plasticity inhibiting response to kainic acid (strong increase of mRNA in the dentate gyrus), may instead suggest a plasticity-enhancing intracellular function of this presumed NgR1 co-receptor.
User adaptive BCIs: SSVEP and P300 based interfaces

Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) represent a new communication option for those suffering from neuromuscular impairment that prevents them from using conventional augmented communication methods. This new approach has been developing quickly during the last few years, thanks to the increasing of computational power and the new algorithms for signal processing (Independent Component Analysis, Wavelets decomposition, Support Vector Machine etc.) that can be applied to the studies made on brain waves. Here follows two methodologies of approach based on making the computer adapt to the human brain activity and not vice-versa. The P300 and the SSVEP based BCIs, here presented, have the characteristics of not demanding specific training to the user.
A unified approach to learning depth and motion features

We present a model for the joint estimation of disparity and motion. The model is based on learning about the interrelations between images from multiple cameras, multiple frames in a video, or the combination of both. We show that learning depth and motion cues, as well as their combinations, from data is possible within a single type of architecture and a single type of learning algorithm, by using biologically inspired "complex cell" like units, which encode correlations between the pixels across image pairs. Our experimental results show that the learning of depth and motion makes it possible to achieve competitive performance in 3-D activity analysis, and to outperform existing hand-engineered 3-D motion features by a very large margin.
Automatic CEFR Level Prediction for Estonian Learner Text

This paper reports on approaches for automatically predicting a learner’s language proficiency in Estonian according to the European CEFR scale. We used the morphological and POS tag information extracted from the texts written by learners. We compared classification and regression modeling for this task. Our models achieve a classification accuracy of 79% and a correlation of 0.85 when modeled as regression. After a comparison between them, we concluded that classification is more effective than regression in terms of exact error and the direction of error. Apart from this, we investigated the most predictive features for both multiclass and binary classification between groups and also explored the nature of the correlations between highly predictive features. Our results show considerable improvement in classification accuracy over previously reported results and take us a step closer towards the automated assessment of Estonian learner text.
What Caused the Early Millennium Slowdown? Evidence Based on Vector Autoregressions

This paper uses a number of simple VAR models for the industrialised world, the United States and the euro area respectively to analyse the underlying shocks that may have caused the recent slowdown. The results of two identification strategies are compared. One is based on traditional zero restrictions and, as an alternative, an identification scheme based on more recent sign restrictions is proposed. The main conclusion is that the recent slowdown was caused by a combination of several shocks: a negative aggregate supply and aggregate spending shock, the increase of oil prices in 1999, and restrictive monetary policy in 2000. These shocks were more pronounced in the United States than the euro area. The results are somewhat different depending on the identification strategy. It is illustrated that traditional zero restrictions can have an influence on the estimated impact of certain shocks.
Dexamethasone regulates AP-1 to repress TNF-alpha induced MCP-1 production in human glomerular endothelial cells.

BACKGROUND Glomerular endothelial cells play a role in the pathogenesis of glomerulonephritis by producing chemotactic factors. We investigated the role of NF-kappa B and AP-1 in tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) induced monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) production in cultured human glomerular endothelial cells (HGEC). We also examined whether or not these processes could be modified by glucocorticoid. METHODS MCP-1 protein and mRNA levels were measured by ELISA and northern blot. NF-kappa B and AP-1 binding activity were assessed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Cytosolic I kappa B alpha and nuclear p65 protein were evaluated by western blot. For specific inhibition of NF-kappa B or AP-1, we used a decoy oligodeoxynucleotide. RESULTS TNF-alpha (10 ng/ml) increased MCP-1 mRNA expression in HGEC and also the release of MCP-1 protein into culture media. These effects could be partially inhibited by dexamethasone (10 nM). TNF-alpha induced MCP-1 production appeared to be NF-kappa B and AP-1 interdependent, based on the following results. (i) TNF-alpha increased NF-kappa B and AP-1 binding activity. (ii) Both NF-kappa B decoy oligodeoxynucleotide and AP-1 decoy oligodeoxynucleotide partially suppressed TNF-alpha induced MCP-1 mRNA expression. On the other hand, dexamethasone decreased TNF-alpha induced DNA-binding activity of AP-1 without an effect on the DNA-binding activity of NF-kappa B, cytosolic I kappa B alpha degradation or p65 nuclear translocation. CONCLUSIONS These data demonstrate that while TNF-alpha induced MCP-1 production is mediated by the cooperative action of NF-kappa B and AP-1 in HGEC, dexamethasone represses TNF-alpha induced MCP-1 production via suppression of AP-1 binding activity.
Text Mining for Central Banks

Although often applied in other social sciences, text mining has been less frequently used in economics and in policy circles, particularly inside central banks. This Handbook is a brief introduction to the field, discussing how text mining is useful for addressing research topics of interest to central banks, and providing a step-by-step primer on how to mine text, including an overview of unsupervised and supervised techniques.
Complete Hydatidiform Mole Presenting as a Placenta Accreta in a Twin Pregnancy with a Coexisting Normal Fetus: Case Report

A twin pregnancy with a complete hydatidiform mole and a coexisting normal fetus (CHMF) is a rare clinical scenario, and it carries many associated pregnancy and postnatal risks. Limited numbers of case studies exist reporting an outcome of live birth, and only three prior cases report the presentation of a hydatidiform mole as a placenta previa. We report a case of CHMF with the molar component presenting antenatally as a placenta previa, which ultimately resulted in placenta accreta at the time of delivery. A live male infant was delivered at 34 weeks' gestation via planned cesarean section, and a hysterectomy was performed following unsuccessful removal of the molar component. We additionally utilized previously described methods of placing internal iliac balloons and ureteral stents prior to delivery. In such a high-risk pregnancy with a known molar previa component, these surgical preparation measures may be of benefit.
Globalisation and Development : The Imperative of Political Economy

The purpose of this contribution is four-fold. First, it seeks to provide an answer to the questions that have recently been posed, if not for the first time, by David Harvey (2000, p. 13). He recognises that globalisation “is now one of the most hegemonic concepts for understanding the political economy of international capitalism. And its uses extend far beyond the business world to embrace questions of politics, culture, national identity, and the like. So where did this concept come from? Does it describe something essentially new? ” I provide an answer to the first question in section 2, arguing that globalisation neatly captures two intellectual trends, the common retreat from the excesses both of neo-liberalism and of postmodernism. Globalisation represents a return in emphasis to the study of material realities, how the world is organised and functions internationally and nationally, and a departure from a virtual world of increasingly free and unconstrained markets and imaginations.
IL-17 Amplifies Human Contact Hypersensitivity by Licensing Hapten Nonspecific Th1 Cells to Kill Autologous Keratinocytes

Th17 is a newly identified lineage of effector T cells involved in autoimmunity and immune responses to pathogens. We demonstrate in this study the pathogenic role of IL-17–producing CD4+ T lymphocytes in allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) to skin-applied chemicals. IL-17+ T cells infiltrate ACD reactions and predominantly distribute at the site of heavy spongiosis. Skin IL-17+ T cells were functionally and phenotypically heterogeneous: although pure Th17 prevailed in ACD skin, hapten responsiveness was restricted to Th1/IL-17 (IFN-γ+IL-17+) and Th0/IL-17 (IFN-γ+IL-17+IL-4+) fractions, and to lesser extent Th2/IL-17 cells. In the IFN-γ–dominated ACD environment, IL-17–releasing T cells affect immune function of keratinocytes by promoting CXCL8, IL-6, and HBD-2 production. In addition, compared with Th1, supernatants from Th1/IL-17 T cells were much more efficient in inducing ICAM-1 expression on keratinocytes and keratinocyte–T cell adhesiveness in vitro. As a consequence, exposure to combined IFN-γ and IL-17 rendered keratinocytes susceptible to ICAM-1–dependent Ag nonspecific T cell killing. Thus, IL-17 efficiently amplifies the allergic reaction by rendering virtually all of the T lymphocytes recruited at the site of skin inflammation capable to directly contribute to tissue damage.