Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Temporal Survey of Polarimetric P-Band Scattering of Tropical Forests

This paper deals with the temporal survey of the tropical forest electromagnetic scattering with a ground-based radar equipment. Installed on the top of a 55 m flux tower overlooking the Paracou forest in French Guiana, a dense primary tropical forest, the radar system uses a vertical antenna array and it is able to provide every 15 minutes P-band complex scattering matrix coefficients. The experiment has been successfully set up and it is operating since October 2011. The main goal of this campaign is to investigate the evolution of the backscattering coefficient and the temporal coherence of the tropical forest at different time scales range. Data are calibrated in relative and processed to take advantage of the largest number of independent looks. Three months of data are exploited in terms of polarimetric temporal coherence and backscattering coefficient in the rainy season and about two months in the dry period. The temporal coherence exhibits daily cycles during the consecutive dry days, whatever the period, and these cycles are perturbed by the presence of rain. Its overall time series appear clearly dependent on the period, dry or rainy, and also on the polarization. The backscattering coefficient time series exhibit also a daily cycle during consecutive dry days, very clearly in the dry period but less pronounced or absent during the rainy period. The backscattering coefficient presents an overall relatively high stability over the full period.
Multidimensional transfer function models

Transfer functions are a standard description of one-dimensional linear and time-invariant systems. They provide an alternative to the conventional representation by ordinary differential equations and are suitable for computer implementation. This article extends that concept to multidimensional (MD) systems, normally described by partial differential equations (PDEs). Transfer function modeling is presented for scalar and for vector PDEs. Vector PDEs contain multiple dependent output variables, e.g., a potential and a flux quantity. This facilitates the direct formulation of boundary and interface conditions in their physical context. It is shown how carefully constructed transformations for the space variable lead to transfer function models for scalar and vector PDEs. They are the starting point for the derivation of discrete models by standard methods for one-dimensional systems. The presented functional transformation approach is suitable for a number of technical applications, like electromagnetics, optics, acoustics and heat and mass transfer.
Determinants of Credit Spreads in Commercial Mortgages Sheridan Titman Stathis Tompaidis

This paper examines the cross-sectional and time-series determinants of commercial mortgage credit spreads as well as the terms of the mortgages. Consistent with theory, our empirical evidence indicates that mortgages on property types that tend to be riskier and have greater investment flexibility exhibit higher spreads. The relationship between the loan to value (LTV) ratio and spreads is relatively weak, which is probably due to the endogeneity of the LTV choice. However, the average LTV ratio per lender has a strong positive relation with credit spreads, which is consistent with the idea that lenders specialize in mortgages with either high or low levels of risk, and that high LTV mortgages require substantially higher spreads. Finally, we observe that spreads widen and mortgage terms become stricter after periods of poor performance of the real estate markets and after periods of greater default rates of outstanding real estate loans.
The Use of PRV-Bartha to Define Premotor Inputs to Lumbar Motoneurons in the Neonatal Spinal Cord of the Mouse

Background The neonatal mouse has become a model system for studying the locomotor function of the lumbar spinal cord. However, information about the synaptic connectivity within the governing neural network remains scarce. A neurotropic pseudorabies virus (PRV) Bartha has been used to map neuronal connectivity in other parts of the nervous system, due to its ability to travel trans-neuronally. Its use in spinal circuits regulating locomotion has been limited and no study has defined the time course of labelling for neurons known to project monosynaptically to motoneurons. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we investigated the ability of PRV Bartha, expressing green and/or red fluorescence, to label spinal neurons projecting monosynaptically to motoneurons of two principal hindlimb muscles, the tibialis anterior (TA) and gastrocnemius (GC). As revealed by combined immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy, 24–32 h after the viral muscle injection the label was restricted to the motoneuron pool while at 32–40 h the fluorescence was seen in interneurons throughout the medial and lateral ventral grey matter. Two classes of ipsilateral interneurons known to project monosynaptically to motoneurons (Renshaw cells and cells of origin of C-terminals) were consistently labeled at 40 h post-injection but also a group in the ventral grey matter contralaterally. Our results suggest that the labeling of last order interneurons occurred 8–12 h after motoneuron labeling and we presume this is the time taken by the virus to cross one synapse, to travel retrogradely and to replicate in the labeled cells. Conclusions/Significance The study establishes the time window for virally - labelling monosynaptic projections to lumbar motoneurons following viral injection into hindlimb muscles. Moreover, it provides a good foundation for intracellular targeting of the labeled neurons in future physiological studies and better understanding the functional organization of the lumbar neural networks.
The Temporal Signature of Memories: Identification of a General Mechanism for Dynamic Memory Replay in Humans

Reinstatement of dynamic memories requires the replay of neural patterns that unfold over time in a similar manner as during perception. However, little is known about the mechanisms that guide such a temporally structured replay in humans, because previous studies used either unsuitable methods or paradigms to address this question. Here, we overcome these limitations by developing a new analysis method to detect the replay of temporal patterns in a paradigm that requires participants to mentally replay short sound or video clips. We show that memory reinstatement is accompanied by a decrease of low-frequency (8 Hz) power, which carries a temporal phase signature of the replayed stimulus. These replay effects were evident in the visual as well as in the auditory domain and were localized to sensory-specific regions. These results suggest low-frequency phase to be a domain-general mechanism that orchestrates dynamic memory replay in humans.
The Effects of Utilizing Behavior Modification Techniques to Reduce Off-Task Behavior

Challenging and disruptive behaviors in the middle school classroom have been identified as an area affecting student performance and reducing teacher directed instructional time. This study used Behavior-Specific Praising (BSP) and School Dollars as a form of incentive to aid the teacher in reducing the amount of strikes for off-task behavior among middle school students in a math classroom. A single case A-B-C-BC design was used with three middle school students to determine if BSPs and incentives (School Dollars) reduced the amount of strikes (i.e., off-task behavior) they received each class period. The results indicated that all three participants responded favorably to the implementation of School Dollars as an incentive. There were no overlapping data points with School Dollars and baseline, indicating a functional relationship between School Dollars and a reduction in disruptive behavior. The use of BSP revealed variable results indicating a positive impact for some students, but there is no one size fits all approach that will be effective for all students.
Statistical Analyses Support Power Law Distributions Found in Neuronal Avalanches

The size distribution of neuronal avalanches in cortical networks has been reported to follow a power law distribution with exponent close to −1.5, which is a reflection of long-range spatial correlations in spontaneous neuronal activity. However, identifying power law scaling in empirical data can be difficult and sometimes controversial. In the present study, we tested the power law hypothesis for neuronal avalanches by using more stringent statistical analyses. In particular, we performed the following steps: (i) analysis of finite-size scaling to identify scale-free dynamics in neuronal avalanches, (ii) model parameter estimation to determine the specific exponent of the power law, and (iii) comparison of the power law to alternative model distributions. Consistent with critical state dynamics, avalanche size distributions exhibited robust scaling behavior in which the maximum avalanche size was limited only by the spatial extent of sampling (“finite size” effect). This scale-free dynamics suggests the power law as a model for the distribution of avalanche sizes. Using both the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic and a maximum likelihood approach, we found the slope to be close to −1.5, which is in line with previous reports. Finally, the power law model for neuronal avalanches was compared to the exponential and to various heavy-tail distributions based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov distance and by using a log-likelihood ratio test. Both the power law distribution without and with exponential cut-off provided significantly better fits to the cluster size distributions in neuronal avalanches than the exponential, the lognormal and the gamma distribution. In summary, our findings strongly support the power law scaling in neuronal avalanches, providing further evidence for critical state dynamics in superficial layers of cortex.
Recognizing Promoters in DNA Using Bayesian Neural Networks

Binary data classiication is to recognize positive data from unlabeled test data that may contain both positive and negative data. In this paper we propose a two-level approach to recognize E. Coli promoters in unlabeled DNA containing both promoter and non-promoter sequences. The rst-level classiiers include three Bayesian neural networks which learn from three diierent feature sets. The outputs of the rst-level classiiers are combined in the second-level to give the nal result. Empirical study shows an excellent performance of the proposed approach.
Periodismo mutante y bastardo

The 20th century ended in 2016. Fidel Castro died in politics. And the journalism could not tell the reality. The great ruin of journalism is that it has stopped narrating democracy, making sense of our times, telling the realities of ordinary people, controlling power. Thus, the journalistic office is an endangered species in the mainstream media that have decided to become political actors that lobby for business interests and have turned information into sensationalism or show business. By doing so, we have reached a world where the value of journalistic information is low and media legitimacy and credibility is ruined. This essay argues that it is necessary and urgent to re-invent journalism and raise some glimpses of where to do it.
Differential long-term medication impact on executive function and delay aversion in ADHD.

The objective was to compare long-term effects of methylphenidate (MPH) and atomoxetine (ATX) on executive functions (EF) and delay aversion (DAv) in ADHD. A randomized controlled trial was conducted. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered at three moments (Naive, Post-1, Post-2). ADHD participants who showed deficits in the naive evaluation (n = 26) were randomized to receive either MPH (n = 13; Mage = 11 ± 1, MIQ 96 ± 8) or ATX (n = 13; Mage = 10 ± 1, MIQ 106 ± 16.5) optimal dosages. Parallel test forms were administered after three (Post-1) and six months (Post-2) of treatment. A control group (n = 19; Mage = 11 ± 1; MIQ = 106 ± 16.5) performed the neuropsychological battery similarly. Both MPH and ATX significantly improved scores in verbal working memory (vWM) (Naive: p < 0.0001, d = 0.75; Post-1: p = 0.71, d = 0.12), spatial working memory (sWM) (Naive p < 0.0001, d = 0.63; Post-2 p = 0.44; d = 0.03), planning (Naive p < 0.0001, d = 0.54; Post-2 p = 0.6, d = 0.18), decision making (Naive p < 0.001 d = 0.28; Post-1 = 0.06 d = 0.12) and inhibition (Naive <0.0001, d = 0.66; Post-2 p = 0.08, d = 0.00), reaching an improved treatment response after three months of treatment in vWM and after six months in sWM, planning, and inhibition. No beneficial effect on DAv and risk taking was found with MPH and neither with ATX. Long-term treatment in range of optimal clinical dosages with either MPH or ATX improves EF, but not DAv in children with ADHD.
Introducing hierarchy in energy-efficient power control games

We consider a multiple access channel where the users choose their best power control strategy in order to selfishly maximize their energy-efficiency. To increase the utilities with respect to the classical non-cooperative game, we introduce hierarchy in two ways. On the one hand, assuming single-user decoding at the receiver, we investigate a Stackelberg formulation of the game where one user is the leader. On the other hand, assuming neither leader nor followers among the users, we introduce hierarchy by using successive interference cancellation at the receiver. For both cases, we study the existence and uniqueness of an equilibrium and compare the individual performance obtained in the hierarchical game with that obtained in the non-cooperative game. An exhaustive comparative analysis of the two games is also conducted. In order to optimize the choice of the leader in the Stackelberg formulation (with single user decoding) and that of the decoding order (in the non-cooperative game with successive interference cancelation), we study two measures of global energy-efficiency for the network and discussions are provided for each case.
AMLCC: adaptive multi-layer connected chains mechanism for multicast sender authentication of media-streaming

One of the main issues in securing multicast communication is the source authentication service. In this work we address the multicast stream authentication problem when the communication channel is under the control of an opponent who can drop, reorder or inject data. In such a network model, packet overhead, computing efficiency and robustness against packet loss are important parameters to be taken into account when designing a multicast source authentication mechanism. The main contribution of this paper consists of a multicast source authentication mechanism based on an adaptive hash chaining structure. Our mechanism tolerates packet loss and guarantees non-repudiation of multicast origin. It adapts the redundancy chaining degree (the amount of authentication information) depending on the actual packet loss ratio in the network. Compared to other mechanisms fitting in the same category, NS-2 simulations show that the adaptation of the redundancy degree allows to save bandwidth, allows to increase the robustness to packet loss and generate an authentication delay required by the used application.
Reading Ancient Coin Legends: Object Recognition vs. OCR

Standard OCR is a well-researched topic of computer vision and can be considered solved for machine-printed text. However, when applied to unconstrained images, the recognition rates drop drastically. Therefore, the employment of object recognition-based techniques has become state of the art in scene text recognition applications. This paper presents a scene text recognition method tailored to ancient coin legends and compares the results achieved in character and word recognition experiments to a standard OCR engine. The conducted experiments show that the proposed method outperforms the standard OCR engine on a set of 180 cropped coin legend words.
Successful Nonsurgical Transfer of Bovine Elongating Conceptuses and Its Application to Sexing

The objectives of the present study were to establish a nonsurgical transfer method for elongating bovine conceptuses and to combine this method with biopsy and sexing. Bovine conceptuses were recovered from donor cows on days 13–14 of the estrus cycle. In experiment 1, day 13 conceptuses were transferred to recipient cows using a standard day 7 embryo transfer (ET) method. The pregnancy rate of day 13 conceptus transfer (CT) is comparable to that of day 7 ET. In experiment 2, day 14 conceptuses were transferred using modified methods (balloon catheters or ET guns with modified sheaths). Using the standard ET method, no pregnancies were obtained; however, when balloon catheters or ET guns with modified sheaths were used, the pregnancy rates after CT were 48.0% and 44.8%, respectively. In experiment 3, day 14 conceptuses were biopsied without a micromanipulator, sexed using the loop-mediated isothermal amplification method and transferred to recipient cows. The pregnancy rate of biopsied conceptuses was 46.2% and did not differ significantly from that of unbiopsied conceptuses. Moreover, all pregnant cows transferred conceptuses following biopsy and sexing delivered calves with the expected sexes. These results suggested that the nonsurgical bovine CT method was comparable to day 7 ET and that this technique enables biopsy and sexing without expensive equipment such as a micromanipulator or specialized skills.
Metapopulation dynamics and spatial heterogeneity in cancer

With the advent of drugs targeting specific molecular defects in cancerous cells [Gorre, M. E. , et al. (2001) Science 293, 876–880], it is important to understand the degree of genetic heterogeneity present in tumor cell populations and the rules that govern microdiversity in human cancer. Here, we first show that populations with different genotypes in genes influencing cell growth and programmed cell death coexist in advanced malignant tumors of the colon, exhibiting microsatellite instability. Detailed, physical mapping of the diverse populations shows them to be arranged in small, intermingling areas, resulting in a variegated pattern of diversity. Using computational modeling of the experimental data, we find that the coexistence between similar competitors is enhanced, instead of deterred, by spatial dynamics [Hanski, I. (1999) Metapopulation Dynamics (Oxford Univ. Press, New York)]. The model suggests a simple and plausible scenario for the generation of spatial heterogeneity during tumor progression. The emergence and persistence of the patterns of diversity encountered in the tumors can be generated without a need to invoke differences in mutation rates, neutrality of interactions, or separated time scales. We posit that the rules that apply to spatial ecology and explain the maintenance of diversity are also at work in tumors and may underlie tumor microheterogeneity.
The disclosure of diagnosis codes can breach research participants' privacy

OBJECTIVE De-identified clinical data in standardized form (eg, diagnosis codes), derived from electronic medical records, are increasingly combined with research data (eg, DNA sequences) and disseminated to enable scientific investigations. This study examines whether released data can be linked with identified clinical records that are accessible via various resources to jeopardize patients' anonymity, and the ability of popular privacy protection methodologies to prevent such an attack. DESIGN The study experimentally evaluates the re-identification risk of a de-identified sample of Vanderbilt's patient records involved in a genome-wide association study. It also measures the level of protection from re-identification, and data utility, provided by suppression and generalization. MEASUREMENT Privacy protection is quantified using the probability of re-identifying a patient in a larger population through diagnosis codes. Data utility is measured at a dataset level, using the percentage of retained information, as well as its description, and at a patient level, using two metrics based on the difference between the distribution of Internal Classification of Disease (ICD) version 9 codes before and after applying privacy protection. RESULTS More than 96% of 2800 patients' records are shown to be uniquely identified by their diagnosis codes with respect to a population of 1.2 million patients. Generalization is shown to reduce further the percentage of de-identified records by less than 2%, and over 99% of the three-digit ICD-9 codes need to be suppressed to prevent re-identification. CONCLUSIONS Popular privacy protection methods are inadequate to deliver a sufficiently protected and useful result when sharing data derived from complex clinical systems. The development of alternative privacy protection models is thus required.
Ischemic stroke patients are biologically older than their chronological age

Ischemic stroke is associated with aging. It is possible to predict chronological age by measuring age-related changes in DNA methylation from multiple CpG sites across the genome, known as biological age. The difference between biological age and actual chronological age would indicate an individual's level of aging. Our aim was to determine the biological age of ischemic stroke patients and compare their aging with controls of the same chronological age. A total of 123 individuals, 41 controls and 82 patients with ischemic stroke were paired by chronological age, ranging from 39 to 82 years. Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip array was used to measure DNA methylation in CpG sites in both groups, and biological age was estimated using methylation values of specific CpGs. Ischemic stroke patients were biologically an average 2.5 years older than healthy controls (p-value=0.010). Stratified by age tertiles, younger stroke patients (≤57 years old) were biologically older than controls (OR=1.19; 95%CI 1.00-1.41, p-value=0.046). The older groups showed no biological age differences between cases and controls, but were close to reaching the significance level. Ischemic stroke patients are biologically older than controls. Biological age should be considered as a potential new biomarker of stroke risk.
Efficient Management of Short-Lived Data

Motivated by the increasing prominence of loosely-coupled systems, such as mobile and sensor networks, which are characterised by intermittent connect ivity and volatile data, we study the tagging of data with so-called expiration times. More specifically, when data are inserted into a database, they may be tagged with time values indicating when they expire, i.e., when they are regarded as stale or invalid and thus are no longer considered part of the databas e. In a number of applications, expiration times are known and can be assigned at insertion time. We pres nt data structures and algorithms for online management of data tagged with expiration times. The algorithms are based on fully functional, persistent treaps, which are a combination of binary search trees with respect to a primary attribute and heaps with respect to a secondary attribute. The primary att ibute implements primary keys, and the secondary attribute stores expiration times in a minimum he ap, thus keeping a priority queue of tuples to expire. A detailed and comprehensive experimental study demonstrates the well-behavedness and scalability of the approach as well as its efficiency with res pect to a number of competitors.