Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sparse Signal Sampling using Noisy Linear Projections

Abstract : In many engineering applications we choose to view the world (an unknown signal) through a set of samples. Often, a relatively small number of samples tells us all we need to know. For example, the classical Whittaker-Nyquist-Kotelnikov-Shannon sampling theorem states that a continuous-time band-limited signal can be perfectly reconstructed from uniformly spaced discrete samples provided that the sampling rate (number of samples per time) is greater than twice the signal bandwidth. This fact is crucial to the analog-to-digital conversion in signal processing and telecommunications. For a more general notion of what it means to sample a signal, we may consider a variety of interesting applications where the signals of interest are not band-limited. In fact, even more can be said when we consider that sometimes the information we desire is not an unknown signal per se, but rather some function of it. Examples from the past decade include spectrum blind sampling (Bresler et al. [1, 2, 3]), sampling with a finite rate of innovation (Vetterli et al [4]) and compressed sensing (Donoho [5] and Candes & Tao [6], and many others). In particular, the field of compressed sensing deals with the digital-to-digital sampling of signals that are somehow compressible. For many such signals, the sampling processes simultaneously senses (provides a set of samples sufficient to reconstruct an unknown signal) and compresses (the number of samples is far less than the dimension of the original signal).
Opportunistic Autoimmune Disorders Potentiated by Immune-Checkpoint Inhibitors Anti-CTLA-4 and Anti-PD-1

To improve the efficacy of immunotherapy for cancer and autoimmune diseases, recent ongoing and completed clinical trials have focused on specific targets to redirect the immune network toward eradicating a variety of tumors and ameliorating the self-destructive process. In a previous review, both systemic immunomodulators and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), anti-CTLA-4, and anti-CD52, were discussed regarding therapeutics and autoimmune sequelae, as well as predisposing factors known to exacerbate immune-related adverse events (irAEs). This review will focus on immune-checkpoint inhibitors, and the data from most clinical trials involve blockade with anti-CTLA-4 such as ipilimumab. However, despite the mild to severe irAEs observed with ipilimumab in ~60% of patients, overall survival (OS) averaged ~22–25% at 3–5 years. To boost OS, other mAbs targeting programed death-1 and its ligand are undergoing clinical trials as monotherapy or dual therapy with anti-CTLA-4. Therapeutic combinations may generate different spectrum of opportunistic autoimmune disorders. To simulate clinical scenarios, we have applied regulatory T cell perturbation to murine models combined to examine the balance between thyroid autoimmunity and tumor-specific immunity.
Data Management in Interimistic Environments

We address the problem of managing information in an interimistic environment following a disruptive event that results in widespread failures of computers, networks, and other resources. We motivate the problem and discuss the design requirements. As a concrete example of such information management, we present our work on data dissemination in an interimistic environment in which both network membership and data characteristics are subject to continual change. Our methods use low-overhead protocols to determine a suitable method for routing a stream of data. We also present a brief experimental evaluation of our methods.
Development and Validation of the Inclusive Supervision Inventory for Student Affairs

Satisfaction of student affairs professionals and attrition from the field are longstanding concerns (Marshall, Moore-Gardner, Hughes, & Lowery, 2016; Silver & Jakeman, 2014). Supervision and the critical role of the supervisor are well documented (e.g., Cilente, Henning, Skinner, Kennedy, & Sloan, 2006; Shupp & Arminio, 2012; Tull, Hirt, & Saunders, 2009). Ineffective supervision has been linked to lack of support and trust, supervisees not feeling valued, lack of support for professional development, lack of transparency, and poor communication (Cilente et al., 2006; Marshall et al., 2016). Student affairs supervisors play an important role in setting the tone and creating inclusive work spaces where individuals are valued and diversity is embraced (Stock-Ward & Javorek, 2003). While multicultural competence has been examined among various groups of student affairs professionals (e.g., Mueller & Pope, 2003; Weigand, 2005; Wilson, 2013), the impact of supervisors’ multicultural competence on the supervisory relationship has not been thoroughly examined within the field of student affairs. Furthermore, no psychometrically sound or conceptually based instrument exists within the field of student affairs to evaluate supervisors’ multicultural supervision practices. Therefore, we sought to describe the development and validation efforts of the Inclusive Supervision Inventory for Student Affairs (ISISA).
Ion activation energy delivered to wounds by atmospheric pressure dielectric-barrier discharges: sputtering of lipid-like surfaces

The application of atmospheric pressure plasmas to human tissue has been shown to have therapeutic effects for wound healing and in treatment of skin diseases. These effects are attributed to production of UV photon fluxes, electric fields and beneficial radicals which intersect with biological reaction chains, and to energetic ions bombarding the surface. In this paper we report on results from a computational investigation of the ion energy and angular distributions (IEADs) in a dielectric-barrier discharge sustained in air incident directly on cell membranes for small dry and wet wounds in human skin. We found that ion energies in excess of 20–30 eV can be delivered onto cell membranes of dry wounds, and up to 60 eV onto the liquid interface of the wet wound. The details of the IEADs depend on the orientation of the cell membrane and on the relative location of the plasma streamer to the wound. Using results from a molecular dynamics simulation of ion sputter probabilities of typical lipid-like material, we show that prolonged exposure of the cell membrane to such IEADs can produce significant carbon removal.
A Sparse and Low-rank approach to efficient face alignment for photo-real talking head synthesis

In this paper, we propose a framework for practical large-scale face alignment, based on the recent development of Robust Alignment by Sparse and Low-rank Decomposition for linearly correlated images (RASL). Unfortunately, the original implementation is not applicable in large image dataset. We extend this technique to deal with the situation with millions of images, with the aid of l1-regularized least squares. Our proposal is applied onto the photo-real talking head, a challenging application which requires highly precise alignments of faces from video sequences. We verify the efficacy of our algorithm with experiments using real talking head data. Our method attains comparable quality to RASL in the experiments.
Exploring Cortical Attentional System by Using fMRI during a Continuous Perfomance Test

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in eight healthy subjects to identify the localization, magnitude, and volume extent of activation in brain regions that are involved in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response during the performance of Conners' Continuous Performance Test (CPT). An extensive brain network was activated during the task including frontal, temporal, and occipital cortical areas and left cerebellum. The more activated cluster in terms of volume extent and magnitude was located in the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Analyzing the dynamic trend of the activation in the identified areas during the entire duration of the sustained attention test, we found a progressive decreasing of BOLD response probably due to a habituation effect without any deterioration of the performances. The observed brain network is consistent with existing models of visual object processing and attentional control and may serve as a basis for fMRI studies in clinical populations with neuropsychological deficits in Conners' CPT performance.
Effects of Different Local Moxibustion-Like Stimuli at Zusanli (ST36) and Zhongwan (CV12) on Gastric Motility and Its Underlying Receptor Mechanism

The aim of this study was to explore the “intensity-response” relationship in local moxibustion-like stimuli- (LMS-) modulated gastric motility and its underlying receptor mechanism. Based on the thermal pain threshold (43°C), 41°C, 43°C, and 45°C LMS were separately applied to ST36 or CV12 for 180 s among ASIC3 knockout (ASIC3−/−) mice, TRPV1 knockout (TRPV1−/−) mice, and their homologous wild-type C57BL/6 mice (n = 8 in each group). Gastric motility was continuously measured by an intrapyloric balloon, and the amplitude, integral, and frequency of gastric motility during LMS were compared with those of initial activities. We found that both 43°C and 45°C LMS at ST36 induced significantly facilitated effect of gastric motility (P < 0.05), while LMS at CV12 induced inhibited effects (P < 0.05). 41°C LMS had no significant impact on gastric motility. Compared with C57BL/6 mice, the facilitatory effect at ST36 and inhibitive effect of LMS at CV12 were decreased significantly in TRPV1−/− mice (P < 0.05; P < 0.01) but not changed markedly in ASIC3−/− mice (P > 0.05). These results suggest that there existed an “intensity-response” relationship between temperature in LMS and its effects on gastric motility. TRPV1 receptor played a crucial role in the LMS-modulated gastric motility.
UPAYA MENINGKATKAN KEDISIPLINAN SISWA MELALUI LAYANAN PENGUASAAN KONTEN DENGAN TEKNIK MODELLING PADA SISWA KELAS VII SMP NEGERI 8 TEBING TINGGI

ABSTRAK Permasalahan yang dikaji dalam penelitian ini adalah mengetahui gambaran kedisiplinan siswa kelas VII dalam menaati tata tertib sebelum dan setelah diberi layanan penguasaan konten dengan teknik modelling . Jenis penelitian adalah penelitian eksperimen. Populasi penelitian ini adalah semua siswa kelas VII SMK Negeri 1 Tebing Tinggi. Teknik sampling yang digunakan adalah Cluster Random Sampling dan kelas VII PM yang menjadi sampel penelitian dengan jumlah responden 32 siswa. Hasil penelitian yang diperoleh, tingkat kedisiplinan siswa sebelum mendapatkan layanan penguasaan konten tergolong dalam kategori sedang dengan persentase 66,6%. Setelah mendapatkan penguasaan konten persentasenya 77,6% tergolong kategori tinggi. Dengan demikian mengalami peningkatan sebesar 11%. Kata kunci: Layanan Penguasaan Konten , Modelling , Kedisiplinan
Speaking words: Contributions of cognitive neuropsychological research

We review the significant cognitive neuropsychological contributions to our understanding of spoken word production that were made during the period of 1984 to 2004–since the founding of the journal Cognitive Neuropsychology. We then go on to identify and discuss a set of outstanding questions and challenges that face future cognitive neuropsychological researchers in this domain. We conclude that the last 20 years have been a testament to the vitality and productiveness of this approach in the domain of spoken word production and that it is essential that we continue to strive for the broader integration of cognitive neuropsychological evidence into cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience.
Context Sensitivity of EEG-Based Workload Classification Under Different Affective Valence

State of the art brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) largely focus on detecting single, specific, often experimentally induced or manipulated aspects of the user state. In a less controlled, more naturalistic environment, a larger variety of mental processes may be active and possibly interacting. When moving BCI applications from the lab to real-life applications, these additional unaccounted mental processes could interfere with user state decoding, thus decreasing system efficacy and decreasing real-world applicability. Here, we assess the impact of affective valence on classification of working memory load, by re-analyzing a dataset that used an affective N-back task with picture stimuli. Our analyses showed that classification of working memory load under affective valence can lead to good classification accuracies (> 70 percent), which can be further improved via data integration over time. However, positive as well as negative affective valence resulted in decreased classification accuracies, when compared to the neutral affective context. Furthermore, classifiers failed to generalize across affective contexts, highlighting the need for user state models that can account for different contexts or new, context-independent, EEG features.
Students’ perceptions of their teachers’ performance in teaching engineering drawing in Nigerian Tertiary Institutions

There have been concerns about the performance of Nigerian school teachers’ in delivering occupational related courses. However, there are currently limited empirical data on this phenomenon – in particular with respect to the teaching of engineering drawing – to justify further actions from educational managers and policy makers. The aim of this study was to assess teachers’ performance in teaching engineering drawing using students’ perception as indicator of teachers’ performance. The study utilized a cross-sectional research design method with the target population of technical education students drawn from four (4) Federal Colleges of education (Technical) in Northern Nigeria. Stratified proportionate sampling technique was used to arrive at the study sample of 253 technical education students. A specifically designed instrument, the Students’ Perceptions of Teachers’ Performance Scales (SPTPS) was used to gather data on the three performance dimensions namely contextual, task and adaptability performance. The exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis methods were conducted to validate the performance constructs. The instrument has a high reliability of 0.90 based on the Cronbach Alpha method. The result of the analysis using estimation method indicates that students perceive their teachers’ performance to be at a slightly above average level (M= 3.51 ± 0.05 at the 95% confidence level). The teachers’ task performance, in particular, is found to be the least developed among the three dimension of performance while their adaptability performance is the highest while still being less than excellent. The data support the conclusion that there are aspects of teachers’ performance in teaching engineering drawing that is less than excellent and in need of further enhancements.
Comparison of three interactive video games for youth with visual impairments

There is a current trend toward using innovative interventions, such as active video gaming to increase physical activity levels among youth with visual impairments. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare three video games (Dance, Dance, Revolution [DDR]; EyeToy Kinetic; and Wii Boxing) in allowing youth with visual impairments to achieve time (seconds spent during a 10-min bout) in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Participants with complete data were youth (N = 5) with visual impairments aged 10–16 years who played three games for 10-min bouts. Heart rate monitors measured physical activity intensity. A Friedman’s analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine differences between the three interactive video games. Most players were able to achieve time in MVPA in all three games and there was a significant difference in time spent in MVPA, χ2(2) = 7.4, p = . 024, with the most time in MVPA from playing EyeToy Kinetic. This study demonstrated that EyeToy Kinetic, Wii Boxing, and DDR are capable of helping youth with visual impairments accrue time in MVPA.
CD18 Activation Epitopes Induced by Leukocyte Activation

The cell surface adhesion molecule LFA-1 coordinates leukocyte trafficking and is a costimulatory molecule for T cell activation. We developed a panel of mAbs that recognize activation epitopes on the CD18 subunit, and show that stimulation of T lymphocytes appears to be accompanied by a conformational change in a subpopulation of LFA-1 that does not require ligand binding. Activation epitope up-regulation requires divalent cations, is sensitive to cellular signal transduction events, and correlates with cell adhesion. In addition, the stimulated appearance of these activation epitopes is absent in cell lines from patients with leukocyte adhesion deficiency-1/variant that has previously been shown to be defective in LFA-1 activation. Thus, these activation epitope Abs can be used to dissect signal transmission to CD18. Evidence suggests that these CD18 activation epitopes are induced early in cellular activation and are independent of actin rearrangement necessary for avid adhesion. We have also determined that function-blocking CD18 Abs inhibit the induction of activation epitopes. One activation epitope Ab binds to a site on CD18 distinct from that of the blocking Abs, indicating that the blocking Abs suppress a conformational change in LFA-1. We also find that these neoepitopes are present on rLFA-1 with high affinity for ICAM-1 and their binding is modulated in parallel with the affinity of LFA-1 for ICAM-1. Collectively, these neoepitope Abs identify a subpopulation of LFA-1 most likely with high affinity for ICAM-1 and necessary for LFA-1 function.
Novel Role of Sphingolipid Synthesis Genes in Regulating Giardial Encystation

ABSTRACT Although encystation (cyst formation) is important for the survival of Giardia lamblia outside its human host, the molecular events that prompt encystation have not been fully elucidated. Here, we demonstrate that sphingolipids (SLs), which are important for the growth and differentiation of many eukaryotes, play key roles in giardial encystation. Transcriptional analyses showed that only three genes in the SL biosynthesis pathways are expressed and transcribed differentially in nonencysting and encysting Giardia trophozoites. While the putative homologues of giardial serine palmitoyltransferase (gSPT) subunit genes (gspt-1 and -2) are differentially expressed in nonencysting and encysting trophozoites, the giardial ceramide glucosyltransferase 1 gene (gglct-1) is transcribed only in encysting cells. l-Cycloserine, an inhibitor of gSPT, inhibited the endocytosis and endoplasmic reticulum/perinuclear targeting of bodipy-ceramide in trophozoites, and this could be reversed by 3-ketosphinganine. On the other hand, d-threo-1-phenyl-2-palmitoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol (PPMP), an inhibitor of glucosylceramide synthesis, blocked karyokinesis and reduced cyst production in culture. PPMP also altered the expression of cyst wall protein transcripts in encysting cells. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the gspt genes are paralogs derived from an ancestral spt sequence that underwent gene duplication early in eukaryotic history. This ancestral sequence, in turn, was probably derived from prokaryotic aminoacyl transferases. In contrast, gglct-1 is found in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes without any evidence of gene duplication. These studies indicate that SL synthesis genes are involved in key events in giardial biology and could serve as potential targets for developing new therapies against giardiasis.
Facts and transformations in European minority language media systems amid digitalization and economic crisis

This article investigates the reality and variations of the European minority language media systems between 2009 and 2016, a period of serious economic crisis and accelerated digitalization process. To that aim, several parameters were measured: structure of the media systems and changes during that period along the variables of media type, ownership and reach; presence and relevance of major media in each of the communities; number and variation of full-time journalists; and the density or relative weight of the media systems with regard to the speaking population. The 10 minority languages under analysis (Basque, Catalan, Galician, Corsican, Breton, Frisian, Irish, Welsh, Scottish-Gaelic and Sámi) represent a wide range of communities. The relevance of the study lies in its direct comparative nature and in the fact that it thoroughly updates previous scholarly literature, measuring the changes which occurred within the 10 media systems.
Accurate Modeling of Single-Event Transients in a SiGe Voltage Reference Circuit

Single-event transients (SETs) are modeled in a SiGe voltage reference using compact model and full 3-D mixed-mode TCAD simulations. The effect of bias dependence and circuit loading on device-level transients is examined with regard to the voltage reference circuit. The circuit SET simulation approaches are benchmarked against measured data to assess their effectiveness in accurate modeling of SET in SiGe analog circuits. The mechanisms driving the SET of this voltage reference are then identified for the first time and traced back to the original device transients. These results enable the differences between the simulation results to be explained, providing new insight into best practices for the modeling circuit SET in different circuit topologies and device technologies.
Mandatory IFRS Reporting and Changes in Enforcement

In recent years, reporting under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) became mandatory in many countries. The capital-market effects around this change have been extensively studied, but their sources are not yet well understood. This study aims to distinguish between several potential explanations for the observed capital-market effects. We find that, across all countries, mandatory IFRS reporting had little impact on liquidity. The liquidity effects around IFRS introduction are concentrated in the European Union (EU) and limited to five EU countries that concurrently made substantive changes in reporting enforcement. There is little evidence of liquidity benefits in IFRS countries without substantive enforcement changes even when they have strong legal and regulatory systems. Moreover, we find similar liquidity effects for firms that experience enforcement changes but do not concurrently switch to IFRS. Thus, changes in reporting enforcement or (unobserved) factors associated with these changes play a critical role for the observed liquidity benefits after mandatory IFRS adoption. In contrast, the change in accounting standards seems to have had little effect on market liquidity.
Does Korean defeat phonotactic word segmentation?

Computational models of infant word segmentation have not been tested on a wide range of languages. This paper applies a phonotactic segmentation model to Korean. In contrast to the undersegmentation pattern previously found in English and Russian, the model exhibited more oversegmentation errors and more errors overall. Despite the high error rate, analysis suggested that lexical acquisition might not be problematic, provided that infants attend only to frequently segmented items.