Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CERTH/CEA LIST at MediaEval Placing Task 2015

We describe the participation of the CERTH/CEA LIST team in the Placing Task of MediaEval 2015. We submitted five runs in total to the Locale-based placing sub-task, providing the estimated locations for the test set released by the organisers. Out of five runs, two are based solely on textual information, using feature selection and weighting methods over an existing language model-based approach. One is based on visual content, using geo-spatial clustering over the most visually similar images, and two runs are based on hybrid approaches, using both visual and textual cues from the images. The best results (median error 22km, 27.5% at 1km) were obtained when both visual and textual features are combined, using external data for training.
Simulation Studies of Tunnel Field Effect Transistor (TFET)

TFET is proposed as an alternative to Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor. In these devices, tunneling currents are no longer considered as unwanted parasitics. In this work, the device architecture and performance of both n-type and p-type TFETs with a channel length of 30nm are studied. Synopsis® device simulation tool MEDICI® is used to analyze the device performance. According to simulation results, the threshold voltage of n-type TFET and p-type TFET was initially obtained as 1.5V and -2V respectively using constant current method. Then using transconductance change method, two threshold voltages VTG and VTD were extracted from IDS-VGS and IDS-VDS graphs respectively. An excellent ON/OFF performance was also observed in simulation results.
Trade Openness, Financial Development Index and Economic Growth: Evidence from India (1971-2012)

Purpose - – The purpose of this article is to examine the inter-relationship and direction of causality among three macroeconomic variables such as trade liberalization, financial development and economic growth. Design/methodology/approach - – The empirical analysis is based on the principal component analysis as method to construct financial development index (FDI), augmented Dickey–Fuller and Phillips–Perron tests as the unit root test, Johansen’s co-integration test and VECM for direction of causality in the long run among TOP, FDI and economic growth. Findings - – The empirical results confirmed that there exists a long-run association among trade openness, financial development and economic growth. This study has also found that there is bidirectional causality between financial development and growth. However, the causality runs from growth to finance is stronger than that from finance to growth. This study also observed unidirectional causality that runs from financial development and economic growth to trade openness. Research limitations/implications - – The policy implications that could be drawn from the present study is that, initiation of financial reforms to improve the size of financial system would lead to higher economic growth. Another key implication from this study is that because trade openness has no effect on both domestic financial sector development and output growth, it would be better to deploy the resources into creating a sustained domestic demand rather than concentrating more on the external front in general and trade openness in particular. Originality/value - – The study constructs a summary IFD for India by taking into account four broad financial development indicators for the period 1971-2012. The present paper also suggests that it would be better to deploy the resources to create a sustained domestic demand rather than concentrating more on the external front in general and trade openness in particular.
Current Status and Future Promise of the Human Microbiome

The human-associated microbiota is diverse, varies between individuals and body sites, and is important in human health. Microbes in human body play an essential role in immunity, health, and disease. The human microbiome has been studies using the advances of next-generation sequencing and its metagenomic applications. This has allowed investigation of the microbial composition in the human body, and identification of the functional genes expressed by this microbial community. The gut microbes have been found to be the most diverse and constitute the densest cell number in the human microbiota; thus, it has been studied more than other sites. Early results have indicated that the imbalances in gut microbiota are related to numerous disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, diabetes, and atopy. Clinical therapy involving modulating of the microbiota, such as fecal transplantation, has been applied, and its effects investigated in some diseases. Human microbiome studies form part of human genome projects, and understanding gleaned from studies increase the possibility of various applications including personalized medicine.
Neurons of the Dopaminergic/Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide A11 Cell Group Modulate Neuronal Firing in the Trigeminocervical Complex: An Electrophysiological and Immunohistochemical Study

Activation of spinal trigeminal afferents innervating the cranial vasculature is likely to play a role in migraine, although some parts of the clinical presentation may have a dopaminergic basis. The A11 nucleus, located in the posterior hypothalamus, provides the only known source of descending dopaminergic innervation for the spinal gray matter. Extracellular recordings were made in the trigeminocervical complex (TCC) in response to electrical stimulation of the dura mater. Receptive fields were characterized by mechanical noxious and innocuous stimulation of the ipsilateral ophthalmic dermatome. Stimulation of the A11 significantly inhibited peri-middle meningeal artery dural and noxious pinch evoked firing of neurons in the TCC. This inhibition was reversed by the D2 receptor antagonist eticlopride. Lesioning of the A11 significantly facilitated dural and noxious pinch and innocuous brush evoked firing from the TCC. In previous work using immunohistofluorescence, it was shown that D1 and D2 receptors were found in the rat TCC, and here we report, in addition, that D4 and D5 dopamine receptors are also present, whereas D3 receptors are not. No dopamine receptors were present in the A11 nucleus itself. However, the A11 does contain dopamine and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and, by this combination, is distinct from the neighboring CGRPergic subparafascicular nucleus. Exploration of dopaminergic influences and mechanisms in migraine may open up an almost untapped opportunity to pursue potential new therapeutic options for the disorder.
IMPACT OF BRAND IMAGE, TRUST AND AFFECT ON CONSUMER BRAND EXTENSION ATTITUDE: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF BRAND LOYALTY

The study is focused to identify the impact of brand image, brand trust and brand affect on brand extension attitude. Further it investigates if brand loyalty mediates the relationship of brand image, trust, and affect to consumer brand extension attitude. The data was collected through 200 female respondents and analyzed through correlation, regression and Sobel test. Results revealed that brand image, trust and affect are positively associated with the brand extension attitude. Further it is found that brand loyalty mediates the relationship of brand image, trust and affects to brand extension attitude.
Vertex operators and moduli spaces of sheaves

The Nekrasov partition function in supersymmetric quantum gauge theory is mathematically formulated as an equivariant integral over certain moduli spaces of sheaves on a complex surface. In ``Seiberg-Witten Theory and Random Partitions'', Nekrasov and Okounkov studied these integrals using the representation theory of ``vertex operators'' and the infinite wedge representation. Many of these operators arise naturally from correspondences on the moduli spaces, such as Nakajima's Heisenberg operators, and Grojnowski's vertex operators. In this paper, we build a new vertex operator out of the Chern class of a vector bundle on a pair of moduli spaces. This operator has the advantage that it connects to the partition function by definition. It also incorporates the canonical class of the surface, whereas many other studies assume that the class vanishes. When the moduli space is the Hilbert scheme, we present an explicit expression in the Nakajima operators, and the resulting combinatorial identities. We then apply the vertex operator to the above integrals. In agreeable cases, the commutation properties of the vertex operator result in modularity properties of the partition function and related correlation functions. We present examples in which the integrals are completely determined by their modularity, and their first few values.
Sleep and aging: 1. Sleep disorders commonly found in older people

Aging is associated with several well-described changes in patterns of sleep. Typically, there is a phase advance in the normal circadian sleep cycle: older people tend to go to sleep earlier in the evening but also to wake earlier. They may also wake more frequently during the night and experience fragmented sleep. The prevalence of many sleep disorders increases with age. Insomnia, whether primary or secondary to coexistant illness or medication use, is very common among elderly people. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder and narcolepsy, although less common, are frequently not considered for this population. Periodic leg-movement disorder, a frequent cause of interrupted sleep, can be easily diagnosed with electromyography during nocturnal polysomnography. Restless legs syndrome, however, is diagnosed clinically. Snoring is a common sleep-related respiratory disorder; so is obstructive sleep apnea, which is increasingly seen among older people and is significantly associated with cardio-and cerebrovascular disease as well as cognitive impairment.
Politics as Usual? Measuring and Explaining the Extent and Content of Online Campaigning by Major and Minor Party Candidates at the 2010 UK General Election

For many years now commentators have been predicting the UK? s first ? Internet Election? This thesis seeks to cut through the hype by measuring the precise extent of online campaigning by electoral candidates during the 2010 general election campaign. It does so by using an original and extensive dataset that captured personal website adoption and the use and content of social media and email. Data was collected directly from the websites and Web 2.0 tools used by candidates during the campaign and from a quasi-experimental email study involving contacting candidates. By assessing online campaigning from an elite perspective the thesis can engage with key debates prominent in the literature on online campaigning.The thesis poses three questions. The first question asks whether the Internet has become a mainstream campaigning tool for electoral candidates in the UK. The second question focuses on whether the Internet is allowing minor parties to compete on a more equal footing campaign-wise with their major counterparts, which feeds into the debates concerning normalisation or equalisation between competing political parties and candidates. The third question relates to the content of the online campaigns of candidates, and whether the Internet may be changing campaign styles in terms of moving them from a top-down ? broadcast? mass mobilisation model towards a more interactive and engaged form of campaign communication.The findings suggest that although social media was not used widely, personal websites and email use were relatively common. In assessing inter-party competition in online campaigns the thesis finds that although candidates standing for larger parties were more likely to have personal campaign websites, the other online campaign tools assessed here, social media and email, were found to be more equalised on some measures between candidates from major and minor parties. Finally, when assessing the content of social media and email use by candidates, the evidence suggests that online tools may be facilitating a move towards more open and engaged campaign communication. Broadcast mode social media campaigning, where candidates did not accept or respond to comments, was relatively rare. Moreover, candidates who did reply to the hypothetical voters email tended to provide personalised and engaged content rather than solely electioneering. Overall, the findings suggest that although online campaign tools have not thus far led to a huge change in campaign communications, it is leading to a small shift towards more equalised and engaged campaigning.
Optimal Nonlinear Policies for Non-Utilitarian Motives

This paper studies optimization by a principal, e.g. a government or a firm, whose choice among social alternatives is constrained to those it can decentralize, as in the nonlinear taxation literature, but whose ranking of these alternative equilibria is not constrained to be of any special form, such as utilitarian or profit-maximising. Accordingly, we shall define welfare directly on the various quantities arising in the economy, on the consumption vectors of consumers in full detail, without necessarily processing this information in any particular way.
Placental weight in singleton pregnancies with and without assisted reproductive technology: a population study of 536,567 pregnancies.

BACKGROUND Pregnancies conceived by assisted reproductive technology (ART) are at increased risk of adverse outcomes. Previous studies have suggested increased placental weight and increased placental weight/birthweight ratio in pregnancies associated with adverse outcomes. We therefore studied the association of ART with placental weight and placental weight/birthweight ratio. METHODS We included all singleton births in the Medical Birth Registry of Norway during the period 1999-2008 (n = 536 567, including 8259 after ART). We divided placental weight and placental weight/birthweight ratio into quartiles, and calculated the proportions of ART and spontaneous pregnancies in the lowest and the highest quartile by length of gestation. Thereafter, we estimated crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for being in each quartile of placental weight for ART pregnancies with spontaneous pregnancies as the reference. The analyses were repeated with ART pregnancies subgrouped into IVF or ICSI. RESULTS Mean placental weight was 678.9 g in pregnancies conceived by ART, and 673.0 g in pregnancies after spontaneous conception. ART pregnancies were overrepresented in the highest quartile of placental weight and underrepresented in the highest quartile of birthweight, independent of length of gestation at delivery. Thus, placental weight/birthweight ratio was higher in ART pregnancies. For ART pregnancies, the OR for being in the highest quartile of placental weight was 1.37 (95% confidence interval 1.30-1.45) after adjustment for length of gestation, offspring birthweight, parity, fetal sex, maternal age, pre-eclampsia and diabetes. There was no difference in placental weight/birthweight ratio between IVF and ICSI pregnancies. CONCLUSIONS We found larger placentas and a higher placental weight/birthweight ratio among pregnancies conceived by ART compared with spontaneous pregnancies, and the difference was independent of length of gestation at delivery and ART method.
Research into Policy Processes: Bringing Global Evidence on Social Protection into Local Policy Contexts

This project aimed to explicitly learn about and operationalise links between international discourse and national discourses and policy processes. It has elicited responses from national policy makers and other stakeholders in Uganda, and assessed the contextual political and logistical constraints to policy uptake, with a view to supporting any openings to move the agenda forward nationally.
Dynamic and Stochastic Inventory-Routing

The combination of inventory management and vehicle routing decisions yields a difficult combinatorial optimization problem called the Inventory-Routing Problem (IRP). This problem arises when both types of decisions must be taken jointly, which is the case in vendor-managed inventory systems. The IRP has received significant attention in recent years. Several heuristic and exact algorithms are available for its static and deterministic versions. In the dynamic version of the IRP, customer demands are gradually revealed over time and planning must be made at the beginning of each of several periods. In this context, one can sometimes take advantage of stochastic information on demand through the use of forecasts, for example. We propose different policies to handle the dynamic and stochastic version of the IRP. We perform an extensive computational analysis on randomly generated instances in order to compare several solution policies. Amongst other conclusions we show that it is possible to take advantage of stochastic information to generate better solutions albeit at the expense of more computing time. We also show that the use of a longer rolling horizon step does not help improve solutions. Inventory holding costs have a positive correlation with solution cost. Our experiments also demonstrate that higher safety stocks lower the solution costs since customers are covered against demand variations and require fewer visits. Finally, we show that ensuring consistent solutions over time increases the cost of the solutions much more under a dynamic environment than in a static setting.
ATP release through connexin hemichannels and gap junction transfer of second messengers propagate Ca2+ signals across the inner ear

Extracellular ATP controls various signaling systems including propagation of intercellular Ca2+ signals (ICS). Connexin hemichannels, P2x7 receptors (P2x7Rs), pannexin channels, anion channels, vesicles, and transporters are putative conduits for ATP release, but their involvement in ICS remains controversial. We investigated ICS in cochlear organotypic cultures, in which ATP acts as an IP3-generating agonist and evokes Ca2+ responses that have been linked to noise-induced hearing loss and development of hair cell-afferent synapses. Focal delivery of ATP or photostimulation with caged IP3 elicited Ca2+ responses that spread radially to several orders of unstimulated cells. Furthermore, we recorded robust Ca2+ signals from an ATP biosensor apposed to supporting cells outside the photostimulated area in WT cultures. ICS propagated normally in cultures lacking either P2x7R or pannexin-1 (Px1), as well as in WT cultures exposed to blockers of anion channels. By contrast, Ca2+ responses failed to propagate in cultures with defective expression of connexin 26 (Cx26) or Cx30. A companion paper demonstrates that, if expression of either Cx26 or Cx30 is blocked, expression of the other is markedly down-regulated in the outer sulcus. Lanthanum, a connexin hemichannel blocker that does not affect gap junction (GJ) channels when applied extracellularly, limited the propagation of Ca2+ responses to cells adjacent to the photostimulated area. Our results demonstrate that these connexins play a dual crucial role in inner ear Ca2+ signaling: as hemichannels, they promote ATP release, sustaining long-range ICS propagation; as GJ channels, they allow diffusion of Ca2+-mobilizing second messengers across coupled cells.
Interdependence between taxation, cultural values and the role of the state in economic life

The role played by the state in economy is one of the most important problems in economic science. With regard to this role and its importance, it is often forgotten that the state is largely influenced by the cultural values of its citizens. This paper evaluates the role of cultural values in explaining the differences in state tax revenues as percentage of GDP in cross-country perspective. Our results suggest that there is a statistically significant relationship between shared cultural values and taxation (measured by the revenues that are accumulated by the state). Therefore, it seems to be important to take culture into account when designing optimal economic policies and influencing the level of life and well-being.
Gestational Age and Birth Weight in Relation to School Performance of 10-Year-Old Children: A Follow-up Study of Children Born After 32 Completed Weeks

BACKGROUND. Children born extremely premature (<28 weeks) or with a very low birth weight (<1500 g) have a poorer school performance than children born at term with a normal birth weight. Much less is known about children of higher gestational ages and birth weights. We studied gestational age after 32 completed weeks and birth weight in relation to the child's school performance at the age of 10 years. METHODS. We performed a follow-up study of 5319 children born between January 1990 and June 1992. We got the information on birth weight and gestational age from birth registration forms; when the children were between 9 and 11 years of age, we gathered information about their school performance (reading, spelling, and arithmetic) from questionnaires completed by the parents and the children's primary school teachers. RESULTS. The association between birth weight and reading, as well as spelling and arithmetic disabilities, showed a graded relationship, with children who weighed <2500 g having the highest risks. Even children who weighed between 3000 and 3499 g had an increased risk of all 3 learning disabilities compared with children who weighed between 3500 and 4000 g. This association persisted after adjustment for potential cofounders and when the analyses were restricted to children born at term (39–40 weeks of gestation), suggesting that the association could not be explained by a low gestational age. Compared with children born at term, reading and spelling difficulties were more often found among children born at gestational age 33 to 36 weeks and 37 to 38 weeks, whereas there was no relation between gestational age and arithmetic difficulties. CONCLUSIONS. Gestational age and birth weight were associated with school performance in the 10-year-old child and the association extended into the reference range of both birth weight and gestational age.
Gliding Associated Proteins Play Essential Roles during the Formation of the Inner Membrane Complex of Toxoplasma gondii

The inner membrane complex (IMC) of apicomplexan parasites is a specialised structure localised beneath the parasite’s plasma membrane, and is important for parasite stability and intracellular replication. Furthermore, it serves as an anchor for the myosin A motor complex, termed the glideosome. While the role of this protein complex in parasite motility and host cell invasion has been well described, additional roles during the asexual life cycle are unknown. Here, we demonstrate that core elements of the glideosome, the gliding associated proteins GAP40 and GAP50 as well as members of the GAPM family, have critical roles in the biogenesis of the IMC during intracellular replication. Deletion or disruption of these genes resulted in the rapid collapse of developing parasites after initiation of the cell cycle and led to redistribution of other glideosome components.