Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On Spatial Aliasing in Microphone Arrays

Microphone arrays sample the sound field in both space and time with the major objective being the extraction of the signal propagating from a desired direction-of-arrival (DOA). In order to reconstruct a spatial sinusoid from a set of discrete samples, the spatial sampling must occur at a rate greater than a half of the wavelength of the sinusoid. This principle has long been adapted to the microphone array context: in order to form an unambiguous beampattern, the spacing between elements in a microphone array needs to conform to this spatial Nyquist criterion. The implicit assumption behind the narrowband beampattern is that one may use linearity and Fourier analysis to describe the response of the array to an arbitrary wideband plane wave. In this paper, this assumption is analyzed. A formula for the broadband beampattern is derived. It is shown that in order to quantify the spatial filtering abilities of a broadband array, the incoming signal's bifrequency spectrum must be taken into account, particularly for nonstationary signals such as speech. Multi-dimensional Fourier analysis is then employed to derive the broadband spatial transform, which is shown to be the limiting case of the broadband beampattern as the number of sensors tends to infinity. The conditions for aliasing in broadband arrays are then determined by analyzing the effect of computing the broadband spatial transform with a discrete spatial aperture. It is revealed that the spatial Nyquist criterion has little importance for microphone arrays. Finally, simulation results show that the well-known steered response power (SRP) method is formulated with respect to stationary signals, and that modifications are necessary to properly form steered beams in nonstationary signal environments.
The impact of joint routing and link scheduling on the performance of wireless mesh networks

Increasing the capacity of wireless mesh networks has motivated numerous studies. In this context, link scheduling has been one of the most investigated mechanisms. However, the isolated use of scheduling mechanisms does not guarantee a significant increase in capacity independently of the routes followed by traffic. For this reason, the use of cross-layer optimization techniques involving joint use of scheduling and routing has been recommended in the literature. This paper demonstrates the loss of efficiency caused by the lack of interaction between these two mechanisms. Then, a joint mechanism is proposed, evaluated and compared through simulations. Results show the gains obtained by using this approach.
Three-Dimensional Topography of Corticopontine Projections from Rat Barrel Cortex: Correlations with Corticostriatal Organization

Subcortical re-entrant projection systems connecting cerebral cortical areas with the basal ganglia and cerebellum are topographically specific and therefore considered to be parallel circuits or “closed loops. ” The precision of projections within these circuits, however, has not been characterized sufficiently to indicate whether cortical signals are integrated within or among presumed compartments. To address this issue, we studied the first link of the rat cortico-ponto-cerebellar pathway with anterograde axonal tracing from physiologically defined, individual whisker “barrels” of the primary somatosensory cortex (SI). The labeled axons in the pontine nuclei formed several, sharply delineated clusters. Dual tracer injections into different SI whisker barrels gave rise to partly overlapping, paired clusters, indicating somatotopic specificity. Three-dimensional reconstructions revealed that the clusters were components of concentrically organized lamellar subspaces. Whisker barrels in the same row projected to different pontine lamellae (side by side), the somatotopic representation of which followed an inside-out sequence. By contrast, whisker barrels from separate rows projected to clusters located within the same lamellar subspace (end to end). In the neostriatum, this lamellar topography was the opposite, with barrels in the same row contacting different parts of the same lamellar subspace (end to end). The degree of overlap among pontine clusters varied as a function of the proximity of the cortical injections. Furthermore, corticopontine overlap was higher among projections from barrels in the same row than among projections from different whisker barrel rows. This anisotropy was the same in the corticostriatal projection. These findings have important implications for understanding convergence and local integration in somatosensory-related subcortical circuits.
Finding Cooperative (tag-based) Stereotypes with Semi-Automated Searching.

An Artificial Society model in which cooperation between agents is mediated by stereotypes is presented. The stereotypes evolve memetically via “cultural learning”. The model specifies a large number of exogenous parameters. Two methods of exploring this very large parameter space are applied in the search for regions that produce high levels of agent cooperation. A region is located in which a novel cooperation process is identified based on the formation of agent “tag” groups.
CDC7/DBF4 Functions in the Translesion Synthesis Branch of the RAD6 Epistasis Group in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

CDC7 and DBF4 encode the essential Cdc7-Dbf4 protein kinase required for DNA replication in eukaryotes from yeast to human. Cdc7-Dbf4 is also required for DNA damage-induced mutagenesis, one of several postreplicational DNA damage tolerance mechanisms mediated by the RAD6 epistasis group. Several genes have been determined to function in separate branches within this group, including RAD5, REV3/REV7 (Pol ζ), RAD30 (Pol η), and POL30 (PCNA). An extensive genetic analysis of the interactions between CDC7 and REV3, RAD30, RAD5, or POL30 in response to DNA damage was done to determine its role in the RAD6 pathway. CDC7, RAD5, POL30, and RAD30 were found to constitute four separate branches of the RAD6 epistasis group in response to UV and MMS exposure. CDC7 is also shown to function separately from REV3 in response to MMS. However, they belong in the same pathway in response to UV. We propose that the Cdc7-Dbf4 kinase associates with components of the translesion synthesis pathway and that this interaction is dependent upon the type of DNA damage. Finally, activation of the DNA damage checkpoint and the resulting cell cycle delay is intact in cdc7Δ mcm5-bob1 cells, suggesting a direct role for CDC7 in DNA repair/damage tolerance.
Are 2-Year Colleges the Key? Institutional Variation and the Gender Gap in Undergraduate STEM Degrees

ABSTRACT Studies of gender gaps in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) higher education have rarely considered 2-year colleges, despite the fact that most enrollees are women. Situated in an interdisciplinary literature on gender and inequality in students’ pathways to STEM higher education, this study used Beginning Postsecondary Students:2004/2009 nationally representative panel data on 5,210 undergraduate students. The primary research question posed was: How does initial college type influence the gender gap in STEM undergraduate degrees? First, we describe and illustrate distinct patterns in the degrees earned by men and women who initially enroll in 2-year and 4-year institutions. Leveraging rich control measures, we estimated a series of multivariate logistic regressions to robustly estimate gender gaps in non-STEM, social/behavioral sciences, life sciences, and natural/engineering sciences degree fields. Results from these degree clusters were distinct and underscored the limitations of “STEM” as an umbrella category. College type was more influential on the life sciences and social/behavioral sciences; effects on natural/engineering sciences degrees were experienced primarily by men, especially among baccalaureate degree earners. Gender gaps among life sciences and natural/engineering sciences bachelor’s degree earners were wider among initial 2-year students (favoring women and men, respectively). The discussion contextualizes and offers implications from our findings.
Sponsors of Pleasure: Wide Reading Re-imagined Through Social Curation

ABSTRACT This article moves beyond book-based school ‘wide reading’ to propose constellations of multimodal media, including music videos, fashion parades, literary works, online games and material artefacts, along with associated pedagogies, as sponsors of pleasure. The article, based on empirical research with teachers in an Australian secondary school, proposes how the pleasure teachers experience in textual curation and research during curriculum planning might inform understandings of what reading might be for students. The author also considers the barriers to recognising diverse texts as having merit for study. Featuring Mattel’s Barbie, Kanye West and Andy Warhol, the article demonstrates how curation can inspire a vibrant reading fan culture and asks how teachers and students can negotiate or co-design ‘reading for pleasure’ curricula that make meaningful use of learner desires to seek collaboratively and collate creatively traces of meaning across media. Reading is an inevitable, spontaneous and enjoyable aspect of these practices.
Extremal functions for rooted minors

The graph G contains a graph H as a minor if there exist pairwise disjoint sets {Si ⊆ V(G)|i = 1,…,|V(H)|} such that for every i, G[Si] is a connected subgraph and for every edge uv in H, there exists an edge of G with one end in Su and the other end in Sv. A rooted H minor in G is a minor where each Si of the minor contains a predetermined xi ∈ V(G). We prove that if the constant c is such that every graph on n vertices with cn edges contains an H minor, then every |V(H)|‐connected graph G with (9c + 26,833|V(H)|)|V(G)| edges contains a rooted H minor for every choice of vertices {x1,…,x|V(H)|} ⊆ V(G). The proof methodology is sufficiently robust to find the exact extremal function for an infinite family of rooted bipartite minors previously studied by Jørgensen, Kawarabayashi, and Böhme and Mohar. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory 58:159–178, 2008
The Role Psychological Contract Plays in Organizational Behaviour: A Case Study of a Public University in Ghana

This paper examined the role of psychological contract on organisational behaviour and organisational commitment. A case study approach of research design was adopted in gathering data from 65 respondents from a public university in Ghana. Stratified random sampling method was employed to group the respondents into strata. Purposive sampling method was then employed to select the respondents for the study. The field data was analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Results from the study showed that commitment between employer and employees depend on the fulfilment of the perceived expectations between the two parties. Again, the study pointed out that majority of the employees would leave the organisation if their perceived expectations were not met. The study recommended that aside the written conditions of contract, employees must behave appropriately so that they will get the best from management.
Pointwise assessment of quality of signal reconstruction from a finite set of arbitrarily distributed samples

A method of assessing the quality of signal reconstruction is presented. The proposed tool, reliability of signal reconstruction, provides a quantitative measure of the quality of signal reconstruction by using the layout of the sampling instants and the spectrum support function of the sampled signal. For each time instant, the reliability function reveals the scale of potential imperfections in signal reconstruction resulting from limited provision of signal samples, their distribution (such as gaps and clusters) as well as aliasing. The method is applicable to both uniform and nonuniform sampling schemes.
Quinolones: from antibiotics to autoinducers

Since quinine was first isolated, animals, plants and microorganisms producing a wide variety of quinolone compounds have been discovered, several of which possess medicinally interesting properties ranging from antiallergenic and anticancer to antimicrobial activities. Over the years, these have served in the development of many synthetic drugs, including the successful fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Pseudomonas aeruginosa and related bacteria produce a number of 2-alkyl-4(1H)-quinolones, some of which exhibit antimicrobial activity. However, quinolones such as the Pseudomonas quinolone signal and 2-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline act as quorum-sensing signal molecules, controlling the expression of many virulence genes as a function of cell population density. Here, we review selectively this extensive family of bicyclic compounds, from natural and synthetic antimicrobials to signalling molecules, with a special emphasis on the biology of P. aeruginosa. In particular, we review their nomenclature and biochemistry, their multiple properties as membrane-interacting compounds, inhibitors of the cytochrome bc1 complex and iron chelators, as well as the regulation of their biosynthesis and their integration into the intricate quorum-sensing regulatory networks governing virulence and secondary metabolite gene expression.
Predicting Success on High-Stakes Math Tests From Preschool Math Measures Among Children From Low-Income Homes

State-mandated tests have taken center stage for assessing student learning and for holding teachers and students accountable for achieving adequate progress. What types of early knowledge predict performance on these tests, especially among low-income children who are at risk for poor performance? We report on a longitudinal study of 519 low-income American children ages 5–12, with a focus on mathematics performance. We found that nonsymbolic quantity knowledge and repeating pattern knowledge at the end of preschool were reliable predictors of performance on standards-based high-stakes tests across three different grade levels (4th–6th grade), over and above other math and academic skills. Further, these effects of preschool math knowledge were partially mediated through symbolic mapping and calculation knowledge at the end of 1st grade. These findings suggest that nonsymbolic quantity knowledge and repeating pattern knowledge prior to formal schooling are valuable indicators of low-income children’s performance on high-stakes state math tests in the middle grades.
ATMOSPHERIC RETRIEVAL FOR SUPER-EARTHS: UNIQUELY CONSTRAINING THE ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION WITH TRANSMISSION SPECTROSCOPY

We present a retrieval method based on Bayesian analysis to infer the atmospheric compositions and surface or cloud-top pressures from transmission spectra of exoplanets with general compositions. In this study, we identify what can unambiguously be determined about the atmospheres of exoplanets from their transmission spectra by applying the retrieval method to synthetic observations of the super-Earth GJ 1214b. Our approach to inferring constraints on atmospheric parameters is to compute their joint and marginal posterior probability distributions using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo technique in a parallel tempering scheme. A new atmospheric parameterization is introduced that is applicable to general atmospheres in which the main constituent is not known a priori and clouds may be present. Our main finding is that a unique constraint of the mixing ratios of the absorbers and two spectrally inactive gases (such as N2 and primordial H2+ He) is possible if the observations are sufficient to quantify both (1) the broadband transit depths in at least one absorption feature for each absorber and (2) the slope and strength of the molecular Rayleigh scattering signature. A second finding is that the surface pressure or cloud-top pressure can be quantified if a surface or cloud deck is present at low optical depth. A third finding is that the mean molecular mass can be constrained by measuring either the Rayleigh scattering slope or the shapes of the absorption features, thus enabling one to distinguish between cloudy hydrogen-rich atmospheres and high mean molecular mass atmospheres. We conclude, however, that without the signature of molecular Rayleigh scattering—even with robustly detected infrared absorption features (>10σ)—there is no reliable way to tell from the transmission spectrum whether the absorber is a main constituent of the atmosphere or just a minor species with a mixing ratio of Xabs < 0.1%. The retrieval method leads us to a conceptual picture of which details in transmission spectra are essential for unique characterizations of well-mixed exoplanet atmospheres.
Advances in Virus-Directed Therapeutics against Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated Malignancies

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the causal agent in the etiology of Burkitt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma and is also associated with multiple human malignancies, including Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease, as well as sporadic cancers of other tissues. A causal relationship of EBV to these latter malignancies remains controversial, although the episomic EBV genome in most of these cancers is clonal, suggesting infection very early in the development of the tumor and a possible role for EBV in the genesis of these diseases. Furthermore, the prognosis of these tumors is invariably poor when EBV is present, compared to their EBV-negative counterparts. The physical presence of EBV in these tumors represents a potential “tumor-specific” target for therapeutic approaches. While treatment options for other types of herpesvirus infections have evolved and improved over the last two decades, however, therapies directed at EBV have lagged. A major constraint to pharmacological intervention is the shift from lytic infection to a latent pattern of gene expression, which persists in those tumors associated with the virus. In this paper we provide a brief account of new virus-targeted therapeutic approaches against EBV-associated malignancies.
On the hardware-software partitioning problem: System modeling and partitioning techniques

This paper presents an in-depth study of several system partitioning procedures. It is based on the appropriate formulation of a general system model, being therefore independent of either the particular co-design problem or the specific partitioning procedure. The techniques under study are a knowledge-based system and three classical circuit partitioning algorithms (Simulated Annealing, Kernighan&Lin and Hierarchical Clustering). The former has been entirely proposed by the authors in previous works while the later have been properly extended to deal with system level issues. We will show how the way the problem is solved biases the results obtained, regarding both quality and convergence rate. Consequently it is extremely important to choose the most suitable technique for the particular co-design problem that is being confronted.
The Distress and the Meaning Making of Divorced Abused Arab Women in Israel

ABSTRACT Women’s divorce in the Arab society in Israel goes against patriarchal social values. The aim of this research is to explore the meaning that abused Arab women gave to their divorce. The present study based on interviews with 13 women, who had been divorced for 2 to 5 years. Analysis revealed that the women perceived their coping as navigation between the cost of stigma and familial and social distress, and the gains of their connection to sources of strength and self-worth. The discussion based on the interviewees’ existential experience their self-identity as meaning makers and choosers.
Provided for Non-commercial Research and Educational Use Only. Not for Reproduction, Distribution or Commercial Use. Author's Personal Copy Teleconnections

benefit and for the benefit of the author's institution, for non-commercial research, and educational use. This includes without limitation use in instruction at your institution, distribution to specific colleagues, and providing a copy to your institution's administrator. All other uses, reproduction and distribution, including without limitation commercial reprints, selling or licensing copies or access, or posting on open internet sites, your personal or institution's website or repository, are prohibited. For exceptions, permission may be sought for such use through Elsevier's permissions site at: Synopsis Teleconnections refer to the climate variability links between non-contiguous geographic regions. Teleconnection patterns are extracted from analysis of the sea-level/tropospheric pressure variations on monthly (and weekly) timescales. The methods used in extraction of teleconnection patterns are discussed and applied to recent period data. Teleconnections are especially well-developed in Northern winter, when they strongly influence subseasonal variability, notably, in surface temperature and precipitation; the stratospheric and SST links are also noted. The patterns in boreal summer are shown, as are Southern Hemisphere teleconnections. Aspects of tropical–extratropical teleconnections are discussed, along with the relationship between annular modes and teleconnections. Finally, a teleconnection analysis with pentad (5-day averaged) data is presented to initiate discussion of teleconnection evolution.
Bacterial Diversity Analysis of Huanglongbing Pathogen-Infected Citrus, Using PhyloChip Arrays and 16S rRNA Gene Clone Library Sequencing

ABSTRACT The bacterial diversity associated with citrus leaf midribs was characterized for citrus groves that contained the Huanglongbing (HLB) pathogen, which has yet to be cultivated in vitro. We employed a combination of high-density phylogenetic 16S rRNA gene microarrays and 16S rRNA gene clone library sequencing to determine the microbial community composition for symptomatic and asymptomatic citrus midribs. Our results revealed that citrus leaf midribs can support a diversity of microbes. PhyloChip analysis indicated that 47 orders of bacteria in 15 phyla were present in the citrus leaf midribs, while 20 orders in 8 phyla were observed with the cloning and sequencing method. PhyloChip arrays indicated that nine taxa were significantly more abundant in symptomatic midribs than in asymptomatic midribs. “Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” was detected at a very low level in asymptomatic plants but was over 200 times more abundant in symptomatic plants. The PhyloChip analysis results were further verified by sequencing 16S rRNA gene clone libraries, which indicated the dominance of “Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” in symptomatic leaves. These data implicate “Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” as the pathogen responsible for HLB disease.
Unfogging the future: investigating a strengths-based program to build capacity and resilience in parents with mental illness

ABSTRACT Objective: This paper presents a case study of a strength-based and recovery-focused parenting program designed for parents with a mental illness. Method: The face-face program was delivered at a regional health organisation in Victoria, Australia and consisted of interactive and reflective weekly modules. Data were gathered using an interpretivist case study design, using a small sample of 4 parents and 2 program facilitators. Participating parents completed weekly reflective activities and program facilitators were interviewed about the implementation of the program. Results: Findings indicated that parents particularly valued the opportunity to meet with other parents with a mental illness and found aspects of the program covering communication strategies, reducing stress and setting routines most useful. Strengths identified by facilitators included increased group cohesion and flexibility in the program which could be adapted to the group's needs. Discussion: While recruitment to the program was difficult, this was possibly due to stigma around mental illness. However, although participant numbers were low, a small group size allowed for a personalised and tailored implementation of the program, meeting the particular needs of each parent.