Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
First results from the Very Small Array - I. Observational methods

The Very Small Array (VSA) is a synthesis telescope designed to image faint structures in the cosmic microwave background on degree and sub-degree angular scales. The VSA has key differences from other CMB interferometers with the result that different systematic errors are expected. We have tested the operation of the VSA with a variety of blank-field and calibrator observations, and cross-checked its calibration scale against independent measurements. We find that systematic effects can be suppressed below the thermal noise level in long observations; the overall calibration accuracy of the flux density scale is 3.5 per cent and is limited by the external absolute calibration scale.
A Novel Approach for Computer Aided Diagnosis of Schizophrenia using Auditory Oddball Functional MRI

Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that requires timely and accurate diagnosis. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) helps in identifying variations in activation patterns of schizophrenia patients and healthy subjects. But, manual diagnosis using fMRI is cumbersome and prone to subjective errors. This has drawn the attention of pattern recognition and computer vision research community towards developing a reliable and efficient decision model for computer aided diagnosis (CAD) of schizophrenia. However, high dimensionality and limited availability of fMRI samples leads to curse-of-dimensionality which may deteriorate the performance of a decision model. In this research work, a combination of feature extraction and feature selection techniques is employed to obtain a reduced set of relevant features for differentiating schizophrenia patients from healthy subjects. A general linear model approach is used for feature extraction on pre-processed fMRI data. Further t-test based feature selection is employed to determine a subset of discriminative features which are used for learning a decision model using support vector machine. Experiments are carried out on two balanced and well-age matched datasets (acquired on 1.5 Tesla and 3 Tesla scanners) of auditory oddball task derived from a publicly available multisite FBIRN dataset. The performance is evaluated in terms of sensitivity, specificity and classification accuracy, and compared with two well-known existing approaches. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms the two existing approaches in terms of sensitivity, specificity and classification accuracy. With the proposed approach, the classification accuracy of 80.9% and 88.0% is achieved for 1.5 Tesla and 3 Tesla datasets respectively. In addition, the brain regions containing the discriminative features are identified which may be used as biomarkers for CAD of schizophrenia using fMRI.
Poorer cognitive performance in perinatally HIV-infected children versus healthy socioeconomically matched controls.

BACKGROUND Despite the declining incidence of severe neurological complications such as HIV encephalopathy, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in children is still associated with a range of cognitive problems. Although most HIV-infected children in industrialized countries are immigrants with a relatively low socioeconomic status (SES), cognitive studies comparing HIV-infected children to SES-matched controls are lacking. METHODS This cross-sectional study included perinatally HIV-infected children and controls matched for age, sex, ethnicity, and SES, who completed a neuropsychological assessment evaluating intelligence, information processing speed, attention, memory, executive function, and visual-motor function. Multivariate normative comparison was used to assess the prevalence of cognitive impairment in the HIV-infected group. Multivariable regression analyses were performed to identify HIV- and combination antiretroviral therapy-related factors associated with cognitive performance. RESULTS In total, 35 perinatally HIV-infected children (median age, 13.8 years; median CD4 count, 770 × 10(6) cells/L; 83% with undetectable HIV RNA) and 37 healthy children (median age, 12.1 years) were included. HIV-infected children scored lower than the healthy controls on all cognitive domains (eg, intelligence quotient [IQ], 76 [standard deviation {SD}, 15.7] vs 87.5 [SD, 13.6] for HIV-infected vs healthy children; P = .002). Cognitive impairment was found in 6 HIV-infected children (17%). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clinical category at HIV diagnosis was inversely associated with verbal IQ (CDC clinical category C: coefficient -22.98; P = .010). CONCLUSIONS Our results show that cognitive performance of HIV-infected children is poor compared with that of SES-matched healthy controls. Gaining insight into these cognitive deficits is essential, as subtle impairments may progress to more pronounced complications that will influence future intellectual performance, job opportunities, and community participation of HIV-infected children.
Protostellar Collapse with Various Metallicities

The thermal and chemical evolution of gravitationally collapsing protostellar clouds is investigated, focusing attention on their dependence on metallicity. Calculations are carried out for a range of metallicities spanning the local interstellar value to zero. During the time when clouds are transparent to continuous radiation, the temperatures are higher for those with lower metallicity, reflecting lower radiative ability. However, once the clouds become opaque, in the course of the adiabatic contraction of the transient cores, their evolutionary trajectories in the density-temperature plane converge to a unique curve that is determined by only physical constants. The trajectories coincide with each other thereafter. Consequently, the size of the stellar core at the formation is the same regardless of the gas composition of the parent cloud.
Integrating corpus tools on intensive CELTA courses

In the fields of Corpus Linguistics and Teacher Education, there is a substantial body of research relating to corpus applications in the classroom. However, the majority of such work relates to teacher training in tertiary education. In this article, a research project is described in which corpus training was included as part of a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), the popular four-week teacher training programme. Specifically, the project focuses on web-based corpus tools that provide frequency information. Observations and evidence are offered from both the trainees’ and trainers’ perspectives, and the subsequent analysis reveals a number of trends. Overall, it is argued that corpus tools are a valuable training resource on CELTA programmes in terms of developing language awareness and assisting in lesson planning, but that expecting trainees to use corpus tools during teaching practice remains unrealistic. In the ensuing discussion, practical considerations are provided for the integration of corpus tools into CELTA programmes.
Theoretical analysis of OFDM signals in nonlinear polynomial models

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of nonlinear distortion effects in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system when the signal is passed through a nonlinear high power amplifier (HPA) which is modeled as a nonlinear polynomial model. From theoretical analysis of the received OFDM signal it is shown that the data symbol detected after the decision device at the receiver comprises of complex phase shifted version of the original transmitted data symbol as well as intercarrier interference (ICI) components which can be modeled as a Gaussian nonlinear noise term uncorrelated with the data symbol. Analytical expressions for the complex phase shift and nonlinear noise term are derived. Thus from the derived expressions the output signal to noise ratio and hence probability of error can be evaluated theoretically, avoiding a need to perform extensive simulations. A comparison between the theoretical and simulated results are also presented to verify the accuracy of our analysis.
The most probable string: an algorithmic study

The first author acknowledges partial support by the Region des Pays de la Loire. The second author thanks the Spanish CICyT for partial support of this work through projects TIN2009-14205-C04-C1, and the program Consolider Ingenio 2010 (CSD2007-00018). This work was supported in part by the IST Programme of the European Community, under the Pascal 2 Network of Excellence, IST-2007-216886.
Children's Help and the Pace of Reproduction: Cooperative Breeding in Humans

Because children's ability to support themselves falls below their consumption, human young are subsidized by others throughout much of their growth and development. Mothers, however, who often have multiple dependents of different ages, are faced with an allocation problem (Fig. 1). This has led to important debate about the evolution of a long period dependence and the development of nonmaternal strategies to provision young. This article focuses on the critical role that children themselves play. Because the human subsistence niche incorporates a broad diversity of resources that require variable procurement and processing costs, dependent children can also be important producers, furthering both a need and an opportunity for cooperative breeding.
Accounting for Income Mobility Changes in the United States

Des donnees tirees d'une etude par panel sur les dynamiques des revenus sont utilisees afin d'analyser la mobilite au sein de la distribution des revenus aux Etats-Unis de 1971-1986. Il s'avere que la mobilite des revenus decroit substantiellement tout au long de cette periode. Les resultats indiquent que des evenements tels que devenir membre d'une famille dans laquelle deux personnes gagnent de l'argent, devenir membre d'un menage a la tete duquel se trouve une femme ainsi que tout changement de poste d'un secteur de biens et services a un autre intervenant pour le chef de menage, influencent tous de maniere significative, la position d'un individu a l'interieur d'une distribution de revenus
Multisensory interactions of audiovisual stimuli presented at different locations in auditory-attention tasks: A event-related potential (ERP) study

We applied behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to study the multisensory interactions of audiovisual stimuli presented at different locations in an auditory-attention task in which an irrelevant visual stimulus occasionally accompanied the auditory stimulus. A stream of visual (V), auditory (A), spatially congruent audiovisual (AV_Con), and spatially incongruent audiovisual (AV_Inc) stimuli were randomly presented to the left and/or right side; subjects covertly attended to the auditory stimuli on either the left or right side and promptly responded to auditory targets on that side. In present study, we only investigated the results which were related with multisensory interactions of audiovisual stimuli presented at different locations. ERPs to A, V_Inc which is at opposite locations with A, and AV_Inc stimuli were recorded. The neural basis of multisensory interactions of audiovisual stimuli presented at different location was studied by comparing ERPs to the AV_Inc stimuli with the sum of the ERPs to the unimodal A and V_Inc stimuli. ERPs results showed that main audiovisual interactions were found as a negativity in mid-central scalp sites around a latency of 300ms during the later stage of processing. The present results revealed the neural basis of multisensory interaction of audiovisual stimuli presented at different locations in an auditory-attention task. The study can offer base data for multi-sensor data fusion algorithms and robotics.
Prediction of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in cytologically normal women by human papillomavirusesting

Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing has been suggested for primary screening of cervical cancer. Prediction of future high-grade cervical lesions is crucial for effectiveness and cost. We performed a case control study in a retrospective cohort of women with at least two cervical smears, all but the last one being negative, from the organized cervical screening programme in Florence, Italy. We searched for high-risk HPV in all previous, archival, smears from cases (new histologically confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade II or worse) and in one previous smear from each control (last smear cytologically normal, matched by age and interval (latency) from last smear). We applied polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and the b-globin gene was used as a DNA preservation marker. High-risk HPV was identified in 71/92 (77.17%) previous smears from 79 cases and 17/332 controls (5.12%). The odds ratio (OR) was 63.76 (95% CI 30.57–132.96). Among cases the proportion of HPV-positive smears declined slightly with increasing latency. Among cases, HPV was found in 81.24% (95% CI 69.93–88.96%) of smears with latency < 4 years and in 67.80% (95% CI 47.72–82.93%) of those taken at longer intervals, up to 6 years. These findings suggest that testing for high-risk HPV allows predicting 80% of CINII/III 3 years before the cytological diagnosis and two thirds 6 years before. They also suggest that testing women negative for high-risk HPV at longer interval and strictly following-up women who are HPV positive could be an effective strategy for cervical cancer screening. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer. com
Topology-Aware and Dependence-Aware Scheduling and Memory Allocation for Task-Parallel Languages

We present a joint scheduling and memory allocation algorithm for efficient execution of task-parallel programs on non-uniform memory architecture (NUMA) systems. Task and data placement decisions are based on a static description of the memory hierarchy and on runtime information about intertask communication. Existing locality-aware scheduling strategies for fine-grained tasks have strong limitations: they are specific to some class of machines or applications, they do not handle task dependences, they require manual program annotations, or they rely on fragile profiling schemes. By contrast, our solution makes no assumption on the structure of programs or on the layout of data in memory. Experimental results, based on the OpenStream language, show that locality of accesses to main memory of scientific applications can be increased significantly on a 64-core machine, resulting in a speedup of up to 1.63× compared to a state-of-the-art work-stealing scheduler.
SPARKS 2 and SP3 servers in CASP6

Two single‐method servers, SPARKS 2 and SP3, participated in automatic‐server predictions in CASP6. The overall results for all as well as detailed performance in comparative modeling targets are presented. It is shown that both SPARKS 2 and SP3 are able to recognize their corresponding best templates for all easy comparative modeling targets. The alignment accuracy, however, is not always the best among all the servers. Possible factors are discussed. SPARKS 2 and SP3 fold recognition servers, as well as their executables, are freely available for all academic users on http://theory.med.buffalo.edu. Proteins 2005;Suppl 7:152–156. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Employee Theft Problems with Imperfectly Honest Employees by

Much of the work in agency theory is based on the assumption of profit-maximizing agents who do not have a preference for non-material payoffs. While the assumption of an ‘economic man’ may help simplify the analysis, it is an unrealistic assumption. Recent analytical work in agency theory investigates the effects of the agent’s preference for ethical behavior on the optimal contract in various settings, such as capital budgeting. This paper examines the effect of the agent’s (imperfect) honesty in a setting with employee theft problems. We investigate the question of whether a principal is always strictly better off with a more honest agent. We examine two types of assets at risk of theft: an asset for immediate personal consumption by the agent, and an asset that can be sold or exchanged in the market. We find that the optimal control and compensation vary with the types of assets. For example, we find that the principal will allow excessive personal consumption of the firm’s assets as part of total compensation in a setting where the asset, if stolen, is for the immediate consumption of the agent only. Our result implies that what seems to be the overconsumption of perks is not necessarily a sign of weak corporate governance. We also find that it is not always true that the principal is better off with a more honest agent. Our paper provides empirical predictions as to when we should observe the use of measures to enhance employee’s honesty, such as ethics education.
Treadmill workstations: a worksite physical activity intervention in overweight and obese office workers.

PURPOSE To determine if a treadmill-workstation (TMWS) increases physical activity (PA) and influences anthropometric, body composition, cardiovascular, and metabolic variables in overweight and obese office-workers. METHODS Twelve (mean age= 46.2 ± 9.2 years) overweight/obese sedentary office-workers (mean BMI= 33.9 ± 5.0 kg·m-2) volunteered to participate in this 9-month study. After baseline measurements of postural allocation, steps per day, anthropometric variables, body composition, cardiovascular, and metabolic variables, TMWS were installed in the participants' offices for their use. Baseline measurements were repeated after 3 and 9 months. Comparisons of the outcome variables were made using repeated-measures ANOVAs or nonparametric Friedman's Rank Tests. RESULTS Between baseline and 9 months, significant increases were seen in the median standing (146-203 min·day-1) and stepping time (52-90 min·day-1) and total steps/day (4351-7080 steps/day; P < .05). Correspondingly, the median time spent sitting/lying decreased (1238-1150 min·day-1; P < .05). Using the TMWS significantly reduced waist (by 5.5 cm) and hip circumference (by 4.8 cm), low-density lipoproteins (LDL) (by 16 mg·dL-1), and total cholesterol (by 15 mg·dL-1) during the study (P < .05). CONCLUSION The additional PA energy expenditure from using the TMWS favorably influenced waist and hip circumferences and lipid and metabolic profiles in overweight and obese office-workers.
Maternal Embryonic Leucine Zipper Kinase (MELK) as a Novel Mediator and Biomarker of Radioresistance in Human Breast Cancer

Purpose: While effective targeted therapies exist for estrogen receptor–positive and HER2-positive breast cancer, no such effective therapies exist for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC); thus, it is clear that additional targets for radiosensitization and treatment are critically needed. Experimental Design: Expression microarrays, qRT-PCR, and Western blotting were used to assess MELK RNA and protein expression levels. Clonogenic survival assays were used to quantitate the radiosensitivity of cell lines at baseline and after MELK inhibition. The effect of MELK knockdown on DNA damage repair kinetics was determined using γH2AX staining. The in vivo effect of MELK knockdown on radiosensitivity was performed using mouse xenograft models. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to estimate local control and survival information, and a Cox proportional hazards model was constructed to identify potential factors impacting local recurrence-free survival. Results: MELK expression is significantly elevated in breast cancer tissues compared with normal tissue as well as in TNBC compared with non-TNBC. MELK RNA and protein expression is significantly correlated with radioresistance in breast cancer cell lines. Inhibition of MELK (genetically and pharmacologically) induces radiation sensitivity in vitro and significantly delayed tumor growth in vivo in multiple models. Kaplan–Meier survival and multivariable analyses identify increasing MELK expression as being the strongest predictor of radioresistance and increased local recurrence in multiple independent datasets. Conclusions: Here, we identify MELK as a potential biomarker of radioresistance and target for radiosensitization in TNBC. Our results support the rationale for developing clinical strategies to inhibit MELK as a novel target in TNBC. Clin Cancer Res; 22(23); 5864–75. ©2016 AACR.
The Cellulosome System of Acetivibrio cellulolyticus Includes a Novel Type of Adaptor Protein and a Cell Surface Anchoring Protein

ABSTRACT A scaffoldin gene cluster was identified in the mesophilic cellulolytic anaerobe Acetivibrio cellulolyticus. The previously described scaffoldin gene, cipV, encodes an N-terminal family 9 glycoside hydrolase, a family 3b cellulose-binding domain, seven cohesin domains, and a C-terminal dockerin. The gene immediately downstream of cipV was sequenced and designated scaB. The protein encoded by this gene has 942 amino acid residues and a calculated molecular weight of 100,358 and includes an N-terminal signal peptide, four type II cohesions, and a C-terminal dockerin. ScaB cohesins 1 and 2 are very closely linked. Similar, but not identical, 39-residue Thr-rich linker segments separate cohesin 2 from cohesin 3 and cohesin 3 from cohesin 4, and an 84-residue Thr-rich linker connects the fourth cohesin to a C-terminal dockerin. The scaC gene downstream of scaB codes for a 1,237-residue polypeptide that includes a signal peptide, three cohesins, and a C-terminal S-layer homology (SLH) module. A long, ca. 550-residue linker separates the third cohesin and the SLH module of ScaC and is characterized by an 18-residue Pro-Thr-Ala-Ser-rich segment that is repeated 27 times. The calculated molecular weight of the mature ScaC polypeptide (excluding the signal peptide) is 124,162. The presence of the cohesins and the conserved SLH module implies that ScaC acts as an anchoring protein. The ScaC cohesins are on a separate branch of the phylogenetic tree that is close to, but distinct from, the type I cohesins. Affinity blotting with representative recombinant probes revealed the following specific intermodular interactions: (i) an expressed CipV cohesin binds selectively to an enzyme-borne dockerin, (ii) a representative ScaB cohesin binds to the CipV band of the cell-free supernatant fraction, and (iii) a ScaC cohesin binds to the ScaB dockerin. The experimental evidence thus indicates that CipV acts as a primary (enzyme-recognizing) scaffoldin, and the protein was also designated ScaA. In addition, ScaB is thought to assume the role of an adaptor protein, which connects the primary scaffoldin (ScaA) to the cohesin-containing anchoring scaffoldin (ScaC). The cellulosome system of A. cellulolyticus thus appears to exhibit a special type of organization that reflects the function of the ScaB adaptor protein. The intercalation of three multiple cohesin-containing scaffoldins results in marked amplification of the number of enzyme subunits per cellulosome unit. At least 96 enzymes can apparently be incorporated into an individual A. cellulolyticus cellulosome. The role of such amplified enzyme incorporation and the resultant proximity of the enzymes within the cellulosome complex presumably contribute to the enhanced synergistic action and overall efficient digestion of recalcitrant forms of cellulose. Comparison of the emerging organization of the A. cellulolyticus cellulosome with the organizations in other cellulolytic bacteria revealed the diversity of the supramolecular architecture.
Role of Plasma Membrane Calcium ATPase Isoform 2 in Neuronal Function in the Cerebellum and Spinal Cord

Abstract: The distinct role of plasma membrane calcium ATPase 2 (PMCA2) in the function of different neuronal subpopulations in the central nervous system is not well understood. We found that lack of PMCA2 leads to a reduction in the number of motor neurons in the spinal cord of PMCA2‐null mice and to abnormal changes in molecular pathways in Purkinje cells. Thus, PMCA2 may have unique, nonredundant functions in spinal cord and cerebellar neurons. Our results suggest that anomalous alterations in PMCA2 activity or expression may induce pathology in some neuronal populations, a possibility that will be the focus of future investigations.