Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cosmic Microwave Background Maps Lensed by Cosmological Structures: Simulations and Statistical Analysis

A method for ray-tracing through n-body simulations has been recently proposed. It is based on a periodic universe covered by simulation boxes. Photons move along appropriate directions to avoid periodicity effects. Here an improved version of this method is applied to simulate lensed CMB maps and maps of lens deformations. Particle mesh n-body simulations with appropriate boxes and resolutions are used to evolve the nonlinear inhomogeneities until the present time. The resulting maps are statistically analyzed to look for deviations from Gaussianity. These deviations are measured, for the first time, using correlations for configurations of n directions (n ≤ 6). A wide range of angular scales are considered. Some interesting prospects are outlined.
Is no news bad news? Information transmission and the role of ''early warning'' in the principal-agent model

The standard principal-agent model neglects the potentially important role of information transmission from agent to principal. We study optimal incentive contracts when the agent has a private signal of the likelihood of the project's success. We show that the principal can costlessly extract this signal if and only if this does not lead her to intervene in the project in any way that will influence its outcome. Intervention undermines incentives by weakening the link between the agent's initial effort and the project's outcome. If possible, the principal commits not to cancel some projects with negative expected payoffs. To elicit early warning, contracts must reward agents for coming forward with bad news.
Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout of North Korean Refugees Service Providers

Objective The current study investigated the burnout and secondary traumatic stress of service providers for North Korean (NK) refugees based on the conceptual framework of theJob Demands-Resources (JD-R) model of workplace burnout. Methods A cross-sectional self-administered survey was conducted with a national sample consisting of all 63 organizations in direct services to North Korean refugees. Of the estimated total number of 230 service providers comprising of social workers, psychotherapists, job counselors and paraprofessional counselors, 179 completed the survey, a 77.8% return rate. Results While job resources such as personal commitment to work and organizational support indicated inverse relations to burnout, job demands such as workload, work environment and secondary traumatic stress (STS) showed a positive relationship to worker burnout. The STS were present in more than half of the respondents (51.3%), of which 20.7% of them indicating a severe level of STS. The STS proved to be the most significant risk to worker burnout as it showed strong relations to all three dimensions of burnout. Conclusion Structural issues of chronic work overload and poor work environment need to be addressed to reduce staff burnout. STS is a serious occupational hazard in working with North Korean refugees.
Mining Subjective Properties on the Web

Even with the recent developments in Web search of answering queries from structured data, search engines are still limited to queries with an objective answer, such as EUROPEAN CAPITALS or WOODY ALLEN MOVIES. However, many queries are subjective, such as SAFE CITIES, or CUTE ANIMALS. The underlying knowledge bases of search engines do not contain answers to these queries because they do not have a ground truth. We describe the Surveyor system that mines the dominant opinion held by authors of Web content about whether a subjective property applies to a given entity. The evidence on which SURVEYOR relies is statements extracted from Web text that either support the property or claim its negation. The key challenge that SURVEYOR faces is that simply counting the number of positive and negative statements does not suffice, because there are multiple hidden biases with which content tends to be authored on the Web. SURVEYOR employs a probabilistic model of how content is authored on the Web. As one example, this model accounts for correlations between the subjective property and the frequency with which it is mentioned on the Web. The parameters of the model are specialized to each property and entity type. Surveyor was able to process a large Web snapshot within a few hours, resulting in opinions for over 4~billion entity-property combinations. We selected a subset of 500 entity-property combinations and compared our results to the dominant opinion of a large number of Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) workers. The predictions of Surveyor match the results from AMT in 77\% of all cases (and 87\% for test cases where inter-worker agreement is high), significantly outperforming competing approaches.
Structural correlates of cross-reactive and individual idiotypic determinants on murine antibodies to alpha-(1 leads to 3) dextran

For the first time V-region amino acid sequence differences have been correlated with the expression of cross-reactive and individual idiotypes through an analysis of 12 dextran-binding proteins. This correlation has been possible because of the apparent sequence identity of the corresponding lambda chains. Expression of a cross-reactive idiotype was localized to two residues and/or a carbohydrate in the second hypervariable region of the heavy chain. Two individual idiotypes correlate with the two amino acids within the third hypervariable region that comprises the D segment of the dextran- binding proteins. These results demonstrate that idiotype reagents can recognize two amino acid differences within V and D segments of classical variable regions. In anti-dextran antibodies, cross-reactive idiotypes involve V-region determinants, whereas individual idiotype determinants correlate with D-segment variation.
The Phoenix Deep Survey: the star formation rates and the stellar masses of extremely red objects

We estimate the star-formation rates and the stellar masses of the Extremely Red Objects (EROs) detected in a � 180arcmin 2 Ks-band survey (Ks � 20mag). This sample is complemented by sensitive 1.4GHz radio observations (12µJy 1� rms) and multiwaveband photometric data (UBV RIJ) as part of the Phoenix Deep Survey. For bright K 4mag; total of 177) we use photometric methods to discriminate dust-enshrouded active systems from earlytype galaxies and to constrain their redshifts. Radio stacking is then employed to estimate mean radio flux densities of � 8.6 (3�) and 6. 4µJy (2.4�) for the dusty and early-type subsamples respectively. Assuming that dust enshrouded active EROs are powered by star-formation the above radio flux density at the median redshift of z = 1 translates to a radio luminosity of L1.4 = 4.5 × 10 22 W/Hz and a star-formation rate of SFR = 25M⊙ yr −1 . Combining this result with photometric redshift estimates we find a lower limit to the star-formation rate density of 0.02±0.01M⊙ yr −1 Mpc −3 for the K 5 × 10 10 M⊙. We also find that EROs represent a sizable fraction (about 50 per cent) of the number density of galaxies more massive than M = 5 × 10 10 M⊙ at z � 1, with almost equal contributions from dusty and early type systems. Similarly, we find that EROs contribute about half of the mass density of the Universe at z � 1 (with almost equal contributions from dusty and early types), after taking into account incompleteness because of the magnitude limit K = 19.5mag.
Peer Models : Influence on Children's Self-Efficacy and Achievement

According to Bandura (1977, 1981, 1982), psychological procedures change behavior in part by creating and strengthening perceived self-efficacy, which refers to judgments of one's performance capabilities in a given domain of activity. Self-efficacy can influence choice of activities, effort expended, persistence, and task accomplishments. Efficacy information is conveyed through actual performances, vicarious (observational) experiences, forms of persuasion, and physiological indexes (e.g., heart rate).
Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit issues in Canada

"Delgamuukw. Sixties Scoop. Bill C-31. Blood quantum. Appropriation. Two-Spirit. Tsilhqot’in. Status. TRC. RCAP. FNPOA. Pass and permit. Numbered Treaties. Terra nullius. The Great Peace… Are you familiar with the terms listed above? In Indigenous Writes, Chelsea Vowel, writer, lawyer, and intellectual, opens an important dialogue about these (and more) concepts and the wider social beliefs associated with the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada. In 31 essays, Chelsea explores the Indigenous experience from the time of contact to the present, through five categories – Terminology of Relationships; Culture and Identity; Myth-Busting; State Violence; and Land, Learning, Law, and Treaties. She answers the questions that many people have on these topics to spark further conversations at home, in the classroom, and in the larger community. " -- Publisher's website.
The Effects of Site-directed Injections of Hypocretin in the Ventral Tegmental Area on Maternal Behavior in Mice

Mother-offspring interactions shape the development of the new offspring. Therefore, it is important to study the behavior of the mother during the postpartum period and what drives her to care for her young. Mothers in the postpartum period are in a heightened state of arousal, as they need to be constantly aware of the needs of their young. The maternal brain is altered in order to promote this change in arousal state as well as to perceive pup-related cues as rewarding. Beyond hormonal changes to support maternal behavior (rising levels of estrogen and prolactin), other neurochemicals help to facilitate maternal behavior by increasing arousal and motivation. The hypocretins (HCRT) are neuropeptides that play a modulating role in
Gamma-Ray Luminosity and Death Lines of Pulsars with Outer Gaps

We reexamine the outer-gap size by taking the geometry of the dipole magnetic field into account. Furthermore, we also consider that instead of taking the gap size at half of the light cylinder radius to represent the entire outer gap, it is more appropriate to average the entire outer-gap size over the distance. When these two factors are considered, the derived outer-gap size f(P, B, ⟨r⟩(α)) is a function not only of the period P and magnetic field B of the neutron star but also of the average radial distance to the neutron star, ⟨r⟩, which depends on the magnetic inclination angle α. We use this new outer-gap model to study the γ-ray luminosity of pulsars, which is given by Lγ = f3(P, B, ⟨r⟩(α))Lsd, where Lsd is the pulsar spin-down power, and to study the death lines of γ-ray emission of the pulsars. Our model can predict the γ-ray luminosity of an individual pulsar if its P, B, and α are known. Since different pulsars have different α, this explains why some γ-ray pulsars have very similar P and B but very different γ-ray luminosities. In determining the death line of γ-ray pulsars, we have used a new criterion based on a concrete physical property, i.e., that the fractional size of the outer gap at the null-charge surface for a given pulsar cannot be larger than unity. In an estimate of the fractional size of the outer gap, two possible X-ray fields are considered: (1) X-rays produced by neutron star cooling and polar-cap heating, and (2) X-rays produced by the bombardment of relativistic particles from the outer gap onto the stellar surface (the outer gap is called a "self-sustained outer gap"). Since it is very difficult to measure α in general, we use a Monte Carlo method to simulate the properties of γ-ray pulsars in our Galaxy. We find that this new outer-gap model predicts many more weak γ-ray pulsars, which have a typical age between 0.3 and 3 Myr, than does the old model. For all simulated γ-ray pulsars with self-sustained outer gaps, the γ-ray luminosity Lγ satisfies Lγ ∝ L, where the value of δ depends on the sensitivity of the γ-ray detector. For EGRET, δ ~ 0.38, whereas δ ~ 0.46 for GLAST. For γ-ray pulsars with Lsd ≲ L, δ ~ 1, and L = 1.5 × 1034P1/3 ergs s-1 is determined by f(⟨r⟩ ~ rL) = 1. These results are roughly consistent with the observed luminosity of γ-ray pulsars. These predictions are very different from those of the previous outer-gap model, which predicts a very flat relation between Lγ and Lsd.
Energy-Efficient Resource Allocation in Downlink OFDM Wireless Systems With Proportional Rate Constraints

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), with its own advantages of spectral efficiency (SE) enhancement and flexible resource allocation, is a promising basic technique for fulfilling the ever increasing demand for high-data-rate transmission and various service type support for mobile multimedia communications. In the meantime, energy efficiency (EE) has now become a critical metric for green system design. In this paper, energy-efficient and fair resource allocation is investigated in a downlink OFDM-based mobile communication system. Given a subcarrier assignment, the bisection-based optimal power allocation (BOPA) is proposed at first, which achieves the maximum EE and guarantees proportional data rates for users. Then, a two-step subcarrier assignment is designed to avoid unaffordable computational complexity of exhaustive search. In the first step, the estimated energy-efficient transmit power is found via the assumptions on flat fading and subcarrier sharing. In the second step, the traditional spectral-efficient subcarrier assignment (SESA) is introduced to complete the bandwidth resource allocation among users. Although the two-step subcarrier assignment is suboptimal due to the fact that the optimization is done independently in two separate steps, numerical results demonstrate that its performance is very close to the optimum. This paper also studies the difference between the energy-efficient solution and the traditional spectral-efficient policy and observes that they are similar with each other in the low channel-gain-to-noise ratio (CNR) regime. This observation is helpful and could enable that the energy-efficient design can be turned into the relatively simpler spectral-efficient policy when the CNR is low.
Microglia Control Neuronal Network Excitability via BDNF Signalling

Microglia-neuron interactions play a crucial role in several neurological disorders characterized by altered neural network excitability, such as epilepsy and neuropathic pain. While a series of potential messengers have been postulated as substrates of the communication between microglia and neurons, including cytokines, purines, prostaglandins, and nitric oxide, the specific links between messengers, microglia, neuronal networks, and diseases have remained elusive. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) released by microglia emerges as an exception in this riddle. Here, we review the current knowledge on the role played by microglial BDNF in controlling neuronal excitability by causing disinhibition. The efforts made by different laboratories during the last decade have collectively provided a robust mechanistic paradigm which elucidates the mechanisms involved in the synthesis and release of BDNF from microglia, the downstream TrkB-mediated signals in neurons, and the biophysical mechanism by which disinhibition occurs, via the downregulation of the K+-Cl− cotransporter KCC2, dysrupting Cl−homeostasis, and hence the strength of GABAA- and glycine receptor-mediated inhibition. The resulting altered network activity appears to explain several features of the associated pathologies. Targeting the molecular players involved in this canonical signaling pathway may lead to novel therapeutic approach for ameliorating a wide array of neural dysfunctions.
Improving 3D face reconstruction from a single image using half-frontal face poses

In this work we evaluate the influence of pose variation on 3D face reconstruction from a single image. To this end, we present a 3D reconstruction method that combines a fitting technique and a sparse 3D deformable model to estimate the 3D information of 2D images with large pose variations. For our experiments, we synthetically created 2D images by rendering 3D models from the BU-3DFE database in different points of view. Thus, we have a precise ground truth that allows performing a quantitative analysis of the reconstruction accuracy. Our experimental results show that the reconstruction achieves the highest accuracy when using half-frontal face images, and is also more robust to noise and incorrect facial landmarks positioning.
Magnetic resonance imaging of the bone marrow in hematologic malignancies.

MAGNETIC RESONANCE (MR) imaging has become preferred over other imaging modalities in evaluating disease in the bone marrow. [1][1] [2][2] It is a noninvasive technique that complements bone marrow aspirations and biopsies by sampling a large volume of bone marrow and by providing information that
Children of Homosexuals More Apt to Become Homosexual and Experience Parental Molestation: Surveys Over Three Decades

ABSTRACT In 1996 (Cameron & Cameron), we reported that adult children of homosexuals more frequently reported homosexual desires and sex with their parent(s). Schumm (2015) stated he would focus on “the multifaceted research of Sarantakos (1996) and any research that has corroborated his findings,” but neglected to include ours, though published contemporaneously with Sarantakos.
Off-Policy Reward Shaping with Ensembles

Potential-based reward shaping (PBRS) is an e ective andpopular technique to speed up reinforcement learning byleveraging domain knowledge. While PBRS is proven toalways preserve optimal policies, its e ect on learning speedis determined by the quality of its potential function, which,in turn, depends on both the underlying heuristic and thescale. Knowing which heuristic will prove e ective requirestesting the options beforehand, and determining the appro-priate scale requires tuning, both of which introduce addi-tional sample complexity.We formulate a PBRS framework that reduces learningspeed, but does not incur extra sample complexity. For this,we propose to simultaneously learn an ensemble of policies,shaped w.r. t. many heuristics and on a range of scales. Thetarget policy is then obtained by voting. The ensemble needsto be able to eciently and reliably learn o -policy: re-quirements ful lled by the recent Horde architecture, whichwe take as our basis. We demonstrate empirically that (1)our ensemble policy outperforms both the base policy, andits single-heuristic components, and (2) an ensemble over ageneral range of scales performs at least as well as one withoptimally tuned components.
Peripheral Antinociceptive Effects of Exogenous and Immune Cell-Derived Endomorphins in Prolonged Inflammatory Pain

Endomorphins (EMs) are endogenous selective μ-opioid receptor agonists. Their role in inflammatory pain has not been fully elucidated. Here we examine peripheral antinociception elicited by exogenously applied EM-1 and EM-2 and the contribution of EM-containing leukocytes to stress- and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-induced antinociception. To this end, we applied behavioral (paw pressure) testing, radioligand binding, immunohistochemistry, and flow cytometry in rats with unilateral hindpaw inflammation induced with Freund’s adjuvant. EMs injected directly into both hindpaws produced antinociception exclusively in inflamed paws. This was blocked by locally applied μ-receptor-selective (d-Phe-Cys-Tyr-d-Trp-Orn-Thr-Pen-Thr-NH2) but not κ-receptor-selective (nor-binaltorphimine) antagonists. δ-Receptor antagonists (naltrindole and N,N-diallyl-Tyr-Aib-Aib-Phe-Leu) did not influence EM-1-induced but dose-dependently decreased EM-2-induced antinociception. Antibodies against β-endorphin, methionine-enkephalin, or leucine-enkephalin did not significantly change EM-2-induced antinociception. Both EMs displaced binding of [3H]-[d-Ala2,N-Me-Phe4,Gly5-ol]enkephalin to μ-receptors in dorsal root ganglia (DRG). Using [3H]-naltrindole or [125I]-[d-Pen2,5]-enkephalin, no detectable δ-binding was found in DRG of inflamed hindlimbs. Numerous β-endorphin-containing and fewer EM-1- and EM-2-containing leukocytes were detected in subcutaneous tissue of inflamed paws. Leukocyte-depleting serum decreased the number of immigrating opioid-containing immune cells and attenuated swim stress- and CRF-induced antinociception in inflamed paws. Both forms of antinociception were strongly attenuated by anti-β-endorphin and to a lesser degree by anti-EM-1 and anti-EM-2 antibodies injected into inflamed paws. Together, exogenously applied and immune cell-derived EMs alleviate prolonged inflammatory pain through selective activation of peripheral opioid receptors. Exogenous EM-2 in addition to μ-receptors also activates peripheral δ-receptors, which does not involve actions via other opioid peptides.
Radargrammetric improvements: A multi-window approach

This paper deals with the relevance of using stereoscopic radar images in order to retrieve the relief of terrain. Firstly, the basic characteristics of the radargrammetry are described. Thus, we present the results of the radargrammetric processing using the ZNCC procedure and applied to radar images. These images are recorded by the SIR-C mission over the French Alps. The results show that the image matching can fail, especially in foreshortened areas. So, we expose two different improvement methods using several correlation windows in order to cancel the reconstruction errors. The first improvement take advantage of a multi-window approach to combine information multiplying the correlation surfaces obtained for each correlation window size. The second improvement is based on another multi-window approach that makes it possible to get correlation windows adapted to the foreshortened areas. Finally, we combine these two improvement methods to show that it's possible to make the disparity map more reliable for the first step of the pyramidal scheme.
The Clinical Significance of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment and the Scored Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment in Elderly Patients With Stroke

Objective To evaluate the clinical usefulness of the subjective assessments of nutritional status (Mini-Nutritional Assessment [MNA] and scored patient-generated subjective global assessment [PG-SGA]), compared with the objective (hematological, biochemical, and anthropometric) assessments, and to identify the correlation between the MNA and the scored PG-SGA in elderly patients with stroke. Methods Thirty-five stroke patients, aged 60 to 89 years old, participated in our study. The MNA, the scored PG-SGA and objective factors were evaluated. The objective malnutrition state was defined based on laboratory outcomes. According to the MNA and the scored PG-SGA classifications, total patients were respectively divided into three groups; well-nourished (W), at risk of malnutrition (R), and malnourished (M), and into four groups; normally nourished (A), suspected or mildly malnourished (B), moderately malnourished (C), and severely malnourished (D). Results Mean age and body mass index of subjects were 70.6 years and 22.2 kg/m2, respectively. Twenty-six (74.3%) patients were identified to be at an objectively malnourished state. In MNA, 3 (8.6%) patients were classified as group W, 13 (37.1%) as R, and 19 (54.3%) as M. Total MNA scores and three categorization had mild correlation with objective grouping (r=0.383, r=0.350, p<0.05, respectively). Restructuring into two groups by combining group R and M made strong correlation (r=0.520, p<0.01). On the basis of scored PG-SGA, 6 (17.1%) patients were sorted as group A, 10 (28.6%) as B, 15 (42.9%) as C, and 4 (11.4%) as D, respectively. Total scores and the grouping into four indicated meaningful correlation with the objective distinction (r=-0.403, p<0.05, r=0.449, p<0.01, respectively). There was a significant correlation between the MNA scores and the PG-SGA scores (r=-0.651, p<0.01). Conclusion It is proposed that the MNA and the scored PG-SGA would be useful in screening malnourished elderly patients with stroke.