Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A GLIMPSE into the Nature of Galactic Mid-IR Excesses

We investigate the nature of the mid-IR excess for 31 intermediate-mass stars that exhibit an 8 μm excess in either the Galactic Legacy Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire or the Mid-Course Space Experiment using high-resolution optical spectra to identify stars surrounded by warm circumstellar dust. From these data we determine projected stellar rotational velocities and estimate stellar effective temperatures for the sample. We estimate stellar ages from these temperatures, parallactic distances, and evolutionary models. Using MIPS [24] measurements and stellar parameters we determine the nature of the infrared excess for 19 GLIMPSE stars. We find that 15 stars exhibit Hα emission and four exhibit Hα absorption. Assuming that the mid-IR excesses arise in circumstellar disks, we use the Hα fluxes to model and estimate the relative contributions of dust and free-free emission. Six stars exhibit Hα fluxes that imply free-free emission can plausibly explain the infrared excess at [24]. These stars are candidate classical Be stars. Nine stars exhibit Hα emission, but their Hα fluxes are insufficient to explain the infrared excesses at [24], suggesting the presence of a circumstellar dust component. After the removal of the free-free component in these sources, we determine probable disk dust temperatures of Tdisk≃ 300–800 K and fractional infrared luminosities of LIR/L*≃ 10−3. These nine stars may be pre-main-sequence stars with transitional disks undergoing disk clearing. Three of the four sources showing Hα absorption exhibit circumstellar disk temperatures ≃300-400 K, LIR/L*≃ 10−3, IR colors K − [ 24] < 3.3, and are warm debris disk candidates. One of the four Hα absorption sources has K − [ 24] > 3.3 implying an optically thick outer disk and is a transition disk candidate.
Warp-Level Parallelism: Enabling Multiple Replications In Parallel on GPU

Stochastic simulations need multiple replications in order to build confidence intervals for their results. Even if we do not need a large amount of replications, it is a good practice to speed-up the whole simulation time using the Multiple Replications In Parallel (MRIP) approach. This approach usually supposes to have access to a parallel computer such as a symmetric mul-tiprocessing machine (with many cores), a computing cluster or a computing grid. In this paper, we propose Warp-Level Parallelism (WLP), a GP-GPU-enabled solution to compute MRIP on GP-GPUs (General-Purpose Graphics Processing Units). These devices display a great amount of parallel computational power at low cost, but are tuned to process efficiently the same operation on several data, through different threads. Indeed, this paradigm is called Single Instruction, Multiple Threads (SIMT). Our approach proposes to rely on small threads groups, called warps, to perform independent computations such as replications. We have benchmarked WLP with three different models: it allows MRIP to be computed up to six times faster than with the SIMT computing paradigm.
Mixed Marriage in Comparative Perspective: Gender and Power in Northern Ireland and Pakistan*

The principal aim of this paper is to try to uncover some of the less obvious factors which underlie people's antipathy towards religious intermarriage in Northern Ireland and Pakistan. While people view such marriages negatively in both places, they do not react to them in exactly the same way, and responses to 'mixed' unions in Northern Ireland are much more hostile than in Pakistan. This paper examines the reasons for this and argues that they are not always as simple as they might seem. In a society such as Northern Ireland, it is the dramatic events which tend to demand our attention, and observers often look no further than the big issues of the day for their interpretations and explanations. Without denying the value of such interpretations, this paper suggests that sometimes more mundane, though no less important processes may underlie and exacerbate the forces at work in such dramatic events, processes which for Northern Ireland are revealed by comparison to Pakistan.
Control Strategies for a tochastic Planner

We present new algorithms for local planning over Markov decision processes. The base-level algorithm possesses several interesting features for control of computation, based on selecting computations according to their expected benefit to decision quality. The algorithms are shown to expand the agent’s knowledge where the world warrants it, with appropriate responsiveness to time pressure and randomness. We then develop an introspective algorithm, using an internal representation of what computational work has already been done. This strategy extends the agent’s knowledge base where warranted by the agent’s world model and the agent’s knowledge of the work already put into various parts of this model. It also enables the agent to act so as to take advantage of the computational savings inherent in staying in known parts of the state space. The control flexibility provided by this strategy, by incorporating natural problem-solving methods, directs computational effort towards where it’s needed better than previous approaches, providing grcatcr hopes for scalability to large domains.
Ethosuximide stabilizes sleep-related oscillations and reduces sleep fragmentation during alcohol withdrawal

vi CHAPTER 1: SLEEP-RELATED THALAMOCORTICAL OSCILLATIONS AND THE INSTABILITY OF SLEEP IN ALCOHOL WITHDRAWAL-RELATED INSOMNIA 1 SECTION 1.1: INTRODUCTION 2 SECTION 1.2: EFFECTS OF ACUTE ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION ON SLEEP 4 SECTION 1.3: SLEEP AFTER WITHDRAWAL FROM ALCOHOL 6 SECTION 1.4: THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF PROPOSED TREATMENTS FOR ALCOHOL WITHDRAWAL-RELATED INSOMNIA 8 SECTION 1.5: ALCOHOL, THALAMOCORTICAL OSCILLATIONS, AND SLEEP 11 SECTION 1.6: CONCLUSION 16 SECTION 1.7: REFERENCES 18 CHAPTER 2: ETHOSUXIMIDE REDUCES ALCOHOL WITHDRAWAL-MEDIATED DISRUPTIONS IN SLEEP-RELATED EEG PATTERNS 24 SECTION 2.1: ABSTRACT 25 SECTION 2.2: INTRODUCTION 27 SECTION 2.3: MATERIALS AND METHODS 29 Subsection 2.3.1: Animals and Experimental Design 29 Subsection 2.3.2: Data Acquisition 30 Subsection 2.3.3: Cosinor Analysis of EEG 31 Subsection 2.3. 4: Sleep Scoring 32 Subsection 2.3. 5: Spectral Analysis of Vigilance States 33 Subsection 2.3. 6: Statistical Analysis 34 SECTION 2.4: RESULTS 35 Subsection 2.4. 1: Multiple Intermittent Ethanol Exposures and Withdrawals Disrupt Diurnal EEG Patterns 35 Subsection 2.4. 2: Ethosuximide Restores Altered Patterns during the Withdrawal Period 39 Subsection 2.4. 3: Ethosuximide Restores Relative Power in Low Frequency Bands during Withdrawal 40 Subsection 2.4. 4: Ethosuximide Increases the Spectral Power of the Sleep EEG 46 SECTION 2.5: DISCUSSION 51 SECTION 2.6: REFERENCES 57 CHAPTER 3: DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF ETHOSUXIMIDE TREATMENT AND GENETIC SUPPRESSION OF A T-TYPE CA CHANNEL SUBTYPE ON ALTERED SLEEP HOMEOSTASIS IN RESPONSE TO CHRONIC INTERMITTENT ETHANOL 63 SECTION 3.1: ABSTRACT 64 SECTION 3.2: INTRODUCTION 66 SECTION 3.3: MATERIALS AND METHODS 69 Subsection 3.3.1: Animals and Experimental Design 69 Subsection 3.3.2: Data Acquisition 70 Subsection 3.3.3: Experiment 1: Effect of Ethosuximide on Sleep during Sustained Withdrawal from Ethanol 70
Cell Cycle Control by a Minimal Cdk Network

In present-day eukaryotes, the cell division cycle is controlled by a complex network of interacting proteins, including members of the cyclin and cyclin-dependent protein kinase (Cdk) families, and the Anaphase Promoting Complex (APC). Successful progression through the cell cycle depends on precise, temporally ordered regulation of the functions of these proteins. In light of this complexity, it is surprising that in fission yeast, a minimal Cdk network consisting of a single cyclin-Cdk fusion protein can control DNA synthesis and mitosis in a manner that is indistinguishable from wild type. To improve our understanding of the cell cycle regulatory network, we built and analysed a mathematical model of the molecular interactions controlling the G1/S and G2/M transitions in these minimal cells. The model accounts for all observed properties of yeast strains operating with the fusion protein. Importantly, coupling the model’s predictions with experimental analysis of alternative minimal cells, we uncover an explanation for the unexpected fact that elimination of inhibitory phosphorylation of Cdk is benign in these strains while it strongly affects normal cells. Furthermore, in the strain without inhibitory phosphorylation of the fusion protein, the distribution of cell size at division is unusually broad, an observation that is accounted for by stochastic simulations of the model. Our approach provides novel insights into the organization and quantitative regulation of wild type cell cycle progression. In particular, it leads us to propose a new mechanistic model for the phenomenon of mitotic catastrophe, relying on a combination of unregulated, multi-cyclin-dependent Cdk activities.
Genetic Dissection of Novel QTLs for Resistance to Leaf Spots and Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus in Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Peanut is an important crop, economically and nutritiously, but high production cost is a serious challenge to peanut farmers as exemplified by chemical spray to control foliar diseases such as leaf spots and thrips, the vectors of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). The objective of this research was to map the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for resistance to leaf spots and TSWV in one recombinant inbred line (RIL) mapping population of “Tifrunner × GT-C20” for identification of linked markers for marker-assisted breeding. Here, we report the improved genetic linkage map with 418 marker loci with a marker density of 5.3 cM/loci and QTLs associated with multi-year (2010–2013) field phenotypes of foliar disease traits, including early leaf spot (ELS), late leaf spot (LLS), and TSWV. A total of 42 QTLs were identified with phenotypic variation explained (PVE) from 6.36 to 15.6%. There were nine QTLs for resistance to ELS, 22 QTLs for LLS, and 11 QTLs for TSWV, including six, five, and one major QTLs with PVE higher than 10% for resistance to each disease, respectively. Of the total 42 QTLs, 34 were mapped on the A sub-genome and eight mapped on the B sub-genome suggesting that the A sub-genome harbors more resistance genes than the B sub-genome. This genetic linkage map was also compared with two diploid peanut physical maps, and the overall co-linearity was 48.4% with an average co-linearity of 51.7% for the A sub-genome and 46.4% for the B sub-genome. The identified QTLs associated markers and potential candidate genes will be studied further for possible application in molecular breeding in peanut genetic improvement for disease resistance.
Transport Reversal Due to Typhoon Krosa in the Taiwan Strait

A comprehensive hydrodynamic model, COMCOT-S, has been aimed at transport reversal in the Taiwan Strait during the period of Typhoon KROSA in 2007. The numerical model is originally based on COMCOT, and a parametric wind model with atmospheric sub-model is imbedded in COMCOT-S for simulating the typhoon-induced currents. The transport characteristics through the Taiwan Strait under the influence of Typhoon KROSA were analyzed using both field observations and numerical simulations during the period from 05 October to 08 October 2007 (GMT+8). The re- sults show that typhoon-induced currents did not fully response to the cease of the northward winds after the flow rever- sal, representing the influence of other dynamical forces on the flow orientation in the Taiwan Strait. Typhoon-induced wind shear stress and the water level gradient are found to be the direct driving forces of the southward transport events, whereas the atmospheric pressure gradient is dominant after the southward transport peak. By comparing with six numeri- cal experiments, the result of finer grid resolution is in good agreement with the observed current data at THL1 station near Mailiao Harbor. According to the transport simulation of numerical experiments, the Coriolis force is found to play a dominant role in the transport reversal as well, especially in the north Taiwan Strait. Besides, it is more relevant in the Penghu Channel than in the Taiwan Banks that the Coriolis force makes a negative contribution to the southward transport events. Finally, it's verified that the generation of an anticyclonic eddy near the Changyun Rise would not be reached without the contribution of the Coriolis force to the northward transport in the Penghu Channel.
A selective mnemonic role for the hippocampus in monkeys: memory for the location of objects

Monkeys were trained preoperatively on a one-trial learning task in which they were required to associate in memory a novel object and the place in which it had just appeared. After learning the task to a level of 80% correct responses, they received bilateral ablations of either the hippocampal formation or the amygdaloid complex. The monkeys with amygdalectomy showed a small drop in performance initially but then regained their preoperative level. By contrast, the monkeys with hippocampectomy dropped to near-chance levels of performance and remained there throughout postoperative testing. Both groups performed at better than 90% correct responses on a test of recognition memory. These results, taken together with earlier work, suggest that although the hippocampus and amygdala appear to participate equally in object recognition, only the hippocampus is critical for the rapid formation of object-place associations.
Probabilistic Image Modeling With an Extended Chain Graph for Human Activity Recognition and Image Segmentation

Chain graph (CG) is a hybrid probabilistic graphical model (PGM) capable of modeling heterogeneous relationships among random variables. So far, however, its application in image and video analysis is very limited due to lack of principled learning and inference methods for a CG of general topology. To overcome this limitation, we introduce methods to extend the conventional chain-like CG model to CG model with more general topology and the associated methods for learning and inference in such a general CG model. Specifically, we propose techniques to systematically construct a generally structured CG, to parameterize this model, to derive its joint probability distribution, to perform joint parameter learning, and to perform probabilistic inference in this model. To demonstrate the utility of such an extended CG, we apply it to two challenging image and video analysis problems: human activity recognition and image segmentation. The experimental results show improved performance of the extended CG model over the conventional directed or undirected PGMs. This study demonstrates the promise of the extended CG for effective modeling and inference of complex real-world problems.
Rhythm in Ethiopian English: Implications for the Teaching of English Prosody

In order to verify that English speeches produced by Ethiopian speakers fall under syllable-timed or stress-timed rhythm, the study tried to examine the nature of stress and rhythm in the pronunciation of Ethiopian speakers of English by focusing on one language group speaking Amharic as a native language. Using acoustic analysis of the speeches recorded from four Amharic speaking learners and two Canadian native speakers of English, comparison was made between pitch contours and length of speeches between speech samples of Amharic speakers with native speakers who are used in this study as a point of reference. The result of acoustic analysis showed that Amharic native samples displayed actual peaks on almost all words, taking longer time of articulation. It can be said that acoustic measures the study used for prosodic assessment of Ethiopian English exemplified the most occurring production tendencies of pronunciation that learners should give attention to. English pronunciation teaching to Ethiopians should involve the practice of stressing, un-stressing and rhythm to help learners improve their pronunciation from the influence of the syllable-timed rhythm of their mother tongue.
Benchmarking for Bayesian Reinforcement Learning

In the Bayesian Reinforcement Learning (BRL) setting, agents try to maximise the collected rewards while interacting with their environment while using some prior knowledge that is accessed beforehand. Many BRL algorithms have already been proposed, but the benchmarks used to compare them are only relevant for specific cases. The paper addresses this problem, and provides a new BRL comparison methodology along with the corresponding open source library. In this methodology, a comparison criterion that measures the performance of algorithms on large sets of Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) drawn from some probability distributions is defined. In order to enable the comparison of non-anytime algorithms, our methodology also includes a detailed analysis of the computation time requirement of each algorithm. Our library is released with all source code and documentation: it includes three test problems, each of which has two different prior distributions, and seven state-of-the-art RL algorithms. Finally, our library is illustrated by comparing all the available algorithms and the results are discussed.
The Logic of Interrogation (classical version)

On the standard view, logic is concerned with reasoning, more in particular with fixing criteria for the soundness and validity of arguments . If we apply standard logic in natural language semantics, we inherit this basic trait, and can only expect our logical semantics to have descriptive and explanatory value for the kind of linguistic phenomena that are related closely enough to what the logic is about. Reasoning is just one particular language game. And if we think of our daily conversations, it does not have the same central position it has in logic. Co­ operative information exchange seems a more prevailing linguistic activity. It is reasonable to assume that such a predominant function has a distinctive influence on the structure of natural language, which forms the subject matter of linguistics . For example, it is a widespread (and age-old) idea, that the organization of dis­ course is largely determined by a mostly implicit process of raising and resolving issues, and that even sentential structure, including the intonational contour of ut­ terances, can only be properly understood, if we take that to heart. If there is some truth in this, then linguistic semanticists should be worried by the fact that by and large they base themselves on a logical paradigm that is biased to such an extent towards reasoning rather than exchange of information . As a response to this fear, one might point out that Gricean pragmatics is as much part of an overall theory of meaning, as logical semantics is . And the Cooperation Principle, which is at the heart of it, precisely is a principle of ration­ ality which governs information exchange. Grice proposed to use it in the expla­ nation of linguistic phenomena that lie beyond the reach of logical semantics as such. Among other things, he employed the principle in a defense of standard logic -in particular the truth functional analysis of the logical connectives­ against the allegation that it leaves important aspects of meaning unaccounted for. He argued that standard logic together with the general assumption that we follow the Cooperation Principle does provide us with the means to account for such ad­ ditional features of meaning. Hence, we are in no need to replace the standard logical analysis by some other type of interpretation, we only have to combine logical semantics with general pragmatic strategies to cover the relevant facts . One way to look at the logical investigations carried out in the present pa­ per, is to view them as an attempt to tum the Cooperation Principle as such into the key notion of logical semantics. Instead of centering the logic around the ex-
Revisiting parallel catadioptric goniophotometers

A thorough knowledge of the angular distribution of light scattered by an illuminated surface under different angles is essential in numerous industrial and research applications. Traditionally, the angular distribution of a reflected or transmitted light flux as function of the illumination angle, described by the Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Function (BSDF), is measured with a point-by-point scanning goniophotometer yielding impractically long acquisition times. Significantly faster measurements can be achieved by a device capable of simultaneously imaging the far-field distribution of light scattered by a sample onto a two-dimensional sensor array. Such an angular-to-spatial mapping function can be realized with a parallel catadioptric mapping goniophotometer (CMG). In this contribution, we formally establish the design requirement for a reliable CMG. Based on heuristic considerations we show that, to avoid degrading the angular-to-spatial function, the acceptance angle of the lens system inherent to a CMG must be smaller than 60°. By means of a parametric study, we investigate the practical design limitations of a CMG caused by the constraints imposed by the properties of a real lens system. Our study reveals that the values of the key design parameters of a CMG fall within a relatively small range. This imposes the shape of the ellipsoidal reflector and drastically restricts the room for a design trade-off between the sample size and the angular resolution. We provide a quantitative analysis for the key parameters of a CMG for two relevant cases.
Acute Stress Alters Amygdala microRNA miR-135a and miR-124 Expression: Inferences for Corticosteroid Dependent Stress Response

The amygdala is a brain structure considered a key node for the regulation of neuroendocrine stress response. Stress-induced response in amygdala is accomplished through neurotransmitter activation and an alteration of gene expression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of gene expression in the nervous system and are very well suited effectors of stress response for their ability to reversibly silence specific mRNAs. In order to study how acute stress affects miRNAs expression in amygdala we analyzed the miRNA profile after two hours of mouse restraint, by microarray analysis and reverse transcription real time PCR. We found that miR-135a and miR-124 were negatively regulated. Among in silico predicted targets we identified the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) as a target of both miR-135a and miR-124. Luciferase experiments and endogenous protein expression analysis upon miRNA upregulation and inhibition allowed us to demonstrate that mir-135a and mir-124 are able to negatively affect the expression of the MR. The increased levels of the amygdala MR protein after two hours of restraint, that we analyzed by western blot, negatively correlate with miR-135a and miR-124 expression. These findings point to a role of miR-135a and miR-124 in acute stress as regulators of the MR, an important effector of early stress response.
Between marginality and privilege: gaining access and navigating the field in multiethnic settings

In this article we propose a framework of credibility and approachability for researchers to use as they prepare for fieldwork and write up their data. Highlighting intersectional perspectives from two women and scholars of color, this framework translates the important theoretical critiques of dichotomous thinking (for example, insider-outsider) into methodological practice. We argue that credibility and approachability are not just performed by researchers, but are also perceived by respondents and placed on researchers’ bodies. By conceptualizing credibility and approachability as both performed behaviors and perceived characteristics, we are able to incorporate the researcher’s positionality, the standpoint of the researched, and the power-laden particularities of the interaction in our data analyses and fieldwork reflections for the benefit of both researchers and readers.