Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling of Breakdown-Limited Endurance in Spin-Transfer Torque Magnetic Memory Under Pulsed Cycling Regime

Perpendicular spin-transfer torque (p-STT) magnetic memory is gaining increasing interest as a candidate for storage-class memory, embedded memory, and possible replacement of static/dynamic memory. All these applications require extended cycling endurance, which should be based on a solid understanding and accurate modeling of the endurance failure mechanisms in the p-STT device. This paper addresses cycling endurance of p-STT memory under pulsed electrical switching. We show that endurance is limited by the dielectric breakdown of the magnetic tunnel junction stack, and we model endurance lifetime by the physical mechanisms leading to dielectric breakdown. The model predicts STT endurance as a function of applied voltage, pulsewidth, pulse polarity, and delay time between applied pulses. The dependence of the endurance on sample area is finally discussed.
Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells Are Depleted and Exhibit Altered Chemokine Receptor Expression and Elevated Granulocyte Macrophage-Colony Stimulating Factor Production During End-Stage Renal Disease

Background End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is associated with an increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, including infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells recognize vitamin B metabolites produced by many bacterial species, including Mtb, and may play an important role in providing protective immunity against tuberculosis infection in the lung. To date, little is known about MAIT cell frequency, phenotype, or function in ESRD patients. Methods MAIT cells, identified by surface marker expression or MR1 tetramer binding, were characterized in 20 ESRD and 20 healthy control participants by multicolor flow cytometry. Ex vivo MAIT cell phenotype and cytokine production following PMA/ionomycin, IL-12/IL-18, or Escherichia coli stimulation were determined. Monocyte phenotype and plasma C-reactive protein/inflammatory cytokine levels were quantified by flow cytometry, ELISA, and multiplex bead array. Results Peripheral blood MAIT cells were significantly depleted among ESRD patients compared to controls by both phenotypic and tetramer analysis and exhibited a loss of CXCR3 expression coupled to increased expression of CCR6 and CXCR6. ESRD was also associated with a shift in MAIT PMA-induced cytokine production away from IFNγ production and toward granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) secretion, and a loss of E. coli-stimulated tumor necrosis factor α expression. Loss of IFNγ expression was associated with a combination of age, alterations in Tbet and Eomes expression, and inflammatory plasma cytokine levels. Conclusion The loss of peripheral blood MAIT cells and associated shifts in tissue homing receptor expression and GM-CSF production may contribute to an immune environment that is permissive to bacterial replication, particularly in the lungs.
Title On the implementation of faults in finite-element glacial isostaticadjustment models

Stresses induced in the crust and mantle by continental-scale ice sheets during glaciation has triggered earthquakes along pre-existing faults, commencing near the end of the deglaciation. In order to get a better understanding of the relationship between glacial loading/unloading and fault movement due to the spatio-temporal evolution of stresses, a commonly used model for glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is extended by including a fault structure. Solving this problem is enabled by development of a workflow involving three cascaded finite-element simulations. Each step has identical lithospheric and mantle structure and properties, but evolving stress conditions along the fault. The purpose of the first simulation is to compute the spatio-temporal evolution of rebound stress when the fault is tied together. An ice load with a parabolic profile and simple ice history is applied to represent glacial loading of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The results of the first step describes the evolution of the stress and displacement induced by the rebound process. The second step in the procedure augments the results of the first, by computing the spatio-temporal evolution of total stress (i. e. rebound stress plus tectonic background Preprint submitted to Computers & Geosciences 30 May 2013 stress and overburden pressure) and displacement with reaction forces that can hold the model in equilibrium. The background stress is estimated by assuming that the fault is in frictional equilibrium before glaciation. The third steps simulates fault movement induced by the spatio-temporal evolution of total stress by evaluating fault stability in a subroutine. If the fault remains stable, no movement occurs; in case of fault instability, the fault displacement is computed. We show an example of fault motion along a 45-dipping fault at the ice-sheet centre for a two-dimensional model. Stable conditions along the fault are found during glaciation and the initial part of deglaciation. Before deglaciation ends, the fault starts to move, and fault offsets of up to 22 m are obtained. A fault scarp at the surface of 19.74 m is determined. The fault is stable in the following time steps with a high stress accumulation at the fault tip. Along the upper part of the fault, GIA stresses are released in one earthquake.
Spatial Release From Masking in 2-Year-Olds With Normal Hearing and With Bilateral Cochlear Implants

This study evaluated spatial release from masking (SRM) in 2- to 3-year-old children who are deaf and were implanted with bilateral cochlear implants (BiCIs), and in age-matched normal-hearing (NH) toddlers. Here, we examined whether early activation of bilateral hearing has the potential to promote SRM that is similar to age-matched NH children. Listeners were 13 NH toddlers and 13 toddlers with BiCIs, ages 27 to 36 months. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) were measured for target speech in front (0°) and for competitors that were either Colocated in front (0°) or Separated toward the right (+90°). SRM was computed as the difference between SRTs in the front versus in the asymmetrical condition. Results show that SRTs were higher in the BiCI than NH group in all conditions. Both groups had higher SRTs in the Colocated and Separated conditions compared with Quiet, indicating masking. SRM was significant only in the NH group. In the BiCI group, the group effect of SRM was not significant, likely limited by the small sample size; however, all but two children had SRM values within the NH range. This work shows that to some extent, the ability to use spatial cues for source segregation develops by age 2 to 3 in NH children and is attainable in most of the children in the BiCI group. There is potential for the paradigm used here to be used in clinical settings to evaluate outcomes of bilateral hearing in very young children.
Sequential binding of ezrin and moesin to L-selectin regulates monocyte protrusive behaviour during transendothelial migration

ABSTRACT Leukocyte transendothelial migration (TEM) is absolutely fundamental to the inflammatory response, and involves initial pseudopod protrusion and subsequent polarised migration across inflamed endothelium. Ezrin/radixin/moesin (ERM) proteins are expressed in leukocytes and mediate cell shape changes and polarity. The spatio-temporal organisation of ERM proteins with their targets, and their individual contribution to protrusion during TEM, has never been explored. Here, we show that blocking binding of moesin to phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) reduces its C-terminal phosphorylation during monocyte TEM, and that on–off cycling of ERM activity is essential for pseudopod protrusion into the subendothelial space. Reactivation of ERM proteins within transmigrated pseudopods re-establishes their binding to targets, such as L-selectin. Knockdown of ezrin, but not moesin, severely impaired the recruitment of monocytes to activated endothelial monolayers under flow, suggesting that this protein plays a unique role in the early recruitment process. Ezrin binds preferentially to L-selectin in resting cells and during early TEM. The moesin–L-selectin interaction increases within transmigrated pseudopods as TEM proceeds, facilitating localised L-selectin ectodomain shedding. In contrast, a non-cleavable L-selectin mutant binds selectively to ezrin, driving multi-pseudopodial extensions. Taken together, these results show that ezrin and moesin play mutually exclusive roles in modulating L-selectin signalling and shedding to control protrusion dynamics and polarity during monocyte TEM. Summary: Ezrin and moesin co-ordinate binding to L-selectin in monocytes to, respectively, regulate pseudopod protrusion and ectodomain shedding during transendothelial migration.
Anti-GQ 1 b Ganglioside Antibody in Peripheral Nervous System Disorders Pathophysiologic Role and Clinical Relevance

T he recent literature about autoimmune peripheral neuropathies has been dominated by the discovery of antibodies to a variety of glycosphingolipids. Gangliosides are important carbohydrate determinants for autoimmune activity, and several studies have suggested that serum antibodies against gangliosides are responsible for some forms of acute and chronic neuropathy syndromes. However, this view is disputable, and despite substantial progress in understanding the potential pathogenic effects of antiganglioside antibodies, many central issues remain unresolved across the whole pathogenic process. Miller Fisher syndrome has been classified as a variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome that comprises the clinical triad of ataxia, areflexia, and ophthalmoplegia. It has been considered the archetypal antiganglioside antibody–mediated human neuropathy because anti-GQ1b ganglioside antibody is detected in most patients with Miller Fisher syndrome, decays rapidly with clinical recovery, and is not found in normal and disease control serum samples. The only other case in which this antibody is found is in patients with related conditions, which might share the same pathogenic mechanism, such as Bickerstaff brainstem encephalitis. The strength of this close serologic-clinical association is such that measurement of anti-GQ1b antibody in suspected cases of Miller Fisher syndrome is a useful diagnostic marker for clinicians. This article reviews the occurrence, the pathophysiologic role, and the clinical background of anti-GQ1b ganglioside antibody in Miller Fisher syndrome and related disorders. Arch Neurol. 2004;61:1013-1016
Characterizing the Temporal Dynamics of Information in Visually Guided Predictive Control Using LSTM Recurrent Neural Networks

Theories for visually guided action account for online control in the presence of reliable sources of visual information, and predictive control to compensate for visuomotor delay and temporary occlusion. In this study, we characterize the temporal relationship between information integration window and prediction distance using computational models. Subjects were immersed in a simulated environment and attempted to catch virtual balls that were transiently "blanked" during flight. Recurrent neural networks were trained to reproduce subject's gaze and hand movements during blank. The models successfully predict gaze behavior within 3 degrees, and hand movements within 8.5 cm as far as 500 ms in time, with integration window as short as 27 ms. Furthermore, we quantified the contribution of each input source of information to motor output through an ablation study. The model is a proof of concept for prediction as a discrete mapping between information integrated over time and a temporally distant motor output.
Parental perceptions and drinking water source among pediatric population in the United Arab Emirates

Aims: The aim of the study is to determine the water source used for drinking and cooking purpose by the pediatric population in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). To ascertain the underlying factors influencing the parental choice for selecting tap water or bottled water. The study was also done to evaluate whether demographic factors have an influence on the parental choice of water consumption source.Materials and Methods: A total of 200 parents who had children aged between 3- and 15-year-old were chosen for this randomized cross-sectional study. The parents of the selected children were given a prewritten questionnaire consisting of 12 questions in four different languages. The questionnaires documented sociodemographic characteristics, water consumption practices, and the rationale for choosing bottled water and tap water. The responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a Chi-square test for a single proportion. Results: Majority of the parents in this study preferred bottled water to tap water for drinking and cooking purposes. About 84% of the parents opted bottled water for drinking and 57% selected bottled water for cooking at home. The consumption of tap water for drinking purpose from school and home was only 13% and 16%, respectively. Parental educational background and household income did not affect their selected source of water. A Chi-square test of independence conducted to investigate possible association between source of water and its purpose for drinking and cooking revealed that the source of water (tap/bottled water) was dependent on its purpose. Conclusion: A greater percentage of the UAE pediatric population utilized bottled water for drinking at school and home. The perceptions about the quality and safety of tap water had a great effect on the caregiver's choice on children's water consumption habits. The demographic factors such as socioeconomic status and parental education had no influence on the source of water used for drinking purpose.
Capillaria hepatica infection in black rats (Rattus rattus) on Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory

Rats (Rattus spp.) are among the most damaging invasive species worldwide. The accidental introduction of rats has caused significant detriment to native flora and fauna, crops, structures, and human livelihoods. Rats are vectors of disease and carriers of various zoonotic parasites. Capillaria hepatica (syn. Callodium hepaticum) is a parasitic nematode found primarily in rodents but is known to infect over 140 mammal species, including human beings and several species of domestic animals. In this case study, the presence of C. hepatica infection in black rats on Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory, is reported. Liver samples from 20 black rats (Rattus rattus) were collected during a concurrent population density estimation study. Histology revealed 15 (75%) of the rats sampled had a current or previous infection with C. hepatica. In addition, a larval cestode compatible in size and shape with Cysticercus fasciolaris, the larval stage of Taenia taeniaeformis of cats, was found in 3 (15%) of the rats sampled. The high prevalence of C. hepatica infection in rats on Diego Garcia has implications for human health given the high population density of rats found on the island.
Is there an Olympic gold medal rush in the stock market?

ABSTRACT Investor sentiment and attention are often linked to the same non-economic events making it difficult to understand why and how asset prices are affected. We disentangle these two potential drivers of investment behaviour by analysing a new data-set of medals for the major participating countries and sponsor firms over four Summer Olympic Games. Our results show that trading volume and volatility are substantially reduced following Olympic success although returns appear to be largely unaffected. Analysis of data from online search volumes and surveys measuring investor sentiment also suggests that the market impact of the Olympics is linked to changes in attention.
Acquiring Verb Classes Through Bottom-Up Semantic Verb Clustering

In this paper, we present the ﬁrst analysis of bottom-up manual semantic clustering of verbs in three languages, English, Polish and Croatian. Verb classes including syntactic and semantic information have been shown to support many NLP tasks by allowing abstraction from individual words and thereby alleviating data sparseness. The availability of such classiﬁcations is however still non-existent or limited in most languages. While a range of automatic verb classiﬁcation approaches have been proposed, high-quality resources and gold standards are needed for evaluation and to improve the performance of NLP systems. We investigate whether semantic verb classes in three different languages can be reliably obtained from native speakers without linguistics training. The analysis of inter-annotator agreement shows an encouraging degree of overlap in the classiﬁcations produced for each language individually, as well as across all three languages. Comparative examination of the resultant classiﬁcations provides interesting insights into cross-linguistic semantic commonalities and patterns of ambiguity.
Seasonal effects of a hydropeaking dam on a downstream benthic macroinvertebrate community

As more hydroelectric dams regulate rivers to meet growing energy demands, there is ongoing concern about downstream effects, including impacts on downstream benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) communities. Hydropeaking is a common hydroelectric practice where short‐term variation in power production leads to large and often rapid fluctuations in discharge and water level. There are key knowledge gaps on the ecosystem impacts of hydropeaking in large rivers, the seasonality of these impacts, and whether dams can be managed to lessen impacts. We assessed how patterns of hydropeaking affect abundance, taxonomic richness, and relative tolerance of BMIs in the Saskatchewan River (Saskatchewan, Canada). Reaches immediately (<2 km) downstream of the dam generally had high densities of BMIs and comparable taxonomic diversity relative to upstream locations but were characterized by lower ratios of sensitive (e.g., Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera) to tolerant (e.g., Chironomidae) taxa. The magnitude of effect varied with seasonal changes in discharge. Understanding the effects of river regulation on BMI biodiversity and river health has implications for mitigating the impacts of hydropeaking dams on downstream ecosystems. Although we demonstrated that a hydropeaking dam may contribute to a significantly different downstream BMI assemblage, we emphasize that seasonality is a key consideration. The greatest differences between upstream and downstream locations occurred in spring, suggesting standard methods of late summer and fall sampling may underestimate ecosystem‐scale impacts.
Isolation and identification of the microorganisms most prevalent in external eye infections as seen in an eye clinic in Owerri

Infections of the external eye account for a significant percentage of ocular inflammations, some of which lead to visual losses as result of corneal involvement. This study purely isolated and identified the microorganisms most prevalent in external eye infections in Owerri urban (as seen Mercy Eye clinic). With the aid of sterile swabsticks, specimenswere collected from the lidmargins, conjunctiva and corneal surfaces, as the casemaybe, from infected eyes and streaked immediatelyon bloodandMacConkey plates for culture and analysis. The laboratory results revealed staphylococcus species 23.8%, Escherichia coli, 15.5%and admixture of bothmicroorganisms, 60.7%.
Leveraging bilingual terminology to improve machine translation in a CAT environment*

Abstract This work focuses on the extraction and integration of automatically aligned bilingual terminology into a Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) system in a Computer Aided Translation scenario. We evaluate the proposed framework that, taking as input a small set of parallel documents, gathers domain-specific bilingual terms and injects them into an SMT system to enhance translation quality. Therefore, we investigate several strategies to extract and align terminology across languages and to integrate it in an SMT system. We compare two terminology injection methods that can be easily used at run-time without altering the normal activity of an SMT system: XML markup and cache-based model. We test the cache-based model on two different domains (information technology and medical) in English, Italian and German, showing significant improvements ranging from 2.23 to 6.78 BLEU points over a baseline SMT system and from 0.05 to 3.03 compared to the widely-used XML markup approach.
Developmental dyslexia and specific language impairment: distinct syntactic profiles?

ABSTRACT Recent work exploring syntax in developmental dyslexia (DD) has identified morphosyntactic deficits, striking parallelisms between children with DD and specific language impairment (SLI). The question remains open if the underlying causes for such deficits are related to difficulties in phonology, which is affected in DD, or to working memory, as has been previously reported for SLI. We focus on the production of third person accusative clitic pronouns (ACC3) and of homophonous definite determiners in French-speaking children with DD and SLI as well as typically developing (TD) controls. If syntactic complexity modulates performance of DD children, as has already been shown for SLI, we predict children with DD to perform significantly worse on ACC3 compared to definite determiners, which are homophonous but syntactically simpler. In addition, if impairment in ACC3 stems from phonology or working memory difficulties, we expect ACC3 performance in both clinical groups to relate to performance on non-word repetition or forward/backward digit spans. We studied 2 groups of 21 children and adolescents, with DD and SLI (7–15 years) and age-matched TD controls. Results reveal significant weaknesses with ACC3 in DD and SLI groups compared to TD controls, but no difficulty for homophonous definite determiners, confirming a deficit relating specifically to syntactic complexity. As for links to phonology and working memory, a single correlation emerged between ACC3 and the backward digit span in SLI, but not in DD, suggesting different underlying sources for syntactic deficits in these populations. Clinical implications of these results are discussed.
Study of Lane Reservation Problems in a Transportation Network. (Etude des problèmes de réservation de voies dans un réseau de transport)

The concept of lane reservation has been introduced as a traffic management strategy and has many applications in real life. Previous studies in the literature mainly focus on the impact of lane reservation in a local region of transportation network. In this thesis optimal lane reservation problems are studied with the objective to minimize impact on total traffic by optimally setting reserved lanes in a transportation network. We firstly focus on the lane reservation problem (LRP) for automated truck freight transportation with static link travel time. This primary work has been extended to the capacitated lane reservation problem (CLRP) for large-scale special events. Finally, lane reservation problem with time-dependent travel time (TTLRP), and lane reservation problem with time-dependent travel speed (TSLRP) are studied. For each of the considered problems, appropriate mathematical models are formulated, their complexities are demonstrated. Different resolution methods are explored including exact cut-and-solve method, cut-and-solve and cutting plane combined method, and Tabu-search method. The performance of the proposed algorithms is evaluated by randomly generated instances. Numerical results have shown that the proposed algorithms are more effective to solve the considered problems than the reference commercial package CPLEX