Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integration of Contour and Terminator Signals in Visual Area MT of Alert Macaque

The integration of visual information is a critical task that is performed by neurons in the extrastriate cortex of the primate brain. For motion signals, integration is complicated by the geometry of the visual world, which renders some velocity measurements ambiguous and others incorrect. The ambiguity arises because neurons in the early stages of visual processing have small receptive fields, which can only recover the component of motion perpendicular to the orientation of a contour (the aperture problem). Unambiguous motion signals are located at end points and corners, which are referred to as terminators. However, when an object moves behind an occluding surface, motion measurements made at the terminators formed by the intersection of the object and the occluder are generally not consistent with the direction of object motion. To study how cortical neurons integrate these different motion cues, we used variations on the classic “barber pole” stimulus and measured the responses of neurons in the middle temporal area (MT or V5) of extrastriate cortex of alert macaque monkeys. Our results show that MT neurons are more strongly influenced by the unambiguous motion signals generated by terminators than to the ambiguous signals generated by contours. Furthermore, these neurons respond better to terminators that are intrinsic to a moving object than to those that are accidents of occlusion. V1 neurons show similar response patterns to local cues (contours and terminators), but for large stimuli, they do not reflect the global motion direction computed by MT neurons. These observations are consistent with psychophysical findings that show that our perception of moving objects often depends on the motion of terminators.
Test Results of an SRM Made From a Layered Block of Heat-Treated Amorphous Alloys

In order to produce high-efficiency motors at relatively low production costs, a layered block is made from amorphous iron sheets. From the block, stator and rotor cores of a test switched reluctance motor (SRM) are fabricated. The experimental results of the test machine are compared to another test machine made from low iron loss silicon steel type 35A300 in JIS standard. This silicon steel is equivalent to M-22, 300, and V300-35A in ANSI, BS601, and DIN46400, respectively. The validity of the test results is compared and verified through use of an analytical simulation software package. Approximately 6% improvement in efficiency is observed for the prototype SRM with the layered amorphous core material. The SRM test motor has an efficiency of 95.1% at a speed of 8500 r/min with an output of 2.4 kW.
Efficient Algorithm for Finding Dominant Trapping Sets of LDPC Codes

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for finding the dominant trapping sets of a low-density parity-check (LDPC) code. The algorithm can be used to estimate the error floor of LDPC codes or as a tool to design LDPC codes with low error floors. For regular codes, the algorithm is initiated with a set of short cycles as the input. For irregular codes, in addition to short cycles, variable nodes with low degree and cycles with low approximate cycle extrinsic message degree (ACE) are also used as the initial inputs. The initial inputs are then expanded recursively to dominant trapping sets of increasing size. At the core of the algorithm lies the analysis of the graphical structure of dominant trapping sets and the relationship of such structures to short cycles, low-degree variable nodes, and cycles with low ACE. The algorithm is universal in the sense that it can be used for an arbitrary graph and that it can be tailored to find a variety of graphical objects, such as absorbing sets and Zyablov-Pinsker trapping sets, known to dominate the performance of LDPC codes in the error floor region over different channels and for different iterative decoding algorithms. Simulation results on several LDPC codes demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm. In particular, the algorithm is significantly faster than the existing search algorithms for dominant trapping sets.
Collective motion from consensus with Cartesian coordinate coupling - Part II: Double-integrator dynamics

This is the second part of a two-part paper on collective motion from consensus with Cartesian coordinate coupling. In this part, we study the collective motions of a team of vehicles in 3D by introducing a rotation matrix to an existing consensus algorithm for double-integrator dynamics. It is shown that the network topology, the damping gain, and the value of the Euler angle all affect the resulting collective motions. In particular, we show a necessary and sufficient condition on the damping gain for rendezvous when there is no Cartesian coordinate coupling. We also explicitly show the critical value for the Euler angle when there is Cartesian coordinate coupling and quantitatively characterize the resulting collective motions, namely, rendezvous, circular patterns, and logarithmic spiral patterns. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the theoretical results.
Characteristics, causes and evolutionary consequences of male-biased mutation

Mutation has traditionally been considered a random process, but this paradigm is challenged by recent evidence of divergence rate heterogeneity in different genomic regions. One facet of mutation rate variation is the propensity for genetic change to correlate with the number of germ cell divisions, reflecting the replication-dependent origin of many mutations. Haldane was the first to connect this association of replication and mutation to the difference in the number of cell divisions in oogenesis (low) and spermatogenesis (usually high), and the resulting sex difference in the rate of mutation. The concept of male-biased mutation has been thoroughly analysed in recent years using an evolutionary approach, in which sequence divergence of autosomes and/or sex chromosomes are compared to allow inference about the relative contribution of mothers and fathers in the accumulation of mutations. For instance, assuming that a neutral sequence is analysed, that rate heterogeneity owing to other factors is cancelled out by the investigation of many loci and that the effect of ancestral polymorphism is properly taken into account, the male-to-female mutation rate ratio, αm, can be solved from the observed difference in rate of X and Y chromosome divergence. The male mutation bias is positively correlated with the relative excess of cell divisions in the male compared to the female germ line, as evidenced by a generation time effect: in mammals, αm is estimated at approximately 4–6 in primates, approximately 3 in carnivores and approximately 2 in small rodents. Another life-history correlate is sexual selection: when there is intense sperm competition among males, increased sperm production will be associated with a larger number of mitotic cell divisions in spermatogenesis and hence an increase in αm. Male-biased mutation has implications for important aspects of evolutionary biology such as mate choice in relation to mutation load, sexual selection and the maintenance of genetic diversity despite strong directional selection, the tendency for a disproportionate large role of the X (Z) chromosome in post-zygotic isolation, and the evolution of sex.
Malaria Related Perceptions, Care Seeking after Onset of Fever and Anti-Malarial Drug Use in Malaria Endemic Settings of Southwest Ethiopia

Background Prompt care seeking and appropriate use of anti-malarial drugs are critical components of malaria prevention and control. This study assessed malaria related perceptions, care seeking behavior and anti-malarial drug use in malaria endemic settings of Ethiopia. Methods Data were generated from a community based cross-sectional study conducted among 798 households during January 2014 as part of a larger household behavioral study in three malaria endemic districts of Jimma Zone, Southwest Ethiopia. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed using SPSS 17.0 and STATA 12.0. Results In this study, only 76.1% of the respondents associated malaria to mosquito bite, and incorrect beliefs and perceptions were noted. Despite moderate level of knowledge (estimated mean = 62.2, Std Err = 0.7, 95% CI: 60.6–63.8%), quite high favorable attitude (overall estimated mean = 91.5, Std Err = 0.6, 95% CI: 90.1–92.9%) were recorded towards malaria preventive measures. The mean attitude score for prompt care seeking, appropriate use of anti-malarial drugs, LLIN use and Indoor Residual Spray acceptance was 98.5 (Std Err = 0.4, 95% CI:97.5–99.4), 92.7 (Std Err = 0.6 95% CI:91.5–93.9), 88.8 (Std Err = 0.5, 95% CI:85.5–92.1) and 86.5 (Std Err = 1.2, 95% CI: 83.9–89.1), respectively. The prevalence of fever was 2.9% (116/4107) and of the study participants with fever, 71.9% (95% CI: 65.5–78.3%) sought care and all of them consulted formal health care system. However, only 17 (19.8%) sought care within 24 hours after onset of fever. The frequency of care seeking was higher (77.8%, n = 21/27) and more prompt (28.6%, 6/21) for children under five as compared to old age groups despite it was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). However, higher median time of seeking first care was observed among Muslims and people who did not attend school (p < 0.05). Of those who used anti-malarial drugs, 9.1% indicated that they used it inappropriately through saving and/or sharing. Irregular availability of anti-malarial drugs; irregular presence of frontline health workers and misconceptions were mentioned to contribute to delayed care seeking and irrational use of anti-malarial drugs. Conclusions Although care seeking behavior for febrile illness was quite high in this community, the habit of prompt care seeking was very limited. Thus, malaria prevention and control programs need to take into account local misconceptions and wrong perceptions, and health system factors to achieve optimal health seeking behavior in such malaria endemic settings.
LobeFinder: A Convex Hull-Based Method for Quantitative Boundary Analyses of Lobed Plant Cells1[OPEN]

LobeFinder, a new convex hull-based cell phenotyping tool, creates a coordinate system for cell boundary changes and detects lobe positions in epidermal pavement cells. Dicot leaves are composed of a heterogeneous mosaic of jigsaw puzzle piece-shaped pavement cells that vary greatly in size and the complexity of their shape. Given the importance of the epidermis and this particular cell type for leaf expansion, there is a strong need to understand how pavement cells morph from a simple polyhedral shape into highly lobed and interdigitated cells. At present, it is still unclear how and when the patterns of lobing are initiated in pavement cells, and one major technological bottleneck to addressing the problem is the lack of a robust and objective methodology to identify and track lobing events during the transition from simple cell geometry to lobed cells. We developed a convex hull-based algorithm termed LobeFinder to identify lobes, quantify geometric properties, and create a useful graphical output of cell coordinates for further analysis. The algorithm was validated against manually curated images of pavement cells of widely varying sizes and shapes. The ability to objectively count and detect new lobe initiation events provides an improved quantitative framework to analyze mutant phenotypes, detect symmetry-breaking events in time-lapse image data, and quantify the time-dependent correlation between cell shape change and intracellular factors that may play a role in the morphogenesis process.
The Cerebrospinal Fluid

This is the best account which has yet appeared presenting the advances of recent years in fluid and electrolyte therapy, as applied to surgery, in a form readily available to the practising surgeon. The subject is one to which the author has himself made important contributions', and in this book he places us further in his debt by a very concise and balanced account of the subject as a whole. The normal post-operative metabolic changes, the conditions resulting from abnormal fluid and electrolyte losses, and the treatment of these conditions are all very clearly described. The thorough application, in all surgical units, of the principles of metabolic treatment here advocated would be a very notable advance. It is perhaps unfortunate that the diagrams of electrolyte balance are not drawn in the more usual convention to show a positive balance above the base line; and the description of the not very useful E.C. G. charges in states of potassium excess and deficiency, is a little old-fashioned. But these are unimportant criticisms of a book which might well be made compulsory reading for all surgical interns, and indeed for all who are not familiar with modern views on this subject. M.F. P.
Correction: Amelioration of Chemotherapy-Induced Intestinal Mucositis by Orally Administered Probiotics in a Mouse Model

The captions for Figs 5 and 6 are incorrectly switched. The caption for Fig 5 should be the caption for Fig 6, and the caption for Fig 6 should be the caption for Fig 5. Please see the corrected captions here. Fig 5. A: Representative histological sections of jejunum showing the goblet cells with haematoxylin and eosin stain in mice on day 5 challenged with 5-FU (IP). They were fed with probiotics (Lcr35orLaBi) or saline. The arrows indicated goblet cells. The image acquisition phase was done with a 20x magnification objective. Scale bar = 50μm. B: Jejunal goblet cells after staining were counted. Values were represented as mean±SEM and were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Fig 6. Up-regulations of IL-6, IL-1βand TNF-αin mucositis mice were followed after injection with 5-FU. Mucositis mice were fed with (+) or without (−) probiotics. Gene expressions of IL-6, IL-1βand TNF-αwere determined by Q-PCR (A) jejunum tissue (B) colon tissue. Induction of cytokine expressions were presented as RQ compared to 18sRNA housekeeping gene expression. The data with different superscripted letters are significantly different based on the one-way ANOVA.
Rheological Characterization of Hydrogen Peroxide Gel Propellant

An experimental investigation on the rheological behavior of gelled hydrogen peroxide at different ambient temperature (283.15, 293.15 and 303.15 K) was carried out in this study. The gel propellant was rheologically characterized using a rheometer, in the shear rate ranges of 1 to 20 s -1 , and 1 to 1000 s -1 . Hydrogen peroxide gel was found to be thixotropic in nature. The apparent viscosity value with some yield stress (in-case of shear rate 1 to 20 s -1 ) drastically fell with the shear rate. In the case of the shear rate range of 1 to 20 s -1 , the apparent viscosity and yield stress of gel were significantly reduced at higher ambient temperatures. In the case of the shear rate range of 1 to 1000 s -1 , no significant effect of varying the ambient temperature on the gel apparent viscosity was observed. The up and down shear rate curves for hydrogen peroxide gel formed a hysteresis loop that showed no significant change with variation in temperature for both the 1 to 20 s -1 and the 1 to 1000 s -1 shear rate ranges. No significant change in the thixotropic index of gel was observed for different ambient temperatures, for both low and high shear rates. The gel in the 1 to 20 s -1 shear rate range did not lead to a complete breakdown of gel structure, in comparison to that in the 1 to 1000 s -1 shear rate range.
High-Order Electromagnetic Modeling of Shortwave Inductive Diathermy Effects

A high-order closed-form solution for the specific absorp- tion rate (SAR) distribution induced inside a plane geometry fatmuscle tissue by a shortwave diathermy induction coil is presented. The solu- tion is derived starting from the complete integral expressions for the electromagnetic field components generated by a currentcarrying cir- cular loop located horizontally above a stratified earth. It is valid in a wide frequency range, and is flexible to any multi-turn coil configura- tion. The spatial distribution of the SAR induced in the muscle tissue by a flat round coil is computed by using the proposed formulation, the zero-order quasi-static one, and the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method. Excellent agreement is demonstrated to exist be- tween the results provided by the new approach and those achieved through FDTD simulations. On the contrary, the performed compu- tations show that the zero-order solution leads to over-estimate the SAR. The performances of the round and figure-eight coil geometries are compared. Despite of what has been argued in previously pub- lished papers, it turns out that the figure-eight coil is less energetically efficient than the round one. The work in the present paper is an extension of a previous work.
Youth Crime and Education Expansion

Abstract We present new evidence on the causal impact of education on crime, by considering a large expansion of the UK post-compulsory education system that occurred in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The education expansion raised education levels across the whole education distribution and, in particular for our analysis, at the bottom end enabling us to develop an instrumental variable strategy to study the crime- education relationship. At the same time as the education expansion, youth crime fell, revealing a significant cross-cohort relationship between crime and education. The causal crime reducing effect of education is estimated to be negative and significant, and considerably bigger in (absolute) magnitude than ordinary least squares estimates. The education boost also significantly impacted other productivity-related economic variables (qualification attainment and wages), demonstrating that the incapacitation effect of additional time spent in school is not the sole driver of the results.
Does Migration Make You Happy? A Longitudinal Study of Internal Migration and Subjective Well-Being

The majority of quantitative studies on the consequences of internal migration focus almost exclusively on the labour-market outcomes and the material well-being of migrants. We investigate whether individuals who migrate within the UK become happier after the move than they were before, and whether the effect is permanent or transient. Using life-satisfaction responses from twelve waves of the British Household Panel Survey and employing a fixed-effects model, we derive a temporal pattern of migrants' subjective well-being around the time of the migration event. Our findings make an original contribution by revealing that, on average, migration is preceded by a period when individuals experience a significant decline in happiness for a variety of reasons, including changes in personal living arrangements. Migration itself causes a boost in happiness, and brings people back to their initial levels. The research contributes, therefore, to advancing an understanding of migration in relation to set-point theory. Perhaps surprisingly, long-distance migrants are at least as happy as short-distance migrants despite the higher social and psychological costs involved. The findings of this paper add to the pressure to retheorize migration within a conceptual framework that accounts for social well-being from a life-course perspective.
Knowledge, attitude, and practice of family physicians regarding diabetic neuropathy in family practice centers: Suez Canal University

Background: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) can affect any part of the nervous system and should be suspected in all patients who have had diabetes for more than 5 years. Family physicians (FPs) can play an important role with the care and education of people with diabetes. They can augment the knowledge and motivate the diabetics to acquire a healthy life style, which would further lead to a good glycemic control providing protection from the chronic complications. Lack of compliance with the guidelines on the part of the diabetic subjects, indicates deficiencies in the FPs' knowledge, implementation techniques, and attitude problems. Therefore, the present study was conducted to assess FPs' knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding DN for further educational interventions that will improve their quality of care for diabetic patients in family practice centers. Materials and Methods: The study population was 60 FPs working in family practice centers affiliated to Suez Canal University Hospitals. The questionnaire composed of three groups of questions to collect data for evaluation of knowledge, attitude, and practice; two written patient problems to assess their practice and two questions to assess barriers and recommendations of physicians. To pass the evaluation; 50, 80, and 60% were the cut off points to pass the evaluation for knowledge, attitude, and practice, respectively. Results: 48.3, 66.7, and 43.3% of the evaluated FPs passed the knowledge, attitude, and practice assessment, respectively. Eighty-five percent of physicians felt that they need more knowledge and training in DN management. Physicians' qualification (P = 0.037) was a significant variable in passing the knowledge test, but qualification and experience years (P = 0.007 and 0.035, respectively) were significant variables in passing the practice test. There was a positive significant (P = 0.021) correlation between practice and knowledge score. Postgraduate knowledge accounts the majority (78.3%) as a source of information about DN. Providing physicians with standardized guidelines (81.7%), continuous medical education seminars (76.7%) and training courses (76.7%) came at the top of physician's recommendations to improve DN care by FPs. Conclusion: This study has identified the need for improvement in family medicine physician practices for treating and educating diabetics and recommended that awareness and educational programs are necessary to update the FPs on screening, effective treatment of diabetes and prevention of DN.
Gas escape features off New Zealand: Evidence of massive release of methane from hydrates

Multibeam swath bathymetry data from the southwest margin of the Chatham Rise, New Zealand, show gas release features over a region of at least 20,000 km2. Gas escape features, interpreted to be caused by gas hydrate dissociation, include an estimated a) 10 features, 8–11 km in diameter and b) 1,000 features, 1–5 km in diameter, both at 800–1,100 m water depth. An estimated 10,000 features, ∼150 m in diameter, are observed at 500–700 m water depth. In the latter depth range sub‐bottom profiles show similar gas escape features (pockmarks) at disconformities interpreted to mark past sea‐level low stands. The amount of methane potentially released from hydrates at each of the largest features is ∼7*1012 g. If the methane from a single event at one 8–11 km scale pockmark reached the atmosphere, it would be equivalent to ∼3% of the current annual global methane released from natural sources into the atmosphere.