Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The reliability and validity of the French version of the Cocaine Craving Questionnaire-Brief.

INTRODUCTION Cocaine has become a noticeable part of the European drug scene and is the second most commonly used illicit drug among the general population. Craving is a core issue in cocaine dependence and is strongly associated with lapse and/or relapse. However, no craving scale exists in French. The objective of our study was to assess the reliability and validity of a French language version of the 10-item Cocaine Craving Questionnaire-Brief (CCQ-Brief). METHODS A total of 131 individuals ranging in age from 18 to 65 years were enrolled in a 12-month outpatient treatment program in 2009. The participants were seeking treatment for cocaine dependence. They completed the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and the French version of the CCQ-Brief. At the end of the interview, a Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGIS) was completed by a clinician blind to the subject's treatment group. We evaluated the internal consistency of the French CCQ-Brief using Cronbach's α coefficient and the correlation of each item with the total scale using the Pearson's coefficient. We conducted an exploratory factorial analysis followed by a scree test. Only items with factor loading >0.3 were retained. The convergent validity of the French CCQ-Brief was assessed using Pearson's correlation between the CCQ-Brief and the CGIS. RESULTS The mean (SD) score of the 10-item CCQ-Brief was 3.4 (1.5). Cronbach's α coefficient 0.88 and remained high even when an item was deleted (ranging from 0.86 to 0.88), indicating that this tool possesses a high internal consistency. Each item exhibited a strong correlation with the total score ranging from 0.62 to 0.83. All items presented factor loadings ranged from 0.47 to 0.83. The correlation between the CCQ-Brief and the CGIS was high (r=0.49, p<0.0001), indicating a sufficient convergent validity. DISCUSSION The French version of the CCQ-Brief is a reliable and valid instrument that can provide a comprehensive assessment of cocaine craving in treatment-seeking cocaine-dependent patients.
Analogic CNN algorithms for textile quality control based on optical and tactile sensory inputs

An analogic CNN algorithm was developed and tested in order to detect failures such as blobs, bumps and disruption on textile in real time by using an experimental system with pressure sensory arrays Tactilus, a CCD camera and the cellular visual microprocessor development system, Aladdin Pro. The tactile sensory system is focused on the suspicious areas by the optical input. The places in question will be checked carefully by the above tactile sensory system working with an analogic algorithm. Fiber breaks and knots are the typical errors to be detected.
General shearlet pansharpening method using Bayesian inference

Pansharpening is a technique that fuses the information of a low resolution multispectral image and a high resolution panchromatic image, usually remote sensing images, to produce a high resolution multispectral image. In the literature, this task has been addressed from different points of view being one of the most popular the wavelets and contourlet based algorithms. Recently, the shearlet transform, has been proposed. This transform combines the advantages of the wavelets and contourlet transform, with a more efficient directional information representation. In this paper we propose a new shearlet based pansharpening algorithm that generalizes a number of pansharpening approaches and compare it with contourlet based and shearlet based methods. The performance of the proposed shearlet based method is assessed numerically and visually for synthetic and SPOT images.
Swelling-activated Cl− currents and intracellular CLC-3 are involved in proliferation of human pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells

Background: Proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMCs) leads to adverse vascular remodeling and contributes to pulmonary arterial hypertension, a condition associated with a 15% annual mortality despite treatment. We previously showed that swelling-activated Cl− currents (ICl,swell) are upregulated in PASMC proliferation and that nonspecific Cl− current blockers inhibit proliferation. However, the specific role of ICl,swell in PASMC proliferation and its molecular underpinning remain unknown. Methods and results: In the present study, we found that the specific ICl,swell blocker, DCPIB (4-[(2-butyl-6,7-dichloro-2-cyclopentyl-2,3-dihydro-1-oxo-1H-inden-5-yl)oxy] butanoic acid), dose-dependently blocked (IC50 = 2.7 &mgr;mol/l) ICl,swell and inhibited (IC50 = 6.9 &mgr;mol/l) proliferation in isolated human PASMCs (hPASMCs). To identify the Cl− channel genes underlying ICl,swell and regulating hPASMC proliferation, we measured the mRNA expression of candidate Cl− channel genes (CLC-1 to CLC-7, CLC-Ka and CLC-Kb, and BEST-1 to BEST-4) in hPASMCs. CLC-2 to CLC-7 and BEST-1 are expressed in hPASMCs, with the most abundant gene being CLC-3, a channel gene previously linked to ICl,swell. Although stable expression of a microRNA-adapted shRNA targeting CLC-3 transcripts in hPASMCs selectively reduced CLC-3 mRNA by more than 80% and inhibited hPASMC proliferation (by >45%) compared with control-shRNA, it did not alter ICl,swell. Consistent with this observation, immunocytostaining studies revealed that CLC-3 protein is primarily located in intracellular areas of cultured proliferative hPASMCs. The intracellular CLC-3 protein levels were profoundly reduced by shRNA targeting CLC-3. The other molecular candidate for ICl,swell (i.e.,CLC-2) also showed a mainly intracellular distribution. Conclusion: Our findings support the conclusion that both ICl,swell and CLC-3 play a role in PASMC proliferation, but CLC-3 channels do not underlie ICl,swell in these cells.
Testing redundant asynchronous circuits by variable phase splitting

An approach for stuck-at-i and delay-fault testing of redundant circuits without modifying the logic is proposed. The only requirement is the ability to control both phases of each variableindependent of each other. The circuit becomes fully testable under very weak assumptions, equivalent to freedom from Single Cube Containment in two-level form. The main existing methods for asynchronous circuit synthesis are demonstrated to satisfy the assumptions and then are testable using the methodology. Heuristics to improve the approach include partial scan and non-scan testing.
Implementation of Gradient Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

IETF ROLL has recently proposed gradient routing as a fundamental building block for data collection in Wireless Sensor Networks. This paper seconds this choice by presenting an implementation of gradient routing on current hardware, and by showing experimentally that gradient routing is robust against topological changes. To stress its self-healing quality, we design and implement a complete communication stack in which neighbor tables are built in a purely reactive fashion. We quantify the resulting topological changes, and show how gradient routing elegantly handles these dynamics. This paper presents, to the best of our knowledge, the first experimental study on gradient routing as advocated by IETF ROLL.
Heteroresistance to Colistin in Klebsiella pneumoniae Associated with Alterations in the PhoPQ Regulatory System

ABSTRACT A multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae isolate exhibiting heteroresistance to colistin was investigated. The colistin-resistant subpopulation harbored a single amino acid change (Asp191Tyr) in protein PhoP, which is part of the PhoPQ two-component system that activates pmrHFIJKLM expression responsible for l-aminoarabinose synthesis and polymyxin resistance. Complementation assays with a wild-type phoP gene restored full susceptibility to colistin. Then, analysis of the colistin-susceptible subpopulation showed a partial deletion (25 bp) in the phoP gene compared to that in the colistin-resistant subpopulation. That deletion disrupted the reading frame of phoP, leading to a longer and inactive protein (255 versus 223 amino acids long). This is the first report showing the involvement of mutation(s) in PhoP in colistin resistance. Furthermore, this is the first study to decipher the mechanisms leading to colistin heteroresistance in K. pneumoniae.
Community detection algorithm based on centrality and node distance in scale-free networks

In this paper, we present a method for detecting community structures based on centrality value and node distance. Many real world networks possess a scale-free property and this property makes community detection difficult especially on algorithms that are based on modularity optimization. However, in our algorithm, communities are formed from hub nodes. Thus communities with scale-free property can be identified correctly. The method does not contain any random element, nor requires any pre-determined value such as the number of communities. Our experiments have shown that our algorithm is better than those based on modularity optimization in both real world and computer generated datasets.
Unweighted Multiple Group Method with Arithmetic Mean

The traditional UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean) sometimes derives two or more topologies of "tie trees" from a single data set, depending on the order of data entry. This paper presents an improved algorithm for UPGMA, namely, UMGMA (Unweighted Multiple Group Method with Arithmetic Mean), which can produce a unique multifurcating tree from any distance matrix. Moreover, a UMGMA tree has the same topology as its corresponding UPGMA tree if it is actually bifurcating. UMGMA is different from UPGMA in that it repeatedly merges multiple groups into one by the vertices of a maximal a-distant subtree until only one group is left, so the UMGMA tree is always unique even in the case that the UPGMA tree is not unique.
Simultaneous evaluation of ice cloud microphysics and nonsphericity of the cloud optical properties using hydrometeor video sonde and radiometer sonde in situ observations

This study utilizes hydrometeor sonde and radiometer sonde in situ observations to simultaneously evaluate ice cloud microphysics and radiative fluxes. In addition, the impact of nonsphericity and heterogeneous ice nucleation schemes on radiative fluxes are examined using a double‐moment bulk cloud microphysics scheme on a midlatitude frontal system. The distribution of simulated outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) is systematically reduced by assuming the presence of columnar ice crystals instead of planar ice crystals because of the difference in the effective radii (the projected area) between the two shapes. However, the choice of the heterogeneous ice nucleation schemes drastically changes the distribution of OLR by modifying the number concentration of the cloud ice (Ni) (more than tenfold). The observed shortwave fluxes are useful for evaluating the simulated number concentration of cloud ice when nonspherical single scattering properties are used instead of spherical single scattering properties. The dependence of the asymmetry factor on the effective radius is the key to quantitatively estimating the ice cloud radiative forcing and determining the aerosol indirect effect on ice clouds. Based on the comparison of shortwave fluxes, the cloud microphysics scheme was found to underestimate the Ni near the cloud base (a robust bias). A possible method of modifying the bias is discussed.
Enantioselective synthesis of coumarins catalyzed by a bifunctional amine-thiourea catalyst.

The development of asymmetric methods for the preparation of functionalized coumarins has been of long-standing interest to organic chemists. As a result of their broad applications in organic synthesis they are widely distributed in a vast array of bioactive molecules. Warfarin (see below) has been discovered as an anticoagulant, inhibiting Vitamin K epoxide reductase and thereby decreasing blood coagulation by preventing the vitamin K dependent synthesis of bloodclotting proteins. Bromadiolone is a second-generation 4hydroxycoumarin derivative, called as a “super-warfarin” for its added potency and tendency to accumulate in the liver of the poisoned organism. It was effective against the populations that had become resistant to the first-generation anticoagulants. Phenprocoumon is another anticoagulant drug
Collaborative Environmental Data Management Framework for Microsoft Excel

In many companies Microsoft Excel is often used as a CEMIS for managing environmental data. In collaborative scenarios this single-user application often causes problems. In this article, the multi user framework Quexolver is presented, which supports the simultaneous processing of environmental data in Excel by multiple users. The multi-user capability is provided by introducing a role and rights management concept for Excel users and a client server architecture with a central database. The use of web services provided by the framework (server) enables the communication between the individual Excel applications (client) and the database. First experiences with Quexolver based on a case study from the environmental protection are also described.
Cytokine production by normal human monocytes: inter‐subject variation and relationship to an IL‐1 receptor antagonist (IL‐1Ra) gene polymorphism

Monocytes from different individuals show variable cytokine production in response to a variety of stimuli. We wished to determine the sets of conditions (cytokine combinations) that would enable us to demonstrate stable inter‐individual differences in the production of IL‐1α, IL‐1β, IL‐1Ra, IL‐6 and tumour necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α) by monocytes. We assessed the ability of a number of recombinant human cytokines (granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF), interferon‐gamma (IFN‐γ), TNF‐α, IL‐4, IL‐6, transforming growth factor‐beta (TGF‐β), IL‐10 and IL‐1Ra) to stimulate or inhibit the production of one or more of these monocyte products. GM‐CSF was found to stimulate the production of all five of these cytokines in a highly reproducible manner. TNF‐α also up‐regulated production of IL‐1α, IL‐1β, IL‐1Ra and IL‐6 by monocytes, but the variability in the results of cells cultured from the same individuals on different occasions was greater. Other cytokines either stimulated production of only some of the five cytokine products tested, or stimulated the production of some cytokine products while inhibiting production of others. This was especially evident when cytokines were used in combination with GM‐CSF: IFN‐γ down‐regulated production of IL‐1Ra while up‐regulating the production of IL‐1α/β, IL‐6 and TNF‐α, while IL‐4 had the exact opposite effect. Polymorphisms in regions of cytokine genes that affect transcription may account for some of the inter‐individual variation in cytokine production. We have shown that a stable estimate of cytokine production phenotype can be obtained when monocytes collected on at least two separate occasions are stimulated by GM‐CSF in vitro. We have looked for a relationship between IL‐1 production and an 86‐bp variable repeat polymorphism in intron 2 of the IL‐1Ra gene. A less common allele of this polymorphism (allele 2) was associated with increased production of IL‐1Ra protein, and also reduced production of IL‐1α protein by monocytes.
A Fast Approach for Human Action Recognition

This paper presents a fast approach to represent and recognize human actions. For representation, a feature vector is constructed from spatiotemporal data of silhouettes based on appearance and motion. For classification, a new Radial Basis Function Network (RBF), called Time Delay Input Radial Basis Function Network is proposed by introducing time delay units to the RBF in a novel approach. The proposed network has a few desirable features such as easier learning process and more flexibility. The representational power and speed of the proposed method for action recognition were evaluated using a publicly available dataset. Based on experimental results, implemented in MATLAB and on standard PCs, the average time for constructing a feature vector for a high-resolution video is almost 20 ms/frame. Furthermore, the proposed approach demonstrates good performance in terms of execution time and overall performance (a new performance measure that combines accuracy and speed into one metric).
Can rodents conceive hyperbolic spaces?

The grid cells discovered in the rodent medial entorhinal cortex have been proposed to provide a metric for Euclidean space, possibly even hardwired in the embryo. Yet one class of models describing the formation of grid unit selectivity is entirely based on developmental self-organization, and as such it predicts that the metric it expresses should reflect the environment to which the animal has adapted. We show that, according to self-organizing models, if raised in a non-Euclidean hyperbolic cage rats should be able to form hyperbolic grids. For a given range of grid spacing relative to the radius of negative curvature of the hyperbolic surface, such grids are predicted to appear as multi-peaked firing maps, in which each peak has seven neighbours instead of the Euclidean six, a prediction that can be tested in experiments. We thus demonstrate that a useful universal neuronal metric, in the sense of a multi-scale ruler and compass that remain unaltered when changing environments, can be extended to other than the standard Euclidean plane. Abbreviation mEC medial entorhinal cortex PS pseudosphere
Estimating leaf area index from satellite imagery using Bayesian networks

In this study, we investigated the use of Bayesian networks for inferring tropical dry forest leaf area index (LAI) from satellite imagery in dry and wet seasons. LAI was chosen as the variable of interest because leaf area is the exchange surface between the photosynthetically active component of the canopy and the atmosphere. Initial network estimates were obtained from ground truth plot data with known forest structure, LAI, and satellite reflectance in the red and near-infrared bands (as observed by the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus sensor). We tested the performance of the Bayesian networks with scoring rules and also with confidence and surprise scores. We evaluated the networks on a per-pixel basis and created both LAI maps of the study area as well predicted the probability maps for the highest LAI states. Results not only demonstrate the predictive power of a Bayesian network but also its explanatory power which is far beyond what is typically available with current pixel classifier approaches such as spectral vegetation indices or other approaches such as neural networks.
On splines and polynomial tools for constrained motion planning

This paper discusses an open-loop trajectory planning problem for linear systems and polynomial systems with constraints. Flat systems have the nice property that the input and the state can be completely characterised by the so-called flat output. We propose a spline parameterisation for the flat output, the performance output, the states, and the inputs. Using this parameterisation the problem of constrained trajectory planning can be cast into a simple quadratic programming problem. An important result is that the B-spline parametrisation used gives exact results for constrained linear continuous-time system. The result is exact in the sense that the constrained signal can be made arbitrarily close to the boundary without having intersampling issues (as one would have in sampled-data systems). Numerical results are outlined, involving the generation of rest-to-rest trajectories.
Am I Really Scared? A Multi-phase Computational Model of Emotions

We present a multi-phase model of emotions that integrates automatic and fast affective reactions with slower cognitive appraisals to create a final emotional appraisal that is grounded in previous emotional experiences. Affective reactions are the product of an analogical comparison between the current situation and similar cases in memory. This is followed by a cognitive appraisal to do a deeper affective appraisal of the situation. Finally, a retrospective appraisal of experiences generates affective memories that are available for future situations. We demonstrate this model on a problem solving task and show that the inclusion of affective reactions is successful in beneficially altering the selection of strategies in a problem solving task and captures broad patterns of emotional dynamics found in the literature.
The Microtubule Plus-End Tracking Protein ARMADILLO-REPEAT KINESIN1 Promotes Microtubule Catastrophe in Arabidopsis[W][OPEN]

This work determines that the ARMADILLO-REPEAT KINESIN1 (ARK1) of Arabidopsis accumulates at the plus ends of growing microtubules and promotes microtubule catastrophe. By inducing such events, ARK1 enables the recycling of tubulin subunits, which is important for maintaining rapid microtubule polymerization, a process that is critical for maintaining unidirectional tip growth in root hairs. Microtubule dynamics are critically important for plant cell development. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana ARMADILLO-REPEAT KINESIN1 (ARK1) plays a key role in root hair tip growth by promoting microtubule catastrophe events. This destabilizing activity appears to maintain adequate free tubulin concentrations in order to permit rapid microtubule growth, which in turn is correlated with uniform tip growth. Microtubules in ark1-1 root hairs exhibited reduced catastrophe frequency and slower growth velocities, both of which were restored by low concentrations of the microtubule-destabilizing drug oryzalin. An ARK1-GFP (green fluorescent protein) fusion protein expressed under its endogenous promoter localized to growing microtubule plus ends and rescued the ark1-1 root hair phenotype. Transient overexpression of ARK1-RFP (red fluorescent protein) increased microtubule catastrophe frequency. ARK1-fusion protein constructs lacking the N-terminal motor domain still labeled microtubules, suggesting the existence of a second microtubule binding domain at the C terminus of ARK1. ARK1-GFP was broadly expressed in seedlings, but mutant phenotypes were restricted to root hairs, indicating that ARK1’s function is redundant in cells other than those forming root hairs.