Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SEASONAL CHANGES IN SIZE STRUCTURE OF SARGASSUM AND TURBINARIA POPULATIONS (PHAEOPHYCEAE) ON TROPICAL REEF FLATS IN THE SOUTHERN RED SEA 1

Seasonal variation in density, thallus length and biomass, population size structure, and allometric length‐biomass relationships was investigated in populations of Sargassum ilicifolium (Turner) C. Agardh, Sargassum subrepandum (Forssk.) C. Agardh, and Turbinaria triquetra (J. Agardh) Kütz. (Phaeophyceae) on shallow reef flats in the southern Red Sea. Thallus length and biomass varied strongly with season, with the highest values occurring in the cooler months. Thallus densities showed no significant temporal variation. Log‐total biomass versus log‐density relationships were positive throughout the growth season without any decrease in the slope of the relationship. In two populations, biomass‐density combinations approached the interspecific biomass‐density line, but the massive annual shedding of modules occurred before self‐thinning would set in. Allometric length‐biomass relationships varied with season in all populations and were associated with seasonal module initiation, growth, and shedding. Evidence of a strong asymmetric competition was found in two high‐density populations. These populations showed a predominance of small thalli during peak development, asymmetrical Lorenz curves, increasing Gini coefficients, and increasing thallus length relative to biomass during the main growth phase. In two other less crowded populations, small thalli were absent during peak development, Lorenz curves were symmetrical, and Gini coefficients decreased during the main growth phase. In these populations, size equalization appears to be due to responses at the modular level rather than size‐dependent mortality. We conclude that changes in size structure in this highly seasonal environment are determined by module dynamics, modified by asymmetric competition in some populations, with a minor role of recruitment and no regulatory effect of self‐thinning.
Behavioral and Brain Functions

Background: This study was realized thanks to the collaboration of children and adolescents who had been resected from cerebellar tumors. The medulloblastoma group (CE+, n = 7) in addition to surgery received radiation and chemotherapy. The astrocytoma group (CE, n = 13) did not receive additional treatments. Each clinical group was compared in their executive functioning with a paired control group (n = 12). The performances of the clinical groups with respect to controls were compared considering the tumor's localization (vermis or hemisphere) and the affectation (or not) of the dentate nucleus. Executive variables were correlated with the age at surgery, the time between surgery-evaluation and the resected volume. Methods: The executive functioning was assessed by means of WCST, Complex Rey Figure, Controlled Oral Word Association Test (letter and animal categories), Digits span (WISC-R verbal scale) and Stroop test. These tests are very sensitive to dorsolateral PFC and/or to medial frontal cortex functions. The scores for the non-verbal Raven IQ were also obtained. Direct scores were corrected by age and transformed in standard scores using normative data. The neuropsychological evaluation was made at 3.25 (SD = 2.74) years from surgery in CE group and at 6.47 (SD = 2.77) in CE+ group. Results: The Medulloblastoma group showed severe executive deficit (≤ 1.5 SD below normal mean) in all assessed tests, the most severe occurring in vermal patients. The Astrocytoma group also showed executive deficits in digits span, semantic fluency (animal category) and moderate to slight deficit in Stroop (word and colour) tests. In the astrocytoma group, the tumor's localization and dentate affectation showed different profile and level of impairment: moderate to slight for vermal and hemispheric patients respectively. The resected volume, age at surgery and the time between surgery-evaluation correlated with some neuropsychological executive variables. Conclusion: Results suggest a differential prefrontal-like deficit due to cerebellar lesions and/or cerebellar-frontal diaschisis, as indicate the results in astrocytoma group (without treatments), that also can be generated and/or increased by treatments in the medulloblastoma group. The need for differential rehabilitation strategies for specific clinical groups is remarked. The results are also discussed in the context of the Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome. Published: 15 April 2008 Behavioral and Brain Functions 2008, 4:18 doi:10.1186/1744-9081-4-18 Received: 11 July 2007 Accepted: 15 April 2008 This article is available from: http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions. com/content/4/1/18 © 2008 Vaquero et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Robust Transceiver Design for Broadband Multiuser Multi-Relay Networks

In this paper, we study the robust design of the relay beamforming (rBF) and destination equalization (dEQ) filters for broadband multiuser multi-relay networks employing single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA). Thereby, we consider the realistic case where only imperfect channel state information is available for rBF and dEQ filter optimization. Our goal is to maximize a lower bound for the weighted achievable bit rate (ABR) of the network, subject to either individual relay power constraints (Ind-PCs) or an aggregate relay power constraint (Agg-PC). We first derive the optimal dEQ filters and the phases of the optimal rBF filter coefficients, which are independent of the power constraints. For the Agg-PC, the amplitude optimization of the rBF filter coefficients is decomposed into two subproblems, which correspond to the optimization of the power allocation across the relays and the power allocation across the users and subcarriers, respectively. We obtain a closed-form structural solution for the first subproblem by fixing the powers across users and subcarriers, and the global optimal solution for the second subproblem. For the Ind-PCs, the corresponding optimization problem is formulated as a reverse-convex problem with convex constraints. Subsequently, the constrained convex concave procedure is applied to approximate the original non-convex problem with a sequence of convex problems, which can be efficiently solved using convex optimization techniques. Simulation results validate the excellent performance of the proposed robust rBF and dEQ filter designs and show their superiority compared to conventional non-robust and naive relaying schemes.
Exploring tag relevance for image tag re-ranking

In this paper, we propose to explore the relevance between tags for image tag re-ranking. The key component is to define a global tag-tag similarity matrix, which is achieved by analysis in both semantic and visual aspects. The text semantic relevance is explored by the Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) model [1]. For the visual information, the tag-relevance can be propagated by reconstructing exemplar images with visually and semantically consistent images. Based on our tag relevance matrix, a random-walk approach is leveraged to discover the significance of each tag. Finally, all tags in an image are re-ranked by their significance values. Extensive experiments show its effectiveness on an image dataset with a large tags vocabulary.
NHERF1 Regulates Parathyroid Hormone Receptor Membrane Retention without Affecting Recycling*

Na/H exchange regulatory factor-1 (NHERF1) is a PDZ protein that regulates trafficking of several G protein-coupled receptors. The phenotype of NHERF1-null mice suggests that the parathyroid hormone (PTH) receptor (PTH1R) is the principal GPCR interacting with NHERF1. The effect of NHERF1 on receptor recycling is unknown. Here, we characterized NHERF1 effects on PTH1R membrane tethering and recycling by radio-ligand binding and recovery after maximal receptor endocytosis. Using Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the PTH1R, where NHERF1 expression could be induced by tetracycline, NHERF1 inhibited PTH1R endocytosis and delayed PTH1R recycling. NHERF1 also inhibited PTH-induced receptor internalization in MC4 osteoblast cells. Reducing constitutive NHERF1 levels in HEK-293 cells with short hairpin RNA directed against NHERF1 augmented PTH1R endocytosis in response to PTH. Mutagenesis of the PDZ-binding domains or deletion of the MERM domain of NHERF1 demonstrated that both are required for inhibition of endocytosis and recycling. Likewise, an intact COOH-terminal PDZ recognition motif in PTH1R is needed. The effect of NHERF1 on receptor internalization and recycling was not associated with altered receptor expression or binding, activation, or phosphorylation but involved β-arrestin and dynamin. We conclude that NHERF1 inhibits endocytosis without affecting PTH1R recycling in MC4 and PTH1R-expressing HEK-293 cells. Such an effect may protect against PTH resistance or PTH1R down-regulation in certain cells harboring NHERF1.
New generalized rheological model for lubrication of a ball spinning in a nonconforming groove

The elastohydrodynamic theory for predicting the spinning friction of a ball in a nonconforming groove was modified to incorporate a rheological model. The rheological model is based on the exponential pressure viscosity relation for low shear stresses, but at high shear rates and pressures, the relation is altered to one in which the shear stress is porportional to the normal stress. The model was fitted to experimental spinning torques for four different lubricants: a synthetic paraffinic lubricant, di-2-ethylhexyl sebacate, a super-refined naphthenic mineral oil, and a polyphenyl ether (5P4E). Good agreement between the model and experiment was found.
ACORN: An Auto-Configuration Framework for 802.11n WLANs

The wide channels feature combines two adjacent channels to form a new, wider channel to facilitate high-data-rate transmissions in multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO)-based IEEE 802.11n networks. Using a wider channel can exacerbate interference effects. Furthermore, contrary to what has been reported by prior studies, we find that wide channels do not always provide benefits in isolation (i.e., one link without interference) and can even degrade performance. We conduct an in-depth, experimental study to understand the implications of wide channels on throughput performance. Based on our measurements, we design an auto-configuration framework called ACORN for enterprise 802.11n WLANs. ACORN integrates the functions of user association and channel allocation since our study reveals that they are tightly coupled when wide channels are used. We show that the channel allocation problem with the constraints of wide channels is NP-complete. Thus, ACORN uses an algorithm that provides a worst-case approximation ratio of O(1/Δ + 1), with Δ being the maximum node degree in the network. We implement ACORN on our 802.11n testbed. Our evaluations show that ACORN: 1) outperforms previous approaches that are agnostic to wide channels constraints; it provides per-AP throughput gains ranging from 1.5 × 6×; and 2) in practice, its channel allocation module achieves an approximation ratio much better than the theoretically predicted O(1/Δ + 1).
Effect of brimonidine on retinal and choroidal neovascularization in a mouse model of retinopathy of prematurity and laser-treated rats.

PURPOSE To determine whether chronic treatment with brimonidine (BRI) attenuates retinal vascular leakage and neovascularization in neonatal mice after exposure to high oxygen in a mouse model of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in rats after laser treatment. METHODS Experimental CNV was induced by laser treatment in Brown Norway (BN) rats. BRI or vehicle (VEH) was administered by osmotic minipumps, and CNV formation was measured 11 days after laser treatment. Oxygen-induced retinopathy was generated in neonatal mice by exposure to 75% oxygen from postnatal day (P)7 to P12. BRI or VEH was administered by gavage, and vitreoretinal vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) concentrations and retinal vascular leakage, neovascularization, and vaso-obliteration were measured on P17. Experimental CNV was induced in rabbits by subretinal lipopolysaccharide/fibroblast growth factor-2 injection. RESULTS Systemic BRI treatment significantly attenuated laser-induced CNV formation in BN rats when initiated 3 days before or within 1 hour after laser treatment. BRI treatment initiated during exposure to high oxygen significantly attenuated vitreoretinal VEGF concentrations, retinal vascular leakage, and retinal neovascularization in P17 mice subjected to oxygen-induced retinopathy. Intravitreal treatment with BRI had no effect on CNV formation in a rabbit model of nonischemic angiogenesis. CONCLUSIONS BRI treatment significantly attenuated vitreoretinal VEGF concentrations, retinal vascular leakage, and retinal and choroidal neovascularization in animal models of ROP and CNV. BRI may inhibit underlying event(s) of ischemia responsible for upregulation of vitreoretinal VEGF and thus reduce vascular leakage and retinal-choroidal neovascularization.
Fast median calculation method

The ever increasing demand for high image quality requires fast and efficient methods for noise reduction. The best-known order-statistics filter is the median filter. A method is presented to calculate the median on a set of N W-bit integers in W/B time steps. Blocks containing B-bit slices are used to find B-bits of the median; using a novel quantum-like representation allowing the median to be computed in an accelerated manner compared to the best-known method (W time steps). The general method allows a variety of designs to be synthesised systematically. A further novel architecture to calculate the median for a moving set of N integers is also discussed.
A PROLOG Implementation of Government-Binding Theory

A number of recent research efforts have explicitly grounded parser design on linguistic theory (e.g., Bayer et al. (1985), Berwick and Weinberg (1984), Marcus (1980), Reyle and Frey (1983), and Wehrli (1983)). Although many of these parsers are based on generative grammar, and transformational grammar in particular, with few exceptions (Wehrli (1983)) the modular approach as suggested by this theory has been lagging (Barton (1984)). Moreover, Chomsky (1986) has recently suggested that rule-based parsers are implausible and that parsers could be based on lexical properties and structure determining principles.
Revisiting statechart synthesis with an algebraic approach

The idea of synthesizing statecharts out of a collection of scenarios has received a lot of attention in recent years. However due to the poor expressive power of first generation scenario languages, including UML 1.x sequence diagrams, the proposed solutions often use ad hoc tricks and suffer from many shortcomings. The recent adoption in UML 2.0 of a richer scenario language, including interesting composition operators, now makes it possible to revisit the problem of statechart synthesis with a radically new approach. Inspired by the way UML 2.0 sequence diagrams can be algebraically composed, we first define an algebraic framework for composing statecharts. Then we show how to leverage the algebraic structure of UML 2.0 sequence diagrams to get a direct algorithm for synthesizing a composition of statecharts out of them. The synthesized statecharts exhibit interesting properties that make them particularly useful as a basis for the detailed design process. Beyond offering a systematic and semantically well founded method, another interest of our approach lies in its flexibility: the modification or replacement of a given scenario has a limited impact on the synthesis process, thus fostering a better traceability between the requirements and the detailed design.
Peeking behind the great firewall: Privacy on Chinese file sharing networks

As citizens debate the morality of using global surveillance to enforce cyber security, software technologies that can proliferate illegal distribution of copyright material are evolving rapidly. One such technology is Peer-to-Peer networking which, through well-known implementations such as Napster, Bittorrent and eMule, has enabled users to share files at optimal speeds and at near infinite scale. This technology is contentious in that it can distribute highly desired files globally in minutes if not seconds and determining illegal vs legal applications is a challenge. Recently, a new player Xunlei has arrived on the Peer-to-Peer scene with an impressive network and unprecedented global reach. Xunlei, a proprietary Peer-to-Peer network, is unique in that it aggregates multiple file sources together seamlessly enabling content to be consumed via a single client. The aggregated approach raises some ethical dilemmas. Is it a good thing that centralised management of Peer-to-Peer networks exists? Is it a form of populous control? Where will it lead as Peer-to-Peer usage becomes more mainstream? Finally, does it threaten an individual's privacy? This paper investigates the Xunlei network as it stands today and takes valuable steps towards addressing these questions, and to defining future fields of research.
A ground uplift in the city of Paris (France) detected by satellite radar interferometry

We have analyzed a set of ERS‐2 images to investigate surface deformation within the city of Paris using the radar interferometry technique (InSAR). We show that a large scale uplift phenomenon occurred during the summer 1998 south of the Saint‐Lazare railway station (maximum amplitude of 1.3 cm ± 0.3 cm). This area corresponds to an important underground working site, where the piezometric level has been lowered during 1995 and 1997. We show that the uplift correlates in time with the increase of the underground water level during the summer 1998, some ten months after the end of the main water pumping work. The amplitude of the uplift corresponds to the amplitude of a subsidence which was previously observed in the same area. This suggests that the deformation mechanism is elastic reversible rather than irreversible. A simple elastic deformation theoretical model matches the InSAR measured surface deformation.
Fully Lexicalising CCGbank with Hat Categories

We introduce an extension to CCG that allows form and function to be represented simultaneously, reducing the proliferation of modifier categories seen in standard CCG analyses. We can then remove the non-combinatory rules CCGbank uses to address this problem, producing a grammar that is fully lexicalised and far less ambiguous. There are intrinsic benefits to full lexicalisation, such as semantic transparency and simpler domain adaptation. The clearest advantage is a 52--88% improvement in parse speeds, which comes with only a small reduction in accuracy.
Tolerance and efficacy of azathioprine in pediatric Crohn's disease

Background: Thiopurines are considered first‐line immunomodulators for the prevention of relapse in moderate to severe pediatric Crohn's disease (CD). Early introduction of thiopurines was shown in a pediatric trial to maintain steroid‐free remission in 90% of patients for 18 months. In the present study we analyzed the tolerance and efficacy of azathioprine (AZA) to maintain remission in a homogenous single‐center observational cohort of children with CD. Methods: In all, 105 pediatric CD patients (male/female 68/37) were retrospectively evaluated for the efficacy of AZA (doses 1.4–4 mg/kg) to maintain remission at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months of follow‐up. Overall, 93 children were included with active disease (pediatric Crohn's disease activity index [PCDAI] >30), steroid/enteral‐nutrition dependency, or postileocecal resection. Remission was defined as PCDAI ≤10 without steroids. Patients requiring antitumor necrosis factor (TNF) medication, other immunomodulators, or surgery were considered to experience a relapse. Results: Based on PCDAI, steroid‐free remission was achieved in 56/93 (60.2%), 37/93 (39.8%), 31/93 (33.3%), and 29/93 (31.2%) at visits month (M)6, M12, M18, and M24, respectively. Within the first 4 weeks, AZA was stopped in 10/93 patients due to adverse reactions (pancreatitis, nausea, vomiting, skin reactions, general weakness), or not introduced due to low thiopurine methyl transferase (TPMT) activity (n = 3). No neutropenia occurred in patients with normal TPMT activity. Three infectious episodes were documented requiring temporary AZA suspension. Conclusions: AZA is efficacious in maintaining remission in pediatric CD patients, but to a lesser extent than previously suggested. The majority of patients who are in steroid‐free remission at 12 months remained in prolonged remission. Overall tolerance of AZA was excellent. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2011
Variable length mixtures of inverse covariances

The mixture of inverse covariances model is a low-complexity, approximate decomposition of the inverse covariance matrices in a Gaussian mixture model which achieves high modeling accuracy with very good computational efﬁciency. In this model, the inverse covariances are decomposed into a linear combina-tion of K shared prototype matrices. In this paper, we introduce an extension of this model which uses a variable number of prototypes per Gaussian for improved efﬁciency. The number of prototypes per Gaussian is optimized using a maximum likelihood criterion. This variable length model is shown to achieve signiﬁcantly better accuracy at a given complexity level on several speech recognition tasks.
Eyes alive

For an animated human face model to appear natural it should produce eye movements consistent with human ocular behavior. During face-to-face conversational interactions, eyes exhibit conversational turn-taking and agent thought processes through gaze direction, saccades, and scan patterns. We have implemented an eye movement model based on empirical models of saccades and statistical models of eye-tracking data. Face animations using stationary eyes, eyes with random saccades only, and eyes with statistically derived saccades are compared, to evaluate whether they appear natural and effective while communicating.
Characterizing Microfluidic Operations Underlying an Electrowetting Heat Pipe on the International Space Station

Electrowetting heat pipes (EHPs) are a newly conceptualized class of heat pipes, wherein the adiabatic wick section is replaced by electrowetting-based pumping of the condensate (as droplets) to the evaporator. Specific advantages include the ability to transport high heat loads over long distances, low thermal resistance and power consumption, and the absence of moving mechanical parts. In this work, we describe characterization of key microfluidic operations (droplet motion and splitting) underlying the EHP on the International Space Station (ISS). A rapid manufacturing method was used to fabricate the electrowetting device on a printed circuit board. Key device-related considerations were to ensure reliability and package the experimental hardware within a confined space. Onboard the ISS, experiments were conducted to study electrowetting-based droplet motion and droplet splitting, by imaging droplet manipulation operations via pre-programmed electrical actuation sequences. An applied electric field of 36 Volts/um resulted in droplet speeds approaching 10 mm/s. Droplet splitting dynamics was observed and the time required to split droplets was quantified. Droplet motion data was analyzed to estimate the contact line friction coefficient. Overall, this demonstration is the first-ever electrowetting experiment in space. The obtained results are useful for future design of the EHP and other electrowetting-based systems for microgravity applications. The testing was performed under the Advanced Passive Thermal eXperiment (APTx) project, a project to test a suite of passive thermal control devices funded by the ISS Technology Demonstration Office at NASA JSC.