Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Link Between Vasopressin Receptor AVPR1A Promoter Region Microsatellites and Measures of Social Behavior in Humans

Abstract. Two markers near the vasopressin receptor (AVPR1A) gene located on chromosome 12q14-15 were tested for linkage to two complex social behaviors in humans: Sibling relationships and self-presentation style. Self-report questionnaires were administered to 552 same-sex siblings from 248 families. Suggestive linkage was observed between both microsatellites (RS1 and RS3) and the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire Conflict scale (RS1: χ2 = 13.65, LOD = 2.96, p = .0001; RS3: χ2 = 14.54, LOD = 3.16, p = .00007) and the Concern for Appropriateness Scale Self-presentational style (RS1: χ2 = 8.25, LOD = 1.79 p = . 002; RS3: χ2 = 8.81, LOD = 1.91, p = . 002. The current results provide the first provisional evidence that the vasopressin receptor mediates social behavior in humans and links a specific genetic element to perceived sibling interactions.
‘Nature’, nationhood and the poetics of meaning in Ruhuna (Yala) National Park, Sri Lanka

Ruhuna, or Yala as it is more commonly known, is Sri Lanka’s most famous national park, attracting hundreds of thousands of nature lovers annually. Included in the wealth of attractions that Ruhuna offers its visitors are transcendent landscape experiences amidst what is popularly considered to be its sacred and premodern ‘nature’. This paper traces the powerful connections between this popular poetics of landscape experience and the creation of racialized difference and political enmity, in the context of a modern nation-state that has only just seen the end of a fiercely contested civil war between a Sinhalese Buddhist majority and Tamil separatists. It suggests that movement through Ruhuna’s space variously fosters senses of belonging, attachment and exclusion in relation to Sri Lankan soil. The paper begins with the history of the reinscription of meaning in this former colonial game reserve. It then proceeds to show how the park’s contemporary and sacred meanings shape experiences in the present, mapping subjects’ bodies with historical, religious and territorial discourses that configure Tamils as ‘invaders’ and ‘interlopers’ in national space that has become Sinhalese and Buddhist by ‘nature’. Ruhuna emerges as a powerful tool whose Sinhala history and Buddhist ‘nature’ are not merely palimpsests of a primordial and premodern antiquity, but map and signify Sri Lanka’s exclusive topographies in the present.
Immunological evaluation of a component isolated from Mycobacterium bovis BCG with a monoclonal antibody to M. bovis BCG

A component of Mycobacterium bovis BCG referred to as BCG-a was isolated through the combined use of monoclonal antibody directed to BCG and affinity chromatography. Analysis of BCG-a by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed a single prominent band with a molecular weight of ca. 10,000. Structural characterization of BCG-a consisting of amino acid composition and amino-terminal sequence determination was carried out. The intact BCG-a antigen was bound by neither the lectin from common lentils nor concanavalin A, implying that BCG-a does not carry any asparagine-linked oligosaccharides. Immunoprecipitation of 125I-labeled BCG-a with polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies directed against BCG resulted in bands having the same mobility on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis as did free 125I-BCG-a. In radioimmunoassays 125I-BCG-a was bound by the monoclonal antibody and by polyclonal antibodies from rabbits that had been immunized to BCG and to Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. Antibodies to nontuberculous and to nonacid-fast bacteria bound BCG-a poorly or not at all. The binding of 125I-BCG-a by the monoclonal antibody was readily inhibited by extracts of BCG and H37Rv, but it was not as readily inhibited by extracts of nontuberculous mycobacteria and was not at all inhibited by extracts of nonacid-fast bacteria. Considerable inhibition was similarly observed by surface antigens of nonviable, intact BCG organisms. Delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity reactions to small concentrations of BCG-a were elicited in guinea pigs that had been immunized with BCG or H37Rv antigens, but such reactions were not elicited in unimmunized animals.
Reply to Tleyjeh and Baddour.

We read with interest Drs Tleyjeh’s and Baddour’s comment on our recent paper [1, 2]. We acknowledge their concern regarding the nonsignificant higher adjusted risk of death among patients with early valve replacement during infective endocarditis (IE). As stated in the manuscript, the results should be interpreted cautiously given the limitations of the study and possible hidden confounders. The authors of the comment suggest that a propensity score analysis would better estimate the impact of early surgical intervention on the hospital mortality in patients with IE and stroke. However, we would argue that data such as those being analyzed in the present study could be equally well analyzed with a Cox proportional hazard regression model adjusted for survival prognostic factors, surgical mortality prognostic factors, and timing of surgery [3]. The authors of the comment also suggest examining the impact of early surgery in the entire cohort (medical and surgical) of IE patients with stroke. We appreciate this suggestion and will present our analysis at the 12th Interscience Conference on Cardiovascular and Infectious Diseases this year. In conclusion, according to our observational study, there was no clear finding that early surgery was associated with higher in-hospital mortality in IE. We agree that additional, larger studies are needed to better define the appropriate timing of surgery in IE with or without major complications such as stroke.
The Application of Systems Science to Addressing Obesity at the Workplace: Tapping into Unexplored Potential

Objective: The aim of the study was to address the need for explicit recognition that obesity is complex in its biological, social, psychological, and societal determinants and ramifications, and that applications of programs to address obesity at the workplace need to recognize this setting as a complex social environment. Efforts to address this complexity more meaningfully demand intentional application of systems science principles and approaches. Method: Along with several relevant examples, a description of systems sciences and the application of its principles to obesity and the workplace setting are presented. Conclusions: Systems science provides a method to explore large proportions of unexplored potential and unexplained variation in obesity research as applied to the workplace.
Topological strings and large N phase transitions. I. Nonchiral expansion of q-deformed Yang-Mills theory

We continue our study of the large N phase transition in q-deformed Yang-Mills theory on the sphere and its role in connecting topological strings to black hole entropy. We study in detail the chiral theory defined in terms of uncoupled single U(N) representations at large N and write down the resulting partition function by means of the topological vertex. The emergent toric geometry has three Kahler parameters, one of which corresponds to the expected fibration over 1. By taking a suitable double-scaling limit we recover the chiral Gross-Taylor string expansion. To analyse the phase transition we construct a matrix model which describes the chiral gauge theory. It has three distinct phases, one of which should be described by the closed topological string expansion. We verify this expectation by explicit comparison between the matrix model and the chiral topological string free energies. We also show that the critical point in the pertinent phase of the matrix model corresponds to a divergence of the topological string perturbation series.
Building Hierarchies of Concepts via Crowdsourcing

Hierarchies of concepts are useful in many applications from navigation to organization of objects. Usually, a hierarchy is created in a centralized manner by employing a group of domain experts, a time-consuming and expensive process. The experts often design one single hierarchy to best explain the semantic relationships among the concepts, and ignore the natural uncertainty that may exist in the process. In this paper, we propose a crowdsourcing system to build a hierarchy and furthermore capture the underlying uncertainty. Our system maintains a distribution over possible hierarchies and actively selects questions to ask using an information gain criterion. We evaluate our methodology on simulated data and on a set of real world application domains. Experimental results show that our system is robust to noise, efficient in picking questions, cost-effective, and builds high quality hierarchies.
Introduction of Error Correcting Schemes in the Design Process of Self-Healing Circuits for Nanoscale Fabrics

On the road of smaller nanoscale devices perspectives, new proposals of alternatives to CMOS technology are emerging for nanoscale fabrics. This paper relies on a specific 2Dgrid nanowire fabric and proposes new CAD tool to help the designer in its nanoscale implementation, from highlevel specification to abstract layout. This tool proposes to incorporate some fault-tolerant techniques at different levels of the design process (functional level and structural level). The layout of the defect-tolerant circuit can be produced in a semi-automatic way based on the faulttolerance directives given to the tool.
Teaching Refugee Learners with Interrupted Education in Science: Vocabulary, literacy and pedagogy

With the globalisation of education, large numbers of students with interrupted schooling and low English literacy levels represent both a quantitative and qualitative shift in the kinds of students faced by teachers in classrooms. In Australia, after a year in an intensive English language programme, immigrant and refugee students are placed in the mainstream, where they face enormous challenges in content areas such as science. The complexity and specificity of science terminology pose a serious barrier for students. This article reports on a research project to support vocabulary learning in mainstream science for Year 8 refugee students (n = 23) in one high school. Data sources included teacher interviews, student journal writing, and the science text itself. The author demonstrates why science content language is inaccessible to many students through an extensive review of the literature, and then juxtaposes the views of students and teachers with the actual demands of one chapter from the Year 8 Science textbook on states of matter. The final section presents the response of the researchers to help scaffold vocabulary learning for this topic and a trial of the materials. The study highlights the links between conceptual and linguistic understanding. Given that students identified vocabulary as a major barrier to learning, and that the science teacher tended to assume rather than to explain new terminology, the language‐focused approach outlined to support vocabulary was seen as one way to address an urgent problem. Implications for professional development and teacher education are also addressed.
On Angle-of-Arrival and Time-of-Arrival Statistics of Geometric Scattering Channels

This paper proposes a hyperbolic distribution to model the distribution of random scatterers between a base station (BS) and the user equipment (UE) in multipath mobile environments. New hyperbolic angle-of-arrival (AoA) probability density function (pdf), power azimuth spectrum (PAS), time-of-arrival (ToA) pdf, and power delay spectrum (PDS) are derived. The effectiveness of Gaussian, Janaswamy, and hyperbolic scatterer distributions is assessed by estimating their fitting errors to a given empirical data set. New 3-D simulation results on the Gaussian and hyperbolic PAS and PDS are given and discussed. The line-of-sight (LoS) distance D (in kilometers) between the BS and the UE and the propagation path distance mu (in kilometers) can be related mathematically.
MC-Sim: An efficient simulation tool for MPSoC designs

The ability to integrate diverse components such as processor cores, memories, custom hardware blocks and complex network-on-chip (NoC) communication frameworks onto a single chip has greatly increased the design space available for system-on-chip (SoC) designers. Efficient and accurate performance estimation tools are needed to assist the designer in making design decisions. In this paper, we present MC-Sim, a heterogeneous multi-core simulator framework which is capable of accurately simulating a variety of processor, memory, NoC configurations and application specific coprocessors. We also describe a methodology to automatically generate fast, cycle-true behavioral, C-based simulators for coprocessors using a high-level synthesis tool and integrate them with MC-Sim, thus augmenting it with the capacity to simulate coprocessors. Our C-based simulators provide on an average 45times improvement in simulation speed over that of RTL descriptions. We have used this framework to simulate a number of real-life applications such as the MPEG4 decoder and litho-simulation, and experimented with a number of design choices. Our simulator framework is able to accurately model the performance of these applications (only 7% off the actual implementation) and allows us to explore the design space rapidly and achieve interesting design implementations.
Modified 4-2 compressor using improved multiplexer for low power applications

This paper reports a modified 4-2 compressor by improving the multiplexer design from traditional transmission gates with the optimized pass transistors. The proposed design shows power consumption of 16.93 μW as compared to 24.99 μW for the traditional design. Further power delay product (PDP) of proposed design is 7.855 fJ as compared to 9.071 fJ for the traditional design. Moreover effect of substrate bias has been studied for proposed and traditional design. Proposed design shows the power consumption of 10.75 μW as compared to 16.32 μW for traditional design with reverse substrate bias voltage (Vsb) of -0.9V. Proposed design shows improvement in PDP of 4.837 fJ as compared to 5.206 fJ for traditional design. Effect of temperature variation has been studied on proposed and traditional design. The proposed and traditional designs have been simulated in 0. 18μm technology using SPICE. The proposed design can be used in multipliers for various low power applications. Results show a significant enhancement in power delay product (PDP), transistors count and signal swing in the proposed design.
Reinforcement learning of 2-joint virtual arm reaching in a computer model of sensorimotor cortex

Neocortical mechanisms of learning sensorimotor control involve a complex series of interactions at multiple levels, from synaptic mechanisms to cellular dynamics to network connectomics. We developed a model of sensory and motor neocortex consisting of 704 spiking model-neurons. Sensory and motor populations included excitatory cells and two types of interneurons. Neurons were interconnected with AMPA/NMDA, and GABAA synapses. We trained our model using spike-timing-dependent reinforcement learning to control a 2-joint virtual arm to reach to a fixed target. For each of 125 trained networks, we used 200 training sessions, each involving 15 s reaches to the target from 16 starting positions. Learning altered network dynamics, with enhancements to neuronal synchrony and behaviorally-relevant information flow between neurons. After learning, networks demonstrated retention of behaviorally-relevant memories by utilizing proprioceptive information to perform reach-to-target from multiple starting positions. Networks dynamically controlled which joint rotations to utilize to reach a target, depending on current arm position. Learning-dependent network reorganization was evident in both sensory and motor populations – learned synaptic weights showed target-specific patterning optimized for particular reach movements. Our model embodies an integrative hypothesis of sensorimotor cortical learning which could be used to interpret future electrophysiological data recorded in vivo from sensorimotor learning experiments. We used our model to make the following predictions: learning en-
Quels indicateurs de gestion pour le projet logistique

LOGISTIQUE Dans le contexte contemporain des chaines logistiques etendues (ou supply chains), l’idee qu’une meilleure coordination des flux interentreprises en ameliore la performance fait l’objet d’un relatif consensus. En revanche, peu de travaux ont essaye de formaliser des indicateurs de gestion, financiers et non financiers, capables de faire prendre conscience aux differentes parties prenantes des enjeux strategiques en presence. Les auteurs souhaitent contribuer au debat en montrant que le controle externe, au cœur du projet logistique, requiert justement des indicateurs phares specifiques. S’appuyant sur une etude exploratoire menee aupres d’une entreprise multinationale, ils en proposent une liste pouvant servir de base a la construction ulterieure d’un tableau de bord.
Pitch control of large scale wind turbine based on fuzzy-PD method

The wind turbine operating area can be divided into several regions, depending on wind speed. The control objectives are different for each operating region. This paper mainly deals with the control of a variable speed pitch regulated wind turbine in the full load operating area. The research work presented in this paper is aimed to reduce pitch actuator fatigue and smooth output power above-rated power operating condition. To cope with the nonlinear characteristics of wind turbine, a new control strategy for variable speed pitch-regulated wind turbine is proposed. In the proposed method a variable gains PD controller based on fuzzy control theory is used. A comparison with purposed strategies and PI controllers is performed. Simulation result show that the proposed approach results in better power regulation and less pitch action. The proposed strategy is easy to realize and has stronger robustness.
Major Features of Accreditation in Nigeria

Abstract This article highlights the major features of accreditation in Nigeria. It also considers the concepts of quality and standards and their implications for the Nigerian experience. Furthermore, the background of accreditation in Nigeria is considered. The criteria used in the accreditation exercise are examined. The paper concludes with the problems and prospects of accreditation in Nigerian universities.
Use of in vitro and haptic assessments in the characterisation of surface lubricity

Lubricity is a key property of hydrophilic-coated urinary catheter surfaces. In vitro tests are commonly employed for evaluation of surface properties in the development of novel catheter coating technologies; however, their value in predicting the more subjective feeling of lubricity requires validation. We herein perform a range of in vitro assessments and human organoleptic studies to characterise surface properties of developmental hydrophilic coating formulations, including water wettability, coefficient of friction, dry-out kinetics and lubricity. Significant reductions of up to 40% in the contact angles and coefficient of friction values of the novel coating formulations in comparison with the control poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-coated surfaces were demonstrated during quantitative laboratory assessments. In contrast, no significant differences in the more subjective feeling of lubricity between the novel formulations and the control-coated surfaces were observed when formulations were haptically assessed by the techniques described herein. This study, importantly, highlights the need for optimisation of in vitro and human haptic assessments to more reliably predict patient preferences.
DETECTION OF TEXT STRING FROM NATURAL SCENES BY IMAGE PARTITION AND GROUPING

Detecting text information in natural scene images is important and in great demand for applications such as assistive navigation, auxiliar y eading, image retrieval, scene understanding, etc. Extracting text from natural sc ene images is a challenging problem because of complex backgrounds and large variations of text patterns such as font, color, scale, and orientation. In this paper, we explore a new framework to detect text strings with arbitrary orientations in complex natural scene ima ges The proposed framework of text string detection consists of two steps: A) Image pa rtition to find text character candidates by using gradient magnitude and color uniformity of c haracter components and B)Text character e grouping to detect text strings by usin g structural analysis of text characters for example size of character , distance between nei ghboring characters, and character height and alignment. Also two algorithms of text string d etection are proposed: 1) adjacent character grouping method and 2) text line grouping method. The adjacent character grouping method find out the sibling groups of each character as string and then merges them into text string. The text line grouping metho d performs Hough transform to find out fit text line of all the text candidates. The proposed methods outperform the state-of-the-art results on the public RRD which contains text only i horizontal orientation. Furthermore, the effectiveness of proposed method proves better to detect text strings with arbitrary orientations on the OSTD.
Pollen spectrum of honey of "uruçu" bee (Melipona scutellaris Latreille, 1811).

In spite of the importance of the "uruçu" bee as honey producer of excellent quality, as well, potential pollinator both in agricultural and natural ecosystems, mainly in North-eastern Brazil, just some information is found in literature about sources that such bees utilize to collect nectar and pollen. The identification of the plants visited by Melipona scutellaris was accomplished with base on the analysis of pollen types found in the honey samples collected every two months, from March 1997 to February 1998, in 15 colonies located in Catu, State of Bahia, Brazil (12 degrees 21'00"S, 38 degrees 22'40"W, 76 m of altitude). Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the pollen types were carried out determining the percentage and occurrence classes. Twenty-eight pollen types were found, being considered dominant pollen, the Eucalyptus spp. and Psidium sp. types and secondary pollen, Bauhinia sp. , Caesalpinia sp. and Mimosa verrucata types. It was verified dominant pollen of Eucalyptus spp. in honeys produced in November/December 1997 and January/February 1998. The families Caesalpiniaceae (14%), Mimosaceae (25%) and Myrtaceae (56%) were the most represented in the pollen spectrum.
Arousal Styles during Public Speaking

The nature of the public-speaking context as a physiologically arousing communication context is well-known. During public speaking, a significant increase in heart rate level above the baseline has been found in various studies. In these studies, arousal styles during speaking have generally been described on the basis of mean heart rates among a group of participants. Individual variation in HR responses has not received much attention. The purpose of the present study was to examine individual differences in heart rate responses during public speaking and to account for these differences in terms of particular explanatory variables. The heart rate curves of 47 speakers were examined one by one in order to see what different arousal styles emerged. As a result, four styles were distinguished: the confrontation style, inflexible style, insensitive style, and average style. Different combinations of the speaker's subjectively experienced state, level of trait anxiety, and public speaking experience were typically associated with each of these styles.
Bump shading for volume textures

Bump mapping was introduced as a method of rendering realistic shading on bumpy surfaces, without actually rendering a full 3D model of the bumps. Bump mapping works well for parameterized surfaces. The authors interpret the 3D texture as a displacement function to be added to the surface position. <<ETX>>