Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Shower Size Reconstruction at KASCADE-Grande

The KASCADE-Grande experiment consists of a large scintillator array for the detection of charged particles from extensive air showers in the primary energy range ! # " % $ & ') (eV. In combination with the KASCADE muon detectors it provides the means to investigate the possible existence of an iron knee and the change in composition due to extragalactic cosmic rays expected to become more dominant in that energy range. The performance of the apparatus and shower reconstruction methods will be presented on the basis of detailed Monte Carlo simulations. After approximately one year of data taking we present lateral distributions of the charged shower component and the reconstructed 2-dimensional shower size spectrum. The combined KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande Experiment [1], located on the site of the Forschungszen-trum Karlsruhe (110m a.s.l.), consists of various detector components [2] for measuring the particles of extensive air showers in the primary energy range from 0 # 1 $ 2 0) (eV. The measurement at the upper part of that energy range is possible due to a large scintillator array covering an area of approx. 700 3 700 m4. It comprises 37 stations located on a hexagonal grid with an average distance of 140 m to each other for the measurement of the charged shower component. Each of the detector stations is equipped with 16 4 cm thick plastic scintillator sheets covering a total area of 10 m4 per station. With the present setup the upper limit of the dynamic range will be reached at approx. 6000 MIPs. For details about readout and calibration see [3].
Agnostic broadcast rendezvous for cognitive radio networks using channel hopping

Cognitive radios (CRs) are a promising solution for the spectrum scarcity problem. These radios access the spectrum in an opportunistic manner in order to take advantage of frequency bands, i.e. channels, left unused by primary users while not interfering with them. This opportunistic access model requires CRs to switch among channels searching for new opportunities and making contact with their neighbors to exchange the information needed for spectrum management. This search process, known as rendezvous (RV), is termed blind RV when it does not use a common control channel (CCC) or a centralized solution. Several algorithms have been proposed to deal with the blind RV problem. However, most of them do not deal with broadcast transmissions, that is, when a CR wants to exchange information with all its neighboring nodes. This paper proposes a broadcast mechanism that operates on top of different one-to-one RV algorithms but being agnostic to the one in use, i.e., any such mechanism can be combined with it. Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism achieves a favorable performance while inheriting the good properties of the underlying one-to-one RV algorithm.
The Role of the Striatum in Effort-Based Decision-Making in the Absence of Reward

Decision-making involves weighing costs against benefits, for instance, in terms of the effort it takes to obtain a reward of a given magnitude. This evaluation process has been linked to the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the striatum, with activation in these brain structures reflecting the discounting effect of effort on reward. Here, we investigate how cognitive effort influences neural choice processes in the absence of an extrinsic reward. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans, we used an effort-based decision-making task in which participants were required to choose between two options for a subsequent flanker task that differed in the amount of cognitive effort. Cognitive effort was manipulated by varying the proportion of incongruent trials associated with each choice option. Choice-locked activation in the striatum was higher when participants chose voluntarily for the more effortful alternative but displayed the opposite trend on forced-choice trials. The dACC revealed a similar, yet only trend-level significant, activation pattern. Our results imply that activation levels in the striatum reflect a cost–benefit analysis, in which a balance is made between effort discounting and the intrinsic motivation to choose a cognitively challenging task. Moreover, our findings indicate that it matters whether this challenge is voluntarily chosen or externally imposed. As such, the present findings contrast with classical findings on effort discounting that found reductions in striatum activation for higher effort by finding enhancements of the same neural circuits when a cognitively challenging task is voluntarily selected and does not entail the danger of losing reward.
Essential role of protein kinase C ζ in transducing a motility signal induced by superoxide and a chemotactic peptide, fMLP

Under various pathological conditions, including infection, malignancy, and autoimmune diseases, tissues are incessantly exposed to reactive oxygen species produced by infiltrating inflammatory cells. We show augmentation of motility associated with morphological changes of human squamous carcinoma SASH1 cells, human peripheral monocytes (hPMs), and murine macrophage-like cell line J774.1 by superoxide stimulation. We also disclose that motility of hPMs and J774.1 induced by a chemotactic peptide (N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine [fMLP]) was inhibited by superoxide dismutase or N-acetylcystein, indicating stimulation of motility by superoxide generated by fMLP stimulation. In these cells, protein kinase C (PKC) ζ was activated to phosphorylate RhoGDI-1, which liberated RhoGTPases, leading to their activation. These events were inhibited by dominant-negative PKCζ in SASH1 cells, myristoylated PKCζ peptides in hPMs and J774.1, or a specific inhibitor of RhoGTPase in SASH1, hPMs, and J774.1. These results suggest a new approach for manipulation of inflammation as well as tumor cell invasion by targeting this novel signaling pathway.
An Extended Differential Flatness Approach for the Health-Conscious Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of Lithium-Ion Batteries

This brief paper examines the problem of optimizing lithium-ion battery management online, in a health-conscious manner. This is a computationally intensive problem. Previous work by the authors addresses this challenge by exploiting the differential flatness of Fick’s law of diffusion to improve computational efficiency, but is limited by the fact that the dynamics of a full battery cell are not differentially flat, even when the individual battery electrode dynamics are. The brief paper addresses this challenge by extending the application of differential flatness to a full single particle model. In particular, we use the conservation of charge to express the flat output trajectory of one electrode as an affine function of the other electrode’s flat output trajectory. In this way, we enforce differential flatness for the full battery model. This makes it possible to express the battery charge/discharge trajectory in terms of one flat output trajectory. We optimize this trajectory using a pseudospectral method. This reduces the computational cost of the optimization by about a factor of 5 compared with pseudospectral optimization alone. In addition, the robustness of the nonlinear model predictive control strategy is demonstrated in simulation by adding state-of-health parameter uncertainties.
Multifunctional Benzoxazines Feature Low Polymerization Temperature and Diverse Polymer Structures

3,4-dihydro-3-phenyl-2H-1,3-benzoxazines derived from phenol-, resorcinol-, and phloroglucinol give monomers with one, two, and three oxazine units at a single benzene ring, respectively. Aside from the synthesis and characterization of such multifunctional benzoxazines, reactivity and polymerization behavior is studied in dependence of the oxazine functionality. Monomer reactivities are directly related to the number of oxazine functionalities present at the benzene ring yielding the lowest polymerization temperature for the trifunctional phloroglucinol-based benzoxazine. Comparing the polymerization processes and resulting structures, the trifunctional benzoxazine derivative enter new polymerization pathways, which include methylene linkages bridging aniline units, as well as the formation of carbonyl-derived structures.
A Hybrid Theory of Metaphor: Relevance Theory and Cognitive Linguistics

Why do we talk in metaphors? What is systematic about metaphors? How do we process metaphors? In the past cognitive linguistics and relevance theorists have answered these questions in very different ways and have therefore been perceived as being radically different. The differences concerning goals and working assumptions are so great, in fact, that few metaphor scholars have tried to systematically compare these two theories to understand how and why they differ. Markus Tendahl shows that cognitive linguistic and relevance theory perspectives on metaphor may be complementary. Drawing from research in pragmatics, cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics this work is the first that compares and contrasts relevance theory positions and cognitive linguistic positions on metaphor in a systematic way. The outcome is a broader and more realistic hybrid theory of metaphor that forces metaphor research into a new direction.
Extensive DNA Fragmentation in Oxyphilic Cell Lesions of the Thyroid

The in situ end-labeling (ISEL) method demonstrates DNA fragmentation, commonly regarded as a marker of apoptosis. We investigated by the ISEL procedure a series of 52 thyroid lesions, including 24 lesions of mitochondrion-rich oxyphilic cells, both benign and malignant, and 28 non-oxyphilic control tumors. A high percentage of nuclear ISEL staining (approximating to 100% in most cases) was observed in the vast majority of oxyphilic cells from both adenomas and carcinomas, in the absence of morphological apoptotic changes and with no immunocytochemical evidence of caspase activation. This pattern of DNA fragmentation was not observed in non-oxyphilic lesions and was confirmed in total extracted DNA. Moreover, a peculiar cytoplasmic staining was also observed in oxyphilic cells from both benign and malignant lesions, probably related to abnormal fragmentation of mitochondrial DNA. Similar staining patterns were detected in oxyphilic cell tumors of other organs (parathyroids, salivary glands, and kidneys). These findings are consistent with an extensive DNA fragmentation peculiar to oxyphilic cells, which is not directly related to apoptosis and whose origin and biological significance are presently unknown. (J Histochem Cytochem 49:1003–1011, 2001)
Molecular and Cytogenetic Characterization of New Wheat—Dasypyrum breviaristatum Derivatives with Post-Harvest Re-Growth Habit

A novel Dasypyrum species, Dasypyrum breviaristatum, serves as a valuable source of useful genes for wheat improvement. The development and characterization of new wheat—D. breviaristatum introgression lines is important to determine the novel gene(s) on specific chromosome(s). We first used multi-color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to identify the individual D. breviaristatum Vb chromosomes in a common wheat—D. breviaristatum partial amphiploid, TDH-2. The FISH patterns of D. breviaristatum chromosomes were different from those of D. villosum chromosomes. Lines D2146 and D2150 were selected from a cross between wheat line MY11 and wheat—D. breviaristatum partial amphiploid TDH-2, and they were characterized by FISH and PCR-based molecular markers. We found that D2150 was a monosomic addition line for chromosome 5Vb of D. breviaristatum, while D2146 had the 5VbL chromosome arm translocated with wheat chromosome 5AS. Molecular marker analysis confirmed that the introduced D. breviaristatum chromosome 5VbL translocation possessed a duplicated region homoeologous to 5AS, revealing that the 5AS.5VbL translocation may not functionally compensate well. The dwarfing and the pre-harvest re-growth habits observed in the wheat—D. breviaristatum chromosome 5Vb derivatives may be useful for future development of perennial growth wheat lines.
The prevalence and factors associated with stunting among infants aged 6 months in a peri-urban South African community

Abstract Objective To determine the prevalence and factors associated with stunting in 6-month-old South African infants. Design This cross-sectional study was part of the baseline of a randomized controlled trial. Weight-for-length, length-for-age and weight-for-age Z-scores were based on the WHO classification. Blood samples were analysed for Hb, plasma ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR). Socio-economic, breast-feeding and complementary feeding practices were assessed by questionnaire. Setting/Subjects Infants aged 6 months (n 750) from a peri-urban area of Matlosana Municipality, North West Province of South Africa. Results Stunting, underweight, wasting and overweight affected 28·5, 11·1, 1·7 and 10·1 % of infants, respectively. Exclusive breast-feeding to 6 months of age was reported in 5·9 % of the infants. Multivariable binary logistic regression showed that birth weight (OR=0·12; 95 % CI 0·07, 0·21, P<0·001) and maternal height (OR=0·94; 95 % CI 0·91, 0·98, P=0·001) were inversely associated with stunting; while male sex (OR=1·73; 95 % CI 1·10, 2·70, P=0·014) was associated with higher odds for stunting. Stunting was also associated with higher plasma sTfR (>8·3 mg/l) concentrations. Conclusions The association between stunting and lower birth weight, shorter maternal height and male sex reflects possibly the intergenerational origins of stunting. Therefore, interventions that focus on improving preconceptual and maternal nutritional status, combined with strategies to promote appropriate infant feeding practices, may be an important strategy to prevent stunting in vulnerable settings.
PRIMING THE PRIMES: SUBSEQUENT TARGETS DISTINCTLY AFFECT PRECEDING-PRIME TRACES ACQUIRED WITH AND WITHOUT AWARENESS

Priming is commonly viewed as altered subsequent target processing by preceding prime stimuli. Here, we ask how, if at all, subsequent salient targets modulate memory-trace processing of preceding primes (i.e., backward priming) accomplished with and without awareness. On a trial, participants saw a prime, a mask, and a target in succession, pressing a respective key to report prime identity (a square with or without gaps in its outline that was either congruent or incongruent with the target). In Experiments 1 and 2, prime identification was above and at chance level, respectively. With prime awareness (Experiment 1), target-prime congruency yielded reduced response times, while without prime awareness (Experiment 2), reduced error rates occurred for the congruent primes. The results show for the first time the existence of backward (retroactive) priming of the prime’s memory traces by subsequent salient targets. Moreover, the findings suggest an awareness-dependent dissociation of backward priming that engages either response processing or solely sensory representations of stimuli with discriminable and indiscriminable prime identity, respectively.
Optimal Scheduling and Power Allocation for Two-Hop Energy Harvesting Communication Systems

Energy harvesting (EH) has recently emerged as a promising technique for green communications. To realize its potential, communication protocols need to be redesigned to combat the randomness of the harvested energy. In this paper, we investigate how to apply relaying to improve the short-term performance of EH communication systems. With an EH source and a non-EH half-duplex relay, we consider two different design objectives: 1) short-term throughput maximization; and 2) transmission completion time minimization. Both problems are joint time scheduling and power allocation problems, rendered quite challenging by the half-duplex constraint at the relay. A key finding is that directional water-filling (DWF), which is the optimal power allocation algorithm for the single-hop EH system, can serve as guideline for the design of two-hop communication systems, as it not only determines the value of the optimal performance, but also forms the basis to derive optimal solutions for both design problems. Based on a relaxed energy profile along with the DWF algorithm, we derive key properties of the optimal solutions for both problems and thereafter propose efficient algorithms. Simulation results will show that both time scheduling and power allocation optimizations are necessary in two-hop EH communication systems.
A Dual Band Leaky Wave Antenna on a CRLH Substrate Integrated Waveguide

This communication presents the results of an investigation of a new version of a leaky wave antenna designed on a CRLH substrate integrated waveguide. The antenna operates in two frequency bands and its main beam can be steered from backward to forward direction by changing the frequency. The antenna structure is planar and can be fabricated by a standard PCB technology, so it is suitable for mass production. An efficient method for determining the complex dispersion characteristic of periodic 1D structure is proposed.
The Life Experiences Survey: Preliminary Findings

Abstract : This report describes the development of a measure of life changes, the Life Experiences Survey; and preliminary data related to this assessment instrument are presented. The RES is a 57 item scale that lists numerous events which individuals may experience and call for social readjustment. Subjects are asked to indicate events which they have experienced during the previous year and whether these events were perceived as positive or negative. Additionally, subjects are asked to rate on a 7-point scale the degree of impact these events have on their lives. From these responses it is possible to derive three life change scores: positive, negative, and total. This scale may be contrasted with earlier measures of life stress which failed to distinguish between positive and negative change and did not allow for individualized ratings of desirability of events and degrees of impact.
Effects of Multidomain Risk Accumulation on Cognitive, Academic, and Behavioural Outcomes

This longitudinal study examined the predictive associations between cumulative multidomain risk factors and cognitive (IQ), academic (reading fluency), and social adaptive outcomes at 8 to 9 years among 190 children with or without familial risk for dyslexia. Other risk factors included parental and neurocognitive risks assessed when the children were 1 to 6 years of age. Risks accumulated more among children with familial risk for dyslexia than among children without familial risk. A higher number of risks was associated with poorer performance in all outcome measures as postulated by the cumulative risk model. However, when the effects of individual risk variables were controlled for at the outset, the cumulative risk indices did not have incremental effects beyond those of individual risks. This suggests that the detrimental effect of several risks was due to the content-specific effect of individual risks. Children with familial risk were not differentially affected by the number of risks.
A conversational inquiry into student assessment in school district no. 59

This project documents an investigation of student assessment in School District #59 (Peace River South). The concern that prompted this investigation was the large number of referrals for formal assessment to the school psychologist. On her retirement, the district needed to redefine the process of student assessment and the roles of school-based and district-based educators in that process. To proceed with this investigation, the authors examined their own experiences with assessment, provided a general history of assessment, collected historical and current information on assessment in School District #59, and identified common issues from the works of noted authorities. Conversation is the primary mode of inquiry. The work consists of five chapters. Following the introductory chapter, the second chapter deals with personal reflections by the authors on their own experiences with assessment as student and teacher. The third chapter is a chronology of assessment practices and trends since 1100 B.C. This chapter includes a section on the history of assessment practices in School District #59. The fourth chapter explores the Dinner Party and is a narrative account of the thoughts and feelings of the participants within each of their conversations. In the interest of anonymity and a practical format for presenting the information, each disguised participant is invited to an imaginary dinner. The final chapter is a gathering together of the thoughts and issues from the first four chapters. This final chapter also includes a section on the recommendations this investigation generates. These recommendations plus the conversations they create, will encourage a variety of assessment practices aimed at meeting student needs with confidence and efficacy.
Performance of network coding for multimedia data transmission over MANET

Network coding (NC) is a recent new technique which promises to revolutionize the way data packets are transmitted over communication networks. Originally proposed for wired networks, it has been recently adapted to wireless networks to improve the throughput of broadcast and multicast traffic. In this paper, an NC-based scheme that can efficiently disseminate multimedia data over MANET is proposed. We have also developed a simulation framework for NC extensive simulations using the network simulator package NS-3. This simulation framework has been applied to analyzing the performance of the proposed scheme with two scalable multimedia source coding paradigms, layered coding (LC) and multi-description coding (MDC). Simulation results show improved performance of the proposed scheme over the original scheme, and suggest the combination of NC and MDC as a viable solution for better multimedia broadcast and multicast services in MANET.
ON THE INTERPOINT DISTANCE SUM INEQUALITY YONG XIA

Let n points be arbitrarily placed in B(D), a disk inR having diameter D. Denote by lij the Euclidean distance between point i andj. In this paper, we show n ∑ i=1 ( min j 6=i l ij ) ≤ D 2 0.3972 . We then extend the result to R.
Mobile P2Ping: A Super-Peer based Structured P2P System Using a Fleet of City Buses

Recently, researchers have introduced the notion of super-peers to improve signaling efficiency as well as lookup performance of peer-to-peer (P2P) systems. In a separate development, recent works on applications of mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) have seen several proposals on utilizing mobile fleets such as city buses to deploy a mobile backbone infrastructure for communication and Internet access in a metropolitan environment. This paper further explores the possibility of deploying P2P applications such as content sharing and distributed computing, over this mobile backbone infrastructure. Specifically, we study how city buses may be deployed as a mobile system of super-peers. We discuss the main motivations behind our proposal, and outline in detail the design of a super-peer based structured P2P system using a fleet of city buses.