Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Statistics of Density Peaks and the Column Density Distribution of the Lyα Forest

We develop a method to calculate the column density distribution of the Lyα forest for column densities in the range 1012.5-1014.5 cm-2. The Zeldovich approximation, with appropriate smoothing, is used to compute the density and peculiar velocity fields. The effect of the latter on absorption profiles is discussed, and it is shown to have little effect on the column density distribution. An approximation is introduced in which the column density distribution is related to a statistic of density peaks (involving its height and first and second derivatives along the line of sight) in real space. We show that the slope of the column density distribution is determined by the temperature-density relation, as well as the power spectrum, on scales 2 h Mpc-1 ≲ k ≲ 20 h Mpc-1. An expression relating the three is given. We find very good agreement between the column density distribution obtained by applying the Voigt profile fitting technique to the output of a full hydrodynamic simulation and that obtained using our approximate method for a test model. This formalism then is applied to study a group of cold dark matter, as well as cold plus hot dark matter, models. We show that the amplitude of the column density distribution depends on the combination of parameters (Ωb h2)2T−0.70J, which is not well constrained by independent observations. The slope of the distribution, on the other hand, can be used to distinguish between different models: those with a smaller amplitude and a steeper slope of the power spectrum on small scales give rise to steeper distributions, for the range of column densities that we study. Comparison with high-resolution Keck data is made.
RPC82 encodes the highly conserved, third-largest subunit of RNA polymerase C (III) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

RNA polymerase C (III) promotes the transcription of tRNA and 5S RNA genes. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the enzyme is composed of 15 subunits, ranging from 160 to about 10 kDa. Here we report the cloning of the gene encoding the 82-kDa subunit, RPC82. It maps as a single-copy gene on chromosome XVI. The UCR2 gene was found in the opposite orientation only 340 bp upstream of the RPC82 start codon, and the end of the SKI3 coding sequence was found only 117 bp downstream of the RPC82 stop codon. The RPC82 gene encodes a protein with a predicted M(r) of 73,984, having no strong sequence similarity to other known proteins. Disruption of the RPC82 gene was lethal. An rpc82 temperature-sensitive mutant, constructed by in vitro mutagenesis of the gene, showed a deficient rate of tRNA relative to rRNA synthesis. Of eight RNA polymerase C genes tested, only the RPC31 gene on a multicopy plasmid was capable of suppressing the rpc82(Ts) defect, suggesting an interaction between the polymerase C 82-kDa and 31-kDa subunits. A group of RNA polymerase C-specific subunits are proposed to form a substructure of the enzyme.
Stability of Body Weight in Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE There is a concern that an "epidemic of obesity" is occurring in Western societies. One consequence of obesity is that type 2 diabetes may develop. Presumably, a great increase in body weight would continue in people with diabetes and may be accelerated due to pharmacological treatment. In this retrospective study, we tested the hypothesis that the weight gain in a diabetic population is greater than that in the general population. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Data were obtained from the records of 205 adult men who have attended a diabetes clinic for > or =5 years. Their weight and glycohemoglobin at the last visit were compared with the initial visit data. The subjects were categorized according to treatment modalities. The mean follow-up was 9.4 years (range 5-23). RESULTS For the group as a whole, the mean increase in body weight was 0.23 +/- 0.2 kg/year. BMI or initial age had little effect on the rate of weight gain. Treatment regimen used did have an effect on weight change. In subjects treated with insulin, with or without oral agents, body weight increased at a rate of 0.44 +/- 0.1 kg/year. In subjects treated with metformin or metformin and a sulfonylurea, there was a mean loss in weight, i.e., -0.24 +/- 0.09 kg/year, and with sulfonylureas alone weight increased by 0.42 +/- 0.2 kg/year. CONCLUSIONS The men treated with insulin alone or insulin combined with oral agents gained weight at a rate comparable with that reported for the general population, i.e., the weight gain was not extraordinary. Metformin treatment resulted in a modest loss of weight.
The Critical's Path of Communication Model Analysis for a Performant Implementations of High-speed Interfaces over the Myrinet Interconnect

A process for preparing organopolysiloxane resins containing Si-bonded vinyl groups which comprises heating to a temperature of from about 85 DEG to 95 DEG C. a mixture containing (A) an organopolysiloxane having at least 0.1 percent by weight of Si-bonded hydroxyl groups and at least 50 mol percent of monoorganosiloxane units (RSiO3/2), (B) an organosiloxane containing from 2 to 10 silicon atoms per molecule, in which substantially all the silicon valences which are not satisfied by siloxane oxygen atoms, are satisfied by SiC-bonded hydrocarbon radicals, and having on the average at least two such hydrocarbon radicals for each silicon atom and at least one of the siloxanes (A) and/or (B) has an average of at least one SiC-bonded vinyl group, and (C) an acid activated bleaching clay; wherein the water released during the heating step by the condensation of Si-bonded hydroxyl groups is retained in the reactive mixture.
Are Insulin Autoantibodies Markers for Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus?

Recent studies have shown that insulin autoantibodies occur in patients with newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) before exogenous insulin treatment. Our study was designed to test the hypothesis that insulin autoantibodies, like cytoplasmic islet cell antibodies (ICAs), can identify individuals with ongoing autoimmune β-cell destruction and increased risk of IDDM development. Insulin autoantibodies detected by use of a radioligand-binding assay were found in 1.4% of normal controls, 4% of first-degree relatives of IDDM patients, and in 37% of newly diagnosed IDDM patients. A strong positive correlation between insulin autoantibodies and ICAs was observed. HLA typing of insulin-autoantibody-positive first-degree relatives of IDDM patients, as well as in the general population, revealed a strong association with HLA-DR3 and/or-DR4, suggesting that insulin autoantibodies are restricted to persons genetically susceptible to IDDM. In an ongoing study of β-cell function in ICA-positive nondiabetic individuals, the additional presence of insulin autoantibodies significantly increased the likelihood of β-cell dysfunction. After intravenous glucose stimulation, insulinopenia was present in 70% of ICA and insulin-autoantibody-positive individuals in contrast to only 23% of ICA-positive, insulin-autoantibody-negative persons. These data document a significant association between insulin autoantibodies and ICAs and support the contention that insulin autoantibodies, like ICAs, are markers of ongoing β-cell destruction.
Combined vaccination and immunostimulatory antibodies provides durable cure of murine melanoma and induces transcriptional changes associated with positive outcome in human melanoma patients

We have developed a recombinant adenovirus vaccine encoding dopachrome tautomerase (rHuAd5-hDCT) that produces robust DCT-specific immunity, but only provides modest suppression of murine melanoma. In the current study, an agonist antibody against 4-1BB was shown to enhance rHuAd5-hDCT efficacy and evoke tumor regression, but most tumors ultimately relapsed. The vaccine triggered upregulation of the immune inhibitory PD-1 signaling pathway and PD-1 blockade dramatically enhanced the rHuAd5-hDCT + anti-4-1BB strategy, resulting in complete regression of growing tumors in > 70% of recipients. The impact of the combined anti-4-1BB/anti-PD-1 treatment did not manifest as a dramatic enhancement in either the magnitude or functionality of DCT-specific tumor infiltrating lymphocytes relative to either treatment alone. Rather, a synergistic enhancement in intratumoral cytokine expression was observed, suggesting that the benefit of the combined therapy was a local event within the tumor. Global transcriptional analysis revealed immunological changes within the tumor following the curative vaccination, which extended beyond the T cell compartment. We identified an immune signature of 85 genes associated with clearance of murine melanoma that correlated with improved survival outcome in two independent cohorts of human melanoma patients. Our data reinforce the concept that successful vaccination must overcome local hurdles in the tumor microenvironment that are not manifest within the periphery. Further, tumor rejection following vaccination involves more than simply T cells. Finally, the association of our immune signature with positive survival outcome in human melanoma patients suggests that similar vaccination strategies may be promising for melanoma treatment.
The experience and communicative management of identity threats among people with Parkinson's disease: Implications for health communication theory and practice

ABSTRACT Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative illness that can yield a host of well-documented physical and psychosocial challenges; however, the impact of the disease on the identity of persons with PD (PWPs) is not well understood. Based on a constructivist grounded theory approach, data gathered from in-depth interviews with 47 PWPs were analyzed using constant comparison. The resulting theoretical structure related to identity and communication states that (a) PD threatens identity in several significant ways; (b) PWPs communicatively manage threats to identity; and (c) communicatively managing threats to identity is a complex, varied process. Results offer a theoretical understanding of the ways in which identity, communication, and PD are linked, and can inform interventions and care for this population.
Exploring Promising Stepping Stones by Combining Novelty Search with Interactive Evolution

The field of evolutionary computation is inspired by the achievements of natural evolution, in which there is no final objective. Yet the pursuit of objectives is ubiquitous in simulated evolution. A significant problem is that objective approaches assume that intermediate stepping stones will increasingly resemble the final objective when in fact they often do not. The consequence is that while solutions may exist, searching for such objectives may not discover them. This paper highlights the importance of leveraging human insight during search as an alternative to articulating explicit objectives. In particular, a new approach called novelty-assisted interactive evolutionary computation (NA-IEC) combines human intuition with novelty search for the first time to facilitate the serendipitous discovery of agent behaviors. In this approach, the human user directs evolution by selecting what is interesting from the on-screen population of behaviors. However, unlike in typical IEC, the user can now request that the next generation be filled with novel descendants. The experimental results demonstrate that combining human insight with novelty search finds solutions significantly faster and at lower genomic complexities than fully-automated processes, including pure novelty search, suggesting an important role for human users in the search for solutions.
Enhanced Vibrational Spectroscopies as Tools for Small Molecule Biosensing

In this short summary we summarize some of the latest developments in vibrational spectroscopic tools applied for the sensing of (small) molecules and biomolecules in a label-free mode of operation. We first introduce various concepts for the enhancement of InfraRed spectroscopic techniques, including the principles of Attenuated Total Reflection InfraRed (ATR-IR), (phase-modulated) InfraRed Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy (IRRAS/PM-IRRAS), and Surface Enhanced Infrared Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy (SEIRAS). Particular attention is put on the use of novel nanostructured substrates that allow for the excitation of propagating and localized surface plasmon modes aimed at operating additional enhancement mechanisms. This is then be complemented by the description of the latest development in Surface- and Tip-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopies, again with an emphasis on the detection of small molecules or bioanalytes.
Using emotion as inferred from prosody in language modeling

Research has focused on using prosody as an alternative source of information for language modeling. However, prosody is a surface phenomenon and to develop deeper models of language production, the underlying mental processes need to be considered. There are several cognitive factors, such as dialog-states and formulation, that have been given attention. However, emotion – as a cognitive factor, has been neglected so far. Speakers’ emotional state plays an important role in spoken dialog. Participants seem to infer each others emotional state from multiple cues and react accordingly. In particular, these states manifest themselves moment-by-moment in the speakers voice. This dissertation attempts to model these changes and use them to improve word probability estimates for language modeling. A small set of conversations from the Switchboard corpus was labeled for emotion. Rather than using a class-based approach, I have used a dimension-based approach, to account for the subtle changes in emotion that occur in spontaneous dialog. I developed several models using different machine learning techniques that estimate the emotion value on each dimension independently. Once the speaker’s emotional state is recognized, the probability estimates of words that the speaker might say next are refined based on that recognized state. Using emotion for language modeling in this way resulted in a 1.35% reduction in perplexity over the baseline.
Pancho – The Mobile Music Explorer

The ever growing music collections on mobile devices renders the habitual browsing schemes – such as browsing by artist or by often ambiguous and inflexible genre terms – obsolete, as the collection is not organized by means of user’s perception. During this thesis a visual browsing scheme for mobile devices has been introduced and developed on Android, a free mobile software platform. A high dimensional Euclidean representation of the “World of Music” was used to make song similarity computations cheap and thus accessible for mobile devices. For visualizing large music collections on small screens the three basic requirements local focus, global overview and orientation in space were defined, which make browsing in large music collections possible and intuitive. Furthermore two visual metaphors were introduced: The lens metaphor for housing the local and global view and the cake metaphor for providing information about song clusters such as genre information. Simulations in Android’s Emulator showed that the implemented methods are able to cope with large data sets containing more then 3’000 songs (∼ 20 GB).
Enabling a marketplace of clouds: VMware's vCloud director

Cloud computing promises to bring about a fundamental shift in the computer industry where consumers of IT enjoy on-demand access to massive compute capacity and producers of IT benefit from economies of scale and automation. We believe that the advantages of cloud computing will be best realized if there is a highly competitive marketplace. We describe our vision of a marketplace of clouds, discuss what is needed to make this vision a reality, and then describe what VMware is doing to help enable this marketplace model of cloud computing
Regulation of cardiac cellular bioenergetics: mechanisms and consequences

The regulation of cardiac cellular bioenergetics is critical for maintaining normal cell function, yet the nature of this regulation is not fully understood. Different mechanisms have been proposed to explain how mitochondrial ATP production is regulated to match changing cellular energy demand while metabolite concentrations are maintained. We have developed an integrated mathematical model of cardiac cellular bioenergetics, electrophysiology, and mechanics to test whether stimulation of the dehydrogenase flux by Ca2+ or Pi, or stimulation of complex III by Pi can increase the rate of mitochondrial ATP production above that determined by substrate availability (ADP and Pi). Using the model, we show that, under physiological conditions the rate of mitochondrial ATP production can match varying demand through substrate availability alone; that ATP production rate is not limited by the supply of reducing equivalents in the form of NADH, as a result of Ca2+ or Pi activation of the dehydrogenases; and that ATP production rate is sensitive to feedback activation of complex III by Pi. We then investigate the mechanistic implications on cytosolic ion homeostasis and force production by simulating the concentrations of cytosolic Ca2+, Na+ and K+, and activity of the key ATPases, SERCA pump, Na+/K+ pump and actin‐myosin ATPase, in response to increasing cellular energy demand. We find that feedback regulation of mitochondrial complex III by Pi improves the coupling between energy demand and mitochondrial ATP production and stabilizes cytosolic ADP and Pi concentrations. This subsequently leads to stabilized cytosolic ionic concentrations and consequentially reduced energetic cost from cellular ATPases.
Complexity and accuracy of image registration methods in SPECT-guided radiation therapy

The use of functional imaging in radiotherapy treatment (RT) planning requires accurate co-registration of functional imaging scans to CT scans. We evaluated six methods of image registration for use in SPECT-guided radiotherapy treatment planning. Methods varied in complexity from 3D affine transform based on control points to diffeomorphic demons and level set non-rigid registration. Ten lung cancer patients underwent perfusion SPECT-scans prior to their radiotherapy. CT images from a hybrid SPECT/CT scanner were registered to a planning CT, and then the same transformation was applied to the SPECT images. According to registration evaluation measures computed based on the intensity difference between the registered CT images or based on target registration error, non-rigid registrations provided a higher degree of accuracy than rigid methods. However, due to the irregularities in some of the obtained deformation fields, warping the SPECT using these fields may result in unacceptable changes to the SPECT intensity distribution that would preclude use in RT planning. Moreover, the differences between intensity histograms in the original and registered SPECT image sets were the largest for diffeomorphic demons and level set methods. In conclusion, the use of intensity-based validation measures alone is not sufficient for SPECT/CT registration for RTTP. It was also found that the proper evaluation of image registration requires the use of several accuracy metrics.
Managing Schema Evolution in a federated spatial database system

A federated spatial database is the integration of multiple spatial data sources and the realisation of effective spatial data sharing. However, in a federated database environment, database schemas are subject to change and the management of these changes is complex and inefficient. This is because schema changes in one local database will result not only the applications built against this local schema becoming invalid, but also applications built against the global schema. In this research, an Automatic Schema Evolution (ASE) Framework has been developed to more effectively manage schema evolution in a federated spatial database system (FSDBS) automatically. This framework provides a Schema Element Dependency (SED) metamodel, a set of Spatial Schema Change Operations and incorporates view generation and rewriting, and query rewriting as solutions. These methods combined, ensure user applications are immune to schema evolution
Low latency analytics for streaming traffic data with Apache Spark

Demand for new efficient methods for processing large-scale heterogeneous data in real-time is growing. Currently, one key challenge in Big Data is performing low-latency analysis with real-time data. In vehicle traffic, continuous high speed data streams generate large data volumes. Harnessing new technologies is required to benefit from all the potential this data withholds. This work studies the state-of-the-art in distributed and parallel computing, storage, query and ingestion methods, and evaluates tools for periodical and real-time analysis of heterogeneous data. We also introduce a Big Data cloud platform with ingestion, analysis, storage and data query APIs to provide programmable environment for analytics system development and evaluation.
The impact of a mathematics research experience on teachers' conceptions of student learning

THE IMPACT OF A MATHEMATICS RESEARCH EXPERIENCE ON TEACHERS' CONCEPTIONS OF STUDENT LEARNING by Todd Abel University of New Hampshire, September, 2010 Many mathematics teacher professional development programs have either incorporated or been organized around a goal of providing "research-like" (Cuoco, 2001) experiences. That is, teachers participate in a project that somehow simulates the mathematics research process. Though some research studies have shown positive outcomes from such programs, researchers have cautioned against assuming universally positive benefits without sufficient evidence (Proulx and Bednarz, 2001). Teacher conceptions of student learning play an important role in lesson development and preparation for classroom work (Penso & Shoham, 2003). Similarities between the processes of mathematics research and student learning (Dreyfus, 1991) beg the question of whether experience with one (mathematics research) might impact the way one thinks about the other (student learning). The current study investigates the impact of one "research-like" professional development program on teachers' conceptions of student learning. This study used belief surveys combined with five case studies. The case studies were based on a series of task-based interviews utilizing lesson planning
Spatial Frequency Maps in Cat Visual Cortex

Neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) respond preferentially to stimuli with distinct orientations and spatial frequencies. Although the organization of orientation selectivity has been thoroughly described, the arrangement of spatial frequency (SF) preference in V1 is controversial. Several layouts have been suggested, including laminar, columnar, clustered, pinwheel, and binary (high and low SF domains). We have reexamined the cortical organization of SF preference by imaging intrinsic cortical signals induced by stimuli of various orientations and SFs. SF preference maps, produced from optimally oriented stimuli, were verified using targeted microelectrode recordings. We found that a wide range of SFs is represented independently and mostly continuously within V1. Domains with SF preferences at the extremes of the SF continuum were separated by no more than ¾ mm (conforming to the hypercolumn description of cortical organization) and were often found at pinwheel center singularities in the cortical map of orientation preference. The organization of cortical maps permits nearly all combinations of orientation and SF preference to be represented in V1, and the overall arrangement of SF preference in V1 suggests that SF-specific adaptation effects, found in psychophysical experiments, may be explained by local interactions within a given SF domain. By reanalyzing our data using a different definition of SF preference than is used in electrophysiological and psychophysical studies, we can reproduce the different SF organizations suggested by earlier studies.