Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peer deviance, parental divorce, and genetic risk in the prediction of drug abuse in a nationwide Swedish sample: evidence of environment-environment and gene-environment interaction.

IMPORTANCE Peer deviance (PD) strongly predicts externalizing psychopathologic conditions but has not been previously assessable in population cohorts. We sought to develop such an index of PD and to clarify its effects on risk of drug abuse (DA). OBJECTIVES To examine how strongly PD increases the risk of DA and whether this community-level liability indicator interacts with key DA risk factors at the individual and family levels. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Studies of future DA registration in 1,401,698 Swedish probands born from January 1, 1970, through December 31, 1985, and their adolescent peers in approximately 9200 small community areas. Peer deviance was defined as the proportion of individuals born within 5 years of the proband living in the same small community when the proband was 15 years old who eventually were registered for DA. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Drug abuse recorded in medical, legal, or pharmacy registry records. RESULTS Peer deviance was associated with future DA in the proband, with rates of DA in older and male peers more strongly predictive than in younger or female peers. The predictive power of PD was only slightly attenuated by adding measures of community deprivation, collective efficacy, or family socioeconomic status. Probands whose parents were divorced were more sensitive to the pathogenic effects of high PD environments. A robust positive interaction was also seen between genetic risk of DA (indexed by rates of DA in first-, second-, and third-degree relatives) and PD exposure. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE With sufficient data, PD can be measured in populations and strongly predicts DA. In a nationwide sample, risk factors at the level of the individual (genetic vulnerability), family (parental loss), and community (PD) contribute substantially to risk of DA. Individuals at elevated DA risk because of parental divorce or high genetic liability are more sensitive to the pathogenic effects of PD. Although the effect of our PD measure on DA liability cannot be explained by standard measures of community or family risk, we cannot, with available data, discriminate definitively between the effect of true peer effects and other unmeasured risk factors.
A Study on Keyframe Extraction Methods for Video Summary

In this paper we carry out a survey on key frame extraction methods for Video Summary. We also discuss the summary evaluation criteria and compare the approaches based on the method, data set and the results. Video Summary is a process of presenting an abstract of entire video within a short period of time. It aims to provide a compact video representation, while preserving the essential activities of the original video. It is an essential task in video analysis and indexing applications. Most of the video summaries are based on selection of key frames within the shots of a video. Many of them use motion features and few use visual features for extracting the key frames. The video summary quality assessment methods are based more on subjective and less on objective measures. Tong wei Ren et al has provided a framework to assess the quality of the video against a given reference summary using both subjective and objective measures. Ciocca et al used the objective measures for evaluation of summary and most of them evaluate by taking the subjective opinion of experts. A framework for automatic evalution is needed based on both subjective and objective measures without the reference summary.
Commodity-based cryptography (extended abstract)

We introduce a new paradigm for the efficient design of protocols for secure joint computation requiring minimal interaction. Instead of relying on trusted and specialized devices, unproven cryptographic assumptions, or highly interactive multiparty computations, we propose a commoditybased model in which servers provide security resources to clients but are not involved in the clients’ computations themselves. Unlike oracles, which typically provide comput ational resources such as the resnlts of infeasible computations, these servers assist clients in establishing shared resources for secure computations such as oblivious transfer and circuit evaluation, broadcast and multiparty computations. Unlike protocols for secure multiparty computation, the servers themselves are “non-interactive,” having no knowledge whatsoever of each other, and providing security resources in a single message. This approach to secure interactive computing obviates the need for unproven cryptographic assumptions, special hardware (such as oblivious transfer channels), completely-connected networks, or global knowledge and synchronization. It gracefully accommodates expansion without introducing bottlenecks (even polynomial) at larger scales. We give explicit constructions supporting oblivious transfer and network multicast.
Divergent HIV-1 strains (CRF92_C2U and CRF93_cpx) co-circulating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Phylogenetic insights on the early evolutionary history of subtype C

Abstract Molecular epidemiological studies revealed that the epicenter of the HIV pandemic was Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa. All known subtypes and numerous complex recombinant strains co-circulate in the DRC. Moreover, high intra-subtype diversity has been also documented. During two previous surveys on HIV-1 antiretroviral drug resistance in the DRC, we identified two divergent subtype C lineages in the protease and partial reverse transcriptase gene regions. We sequenced eight near full-length genomes and classified them using bootscanning and likelihood-based phylogenetic analyses. Four strains are more closely related to subtype C although within the range of inter sub-subtype distances. However, these strains also have small unclassified fragments and thus were named CRF92_C2U. Another strain is a unique recombinant of CRF92_C2U with an additional small unclassified fragment and a small divergent subtype A fragment. The three remaining strains represent a complex mosaic named CRF93_cpx. CRF93_cpx have two fragments of divergent subtype C sequences, which are not conventional subtype C nor the above described C2, and multiple divergent subtype A-like fragments. We then inferred the time-scaled evolutionary history of subtype C following a Bayesian approach and a partitioned analysis using major genomic regions. CRF92_C2U and CRF93_cpx had the most recent common ancestor with conventional subtype C around 1932 and 1928, respectively. A Bayesian demographic reconstruction corroborated that the subtype C transition to a faster phase of exponential growth occurred during the 1950s. Our analysis showed considerable differences between the newly discovered early-divergent strains and the conventional subtype C and therefore suggested that this virus has been diverging in humans for several decades before the HIV/M diversity boom in the 1950s.
Comparisons of Microcellular PHBV/PBAT Parts Injection Molded with Supercritical Nitrogen and Expandable Thermoplastic Microspheres: Surface Roughness, Tensile Properties, and Morphology

Solid and foamed tensile bars made of poly (3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV)/ poly (butylenes adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) blends with a weight ratio of 45/55 were prepared via conventional and microcellular injection molding processes, respectively. To fabricate the degradable PHBV/PBAT foamed parts, two kinds of blowing agents, namely, supercritical nitrogen (SCF N2) as the physical blowing agent and expandable thermoplastic microspheres (ETM) as the chemical blowing agent, were employed. Various properties were investigated and compared in terms of surface roughness, mechanical tensile properties, and cell morphologies. Through surface roughness comparisons using a 2D surface roughness analyzer and a 3D white-light interferometer surface profiler, microcellular injection molded parts with ETM exhibit a better surface quality. The tensile property results show that PHBV/PBAT–N foamed with SCF N2 have a longer strain-at-break. The microcellular morphologies and sandwich-like multilayer structure on the fractured cross-sectional surfaces were characterized by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). As shown by the test results, the cell microstructures - such as cell size, cell density, and multi-layered structures with a foamed core sandwiched by skin layers - played an important role in the surface quality and mechanical properties. The rather interesting and unusual cell morphology of PHBV/PBAT–N explains why the Young's modulus and ultimate strength are lower.
Genetic requirement for Ras in the transformation of fibroblasts and hematopoietic cells by the Bcr-Abl oncogene

To determine the functional importance of Ras in transformation by Abl oncogenes, we used a genetic approach to measure the effect of impaired Ras activity on the ability of Bcr-Abl or v-Abl to transform cells. Expression of the catalytic domain of the GTPase activating protein for Ras (Gap C terminus) impaired soft agar colony formation by fibroblasts expressing v-Abl or Bcr-Abl by 70-80%. To test Ras function in a model that more closely resembles clinical diseases involving Bcr-Abl, double gene retroviruses expressing Bcr-Abl paired with the Gap C terminus or dominant negative Ras were introduced into naive mouse bone marrow cells. Transformation by Bcr-Abl was completely blocked in both situations. Coexpression of normal c-H-Ras accelerated the transforming activity of Bcr-Abl. These findings show that Ras activation is essential for the leukemogenic activity of Abl oncogenes in two distinct model systems. The results genetically define a connection between the Bcr-Abl cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase and Ras and add to the accumulating evidence that deregulation of Ras is a central event in the genesis of a number of molecularly distinct forms of human myeloid leukemia.
Cardiac Sympathetic Afferent Cell Bodies Are Located in the Peripheral Nervous System of the Cat

Studies of the stellate ganglion and middle cervical ganglion indicate that sympathetic efferent nerve activity can be modified by peripheral excitatory inputs and that these neural connections may function as pathways for a peripheral reflex at the level of the thoracic sympathetic ganglia. This excitatory synaptic input could have a soma in either the central or the peripheral nervous system. A study was designed to determine whether chronic decentralization (3 weeks) of the stellate ganglion in cats would 1) abolish sympathetic cardiac afferent nerve activity recorded at the stellate cardiac nerve and 2) abolish local thoracic reflexes that are generated by stimulation of peripheral nerves. The ansae subclaviae, T3 and T4 rami, and stellate ganglion were also examined by electron microscopy for the extent of Wallerian degeneration. Afferent cardiac activation of the axon collaterals arising from cell bodies located in the dorsal root ganglia was abolished due to degeneration. However, sympathetic afferent nerve activity from the left ventricular receptors was still present and was recorded from the stellate cardiac nerve in all cats. Cardiac receptors were sensitive to mechanical distortion, increases in the left ventricular pressure, and epicardial application of veratrine hydrochloride. These data imply that 1) cardiovascular afferent input to the stellate ganglion persists following chronic decentralization and 2) the sensory neurons are located in the peripheral sympathetic nervous system. Thus, we find that regulation of the heart occurs in part via thoracic ganglia, independently of the central nervous system.
Infarcts of the inferior division of the right middle cerebral artery

We searched the Stroke Data Bank and personal files to find patients with CT-documented infarcts in the territory of the inferior division of the right middle cerebral artery. The most common findings among the 10 patients were left hemianopia (9), left visual neglect (9), and constructional apraxia (4 of 5 tested). Five patients had an agitated confusional state that was characterized by hyperactivity, restlessness, and easy distractibility. Motor and sensory abnormalities were not severe or persistent. The most common cause was cardiogenic embolism.
Risk-Sensitive and Robust Decision-Making: a CVaR Optimization Approach

In this paper we address the problem of decision making within a Markov decision process (MDP) framework where risk and modeling errors are taken into account. Our approach is to minimize a risk-sensitive conditional-value-at-risk (CVaR) objective, as opposed to a standard risk-neutral expectation. We refer to such problem as CVaR MDP. Our first contribution is to show that a CVaR objective, besides capturing risk sensitivity, has an alternative interpretation as expected cost under worst-case modeling errors, for a given error budget. This result, which is of independent interest, motivates CVaR MDPs as a unifying framework for risk-sensitive and robust decision making. Our second contribution is to present an approximate value-iteration algorithm for CVaR MDPs and analyze its convergence rate. To our knowledge, this is the first solution algorithm for CVaR MDPs that enjoys error guarantees. Finally, we present results from numerical experiments that corroborate our theoretical findings and show the practicality of our approach.
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in Job's Syndrome: A Case Report and Literature Review

Job's or hyper immunoglobulin E recurrent infection syndrome (Hyper-IgE syndrome) is a rare, often inherited multisystem disorder, characterized by cutaneous abscesses, pneumonia, elevated IgE levels and skeletal defects. We report a case of a 22-year-old man with Job's syndrome who presented with back pain. He was found to have diffuse large B-cell lymphoma involving his second lumbar vertebrae and spleen. Treatment with dose-adjusted EPOCH-rituximab (DA-EPOCH-R) chemotherapy achieved a complete remission after 4 cycles. A review of reported cases of lymphoma in Job's syndrome indicates an increase in relative risk of 259 (95% confidence interval 102, 416). The cause of the increased risk has yet to be defined but has similarities to a pathogenetic model of AIDS related lymphoma. In previous reports of lymphoma in Job's syndrome, patients presented with extranodal disease and had poor outcomes. With appropriate chemotherapy and hematological support, lymphoma associated with Job's syndrome can achieve complete remission.
A Robust Musical Audio Search Method Based on Diagonal Dynamic Programming Matching of Self-Similarity Matrices

We propose a new musical audio search method based on audio signal matching that can cope with key and tempo variations. The method employs the self-similarity matrix of an audio signal to represent a key-invariant structure of musical audio. And, we use dynamic programming (DP) matching of self-similarity matrices to deal with time variations. However, conventional DP-based sequence matching methods cannot be directly applied for self-similarity matrices because they cannot treat gaps independently of other time frames. We resolve this problem by introducing “matched element indices,” which reflect the history of matching, to a DP-based sequence matching method. We performed experiments using musical audio signals. The results indicate that the proposed method improves the detection accuracy in comparison to that that obtained by two conventional methods, namely, DP matching with chromabased vector rotations and a simple matching of self-similarity feature vectors.
Des moindres carrés aux moindres déviations

La regression lineaire est un domaine important en pratique qui est, en general, associee aux moindres carres. Mais on sait depuis longtemps que si les erreurs ne sont pas vraiment gaussiennes et peuvent inclure des valeurs aberrantes il est preferable d'utiliser la norme l 1 et de passer aux moindres deviations. Une version intermediaire consiste a minimiser la norme l 1 pour les residus superieurs a un seuil h et la norme l 2 pour les autres, on retrouve alors la fonction de penalisation de Huber qui est optimale dans un certain sens. On propose un algorithme qui genere la suite de ces optimums. Le cout considere depend d'un parametre h. L'algorithme demarre en h infini avec l'optimum des moindres carres qui est simple a obtenir, on propage la solution pour h decroissant, et en h nul, on a l'optimum des moindres deviations.
NON-LINEAR MULTIMODAL OBJECT TRACKING BASED ON 2D LIDAR DATA

The contribution introduces a novel approach for tracking objects based on two-dimensional lidar data. As a central tracking engine, we employ a particle-filter-based solution which is capable of modelling non-linear dynamic processes as well as non-Gaussian noise distributions for the underlying process and sensor as well. In contrast to other lidar-based tracking approaches, no newly detected objects have to be associated to already known objects in an explicit manner. Since our weighting function is multi-modal, the association is done by the filter itself.
Study of a supercapacitor Energy Storage System designed to reduce frequency modulation on shipboard electric power system

On a shipboard electric power system, in steady-state operations, the electric grid disturbances due to powerfull periodic pulsed loads are estimated by the voltage and frequency modulations. Energy Storage System (ESS) with fast discharge ability allows to reduce the stress on the grid components and to meet the design standard requirements. This paper focuses on the sizing and simulation of a supercapacitor ESS (SC ESS). Regarding the chosen topology, the SC bank is directly connected to the grid converter (without DC bus stage) because reliability, efficiency and ability to ensure other functions (as voltage sag mitigations) are expected. Regarding the SC ESS management, the DC voltage is controlled at any time and SC ESS charge and discharge are ordered by stepping the reference DC voltage to minimal value or maximal value. Furthermore SC ESS charge/discharge cycle is synchronized with the pulsed load with a smooth time advance in order to compensate the lower power rise of the ESS in comparison with the one of the pulsed load. The results obtained with the shipgrid simulator are convincing: the frequency modulation is significantly reduced (by more three times) and becomes compliant with the standard requirement. Regarding the generator side, the governor torque variations are strongly mitigated.
Metodología para el Modelado y Generación de Código de Control de Sistemas Secuenciales mediante Redes de Petri Jerárquicas

En este tr abajo se presenta una metodologia par a la generacion automatica de codigo par a controlador es logicos programables (PLCs), segun la norma IEC 611313. A partir del modelo del automatismo construido en redes de Petri jerarquicas, se presentan las reglas para generar el codigo en lenguaje de instrucciones, par a garantizar con ello la portabilidad. Se retoman definiciones ya planteadas en la literatura referente al formalismo de la redes de Petri y se hace un aporte sobre la sintaxis y semantica de este par a que sea implementable en PLCs. Esta metodologia permite aprovechar tecnicas de ingenieria de software como la programacion orientada a objetos y las capacidades de alto nivel embebidas en los controladores logicos, par a resolver problemas complejos de automatizacion industrial via modularizacion y reusabilidad del codigo.
Optimal Ratio of Transcription Factors for Somatic Cell Reprogramming*

Background: The somatic cell reprogramming factors do not always induce pluripotency. Results: The optimal ratio of the reprogramming factors is Oct3/4-high, Sox2-low, Klf4-high, and c-Myc-high. Conclusion: Among the various reprogramming transcription factor combinations, high Oct3/4 and low Sox2 produced the most efficient results. Significance: The overall gene expression profiles between the high and low efficiency conditions provide novel insights for somatic cell reprogramming. Somatic cell reprogramming is achieved by four reprogramming transcription factors (RTFs), Oct3/4, Sox2, Klf4, and c-Myc. However, in addition to the induction of pluripotent cells, these RTFs also generate pseudo-pluripotent cells, which do not show Nanog promoter activity. Therefore, it should be possible to fine-tune the RTFs to produce only fully pluripotent cells. For this study, a tagging system was developed to sort induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells according to the expression levels of each of the four RTFs. Using this system, the most effective ratio (Oct3/4-high, Sox2-low, Klf4-high, c-Myc-high) of the RTFs was 88 times more efficient at producing iPS cells than the worst effective ratio (Oct3/4-low, Sox2-high, Klf4-low, c-Myc-low). Among the various RTF combinations, Oct3/4-high and Sox2-low produced the most efficient results. To investigate the molecular basis, microarray analysis was performed on iPS cells generated under high (Oct3/4-high and Sox2-low) and low (Oct3/4-low and Sox2-high) efficiency reprogramming conditions. Pathway analysis revealed that the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) pathway was up-regulated significantly under the high efficiency condition and treatment with the chemokine, C-C motif ligand 2, a member of the GPCR family, enhanced somatic cell reprogramming 12.3 times. Furthermore, data from the analysis of the signature gene expression profiles of mouse embryonic fibroblasts at 2 days after RTF infection revealed that the genetic modifier, Whsc1l1 (variant 1), also improved the efficiency of somatic cell reprogramming. Finally, comparison of the overall gene expression profiles between the high and low efficiency conditions will provide novel insights into mechanisms underlying somatic cell reprogramming.
The effects of organisational restructuring on “survivor” stress in information systems professionals

perksion to make digit&hard copies ofall or pti ofti m&al for Personal or C~~OOm use is granted without f= provided that the copis m not made or dktributed for profit or commertial adv;mtage, the ccpys @ht Ilot& the title ofthe publication and its date appear, and not& k @a U-d WPyrigbt is by permision ofthe AChf, h. TO COPY othmvise, to republish, to post on servers or to redii%ute to iii rrguirrs specific pamission andror fee. CPR 9s Boston MA USA Copy@ht 1998 0-89791-959-9/98/3.S5. 00 Management must ensure that after major organisationai change initiatives, “I.S. survivors” are carefully managed in terms of unambiguous work Pia% re-skiiiing resources, career counseliing, and innovative performance measurement systems to ensure high levels of motivation and productivity are maintained.