Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Heat kernel smoothing on unit sphere

In brain imaging, cortical data such as the cortical thickness, cortical surface curvatures and surface coordinates have been mapped to a unit sphere for the purpose of visualization, surface registration and statistical analysis. Since the unit sphere provides a readily available parametrization and basis functions, cortical data can be easily quantified with respect to the spherical parametrization. For the cortical data on the unit sphere, it is necessary to smooth them to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and the smoothness for the subsequent statistical analysis. We present a mathematical framework for smoothing data on a unit sphere using the heat kernel. The heat kernel is analytically constructed using the spherical harmonics and O(n) heat kernel smoothing algorithm is presented
Deciding Existence of Rational Points on Curves: An Experiment

In this paper we gather experimental evidence related to the question of deciding whether a curve has a rational point. We consider all genus-2 curves over ℚ given by an equation y 2 = f(x) with f a square-free polynomial of degree 5 or 6, with integral coefficients of absolute value at most 3. For each of these roughly 200 000 isomorphism classes of curves, we decide whether there is a rational point on the curve by a combination of techniques that are applicable to hyperelliptic curves in general. In order to carry out our project, we have improved and optimized some of these techniques. For 42 of the curves, our result is conditional on the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture or on the generalized Riemann hypothesis.
Experimental Evaluation of Static torque Characteristics of a Double-Stator Switched Reluctance Machine

Double-stator switched reluctance machines have higher torque density and lower vibration and acoustic noise level in comparison with conventional switched reluctance machines. Static characteristics of a 8/6 Double-stator switched reluctance machine have already calculated using finite element method. However, no measurement has been presented for the static torque of the machine. This paper presents experimental evaluation of static torque characteristics of a 8/6 double-stator switched reluctance machine. For this purpose, an experimental setup is developed for static torque measurement of the machine for different current levels and rotor positions. Finite element calculation the static torque of the machine is also presented for the sake of comparison. It is observed that, experimental results are reasonably close to the simulation results. Streszczenie. W artykule opisano badania eksperymentalne nad maszyną reluktancyjną przelączalną 8/6 DSSRM (ang. Double-Stator Switched Reluctance Machine), mające na celu oszacowanie charakterystyki statycznej momentu maszyny. Do realizacji badan zbudowano stanowisko, pozwalające na pomiary momentu przy roznych wartościach prądu oraz pozycji wirnika. W analizie wynikow wykorzystano metode elementow skonczonych. Wyniki eksperymentalne są zblizone do symulacyjnych. (Eksperymentalne wyznaczenie charakterystyki statycznej momentu maszyny reluktancyjnej przelączalnej o podwojnym stojanie).
Adaptive Multi-Stream Relaying

In this paper, we study a cooperative network with one source-destination pair and a relay assisting their communication. All terminals have multiple antennas, which enables them to transmit multiple streams simultaneously. Both the source and the relay use spatial multiplexing to transmit while the receivers at the relay and the destination are linear MMSE receivers. We extend some of the well known digital relaying protocols to multi-stream case and also propose two new adaptive protocols to reduce error propagation at the relay. We evaluate the block error rate of all the protocols and show the benefit of stream by stream decisions at the relay
Dual Polynomials for Collision and Element Distinctness

The approximate degree of a Boolean function $f: \{-1, 1\}^n \to \{-1, 1\}$ is the minimum degree of a real polynomial that approximates $f$ to within error $1/3$ in the $\ell_\infty$ norm. In an influential result, Aaronson and Shi (J. ACM 2004) proved tight $\tilde{\Omega}(n^{1/3})$ and $\tilde{\Omega}(n^{2/3})$ lower bounds on the approximate degree of the Collision and Element Distinctness functions, respectively. Their proof was non-constructive, using a sophisticated symmetrization argument and tools from approximation theory. More recently, several open problems in the study of approximate degree have been resolved via the construction of dual polynomials. These are explicit dual solutions to an appropriate linear program that captures the approximate degree of any function. We reprove Aaronson and Shi's results by constructing explicit dual polynomials for the Collision and Element Distinctness functions.
Multi-user downlink resource allocation with per-base station power constraints

The problem of Downlink (DL) sum-rate maximization with required Quality of service (QoS) for a multi-cell, multi-user with per-Base Station (BS) power constraints is solved by an Interior Point Method (IPM). Further, by changing only the objective in the formulation, the problem of DL sum-power minimization with QoS is also solved. For a single-cell, the concept of duality and virtual uplink (VUL) is well understood to solve the DL problem. This cannot be extended to the multi-cell case with per-BS power constraints, also, the total sum-power on the DL and VUL may not be equal as in the single-cell. For a multi-cell, Lagrange-duality is applied to satisfy the power constraints, where the VUL-noise is also an optimization variable. In this paper, the implicit Lagrange-duality in the IPM is used to solve the equivalent VUL problem. With this reformulation, the need to treat VUL-noise as an optimization variable is eliminated. Single-cell duality requirement of equal total sum-power on DL and VUL is also satisfied. Numerical results show that the obtained VUL optimum satisfies the DL constraints thereby satisfying the multi-cell duality.
White Educators Facilitating Discussions About Racial Realities

Facilitating democratic discussions about race among students in classroom environments continues to be a problem facing educators. When these discussions occur, they are facilitated mostly by faculty of color. However, given the underrepresentation of faculty of color within higher education institutions and that white students respond differently to these discussions when facilitated by members of their own race, it is critical for white faculty to learn how to facilitate these exchanges among learners. The present study focused on exploring the role of white faculty facilitating discussions about race in their courses. Findings are presented through case examples from two white participants. Implications for research and practice are also discussed.
Intra-articular magnesium is effective for postoperative analgesia in arthroscopic knee surgery.

BACKGROUND Several medications are commonly injected intra-articularly for postoperative analgesia after arthroscopic knee surgery. Among the potentially efficient substances, magnesium could be of particular interest through its NMDA-receptor blocking properties. METHODS A total of 60 patients undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery were randomly and double-blindly assigned to two groups to receive intra-articular injection of either 10 ml of magnesium sulphate (MgSO(4)) (50 mg ml(-1)) (Group M) or 10 ml of normal saline (Group C). Analgesic effect was evaluated by measuring pain intensity (visual analogue scale; VAS) 1, 2, 6, 8, 12, 18 and 24 h after operation and the time delay between MgSO(4) or saline administration and the first requirement of supplementary analgesic medication by the patient (diclofenac). RESULTS Intra-articular magnesium administration resulted in a significant reduction in pain scores in Group M compared with Group C 1, 2, 6 and 8 h after the end of surgery [1.7 (0.59), 2.2 (0.69), 2.8 (1.01) and 3.5 (1.10) in Group M; 8.0 (1.25), 5.9 (1.12), 4.4 (0.67) and 4.5 (1.13) in Group C, respectively]. A longer delay between intra-articular injection of the study medication and first administration of diclofenac was observed in Group M [667 (198) min] as compared with Group C [49 (13) min]. Total diclofenac consumption was significantly lower in Group M [37.5 (38.14) mg] than in Group C [117.5 (46.95) mg]. No early side-effects were noted. CONCLUSION Intra-articular magnesium is effective for postoperative analgesia in arthroscopic knee surgery.
Experimental Cortical Spreading Depression Induces NMDA Receptor Dependent Potassium Currents in Microglia

Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a propagating event of neuronal depolarization, which is considered as the cellular correlate of the migraine aura. It is characterized by a change in the intrinsic optical signal and by a negative DC potential shift. Microglia are the resident macrophages of the CNS and act as sensors for pathological changes. In the present study, we analyzed whether microglial cells might sense CSD by recording membrane currents from microglia in acutely isolated cortical mouse brain slices during an experimentally induced CSD. Coincident with the change in the intrinsic optical signal and the negative DC potential shift we recorded an increase in potassium conductance predominantly mediated by K+ inward rectifier (Kir)2.1, which was blocked by the NMDA receptor antagonist D-AP5. Application of NMDA and an increase in extracellular K+ mimics the CSD-induced Kir activation. Application of D-AP5, but not the purinergic receptor antagonist RB2, blocks the NMDA-induced Kir activation. The K+ channel blocker Ba2+ blocks both the CSD- and the NMDA-triggered increase in Kir channel activity. In addition, we could confirm previous findings that microglia in the adult brain do not express functional NMDA receptors by recording from microglia cultured from adult brain. From these observations we conclude that CSD activates neuronal NMDA receptors, which lead to an increase in extracellular [K+] resulting in the activation of Kir channel activity in microglia. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a wave of neuronal depolarization spreading through the cortex and is associated with the aura of migraine. Here we show that microglial cells, which are viewed as pathologic sensors of the brain, can sense this wave. The increase in the extracellular potassium concentration associated with that wave leads to the activation of an inward rectifying potassium conductance in microglia. The involvement of neuronal NMDA receptors is crucial because NMDA mimics that response and microglia do not express functional NMDA receptors. Although it is now evident that CSD leads to a signal in microglia, the consequences of this microglial activation during CSD needs to be explored.
Time, spatial, and spectral resolution of the Hα line-formation region of Deneb and Rigel with the VEGA/CHARA interferometer

BA-type supergiants are amongst the most optically-bright stars. They are observable in extragalactic environments, hence potential accurate distance indicators. Emission activity in the Halpha line of the BA supergiants Rigel (B8Ia) and Deneb (A2Ia) is indicative of presence of localized time-dependent mass ejections. Here, we employ optical interferometry to study the Halpha line-formation region in these stellar environments. High spatial- (0.001 arcsec) and spectral- (R=30 000) resolution observations of Halpha were obtained with the visible recombiner VEGA installed on the CHARA interferometer, using the S1S2 array-baseline (34m). Six independent observations were done on Deneb over the years 2008 and 2009, and two on Rigel in 2009. We analyze this dataset with the 1D non-LTE radiative-transfer code CMFGEN, and assess the impact of the wind on the visible and near-IR interferometric signatures, using both Balmer-line and continuum photons. We observe a visibility decrease in Halpha for both Rigel and Deneb, suggesting that the line-formation region is extended (1.5-1.75 R*). We observe a significant visibility decrease for Deneb in the SiII6371 line. We witness time variations in the differential phase for Deneb, implying an inhomogeneous and unsteady circumstellar environment, while no such variability is seen in differential visibilities. Radiative-transfer modeling of Deneb, with allowance for stellar-wind mass loss, accounts fairly well for the observed decrease in the Halpha visibility. Based on the observed differential visibilities, we estimate that the mass-loss rate of Deneb has changed by less than 5%.
Characterization of the Relationship between APOBEC3B Deletion and ACE Alu Insertion

The insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), commonly associated with many diseases, is believed to have affected human adaptation to environmental changes during the out-of-Africa expansion. APOBEC3B (A3B), a member of the cytidine deaminase family APOBEC3s, also exhibits a variable gene insertion/deletion polymorphism across world populations. Using data available from published reports, we examined the global geographic distribution of ACE and A3B genotypes. In tracking the modern human dispersal routes of these two genes, we found that the variation trends of the two I/D polymorphisms were directly correlated. We observed that the frequencies of ACE insertion and A3B deletion rose in parallel along the expansion route. To investigate the presence of a correlation between the two polymorphisms and the effect of their interaction on human health, we analyzed 1199 unrelated Chinese adults to determine their genotypes and other important clinical characteristics. We discovered a significant difference between the ACE genotype/allele distribution in the A3B DD and A3B II/ID groups (P = 0.045 and 0.015, respectively), indicating that the ACE Alu I allele frequency in the former group was higher than in the latter group. No specific clinical phenotype could be associated with the interaction between the ACE and A3B I/D polymorphisms. A3B has been identified as a powerful inhibitor of Alu retrotransposition, and primate A3 genes have undergone strong positive selection (and expansion) for restricting the mobility of endogenous retrotransposons during evolution. Based on these findings, we suggest that the ACE Alu insertion was enabled (facilitated) by the A3B deletion and that functional loss of A3B provided an opportunity for enhanced human adaptability and survival in response to the environmental and climate challenges arising during the migration from Africa.
Understanding Application Performance via Micro-benchmarks on Three Large Supercomputers: Intrepid, Ranger and Jaguar

The emergence of new parallel architectures presents new challenges for application developers. Supercomputers vary in processor speed, network topology, interconnect communication characteristics and memory subsystems. This paper presents a performance comparison of three of the fastest machines in the world: IBM’s Blue Gene/P installation at ANL (Intrepid), the SUN-Infiniband cluster at TACC (Ranger) and Cray’s XT4 installation at ORNL (Jaguar). Comparisons are based on three applications selected by NSF for the Track 1 proposal to benchmark the Blue Waters system: NAMD, MILC and a turbulence code, DNS. We present a comprehensive overview of the architectural details of each of these machines and a comparison of their basic performance parameters. Application performance is presented for multiple problem sizes and the relative performance on the selected machines is explained through micro-benchmarking results. We hope that insights from this work will be useful to managers making buying decisions for supercomputers and application users trying to decide on a machine to run on. Based on the performance analysis techniques used in the paper, we also suggest a step-by-step procedure for estimating the suitability of a given architecture for a highly parallel application.
99mTc-TRODAT-1 SPECT Imaging in Early and Late Onset Parkinson’s Disease

Objective(s): 99mTc-TRODAT-1, which binds to the dopamine transporter, could be used to image the dopaminergic system in diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD). PD can be classified into two groups: late onset Parkinson’s disease (LOPD) and early onset Parkinson’s disease (EOPD). In this study we tried to determine the TRODAT SPECT findings in EOPD as compared to LOPD. Methods: Fifteen patients were studied. The diagnosis of PD was defined by clinical criteria based on UK Parkinson’s Disease Society Brain Bank criteria. Six patients whose age at onset of PD were younger than 50 were defined as patients with EOPD and 9 patients with older than 50 years were defined as patients with LOPD. All patients underwent 99mTc-TRODAT Brain SPECT. Results: There was a significant decrease of striatal 99mTc-TRODAT-1 (TRODAT) binding in PD patients in both EOPD and LOPD. No significant difference was noticed between EOPD and LOPD in disease stage and symptoms. In visual analysis, 20 (66.67%) caudate nucleuses had decreased tracer uptake while all 30 (100%) putamens had decreased or absent tracer uptake. No significant difference between EOPD and LOPD was noticed in visual analysis. Striatum, Caudate and Putamen uptake ratio to background were calculated. No significant difference was noticed between EOPD and LOPD in these ratios. However there was significant difference in visual analysis (tracer uptake) as well as in uptake ratio between putamen and caudate nucleuses in both groups (P=0.001). On the other word, we found more diminished uptake in putamen as compared the caudate. Frequency and severity of putamen involvement were much more than caudate. Conclusion: 99mTc-TRODAT-1 SPECT imaging showed lower presynaptical dopami-nergical terminals density in both EOPD and LOPD. There was no difference between EOPD and LOPD in TRODAT uptake. Putamen showed more involvement and more diminished TRODAT uptake.
ICT-TR-01-2004 Decision-Theoretic Approach to Plan Recognition

In this report, first we give a survey of the work in plan recognition field, including the evolution of different approaches, their strength and weaknesses. Then we propose two decision-theoretic approaches to plan recognition problem, which explicitly take outcome utilities into consideration. One is an extension within the probabilistic reasoning framework, by adding utility nodes to belief nets. The other is based on maximizing the estimated expected utility of possible plan. Illustrative examples are given to explain the approaches. Finally, we compare the two approaches presented in the report and summarize the work.
A versatile prototyping platform for monitoring and control applications using IPv6 over WSN

Having seamless Internet connection is highly desirable for wireless sensor network (WSN). IPv6 offers the most promising solution to deal with the large quantity of nodes or "things". This demonstration presents a versatile research and development (R&D) or prototyping platform, on which we implement generic hardware and software framework for sensing/monitoring as well as remote control applications.
Determining Biology Student Teachers’ Cognitive Structure on the Concept of “Diffusion” Through the Free Word-Association Test and the Drawing-Writing Technique

The aim of the current study is to investigate student biology teachers’ cognitive structures related to "diffusion" through the free word-association test and the drawing-writing technique. As the research design of the study, the qualitative research method was applied. The data were collected from 44 student biology teachers. The free word-association test and the drawing-writing technique were used as data collection instruments. The data were subject to content analysis and divided into categories through coding. In the analysis, the categories were formed and determined through the results of word-association test and drawing-writing test which were completed by the student biology teachers. With the help of these categories, the cognitive structures of student biology teachers were explained. The data collected through the study were divided into 8 categories (defining diffusion, diffusion environments, diffusion-forms of substance transfer, places and structures where diffusion occurs, substances in diffusion and their characteristics, importance of diffusion in plants, examples of diffusion and factors influencing diffusion speed). The common and dominant category in both assessment instruments is “defining diffusion”. On the other hand, it was determined that student biology teachers had alternative concepts related to diffusion. At the end of the article, comprehensive suggestions are presented on the subject.
Evaluating Multi-focus Natural Language Queries over Data Services

Natural language interfaces to data services will be a key technology to guarantee access to huge data repositories in an effortless way. This involves solving the complex problem of recognizing a relevant service or service composition given an ambiguous, potentially ungrammatical natural language question. As a first step toward this goal, we study methods for identifying the salient terms (or foci) in natural language questions, classifying the latter according to a taxonomy of services and extracting additional relevant information in order to route them to suitable data services. While current approaches deal with single-focus (and therefore single-domain) questions, we investigate multi-focus questions in the aim of supporting conjunctive queries over the data services they refer to. Since such complex queries have seldom been studied in the literature, we have collected an ad-hoc dataset, SeCo-600, containing 600 multi-domain queries annotated with a number of linguistic and pragmatic features. Our experiments with the dataset have allowed us to reach very high accuracy in different phases of query analysis, especially when adopting machine learning methods.
Evolutionary feature selection in boosting

The purpose of this study is to clarify the effectiveness of a new type of weak learner in boosting for pattern classification. Our weak learner is called EFS (evolutionary feature selection). The EFS has two aspects: the first is a feature-subset selector for pattern classification. The EFS selects effective combinations of features using an evolutionary technique. An entropy-based criterion called VQCCE (vector-quantized conditional class entropy) is used for the evaluation of feature-combinations. The second is a weak learner in boosting. We utilize the vector-quantization in the EFS as the weak learner. In this paper, we apply our method to some benchmark problems and discuss the effectiveness of our method, in comparing with a conventional boosting with C4.5 decision trees
Protein Misfolding and Oxidative Stress Promote Glial-Mediated Neurodegeneration in an Alexander Disease Model

Although alterations in glial structure and function commonly accompany death of neurons in neurodegenerative diseases, the role glia play in modulating neuronal loss is poorly understood. We have created a model of Alexander disease in Drosophila by expressing disease-linked mutant versions of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in fly glia. We find aggregation of mutant human GFAP into inclusions bearing the hallmarks of authentic Rosenthal fibers. We also observe significant toxicity of mutant human GFAP to glia, which is mediated by protein aggregation and oxidative stress. Both protein aggregation and oxidative stress contribute to activation of a robust autophagic response in glia. Toxicity of mutant GFAP to glial cells induces a non-cell-autonomous stress response and subsequent apoptosis in neurons, which is dependent on glial glutamate transport. Our findings thus establish a simple genetic model of Alexander disease and further identify cellular pathways critical for glial-induced neurodegeneration.