Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Internal block of human heart sodium channels by symmetrical tetra- alkylammoniums

The human heart Na channel (hH1) was expressed by transient transfection in tsA201 cells, and we examined the block of Na current by a series of symmetrical tetra-alkylammonium cations: tetramethylammonium (TMA), tetraethylammonium (TEA), tetrapropylammonium (TPrA), tetrabutylammonium (TBA), and tetrapentylammonium (TPeA). Internal TEA and TBA reduce single-channel current amplitudes while having little effect on single channel open times. The reduction in current amplitude is greater at more depolarized membrane potentials. Analysis of the voltage-dependence of single-channel current block indicates that TEA, TPrA and TBA traverse a fraction of 0.39, 0.52, and 0.46 of the membrane electric field to reach their binding sites. Rank potency determined from single-channel experiments indicates that block increases with the lengths of the alkyl side chains (TBA > TPrA > TEA > TMA). Internal TMA, TEA, TPrA, and TBA also reduce whole-cell Na currents in a voltage-dependent fashion with increasing block at more depolarized voltages, consistent with each compound binding to a site at a fractional distance of 0.43 within the membrane electric field. The correspondence between the voltage dependence of the block of single-channel and macroscopic currents indicates that the blockers do not distinguish open from closed channels. In support of this idea TPrA has no effect on deactivation kinetics, and therefore does not interfere with the closing of the activation gates. At concentrations that substantially reduce Na channel currents, TMA, TEA, and TPrA do not alter the rate of macroscopic current inactivation over a wide range of voltages (-50 to +80 mV). Our data suggest that TMA, TEA, and TPrA bind to a common site deep within the pore and block ion transport by a fast-block mechanism without affecting either activation or inactivation. By contrast, internal TBA and TPeA increase the apparent rate of inactivation of macroscopic currents, suggestive of a block with slower kinetics.
Efficient Simulation of Multi-dimensional Detonation Phenomena *

The paper presents a solution strategy for Euler equations for multiple thermally perfect gaseous species with detailed chemical reaction. Via operator-splitting a high-resolution finite-volume scheme and a stiff ODE solver are coupled. A parallel blockstructured adaptive mesh refinement algorithm is utilized to achieve the required local resolution. A highly resolved computation of regular detonation-cell patterns of the hydrogen-oxygen-argon system demonstrates the efficiency of the entire approach.
An Integrated Approach for the Monitoring of Brain and Autonomic Response of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders during Treatment by Wearable Technologies

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are associated with physiological abnormalities, which are likely to contribute to the core symptoms of the condition. Wearable technologies can provide data in a semi-naturalistic setting, overcoming the limitations given by the constrained situations in which physiological signals are usually acquired. In this study an integrated system based on wearable technologies for the acquisition and analysis of neurophysiological and autonomic parameters during treatment is proposed and an application on five children with ASD is presented. Signals were acquired during a therapeutic session based on an imitation protocol in ASD children. Data were analyzed with the aim of extracting quantitative EEG (QEEG) features from EEG signals as well as heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) from ECG. The system allowed evidencing changes in neurophysiological and autonomic response from the state of disengagement to the state of engagement of the children, evidencing a cognitive involvement in the children in the tasks proposed. The high grade of acceptability of the monitoring platform is promising for further development and implementation of the tool. In particular if the results of this feasibility study would be confirmed in a larger sample of subjects, the system proposed could be adopted in more naturalistic paradigms that allow real world stimuli to be incorporated into EEG/psychophysiological studies for the monitoring of the effect of the treatment and for the implementation of more individualized therapeutic programs.
Underemployment and Local Employment Dynamics: New Evidence

Workers in occupations that underutilize their experience, training, and skills are underemployed. Underemployment occurs for various reasons including productivity growth, spousal employment and income, family constraints, spatial restrictions, or personal preferences. Underemployment provides opportunities for selective job creation and economic growth. Using local employment dynamics (LED) and a statewide survey of the employed and nonworkers for 2004 and 2005, we examine the interaction between underemployment and LED. We show that poor local labor market conditions accentuate the perception of underemployment and lead to higher level of underemployment. Gender and ethnic differentials are also revealed in the characteristics of the underemployed.
Spatial pooling for transformation invariant image representation

Spatial Pyramid Matching (SPM) [2] has been proposed to extend the Bag-of-Word (BoW) model for object classification. By re-serving the finer level information, it makes image matching more accurate. However, for not well-aligned images, where the object is rotated, flipped or translated, SPM may lose its discrimination power. To tackle this problem, we propose novel spatial pooling layouts to address various transformations, and generate a more general image representation. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, we conduct extensive experiments on three transformation emphasized datasets for object classification task. Experimental results demonstrate its superiority over the state-of-the-arts. Besides, the proposed image representation is compact and consistent with the BoW model, which makes it applicable to image retrieval task as well.
On linear complementary-dual multinegacirculant codes

Linear codes with complementary-duals (LCD) are linear codes that intersect with their dual trivially. Multinegacirculant codes of index $2$ that are LCD are characterized algebraically and some good codes are found in this family. Exact enumeration is performed for indices 2 and 3, and for all indices $t$ for a special case of the co-index by using their concatenated structure. Asymptotic existence results are derived for the special class of such codes that are one-generator and have co-index a power of two by means of Dickson polynomials. This shows that there are infinite families of LCD multinegacirculant codes with relative distance satisfying a modified Varshamov-Gilbert bound.
MyHEART: A Non Randomized Feasibility Study of a Young Adult Hypertension Intervention

Background In the United States, young adults (18–39 year-olds) have the lowest hypertension control rates (35%) compared to middle-aged (58%) and older (54%) adults. Ambulatory care for hypertension management often focuses on medication with little time for self-management and behavioral counseling. This study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of MyHEART, a telephone-based health coach self-management intervention for young adults. The goals were to determine the intervention’s ability to: 1) recruit young adults with uncontrolled hypertension, 2) maintain ongoing communication between the coach and participants, 3) increase participants’ engagement in self-management, 4) document coach-patient communication in the electronic health record, and 5) assess patient acceptability. Methods Eligible participants were identified through the electronic health record. Inclusion criteria included 18–39 year-olds, with ICD-9 hypertension diagnoses and uncontrolled hypertension (≥ 140/90 mmHg), receiving regular primary care at a large multispecialty group practice. The intervention consisted of 6 telephone self-management sessions by a health coach targeting lifestyle modifications. Patients completed an open-ended acceptability survey. Results Study uptake was 47% (9 enrolled/19 eligible). Mean (SD) age was 35.8 (2.6) years, 78% male, and 33% Black. Over 85% of enrolled young adults maintained communication with their health coach. At baseline, 11% reported checking their blood pressure outside of clinic; 44% reported blood pressure monitoring after the study. All coach-patient encounters were successfully documented in the electronic health record for primary care provider review. Open-ended responses from all surveys indicated that participants had a positive experience with the MyHEART intervention. Conclusions This study demonstrated that MyHEART was feasible and acceptable to young adults with uncontrolled hypertension. Health coaches can effectively maintain ongoing communication with young adults, document communication in the electronic health record, and increase engagement with home blood pressure monitoring. The results of this study will inform a multi-center young adult randomized controlled trial of MyHEART.
Steganographic schemes for file system and B-tree

While user access control and encryption can protect valuable data from passive observers, these techniques leave visible ciphertexts that are likely to alert an active adversary to the existence of the data. We introduce StegFD, a steganographic file driver that securely hides user-selected files in a file system so that, without the corresponding access keys, an attacker would not be able to deduce their existence. Unlike other steganographic schemes proposed previously, our construction satisfies the prerequisites of a practical file system in ensuring the integrity of the files and maintaining efficient space utilization. We also propose two schemes for implementing steganographic B-trees within a StegFD volume. We have completed an implementation on Linux, and results of the experiment confirm that StegFD achieves an order of magnitude improvements in performance and/or space utilization over the existing schemes.
Web-based Exploration of Temporal Data in Biomedicine

A growing number of biomedical researchers must analyze complex patterns in time-course or longitudinal data. Researchers commonly use Excel, SAS or custom programs to query for relevant patterns in their data. However, these approaches typically entail low-level method development. Analyses are tailored to a specific data set and research question, and they cannot be easily modified or shared. As a result, there is a need for tools to facilitate the specification of temporal analyses at a high level. Such tools would hasten the development process and produce reusable methods. We have developed a web-based application called SWEETInfo to meet this need. Investigators can use it to collaboratively manipulate, explore, and visualize temporal data. Our tool combines semantic web technologies such as OWL and SWRL with a variety of standard web technologies. SWEETInfo can generate complex temporal analyses interactively. It also supports publication of descriptions of analyses, and allows them to be easily shared with others and adapted by them. We evaluated this tool by replicating a longitudinal study of drug effectiveness for HIV anti-retroviral therapy.
Sleep Apnea, Sleep Duration and Brain MRI Markers of Cerebral Vascular Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC)

Background A growing body of literature has suggested that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and habitual short sleep duration are linked to poor cognitive function. Neuroimaging studies may provide insight into this relation. Objective We tested the hypotheses that OSA and habitual short sleep duration, measured at ages 54–73 years, would be associated with adverse brain morphology at ages 67–89 years. Methods Included in this analysis are 312 ARIC study participants who underwent in-home overnight polysomnography in 1996–1998 and brain MRI scans about 15 years later (2012–2013). Sleep apnea was quantified by the apnea-hypopnea index and categorized as moderate/severe (≥15.0 events/hour), mild (5.0–14.9 events/hour), or normal (<5.0 events/hour). Habitual sleep duration was categorized, in hours, as <7, 7 to <8, ≥8. MRI outcomes included number of infarcts (total, subcortical, and cortical) and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) and Alzheimer’s disease signature region volumes. Multivariable adjusted logistic and linear regression models were used. All models incorporated inverse probability weighting, to adjust for potential selection bias. Results At the time of the sleep study participants were 61.7 (SD: 5.0) years old and 54% female; 19% had moderate/severe sleep apnea. MRI imaging took place 14.8 (SD: 1.0) years later, when participants were 76.5 (SD: 5.2) years old. In multivariable models which accounted for body mass index, neither OSA nor abnormal sleep duration were statistically significantly associated with odds of cerebral infarcts, WMH brain volumes or regional brain volumes. Conclusions In this community-based sample, mid-life OSA and habitually short sleep duration were not associated with later-life cerebral markers of vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. However, selection bias may have influenced our results and the modest sample size led to relatively imprecise associations.
Edges of flames that don't exist

A counterflow diffusion flame model is studied revealing that, at least as a part of the quenching boundary is approached in parameter space at low enough Lewis numbers, an edge of a diffusion flame, or triple flame, has a propagation speed that still advances the burning solution into regions that are not burning. In crossing the quenching boundary, the advancing flame edge remains a robust part of the solution but the flame behind the edge is found to break up into periodic regions, resembling “tubes” of burning and non-burning, accompanied by the appearance of an oscillatory component in the speed of propagation of the edge. In crossing a second boundary the propagation speed of the flame edge disappears altogether. The only unbounded, non-periodic stationary solution then consists of an isolated flame tube although stationary periodic flame tubes can also exist under the same conditions. In passing back through parameter space, starting with a single flame tube already present, there is no sign of hysteresis and the oscillatory edge propagation reappears at the same point where it disappears. On the other hand, in continuing forwards across a third, final boundary the flame tube is extinguished leaving no combustion whatever. Boundaries in parameter space where different solutions arise are mapped out.
The Guruswami-Sudan Decoding Algorithm for Reed-Solomon Codes

This article is a tutorial discussion of the Guruswami-Sudan (GS) Reed-Solomon decoding algorithm, including self-contained treatments of the Kotter and Roth- Ruckenstein (RR) improvements. It also contains a number of new results, including a rigorous discussion of the average size of the decoder's list, an improvement in the RR algorithm's stopping rule, a simplified treatment of the combinatorics of weighted monomial orders, and a proof of the monotonicity of the GS decoding radius as a function of the interpolation multiplicity.
Modeling and Simulation of Switched Reluctance Motor Double Closed Loop Control System

This paper presents the modeling, simulation, and speed control aspects of a 3-phase 6/4 switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives. Fourier series expression of phase self-inductance under the assumption of negligible mutual effect and various losses is introduced to describe the nonlinear dynamic model of SRM. By virtue of Matlab/Simulink, the models of various subsystems are achieved and the modeling procedure is described in detail. By the organic combination of subsystems, the whole simulation model of SRM drives is established. In addition, to improve the adjustable speed performance of SRM drives, the double closed loop control strategy based on a chopping controller in the current loop and a fuzzy+PI controller in the speed loop is proposed. Simulation results have shown the rationality of model and validity of control strategy. The model developed here can be widely used and is easy to modify, which offers a good platform for choosing the best control strategy
The System Combination RWTH Aachen: SYSTRAN for the NTCIR-10 PatentMT Evaluation

This paper describes the joint submission by RWTH Aachen University and SYSTRAN in the Chinese-English Patent Machine Translation Task at the 10th NTCIR Workshop. We specify the statistical systems developed by RWTH Aachen University and the hybrid machine translation systems developed by SYSTRAN. We apply RWTH Aachen’s combination techniques to create consensus hypotheses from very different systems: phrase-based and hierarchical SMT, rule-based MT (RBMT) and MT with statistical post-editing (SPE). The system combination was ranked second in BLEU and second in the human adequacy evaluation in this competition.
Structure, Endothelial Function, Cell Growth, and Inflammation in Blood Vessels of Angiotensin II–Infused Rats: Role of Peroxisome Proliferator–Activated Receptor-&ggr;

Background—Pioglitazone and rosiglitazone, thiazolidinedione peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor-&ggr; (PPAR&ggr;) activators, reduce blood pressure (BP) in some hypertensive models by unclear mechanisms. We tested the hypothesis that pioglitazone or rosiglitazone would prevent BP elevation and vascular dysfunction in angiotensin (Ang) II–infused rats by direct vascular effects. Methods and Results—Sprague-Dawley rats received Ang II (120 ng · kg−1 · min−1 SC) with or without pioglitazone (10 mg · kg−1 · d−1) or rosiglitazone (5 mg · kg−1 · d−1) for 7 days. Systolic BP, elevated in Ang II–infused rats (176±5 mm Hg) versus controls (109±2 mm Hg, P <0.01), was reduced by pioglitazone (134±2 mm Hg) or rosiglitazone (123±2 mm Hg). In mesenteric small arteries studied in a pressurized myograph, media/lumen ratio was increased (P <0.05) and acetylcholine-induced relaxation impaired in Ang II–infused rats (P <0.05); both were normalized by the thiazolidinediones. In Ang II–infused rats, vascular DNA synthesis (by 3H-thymidine incorporation); expression of cell cycle proteins cyclin D1 and cdk4, angiotensin II type 1 receptors, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, and platelet and endothelial cell adhesion molecule; and nuclear factor-&kgr;B activity were increased. These changes were abrogated by pioglitazone or rosiglitazone. Conclusions—Thiazolidinedione PPAR-&ggr; activators attenuated the development of hypertension, corrected structural abnormalities, normalized cell growth, and improved endothelial dysfunction induced by Ang II and prevented upregulation of angiotensin II type 1 receptors, cell cycle proteins, and proinflammatory mediators. Thiazolidinediones may be useful in the prevention and/or treatment of hypertension, particularly when it is associated with insulin resistance or diabetes mellitus.
Chandra Evidence of a Flattened, Triaxial Dark Matter Halo in the Elliptical Galaxy NGC 720

We present an analysis of a Chandra ACIS-S observation of the elliptical galaxy NGC 720, to verify the existence of a dark matter halo and to measure its ellipticity. The ACIS-S3 image reveals over 60 point sources distributed throughout the field, most of which were undetected and therefore unaccounted for in previous X-ray studies. For semimajor axes a ≲ 150′′ (18.2 h kpc), the ellipticity of the diffuse X-ray emission is consistent with a constant value, ϵX ≈ 0.15, which is systematically less than the values of 0.2-0.3 obtained from previous ROSAT PSPC and HRI observations because of the unresolved point sources contaminating the ROSAT values. The Chandra data confirm the magnitude of the ~20° position angle (P.A.) twist discovered by ROSAT over this region. However, the twist in the Chandra data is more gradual and occurs at smaller a, also because of the point sources contaminating the ROSAT values. For a ≳ 150′′ out to a = 185′′ (22.4 h kpc), which is near the edge of the S3 CCD, ϵX and P.A. diverge from their values at smaller a. Possible origins of this behavior at the largest a are discussed. Overall, the ellipticities and P.A. twist for a ≲ 150′′ can be explained by the triaxial mass model of NGC 720 published by Romanowsky & Kochanek (which could not produce the abrupt P.A. twist in the ROSAT HRI data). Since the optical image displays no substantial isophote twisting, the X-ray P.A. twist requires a massive dark matter halo if the hot gas is in hydrostatic equilibrium. Furthermore, the values of ϵX obtained by Chandra are too large to be explained if the gravitating mass follows the optical light (M ∝ L*), irrespective of the P.A. twist. The M ∝ L* hypothesis is inconsistent with the Chandra ellipticities at the 96% confidence level, assuming oblate symmetry, and at the 98% confidence level for prolate symmetry. Thus, both the P.A. twist and the ellipticities of the Chandra image imply the existence of dark matter, independent of the temperature profile of the gas. This geometric evidence for dark matter cannot be explained by alternative gravity theories, such as the modification of Newtonian dynamics (MOND). To constrain the ellipticity of the dark matter halo, we considered both oblate and prolate spheroidal mass models to bracket the full range of (projected) ellipticities of a triaxial ellipsoid. The dark matter density model, ρ ∝ (a + a2)-1, provides the best fit to the data and gives ellipticities and 1 σ errors of ϵ = 0.37 ± 0.03 for oblate and ϵ = 0.36 ± 0.02 for prolate models. Navarro-Frenk-White (NFW) and Hernquist models give similar ellipticities for the dark matter. These moderate ellipticities for the dark halo are inconsistent with both the nearly spherical halos predicted if the dark matter is self-interacting and the highly flattened halos predicted if the dark matter is cold molecular gas. These ellipticities may also be too large to be explained by warm dark matter, but they are consistent with galaxy-sized halos formed in the currently popular ΛCDM paradigm.
CHEBINT: Operations on multivariate Chebyshev approximations

We detail the implementation of basic operations on multivari-ate Chebyshev approximations. In most cases, they can be derived directly from well known properties of univariate Chebyshev polyno-mials. Besides addition, subtraction and multiplication, we discuss integration, indefinite di↵erentiation, indefinite integration and interpolation. The latter three, can be written as matrix-vector products of a structured sparse matrix and the respectively the component vector and function values which might be used in the context of di↵erential equations. Abstract We detail the implementation of basic operations on multivariate Chebyshev approximations. In most cases, they can be derived directly from well known properties of univariate Chebyshev polynomials. Besides addition, subtraction and multiplication, we discuss integration, indefinite di↵erentiation, indefinite integration and interpolation. The latter three, can be written as matrix-vector products of a structured sparse matrix and the respectively the component vector and function values which might be used in the context of di↵erential equations.