Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evidence from Patents and Patent Citations on the Impact of Nasa and Other Federal Labs on Commercial Innovation

We explore the commercialization of government-generated technology by analyzing patents awarded to the U.S. government and the citations to those patents from subsequent patents. We use information on citations to federal patents in two ways: (1) to compare the average technological impact of NASA patents, other Federal' patents, and a random sample of all patents using measures of importance' and generality;' and (2) to trace the geographic location of commercial development by focusing on the location of inventors who cite NASA and other federal patents. We find, first, that the evidence is consistent with increased effort to commercialize federal lab technology generally and NASA specifically. The data reveal a striking NASA golden age' during the second half of the 1970s which remains a puzzle. Second, spillovers are concentrated within a federal lab complex of states representing agglomerations of labs and companies. The technology complex links five NASA states through patent citations: California, Texas, Ohio, DC/Virginia-Maryland, and Alabama. Third, qualitative evidence provides some support for the use of patent citations as proxies for both technological impact and knowledge spillovers.
Regional analysis of striatal and cortical amyloid deposition in patients with Alzheimer's disease

We aimed to analyse the detailed distribution pattern of amyloid‐β (Aβ) in the striatum, and to examine whether there is any correlation between Aβ deposition levels in the striatum and cortical regions. Twenty patients with Alzheimer's disease underwent positron emission tomography using 11C‐Pittsburgh Compound B (11C‐PiB) to quantify the Aβ deposition. Volumes‐of‐interest analyses were performed on the ventral striatum (VST), pre‐commissural dorsal caudate (pre‐DCA), post‐commissural caudate (post‐CA), pre‐commissural dorsal putamen (pre‐DPU), and post‐commissural putamen (post‐PU), followed by exploratory voxel‐wise analyses. Volumes‐of‐interest analyses of 11C‐PiB binding showed: VST > pre‐DPU (P = 0.004), VST > pre‐DCA (P < 0.0001), pre‐DPU > post‐PU (P < 0.0001), and pre‐DCA > post‐CA (P < 0.0001), consistent with visual inspection of the 11C‐PiB images. Exploratory voxel‐wise analyses of 11C‐PiB binding showed a positive correlation between the VST and the medial part of the orbitofrontal area (P < 0.01 family‐wise error corrected). This study confirmed that there were ventral > dorsal, and anterior > posterior gradients of Aβ deposition in patients with Alzheimer's disease, and provided the first evidence of a robust correlation between Aβ deposition levels in the VST and the medial part of the orbitofrontal area. There are well‐known anatomical and functional links between these areas. These findings indicated that brain Aβ deposition was not randomly distributed, but had characteristic patterns related to anatomical connectivity and/or functional networks.
Type names without static type checking already improve the usability of APIs (as long as the type names are correct): an empirical study

In the discussion about the usefulness of static or dynamic type systems there is often the statement that static type systems improve the documentation of software. In the meantime there exists even some empirical evidence for this statement. One of the possible explanations for this positive influence is that the static type system of programming languages such as Java require developers to write down the type names, i.e. lexical representations which potentially help developers. Because of that there is a plausible hypothesis that the main benefit comes from the type names and not from the static type checks that are based on these names. In order to argue for or against static type systems it is desirable to check this plausible hypothesis in an experimental way. This paper describes an experiment with 20 participants that has been performed in order to check whether developers using an unknown API already benefit (in terms of development time) from the pure syntactical representation of type names without static type checking. The result of the study is that developers do benefit from the type names in an API's source code. But already a single wrong type name has a measurable significant negative impact on the development time in comparison to APIs without type names.
Comparison of Tumor Volumes Derived from Glucose Metabolic Rate Maps and SUV Maps in Dynamic 18F-FDG PET

Tumor delineation using noninvasive medical imaging modalities is important to determine the target volume in radiation treatment planning and to evaluate treatment response. It is expected that combined use of CT and functional information from 18F-FDG PET will improve tumor delineation. However, until now, tumor delineation using PET has been based on static images of 18F-FDG standardized uptake values (SUVs). 18F-FDG uptake depends not only on tumor physiology but also on blood supply, distribution volume, and competitive uptake processes in other tissues. Moreover, 18F-FDG uptake in tumor tissue and in surrounding healthy tissue depends on the time after injection. Therefore, it is expected that the glucose metabolic rate (MRglu) derived from dynamic PET scans gives a better representation of the tumor activity than does SUV. The aim of this study was to determine tumor volumes in MRglu maps and to compare them with the values from SUV maps. Methods: Twenty-nine lesions in 16 dynamic 18F-FDG PET scans in 13 patients with non–small cell lung carcinoma were analyzed. MRglu values were calculated on a voxel-by-voxel basis using the standard 2-compartment 18F-FDG model with trapping in the linear approximation (Patlak analysis). The blood input function was obtained by arterial sampling. Tumor volumes were determined in SUV maps of the last time frame and in MRglu maps using 3-dimensional isocontours at 50% of the maximum SUV and the maximum MRglu, respectively. Results: Tumor volumes based on SUV contouring ranged from 1.31 to 52.16 cm3, with a median of 8.57 cm3. Volumes based on MRglu ranged from 0.95 to 37.29 cm3, with a median of 3.14 cm3. For all lesions, the MRglu volumes were significantly smaller than the SUV volumes. The percentage differences (defined as 100% × (VMRglu − VSUV)/VSUV, where V is volume) ranged from −12.8% to −84.8%, with a median of −32.8%. Conclusion: Tumor volumes from MRglu maps were significantly smaller than SUV-based volumes. These findings can be of importance for PET-based radiotherapy planning and therapy response monitoring.
An investigation into the ecological validity of virtual reality measures of planning and prospective memory in adults with acquired brain injury and Clinical research portfolio

Background: Improving the ecological validity of the assessment of executive functioning after brain injury has been an important focus of research in recent years. This study investigates the ecological validity of the “JAAM test”, a novel office-based virtual-reality task, in assessing real-life difficulties post-brain injury in the domains of planning and prospective memory. The comparative ecological validity of two traditional “desktop” tests for these domains and the convergent validity between the measures are also explored. Methods: Forty adults with an acquired brain injury completed the JAAM test, the Tower Test (a test of planning) and the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT). Self and informant versions of questionnaires (the Dysexecutive Questionnaire; DEX) and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) designed to measure real-life difficulties in these cognitive domains were also completed. Results: Significant correlations were observed between JAAM planning scores and the DEX (r = -.49), as well as between the Tower Test and the DEX (r = -.39). The difference between the strength of these correlations was not significant. Neither the JAAM prospective memory score nor CAMPROMPT scores correlated significantly with the PRMQ. Significant correlations were found between the JAAM and Tower Test (r = .33) and CAMPROMPT (rho = .59). Discussion: Results suggest the JAAM possesses at least similar ecological validity to traditional assessments of planning and prospective memory, and it also has convergent validity with these measures. Implications and limitations of the current study are discussed and recommendations for future research proposed.
Proximity Awareness Approach to Enhance Propagation Delay on the Bitcoin Peer-to-Peer Network

In the Bitcoin system, a peer-to-peer electronic currency system, the delay overhead in transaction verification prevents the Bitcoin from gaining increasing popularity nowadays as it makes the system vulnerable to double spend attacks. This paper introduces a proximity-aware extension to the current Bitcoin protocol, named Bitcoin Clustering Based Ping Time protocol (BCBPT). The ultimate purpose of the proposed protocol, that is based on how the clusters are formulated and the nodes define their membership, is to improve the transaction propagation delay in the Bitcoin network. In BCBPT, the proximity of connectivity in the Bitcoin network is increased by grouping Bitcoin nodes based on ping latencies between nodes. We show, through simulations, that the proximity base ping latency defines better clustering structures that optimize the performance of the transaction propagation delay. The reduction of the communication link cost measured by the information propagation time between nodes is mainly considered as a key reason for this improvement. Bitcoin Clustering Based Ping Time protocol is more effective at reducing the transaction propagation delay compared to the existing clustering protocol (LBC) that we proposed in our previous work.
Expression and Localization of Aquaporin 1a in the Sea-Bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) during Ontogeny

The successful establishment of a species in a given habitat depends on the ability of each of its developing stages to adapt to the environment. In order to understand this process we have studied the adaptation of a euryhaline fish, the sea-bass Dicentrarchus labrax, to various salinities during its ontogeny. The expression and localization of Aquaporin 1a (AQP1a) mRNA and protein were determined in different osmoregulatory tissues. In larvae, the sites of AQP1a expression are variable and they shift according to age, implying functional changes. In juveniles after metamorphosis (D32–D48 post-hatch, 15–25 mm) and in pre-adults, an increase in AQP1a transcript abundance was noted in the digestive tract, and the AQP1a location was observed in the intestine. In juveniles (D87–D100 post-hatch, 38–48 mm), the transcript levels of AQP1a in the digestive tract and in the kidney were higher in sea water (SW) than at lower salinity. These observations, in agreement with existing models, suggest that in SW-acclimated fish, the imbibed water is absorbed via AQP1a through the digestive tract, particularly the intestine and the rectum. In addition, AQP1a may play a role in water reabsorption in the kidney. These mechanisms compensate dehydration in SW, and they contribute to the adaptation of juveniles to salinity changes during sea-lagoon migrations. These results contribute to the interpretation of the adaptation of populations to habitats where salinity varies.
Putting It All Together: Using Socio-technical Networks to Predict Failures

Studies have shown that social factors in development organizations have adramatic effect on software quality. Separately, program dependencyinformation has also been used successfully to predict which software componentsare more fault prone. Interestingly, the influence of these two phenomena haveonly been studied separately. Intuition and practical experience suggests,however, that task assignment (i.e. who worked on which components and howmuch) and dependency structure (which components have dependencies on others)together interact to influence the quality of the resulting software. Westudy the influence of combined socio-technical software networks onthe fault-proneness of individual software components within a system. Thenetwork properties of a software component in this combined network are ableto predict if an entity is failure prone with greater accuracy than priormethods which use dependency or contribution information in isolation. Weevaluate our approach in different settings by using it on Windows Vista andacross six releases of the Eclipse development environment including usingmodels built from one release to predict failure prone components in the nextrelease. We compare this to previous work. In every case, our method performsas well or better and is able to more accurately identify those softwarecomponents that have more post-release failures, with precision and recallrates as high as 85%.
Female-Headed Families: Why Are They So Poor?

Over the last few decades in the United States, the poverty rate for female-headed families (with no husband present) has been about three times the poverty rate for male-headed families (with no wife present) and about six times the poverty rate for married- couple families. This paper addresses the question of why, in general, female-headed families are so much poorer than other families. A decomposition of poverty rates and a set of probit models are used to identify the factors which determine the poverty rates for the three family types. The following control variables are found to be important determinants of poverty for all three family types: education of family members; age, race, disability, and unemployment of the family head; geographical location, size and age composition of the family. Both married-couple families and male-headed families are found to be less poor than female-headed families mainly because additional units of those control variables which reduce (increase) poverty have a larger (smaller) impact in the case of the former two family types than in the case of female-headed families. Of lesser importance is the fact that female-headed families, on average, have less (more) of those control variables which reduce (increase) poverty.
Precursory inflation of shallow magma reservoirs at west Sunda volcanoes detected by InSAR

We use 2006–2009 ALOS Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar data over the entire west Sunda arc, Indonesia, home of 13% of the world's active volcanoes, to derive arc‐wide time‐dependent ground deformation data. We present unambiguous evidence of inflation at six volcanoes, three of which erupted after the observation period. We show that these volcanoes have shallow magma reservoirs at ∼1–3 km depth below the average regional elevation. A global comparison of reservoir depths at arc volcanoes suggests that volcanoes in extensional and strike‐slip settings (west Sunda) can develop shallow reservoirs whereas volcanoes in compressional settings may lack them. Thus, magma ascend through the upper crust could be influenced by intra‐arc tectonic settings.
Researcher–practitioner partnerships: a case of the development of a long-term collaborative project between a university and a criminal justice agency

This paper describes the genesis, development, unanticipated complications, and short- and long-term value of a researcher–practitioner partnership between the Florida Department of Corrections and the Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Collaborations between criminal justice agencies and researchers are infrequent and, we argue, should be encouraged as a means to generate quality policy-relevant research and engender mutually beneficial relationships between researchers and practitioners. This results from the reality that practitioner agencies have a strong desire and need for quality empirical research to inform their policies and practices, have in-depth knowledge of their programs, and massive amounts of data. However, agencies are not funded adequately to devote dedicated resources to complex and time-consuming research. In contrast, non-practitioners such as universities have the expertise and ability to devote considerable dedicated time to conducting comprehensive research important to agencies and policy-makers with the benefit of independence from the agenda of an agency. We use our own experiences forming and maintaining a successful partnership through a grant by the National Institute of Justice to inform future partnerships of the many benefits of such collaborations as well as some potential obstacles that were encountered along the way.
WIYN Open Cluster Study. XIX. Main-Sequence-Fitting Distances to Open Clusters Using V−K Color-Magnitude Diagrams

We have combined existing optical magnitudes for stars in seven open clusters and 54 field stars with the corresponding JHKs photometry from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Combining optical with near-IR photometry broadens the color baseline, minimizing the influence of photometric errors and allowing better discrimination between cluster stars and contaminating foreground and background populations. The open clusters in this study include NGC 2516, M35, M34, NGC 3532, M37, M67, and NGC 188. The field stars we are using possess high-quality Hipparcos parallaxes and well-determined metal abundances, allowing us to empirically determine the dependence of V-K color on metal abundance in the range -0.45 ≤ [Fe/H] ≤ +0.35. Using this relation along with the parallaxes of the field stars, we are able to construct an unevolved main sequence in the [MV, (V-K)0] diagram for a specific abundance. These diagrams are then used to fit to the cluster main sequences in the (V, V-K) color-magnitude diagram in order to estimate a distance for each open cluster. We find that the resultant distances are within the range of distances found in the literature via the main-sequence–fitting technique. It is hoped that this will spur an expansion of the current (limited) database of star clusters with high-quality V-K photometry down to the unevolved main sequence.
Efficiency evaluation of provincial input-output based on DEA in rural China: An empirical study from 2009 to 2011

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is an effective measure tool to evaluate the regional input-output efficiency. After the brief review of existing literature, as well as the principle and models of DEA, this paper evaluates the input-output efficiency of China's 31 provinces (municipalities) via the approach of DEA. The result shows that only four provinces have efficient input-output from 2009-2011 in rural China. Moreover, the average efficiencies values of the three regions are gradually reduce from the east, the center to the west, and the difference is significant. Through the further analysis, the conclusion can be drawn that the whole provincial economic environment and developing level, as well as the reasonable and diversified industrial structure are very important to improve the efficiency and develop the economy.
Electrospun PLLA Nanofiber Scaffolds and Their Use in Combination with BMP-2 for Reconstruction of Bone Defects

Introduction Adequate migration and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells is essential for regeneration of large bone defects. To achieve this, modern graft materials are becoming increasingly important. Among them, electrospun nanofiber scaffolds are a promising approach, because of their high physical porosity and potential to mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM). Materials and Methods The objective of the present study was to examine the impact of electrospun PLLA nanofiber scaffolds on bone formation in vivo, using a critical size rat calvarial defect model. In addition we analyzed whether direct incorporation of bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) into nanofibers could enhance the osteoinductivity of the scaffolds. Two critical size calvarial defects (5 mm) were created in the parietal bones of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Defects were either (1) left unfilled, or treated with (2) bovine spongiosa, (3) PLLA scaffolds alone or (4) PLLA/BMP-2 scaffolds. Cranial CT-scans were taken at fixed intervals in vivo. Specimens obtained after euthanasia were processed for histology, histomorphometry and immunostaining (Osteocalcin, BMP-2 and Smad5). Results PLLA scaffolds were well colonized with cells after implantation, but only showed marginal ossification. PLLA/BMP-2 scaffolds showed much better bone regeneration and several ossification foci were observed throughout the defect. PLLA/BMP-2 scaffolds also stimulated significantly faster bone regeneration during the first eight weeks compared to bovine spongiosa. However, no significant differences between these two scaffolds could be observed after twelve weeks. Expression of osteogenic marker proteins in PLLA/BMP-2 scaffolds continuously increased throughout the observation period. After twelve weeks osteocalcin, BMP-2 and Smad5 were all significantly higher in the PLLA/BMP-2 group than in all other groups. Conclusion Electrospun PLLA nanofibers facilitate colonization of bone defects, while their use in combination with BMP-2 also increases bone regeneration in vivo and thus combines osteoconductivity of the scaffold with the ability to maintain an adequate osteogenic stimulus.
Distributed fault detection and isolation for multi-agent systems using relative information

In this paper, a distributed fault detection and isolation (FDI) strategy, based on the output estimation, is proposed to deal with the additive type of faults for a class of linear multi-agent systems using only relative information. Firstly, by applying a series of model transformations, a new fault detection model which can estimate the neighbours' nominal outputs by solving linear system equations is created. The distibuted FDI strategy based on the proposed model is then designed and proved to be effective in theory. After that, a novel event-triggered communication framework is proposed to improve the reliability of the fault detection result. A simulation of multi-vehicles undertaking formation control with FDI strategies is given at last.
Colour Texture analysis

This chapter presents a novel and generic framework for image segmentation using a compound image descriptor that encompasses both colour and texture information in an adaptive fashion. The developed image segmentation method extracts the texture information using low-level image descriptors (such as the Local Binary Patterns (LBP)) and colour information by using colour space partitioning. The main advantage of this approach is the analysis of the textured images at a micro-level using the local distribution of the LBP values, and in the colour domain by analysing the local colour distribution obtained after colour segmentation. The use of the colour and texture information separately has proven to be inappropriate for natural images as they are generally heterogeneous with respect to colour and texture characteristics. Thus, the main problem is to use the colour and texture information in a joint descriptor that can adapt to the local properties of the image under analysis. We will review existing approaches to colour and texture analysis as well as illustrating how our approach can be successfully applied to a range of applications including the segmentation of natural images, medical imaging and product inspection.