Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Role of Inhibition in the Specification of Orientation Selectivity of Cells in the Cat Striate Cortex

Abstract Mechanisms supporting orientation selectivity of cat striate cortical cells were studied by stimulation with two superimposed sine-wave gratings of different orientations. One grating (base) generated a discharge of known amplitude which could be modified by the second grating (mask). Masks presented at nonoptimal orientations usually reduced the base-generated response, but the degree of reduction varied widely between cells. Cells with narrow orientation tuning tended to be more susceptible to mask presence than broadly tuned cells; similarly, simple cells generally showed more response reduction than did complex cells. The base and mask stimuli were drifted at different temporal frequencies which, in simple cells, permitted the identification of individual response components from each stimulus. This revealed that the reduction of the base response by the mask usually did not vary regularly with mask orientation, although response facilitation from the mask was orientation selective. In some sharply tuned simple cells, response reduction had clear local maxima near the limits of the cell's orientation-tuning function. Response reduction resulted from a nearly pure rightward shift of the response versus log contrast function. The lowest mask contrast yielding reduction was within 0.1–0.3 log unit of the lowest contrast effective for excitation. The temporal-frequency bandpass of the response-reduction mechanism resembled that of most cortical cells. The spatial-frequency bandpass was much broader than is typical for single cortical cells, spanning essentially the entire visual range of the cat. These findings are compatible with a model in which weak intrinsic orientation-selective excitation is enhanced in two stages: (1) control of threshold by nonorientation-selective inhibition that is continuously dependent on stimulus contrast; and (2) in the more narrowly tuned cells, orientation-selective inhibition that has local maxima serving to increase the slope of the orientation-tuning function.
Une approche incrementale de la robustesse non lineaire ; application au domaine de l'aeronautique

La premiere partie de cette these montre que certains problemes de commande non lineaire peuvent etre ramenes a des problemes de minimisation de norme incrementale ponderee. Il est demontre que la norme incrementale ponderee permet de prendre en compte le probleme de la robustesse en stabilite ainsi que le probleme de la desensibilisation par bouclage. Par ailleurs, il est demontre que la stabilite incrementale assure la stabilite asymptotique des etats d'equilibre associes aux commandes constantes. Une condition necessaire et suffisante pour qu'un systeme soit incrementalement stable est donnee. Deux solutions au probleme de la synthese incrementale sont proposees. Nous avons, enfin, developpe des resultats specifiques concernant la stabilite et la robustesse des gains variables. La deuxieme partie concerne la commande d'un missile fortement manuvrant. Une methodologie de synthese d'une loi de pilotage h-infini (lineaire) pour un engin fortement non lineaire est mise en place. Ses proprietes sont analysees et validees sur un simulateur non lineaire complet. Cette premiere etape franchie, l'augmentation du domaine d'action du missile est passee par une etude approfondie des effets induits par les non linearites aerodynamiques. La methode finalement proposee a permis d'augmenter de facons notable le domaine d'action du missile (50%). La robustesse de la methode vis a vis d'erreurs de mesure et des dispersions aerodynamiques a ete demontree sur le simulateur complet
Prognostic Significance of Peripheral Microvascular Endothelial Dysfunction in Heart Failure With Reduced Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction.

BACKGROUND Endothelial dysfunction plays a crucial role in heart failure (HF), but the association between peripheral microvascular endothelial function assessed by reactive hyperemia peripheral arterial tonometry (RH-PAT) and prognosis remains unknown in HF with reduced left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (HFREF). We prospectively investigated the association between peripheral microvascular endothelial function and HF-related near-future cardiovascular outcomes in HFREF patients. METHODSANDRESULTS The 362 HFREF patients (LVEF <50%) were followed for HF-related events (composite of cardiovascular death and HF hospitalization) up to 3 years. A natural logarithmic-scaled RH-PAT index (Ln-RHI) was obtained for each patient. A total of 82 HF-related events were recorded. The lower-RHI group (Ln-RHI ≤0.49, median) experienced a higher rate of HF-related events compared with the higher-RHI group by Kaplan-Meier analysis (30.9% vs. 14.4%, log-rank test: P<0.001). Multivariable Cox hazard analysis identified Ln-RHI as an independent predictor for HF-related events (per 0.1, hazard ratio: 0.84, 95% confidence interval: 0.75-0.95, P=0.005). Adding Ln-RHI to the Meta-analysis Global Group in Chronic HF risk score (MAGGICs) and Seattle Heart Failure Model (SHFM), powerful prognostic predictors of HF, significantly improved the net reclassification index (MAGGICs: 20.11%, P=0.02, SHFM: 24.88%, P<0.001), and increased the C-statistics for prediction of HF-related events (MAGGICs+Ln-RHI: from 0.612 to 0.670, SHFM+Ln-RHI: from 0.662 to 0.695). CONCLUSIONS Peripheral microvascular endothelial dysfunction assessed by RH-PAT was associated with future HF-related events in HFREF.
Contribution a la modelisation, au traitement et a l'analyse d'image

Etude du seuillage automatiuqe d'image. Etude des operateurs gradient et laplace. Etude sur la rugosite locale utilisee comme outil pour la segmentation d'image. Etude sur le rehaussement d'image et plus particulierement sur la suppression de flou dans les images. Traitement des images de nature logarithmique telles les images obtenues en lumiere transmise ou celle issue de la vision luminaire. Proposition d'un modele. La faisabilite industrielle porte sur un probleme d'interferometrie automatique en temps reel
Full fuzzy logic based vector control for permanent magnet synchronous motor

A full fuzzy-logic-based vector control for a permanent-magnet synchronous motor(PMSM) was proposed. The high-performance of the proposed fuzzy logic control(FLC)-based PMSM drive were investigated and compared to those obtained from the conventional proportional-integral(PI) controller at different conditions such as step change in command speed and load, etc. In the simulation and experimental results, the fuzzy-logic controller was employed in the speed and current controller. The comparative experimental results show that the FLC is more robust and, hence, found to be a suitable replacement of the conventional PI controller for the high-performance drive system.
Sustainable Innovation for Open Hardware and Open Science – Lessons from The Hardware Hacker

Sometimes, businesses restrict their hardware products with intellectual property legal instruments to maintain near-monopolies in market niches. This proprietary approach to technology risks creating anti-competitive rent-seeking behaviour and comes with its own set of economic and social costs. In The Hardware Hacker, Andrew ‘Bunnie’ Huang builds on his entrepreneurial experience in manufacturing hardware to provide a viable alternative. In addition to extensive tips on the practicalities of hardware mass production, Huang’s book documents the thriving technology counterculture in Shenzhen, China’s ‘Silicon Valley’. Called the ‘shanzhai’, these entrepreneurs ignore patent and copyright restrictions and openly copy features from other products to remix them into new ones. While some call them thieves, shanzhai innovations pre-empted now-common device categories such as the smartwatch, and may address market niches unreachable by intellectual property-encumbered business models. Huang personally experimented with this approach (while operating within existing intellectual property laws) through his open hardware business ventures – notably the Novena open laptop – and in this book discusses the lessons learned. They include reflections on access to hardware as a form of civic action, implications of advances in biotechnology, and an optimistic view on the growth of open hardware in light of the deceleration of Moore’s Law. Refreshingly accessible and entertaining, The Hardware Hacker shows us the importance of the right to tinker in an age where technology permeates all aspects of life.
Gene Therapy for Cardiac Arrhythmias

Abstract: Myocardial gene transfer has shown tremendous potential to investigate pathophysiology and potential therapies for cardiac diseases. In the field of cardiac arrhythmias, there is a tremendous need for new therapeutic options. The current work reviews the need for new therapies for cardiac arrhythmias, the use of gene transfer to evaluate cellular electrophysiology, the application of in vivo gene transfer to treatment of common arrhythmias, and the current problems in the field of cardiac gene therapy. Arrhythmia gene therapy is a field in its infancy, and future human applications are dependent on solutions to the problems discussed here.
Carotenoid distribution in certain naturally occurring algae and in some artificially induced mutants.

SUMMARY: The carotenoids of pure cultures of two members of the Class Chrysophyceae were examined; the main pigments in Ochromonas danica and Prymnesizlm pamum are fucoxanthin and p-carotene. The main carotenoids of Cyanidium caldarium are p-carotene and zeaxanthin; these observations support the view that this alga represents a transitional form between the cryptomonads and the green algae. The distribution of polyenes and carotenoids in a number of ultra-violet induced mutants of Chlorella pyrenoidosa is described.
LMI Relaxations in Robust Control

The purpose of this tutorial paper is to discuss the important role of robust linear matrix inequalities with rational dependence on uncertainties in robust control. We review how various classical relaxations based on the S-procedure can be subsumed to a unified framework. Based on Lagrange duality for semi-definite programs, we put particular emphasis on a clear understanding under which conditions such relaxations can be verified to be exact. We finally address the systematic construction of families of relaxations which can be shown to be asymptotically exact, based on recent results on the sum-of-squares representation of polynomial matrices.
Accounting-Based Compensation Contracts, the Cost of Borrowing, and the Structure of Corporate Debt Contracts

The recent trend of incorporating accounting-based performance measures into CEO compensation plans influences the firm’s cost of borrowing and the structure of corporate debt contracts. Bank loans to firms that grant long-term accounting-based incentive plans (LTAPs) to CEOs in the prior year have lower spreads and fewer restrictive covenants. Results are strongest for borrowing firms with high leverage and bankruptcy risk, and that are difficult for lenders to monitor, which suggests that LTAPs help align incentives between shareholders and debtholders. Results are robust to alternative measures of borrowing costs, including spreads for new public bonds, credit ratings, and CDS spreads. JEL classification: M12; M41; J33; G30
De l'applaudissement : essai analytique et typologie d'un phénomène théâtral

Qu'y a-t-il donc de plus naturel que d'applaudir ? ''bravo'' s'apprend aussi vite que papa ou maman. Nous applaudissons tous sur la terre, quelle que soit notre culture, notre langue, la couleur de notre peau, et surtout de manieres differentes. Nous parlerons de l'ivresse des grecs quand ils applaudissent, de l'elegance des romains, mais aussi de leurs cabales a tous ; c'est la que commencera notre etude parce que nous disposons de textes qui pour la premiere fois en parle de facon explicite. Il nous faudra attendre l'epoque medievale pour qu'un vent de fronde souffle sur les bravos d'un public tapageur. Naitront alors des gagistes, des cabaleurs patentes, des entrepreneurs de succes, des chefs de claque, pour finir aujourd'hui par des chauffeurs de salle, ainsi appeles dans les emissions de television. Surcout de flatteries, certains pensent que l'applaudissement est une prothese a l'artistique. Des qu'il s'agit d'etres impersonnels, les notions de public ou spectateur n'ont aucune importance. Elles se confondent dans d'etranges interpretations. L'artiste peut mourir sans talent et sans amour, mais le peut-il sans etre applaudi ? L'anecdote est au rendez-vous, souvent inventive, parfois cruelle. Si ce geste dispose d'un langage, il y a un vocabulaire avec des regles de grammaire ; applaudir serait une ponctuation ! Quel voyage plus etrange que celui d'une mauvaise chose bien faite, la claque ! Applaudir est une energie sociale ; en ce sens la foule produit du collectif. Seuls, nous l'observerons, les humains n'applaudissent pas, et comme toute energie, elle peut etre diffuse, recuperee, controlee, et dispensee dans des buts pas toujours avouables. Nous sommes condamnes a desirer que ce que nous pouvons obtenir. Applaudir a ce qui est limite est ce qu'il y a de pire pour etre decu et malheureux. Nous sommes surs d'une seule et unique chose : la mort. C'est en revenant a cet aspect ancestral des choses qu'applaudir garde son sens le plus fort.
The Costs and Benefits of Shareholder Democracy

We show that while low-cost shareholder activism via shareholder-sponsored proposals is occasionally value-enhancing, many proposals are submitted by the same few individual investors and other sponsors without organizational capabilities to analyze a large number of firms. These proposals if approved and subsequently implemented appear to destroy shareholder value. We show that firms whose shareholders are more likely to collect information before voting benefit from low-cost shareholder activism because these investors weed out low-quality proposals. We conclude that an informed shareholder base is crucial for firms to take advantage of low-cost shareholder activism.
An evaluation of ruminally degradable intake protein and metabolizable amino acid requirements of feedlot calves.

Ruminally degradable intake protein (DIP) and metabolizable indispensable amino acid (MIAA) requirements of feedlot steers were evaluated. Dietary treatments consisted of isocaloric 80% concentrate steam-flaked corn-based diets containing either . 8% urea, 1.5% fish meal (FM), 3.0% FM, 4.5% FM, or 4.5% soybean meal (SBM). Treatment effects on characteristics of ruminal and total tract digestion were evaluated using four Holstein steers (249 kg) with cannulas in the rumen and proximal duodenum. Ruminal digestibility of OM (RDOM; P < .05) and feed N (P < .01) and microbial N flow (MNF; P < .01) to the small intestine were greater with urea as the supplemental N source. The level of DIP was closely associated (R2 = .89) with MNF. Postruminal digestibility of OM was greater (P < .05) for FM than for urea-supplemented diets, compensating for lower RDOM. There were no treatment effects (P > .10) on DOM. As the level of FM was increased, MIAA increased linearly (P < .01). Intestinal MIAA were similar (P > .10) for urea- and SBM-supplemented diets. Treatment effects on 56-d growth performance were evaluated using 100 medium-framed crossbred steers (231 kg). Daily weight gain (linear effect; P < .01), DM intake (linear effect; P < .10), feed efficiency (linear effect; P < .05), and diet NE (linear effect; P < .05) increased with level of FM supplementation. Daily weight gain (P < .10) and DM intake (P < .05) were greater for urea- than for SBM-supplemented diets. Using bovine tissue as the reference protein, the biological value (based on chemical score) of the intestinal chyme protein averaged 73%; methionine was first-limiting. There was a close association (R2 = .99) between methionine supply to the small intestine and observed/expected dietary NE. The metabolizable methionine requirement (MMETR, g/d) of medium-framed feedlot steers can be reliably predicted from measures of BW and ADG (MMETR = 1.565 + .0234ADG[268 - (29.4 x .0557BW(.75)ADG(1.097))/ADG] + . 0896BW(.75)). There was a very close association (R2 = .89) between DIP and MNF (MNF = 13.7DIP - .66DIP(2) + 25.9). At maximal observed synthesis, DIP accounted for 76% of the MNF. A minimum of 100 g DIP/kg of total tract digestible OM was required to maximize RDOM and MNF.
Data mining in the diagnostics of oil extraction equipment

We present the key steps in the dynamogram classification algorithm development. These are data processing, procedures of generation and selection of features, constructing of a neural network classifier and estimation of its work quality. To estimate the possibility to single out complex defects (subclasses), we analyzed the structure of the input pattern sample with the aid of clusterization algorithms. Possibilities of the diagnostic algorithm for submersible equipment on the basis of the pretreated dynamometer cards recognition that characterize the current object state were explored. The key steps of the algorithm implementation for the dynamometer card classification are: feature generation, feature selection and classifiers building. The classifiers based on single neural networks and hierarchic neural network committees with different architectures have demonstrated the accuracy of recognition of the equipment condition classes at the level of 80-94%. The reliability of recognition for the equipment condition classes is at the level of 78-98% for the data that were not included in the training set.
Recovery of Circular Motion Geometry in Spite of Varying Intrinsic Parameters

Previous algorithms for recovering 3D geometry from uncalibrated circular motion image sequences of unknown rotation angles are mostly for constant intrinsic parameters. In this paper, a new and simple method for recovering circular motion geometry in spite of varying intrinsic parameters is proposed. It is shown that the movement of the camera forms two concentric circles on the motion plane. By identifying the concentric conic loci in 3D projective frame, the geometry of circular motion can be recovered. Compared with existing rotation angle recovery methods, the new method is (i) more flexible in that it allows the intrinsic parameters to vary from image to image; (ii) simpler by avoiding the calculation of the intersection points of two conics which is notoriously complicated. Experimental results for real images are provided to show the performance of the proposed method.
Financial derivatives use and multifaceted exposures

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the effect of financial derivatives use on different exposures by comparing domestic firms, domestic multinational corporations (MNCs) and affiliates of foreign MNCs using a unique hand-collected data set of derivatives activities from 881 non-financial firms in eight East Asian countries over the period of 2003-2013. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors apply a two-stage approach. In the first stage, exposures to country risks, exchange rate and interest rate risks are estimated by using the market model. In the second stage, potential effects of firms’ derivatives use on multifaceted exposures are investigated by carrying out pooled regression model, and panel data regressions with random effect specifications. Findings The authors provide novel evidence that financial hedging of domestic firms and domestic MNCs reduces exposure to home country risks by 10.91 and 14.42 percent per 1 percent increase in notional derivative holdings, respectively, while affiliates of foreign MNCs fail to mitigate exposure to host country risks. The use of foreign currency and interest rate derivatives by domestic firms and domestic MNCs is effective in alleviating such firms’ exposures to varied degrees, while foreign affiliates’ use of derivatives can only lower interest rate exposures. Originality/value The primary theoretical contribution of this study is applying the market model to estimate exposures to home and host country risks. Regarding empirical contributions, the authors provide strong evidence that the use of financial derivatives by domestic firms and domestic MNCs significantly contributes to a decline in exposure to home country risks, and evidence the outperformance of domestic MNCs vis-a-vis domestic firms and foreign affiliates.
Does asymmetric gene flow among matrilines maintain the evolutionary potential of the European eel?

Abstract Using evolutionary theory to predict the dynamics of populations is one of the aims of evolutionary conservation. In endangered species, with geographic range extending over continuous areas, the predictive capacity of evolutionary‐based conservation measures greatly depends on the accurate identification of reproductive units. The endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a highly migratory fish species with declining population due to a steep recruitment collapse in the beginning of the 1980s. Despite punctual observations of genetic structure, the population is viewed as a single panmictic reproductive unit. To understand the possible origin of the detected structure in this species, we used a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear loci to indirectly evaluate the possible existence of cryptic demes. For that, 403 glass eels from three successive cohorts arriving at a single location were screened for phenotypic and genetic diversity, while controlling for possible geographic variation. Over the 3 years of sampling, we consistently identified three major matrilines which we hypothesized to represent demes. Interestingly, not only we found that population genetic models support the existence of those matriline‐driven demes over a completely panmictic mode of reproduction, but also we found evidence for asymmetric gene flow amongst those demes. We uphold the suggestion that the detection of demes related to those matrilines reflect a fragmented spawning ground, a conceptually plausible consequence of the low abundance that the European eel has been experiencing for three decades. Furthermore, we suggest that this cryptic organization may contribute to the maintenance of the adaptive potential of the species.