Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BICEP TELESCOPE FOR HIGH-PRECISION COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND POLARIMETRY

The Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (Bicep) experiment was designed specifically to search for the signature of inflationary gravitational waves in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Using a novel small-aperture refractor and 49 pairs of polarization-sensitive bolometers, Bicep has completed three years of successful observations at the South Pole beginning in 2006 February. To constrain the amplitude of the inflationary B-mode polarization, which is expected to be at least 7 orders of magnitude fainter than the 3 K CMB intensity, precise control of systematic effects is essential. This paper describes the characterization of potential systematic errors for the Bicep experiment, supplementing a companion paper on the initial cosmological results. Using the analysis pipelines for the experiment, we have simulated the impact of systematic errors on the B-mode polarization measurement. Guided by these simulations, we have established benchmarks for the characterization of critical instrumental properties including bolometer relative gains, beam mismatch, polarization orientation, telescope pointing, sidelobes, thermal stability, and timestream noise model. A comparison of the benchmarks with the measured values shows that we have characterized the instrument adequately to ensure that systematic errors do not limit Bicep's two-year results, and identifies which future refinements are likely necessary to probe inflationary B-mode polarization down to levels below a tensor-to-scalar ratio r = 0.1.
A Review of Scholastic Examination and Models for Face Recognition and Retrieval in Video

This survey report overviews recent frameworks on face recognition and retrieval solutions for videos search and surveillance applications. We introduce an engineering of a bland framework for facial detection, retrieval and recognition in video and audit scholarly frameworks reported in the scholastic writing suitable for videos search and surveillance applications. Suggestions on the choice of frameworks for benchmarking and the investigation of future patterns is introduced. Methods displayed in this report are those that give great results on understood reference video information sets and can be utilized to give establishments to build up a better retrieval system Keywords—: video-surveillance, video retrieval, face recognition and retrieval in video, instant face recognition, watch-list screening, reliability, performance evaluation _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sirtinol Treatment Reduces Inflammation in Human Dermal Microvascular Endothelial Cells

Histone deacetylases (HDAC) are key enzymes in the epigenetic control of gene expression. Recently, inhibitors of class I and class II HDAC have been successfully employed for the treatment of different inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, colitis, airway inflammation and asthma. So far, little is known so far about a similar therapeutic effect of inhibitors specifically directed against sirtuins, the class III HDAC. In this study, we investigated the expression and localization of endogenous sirtuins in primary human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMEC), a cell type playing a key role in the development and maintenance of skin inflammation. We then examined the biological activity of sirtinol, a specific sirtuin inhibitor, in HDMEC response to pro-inflammatory cytokines. We found that, even though sirtinol treatment alone affected only long-term cell proliferation, it diminishes HDMEC inflammatory responses to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α and interleukin (IL)-1β. In fact, sirtinol significantly reduced membrane expression of adhesion molecules in TNFã- or IL-1β-stimulated cells, as well as the amount of CXCL10 and CCL2 released by HDMEC following TNFα treatment. Notably, sirtinol drastically decreased monocyte adhesion on activated HDMEC. Using selective inhibitors for Sirt1 and Sirt2, we showed a predominant involvement of Sirt1 inhibition in the modulation of adhesion molecule expression and monocyte adhesion on activated HDMEC. Finally, we demonstrated the in vivo expression of Sirt1 in the dermal vessels of normal and psoriatic skin. Altogether, these findings indicated that sirtuins may represent a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases characterized by a prominent microvessel involvement.
The Impact of Smokers' Group‐Membership and Activist Gender on Tolerance for Smoking, Receptiveness and Perceived Susceptibility to Anti‐Smoking Messages, and Likelihood of Anti‐Smoking Activism

Using two experiments we demonstrate that people have lower tolerance for smoking and higher anti‐smoking activism likelihood when in‐group versus out‐group members smoke. The likelihood of anti‐smoking activism toward in‐group smokers was greater for men than women. Moreover, as social distance declined, men showed greater anti‐smoking message receptiveness, message susceptibility and activism likelihood, whereas, women displayed no significant differences in tolerance for smoking, message receptiveness, message susceptibility, and activism likelihood. Open‐ended responses indicated generally negative cognitive reactions to smokers, yet a broad unwillingness to confront them. While feelings of personal relevance and caring facilitated anti‐smoking activism intentions, beliefs in the freedom of personal choice and polite interpersonal interactions hindered these intentions.
Sparse matrix computations on manycore GPU’s

Modern microprocessors are becoming increasingly parallel devices, and GPUs are at the leading edge of this trend. Designing parallel algorithms for manycore chips like the GPU can present interesting challenges, particularly for computations on sparse data structures. One particularly common example is the collection of sparse matrix solvers and combinatorial graph algorithms that form the core of many physical simulation techniques. Although seemingly irregular, these operations can often be implemented with data parallel operations that map very well to massively parallel processors.
Violence in Acute Psychiatric Patients: A Cumulative Increased Risk with Polysubstance Abuse?

While comorbidity of serious mental illness (SMI) and substance abuse increases violence risk, less is known about additional effects of multiple substance abuse. By using a check list, data on substance abuse, violence, diagnoses, and Perceived Threat Control Override symptoms (TCO) were extracted from electronic patient files in 146 male patients who were extensive users of acute psychiatric services. Variables that were significant in univariate analysis were entered into a stepwise multivariate regression analysis. Odds ratios for violence increased from 5.3 in patients who abused one substance to 153.4 with the abuse of four or five substances (Step 1). The effect was moderated in Step 2 by having a diagnosis of mood disorder (OR = .17). In Step 3, only a trend indicated that one TCO component, “others control my thoughts and feelings,” increased the risk of violence (OR = 3.7). The positive effect sizes for polysubstance abuse were about two times larger in Step 3 than in Step 1. The findings indicate that including the number of abused substances may improve violence risk assessment in patients with SMI.
Social Pressure, Transparency, and Voting in Committees

Abstract We examine the consequences of vote transparency in committees whose members fear being blamed by interested observers for casting an unfavorable vote. We show that while individually undesirable, such social pressure can improve the collective decision by mitigating a voting externality. Hence, organizations may adopt public voting when the fear of blame is too little, and secret voting when the fear is too much. We also show that public voting is particularly desirable in committees with overly biased members or overly biased voting rules against the alternative. Anecdotal evidence supports our findings.
Quality Control and Patient Dosimetry on line for Computed Tomography

The aim of this work is to present the functionalities and first results of an automatic system on quality control and patient dosimetry for diagnostic radiology, and its application to computed tomography (CT) in a big university hospital. The system is directly connected to the PACS (Picture Archive an Communication System) of the hospital and extracts useful information contained in the DICOM headers and Radiation Dose Structured Reports (RDSRs). The full process is automatic and was tested during the past 6 months for 11,500 procedures in three CT units. The system allows not only to extract, archive and process the parameters contained in the DICOM headers and RDSRs, but also to manage all the additional information contained in such headers for a quality control "on line". With all this information, several trigger conditions can be implemented to generate alarms and to launch corrective actions in cases such as individual dose values per examination higher than 3 times the diagnostic reference level (DRL), median values of the last 30 procedures higher than the DRL, etc. For other modalities, trigger conditions like low compression in mammography or low kV in chest images can also be used. The system allows export of data for statistical process. A personal patient dose record can be built, initially limited to the examinations performed at the hospital, but with the capability of further connection with other hospitals and outpatient centers using the same system. Mean and median Dose Length Product (DLP) values for the most common CT procedures are presented and compared with the existing references available, to decide if optimization actions are required to refine some clinical protocols. Effective doses have also been estimated from the DLP values, using the conversion factors based on the current Dose Datamed European Guidelines.
Null steering in failed antenna array

Creation of nulls in specified directions is desirable in order to reduce the effect of interfering signals. But in large antenna arrays there possibility of getting a fault from some of the radiating elements can not be denied. In such a situation, the pattern of the array get distorted mostly with an increasing sidelobe level and removable of the null from its desired position. In this paper a method using particle swarm optimization(PSO) is developed to maintain the null position of the failed antenna array.
On Ethics and Religious Culture in Québec: Comments and Comparative Perspectives from a Norwegian and European Context

In this article attention is drawn to how the term religious culture and how the Ethics and Religious Culture (ERC) subject is related to personal development. Questions are raised whether emphasis on religious culture might be seen as an expression of regionalism. Critical remarks are made regarding the relationship of the ERC subject and students' personal development. This is related to a general discussion in religion education regarding whether students should learn from religions or about religions. In discussing these topics, comparisons to the Norwegian context and the implementation of a mandatory secular religion education in Norwegian schools are made.
Illumination Multiplexing within Fundamental Limits

Taking a sequence of photographs using multiple illumination sources or settings is central to many computer vision and graphics problems. A growing number of recent methods use multiple sources rather than single point sources in each frame of the sequence. Potential benefits include increased signal-to-noise ratio and accommodation of scene dynamic range. However, existing multiplexing schemes, including Hadamard-based codes, are inhibited by fundamental limits set by Poisson distributed photon noise and by sensor saturation. The prior schemes may actually be counterproductive due to these effects. We derive multiplexing codes that are optimal under these fundamental effects. Thus, the novel codes generalize the prior schemes and have a much broader applicability. Our approach is based on formulating the problem as a constrained optimization. We further suggest an algorithm to solve this optimization problem. The superiority and effectiveness of the method is demonstrated in experiments involving object illumination.
Zebrafish P54 RNA helicases are cytoplasmic granule residents that are required for development and stress resilience

ABSTRACT Stress granules are cytoplasmic foci that directly respond to the protein synthesis status of the cell. Various environmental insults, such as oxidative stress or extreme heat, block protein synthesis; consequently, mRNA will stall in translation, and stress granules will immediately form and become enriched with mRNAs. P54 DEAD box RNA helicases are components of RNA granules such as P-bodies and stress granules. We studied the expression, in cytoplasmic foci, of both zebrafish P54 RNA helicases (P54a and P54b) during development and found that they are expressed in cytoplasmic granules under both normal conditions and stress conditions. In zebrafish embryos exposed to heat shock, some proportion of P54a and P54b helicases move to larger granules that exhibit the properties of genuine stress granules. Knockdown of P54a and/or P54b in zebrafish embryos produces developmental abnormalities restricted to the posterior trunk; further, these embryos do not form stress granules, and their survival upon exposure to heat-shock conditions is compromised. Our observations fit the model that cells lacking stress granules have no resilience or ability to recover once the stress has ended, indicating that stress granules play an essential role in the way organisms adapt to a changing environment. Summary: Stress granules are formed by mRNAs stalled in translation during stress conditions. P54 RNA helicases from zebrafish reside in cytoplasmic granules and are essential for heat-shock resilience.
How do medical students learn: Medical student learning styles and factors that affect these learning styles

Medical students have individual learning styles, but these have been shown to change and develop as students mature and progress through their medical education. The purpose of this research project was to study the factors that influence the learning styles and activities of undergraduate medical students. We hypothesized that undergraduate medical students use different learning approaches and that their learning approaches depend on individual student characteristics: sex, age, and previous premedical education. In particular, we hypothesized that final‐year medical students who had global assessments of their performance would have higher deep learning scores and lower surface learning scores than would 3rd‐year medical students in their preclerkship year who must write a comprehensive, multiple‐choice question (MCQ) final examination. The Study Process Questionnaire was included and produced scores for surface, deep, and achieving learning approaches. The students who were surveyed had predominantly.
A complete algorithm for designing passive fences to orient parts

Peshkin and Sanderson (1988) showed that parts can be aligned as they move on a conveyor belt against a passive sequence of fences. In this paper the authors describe the first complete algorithm to design such sequences for a given convex polygonal part. The algorithm is complete in the sense that it is guaranteed to find a design if one exists and to terminate with a negative report otherwise. Based on an exact breadth-first search of the design space, the algorithm is also guaranteed to find the design requiring the fewest fences. The authors describe the algorithm and compare results with those previously reported. The authors conjecture that a fence design exists to orient any convex polygonal part defined by a sequence of rational vertices.
Candidates’ experiences of elite coach education: a longitudinal study (‘tracking the journey’)

Abstract The aim of this study was to explore the knowledge development and experiences of 20 coaches enrolled on an 18-month elite level professional preparation programme. The methods used within the study included individual video diaries and focus group interviews. In total, data from 18 focus group interviews and 19 video diaries were obtained from the candidate coaches and subject to a process of broad inductive analysis. Results centred around three principal themes; (1) a problematic perception of the utilised competency-based framework and a desire for greater peer learning opportunities; (2) an instrumental view and accompanying utilisation of course mentors; and, most significantly, (3) the use of the periodic course gatherings (the residentials) as a ‘community of security’ for the coaches to offset everyday feelings of workplace anxiety. The implications of such findings lie in the call for elite coach education programmes to help practitioners better accept and live with the complexity and anxiety-inducing uncertainty of their positions through giving them realistic ways of dealing with it.
Space Boundaries in Schizophrenia Voluntary Action for Improved Judgments of Social Distances

The present study evaluates whether in schizophrenia deficits in specifying social distances appropriately for interindividual interactions might be related to abnormal capabilities in specifying the boundaries of reachable space. Using a stop-distance paradigm, 20 patients with schizophrenia and their controls judged from seven preselected angles when a target reached the boundaries of periper- sonal space. Results revealed that spatial perception was similar for patients and controls throughout the workspace with more accurate judgments in the preferred hemi-field. Nevertheless, patients were significantly more variable in their judgments; this variability was correlated with the PANSS disorganization cluster. In task 2, participants were required to judge either the boundaries of reachable space (target was an object) or to evaluate social distances (target was a person). Results revealed here again increased judgment variability in schizophrenia, in both situations. Of key importance was that results were normalized in the patients, when judgments were made through voluntary movement. These results argue for a similar brain mechanism for the determination of space and social distances. Furthermore, they suggest an important role of voluntary movement for the creation of stronger motor representations of action goals, which provide the basis for more accurate judgments of space boundaries during both physical and social interactions. The findings are discussed in light of the embodied theory of cognition and their implications for social skills in patients suffering from mental illnesses.
Application of Service Quality Model in Education Environment

Most of the ideas on service quality stem from the West. The massive developments in research in the West are undeniable of their importance. This leads to the generation and development of new ideas. These ideas were subsequently channeled to developing countries. Ideas obtained were then formulated and used by these developing countries in order to obtain better approach in channeling service quality. There are ample to be learnt from the service quality model, SERVQUAL which attain high acceptance in the West. Service quality in the education system is important to guarantee the effectiveness and quality of education. Effective and quality education will be able to offer quality graduates, which will contribute to the development of the nation. This paper will discuss the application of the SERVQUAL model into the education environment.
Birriwilk rockshelter: A mid- to late Holocene site in ManilikarrCountry, southwest Arnhem Land, Northern Territory

Abstract Recent excavations at the Birriwilk rockshelter in Mikinj Valley, southwest Arnhem Land, have revealed evidence for mid- to late Holocene settlement, including a major period of site use in the last millennium. The site is important to the traditional owners, with a rich oral tradition associated with ‘Birriwilk’, an ancestor of the Urningangk tribe, who is depicted in rock art at the site. Oral traditions link Birriwilk with an adjacent lagoon, as well as a number of other rock art sites and features in the landscape, including the renowned Ubirr complex. The Birriwilk site and vicinity are significant places to the Nayinggul family, traditional owners for the Manilikarr estate. This post-fieldwork report summarises key archaeological findings at Birriwilk, using frequencies of stone artefacts and faunal remains as proxies of occupation from ca 5000 years ago. The most intense occupation occurred within the last 700 years, a period characterised by foraging and hunting in adjacent wetland habitats, changing technological emphasis to the manufacture of bifacial quartzite points, increased artefact discard rates and increased ochre grinding. The site has little archaeological evidence of use during the last 200 years, although oral histories indicate it was visited regularly until the mid-twentieth century. The rockshelter remains an important story site today.
Journal of Graph Algorithms and Applications Grip: Graph Drawing with Intelligent Placement

This paper describes a system for Graph dRawing with Intelligent Placement, GRIP. The system is designed for drawing large graphs and uses a novel multi-dimensional force-directed method together with fast energy function minimization. The algorithm underlying the system employs a simple recursive coarsening scheme. Rather than being placed at random, vertices are placed intelligently, several at a time, at locations close to their final positions. The running time and space complexity of the system are near linear. The implementation is in C using OpenGL for 3D viewing. The GRIP system allows for drawing graphs with tens of thousands of vertices in under one minute on a mid-range PC. To the best of the authors' knowledge, GRIP surpasses the fastest previous algorithms. However, speed is not achieved at the expense of quality as the resulting drawings are quite aesthetically pleasing.
The floral homeotic protein SEPALLATA3 recognizes target DNA sequences by shape readout involving a conserved arginine residue in the MADS-domain

SEPALLATA3 of Arabidopsis thaliana is a MADS-domain transcription factor and a central player in flower development. MADS-domain proteins bind as dimers to AT-rich sequences termed ‘CArG-boxes’ which share the consensus 5’-CC(A/T)6GG-3’. Since only a fraction of the abundant CArG-boxes in the Arabidopsis genome are bound by SEPALLATA3, more elaborate principles have to be discovered to better understand which features turn CArG-box sequences into genuine recognition sites. Here, we investigated to which extent the shape of the DNA contributes to the DNA-binding specificity of SEPALLATA3. We determined in vitro binding affinities of SEPALLATA3 to a variety of DNA probes which all contain the CArG-box motif, but differ in their DNA shape characteristics. We found that binding affinity correlates well with certain DNA shape features associated with ‘A-tracts’. Analysis of SEPALLATA3 proteins with single amino acid substitutions in the DNA-binding MADS-domain further revealed that a highly conserved arginine residue, which is expected to contact the DNA minor groove, contributes significantly to the shape readout. Our studies show that the specific recognition of cis-regulatory elements by plant MADS-domain transcription factors heavily depend on shape readout mechanisms and that the absence of a critical arginine residue in the MADS-domain impairs binding specificity.