Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
System-level approaches for fixed-point refinement of signal processing algorithms. (Optimisations de niveau système pour les algorithmes de traitement du signal utilisant l'arithmétique virgule fixe)

Le probleme de l'optimisation des systemes utilisant l'arithmetique virgule fixe est un probleme d'optimisation combinatoire de complexite NP-difficile. Savoir analyser et optimiser des applications complexes et de taille reelle est le theme central de cette these. Une technique de type diviser-pour-regner, ou un systeme donne est decompose en plusieurs petits sous-systemes organises selon une hierarchie est au cœur de cette approche. Cette decomposition ouvre la voie a l'evaluation rapide de la precision et au probleme d'optimisation hierarchique de la largeur des donnees et des operations du systeme. En raison de la reduction du nombre de variables, la convergence du probleme d'optimisation hierarchique vers une solution est beaucoup plus rapide que dans le cas classique. Le modele "Single Noise Source" (SNS) est propose pour etudier les statistiques des erreurs de quantification. Au lieu de simplement se concentrer sur la moyenne et la variance du bruit des erreurs dues a la quantification, il fournit egalement des formules analytiques pour deriver les parametres statistiques des processus aleatoires produisant les erreurs de quantification equivalentes a une simulation en virgule fixe. En presence des operations " non-lisses " (un- smooth) telles que la decision dans les modulations QAM, les fonctions Min() ou Max(), etc. , il est pour l'instant inevitable d'utiliser la simulation en virgule fixe. Une technique pour l'evaluation analytique des statistiques des erreurs de quantification en presence d'operateurs non-lisses dans les graphes ne contenant pas de rebouclage est egalement proposee. Afin de tenir compte egalement des systemes ayant des rebouclages, une technique hybride qui utilise le modele SNS pour accelerer les simulations en virgule fixe est de plus proposee. Un cadre d'utilisation de l'optimisation convexe est propose comme heuristique pour resoudre le probleme d'optimisation des largeurs. Cette nouvelle technique ameliore non seulement la qualite de la solution, mais permet de resoudre le probleme plus rapidement que les approches iteratives classiques. L'application des techniques proposees permet non seulement de reduire les couts du systeme mais aussi une reduction de plusieurs ordres de grandeur dans le temps necessaire pour optimiser les systemes utilisant l'arithmetique virgule fixe
The influence of spatial pulsed magnetic field application on neuropathic pain after tibial nerve transection in rat

Abstract The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of the spatial variable magnetic field (induction: 150–300 µT, 80–150 µT, 20–80 µT; frequency 40 Hz) on neuropathic pain after tibial nerve transection. The experiments were carried out on 64 male Wistar C rats. The exposure of animals to magnetic field was performed 1 d/20 min., 5 d/week, for 28 d. Behavioural tests assessing the intensity of allodynia and sensitivity to mechanical and thermal stimuli were conducted 1 d prior to surgery and 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 d after the surgery. The extent of autotomy was examined. Histological and immunohistochemical analysis was performed. The use of extremely low-frequency magnetic fields of minimal induction values (20–80 µT/40 Hz) decreased pain in rats after nerve transection. The nociceptive sensitivity of healthy rats was not changed following the exposition to the spatial magnetic field of the low frequency. The results of histological and immunohistochemical investigations confirm those findings. Our results indicate that extremely low-frequency magnetic field may be useful in the neuropathic pain therapy.
Tuning a Grammar Correction System for Increased Precision

In this paper, we propose two enhancements to a statistical machine translation based approach to grammar correction for correcting all error categories. First, we propose tuning the SMT systems to optimize a metric more suited to the grammar correction task (F- score) rather than the traditional BLEU metric used for tuning language translation tasks. Since the F- score favours higher precision, tuning to this score can potentially improve precision. While the results do not indicate improvement due to tuning with the new metric, we believe this could be due to the small number of grammatical errors in the tuning corpus and further investigation is required to answer the question conclusively. We also explore the combination of custom-engineered grammar correction techniques, which are targeted to specific error categories, with the SMT based method. Our simple ensemble methods yield improvements in recall but decrease the precision. Tuning the custom-built techniques can help in increasing the overall accuracy also.
Neural Substrates Underlying Learning-Related Changes of the Unconditioned Fear Response

The ability to predict an impending threat during Pavlovian conditioning diminishes the emotional response that is produced once the threat is encountered. Diminution of the threat response appears to be mediated by somewhat independent associative learning and expectancy-related processes. Therefore, the present study was designed to better understand the neural mechanisms that support associative learning processes, independent of expectancy, that influence the emotional response to a threat. Healthy volunteers took part in a Pavlovian conditioning procedure during which trait anxiety, expectation of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), skin conductance response (SCR), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal were assessed. The results showed no evidence for associative learning that was independent of expectation. Threat-related SCR expression was diminished on predictable trials vs. unpredictable trials of the UCS (i.e. conditioned UCR diminution). Similar to SCR, conditioned UCR diminution was observed within the left dorsolateral PFC, dorsomedial PFC, ventromedial PFC, and left anterior insula. In contrast, potentiation of the threat-related fMRI signal response was observed within left dorsolateral PFC, inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and posterior insula. A negative relationship was observed between UCS expectancy and UCR expression within the dorsomedial PFC, ventromedial PFC, and anterior insula. Finally, the anticipatory fMRI signal responses within the PFC, posterior cingulate, and amygdala showed an inverse relationship with threat-related activation within the brain regions that showed UCR diminution. The current findings suggest that the PFC and amygdala support learning-related processes that impact the magnitude of the emotional response to a threat.
Moesin contributes an essential structural role in Drosophila photoreceptor morphogenesis

Ezrin-Radixin-Moesin (ERM) family proteins organize heterogeneous sub-plasma membrane protein scaffolds that shape membranes and their physiology. In Drosophila oocytes and imaginal discs, epithelial organization, fundamental to development and physiology, is devastated by the loss of Moesin. Here, we show that Moesin is crucial for Drosophila photoreceptor morphogenesis. Beyond its requirement for retinal epithelium integrity, Moesin is essential for the proper assembly of the apical membrane skeleton that builds the photosensitive membrane, the rhabdomere. Moesin localizes to the rhabdomere base, a dynamic locus of cytoskeletal reorganization and membrane traffic. Downregulation of Moesin through RNAi or genetic loss of function profoundly disrupts the membrane cytoskeleton and apical membrane organization. We find normal levels and distribution of Moesin in photoreceptors of a Moesin mutant previously regarded as protein null, suggesting alternative interpretations for studies using this allele. Our results show an essential structural role for Moesin in photoreceptor morphology.
A flexible transmit beam pattern design approach based on waveform covariance matrix

Transmit beamforming is of great important processing for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar in practice. In this paper, a waveform covariance matrix design method is proposed to control the transmitted power flexibility in the region of interest. This scheme with optimized waveform covariance matrix enjoys the enlarged degrees-of-freedom (DOFs) without sacrificing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance. Thus, the proposed radar framework is capable of suppressing more interference and improving the output signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). Both analytical and simulation results are provided to validate the performance of the proposed waveform covariance matrix.
Neural bases of Theory of Mind in children with autism spectrum disorders and children with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulty understanding other minds (Theory of Mind; ToM), with atypical processing evident at both behavioural and neural levels. Individuals with conduct problems and high levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits (CP/HCU) exhibit reduced responsiveness to others' emotions and difficulties interacting with others, but nonetheless perform normally in experimental tests of ToM. The present study aimed to examine the neural underpinnings of ToM in children (aged 10–16) with ASD (N = 16), CP/HCU (N = 16) and typically developing (TD) controls (N = 16) using a non-verbal cartoon vignette task. Whilst individuals with ASD were predicted to show reduced fMRI responses across regions involved in ToM processing, CP/HCU individuals were predicted to show no differences compared with TD controls. The analyses indicated that neural responses did not differ between TD and CP/HCU groups during ToM. TD and CP/HCU children exhibited significantly greater medial prefrontal cortex responses during ToM than did the ASD group. Within the ASD group, responses in medial prefrontal cortex and right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) correlated with symptom severity as measured by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Findings suggest that although both ASD and CP/HCU are characterized by social difficulties, only children with ASD display atypical neural processing associated with ToM.
An XML Storage System for Object-Oriented/Object-Relational DBMSs

As XML has become popular as a document standard in the World Wide Web, a lot of research has been done on the XML storage systems for storing and managing XML documents using existing DBMSs. Most of the research activities, however, assume a relational DBMS instead of an object-oriented/object-relational (OO/OR) DBMS, which offers more powerful modeling capabilities. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of an XML storage system designed for an OO/OR DBMS. Specifically, we first analyze the mapping from an XML document structure to OO/OR database schema. Second, we propose a method for describing the mapping using a standard language called the XML Schema Language. Third, we propose system catalog classes for storing the mapping information specified by users in the database. Fourth, we propose a detailed algorithm for storing XML documents in an OO/OR database, based on the mapping information. We believe the proposed system is practically usable for object-oriented programmers and DBMS implementors.
Development of a Model of Chronic Kidney Disease in the C57BL/6 Mouse with Properties of Progressive Human CKD

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major healthcare problem with increasing prevalence in the population. CKD leads to end stage renal disease and increases the risk of cardiovascular disease. As such, it is important to study the mechanisms underlying CKD progression. To this end, an animal model was developed to allow the testing of new treatment strategies or molecular targets for CKD prevention. Many underlying risk factors result in CKD but the disease itself has common features, including renal interstitial fibrosis, tubular epithelial cell loss through apoptosis, glomerular damage, and renal inflammation. Further, CKD shows differences in prevalence between the genders with premenopausal women being relatively resistant to CKD. We sought to develop and characterize an animal model with these common features of human CKD in the C57BL/6 mouse. Mice of this genetic background have been used to produce transgenic strains that are commercially available. Thus, a CKD model in this strain would allow the testing of the effects of numerous genes on the severity or progression of CKD with minimal cost. This paper describes such a mouse model of CKD utilizing angiotensin II and deoxycorticosterone acetate as inducers.
Psychometric support of the school climate measure in a large, diverse sample of adolescents: a replication and extension.

BACKGROUND The School Climate Measure (SCM) was developed and validated in 2010 in response to a dearth of psychometrically sound school climate instruments. This study sought to further validate the SCM on a large, diverse sample of Arizona public school adolescents (N = 20,953). METHODS Four SCM domains (positive student-teacher relationships, academic support, order and discipline, and physical environment) were available for the analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were established to construct validity, and criterion-related validity was assessed via selected Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) school safety items and self-reported grade (GPA) point average. RESULTS Analyses confirmed the 4 SCM school climate domains explained approximately 63% of the variance (factor loading range .45-.92). Structural equation models fit the data well χ(2) = 14,325 (df = 293, p < .001), comparative fit index (CFI) = . 951, Tuker-Lewis index (TLI) = . 952, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = . 05). The goodness-of-fit index was . 940. Coefficient alphas ranged from . 82 to . 93. Analyses of variance with post hoc comparisons suggested the SCM domains related in hypothesized directions with the school safety items and GPA. CONCLUSIONS Additional evidence supports the validity and reliability of the SCM. Measures, such as the SCM, can facilitate data-driven decisions and may be incorporated into evidenced-based processes designed to improve student outcomes.
The role of mirror neurons in neurosurgical patients: a few general considerations and rehabilitation perspectives.

BACKGROUND A great deal of research has focused on demonstrating the existence of mirror neurons in humans and the factors that modulate their activity after their discovery in macaques approximately two decades ago. OBJECTIVES With this in mind, the parieto-frontal mirror neuron system (MNS) has been described as a brain network that is activated when either an action is executed or as it is observed. The clinical importance of these findings have been related with neurological and psychiatric disorders, but no one has focused until now on the possibilities that this network could provide to achieve better results in neurosurgical patients. METHODS AND RESULTS One of the applications of the MNS with clinical significance is the observation based rehabilitation programs. These programs have demonstrated their usefulness in certain pathologic entities but as yet there are no reports regarding neurosurgical patients in the literature. The activation of brain areas during observation of motor actions which are also activated when those actions are executed define the physiopathological principle of this kind of therapy that has been shown to get better results than standard rehabilitation programs and that should also be tested on neurosurgical patients. If observation based rehabilitation is considered, the MNS should be as intact as possible. Indeed, the surgeon can try to respect mirror areas during surgery by mapping them pre-surgically. Furthermore, damage to the MNS is associated with some degree of cognitive impairment, so better functional results can be achieved by respecting these mirror areas. CONCLUSION Therefore, the aim of the present work is to describe how the MNS can contribute to neurosurgery and to put forward the hypothesis that by considering and using MNS properties better functional outcomes can be achieved.
Socially Augmented Music Discovery with Collaborative Playlists and Mood Pictures

This article describes the iterative design and user evaluation of a prototype, which enables collaborative music discovery by creating playlists and associating and expanding them with mood pictures. The concept was evaluated in two field trials by a total of 45 individual users, with both trials containing 30 users and 15 of the users attending both of the trials. The results from the two field trials are presented under three main themes: socially augmented music discovery, user-generated content enhancing music discovery and social usage patterns emerging from the usage of such a system. Users formed ways to facilitate social interaction and music discovery through the playlist content they shared. Social usage patterns reveal the social activities users performed with the service in the trials. The findings can be used as design implications for mood-based music service designers.
A design of a new leg-wheel walking robot

In this paper the analysis and design are presented for a 1-DOF (degree-of-freedom) leg-wheel walking machine. A preliminary prototype of a low-cost robot, which is capable of a straight walking with only one actuator, has been designed and built at LARM: Laboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics in Cassino. Simulation and experimental validation have been carried out to verify the operation of the prototype.
A Publication of the Association of Management UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF SYNCHRONOUS & ASYNCHRONOUS COMMUNICATIONS IN AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND ITS EFFECTS ON QUALITY

Through inward perceptions, we intuitively expect distributed software development to increase the risks associated with achieving quality goals. To compound this problem, agile software development (ASD) maintains that face-to-face (synchronous) communication attributed to co-location of the development team is a key success factor. The following study explored the relationship between synchronous and asynchronous communication within ASD teams and its effects on quality. Within two out of four ASD phases (2 out of 6 activities), the analysis supported the opinion that when synchronous communication scores were held constant, asynchronous communication scores predicted quality for distributed teams. In other words, higher asynchronous communication scores resulted in higher quality for distributed teams, but not for co-located teams. Furthermore, the study examined the relationship of distributed ASD teams and challenges encountered through team proximity, frequency of contact, time differences, and language barriers. The analysis identified a positive relationship between proximity, time, and language and asynchronous communication in several ASD phases. Accordingly, distributed teams that are more dispersed, have greater time difference between team members, and use more primary languages to communicate tend to use more asynchronous than synchronous communication techniques. Moreover, ASD teams that communicate more times per day with their dispersed team members tend to use equal amounts of synchronous and asynchronous communication.
Can the outcome of older donor kidneys in transplantation be predicted? An analysis of existing scoring systems

Abstract: The use of older cadaveric donors in kidney transplantation is increasing. The transplant outcome of the single older kidney is generally inferior prompting some to recommend dual kidney transplantation. The ability to predict the outcome of the solitary marginal kidney becomes clinically important. Such insight might allow for better allocation strategies that would minimize poorer outcomes while permitting optimal rationalization of this scarce resource. A retrospective, single center review of 79 single kidney transplants from 50 donors aged ≥55 yr was performed. We tested the validity of published scoring strategies to predict subsequent recipient kidney function. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to quantify the donor strategies separating good and poor outcomes based upon recipient creatinine clearance (CrCl) <30 mL/min. Two pre‐transplant donor assessment strategies, Nyberg score and donor CrCl (dCrCl) were found to predict subsequent kidney function in recipients. When Nyberg variables (cold ischemia time, donor diabetes and hypertension status, incremental donor age >55 yr and cause of death) in conjunction with the dCrCl were considered, they were no better than dCrCl alone. Although dCrCl had a reasonable negative predictive ability, the positive predictive value was <50%. Our analysis suggests that a dCrCl of ≥70 mL/min is a better discriminator of subsequent kidney function outcomes than a dCrCl of 90 mL/min as recommended by the Dual Transplant Registry.
Spatial pattern recognition of the structure of urban land uses useful for transportation and land use modelling

Transportation and land use planners and modelers often use zone systems to take advantage of readily available socio-economic data in their modelling exercises. The most important issue is that analysis zone size is usually large, and therefore, homogeneous or single-type land uses cannot be achieved in many cases. Subsequently, intra-zone travel and mixed activities distribution cannot be captured and modeling accuracy has to be compromised. This study analyzes the form and spatial structure/pattern of different LUs within zone and find correlations between LU types and several morphological properties (building height, building area, building perimeter, building compactness, and parcel area) of parcels and their spatial arrangement indexes (Gabriel Line and Gabriel Length). Binary logistic model is then applied and fitted to the morphological properties and spatial indexes in order to extract residential and commercial LUs. The final Result demonstrates that residential and commercial LUs are extracted with an overall accuracy of 98.4% and 69.0% respectively.
Proprioception Contributes to the Sense of Agency during Visual Observation of Hand Movements: Evidence from Temporal Judgments of Action

The ability to recognize visually one's own movement is important for motor control and, through attribution of agency, for social interactions. Agency of actions may be decided by comparisons of visual feedback, efferent signals, and proprioceptive inputs. Because the ability to identify one's own visual feedback from passive movements is decreased relative to active movements, or in some cases is even absent, the role of proprioception in self-recognition has been questioned. Proprioception during passive and activemovements may, however, differ, and so to address any role for proprioception in the sense of agency, the active movement condition must be examined. Here we tested a chronically deafferented man (I.W.) and an age-matched group of six healthy controls in a task requiring judgement of the timing of action. Subjects performed finger movements and watched a visual cursor that moved either synchronously or asynchronously with a random delay, and reported whether or not they felt they controlled the cursor. Movement accuracy was matched between groups. In the absence of proprioception, I.W. was less able than the control group to discriminate self- from computer-produced cursor movement based on the timing of movement. In a control visual discrimination task with concurrent similar finger movements but no agency detection, I.W. was unimpaired, suggesting that this effect was task specific. We conclude that proprioception does contribute to the visual identification of ownership during active movements and, thus, to the sense of agency.