Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contractile properties of skeletal muscles from young, adult and aged mice.

1. Comparisons were made in vitro at 25 degrees C among soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles from young (2‐3 months), adult (9‐10 months), and aged (26‐27 months) male mice. We tested the hypotheses that, compared with soleus and EDL muscles of young and adult mice, those from aged mice develop decreased maximum tetanic force (P0, mN) and specific P0 (N/cm2), and that no significant differences occur for contraction time, half‐relaxation time, or force‐velocity relationship. 2. For the aged mice, the P0 of the soleus muscles and EDL muscles were 78 and 73% respectively of the values for adult mice. The specific P0 of EDL muscles of aged mice was 78% of the value of 23 N/cm2 obtained for young and adult mice. For soleus muscles, the specific P0 of 21 N/cm2 did not change with age. 3. Compared to values for young and adult mice, the contraction and half‐relaxation times of soleus muscles from aged mice were increased, but the overall force‐velocity relationships of soleus and EDL muscles did not change. The pooled values for the maximum velocity of unloaded shortening extrapolated from the force‐velocity relationship of soleus and EDL muscles were 4.6 and 10.1 fibre lengths/s, respectively. 4. The decrease in the specific P0 of the EDL muscle with ageing must result from either a decrease in the number of cross‐bridges in the driving stroke or a decrease in the force developed by each cross‐bridge.
Sparse Metric Learning via Smooth Optimization

In this paper we study the problem of learning a low-rank (sparse) distance matrix. We propose a novel metric learning model which can simultaneously conduct dimension reduction and learn a distance matrix. The sparse representation involves a mixed-norm regularization which is non-convex. We then show that it can be equivalently formulated as a convex saddle (min-max) problem. From this saddle representation, we develop an efficient smooth optimization approach [17] for sparse metric learning, although the learning model is based on a non-differentiable loss function. Finally, we run experiments to validate the effectiveness and efficiency of our sparse metric learning model on various datasets.
Madelyn Regan, Donald D. Deshler: In.Service Training for Vocational Educators

Vocational education for handicapped individuals has been severely neglected. As a result, most youth with disabilities are not being taught the types of skills that will enable them to compete in the job market as adults. A recent issue of Closer Look (&dquo;Vocational education.&dquo; 1978) succinctly described the problem: &dquo;Unemployment among disabled people far exceeds the rate of unemployment in the rest of the population. In
A Multivariate Model for Mobility Tables

A general "logistic-multiplicative" model is developed which incorporates variables besides origin category to predict destination category in occupational mobility tables. The additional variables can be continuous or categorical. The (partial) bivariate relationship between origin and destination can be modeled with any of the existing multiplicative mobility models. In an empirical example, two main results emerge: interactions off the main diagonal become insignificant with the introduction of education and race variables; main diagonal effects for one origin category become insignificant while those for other categories do not, suggesting that different mechanisms of status transmission are at work in different strata.
Biophysical model of the role of actin remodeling on dendritic spine morphology

Dendritic spines are small membranous structures that protrude from the neuronal dendrite. Each spine contains a synaptic contact site that may connect its parent dendrite to the axons of neighboring neurons. Dendritic spines are markedly distinct in shape and size, and certain types of stimulation prompt spines to evolve, in fairly predictable fashion, from thin nascent morphologies to the mushroom-like shapes associated with mature spines. It is well established that the remodeling of spines is strongly dependent upon the actin cytoskeleton inside the spine. A general framework that details the precise role of actin in directing the transitions between the various spine shapes is lacking. We address this issue, and present a quantitative, model-based scenario for spine plasticity validated using realistic and physiologically relevant parameters. Our model points to a crucial role for the actin cytoskeleton. In the early stages of spine formation, the interplay between the elastic properties of the spine membrane and the protrusive forces generated in the actin cytoskeleton propels the incipient spine. In the maturation stage, actin remodeling in the form of the combined dynamics of branched and bundled actin is required to form mature, mushroom-like spines. Importantly, our model shows that constricting the spine-neck aids in the stabilization of mature spines, thus pointing to a role in stabilization and maintenance for additional factors such as ring-like F-actin structures. Taken together, our model provides unique insights into the fundamental role of actin remodeling and polymerization forces during spine formation and maturation.
Advanced Local Binary Pattern Descriptors for Crowd Estimation

Local binary pattern (LBP) is a powerful texture descriptor that is gray-scale and rotation invariant. In this paper, an extension of the original LBP is proposed. LBP operator is adopted in multi-layer block domain, instead of pixel domain. Meanwhile, feature dimension is effectively reduced by dual-histogram LBP (DH-LBP). Combining merits of the two, we propose the advanced LBP (ALBP) and use that in solving the practical problem of crowd estimation. Experiment results demonstrate the performance and the potential of our method.
Word Meanings Evolve to Selectively Preserve Distinctions on Salient Dimensions

Words refer to objects in the world, but this correspondence is not one-to-one: Each word has a range of referents that share features on some dimensions but differ on others. This property of language is called underspecification. Parts of the lexicon have characteristic patterns of underspecification; for example, artifact nouns tend to specify shape, but not color, whereas substance nouns specify material but not shape. These regularities in the lexicon enable learners to generalize new words appropriately. How does the lexicon come to have these helpful regularities? We test the hypothesis that systematic backgrounding of some dimensions during learning and use causes language to gradually change, over repeated episodes of transmission, to produce a lexicon with strong patterns of underspecification across these less salient dimensions. This offers a cultural evolutionary mechanism linking individual word learning and generalization to the origin of regularities in the lexicon that help learners generalize words appropriately.
Cerebral Metabolic Correlates of the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale in Mild Cognitive Impairment

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is often a prodromal state of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Imaging studies have shown that metabolic deficits in cerebral regions known to be affected early by AD pathology are predictive of progression to AD. In the present article, the authors examine associations between clinical impairment (Clinical Dementia Rating scale sum of boxes [CDR-SB]) and regional deficits in glucose utilization in a sample of 41 patients with MCI, who underwent cerebral 18F-FDG PET for the measurement of regional glucose metabolism. A linear regression analysis with CDR-SB score as the independent variable and glucose metabolism as the dependent variable, adjusted for age, gender, and years of school education, was conducted in voxel-by-voxel fashion in SPM2. The regression analysis revealed a significant negative association between CDR-SB score and glucose metabolism in the right posterior cingulate gyrus (P < .001, uncorrected for multiple comparisons), which was independent from demographical variables. The authors conclude that clinical severity of impairments is already correlated with deficits in glucose metabolism in the stage of MCI. (J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 2007;20:84-88)
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2007-06-01 The DiTME Project : interdisciplinary research in music technology

This paper profiles the emergence of a significant body of research in audio engineering within the Faculties of Engineering and Applied Arts at Dublin Institute of Technology. Over a period of five years the group has had significant success in completing a Strand 3 research project entitled Digital Tools for Music Education (DiTME), followed by successful follow-on projects funded through both the European Framework FP6 and Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation research schemes. The group has solved a number of challenging problems in the audio engineering field and has both published widely and patented a novel sound source separation invention.
"A/sup 4/": a technique to improve perception of contacts with under-actuated haptic devices in virtual reality

The objective of this paper is twofold. First, it aims at positioning the performance of under-actuated haptic devices as compared to fully-actuated haptic devices and unactuated devices (i.e. input devices) in virtual reality. Second, it proposes a technique - called "A/sup 4/" - to improve the perception of contacts when using an under-actuated haptic device in virtual reality. This technique focuses on point-based haptic exploration. When a contact occurs in the simulation, we suggest to rotate the virtual scene in order to align the contact normal with the direction of the actuated axis (or axes) of the haptic device. With this technique, the virtual scene moves itself automatically to provide a more "realistic" sensation of contact. An experimental evaluation showed first that the performance of under-actuated force-feedback was located between the no-haptic condition (worst performance) and the full-haptic condition (best performance). Second, the use of the A/sup 4/ technique decreased strongly the "penetration" inside virtual objects, and thus globally improved the performance of the participants in situation of under-actuation.
Business Improvement Associations and the Presentation of the Business Voice

Abstract One important finding that emerges from the literature on Business Improvement Associations (BIAs) is that businesses are, quite often, not as unified and homogeneous as what is proclaimed by their “business voice”—their collective values, visions, and ethos. What has not received full consideration is the nuanced, complex, and complicated manner in which the business voice is produced and sustained. Intended as a corrective to this void, I explore the ways that BIAs in Toronto and Vancouver have attended to problems of public disorder. I suggest that the ways BIAs frame and construct public disorder as problematic to businesses, and the ways this is publicized, can be understood as a well-orchestrated and choreographed performance that encompasses both a front and back region. The front region tells the story that public disorder is inimical to businesses and does so by relying on particular tactics and techniques. The back region reveals a more complicated picture—first, with respect to the ways the issues are framed and (re) produced, which also has the effect of reinforcing and sustaining the narrative that is presented in the front region, and second, with respect to the fragility and fractured state of the “business community” that is often in disarray and characterized by disunity, disagreements, and disharmony
Limited communication, multi-robot team based coverage

This paper presents an algorithm for the complete coverage of free space by a team of mobile robots. Our approach is based on a single robot coverage algorithm, which divides the target two-dimensional space into regions called cells, each of which can be covered with simple back-and-forth motions; the decomposition of free space in a collection of such cells is known as Boustrophedon decomposition. Single robot coverage is achieved by ensuring that the robot visits every cell. The new multi-robot coverage algorithm uses the same planar cell-based decomposition as the single robot approach, but provides extensions to handle how teams of robots cover a single cell and how teams are allocated among cells. This method allows planning to occur in a two-dimensional configuration space for a team of N robots. The robots operate under the restriction that communication between two robots is available only when they are within line of sight of each other.
Evaluation of Follow-Up Effects of the International Child Development Programme on Caregivers in Mozambique

Parenting programs have been used to good effect in many settings, yet few are systematically introduced and evaluated in developing countries. This study explores the relative long-term effect of participation in the International Child Development Programme (ICDP) in a group of caregivers in Mozambique. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare caregivers who had completed an ICDP course (n = 75) with a sociogeographically matched comparison group (n = 62) who had not followed any parenting program. Both groups completed a questionnaire about parenting, attitudes toward the child and the child's behavior, self-efficacy, life quality, and mental health. The ICDP group reported better parenting skills, fewer conduct problems in their children, and better child adjustment than the comparison group, as well as a shift in physical punishment away from hitting. The ICDP group had higher self-efficacy scores, better health and life quality, and lower scores on mental health difficulties. The follow-up differences between caregivers who had and had not attended the ICDP course indicate that course attendance may result in observable benefits in parenting and mental health scores. The data are cross-sectional and the caregivers were interviewed postintervention only, and more research is therefore needed.
An efficient architecture for peak-to-average power ratio reduction in OFDM systems in the presence of pulse-shaping filtering

This paper introduces a distortionless Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) reduction scheme suitable for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), which imposes low additional complexity to the overall system. In particular, the Partial Transmit Sequence (PTS) approach is extended to take into account the effects of the pulse-shaping (PS) filter. The new technique decreases PAPR by 2.9 dB in comparison to normal OFDM, and almost 1.4 dB in comparison to PTS. The proposed technique requires the same computational load with PTS. Furthermore, and in the case that 0.5 dB increase of PAPR over PTS can be tolerated, i.e., 1 dB decrease with respect to normal OFDM, the proposed method requires the computation of 2 IDFTs and 16 iterations instead of 4 IDFTs and 256 iterations required by PTS.
Socioeconomic Status and Social Support Following Illicit Drug Use: Causal Pathways or Common Liability?

Abstract The negative social attributes associated with drug use and abuse/dependence may arise as a result of shared genetic or environmental factors rather than through causal pathways. To evaluate this possibility, structured interviews were conducted for 3969 male and female twins from the Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry and evaluations of their socioeconomic status (SES), social interactions, and use of drugs were obtained. Drug involvement was categorized as never used, tried, or met criteria for abuse or dependence. A co-twin control design was implemented using hierarchical linear modeling to assess whether twins who used drugs experienced lower SES and social support than non-using co-twins. Poorer social functioning in the drug-exposed twin is consistent with a causal relationship, while similar functioning in the drug exposed versus naive twins imply shared genetic or common environmental factors. Use of drugs was not significantly related to any SES measures. However, education and job status appear to share genetic influences with drug abuse/dependence. Lower income was not related to abuse/dependence of drugs. Negative interactions with friends and relatives share genetic factors with use of drugs, but the escalation from trying drugs to abusing them appears to generate discord between the abuser and friends and relatives in a causal fashion. These results indicate that presumptive causal influences of drug abuse/dependence on low SES may actually be mediated by shared genes. Drug use and social discord also appear to have shared genetic factors, but increased levels of drug involvement seem to causally influence social interactions.
Global gene expression analyses reveal changes in biological processes after hyperthermia in a rat glioma model

Purpose: To elucidate the thermal impact on biological processes the first three hours after hyperthermia (HT). Materials and methods: Tumor samples from BT4An rat tumors were transplanted subcutaneously to the right hind foot of BD IX rats, treated with local water-bath HT (mean tumor temperature of 43°C) for one hour, and analyzed for changes in global gene expression the first three hours after treatment with HT. Samples from a corresponding in vitro experiment were also analyzed. Differentially expressed genes in vivo were mapped to a gene ontology (GO) database in search for biological processes overrepresented after treatment with HT. Selected genes were verified using Taqman quantitative RT-PCR. Results: 1213 genes were differentially expressed after HT treatment in vivo. Processes overrepresented by GO mapping could be sorted into 10 main functional groups; apoptosis, transcription, immune system, blood vessels, metabolism/protein modifications, differentiation, cell signaling, response to stimulus, transport and cytoskeleton. We detected reduced mRNA levels of a wide range of T-cell, natural killer cell and antigen presenting cell-related genes after HT. Conclusion: To our best knowledge, this is the first global microarray analysis of a malignant tumor treated with HT in vivo. We highlight biological processes affected by HT. RNA expression profiles also indicate a rapid suppression of the immune system within tumors by local HT.
Knock, Knock. Who's There? The Imagined Audience

For more than a century, scholars have alluded to the notion of an “imagined audience”—a person's mental conceptualization of the people with whom he or she is communicating. The imagined audience has long guided our thoughts and actions during everyday writing and speaking. However, in today's world of social media where users must navigate through highly public spaces with potentially large and invisible audiences, scholars have begun to ask: Who do people envision as their public or audience as they perform in these spaces? This article contributes to the literature by providing a theoretical framework that broadly defines the construct; identifies its significance in contemporary society and the existing tensions between the imagined and actual audiences; and drawing on Giddens's concept of structuration, theorizes what influences variations in people's imagined audience compositions. It concludes with a research agenda highlighting essential areas of inquiry.
A deterministic sampling approach to robot motion planning

Probabilistic roadmap approaches (PRMs) have been successfully applied in motion planning of robots with many degrees of freedom. Narrow passages create significant difficulty for these planners. We do not propose a new sampling strategy; our main contribution is to replace random sampling with deterministic sampling. This work can be viewed as a complementary study to importance sampling. Our experimental results show that the deterministic variants of the PRM offer performance advantages in comparison to the original PRM.
Criteria Used by a Peer Review Committee for Selection of Research Fellows: A Boolean Probit Analysis

An international foundation for the promotion of basic research in biomedicine, the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (B.I.F.), reports that fellowships are awarded to post-graduate researchers according to the following main criteria: (1) scientific quality as demonstrated by the applicant's achievements to date, (2) the originality of the proposed research project, and (3) the scientific standing of the laboratory where the research will be conducted. Using the Boolean probit statistical technique, this study examines the multiple conjunctural causation that a fellowship will be awarded only if all three of these criteria are assessed positively by the B.I. F. peer review committee. In agreement with the prescriptive principles of the foundation the results suggest that the B.I. F. approves applications only if all of the three criteria are rated positively.
Finding New Varieties of Malware with the Classification of Network Behavior

An enormous number of malware samples pose a major threat to our networked society. Antivirus software and intrusion detection systems are widely implemented on the hosts and networks as fundamental countermeasures. However, they may fail to detect evasive malware. Thus, setting a high priority for new varieties of malware is necessary to conduct in-depth analyses and take preventive measures. In this paper, we present a traffic model for malware that can classify network behaviors of malware and identify new varieties of malware. Our model comprises malwarespecific features and general traffic features that are extracted from packet traces obtained from a dynamic analysis of the malware. We apply a clustering analysis to generate a classifier and evaluate our proposed model using large-scale live malware samples. The results of our experiment demonstrate the effectiveness of our model in finding new varieties of malware. key words: malware communication model, clustering analysis, network behavior classification, new varieties of malware
The HIV-1 Viral Protein R Induces Apoptosis via a Direct Effect on the Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore

Viral protein R (Vpr) encoded by HIV-1 is a facultative inducer of apoptosis. When added to intact cells or purified mitochondria, micromolar and submicromolar doses of synthetic Vpr cause a rapid dissipation of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (ΔΨm), as well as the mitochondrial release of apoptogenic proteins such as cytochrome c or apoptosis inducing factor. The same structural motifs relevant for cell killing are responsible for the mitochondriotoxic effects of Vpr. Both mitochondrial and cytotoxic Vpr effects are prevented by Bcl-2, an inhibitor of the permeability transition pore complex (PTPC). Coincubation of purified organelles revealed that nuclear apoptosis is only induced by Vpr when mitochondria are present yet can be abolished by PTPC inhibitors. Vpr favors the permeabilization of artificial membranes containing the purified PTPC or defined PTPC components such as the adenine nucleotide translocator (ANT) combined with Bax. Again, this effect is prevented by addition of recombinant Bcl-2. The Vpr COOH terminus binds purified ANT, as well as a molecular complex containing ANT and the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC), another PTPC component. Yeast strains lacking ANT or VDAC are less susceptible to Vpr-induced killing than control cells yet recover Vpr sensitivity when retransfected with yeast ANT or human VDAC. Hence, Vpr induces apoptosis via a direct effect on the mitochondrial PTPC.