Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mortality and Immortality

It has been known for centuries that the rich and famous have longer lives than the poor and ordinary. Causality, however, remains trenchantly debated. The ideal experiment would be one in which status and money could somehow be dropped upon a sub-sample of individuals while those in a control group received neither. This paper attempts to formulate a test in that spirit. It collects 19th-century birth data on science Nobel Prize winners and nominees. Using a variety of corrections for potential biases, the paper concludes that winning the Nobel Prize, rather than merely being nominated, is associated with between 1 and 2 years of extra longevity. Greater wealth, as measured by the real value of the Prize, does not seem to affect lifespan.
Efficient Retrieval of Similar Time Sequences Using DFT

We propose an improvement of the known DFT-based indexing technique for fast retrieval of similar time sequences. We use the last few Fourier coefficients in the distance computation without storing them in the index since every coefficient at the end is the complex conjugate of a coefficient at the beginning and as strong as its counterpart. We show analytically that this observation can accelerate the search time of the index by more than a factor of two. This result was confirmed by our experiments, which were carried out on real stock prices and synthetic data.
EMI reduction in switched power converters by means of spread spectrum modulation techniques

Spread spectrum clock generation techniques (SSCG) were originally developed to reduce EMI in communications and microprocessor systems working in the range of hundreds of MHz. The working principle consists of modulating the original constant clock frequency, in order to spread each single harmonic energy into a certain frequency band, thus reducing amplitudes at each individual frequency. Nowadays, the switching frequency of power converters has been increasing up to values that make feasible the application of such techniques to reduce EMI emissions in power circuits. This paper deals with SSCG applied to reduction of EMI emissions in switched power converters, following certain modulation profiles. It is focussed on studying the effectiveness of EMI reduction as a function of frequency ranges, modulation profiles and other modulation parameters. A buck converter, whose switching frequency can be swept from 100 kHz to 1 MHz, has been used for experimental validation. Conducted disturbances produced by the converter, using different modulation parameters, were measured and compared with those produced by the same converter when driven with the classical constant frequency, variable duty, switching pattern. Significant reductions in conducted EMI may be observed. Optimal modulation profiles and parameters are identified.
Motion control of mobile robots with Particle Filter Model Predictive Equilibrium Point Control

This paper describes an optimal motion control for mobile robots with differential drive. We propose a novel method called Particle Filter Model Predictive Equilibrium Point Control (PF-MPEPC) that implements robot navigation with obstacle avoidance in a structured environment. This control evaluates the near future behaviour continuously to generate an optimal trajectory that is safe and smooth.
Capacity, scale and place: pragmatic lessons for doing community‐based research in the rural setting

Community-based research (CBR) represents a particularly timely approach to rural research. Rural areas in industrialized nations are undergoing dramatic and rapid processes of economic, social and political restructuring. These forces, combined with a trend towards place-based development and territorial policy make CBR an appropriate rural method given its flexibility and sensitivity to local context. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the use and methods of CBR in the rural setting, drawn from our collective research experience in northern British Columbia. There has been increased attention paid to CBR, signalling a form of acceptance within the academy towards community-based and participatory methods. However, gaps exist in addressing the various approaches to conducting CBR and in considering the relevance of CBR in different contexts. Researchers also note the need for better training in the use of community-based methods. We reflect upon our rural CBR experience to offer insights and pragmatic lessons on effective methodological practices using a simplified framework of the key research process stages: preparing for community engagement, doing community-based research and after the fieldwork. La capacite, l'echelle et le lieu: des lecons pratiques pour realiser des recherches communautaires en milieu rural La recherche communautaire constitue une demarche opportune pour la recherche rurale. Dans les regions rurales des nations industrialisees, il se produit actuellement des changements considerables et rapides dans les processus de restructuration economique, sociale et politique. Ces forces se conjuguent a une tendance tournee vers le developpement local et la politique du territoire et concourent ainsi a soutenir la recherche communautaire en milieu rural qui est a la fois flexible et sensible au contexte local. S'inscrivant dans le cadre des recherches en partenariat que nous avons menees dans le nord de la Colombie-Britannique, cet article a pour objectif de mettre en lumiere le recours a la recherche communautaire en milieu rural et ses methodes. L'approche communautaire et participative fait de plus en plus d'adeptes parmi les chercheurs universitaires, compte tenu de l'importance grandissante accordee a la recherche communautaire. Toutefois, des ecarts subsistent entre les differentes manieres d'aborder la recherche communautaire et d'etablir sa pertinence en fonction des contextes d'etude. De plus, certains chercheurs justifient une formation plus rigoureuse en methodologie. Nous faisons le point sur les recherches communautaires que nous avons poursuivies en milieu rural, afin d'elargir les connaissances et de tirer des lecons pratiques sur les methodes efficaces. Ce bilan est dresse avec un cadre d'analyse des principaux stades de la recherche: preparer le terrain pour l'engagement communautaire, realiser la recherche communautaire, et par la suite, effectuer les travaux sur le terrain.
Localization of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 in the Ovary of the Ostrich (Struthio camelus)

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF‐2) play a paramount role in the regulation of normal and pathologic angiogenesis in the ovary of mammals. Very little is known on the expression of these two growth factors in the avian ovary. The aim of this study was to determine for the first time the localization of VEGF and FGF‐2 in the ovary of the ostrich using immunohistochemical techniques to investigate the vascularization of the rapidly growing huge ostrich oocyte. At the oocyte periphery, distinct VEGF‐positive granules are visible. In our opinion, the expression of VEGF in the growing oocytes, which does not occur in mammals such as bovines, does not significantly contribute to angiogenesis in the theca interna and externa, where all the original and developing vessels are located, but may contribute to the mitoses and survival of granulosa cells during folliculogenesis. A different immunostaining can be demonstrated for FGF‐2: from late pre‐vitellogenic follicles, FGF‐2 immunopositivity can be observed at the inner perivitelline layer area. In the stroma, the smooth muscle cells of small arteries and the endothelial cells of venules and veins are positively stained for FGF‐2. Another interesting finding of this study is the occurrence of a significant number of VEGF‐ and FGF‐2 positive heterophilic granulocytes within the ovarian stroma, which migrate from the periphery of the ovary towards the growing follicles. We assume that the growth factors of the heterophilic granulocytes contribute significantly to the angiogenesis seen in both theca layers.
Development of a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Barcode to Genotype Plasmodium vivax Infections

Plasmodium vivax, one of the five species of Plasmodium parasites that cause human malaria, is responsible for 25–40% of malaria cases worldwide. Malaria global elimination efforts will benefit from accurate and effective genotyping tools that will provide insight into the population genetics and diversity of this parasite. The recent sequencing of P. vivax isolates from South America, Africa, and Asia presents a new opportunity by uncovering thousands of novel single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Genotyping a selection of these SNPs provides a robust, low-cost method of identifying parasite infections through their unique genetic signature or barcode. Based on our experience in generating a SNP barcode for P. falciparum using High Resolution Melting (HRM), we have developed a similar tool for P. vivax. We selected globally polymorphic SNPs from available P. vivax genome sequence data that were located in putatively selectively neutral sites (i.e., intergenic, intronic, or 4-fold degenerate coding). From these candidate SNPs we defined a barcode consisting of 42 SNPs. We analyzed the performance of the 42-SNP barcode on 87 P. vivax clinical samples from parasite populations in South America (Brazil, French Guiana), Africa (Ethiopia) and Asia (Sri Lanka). We found that the P. vivax barcode is robust, as it requires only a small quantity of DNA (limit of detection 0.3 ng/μl) to yield reproducible genotype calls, and detects polymorphic genotypes with high sensitivity. The markers are informative across all clinical samples evaluated (average minor allele frequency > 0.1). Population genetic and statistical analyses show the barcode captures high degrees of population diversity and differentiates geographically distinct populations. Our 42-SNP barcode provides a robust, informative, and standardized genetic marker set that accurately identifies a genomic signature for P. vivax infections.
Direct generation of optical diffractive elements in perfluorocyclobutane (PFCB) polymers by soft lithography

Optically diffractive line gratings with 0.58-/spl mu/m feature sizes have been generated in 100-/spl mu/m perfluorocyclobutane (PFCB) polymer films by direct micromolding using only a silicon master. Strong reflectivities from the green to red portions of the visible spectrum, depending on incident beam angle, were observed with 3 dB bandwidths of approximately 30 nm. This "negative mold-free" technique permits, for the first time to our knowledge, feature reproduction at submicrometer size scales, eliminates several steps from conventional soft lithographic methods, and marks itself as a practical means for rapidly generating planar photonic structures that operate spectrally in the visible and the near IR telecommunication bands.
Sequence-to-Sequence Similarity-Based Filter for Image Denoising

Image denoising has been a well-studied problem for imaging systems, especially imaging sensors. Despite remarkable progress in the quality of denoising algorithms, persistent challenges remain for a wide class of general images. In this paper, we present a new concept of sequence-to-sequence similarity (SSS). This similarity measure is an efficient method to evaluate the content similarity for images, especially for edge information. The approach differs from the traditional image processing techniques, which rely on pixel and block similarity. Based on this new concept, we introduce a new SSS-based filter for image denoising. The new SSS-based filter utilizes the edge information in the corrupted image to address image denoising problems. We demonstrate the filter by incorporating it into a new SSS-based image denoising algorithm to remove Gaussian noise. Experiments are performed over synthetic and experimental data. The performance of our methodology is experimentally verified on a variety of images and Gaussian noise levels. The results demonstrate that the proposed method's performance exceeds several current state-of-the-art works, which are evaluated both visually and quantitatively. The presented framework opens up new perspectives in the use of SSS methodologies for image processing applications to replace the traditional pixel-to-pixel similarity or block-to-block similarity.
Mouse L cells expressing human prourokinase-type plasminogen activator: effects on extracellular matrix degradation and invasion

A cosmid (cos pUK0322) harboring the complete human urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) gene and Geneticin resistance as a selectable marker was isolated from a human genomic library and characterized. After transfection of cos pUK0322 into mouse L cells and selection, several plasminogen activator (PA)-expressing clones were obtained and one (LuPA) was chosen for additional study. The PA expressed was identical to human pro-u-PA in enzymatic, electrophoretic, and antigenic properties. The expression of PA was stable over 50 population doublings. The regulation of the transfected gene was studied by treatment of the cells with various hormones and other effectors. Expression of PA activity was inhibited fivefold by dexamethasone and stimulated two- to threefold by agonists of the adenylate cyclase dependent pathway of signal transduction, such as dibutyryl cyclic AMP and cholera and pertussis toxins. The modulation of PA activity was associated with corresponding changes in mRNA steady- state levels. The phenotypic changes associated with pro-u-PA expression were analyzed in vitro by degradation of 3H-labeled extracellular matrix (ECM), invasion of a matrigel basement membrane analogue, and by light and electron microscopy. LuPA cells and reference HT-1080 fibrosarcoma cells, in contrast to control Lneo cells transfected with the neomycin resistance gene, degraded the ECM and invaded the matrigel basement membrane. Matrix degradation correlated with the modulation of pro-u-PA gene expression as it was inhibited by dexamethasone and promoted by dibutyryl cyclic AMP. Inhibition of PA or plasmin using anti-u-PA IgG or aprotinin prevented ECM degradation and invasion. These results demonstrate that u-PA expression alone is sufficient to confer to a cell an experimental invasive phenotype.
Categorias do censo e classificação subjetiva de cor no Brasil

Census categories and subjective classification of race in Brazil. A great variety of terms and a high degree of subjectivity are involved in the definition of skin colour among Brazilians. This article seeks to evaluate the different classification schemes adopted in various moments by IBGE to identify "colour" in censuses and National Household Sample Surveys (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicilios - PNAD). We first examine the answers to open-ended questions and to standardized categories in these surveys and censuses and secondly, estimate the "net migration” among colour groups between 1950 and 1980 for persons who, in 1950, were classified as "pretas" (blacks), "pardas" (mixed ancestry) and "brancas” (whites). The cohort projections indicated a significant "net out-migration” or reclassification of both "branca" and "preta" persons to the "parda" group between 1950 and 1980. Thirty eight percent of persons classified as "pretas" in 1950 were reclassified in 1980 in another group, whereas 7% of "brancas" were missing for that category in the 1980 census. The "parda" category increased by 34% due to the "net migration" among colour groups. These results indicate that researchers working on racial inequality, and specially those developing comparative studies of social mobility using census data should proceed with caution when dealing with racial group differences.
Dihydrofolate reductase mutations in Plasmodium vivax from Indonesia and therapeutic response to sulfadoxine plus pyrimethamine.

BACKGROUND The target enzyme of pyrimethamine is dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), but little is known about allelic variants of dhfr in Plasmodium vivax populations. Still less is known about associations between specific alleles and the failure of sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine (S/P) to clear the erythrocytic stages of P. vivax in vivo. METHODS We studied P. vivax dhfr mutations in 24 patients who received S/P therapy in Papua or Central Java, Indonesia, and we measured the resistance of the alleles in vitro in a dhfr yeast expression assay. RESULTS Fourteen (58%) of 24 patients had an inadequate therapeutic response. Two of 6 alleles that were identified were novel. One allele that expressed 4 point mutations (57L+58R+61M+117T) correlated with a high risk of therapeutic failure. The 9 patients infected by P. vivax carrying this allele proved 23 times more likely to experience early therapeutic failure, compared with patients infected by P. vivax carrying other alleles (P=.003; 95% confidence interval, 2-450). This allele also conferred high levels of pyrimethamine resistance in vitro. The experimental antifolate WR99210 inhibited the allele in this system. CONCLUSIONS The present study identified a strong correlation between specific mutations in P. vivax dhfr and S/P treatment failure. Our results suggest that WR99210 could provide effective therapy for S/P-resistant P. vivax.
Transferring Localization Models over Time

Learning-based localization methods typically consist of an offline phase to collect the wireless signal data to build a statistical model, and an online phase to apply the model on new data. Many of these methods treat the training data as if their distributions are fixed across time. However, due to complex environmental changes such as temperature changes and multi-path fading effect, the signals can significantly vary from time to time, causing the localization accuracy to drop. We address this problem by introducing a novel semi-supervised Hidden Markov Model (HMM) to transfer the learned model from one time period to another. This adaptive model is referred to as transferred HMM (TrHMM), in which we aim to transfer as much knowledge from the old model as possible to reduce the calibration effort for the current time period. Our contribution is that we can successfully transfer out-of-date model to fit a current model through learning, even though the training data have very different distributions. Experimental results show that the TrHMM method can greatly improve the localization accuracy while saving a great amount of the calibration effort.
Bone Matrix Proteins: Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Cell-binding Keratan Sulfate Proteoglycan (Osteoadherin) from Bovine Bone

A small cell-binding proteoglycan for which we propose the name osteoadherin was extracted from bovine bone with guanidine hydrochloride–containing EDTA. It was purified to homogeneity using a combination of ion-exchange chromatography, hydroxyapatite chromatography, and gel filtration. The Mr of the proteoglycan was 85,000 as determined by SDS-PAGE. The protein is rich in aspartic acid, glutamic acid, and leucine. Two internal octapeptides from the proteoglycan contained the sequences Glu-Ile-Asn-Leu-Ser-His-Asn-Lys and Arg-Asp-Leu-Tyr-Phe-Asn-Lys-Ile. These sequences are not previously described, and support the notion that osteoadherin belongs to the family of leucine-rich repeat proteins. A monospecific antiserum was raised in rabbits. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was developed, and showed the osteoadherin content of bone extracts to be 0.4 mg/g of tissue wet weight, whereas none was found in extracts of various other bovine tissues. Metabolic labeling of primary bovine osteoblasts followed by immunoprecipitation showed the cells to synthesize and secrete the proteoglycan. Digesting the immunoprecipitated osteoadherin with N-glycosidase reduced its apparent size to 47 kD, thus showing the presence of several N-linked oligosaccharides. Digestion with keratanase indicated some of the oligosaccharides to be extended to keratan sulfate chains. In immunohistochemical studies of the bovine fetal rib growth plate, osteoadherin was exclusively identified in the primary bone spongiosa. Osteoadherin binds to hydroxyapatite. A potential function of this proteoglycan is to bind cells, since we showed it to be as efficient as fibronectin in promoting osteoblast attachment in vitro. The binding appears to be mediated by the integrin αvβ3, since this was the only integrin isolated by osteoadherin affinity chromatography of surface-iodinated osteoblast extracts.
Comparison of 4.5-kV Press-Pack IGBTs and IGCTs for Medium-Voltage Converters

Recently developed insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) press-pack (PP) devices with a blocking voltage of 4.5 kV are being used in medium-voltage converters as an alternative to integrated gate-commutated thyristors (IGCTs). This paper presents an overview of PP packaging and both semiconductor technologies. A quantitative comparison of these devices is achieved through measurements for a 4.5-kV 1.2-kA IGBT and a 4.5-kV 4-kA IGCT. The laboratory test bench for the switching transient characterization at a dc-link voltage of 2.5 kV and currents up to 3 kA is described. Conduction, blocking, and switching behavior for junction temperatures up to 125 °C are investigated. The IGCT and the IGBT are tested using a di/dt-limiting clamp circuit. In addition, the IGBT is tested in hard switching mode.
Precision grip force dynamics: a system identification approach

A linear model of the dynamics of the human precision grip is presented. The transfer function is identified as representing the peripheral motor subsystem. from the motoneuron pool to the final production of a grip force between the tip of the index finger and the thumb. The transfer function captures the limiting isometric muscle dynamics that, e.g., cortical motor areas have to act through. When identifying the transfer function the authors introduce a novel technique, common subsystem identification. This characterizes a specific subsystem in a complex biomechanical system. This technique requires data from two functionally different experiments that both involve the subsystem of interest. Two transfer functions, one for each experiment, are then estimated using a linear black box technique. The common mathematical factors, represented by poles and zeros, are used to form a new transfer function. It is concluded that this transfer function represents the common biological subsystem involved in both experiments. Here, the authors use one active and one reactive isometric grip force experiment to capture the subsystem of interest, i.e., the motoneuron pool, motor units, muscles, tendons and fingertip tissue. The characteristics of the dynamics are in agreement with previously published experiments on human neuro-muscular systems. The model, H(s)=280/(s/sup 2/+22s+280), is well suited for the representation of a force producing end-effector in simulations including a control system with sensory feedback.
A Ranking-Oriented Approach to Cross-Project Software Defect Prediction: An Empirical Study

In recent years, cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) has become very popular in the field of software defect prediction. It was treated as a binary classification or regression problem in most of previous studies. However, the existing methods to solve this problem may be not suitable for those projects with limited manpower and time. In this paper, we revisit the issue and treat it as a ranking problem. Inspired by the idea of the Point-wise approach to Learning to Rank, we propose a ranking-oriented CPDP approach called ROCPDP. The empirical results obtained based on AEEEM show that the defect predictor built with our method under a specific CPDP context, in general, outperforms those predictors trained by using the benchmark methods in both CPDP and WPDP (within-project defect prediction) scenarios in terms of two common evaluation metrics for rank correlation. So, our work could be an initial attempt to construct new ranking- oriented CPDP models for newly created or inactive projects.