Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
APPARENT FASTER-THAN-LIGHT PULSE PROPAGATION IN INTERSTELLAR SPACE: A NEW PROBE OF THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

Radio pulsars emit regular bursts of radio radiation that propagate through the interstellar medium (ISM), the tenuous gas and plasma between the stars. Previously known dispersive properties of the ISM cause low-frequency pulses to be delayed in time with respect to high frequency ones. This effect can be explained by the presence of free electrons in the medium. The ISM also contains neutral hydrogen that has a well-known resonance at 1420.4 MHz. Electromagnetic theory predicts that at such a resonance, the induced dispersive effects will be drastically different from those of the free electrons. Pulses traveling through a cloud of neutral hydrogen should undergo “anomalous dispersion,” which causes the group velocity of the medium to be larger than the speed of light in vacuum. This superluminal group velocity causes pulses containing frequencies near the resonance to arrive earlier in time with respect to other pulses. Hence, these pulses appear to travel faster than light. This phenomenon is caused by an interplay between the timescales present in the pulse and the timescales present in the medium. Although counter-intuitive, it does not violate the laws of special relativity. Here, we present Arecibo observations of the radio pulsar PSR B1937+21 that show clear evidence of anomalous dispersion. Though this effect is known in laboratory physics, this is the first time it has been directly observed in an astrophysical context, and it has the potential to be a useful tool for studying the properties of neutral hydrogen in the Galaxy.
Identification of a plane pollen lipid transfer protein (Pla a 3) and its immunological relation to the peach lipid‐transfer protein, Pru p 3

Background An association between plane tree pollen allergy and plant food allergy has been described, but the cross‐reacting allergens have not yet been identified. The aim of this study was the identification of homologous non‐specific lipid‐transfer proteins (nsLTPs) in plane pollen, and to investigate its immunological relationship with the peach LTP, Pru p 3.
A Novel Wideband MIMO Channel Model and the Wideband MIMO Software Defined Radio

In the following, we present a novel wideband multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) channel model. The model is based on the eigenvalue decomposition (EVD) of the wideband channel correlation matrix. It does not assume the scatterers at the receiver fade independently of those at the transmitter. It also models correlation between delay bins in the power delay profile (PDP). With preliminary data gathered using the Wideband MIMO software defined radio (WMSDR) in fixed outdoor locations, we show good agreement between modeled and measured data
Role of avionics in trajectory based operations

Air Traffic Management automation systems are being developed and fielded to assist controllers in handling more aircraft and larger airspace per controller. Many of these systems are time-based and built upon predicting the aircraft trajectories as accurately as possible. Trajectories of multiple aircraft are strategically de-conflicted by modifying appropriate trajectories and issuing corresponding clearances to the aircraft. However, disturbances and modeling errors will cause aircraft to deviate from their predicted trajectories and the controllers will need to take action to keep the trajectories free from conflict. The associated increase in workload will reduce the usefulness of these automation systems. Onboard avionics can help improve the accuracy of the trajectory prediction system in three ways: sharing aircraft state information to improve the performance of the ground trajectory prediction system, sharing airborne prediction results and allowable minimum and maximum arrival times at key route waypoints, and finally by applying feedback control onboard the aircraft to autonomously correct for disturbances encountered in flight. This paper presents an analysis of trajectory dispersion with and without airborne time of arrival control, presents an operational concept for air/ground trajectory negotiation, discusses integration with airborne merging and spacing algorithms, and raises concerns about challenges in implementing this integrated solution.
Belonging, Being, and Becoming: Challenges for Children in Transition

This article presents some findings of a small-scale research study carried out in 1 kindergarten in Hong Kong. The study looked at the problems associated with the transition of families from one culture (mainland China) to a new culture (Hong Kong), concentrating on the children's development of a sense of belonging in Hong Kong. Specific issues that children may face were identified. The study also suggests some strategies for early childhood teachers to use when implementing a play-based curriculum that gives immigrant children opportunities to express their emotions through play. The study found that a sense of belonging can be enhanced if teachers understand the difficulties inherent in cultural transition and respond accordingly.
Learning From Picturebooks: Reading and Writing Multimodally in First Grade

This article shares the authors' work with first graders and how, through various reading, writing, and art experiences around picturebooks, the children learned to read and communicate through art along with written language. The work is grounded in multimodality theory and the belief that all modes (particularly art for the purposes of this article) are equally valid and significant ways of communicating meaning. The article provides examples of experiences with the picturebooks I Love My New Toy and Guji Guji of how the children came to understand the language of art. Insights from this work that are discussed include that young children can and do think and read multimodally, that understanding art as an equally valid mode of communication, along with written language, provides children with additional pathways through which to construct meaning, and that art is a valid language that needs to be valued and taught.
A framework for ECG signal preprocessing based on quadratic variation reduction

ECG signals are corrupted by several kinds of noise and artifacts, which negatively affect any subsequent analysis. In the literature, the only approach that can handle any noise and artifacts corrupting the ECG is linear time-invariant filtering. However, it suffers from some important limitations regarding effectiveness and computational complexity. In this paper we propose a novel framework for ECG signal preprocessing based on the notion of quadratic variation reduction. The framework is very general, since it can cope with all the different kinds of noise and artifacts that corrupt ECG records. It relies on a single algorithmic structure, thus enjoying an easy and robust implementation. Results show that the framework is effective in improving the quality of ECG, while preserving signal morphology. Moreover, it is very fast, even on long recordings, thus being perfectly suited for real-time applications and implementation on devices with reduced computational power, such as handheld devices.
Sentiment Analysis of Travel Reviews

Opinion mining or commonly known as sentiment analysis is the process where a sentence or a document is categorized based on its polarity. The polarity here refers to a sentence or an entity as positive, neutral or negative. Recently, sentiment analysis has attained much attention. In this paper, the goal of achieving polarity for hotel reviews is described in detail. The data is collected from Expedia.com. Also, a survey of recent papers is discussed comprehensively to gain insight into the latest update in the field of sentiment analysis. The paper also includes the algorithm adopted to achieve the goal and its future aspects.
Green Fluorescent Protein-Tagged Adeno-Associated Virus Particles Allow the Study of Cytosolic and Nuclear Trafficking

ABSTRACT To allow the direct visualization of viral trafficking, we genetically incorporated enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid by replacement of wild-type VP2 by GFP-VP2 fusion proteins. High-titer virus progeny was obtained and used to elucidate the process of nuclear entry. In the absence of adenovirus 5 (Ad5), nuclear translocation of AAV capsids was a slow and inefficient process: at 2 h and 4 h postinfection (p.i.), GFP-VP2-AAV particles were found in the perinuclear area and in nuclear invaginations but not within the nucleus. In Ad5-coinfected cells, isolated GFP-VP2-AAV particles were already detectable in the nucleus at 2 h p.i. , suggesting that Ad5 enhanced the nuclear translocation of AAV capsids. The number of cells displaying viral capsids within the nucleus increased slightly over time, independently of helper virus levels, but the majority of the AAV capsids remained in the perinuclear area under all conditions analyzed. In contrast, independently of helper virus and with 10 times less virions per cell already observed at 2 h p.i. , viral genomes were visible within the nucleus. Under these conditions and even with prolonged incubation times (up to 11 h p.i.), no intact viral capsids were detectable within the nucleus. In summary, the results show that GFP-tagged AAV particles can be used to study the cellular trafficking and nuclear entry of AAV. Moreover, our findings argue against an efficient nuclear entry mechanism of intact AAV capsids and favor the occurrence of viral uncoating before or during nuclear entry.
The Influence of Perceived Constraints on the Attitudes Toward Recreational Sport Participation

Abstract This study used the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985, 1988) as a theoretical framework to predict intention to participate in recreational sports and to test the influence of perceived constraints on the elements of the theory of planned behavior. Three hundred and sixty adult individuals (N = 360), who were residents of the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, participated in the study. The results indicated that the theory of planned behavior provides a very effective theoretical approach to predict intention (R2 = 0.65). Perceived behavioral control (PBC) was found to be the major determinant of intention, followed by the attitudinal (ATT) component. In terms of the relationship between perceived constraints and the components of the TPB, the results indicated that PBC was the most effectively explained component by the constraint factors (R2 = 0.27). Constraints explained a small number of variances in the subjective norm (R2 = 0.07) and attitude (R2 = 0.06) components. Furthermore, the results indicated that the PBC was negatively influenced by psychological, time, lack of knowledge, and lack of interest related constraints. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.
Lights, Cameras, Action Research!—Moviemaking as a Pedagogy for Constructivist Israel Education

In this article we analyze moviemaking as a unique pedagogy that is used in a preservice semester in Israel program for the preparation of Israel educators: Students create their own short films about an aspect of Israeli society and/or their relationship with it. We analyze the students’ movies, together with students’ reflective papers about the process of making them, and show how this pedagogy exhibits the major characteristics of progressive constructivist education. We also show how the pedagogy enables students to grapple with difficult aspects of Israel in a personally compelling fashion.
White matter hyperintensities in healthy older adults: A longitudinal study

A 3‐year longitudinal study was conducted using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine the progression of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and ventricle‐to‐brain ratio (VBR) in 16 healthy older adults. We found that, as a group, the subjects' WMH showed little progression over a 3‐year period, but their VBR significantly increased during that same period of time. This increase occurred in healthy older adults who did not develop serious medical problems during the course of the 3‐year study. In two of the subjects, with the largest increases in both WMH and VBR, there was a change in their health status.
Functional Recovery and Exercise Behavior in Men and Women 5 to 6 Years Following Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) Surgery

Improvement following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery has been reported to be less in women than men. Relationships between exercise behavior and functional status of men and women 5 to 6 years after CABG have not been examined in a representative patient sample. This study compared the 5- to 6-year recovery in a cohort of 184 patients at the Minnesota site of the Post CABG Biobehavioral Study. Data were collected by telephone interviewand self-administered questionnaires. Results showed that women had lower physical ( p ≤ .004) and social ( p= .001) functioning scores; men were more likely to participate in regular exercise ( p = .01). Exercisers had higher functional status scores. ANCOVA demonstrated that differences in measures of functional status by exercise category were maintained even after controlling for age, sex, and symptom severity ( p ≤ .01). In conclusion, individuals who exercised had more positive functional outcomes 5 to 6 years post-CABG.
iDoRemind: A Location-Based Reminder Application for Android

In the paper, a location-based reminder application iDoRemind is developed to assist people in remembering and managing their everyday activities. iDoRemind overcomes the weakness of the existing location-based reminder applications by repeated alerting the user and suggesting the alternative locations based on users' preferences and their current location. The suggested locations are ranked according to the calculated preference-ratio. In addition, the reminders can be shared in a group or social media. The group option makes it easier for people to manage group activities. It has been shown in the evaluation that users are highly satisfied with the services provided by iDoRemind.
Segmenting Clustered Nuclei Using H-minima Transform-Based Marker Extraction and Contour Parameterization

In this letter, we present a novel watershed-based method for segmentation of cervical and breast cell images. We formulate the segmentation of clustered nuclei as an optimization problem. A hypothesis concerning the nuclei, which involves a priori knowledge with respect to the shape of nuclei, is tested to solve the optimization problem. We first apply the distance transform to the clustered nuclei. A marker extraction scheme based on the H -minima transform is introduced to obtain the optimal segmentation result from the distance map. In order to estimate the optimal h-value, a size-invariant segmentation distortion evaluation function is defined based on the fitting residuals between the segmented region boundaries and fitted models. Ellipsoidal modeling of contours is introduced to adjust nuclei contours for more effective analysis. Experiments on a variety of real microscopic cell images show that the proposed method yields more accurate segmentation results than the state-of-the-art watershed-based methods.
Spike-Timing Dependent Plasticity and the Cognitive Map

Since the discovery of place cells – single pyramidal neurons that encode spatial location – it has been hypothesized that the hippocampus may act as a cognitive map of known environments. This putative function has been extensively modeled using auto-associative networks, which utilize rate-coded synaptic plasticity rules in order to generate strong bi-directional connections between concurrently active place cells that encode for neighboring place fields. However, empirical studies using hippocampal cultures have demonstrated that the magnitude and direction of changes in synaptic strength can also be dictated by the relative timing of pre- and post-synaptic firing according to a spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) rule. Furthermore, electrophysiology studies have identified persistent “theta-coded” temporal correlations in place cell activity in vivo, characterized by phase precession of firing as the corresponding place field is traversed. It is not yet clear if STDP and theta-coded neural dynamics are compatible with cognitive map theory and previous rate-coded models of spatial learning in the hippocampus. Here, we demonstrate that an STDP rule based on empirical data obtained from the hippocampus can mediate rate-coded Hebbian learning when pre- and post-synaptic activity is stochastic and has no persistent sequence bias. We subsequently demonstrate that a spiking recurrent neural network that utilizes this STDP rule, alongside theta-coded neural activity, allows the rapid development of a cognitive map during directed or random exploration of an environment of overlapping place fields. Hence, we establish that STDP and phase precession are compatible with rate-coded models of cognitive map development.
Research on the Application System of Smart Campus in the Context of Smart City

Based on the construction of Shandong Normal University's smart model, this paper researches the key technologies of OAuth authentication and data analysis. Through the analysis of the design, and implementation procedure of the smart campus platform, this paper summarizes the research methods of building the smart campus application system with existing educational resources. Also, it provides a universal reference to the construction of an urban intelligence system.
T lymphocyte subset profile and serum alpha‐1‐antitrypsin in pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an inflammatory disorder characterized by the presence of non‐fully reversible airflow limitation. The study was undertaken to investigate the involvement of alpha‐1‐antitrypsin (α1AT) and T lymphocyte subsets in the pathogenesis of COPD. Blood samples of 50 subjects, including 25 healthy volunteers and 25 patients with COPD, were analysed. Serum trypsin inhibitory capacity (STIC) was determined by enzymatic assay. CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes were enumerated in heparinized blood using a fluorescence activated cell sorter counter. The STIC in COPD patients was found to be decreased significantly than in controls (P < 0·01). In COPD patients with lower expression levels of α1AT, a highly significant decrease in the number of CD4+ T lymphocytes (P < 0·0009) and CD4/CD8 ratio was observed compared with control subjects (P < 0·008). The mean ± standard error of CD8+ lymphocytes was found to be little different (only marginally decreased) in COPD patients compared to healthy controls; however, an alteration in the individual count of CD8+ lymphocytes cells was observed in COPD patients. Using linear regression analysis, a negative correlation was observed between STIC and CD4+ lymphocytes and CD8+ lymphocytes (r = −0·40, P < 0·04; r = −0·42, P < 0·03, respectively) in COPD patients. An alteration in α1AT and T lymphocyte subsets in COPD patients suggested that interplay of these factors may be responsible for the progression of COPD.
Outsourcing Relationships: The Contract as IT Governance Tool

IS outsourcing literature emphasizes the importance of governance for a successful outsourcing relationship. However, in theory and practice there is a lack of management concepts on the concrete design and implementation of IT governance within the outsourcing context. Based on the IT governance framework by Webb, Pollard, and Ridley (2006) we aim at answering the following research questions within an outsourcing context: (1) How can IT governance mechanisms be contractually implemented? and (2) What activities contribute to a successful implementation of such mechanisms? Based on multiple case studies of IT outsourcing arrangements in the banking industry, we show that contract clauses such as service level agreements and penalty-reward-mechanisms are key success factors for establishing an IT governance mechanism that contributes to outsourcing success. Furthermore, our findings provide details on how the implementation of certain activities -such as regular meetings between key account management - positively influences the success of an outsourcing deal
EEG Based Thought Translator: A BCI Model for Paraplegic Patients

A brain computer interface is a communication system that translates brain activities into commands for a computer. For physically disabled people, who cannot express their needs through verbal mode (such as thirst, appetite etc), a brain-computer interface (BCI) is the only feasible channel for communicating with others. This technology has the capability of providing substantial independence and hence, a greatly improved quality of life for the physically disabled persons. The BCI technique utilizes electrical brain potentials to directly communicate to devices such as a personal computer system. Cerebral electric activity is recorded via the electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes attached to the scalp measure the electric signals of the brain. These signals are transmitted to the computer, which transforms them into device control commands. The efficiency of the BCI techniques lies in the extraction of suitable features from EEG signals followed by the classification scheme. This paper focuses on development of brain-computer interface model for motor imagery tasks such as movement of left hand, right hand etc. Several time domain features namely, spike rhythmicity, autoregressive method by Burgs, auto regression with exogenous input, autoregressive method based on Levinson are used by varying the prediction order. Frequency domain method involving estimation of power spectral density using Welch and Burg’s method are applied. A binary classification based on recurrent neural network is used. An optimal classification of the imagery tasks with an overall accuracy of 100% is achieved based on configuring the neural network model and varying the extracted feature and EEG channels optimally. A device command translator finally converts these tasks into speech thereby providing the practical usage of this model for real-time BCI application. EEG Based Thought Translator: A BCI Model for Paraplegic Patients
Dimensions of juvenile psychopathy distinguish “bullies,” “bully-victims,” and “victims”.

OBJECTIVE: Psychopathy is a multidimensional construct comprising traits of narcissism, impulsivity, and callous-unemotionality (CU). Prior cross-sectional research supports an association between the CU dimension of juvenile psychopathy and peer bullying, but not victimization; however the relationship between the other psychopathy dimensions and "bully," "bully victim," and "victim" classifications has been largely neglected in research despite compelling empirical and theoretical support. METHOD: The current study addresses this critical gap in the literature using a longitudinal study design. The sample comprised 1416 (50.1% girls) Greek Cypriot adolescents (M age = 12.89) who completed a battery of self-report measures. RESULTS: CU traits, narcissism, and impulsivity each added incremental variance beyond conduct problems (CP) to predicting bullying, whereas only impulsivity predicted victimization, one year later. Person-centered analyses clarified that CP and all psychopathy dimensions predicted membership into "bully" and "bully victim" groups, although the highest narcissism scores distinguished bullies. Impulsivity predicted membership into "victim" and "bully victim" groups, with the latter group scoring significantly higher. CONCLUSIONS: Notwithstanding other important unexamined factors known to contribute to bullying and victimization, our findings suggest that among psychopathy dimensions, narcissism best predicted which youth bullied, whereas impulsivity best distinguished youth susceptible to peer victimization.