Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of different reconstruction methods for planar images in small gamma cameras

In this work we present a comparison of different methods for reconstructing the position of the events detected by gamma cameras with small Field of View. This task was completed within a project aimed to the development of an ultra high resolution, MR compatible PET detector camera head based on SiPM detector. It is well known that the spatial resolution deteriorates and the displacement error (defined as the deviation of the reconstructed position from the true position) increases at the edges of the detector. Here we investigate the possibility of improving the detector performance by using different reconstruction methods. The usual algorithm based on the barycenter fails to track the true position near the edges of the detector. We implemented and tested four different algorithms: the classic barycenter, a modified barycenter method where we consider not the charge collected, but the charge squared (named ``barycenter squared''), an algorithm based on the estimation of the skewness of the distribution of the light (``skewness''), and finally a method based on the minimization of the difference between the distribution of light and a suitable fitting function (``Newton''). It turns out that the use of reconstruction algorithms different from the classic barycenter can help to improve the performance of the system. In particular, the reconstruction error improves, especially at the edges of the detector. Our simulations show that it is feasible to get submillimeter planar spatial resolutions at the center of the detector and of about 1 mm at the edges of the detector.
The Planetary Nebula System and Dynamics in the Outer Halo of NGC 5128

The halos of elliptical galaxies are faint and difficult to explore, but they contain vital clues to both structure and formation. We present the results of an imaging and spectroscopic survey for planetary nebulae (PNe) in the nearby elliptical NGC 5128. We extend the work of Hui and coworkers well into the halo of the galaxy—out to distances of 100 and 50 kpc along the major and minor axes. We now know of 1141 PNe in NGC 5128, 780 of which are confirmed. Of these 780 PNe, 349 are new from this survey, and 148 are at radii beyond 20 kpc. PNe exist at distances up to 80 kpc (~15re), showing that the stellar halo extends to the limit of our data. This study represents by far the largest kinematic study of an elliptical galaxy to date, both in the number of velocity tracers and in radial extent. We confirm the large rotation of the PNe along the major axis and show that it extends in a disklike feature into the halo. The rotation curve of the stars flattens at ~100 km s-1 with V/σ between 1 and 1.5 and with the velocity dispersion of the PNe falling gradually at larger radii. The two-dimensional velocity field exhibits a zero-velocity contour with a pronounced twist, showing that the galaxy potential is likely triaxial in shape, tending toward prolate. The total dynamical mass of the galaxy within 80 kpc is ~5 × 1011 M☉, with M/LB ~ 13. This mass-to-light ratio is much lower than what is typically expected for elliptical galaxies.
DERIVING BENEFIT FROM A GENERALIZED SYNTAX-BASED REORDERING

In this study we describe a syntax-based word reordering technique for n-gram-based statistical machine translation (SMT). The proposed distortion model operates with generalized unlexicalized rules and aims to order source language words so that translation is close to monotonic, simplifying the translation process. In the final step, we apply a translation units blending strategy, combining bilingual tuples extracted from the parallel corpora with monotone and reordered source parts. Experiments are reported on the BTEC corpus from tourist domain for the Arabic-English translation task, the proposed tuples blending technique significantly outperformes the monotone system.
Simultaneous Temporal Superresolution and Denoising for Cardiac Fluorescence Microscopy

Due to low-light emission of fluorescent samples, live fluorescence microscopy imposes a tradeoff between spatio-temporal resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. This can result in images and videos containing motion blur or Poisson-type shot noise, depending on the settings used during acquisition. Here, we propose an algorithm to simultaneously denoise and temporally superresolve movies of repeating microscopic processes that is compatible with any conventional microscopy setup that can achieve imaging at a rate of at least twice that of the fundamental frequency of the process (above 4 frames per second for a 2-Hz process). Our method combines low temporal resolution frames from multiple cycles of a repeating process to reconstruct a denoised, higher temporal resolution image sequence which is the solution to a linear program that maximizes the consistency of the reconstruction with the measurements, under a regularization constraint. This paper describes, in particular, a parallelizable superresolution reconstruction algorithm and demonstrates its application to live cardiac fluorescence microscopy. Using our method, we experimentally show temporal resolution improvement by a factor of 1.6, resulting in a visible reduction of motion blur in both on-sample and off-sample frames.
A computationally efficient calibration algorithm for the LOFAR radio astronomical array

In this paper, the problem of self-calibration for large astronomical arrays such as the Dutch Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) is considered. We assume direction dependent gain and phase errors which need to be estimated and calibrated out. Combining the subspace fitting and least square approaches, the signal subspace of the received single short-term interval (STI) sample data of the LOFAR is used to build a cost function whose minimizer is a statistically efficient estimator of the unknown parameters-the gains and phases of the telescopes. Subsequently, an iterative algorithm for finding the minimum of the cost function is presented and the unknown calibration parameters of both the core stations and the external subarray are separated. As a result, the computational complexity of the proposed method is significantly reduced compared to the existing methods based on a direct covariance fitting. Finally, the performance of the proposed method is compared with the conventional peeling method in computer simulation. An example for calibrating the core of the LOFAR array on Cyg A is also provided.
Orbitofrontal Cortex and the Computation of Economic Value

Abstract: Economic choice is the behavior observed when individuals select one of many available options solely based on subjective preferences. Behavioral evidence suggests that economic choice entails two mental processes: values are first assigned to the available options, and a decision is subsequently made between these values. Numerous reports show that lesions to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) lead to choice deficits in various domains, and imaging studies indicate that the OFC activates when people make choices. In this chapter, we review evidence from single cell recordings linking the OFC more specifically to valuation. Individual neurons in the OFC encode the value that monkeys assign to different beverages when they choose between them. These neurons encode economic value as a subjective quantity. Most importantly, neurons in the OFC encode economic value per se, not as a modulation of sensory or motor processes. This trait distinguishes the value representation in the OFC from that observed in other brain areas. That OFC neurons encode economic value independently of visuomotor contingencies suggests that economic choice is fundamentally a choice between goods (good‐based model) rather than a choice between actions (action‐based model).
Psychological Aspects of Computer-based Training for Statistical Process Control Dissertation Msc in Cognitive Science and Natural Language

Innovation makes demands on training when it changes the knowledge and skill requirements in companies. This need to develop the expertise and knowledge of employees is an emerging concern in management studies. The theory of cognitive science can be of use here to understand how the knowledge of the relevant formalisms transfers from training to real world settings. It has been shown that graphical systems of logic can help bridge the gap between learning a formalism and it's application (Cox, Stenning and Oberlander, 1994) . Statistical process control is seen as one innovation in management that generates training needs. A substantial range of empirical studies has demonstrated the e ectiveness of graphical techniques for teaching probability and the theory of stochastic processes (Ichikawa, 1989; Hong and O'Neill, 1992; Cheng, 1994). Other work illustrates the cogency of using computers as an exploratory learning environment (Cox and Cumming, 1990; Papert, 1980). In this study, I use these ideas to propose how training materials for SPC can be developed in a way that will meet the needs of companies engaged in manufacturing.
Chandra X-ray observations of the 3C 295 cluster core

We examine the properties of the X-ray gas in the central regions of the distant (z=0.46), X-ray luminous cluster of galaxies surrounding the powerful radio source 3C 295, using observations made with the Chandra Observatory. Between radii of 50 and 500 kpc, the cluster gas is approximately isothermal with an emission-weighted temperature, kT∼5 keV. Within the central 50-kpc radius this value drops to kT∼3.7 keV. The spectral and imaging Chandra data indicate the presence of a cooling flow within the central 50-kpc radius of the cluster, with a mass deposition rate of approximately 280 M⊙ yr−1. We estimate an age for the cooling flow of 1–2 Gyr, which is approximately 1000 times older than the central radio source. We find no evidence in the X-ray spectra or images for significant heating of the X-ray gas by the radio source. We report the detection of an edge-like absorption feature in the spectrum for the central 50-kpc region, which may be caused by oxygen-enriched dust grains. The implied mass in metals seen in absorption could have been accumulated by the cooling flow over its lifetime. Combining the results on the X-ray gas density profile with radio measurements of the Faraday rotation measure in 3C 295, we estimate the magnetic field strength in the region of the cluster core to be B∼12 μG.
Prediction of Protein-Protein Interaction Sites Using Constructive Neural Network Ensemble

Abstract-Prediction of protein-proteininteraction sites is very important to the function of a protein and drug design. In this paper, we adequately utilize the characters of ensemble learning, which can improve the accuracy of individual classifier and generalization ability of the system, and propose a new prediction method of protein-protein interaction sites: ensemble learning method based on the constructive neural network. Protein sequence profile and residue accessible area are used as input feature vectors. We evaluate the ensemble classifiers and compare them with several traditional methods (SVM, ANN, CA and Bayesian) on the dataset of 61 protein chains with 5-fold cross validation. The results clearly show that the proposed ensemble method is quite effective in predicting protein binding sites. Our method achieves good performance (Accuracy of 73.26%, Sensitivity of 58.38%, Specificity of 68.87%, CC of 35.47% and F1-measure of 63.04%), which is significantly better than that of the compared methods. The results obtained show that our proposed method is a promising approach for predicting protein-protein interaction sites.The experiments show the validation and correctness of the ensemble method based on Covering Algorithm (CA).
Interactive Recommendation of Composition Operators for Situational Data Integration

In the open and dynamic Internet computing environment, situational data integration applications appear to be trendy. The situational data integration requirements are often immediate and can't be totally defined in advance. Data service mashup is an effective approach to dealing with situational data integration problems to certain extent. It offers agility by providing the visual user interface to expose the data integration capabilities to enable non-professional users to solve transient data integration problems. In order to assist the non-professional users to select and link the composition operator, this paper aims to work toward an approach for interactive recommendation of the candidate composition operators. Based on the observation that many mashup patterns can be derived according to their functionalities, this paper proposes a composition operator recommendation algorithm combining the rule-based and statistics-based methods. We also experimentally demonstrated the accuracy of our approach.
Separase Cleaves the N-Tail of the CENP-A Related Protein CPAR-1 at the Meiosis I Metaphase-Anaphase Transition in C. elegans

Centromeres are defined epigenetically in the majority of eukaryotes by the presence of chromatin containing the centromeric histone H3 variant CENP-A. Most species have a single gene encoding a centromeric histone variant whereas C. elegans has two: HCP-3 (also known as CeCENP-A) and CPAR-1. Prior RNAi replacement experiments showed that HCP-3 is the functionally dominant isoform, consistent with CPAR-1 not being detectable in embryos. GFP::CPAR-1 is loaded onto meiotic chromosomes in diakinesis and is enriched on bivalents until meiosis I. Here we show that GFP::CPAR-1 signal loss from chromosomes precisely coincides with homolog segregation during anaphase I. This loss of GFP::CPAR-1 signal reflects proteolytic cleavage between GFP and the histone fold of CPAR-1, as CPAR-1::GFP, in which GFP is fused to the C-terminus of CPAR-1, does not exhibit any loss of GFP signal. A focused candidate screen implicated separase, the protease that initiates anaphase by cleaving the kleisin subunit of cohesin, in this cleavage reaction. Examination of the N-terminal tail sequence of CPAR-1 revealed a putative separase cleavage site and mutation of the signature residues in this site eliminated the cleavage reaction, as visualized by retention of GFP::CPAR-1 signal on separating homologous chromosomes at the metaphase-anaphase transition of meiosis I. Neither cleaved nor uncleavable CPAR-1 were centromere-localized in mitosis and instead localized throughout chromatin, indicating that centromere activity has not been retained in CPAR-1. Although the functions of CPAR-1 and of its separase-dependent cleavage remain to be elucidated, this effort reveals a new substrate of separase and provides an in vivo biosensor to monitor separase activity at the onset of meiosis I anaphase.
Photoperiodic control of sugar release during the floral transition: What is the role of sugars in the florigenic signal?

Florigen is a mobile signal released by the leaves that reaching the shoot apical meristem (SAM), changes its developmental program from vegetative to reproductive. The protein FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) constitutes an important element of the florigen, but other components such as sugars, have been also proposed to be part of this signal.1-5 We have studied the accumulation and composition of starch during the floral transition in Arabidopsis thaliana in order to understand the role of carbon mobilization in this process. In A. thaliana and Antirrhinum majus the gene coding for the Granule-Bound Starch Synthase (GBSS) is regulated by the circadian clock6,7 while in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii the homolog gene CrGBSS is controlled by photoperiod and circadian signals.8,9 In a recent paper10 we described the role of the central photoperiodic factor CONSTANS (CO) in the regulation of GBSS expression in Arabidopsis. This regulation is in the basis of the change in the balance between starch and free sugars observed during the floral transition. We propose that this regulation may contribute to the florigenic signal and to the increase in sugar transport required during the flowering process.
PSR J1847–0130: A Radio Pulsar with Magnetar Spin Characteristics

We report the discovery of PSR J1847-0130, a radio pulsar with a 6.7 s spin period, in the Parkes Multibeam Pulsar Survey of the Galactic plane. The slowdown rate for the pulsar, 1.3 × 10-12 s s-1, is high and implies a surface dipole magnetic field strength of 9.4 × 1013 G. This inferred dipolar magnetic field strength is the highest by far among all known radio pulsars and over twice the "quantum critical field" above which some models predict radio emission should not occur. The inferred dipolar magnetic field strength and period of this pulsar are in the same range as those of the anomalous X-ray pulsars, which have been identified as being "magnetars" whose luminous X-ray emission is powered by their large magnetic fields. We have examined archival ASCA data and place an upper limit on the X-ray luminosity of J1847-0130 that is lower than the luminosities of all but one anomalous X-ray pulsar. The properties of this pulsar prove that inferred dipolar magnetic field strength and period cannot alone be responsible for the unusual high-energy properties of the magnetars and create new challenges for understanding the possible relationship between these two manifestations of young neutron stars.
Trend in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its impact on cardiovascular disease incidence: the San Antonio Heart Study.

OBJECTIVE With the current obesity epidemic, one would expect a prevalence increase in the metabolic syndrome. Therefore, in the San Antonio Heart Study, a population-based study with worsening obesity, we examined the metabolic syndrome and its effect on incident cardiovascular disease (CVD). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We enrolled 5,158 subjects in two cohorts: 1979-1982 and 1984-1988. We reexamined 3,682 (71.4%) subjects in 1987-1990 (cohort 1) and 1991-1996 (cohort 2) and assessed a 7.5-year incidence of CVD in 4,635 (90.0%) participants. We used the metabolic syndrome definition of the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III. RESULTS At baseline, the metabolic syndrome was less prevalent in cohort 1 than in cohort 2: in men, 20.4 vs. 29.3% (P < 0.001); in women, 16.3 vs. 26.3% (P < 0.001). The prevalence increased in men and women of both Mexican-American and non-Hispanic white ethnic groups between 1979-1982 and 1991-1996 (P for trend <0.001 for each of the groups). There was an excess of incident CVD in cohort 2 relative to cohort 1 (odds ratio 1.37 [95% CI 1.02-1.84]) after adjustment for age, sex, ethnic origin, socioeconomic status, history of CVD, diabetes, total cholesterol, smoking, and family history of heart attack. Further adjustment for the metabolic syndrome reduced this difference (1.26 [0.93-1.71]) because the metabolic syndrome predicted incident CVD (1.58 [1.14-2.18]). CONCLUSIONS In San Antonio, Texas, an increase in the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome between 1979-1982 and 1984-1988 contributes to explain a higher CVD incidence.
Who Should set the Minimum Wage

The setting of the minimum wage involves a trade-off between reducing poverty among working people and shutting down low productivity jobs. There are two common ways of setting minimum wages. They are either government legislated or are the outcome of collective bargaining agreements, which are extended erga omnes to all workers. In this paper we develop a simple model showing that under rather mild assumptions as to the objectives of Governments, a legislated minimum wage is bound to be lower than a wage floor established within a collective agreement, which typically determines also the wage scale above the minimum. Next, we exploit a new data set on minimum wages in 66 countries that had already or introduced a minimum wage in the period 1981-2005 to test these implications. In particular, we look at the eff ect of the type of minimum wage determination on the level of the minimum wage. Our main conclusion is that in terms of labor market outcomes and effects on poverty, the way in which the minimum wage is set is even more important than the decision as to whether or not to have a minimum wage in place.
Impact of Frequency Control Reserve Provision by Storage Systems on Power System Operation

Abstract Batteries can be used to provide ancillary services, such as primary frequency response. However, their energy capacity is limited. Therefore, set-point adjustments are necessary and the energy for this has still to be provided by power-plants that do not face energy constraints. This paper investigates various aspects of and potential benefits for power system operation and stability, if energy-constraint units are allowed to participate in the ancillary service markets.
THESPIAN: An Architecture for Interactive Pedagogical Drama

Interactive drama is increasingly being used as a pedagogical tool in a wide variety of computer-based learning environments. However, the effort required to build interactive dramas is quite significant. We built Thespian, an architecture that supports faster development of IPDs, open-ended interaction, encoding of pedagogical goals and quantitative metrics for evaluating those goals. Thespian uses autonomous agents to control each character and assumes that the starting point for the design process is a set of standard scripts. A “fitting” algorithm facilitates the design process by automatically adjusting the goals of the agents so that the agents perform their roles according to the scripts. This also ensures the agents will behave true to their character's motivations even when the interactive drama deviates from the scripts. In this paper, we discuss this basic approach in detail and illustrate its application to the Tactical Language Training System.
UV‐absorbing compounds in the coral Pocillopora damicornis: Interactive effects of UV radiation, photosynthetically active radiation, and water flow

A direct relationship exists between irradiance of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation and concentration of UV‐absorbing compounds, know as mycosporine‐like amino acids (MAAs), in the Hawaiian reef coral Pocillopora damicornis. However, MAA concentration is also influenced by flow regime and the irradiance of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). High irradiances of UV radiation in reef environments are correlated with high PAR and high water velocity, because all three parameters diminish exponentially with increased depth. This correlation can also be found along horizontal gradients on reefs. The clearest water is typically found on outer reefs growing in oceanic water. These ocean reefs typically experience high water velocities due to ocean swell when compared to the more turbid lagoon reefs exposed only to small wind‐driven waves. Flow‐modulated photosynthetic rate seems to be a major factor affecting the observed changes in MAA concentration when P. damicornis is grown under different flow regimes and identical irradiances of UV and PAR radiation. High PAR and high water velocity significantly enhance the effect of increased UV radiation on MAA concentration.