Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SuperDARN radar HF propagation and absorption response to the substorm expansion phase

Abstract. Coherent scatter HF ionospheric radar systems such as SuperDARN offer a powerful experimental technique for the investigation of the magnetospheric substorm. However, a common signature in the early expansion phase is a loss of HF backscatter, which has limited the utility of the radar systems in substorm research. Such data loss has generally been attributed to either HF absorption in the D-region ionosphere, or the consequence of regions of very low ionospheric electric field. Here observations from a well-instrumented isolated substorm which resulted in such a characteristic HF radar data loss are examined to explore the impact of the substorm expansion phase on the HF radar system. The radar response from the SuperDARN Hankasalmi system is interpreted in the context of data from the EIS-CAT incoherent scatter radar systems and the IRIS Riometer at Kilpisjarvi, along with calculations of HF absorption for both IRIS and Hankasalmi and ray-tracing simulations. Such a study offers an explanation of the physical mechanisms behind the HF radar data loss phenomenon. It is found that, at least for the case study presented, the major cause of data loss is not HF absorption, but changes in HF propagation conditions. These result in the loss of many propagation paths for radar backscatter, but also the creation of some new, viable propagation paths. The implications for the use of the characteristics of the data loss as a diagnostic of the substorm process, HF communications channels, and possible radar operational strategies which might mitigate the level of HF radar data loss, are discussed. Key words. Ionosphere (ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions). Magnetospheric physics (storms and substorms). Radio science (radio wave propagation)
Sulodexide ameliorates early but not late kidney disease in models of radiation nephropathy and diabetic nephropathy.

BACKGROUND Sulodexide is a glycosaminoglycan with anticoagulant and antithrombotic activities. Although sulodexide reduced albuminuria in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, long-term effects on chronic renal injury are not established. We investigated sulodexide effects and mechanisms in a rat radiation nephropathy model and in the db/db mouse model of diabetic kidney disease. METHODS Sprague-Dawley rats received kidney radiation and were treated as follows: 15 mg/kg/day sulodexide s.c. , 6 day/week (SUL) or no treatment (CONT). Subsets of animals were sacrificed after 8 weeks and 12 weeks. Blood pressure, serum creatinine, creatinine clearance (CrCl) and urinary protein excretion were measured every 4 weeks. Sclerosis and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) expression were assessed at 8 and 12 weeks, and collagen I, total collagen content and phospho-smad-2 expressions were determined at 12 weeks. Twelve-week-old db/db mice received sulodexide as above or vehicle. Albuminuria and CrCl were assessed at intervals till sacrifice at week 9 with assessment of urinary transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and glomerular lesions. RESULTS Blood pressure, serum creatinine and CrCl were not different in radiation rat CONT vs SUL at any time. Proteinuria was significantly lower in SUL compared to CONT at 4 and 8 weeks but not at 12 weeks. Sclerosis and PAI-1 expression trended lower in SUL vs CONT at 8 weeks. There was no difference between the groups in sclerosis, collagen I mRNA, total collagen content or PAI-1 expression at 12 weeks. Phospho-smad 2 expression was significantly decreased in SUL compared to CONT at 12 weeks. Db/db mice with or without SUL showed no difference in urinary albumin/creatinine ratio, urine TGF-beta or mesangial matrix expansion. CONCLUSIONS Our data show that sulodexide can reduce the early, but not late, proteinuria in radiation nephropathy in rats. In addition, sulodexide did not affect urine TGF-beta established albuminuria or mesangial matrix expansion in a chronic model of diabetic kidney disease in mice. Although sulodexide may affect TGF-beta activation in radiation nephropathy, this effect appeared insufficient in this model to inhibit the expressions of PAI-1 and collagen and reduce accumulation of extracellular matrix. These results may explain in part its lack of efficacy in recent clinical trials of chronic kidney disease.
MEMS Technology for Optical Crosslink for Micro / Nano Satellites

We report on a novel, compact twodimensional (2D) scanning micromirror for free space optical crosslinks for micro and nano satellites. Using a novel micromachined structure called MicroElevator by Self-Assembly (MESA) [1], the micromirror is suspended above the substrate by several hundred micrometers. Large mirror size and wide scanning range are achieved simultaneously. Large number of resolvable spots (>100) can be realized. Experimentally, optical scanning angles of ±14° have been achieved for the 2D scanner with mirror size of 400 μm × 400 μm. The resonant frequencies are around 500 Hz.
Graph-based code construction for data storage

In this paper, we propose a graph-based construction method for distributed data storage codes design. Relations among storage cost, repair cost and repair outage (probability where repair fails) are obtained in terms of the structural properties of the underlying graph. As a result, our approach can simplify the code design problem. Tradeoffs among different system parameters are also obtained.
A Survey on Perceived Risk and Intention of Adopting Internet Banking

The rise of internet usage with the huge discovery creativities of internet banking already drew the attention of researchers towards the direction of internet banking. However, the intention to use internet banking has been hindered by the risk perceived by the customers in using the internet banking amenities. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the impact of perceived risk on intention to use internet banking. Also to investigate the effect of performance risk, social risk, time risk, financial risk and security risk on the intention to use internet banking. This study uses quantitative method, whereby data collected was analysed with several statistical tools in SPSS 22.0 including descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation and regression analysis. The analysis of the data is based on the sample of 120, from the population of Nigeria Postgraduates students in the Universiti Utara Malaysia and a selfadministered questionnaire was conducted. The respondents were randomly selected. The findings from the hypothesis tested in this study showed that perceived risk; performance risk, social risk, time risk, financial risk and security risk negatively influences intention towards the use of internet banking in this study. In addition, the findings shows that perceived risk (PR) among all other variables contributes more in explaining intention to use internet banking.
Enhancement of learning capabilities of students of all ability levels through a constructivist approach

vii TABLE OF CONTENTS . ix ARC ONE-TWO: ORIENTATION OF MY INQUIRY . 1 FOREWORD: A PROFESSION OF MANY CONTRADICTIONS . 2 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 6 Background . 6 Objectives . 8 Significance . 13 Research Methods . 14 Quality Standards . 24 Thesis Structure . 30 CHAPTER 2: JOURNEY OF MY EDUCATION, JOURNEYING BY WANDERING OR WANDERING BY JOURNEYING . 35 Beginning . 35 My First Bold Step . 38 My First Two Teachers . 40 Wandering . 45 My Journey with Academic Constructivism . 49 Effect of the New Teaching Approach . 51 My First Success as a Teacher . 55 Debunking Myths . 56 Harvest of Intellectual Arrogance . 58 My Fate . 60 The Dream Which Came True and Then Vanished . 64 Learning to Heal From Ill‐Health . 66 Aspects of My Adolescent Constructivism . 72 Summing Up . 74
Look Here, Eye Movements Play a Functional Role in Memory Retrieval

Research on episodic memory has established that spontaneous eye movements occur to spaces associated with retrieved information even if those spaces are blank at the time of retrieval. Although it has been claimed that such looks to “nothing” can function as facilitatory retrieval cues, there is currently no conclusive evidence for such an effect. In the present study, we addressed this fundamental issue using four direct eye manipulations in the retrieval phase of an episodic memory task: (a) free viewing on a blank screen, (b) maintaining central fixation, (c) looking inside a square congruent with the location of the to-be-recalled objects, and (d) looking inside a square incongruent with the location of the to-be-recalled objects. Our results provide novel evidence of an active and facilitatory role of gaze position during memory retrieval and demonstrate that memory for the spatial relationship between objects is more readily affected than memory for intrinsic object features.
Automatic clustering for MRI images, application on perfusion MRI of brain

Many studies have been made in order to propose automatic diagnostic in medical fields. This paper proposes a new approach to deal with the problem of spectral clustering for signal extracted from brain MRI images. The tool-chain developed during this study can be easily implemented for the extraction and the analysis of information from perfusion MRI. In order to prove this, a reliable program which can easily isolate healthy from any pathological tissues. Experimental results are shown and discussed.
Fuzzy deconvolution of hormone time-series

In this paper we describe a method to nd the Instantaneous Secretion Rate of a hormone. The dynamics of the relation between secretion rate and peripheral plasma hormone concentration is rst identi ed by using learning signals. The fuzzy identi cation method is based on fuzzy clustering and optimal output predefuzzi cation. The proposed method leads to a fuzzy inference system which is able to perform the deconvolution, i.e. reconstruction of the unknown secretion rate. The results compare well with other deconvolution methods.
UWB measurement investigation for remote sensing in underground mining environment

In order to test the feasibility of using UWB Technology in Underground Mining to monitor and communicate with remote sensors, propagation channel characterization were performed over a frequency range of 3 GHz to 10 GHz. Many parameters have been investigated in terms of the human presence and antenna radiation pattern. The parameters are the path loss propagation and the RMS delay spread. Measurement and simulation results show that the path loss exponents in underground environments are larger than their corresponding in indoor environments. Moreover, the directional - directional antennas combination, which improves radiation efficiency, reduces the RMS delay spread. Consequently, a maximum transmitted symbol rate in UWB underground channel is expected.
Puzzle of W Leptonic Decay Branching Fractions and Gauge Model of Generation Nonuniversality

Lepton generation universality holds very well in Z decays, but appears to be violated in recent LEP data of W leptonic decay branching fractions. If this trend persists, a consistent and natural explanation is a model of generation nonuniversality, based on the gauge group SU(2)_L X U(1)_R X U(1)_{B-L}.
Low Rank Matrix Completion with Exponential Family Noise

The matrix completion problem consists in reconstructing a matrix from a sample of entries, possibly observed with noise. A popular class of estimator, known as nuclear norm penalized estimators, are based on minimizing the sum of a data fitting term and a nuclear norm penalization. Here, we investigate the case where the noise distribution belongs to the exponential family and is sub-exponential. Our framework alllows for a general sampling scheme. We first consider an estimator defined as the minimizer of the sum of a log-likelihood term and a nuclear norm penalization and prove an upper bound on the Frobenius prediction risk. The rate obtained improves on previous works on matrix completion for exponential family. When the sampling distribution is known, we propose another estimator and prove an oracle inequality w.r. t. the Kullback-Leibler prediction risk, which translates immediatly into an upper bound on the Frobenius prediction risk. Finally, we show that all the rates obtained are minimax optimal up to a logarithmic factor.
Spatially-Aware Comparison and Consensus for Clusterings

This paper proposes a new distance metric between clusterings that incorporates information about the spatial distribution of points and clusters. Our approach builds on the idea of a Hilbert space-based representation of clusters as a combination of the representations of their constituent points. We use this representation and the underlying metric to design a spatially-aware consensus clustering procedure. This consensus procedure is implemented via a novel reduction to Euclidean clustering, and is both simple and efficient. All of our results apply to both soft and hard clusterings. We accompany these algorithms with a detailed experimental evaluation that demonstrates the efficiency and quality of our techniques.
An Energy-Efficient Mobile Sink Routing Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks

the main goal of routing protocol for wireless sensor networks is energy-efficiency. By reducing the hops and data quantity in data transmission, the lifetime of nodes can be prolonged, and the communication is guaranteed. However, these nodes around the sink will be exhausted easily because of high traffic load. Sink mobility can be used to prolong network lifetime. Aiming at this problem, this paper proposes a new routing algorithm supporting sink mobility. This algorithm uses cluster-based model to implement the mobile sink routing protocol, and the sink moves based on the average energy in each cluster. Simulation results indicate that the proposed EEMSRA (an Energy-Efficient Mobile Sink Routing Algorithm) is energy efficient and energy balanced, it can provide longer lifetime as compared to other algorithms.
A Real Orthogonal Space-Time Coded UWB Scheme for Wireless Secure Communications

Recent research reveals that information security and information-hiding capabilities can be enhanced by proper exploitation of space-time techniques. Meanwhile, intrinsic properties of ultra-wideband (UWB) signals make it an outstanding candidate for secure applications. In this paper, we propose a space-time coding scheme for impulse radio UWB systems. A novel real orthogonal group code is designed for multi-antenna UWB signals to exploit the full spatial diversity gain and achieve the perfect communication secrecy. Its performance in a frequency-selective fading channel is analyzed. The transmission secrecy, including low probability of detection (LPD), low probability of intercept (LPI), and anti-jamming performance, is investigated, and some fundamental tradeoffs between these secrecy metrics are also addressed. A comparison of the proposed scheme with the direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) technique is carried out, which demonstrates that proper combination of UWB and space-time coding can provide substantial enhancement to wireless secure communications over other concurrent systems.
Identification of neurotransmitter receptor genes under significantly relaxed selective constraint by orthologous gene comparisons between humans and rodents.

Neurotransmitter receptors (neuroreceptors) are classified into two types, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ligand-gated ion channels. The former occupies a small part of the large GPCR superfamily, whereas the latter consists of three superfamilies. In these superfamilies, humans and rodents share almost the same set of neuroreceptor genes. This neuroreceptor gene set is good material to examine the degree of selective constraint exerted on each member gene of a given superfamily. If there are any neuroreceptor genes under the degree of selective constraint that is very different from that of the other member genes, they may have influenced the functional features characteristic of human neural activities. With the aim of identifying such neuroreceptor genes, we collected sequence data of orthologous neuroreceptor genes for humans, mice, and rats by database searches. This data set included ortholog pairs for 141 kinds of neuroreceptor genes, which covered almost the whole set of neuroreceptor genes known to be expressed in the human brain. The degree of selective constraint was estimated by computing the ratio (d(N)/d(S)) of the number of nonsynonymous substitutions to that of synonymous substitutions. We found that the d(N)/d(S) ratio ranged widely and its distribution fitted a gamma distribution. In particular, we found that four neuroreceptor genes are under the significantly relaxed selective constraint. They are an ionotropic glutamate receptor subunit NMDA-2C, two GABA(A) receptor subunits, i.e., GABA(A)-epsilon and GABA(A)-theta, and a dopamine receptor D4. Interestingly, these neuroreceptors have been reported to be associated with cognitive abilities such as memory and learning, and responsiveness to novel stimuli. These cognitive abilities can influence the behavioral features of an individual. Thus, it suggests that the relaxed-constraint neuroreceptor genes have evolved, assuring that the nervous system responds to a variety of stimuli with proper flexibility.
Recovery from Model Inconsistency in Multilingual Speech Recognition Report from JHU workshop 2007

Current ASR has difficulties in handling unexpected words that are typically replaced by acoustically acceptable high prior probability words. Identifying parts of the message where such a replacement could have happened may allow for corrective strategies. We aim to develop data-guided techniques that would yield unconstrained estimates of posterior probabilities of sub-word classes employed in the stochastic model solely from the acoustic evidence, i.e. without use of higher level language constraints. These posterior probabilities then could be compared with the constrained estimates of posterior probabilities derived with the constraints implied by the underlying stochastic model. Parts of the message where any significant mismatch between these two probability distributions is found should be reexamined and corrective strategies applied. This may allow for development of systems that are able to indicate when they " do not know " and eventually may be able to " learn-as-you-go " in applications encountering new situations and new languages. During the 2007 Summer Workshop we intend to focus on detection and description of out-of-vocabulary and mispronounced words in the 6 language Call-home database. Additionally, in order to describe the suspect parts of the message, we will work on language-independent recognizer of speech sounds that could be applied for phonetic transcription of identified suspect parts of the recognized message.
Extended Prigozhin theorem: method for universal characterization of complex system evolution

Evolution of arbitrary stochastic system was considered in frame of phase transition description. Concept of Reynolds parameter of hydrodynamic motion was extended to arbitrary complex system. Basic phase parameter was expressed through power of energy, injected into system and power of energy, dissipated through internal nonlinear mechanisms. It was found out that basic phase parameter as control parameter must be delimited for two types of system - accelerator and decelerator. It was suggested to select zero state entropy on through condition of zero value for entropy production. Zero state introduces universal principle of disorder characterization. On basis of self organization theorem we have derived relations for entropy production behavior in the vicinity stationary state of system. Advantage of these relations in comparison to classical Prigozhin theorem is versatility of their application to arbitrary nonlinear systems. It was found out that extended Prigozhin theorem introduces two relations for accelerator and decelerator correspondingly, which remarks their quantitative difference. At the same time classic Prigozhin theorem makes possible description of linear decelerator only. For unstable motion it corresponds to strange attractor.
Model atmospheres of magnetic chemically peculiar stars - A remarkable strong-field Bp SiCrFe star HD 137509

Context. In the last few years we have developed stellar model atmospheres which included effects of anomalous abundances and strong magnetic field. In particular, the full treatment of a nomalous Zeeman splitting and polarized radiative transfer were introduced in the model atmosphere calculations for the first time. The i nfluence of the magnetic field on the model atmosphere structu re and various observables were investigated for stars of different fundamental parameters and metallicities. However, these studies were purely theoretical and did not attempt to model real objects. Aims. In this investigation we present results of modelling the at mosphere of one of the most extreme magnetic chemically peculiar stars, HD 137509. This Bp SiCrFe star has the mean surface magnetic field modulus of about 29 kG. Such a strong field, as well a s clearly observed abundance peculiarities, make this star an interesting target for application of our newly developed model atmosphere code. Methods. We use the recent version of the line-by-line opacity sampling stellar model atmosphere code LLmodels, which incorporates the full treatment of Zeeman splitting of spectral lines, de tailed polarized radiative transfer and arbitrary abundan ces. We compare model predictions with photometric and spectroscopic observations of HD 137509, aiming to reach a self-consistency between the abundance pattern derived from high-resolution spectra and abundances used for model atmosphere calculation. Results. Based on magnetic model atmospheres, we redetermined abundances and fundamental parameters of HD 137509 using spectroscopic and photometric observations. This allowed us to obtain a better agreement between observed and theoretical parameters compared to non-magnetic models with individual or scaled-solar abundances. Conclusions. We confirm that the magnetic field e ffects lead to noticeable changes in the model atmosphere structure and should be taken into account in the stellar parameter determination and abundance analysis.
A Tale of Genome Compartmentalization: The Evolution of Virulence Clusters in Smut Fungi

Smut fungi are plant pathogens mostly parasitizing wild species of grasses as well as domesticated cereal crops. Genome analysis of several smut fungi including Ustilago maydis revealed a singular clustered organization of genes encoding secreted effectors. In U. maydis, many of these clusters have a role in virulence. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of clusters of effector genes is difficult because of their intrinsically fast evolution, which erodes the phylogenetic signal and homology relationships. Here, we describe the use of comparative evolutionary analyses of quality draft assemblies of genomes to study the mechanisms of this evolution. We report the genome sequence of a South African isolate of Sporisorium scitamineum, a smut fungus parasitizing sugar cane with a phylogenetic position intermediate to the two previously sequenced species U. maydis and Sporisorium reilianum. We show that the genome of S. scitamineum contains more and larger gene clusters encoding secreted effectors than any previously described species in this group. We trace back the origin of the clusters and find that their evolution is mainly driven by tandem gene duplication. In addition, transposable elements play a major role in the evolution of the clustered genes. Transposable elements are significantly associated with clusters of genes encoding fast evolving secreted effectors. This suggests that such clusters represent a case of genome compartmentalization that restrains the activity of transposable elements on genes under diversifying selection for which this activity is potentially beneficial, while protecting the rest of the genome from its deleterious effect.