Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Source-lens clustering effects on the skewness of the lensing convergence

ABSTRA C T The correlation between source galaxies and lensing potentials causes a systematic effect on measurements of cosmic shear statistics, known as the source ‐lens clustering (SLC) effect. The SLC effect on the skewness of lensing convergence, S3, is examined using a non-linear semi-analytic approach and is checked against numerical simulations. The semi-analytic calculations have been performed in a wide variety of generic models for the redshift distribution of source galaxies and power-law models for the bias parameter between the galaxy and dark matter distributions. The semi-analytic predictions are tested successfully against numerical simulations. We find the relative amplitude of the SLC effect on S3 to be of the order of 5 ‐ 40 per cent. It depends significantly on the redshift distribution of sources and on the way in which the bias parameter evolves. We discuss possible measurement strategies to minimize the SLC effects.
Author's Personal Copy Behavioural Brain Research Photoperiod Alters Fear Responses and Basolateral Amygdala Neuronal Spine Density in White-footed Mice (peromyscus Leucopus)

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: Shorts day lengths enhance fear memory in white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus). Short days increase spine density in the basolateral amygdala. Short days do not alter dendritic spines or arborization in the infralimbic PFC. a b s t r a c t Photoperiodism is a biological phenomenon in which environmental day length is monitored to ascertain time of year to engage in seasonally appropriate adaptations. This trait is common among organisms living outside of the tropics. White-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) are small photoperiodic rodents which display a suite of adaptive responses to short day lengths, including reduced hippocampal volume , impairments in hippocampal-mediated memory, and enhanced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity. Because these photoperiodic changes in brain and behavior mirror some of the etiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we hypothesized that photoperiod may also alter fear memory and neuronal morphology within the hippocampus–basolateral amygdala–prefrontal cortex fear circuit. Ten weeks of exposure to short days increased fear memory in an auditory-cued fear conditioning test. Short days also increased dendritic spine density of the neurons of the basolateral amygdala, without affecting morphology of pyramidal neurons within the infralimbic region of the medial prefrontal cortex. Taken together, photoperiodic phenotypic changes in brain morphology and physiology induced by a single environmental factor, exposure to short day lengths, affect responses to fearful stimuli in white-footed mice. These results have potential implications for understanding seasonal changes in fear responsiveness , as well as for expanding translational animal models for studying gene–environment interactions underlying psychiatric diseases, such as PTSD.
Lessons learned by participants of distributed software development

The maturation of the technical infrastructure has enabled the emergence and growth of distributed software development. This has created tempting opportunities for companies to distribute their software development, for example, to economically favourable countries so as to gain needed expertise or to get closer to customers. Nonetheless, such distribution potentially creates problems that need to be understood and addressed in order to make possible the gains offered. To clarify and understand the most difficult problems and their nature, a survey of individuals engaged in distributed software development was conducted. The purpose of this survey was to gather and share lessons learned in order to better understand the nature of the software development process when operating in a distributed software development environment and the problems that may be associated with such distributed processes. Through a clear appreciation of the risks associated with distributed development it becomes possible to develop approaches for the mitigation of these risks. This paper presents the results of the survey, focusing on the most serious problems raised by the respondents. Some practical guidelines that have been developed by industry to overcome these problems are also briefly summarized. Copyright # 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Engagement in activities revealing the body and psychosocial adjustment in adults with a trans-tibial prosthesis

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the appearance of a prosthesis on social behaviour, social discomfort and psychological well-being in eleven amputees taking delivery of a prosthesis with a silicone cover. Two new scales were developed: the ‘Engagement in everyday activities involving revealing the body’ (EEARB); and the ‘Discomfort-Engagement in everyday activities involving revealing the body’ (Discomfort-EEARB) scales. The psychometric properties of these scales were determined using a sample of 101 able-bodied adults. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were also used to measure psychological well-being in the amputee sample. The EEARB and Discomfort-EEARB proved to have good reliability and validity. Comparison of amputees’ scores prior to receiving the silicone cosmesis with those of the able-bodied adults revealed significant behavioural limitations and social discomfort, associated with low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. There was a significant increase in amputees’ scores three months afier taking delivery of their prosthesis, indicating that amputees reported engaging in more activities which involved revealing their body, and that they would feel more comfortable in situations which involved revealing the body. As the amputee sample available was small and self-selected, it is not possible to generalise these findings to the amputee population as a whole. However, since there is little previous research investigating the effects of the appearance of the prosthesis, these findings demonstrate the need for further research in this area.
Chromogranin A as a Marker for Diagnosis, Treatment, and Survival in Patients With Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Neoplasm

AbstractChromogranin A (CgA) not only plays an important role in pathologic diagnosis, but is also used as a circulating biomarker in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm (GEP-NEN). However, the relationship between immunohistochemistry (IHC) expression and serum levels of CgA has not been investigated. The value of CgA for evaluating treatment response and prognosis is still not well understood. We conducted this study to assess the significance of CgA in GEP-NEN in terms of diagnosis, curative effects evaluation and prognosis.One hundred forty-five patients comprising 88 patients with active disease and 57 disease-free patients were enrolled in this study from January 2011 to November 2013. The expression of CgA was assessed by IHC, and serial serum CgA levels were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.The overall expression rate of CgA was 69.0% (100/145). CgA expression was associated with tumor site and stage (P < 0.05), but not correlated with prognosis (P = 0.07). Serum CgA levels were significantly higher in GEP-NEN patients with active disease when compared with disease-free patients (P = 0.001) or healthy participants (P < 0.001). A CgA cutoff value of 95 ng/ml discriminated between healthy subjects or disease-free patients and patients with active disease (sensitivity 51.2% and specificity 87.5%, respectively). There was a correlation between the CgA IHC expression and high serum CgA levels (R = 0.320, P = 0.002). Serum CgA levels were much higher in patients who classified as neuroendocrine carcinoma, mixed adenoendocrine carcinoma (P = 0.035) and who were on stage IV (P = 0.041). Changes in CgA levels normalization or ≥30% decrease suggested that patients had tumor response. Furthermore, patients with serum CgA levels higher than 95 ng/ml had a significantly shorter survival compared with patients with levels lower than 95 ng/ml (P < 0.001). CgA is a reliable pathologic and circulating maker for diagnosis of GEP-NEN. We further confirmed that serial measurement of CgA may be useful for evaluating the efficacy of different kinds of therapies in patients during follow-up, and serum CgA level ≥95 ng/ml may serve as a predictor of overall survial.
The Rapid Decline of the Prompt Emission in Gamma-Ray Bursts

Many gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been observed with the Burst Alert Telescope and X-Ray Telescope of the Swift satellite. The successive “pulses” of these GRBs end with a fast decline and a fast spectral softening, until they are overtaken by another pulse or the last pulse's decline is overtaken by a less rapidly varying “afterglow. ” The fast-decline phase has been attributed, in the currently explored standard fireball model of GRBs, to “high-latitude” synchrotron emission from a collision of two conical shells. This high-latitude emission does not explain the observed spectral softening. In contrast, the temporal behavior and the spectral evolution during the fast-decline phase agree with the predictions of the cannonball model for GRBs.
Acidic residues in the membrane-proximal stalk region of vaccinia virus protein B5 are required for glycosaminoglycan-mediated disruption of the extracellular enveloped virus outer membrane

The extracellular enveloped virus (EEV) form of vaccinia virus (VACV) is surrounded by two lipid envelopes. This presents a topological problem for virus entry into cells, because a classical fusion event would only release a virion surrounded by a single envelope into the cell. Recently, we described a mechanism in which the EEV outer membrane is disrupted following interaction with glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) on the cell surface and thus allowing fusion of the inner membrane with the plasma membrane and penetration of a naked core into the cytosol. Here we show that both the B5 and A34 viral glycoproteins are required for this process. A34 is required to recruit B5 into the EEV membrane and B5 acts as a molecular switch to control EEV membrane rupture upon exposure to GAGs. Analysis of VACV strains expressing mutated B5 proteins demonstrated that the acidic stalk region between the transmembrane anchor sequence and the fourth short consensus repeat of B5 are critical for GAG-induced membrane rupture. Furthermore, the interaction between B5 and A34 can be disrupted by the addition of polyanions (GAGs) and polycations, but only the former induce membrane rupture. Based on these data we propose a revised model for EEV entry.
Colony Breeding System Influences Cuticular Bacterial Load of Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) Workers

ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to test whether the breeding system and/or the degree of inbreeding of field colonies of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus, Shiraki (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) influences bacterial load on the cuticle of foraging workers. We enumerated bacterial load on the cuticle of groups of workers foraging in 20 inground monitoring stations surrounding the French Market in New Orleans, LA, and identified bacteria species using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We used microsatellite genotyping to assign the 20 worker groups to seven simple family colonies (headed by a single pair of reproductives) and four extended family colonies (headed by multiple inbreeding reproductives) with a wide range of degrees of inbreeding. Workers from extended family colonies had a higher bacterial load than those from simple family colonies; however, bacterial load was not significantly correlated to the degree of inbreeding, possibly because of confounding factors in colony life history, such as age and/or size of colonies. Colonies with high bacterial load did not have a higher proportion of entomopathogens, and thus, bacterial load is not necessarily an indicator for disease risk. The majority of bacteria cultured from the cuticle of termites were soil bacteria with no known pathology against termites.
Therapeutic applications of mesenchymal stroma cells in pediatric diseases: Current aspects and future perspectives

Summary Mesenchymal stem cells or stroma cells (MSCs) were recently proven to play various therapeutic roles when used in clinical trials to control various inflammatory, neoplastic and immunologic diseases in children. Clinical trials show some promising results, particularly in diseases where conventional therapy is still ineffective. However, experimental studies sometimes show conflicting results. This review aims to assess the current therapeutic role of MSCs in the control of several pediatric diseases and elaborate on their future applications by reviewing published studies. A review of published studies on this subject based on Pubmed and Medical Subject Heading databases, with search for all relevant articles focusing on results of clinical trials to evaluate the clinical applications of MSCs. The review includes documentation of positive as well as negative applications of MSCs focused on pediatric diseases. MSCs have important immunosuppressive and antifibrotic effects that need to be employed to help patients with diseases for which no conventional management has proven to be effective. They may be also be used as an adjuvant to conventional therapeutic modalities to consolidate recovery. This review sheds light on the significance of the use of MSCs for the treatment of various pediatric diseases and focuses on promising applications. Most of the reported studies agree about the favorable use of MSCs in various diseases; however, more clinical trials, involving larger numbers of patients, need to be conducted in order to refine the outcome of the therapeutic methods and establish standardized protocols.
Low metallicity natal environments and black hole masses in Ultraluminous X-ray Sources

We review the available estimates of the masses of the compact object in ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) and critically reconsider the stellar mass versus intermediate-mass black hole (BH) interpretations. BHs of several hundreds to thousands of Mare not required for the majority of ULXs, although they might be present in the handful of known hyperluminous (∼10 41 erg s −1 ) objects and/or some sources showing timing features in their power density spectra. At the same time, however, stellar mass BHs may be quite a reasonable explanation for ULXs below∼10 40 erg s −1 , but they need super-Eddington accretion and some suitable dependence of the beaming factor on the accretion rate in order to account for ULXs above this (isotropic) luminosity. We investigate in detail a 'third way' in which a proportion of ULXs contain ≈30-90 MBHs formed in a low metallicity environment and accreting in a slightly critical regime and find that it can consistently account for the properties of bright ULXs. Surveys of ULX locations looking for a statistically meaningful relationship between ULX position, average luminosity and local metallicity will provide a definitive test of our proposal.
Infrared surveys of Galactic star clusters

Abstract Many attempts have been made to carry out a complete observational census of Milky Way star clusters based on recent near- and mid-infrared surveys. However, more clusters are still being discovered, indicating that existing catalogs are incomplete. We attempt to estimate the total number of supermassive (SM; Mcl ≥ 104 M⊙) clusters in the Galaxy, and to improve the yield from the automated cluster searches. Assuming that the ‘local’ census of SM clusters is complete, and that their surface density accross the disk follows that of the stars, we predict that the Milky Way contains ≥81 ± 21 SM clusters. We apply a cluster-detection algorithm to the 2mass Point Source Catalog after a preliminary color and/or magnitude selection of the point sources to improves the surface-density cluster-to-field contrast. Our algorithm identified 94 new candidates, and re-identified 34 known clusters. During the visual inspection, we detected an additional 41 new candidates, and re-identified 32 known objects. Preliminary characterization suggests that the new list may contain red-supergiant, open and globular clusters.
Employing Requirements Metrics for Automating Early Risk Assessment

The most important decisions in software development projects are those taken at the beginning, because they are the most difficult to change later. Especially the assessment of risks is essential in the early stages of development, because the results are a crucial source of information for early decision making. Risks have to be reassessed at frequent intervals, because they might change over time. Currently, typically experts conduct risk assessment and thus it is expensive to repeatedly perform such risk assessments during the course of a project. To improve on this situation, we propose applying metrics to estimate essential information needed for computing product risks. Previous work in this area uses metrics which are based on source code and thus those metrics cannot be used in the early stages of software development. In this paper, a metricbased risk model is presented, which employs requirements metrics to estimate product risks. Thus, our approach brings automation to risk assessment as well as enables the early assessment of product risks in software development projects. Some of the benefits of this early and automated risk assessment are illustrated through an application scenario for risk-based and requirements-based testing.
Interval Type-II Fuzzy Rule-Based STATCOM for Voltage Regulation in the Power System

The static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) has recently received much attention owing to its ability to stabilize power systems and mitigate voltage variations. This paper investigates a novel interval type-II fuzzy rule-based PID ( proportional-integral-derivative ) controller for the STATCOM to mitigate bus voltage variations caused by large changes in load and the intermittent generation of photovoltaic (PV) arrays. The proposed interval type-II fuzzy rule base utilizes the output of the PID controller to tune the signal applied to the STATCOM. The rules involve upper and lower membership functions that ensure the stable responses of the controlled system. The proposed method is implemented using the NEPLAN software package and MATLAB/Simulink with co-simulation. A six-bus system is used to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Comparative studies show that the proposed method is superior to traditional PID and type-I fuzzy rule-based methods.
Off-Line Sketch Interpretation

We present a novel approach to creating structured diagrams (such as o w charts or object diagrams) by combining an off-line sketch recognition system with the user interface of a traditional structured graphics editor. Our system, called UDSI (user-directed sketch interpretation), aims to provide drawing freedom by allowing the user to sketch entirely off-line using a pure pen-and-paper interface. The results of the drawing can then be presented to UDSI, which recognizes shapes, lines, and text areas that the user can then polish as desired. The system can infer multiple interpretations for a given sketch to aid during the user’s polishing stage. The UDSI program uses a novel recognition architecture that combines low-level recognizers with domain-specic heuristic lters and a greedy algorithm that eliminates incompatible interpretations.
Evaluating USARSim for use in fire search and rescue

Replacing humans with robots, or at least assist them, in the search and rescue operations is a necessity given the risks and dangers human rescue forces might be exposed to. Indoor fire situations are among the demanding fields for aid of specialized robots for assisting in the operations. The major risk to fire victims is smoke inhalation and its consequences, not the fire itself. Due to the high density of the smoke in indoor fires, visibility is very likely to be extremely limited making it highly hazardous for fire personals to explore. Other dangerous factors are possible leakage of poisonous gases and structural collapse. Devising a solution for this class of SAR operations require repeated testing and verification of the exploration solutions in the existence of smoke and fire. Due to the difficulties of constructing real life scenarios a 3D simulator need to be adopted. USARSim is presented as the best candidate for this scenario. Its a high-fidelity simulator that supports the development of multi-robot systems. USARSim can add realistic effects that are necessary to simulate indoor fire scenarios, such as fire and smoke. In this paper we present an overview of existing 3D simulators and present USARSim architecture, components and features and compare it to other existing simulators.
The cache performance and optimizations of blocked algorithms

Blocking is a well-known optimization technique for improving the effectiveness of memory hierarchies. Instead of operating on entire rows or columns of an array, blocked algorithms operate on submatrices or blocks, so that data loaded into the faster levels of the memory hierarchy are reused. This paper presents cache performance data for blocked programs and evaluates several optimization to improve this performance. The data is obtained by a theoretical model of data conflicts in the cache, which has been validated by large amounts of simulation. We show that the degree of cache interference is highly sensitive to the stride of data accesses and the size of the blocks, and can cause wide variations in machine performance for different matrix sizes. The conventional wisdom of frying to use the entire cache, or even a fixed fraction of the cache, is incorrect. If a fixed block size is used for a given cache size, the block size that minimizes the expected number of cache misses is very small. Tailoring the block size according to the matrix size and cache parameters can improve the average performance and reduce the variance in performance for different matrix sizes. Finally, whenever possible, it is beneficial to copy non-contiguous reused data into consecutive locations.
Loneliness and Problematic Internet Use (PIU) as Causes of Academic Procrastination

It is now undeniable that young people and the Internet has become inseparable. Nonetheless, the uncontrolled use of it causes many problems among young adults including academic procrastination. Previous studies stated that academic procrastination lead to low of academic achievement. The reason of why young adults use the internet excessively and got negative outcomes in academic life did not stated clearly. The objective of this study was to find out the empirical evidence of PIU as a mediator between loneliness and academic procrastination. Sample consisted of 320 undergraduate students from 10 universities. Age range was 17-25 years old (M=20.17, SD=1.49). They were given three self-report questionnaires such as GPIUS2, SELSA, and TPS. Those instruments were adapted in Indonesian language. Data were analyzed with Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results showed that the model was good fit (χ2=416.541, df=205, p<0.001, CFI=0.902, TLI=0.879, SRMR=0.068, RMSEA=0.057, 90% CI:0.049-0.065, p good to fit 0.05). This study give contribution on loneliness, PIU, and academic procrastination as one model. It also gives implication of social media using among young people and policy making in universities about students life.