Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Surface changes on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko suggest a more active past

Changes to the surface geology of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko are driven by seasonal factors. The changing surface of a comet From 2014 to 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft investigated comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it passed through the inner solar system. El-Maarry et al. compared images of the surface taken before and after the comet's closest approach to the Sun. Numerous geological changes were evident, including cliff collapses, large boulders that moved, and cracks that opened up. These seem to have been triggered by seasonal factors, such as the amount of sunlight falling on each area. Understanding such changes should help elucidate comet formation and evolution. Science, this issue p. 1392 The Rosetta spacecraft spent ~2 years orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, most of it at distances that allowed surface characterization and monitoring at submeter scales. From December 2014 to June 2016, numerous localized changes were observed, which we attribute to cometary-specific weathering, erosion, and transient events driven by exposure to sunlight and other processes. While the localized changes suggest compositional or physical heterogeneity, their scale has not resulted in substantial alterations to the comet’s landscape. This suggests that most of the major landforms were created early in the comet’s current orbital configuration. They may even date from earlier if the comet had a larger volatile inventory, particularly of CO or CO2 ices, or contained amorphous ice, which could have triggered activity at greater distances from the Sun.
Haptics in a social network service: Tweeting with motion for sharing physical experiences

To augment tangible information into current social network systems (SNSs), this paper proposes an algorithm that generates force data from the user's hand gestures. The input modality defined in this paper is based on gesture information in the form of an acceleration profile in that at times it describes the current status of a user better than text-based content. For the physical representation of a motion update, corresponding force vectors in a Cartesian coordinate system are calculated with the proposed linear equation. Given the experimental results, it is predicted that the proposed physical logging and rendering scheme will provide a physical experience in mediated social connections.
Preparing General Educators to Work Well with Students Who Have Disabilities: What's Reasonable at the Preservice Level?

The restructured teacher education program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is described specifically with regard to its commitment to prepare general educators to work effectively and responsibly with students with disabilities. Background information is provided about the program, including the features that support a strong relationship between special and general educators. The authors discuss reasonable outcomes for initial teachers in general education and highlight some of the challenges in program implementation.
Antibody affinity maturation using bacterial surface display.

A quantitative system for screening combinatorial single-chain Fv (scFv) antibody libraries was developed utilizing surface display on Escherichia coli and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). This system was employed to isolate clones with high-affinity to a fluorescently-labeled hapten from libraries constructed by randomizing heavy and light-chain residues in the anti-digoxin 26-10 derived antibody, scFv(dig). The use of flow cytometry enabled the detection of rare library members directly in heterogeneous populations and the optimization of selection conditions prior to sorting. A heavy-chain mutant having wild-type affinity (KD = 0.91+/-0.22 nM) and an expected representation frequency of less than 1 x 10(6), was selected to homogeneity after three rounds utilizing increasingly stringent selection conditions. The isolated clone possessed two distinct point mutations relative to the wild-type DNA sequence, yet still coded for the wild-type amino acid sequence, suggesting that the wild-type residues may be optimal at the randomized positions. An affinity improved clone (KD = 0.30+/-0.05 nM), having a dissociation constant approximately threefold lower than the wild-type antibody, was isolated from a smaller light-chain library in a single sorting step. Flow cytometry was shown to be a simple and rapid method for the determination of the relative hapten dissociation rate constants of selected clones without requiring subcloning. The relative rate constants estimated by FACS were confirmed by producing the scFv antibodies in soluble form and measuring hapten binding kinetics by surface plasmon resonance (SPR). These results demonstrate that E.coli surface display, coupled with quantitative selection and analysis using FACS, has the potential to become a powerful tool for rapid isolation and characterization of desirable mutants from large polypeptide libraries.
Benefit-finding or finding benefits? The positive impact of having a disabled child

This study investigated the positive impact of having a disabled child. The question addressed is whether the positive impacts reported by parents are better characterised as artefacts of stress-processing or transformational outcomes. A total of 538 parent-carers in Alberta, Canada completed a survey. Most parents reported benefits. Their reports were corroborated by measures of family cohesion and social support. Reported benefit had no observed stress-buffering effects. The findings suggest that reported benefits are not merely perceived for the sake of coping. These are better viewed as outcomes of a transformational life-learning process. When parent-carers report benefits, we should take them at their word.
An automatic pin identification method for a three-phase DC brushless motor

The pin identification is to find the definition of each connecting pin of a three-phase brushless motor. The 11 pins of the motor can be distinguished into three groups by a simple resistance measurement method. An automatic method has two steps. In the first step, the motor is in an open-circuited mode; and the individual pins of the windings are identified by comparing back electromotive forces. A special integral is defined and used to match Hall signal pins with the Hall sensors. The polarity of each pair of the Hall signal pins is determined by the second step of a standstill method. The proposed method is illustrated and verified by an experiment.
The Deliberative Quality of Referendum Coverage in Direct Democracy

Abstract The article presents a systematic and standardised content analysis of 4,559 newspaper articles; it covers nine popular votes in Switzerland between 1983 and 2004 and measures the deliberativeness of the mediated public debate. In the last decade, a growing number of studies employ a deliberative framework in analysing mass media contents. However, these studies followed a sceptical perspective and found evidence that mediated deliberation inevitably falls short of the demanding criteria provided by normative theory. Nevertheless, the article demonstrates that there are examples of deliberative journalism in Swiss direct democratic campaigns. We argue that a political system of a mature direct democracy, such as the Swiss democracy is, together with a journalistic culture which is “educated” by initiative and referendum, might provide an appropriate environment for mediated-public deliberation.
EPPS: mining the COG database by an extended phylogenetic patterns search

SUMMARY EPPS runs under Microsoft Windows. It is an extended version of the phylogenetic patterns search (PPS). The output condition of PPS is the exact match of a user defined phylogenetic pattern with the pattern represented by the respective cluster of orthologous groups (COG). In contrast, the software described here is less restrictive. The user may define the accuracy of the search by the number of genomes that are allowed not to match the predefined phylogenetic pattern. Thus, EPPS has the advantage to detect COGs even if organisms defined to be included are not or organisms defined to be excluded are present in the output COGs.
Graph-Matching Based CTA

Separating bone, calcification, and vessels in computer tomography angiography (CTA) allows for a detailed diagnosis of vessel stenosis. This paper presents a new, graph-based technique that solves this difficult problem with high accuracy. The approach requires one native data set and one that is contrast enhanced. On each data set, an attributed level-graph is derived and both graphs are matched by dynamic programming to differentiate between bone, on one hand side, and vessel/calcification on the other hand side. Lumen and calcified regions are then separated by a profile technique. Evaluation is based on data from vessels of pelvis and lower extremities of elderly patients. Due to substantial calcification and motion of patients between and during the acquisitions, the underlying approach is tested on a class of difficult cases. Analysis requires 3-5 min on a Pentium IV 3 GHz for a 700 MByte data set. Among 37 patients, our approach correctly identifies all three components in 80% of cases correctly compared to visual control. Critical inconsistencies with visual inspection were found in 6% of all cases; 70% of these inconsistencies are due to small vessels that have 1) a diameter near the resolution of the CT and 2) are passing next to bony structures. All other remaining deviations are found in an incorrect handling of the iliac artery since the slice thickness is near the diameter of this vessel and since the orientation is not in cranio-caudal direction. Increasing resolution is thus expected to solve many the aforementioned difficulties.
Changes in rapidly transported proteins in developing hamster retinofugal axons

Proteins synthesized in retinal ganglion cells and conveyed to the terminals of optic tract axons in the rapid phase of axonal transport were analyzed at different developmental stages in the hamster. Animals between 2 d of age and adulthood were labeled intraocularly with 35S- methionine, and after a 4 hr survival time, the superior colliculus was dissected out, subjected to subcellular fractionation, and radiolabeled proteins in the particulate fraction analyzed by 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and fluorography. The previously identified growth- associated phosphoprotein, GAP-43 (GAP-48, B-50, F1, pp46), was synthesized and transported at high levels in the neonate, but these levels declined precipitously after the second postnatal week. Immunohistochemical studies using a monospecific antibody showed that GAP-43 was localized along the entire length of retinal axons in the optic tract and target areas in P2 animals but was virtually absent in the adult visual pathway. By metabolic labeling, 2 proteins with molecular weights of about 230 kDa also showed a sharp decrease during development. In contrast, acidic proteins of 27 and 64 kDa, which were barely detectable in the neonate, increased steadily to become the most heavily labeled proteins of rapid axonal transport by the second postnatal week. Another group of proteins, of about 94–110 kDa, also rose to peak levels after birth but then declined. Temporal correlations between the molecular changes described here and the known anatomical events in optic tract development suggest that the synthesis and transport of particular membrane proteins may be directly related to the sequence of morphological changes.
Polarization of Thermal X-Rays from Isolated Neutron Stars

Since the opacity of a magnetized plasma depends on polarization of radiation, the radiation emergent from atmospheres of neutron stars with strong magnetic fields is expected to be strongly polarized. The degree of linear polarization, typically ~10%-30%, depends on photon energy, effective temperature, and magnetic field. The spectrum of polarization is more sensitive to the magnetic field than the spectrum of intensity. Both the degree of polarization and the position angle vary with the neutron star rotation period so that the shape of polarization pulse profiles depends on the orientation of the rotational and magnetic axes. Moreover, as the polarization is substantially modified by the general relativistic effects, observations of polarization of X-ray radiation from isolated neutron stars provide a new method for evaluating the mass-to-radius ratio of these objects, which is particularly important for elucidating the properties of the superdense matter in the neutron star interiors.
Modeling of interconnection lines for simulation of VLSI circuits

A modeling approach for RC delays of interconnection lines, based on a lumped resistor and capacitor ladder, for the distributed RC transmission line, is presented. The interconnection line is considered to be driven by a MOS gate source, MOS gate loads, and RC interconnection branches. The minimum number of required RC sections is obtained for each case of driving an interconnection line and for a specified average relative error. Also, a rule based on the worst case of driving an interconnection branch in a complex RC tree network is proposed in order to automatically determine the recommended number of RC sections. This can be used as a first step before timing simulations. <<ETX>>
Comparative Analysis of Ant Colony and Particle Swarm Optimization Techniques

For a decade swarm Intelligence, an artificial intelligence discipline, is concerned with the design of intelligent multi-agent systems by taking inspiration from the collective behaviors of social insects and other animal societies. They are characterized by a decentralized way of working that mimics the behavior of the swarm. Swarm Intelligence is a successful paradigm for the algorithm with complex problems. This paper focuses on the comparative analysis of most successful methods of optimization techniques inspired by Swarm Intelligence (SI) : Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). An elaborate comparative analysis is carried out to endow these algorithms with fitness sharing, aiming to investigate whether this improves performance which can be implemented in the evolutionary algorithms.
Cholinergic induction of oscillations in the hippocampal slice in the slow (0.5–2 Hz), theta (5–12 Hz), and gamma (35–70 Hz) bands

Carbachol, a muscarinic receptor agonist, produced three distinct spontaneous oscillations in the CA3 region of rat hippocampal slices. Carbachol concentrations in the 4–13 μM range produced regular synchronized CA3 discharges at 0.5–2 Hz (carbachol‐delta). Higher concentrations (13–60 μM) produced short episodes of 5–10 Hz (carbachol‐theta) oscillations separated by nonsynchronous activity. Concentrations of carbachol ranging from 8–25 μM also produced irregular episodes of high‐frequency discharges (carbachol‐gamma, 35–70 Hz), in isolation or mixed with carbachol‐theta and carbachol‐delta. At carbachol concentrations sufficient to induce carbachol‐theta, low concentrations of APV reversibly transformed carbachol‐theta into carbachol‐delta. Higher concentrations of D,L‐2‐amino‐5‐phosphonopentanoic acid (APV) reversibly and completely blocked carbachol‐theta. A systematic study of the effects of carbachol shows that the frequency of spontaneous oscillations depended nonlinearly on the level of muscarinic activation. Field and intracellular recordings from CA1 and CA3 pyramidal cells and interneurons during carbachol‐induced rhythms revealed that the hippocampal circuitry preserved in the slice was capable of spontaneous activity over the range of frequencies observed in vivo and suggests that the presence of these rhythms could be under neuromodulatory control. Hippocampus 10:187–197, 2000 © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Once a killer, always a killer: from cytotoxic T cell to memory cell

Summary: The control of the differentiation pathways followed by responding CD8+ T cells to produce protective memory cells has been intensely studied. Recent developments have identified heterogeneity at the effector cytotoxic T‐lymphocyte level within which a bona fide memory cell precursor has emerged. The challenge now is to identify the cellular and molecular factors that control this developmental pathway. This review considers aspects of the regulation of the induction of effectors, the transition of effectors to memory cells, and the dynamics of the memory population.
Bilayer Low-Density Parity-Check Codes for Decode-and-Forward in Relay Channels

This paper describes an efficient implementation of binning for decode-and-forward (DF) in relay channels using low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. Bilayer LDPC codes are devised to approach the theoretically promised rate of the DF relaying strategy by incorporating relay-generated parity bits in specially designed bilayer graphical code structures. While conventional LDPC codes are sensitively tuned to operate efficiently at a certain channel parameter, the proposed bilayer LDPC codes are capable of working at two different channel parameters and two different rates: that at the relay and at the destination. To analyze the performance of bilayer LDPC codes, bilayer density evolution is devised as an extension of the standard density evolution algorithm. Based on bilayer density evolution, a design methodology is developed for the bilayer codes in which the degree distribution is iteratively improved using linear programming. Further, in order to approach to the theoretical DF rate for a wide range of channel parameters, this paper proposes two different forms of bilayer codes: the bilayer-expurgated and bilayer-lengthened codes. It is demonstrated that the rate of a properly designed bilayer LDPC code can closely approach the theoretical DF limit. Finally, it is shown that a generalized version of the proposed bilayer code construction is applicable to relay networks with multiple relays.
Approximate Ray‐Tracing on the GPU with Distance Impostors

This paper presents a fast approximation method to obtain the point hit by a reflection or refraction ray. The calculation is based on the distance values stored in environment map texels. This approximation is used to localize environment mapped reflections and refractions, that is, to make them depend on where they occur. On the other hand, placing the eye into the light source, the method is also good to generate real-time caustics. Computing a map for each refractor surface, we can even evaluate multiple refractions without tracing rays. The method is fast and accurate if the scene consists of larger planar faces, when the results are similar to that of ray-tracing. On the other hand, the method suits very well to the GPU architecture, and can render ray-tracing and global illumination effects with few hundred frames per second. The primary application area of the proposed method is the introduction of these effects in games.
Sex‐specific fitness variation in gynodioecious Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima: do empirical observations fit theoretical predictions?

In gynodioecious species, in which hermaphroditic and female plants co‐occur, the maintenance of sexual polymorphism relies on the genetic determination of sex and on the relative fitness of the different phenotypes. Flower production, components of male fitness (pollen quantity and pollen quality) and female fitness (fruit and seed set) were measured in gynodioecious Beta vulgaris spp. maritima, in which sex is determined by interactions between cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) genes and nuclear restorers of male fertility. The results suggested that (i) female had a marginal advantage over hermaphrodites in terms of flower production only, (ii) restored CMS hermaphrodites (carrying both CMS genes and nuclear restorers) suffered a slight decrease in fruit production compared to non‐CMS hermaphrodites and (iii) restored CMS hermaphrodites were poor pollen producers compared to non‐CMS hermaphrodites, probably as a consequence of complex determination of restoration. These observations potentially have important consequences for the conditions of maintenance of sexual polymorphism in B. vulgaris and are discussed in the light of existing theory on evolutionary dynamics of gynodioecy.
Vocational Psychology and Career Counseling: Inventing the Future.

Abstract Vocational psychology has amassed a mature and impressive scientific literature. It has also made a number of professional and political strides in recent years. However, several weaknesses, or gaps, are also apparent (e.g., certain issues or populations have been understudied, linkages to other domains of inquiry have often been missed, and less attention has been paid to contextual and cultural variables than is desirable). A plethora of threats and opportunities await vocational psychology in the next decade. Some of the threats (e.g., the availability of Internet-based career services) also pose great opportunities, depending on how we plan for, and respond to, them. Within this context, I suggest a revised mission statement for vocational psychology, focusing on many of the field's traditional strengths, unfulfilled promises, and new challenges. In addition, a set of goals is offered to encourage advances in several old and new areas of vocational inquiry and practice.
A Two-Factor Uncertainty Model to Determine the Optimal Contractual Penalty for a Build-Own-Transfer Project

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) became one of the most common types of public procurement arrangements and Build-Own-Transfer (BOT) projects, awarded through adequate bidding competitions, have been increasingly promoted by governments. The theoretical model herein proposed is based on a contractual framework where the government grants leeway to the private entity regarding the timing for project implementation. However, the government is aware that delaying the beginning of operations will lead to the emergence of social costs, i.e., the costs that result from the corresponding loss of social welfare. This fact should motivate the government to include a contractual penalty in case the private firm does not implement the project immediately. The government also recognizes that the private entity is more efficient in constructing the project facility. Considering both the existence of social costs and the private firm’s greater efficiency, the model’s outcome is the optimal value for the legal penalty the government should include in the contract form. A two-factor uncertainty approach is adopted, where the facility construction costs and the cash-flows to be generated by running the subsequent activities follow geometric Brownian motions that are possibly correlated. Adkins and Paxson (2011) quasianalytical solution is followed since homogeneity of degree one can not be invoked in all of the model’s boundary conditions. Sensitivity analysis reveals that variations both in the correlation coefficients and in the standard deviations have a strong impact on the optimal contractual penalty. Sensitivity analysis also demonstrates that there is a level of social costs above which the inclusion of a legal penalty is necessary and, similarly, that there is a level for the comparative efficiency above which the inclusion of a legal penalty is not justifiable. The analytical solution to determine each of these values is presented. Finally, the effects of including a non-optimal penalty value in the contract form, which result from overestimating or underestimating the selected bidder’s real comparative efficiency are examined, using a numerical example. Results demonstrate that overestimating (underestimating) the selected bidder’s real comparative efficiency leads to the inclusion of a below-optimal (above-optimal) value for the legal penalty in the contract and produces effects that the government would prefer to prevent.