Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ethnic voting patterns: a case study of

AtssTrucT. This study proposes ;I number of hypotheses about ethnic voting patterns. In an application of one element of the theory. ecological regressions are used to explain the proportion of the vote in Metropolitan Toronto received hy ethnic (Italian. Chinese and Jewish) candidates for the Liberal. Progressive Conservative and New Democratic parties in rhe September 1087 provincial election. After allowing for the effects of income, age distribution and mother tongue on voting patterns. the ethnicity of the party candidate has a significant effect. A theory of ethnic voting patterns The study of ethnic voting patterns is of considerable interest both in itself in that it will tell us about the role of ethnicity in a multicultural/multi-ethnic society such as Canada, and in its uses in comparative political analysis with data from other countries. ’ Moreover, analysis of electoral coalition politics is of considerable theoretical importance in the area of research in economics ancl political science known as ‘public choice theory’ (i.e., .the economics of politics’). 2 While it is generally acknowledged that ethnic origin has an effect on voting behaviour, there has been little work done in Canada analyzing behaviour of groups other than French and English.3 Usually studies include an ‘other’ or ‘non-charter’ group, and sometimes finer breakdowns. * In those studies the basic unit is the constituency, a unit so broad that many ethnic groups have very limited presence in most units, making any ‘non-charter’ group effects too small to pick up. ’
MODELLING CONSUMPTION ON THE BASIS OF THE COMPLETE SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS IN SERBIA – THE WEALTH EFFECT

System of National Accounts (SNA) data on the financial and non-financial assets of the household sector are not currently being compiled by official statistics in Serbia, but this situation will change on the path of convergence to the standards of EU economic and monetary union. This paper, starting from models of consumption in developed and some former transition countries that take into account the wealth effect based on the whole SNA, analyses if this effect is taking place in Serbia. Research, based on available data sources, has shown that the wealth variables of securities and net financial wealth enter the consumption function in Serbia and it is yet to be seen if this model will be different at some higher stage of economic development or with better data.
Electromyographic activity of the hyoepiglotticus muscle and control of epiglottis position in horses.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the hyoepiglotticus muscle has respiratory-related electromyographic activity and whether electrical stimulation of this muscle changes the position and conformation of the epiglottis, thereby altering dimensions of the aditus laryngis. ANIMAL 6 Standardbred horses. PROCEDURE Horses were anesthetized, and a bipolar fine-wire electrode was placed in the hyoepiglotticus muscle of each horse. Endoscopic images of the nasopharynx and larynx were recorded during electrical stimulation of the hyoepiglotticus muscle in standing, unsedated horses. Dorsoventral length and area of the aditus laryngis were measured on images obtained before and during electrical stimulation. Electromyographic activity of the hyoepiglotticus muscle and nasopharyngeal pressures were measured while horses exercised on a treadmill at 50, 75, 90, and 100% of the speed that produced maximum heart rate. RESULTS Electrical stimulation of the hyoepiglotticus muscle changed the shape of the epiglottis, displaced it ventrally, and significantly increased the dorsoventral length and area of the aditus laryngis. The hyoepiglotticus muscle had inspiratory activity that increased significantly with treadmill speed as a result of an increase in phasic and tonic activity. Expiratory activity of the hyoepiglotticus muscle did not change with treadmill speed in 4 of 6 horses. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Findings reported here suggest that contraction of the hyoepiglotticus muscle increases dimensions of the airway in horses by depressing the epiglottis ventrally during intense breathing efforts. The hyoepiglotticus muscle may be an important muscle for dilating the airway in horses, and contraction of the hyoepiglotticus muscle may induce conformational changes in the epiglottis.
Registration for long-term multi-temporal remote sensing images under spatial constraints from historical data

In long-term multi-temporal images, the objects are very different and the feature matching is very difficult. However, in short-term multi-temporal images, the differences of objects are relatively insignificant. With the small difference, the correct matching points and the right affine transformation can be easily obtained. According to long-term multi-temporal image matching, in the range of time span we insert some historical image to reduce intervals in temporal difference. Through a series of affine transformation between neighboring temporal, the rough spatial relations between the two images can be gradually determined. Under the rough spatial constraints, the accuracy of the points matching can be significantly improved.
Eyeblink Frequency and Type in Relation to 3- and 9-O’Clock Staining and Gas Permeable Contact Lens Variables

Purpose. The primary goal of this study was to evaluate if there is a difference in frequency and in completeness of eyeblinks (type of eyeblink) in rigid gas permeable (GP) lens wearers experiencing 3- and 9-o’clock staining compared with GP lens wearers without substantial staining and nonlens wearers. Methods. The study involved 26 nonlens wearers and 55 GP contact lens wearers, with and without 3- and 9-o’clock staining. Every eyeblink over a 5-min period was categorized as a complete eyeblink, incomplete eyeblink, or an eyeblink attempt. In addition, type of lens fit (interpalpebral vs. lid attachment), lens-to-cornea fit (flat vs. steep), spherical equivalent of the refraction, and corneal coverage (on-eye lens diameter) were analyzed. Results. No difference in overall eyeblink frequency was found between nonlens wearers (group I, n = 26), GP lens wearers with less than grade 1 corneal staining (group II, n = 25) and GP lens wearers with grade 1 or more corneal staining (group III, n = 30). Fewer complete eyeblinks, more incomplete eyeblinks and more eyeblink attempts were seen in group III than in group I or II (p < 0.01, p = 0.03, p < 0.01, respectively). Fewer complete eyeblinks and more eyeblink attempts (p < 0.01 for both) were found in interpalpebral lens fits than in lid attachment fits. Fewer complete eyeblinks (p = 0.02) and more incomplete eyeblinks (p = 0.03) were found with lenses rated as large or optimal in size than with lenses rated as small. Conclusions. GP lens wearers experiencing 3- and 9-o’clock staining showed a different eyeblink frequency for individual types of eyeblinks, but not for overall eyeblinks. Fewer complete eyeblinks, more incomplete eyeblinks, and more eyeblink attempts were observed in GP wearers with 3- and 9-o’clock staining compared with wearers with minimal staining and nonwearers. In addition, some individual contact lens variables were associated with more incomplete eyeblinks.
Fast and efficient compact feature descriptor for face recognition

Face recognition task has been used worldwide due to its effectiveness in different disciplines, but because of the complexity of the procedures it is a very difficult task to accurately recognize variations in face images. Large set of feature extraction of face is difficult to handle since the storage and the computation of such dense feature makes the process of recognition more complicated. The encoding scheme used in this work reduces large set of features into a less compact representation by using the concept of intra user correlation. By reducing the facial features, storage and computation will be cheaper. A sparse classifier is used for the matching of the face recognition technique. The sparse classifier reduces the time consumption for the recognition process.
Enhancing the recognition of children's speech on acoustically mismatched ASR system

The work presented in this paper explores the issues of recognizing children's speech using acoustic models trained on adults' speech data. In such conditions, on account of large acoustic mismatch between training and test data, a high degradation in the recognition performance is noted. In our earlier work, a binary weighting of cepstral features as well as of acoustic model parameters was explored to address the same. In this paper, a soft-weighting is proposed to overcome the information loss with simple binary weighting scheme. This is achieved through a low-rank projection learned using adults' training data. The so derived transform happens to emphasize the principal dimensions of acoustic variations in adults' speech. During testing, the transform maps children's test data to the space of the training data and thus suppresses the mismatched dimensions. The proposed scheme is also verified experimentally using a recognition system trained on adults' data only as well as another system trained using adults' and children's data pooled together. The effectiveness of acoustic model adaptation is also explored to further enhance the system performance. Combining SW with cluster model interpolation leads to a relative improvement of 14% over the baseline.
Inferred motion perception of light sources in 3D scenes is color-blind

In everyday scenes, the illuminant can vary spatially in chromaticity and luminance, and change over time (e.g. sunset). Such variation generates dramatic image effects too complex for any contemporary machine vision system to overcome, yet human observers are remarkably successful at inferring object properties separately from lighting, an ability linked with estimation and tracking of light field parameters. Which information does the visual system use to infer light field dynamics? Here, we specifically ask whether color contributes to inferred light source motion. Observers viewed 3D surfaces illuminated by an out-of-view moving collimated source (sun) and a diffuse source (sky). In half of the trials, the two sources differed in chromaticity, thereby providing more information about motion direction. Observers discriminated light motion direction above chance, and only the least sensitive observer benefited slightly from the added color information, suggesting that color plays only a very minor role for inferring light field dynamics.
PGC-1 (cid:1) increases skeletal muscle lactate uptake by increasing the expression of MCT1 but not MCT2 or MCT4

PGC-1 (cid:1) increases skeletal muscle lactate uptake by increasing the expression of MCT1 but not MCT2 or MCT4. Physiol Genomics 45–54, 2008. examined the relationship between PGC-1 (cid:1) protein; the monocarboxylate transporters MCT1, 2, and 4; and CD147 1 ) among six metabolically heterogeneous rat muscles, 2 ) in chronically stimulated red (RTA) and white tibialis (WTA) muscles (7 days), and 3 ) in RTA and WTA muscles transfected with PGC-1 (cid:1) -pcDNA plasmid in vivo. Among rat hindlimb muscles, there was a strong positive association between PGC-1 (cid:1) and MCT1 and CD147, and between MCT1 and CD147. A negative association was found between PGC-1 (cid:1) and MCT4, and CD147 and MCT4, while there was no relationship between PGC-1 (cid:1) or CD147 and MCT2. Transfecting PGC-1 (cid:1) -pcDNA plasmid into muscle increased PGC-1 (cid:1) protein (RTA (cid:2) 23%; WTA (cid:2) 25%) and induced the expression of MCT1 (RTA (cid:2) 16%; WTA (cid:2) 28%), but not MCT2 and MCT4. As a result of the PGC-1 (cid:1) -induced upregulation of MCT1 and its chaperone CD147 ( (cid:2) 29%), there was a concomitant increase in the rate of lactate uptake ( (cid:2) 20%). In chronically stimulated muscles, the following proteins were upregulated, PGC-1 (cid:1) in RTA ( (cid:2) 26%) and WTA ( (cid:2) 86%), MCT1 in RTA ( (cid:2) 61%) and WTA ( (cid:2) 180%), and CD147 in WTA ( (cid:2) 106%). In contrast, MCT4 protein expression was not altered in either RTA or WTA muscles, while MCT2 protein expression was reduced in both RTA ( (cid:3) 14%) and WTA ( (cid:3) 10%). In these studies, whether comparing oxidative capacities among muscles or increasing their oxidative capacities by PGC-1 (cid:1) transfection and chronic muscle stimulation, there was a strong relationship between the expression of PGC-1 (cid:1) and MCT1, and PGC-1 (cid:1) and CD147 proteins. Thus, MCT1 and CD147 belong to the family of metabolic genes whose expression is regulated by PGC-1 (cid:1) in skeletal muscle.
BIOMETRIC-BASED SECURITY TECHNIQUES FOR INTERNET-BASED COMMERCE APPLICATIONS

The issue of secure online transactions is of utmost importance in the present day world of Internet based commercial applications. Accurate authentication of a person before he or she is allowed to use a resource is very important. On the other hand biometrics is fast developing as a reliable and accurate system for person identification. Biometrics can be the answer to most of the security related problems of the online commercial world. Fingerprint based matching and authentication systems are one of the most reliable systems that can be used for security applications. In this paper, we present a detailed description and implementation procedure for a fingerprint based matching and authentication system using Filterbank approach. The algorithm has been found to give good performance for low quality images.
Trimethoprim resistance gene in Shigella dysenteriae 1 isolates obtained from widely scattered locations of Asia

SUMMARY Trimethoprim-resistance genes of Shigella dysenteriae 1 strains, isolated from a different location of six different countries of Asia over a 5-year period were characterized by using three different dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene probes. The trimethoprim-resistant (TMPR) strains hybridized only with the type I DHFR gene probe by colony hybridization. None of the strains hybridized with types II and III DHFR gene probes. Southern blot experiments using plasmid DNA extracted from these resistant strains indicated that the type I DHFR genes were either on a 20 MDa plasmid or might be located on the chromosome. None of the other plasmids present in S. dyysenteriae 1 strains hybridized with the probe. This indicates that the TMP resistance in these S. dysenteriae 1 strains are mediated by type I DHFR enzyme, and there may be transposition of this type I DHFR gene occurs between the 20 MDa plasmid and the chromosome in this serotype of shigella.
Genomic organization of human myristoyl-CoA: protein N-myristoyltransferase-1.

Myristoylation is a biochemical modification of proteins in which the lipid myristate becomes covalently bound to various cellular, viral, and oncoproteins catalyzed by a monomeric enzyme myristoyl-CoA:protein N-myristoyltransferase (NMT). This modification is important for the biological activity of several proteins, especially the regulation of several oncoproteins involved in various types of cancers. Complementary DNA encoding human NMT-1 (hNMT-1) has been previously reported; however, the genomic organization of hNMT-1 has not been available. Attempts to amplify genomic fragments corresponding to hNMT-1 cDNA sequence yielded only one fragment. We have searched databases using both the cDNA and sequence of one of the intron sequence and this identified a human BAC clone sequence from chromosome 17. Alignment of hNMT-1 cDNA coding information on human chromosome 17 resulted in the complete structural identity of 23,960 bp of the hNMT-1 gene. The hNMT-1 gene is composed of 11 exons and 10 introns with consensus GT/AG boundaries. Finally, we show that 140 bp from the 5' end of recently reported full-length cDNA of hNMT-1 was not part of this genomic region raising the possibility for posttranscriptional modification in generating larger transcripts likely by trans splicing. Further, the availability of this genomic sequence will assist in unraveling the molecular basis for several observed NMT isoforms.
One‐year vaccination against hepatitis B virus with a MPL‐vaccine in liver transplant patients for HBV‐related cirrhosis

Conflicting results have been reported on vaccination against hepatitis B virus (HBV) as a prophylaxis against viral recurrence after liver transplantation. We investigated the efficacy of 1‐year, monthly vaccination using an adjuvant 3‐deacylated monophosphoryl‐lipid‐A (MPL) recombinant S vaccine initially administered together with hepatitis B immunoglobulins (HBIg) in 18 patients transplanted for HBV‐related cirrhosis. All received 12 vaccine doses (HBsAg, 20 mcg plus MPL, 50 mcg): the initial six doses (phase I) were administered within 7 days after intravenous HBIg (2000 IU), while the last 6 (phase II) following HBIg withdrawal. All patients received lamivudine during the study. Anti‐HBs titers were determined before each dose and then for 1 year after vaccination. After phase I anti‐HBs titers were greater than 100 IU/l in all patients and in three (16.6%) were greater than 500 IU/l. After phase II 10 patients (55.5%) achieved anti‐HBs titers greater than 100 IU/l and five (27.7%) greater than 500 IU/l. One year after vaccination eight patients (44.4%) maintained anti‐HBs titers greater than 100 IU/l, with a median titer of 234 IU/l (102–1205), and 2 (11.1%) greater than 500 IU/l. One‐year extended monthly vaccination with a MPL‐adjuvant recombinant vaccine induces a sustained protective anti‐HBs response in approximately half of transplant recipients.
The Role of Pyruvate in Protecting 661W Photoreceptor-Like Cells Against Light-Induced Cell Death

ABSTRACT Purpose: Light is a requirement for the function of photoreceptors in visual processing. However, prolonged light exposure can be toxic to photoreceptors, leading to increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), lipid peroxidation, and photoreceptor cell death. We used the 661W mouse cone photoreceptor-like cell line to study the effects of pyruvate in protecting these cells from light-induced toxicity. Methods: 661W cells were exposed to 15,000 lux continuous bright light for 5 hours and incubated in Dulbecco’s modified eagle medium (DMEM) with various concentrations of pyruvate. Following light damage, cells were assessed for changes in morphology, cell toxicity, viability, and ROS production. Mitochondrial respiration and anaerobic glycolysis were also assessed using a Seahorse Xfe96 extracellular flux analyzer. Results: We found that cell death caused by light damage in 661W cells was dramatically reduced in the presence of pyruvate. Cells with pyruvate-supplemented media also showed attenuation of oxidative stress and maintained normal levels of ATP. We also found that alterations in the concentrations of pyruvate had no effect on mitochondrial respiration or glycolysis in light-damaged cells. Conclusions: Taken together, the results show that pyruvate is protective against light damage but does not alter the metabolic output of the cells, indicating an alternative role for pyruvate in reducing oxidative stress. Thus, sodium pyruvate is a possible candidate for the treatment against the oxidative stress component of retinal degenerations.
Adam Politzer (1835-1920) and the Description of Otosclerosis

In 1893, Adam Politzer was the first to describe otosclerosis as a specific disease fixating the stapes. The aim of this study is to follow Politzer's research to understand how he finally explained the mechanism responsible for the fixation of the stapes. Politzer conducted his preliminary research from 1862 to 1893. From the concept of a dry catarrh of the middle ear, the fixation of the stapes became progressively associated with a specific ossification in and around the footplate. Politzer presented his first results in 1893. He completed his research by concluding in 1901 that otosclerosis had become an independent disease and should have the right to its own chapter in otologic books. He selected the word otosclerosis to describe this new pathologic entity.
A Framework for Fast Prototyping of Metaheuristics Hybridization

Hybrids of meta-heuristics have been shown to be more effective and adaptable than their parents in solving various combinatorial optimization problems. However, hybridized schemes are more tedious to implement due to their complexity. We address this problem by proposing the Meta-heuristics Development Framework (MDF). In addition to being a framework that promotes reuse to reduce developmental effort, the key strength of MDF lies in its ability to model metaheuristics using a “Request, Sense and Response” (RSR) schema, which decomposes algorithms into a set of well-defined modules that can be flexibly assembled through an intelligent central controller. Under this scheme, hybrid schemes become an event-based search that can adaptively trigger a desired parent’s behavior in response to search events. MDF can hence be used to design and implement a wide spectrum of hybrids with various degrees of collaboration thereby offering the algorithm designer quick turnaround in designing and testing his meta-heuristics. This is illustrated in this paper through the construction of hybrid schemes using Ants Colony Optimization (ACO) and Tabu Search (TS).
Parametrization of textural patterns in 123I-ioflupane imaging for the automatic detection of Parkinsonism.

PURPOSE A novel approach to a computer aided diagnosis system for the Parkinson's disease is proposed. This tool is intended as a supporting tool for physicians, based on fully automated methods that lead to the classification of (123)I-ioflupane SPECT images. METHODS (123)I-ioflupane images from three different databases are used to train the system. The images are intensity and spatially normalized, then subimages are extracted and a 3D gray-level co-occurrence matrix is computed over these subimages, allowing the characterization of the texture using Haralick texture features. Finally, different discrimination estimation methods are used to select a feature vector that can be used to train and test the classifier. RESULTS Using the leave-one-out cross-validation technique over these three databases, the system achieves results up to a 97.4% of accuracy, and 99.1% of sensitivity, with positive likelihood ratios over 27. CONCLUSIONS The system presents a robust feature extraction method that helps physicians in the diagnosis task by providing objective, operator-independent textural information about (123)I-ioflupane images, commonly used in the diagnosis of the Parkinson's disease. Textural features computation has been optimized by using a subimage selection algorithm, and the discrimination estimation methods used here makes the system feature-independent, allowing us to extend it to other databases and diseases.
Coenergy based transient model of interior permanent synchronous machines

This paper presents the design and analysis of a coenergy based transient model of interior permanent magnet synchronous machines. This model, in qd0 rotating reference frame, was implemented with both FEA and Matlab/Simulink. FEA creates a map of the machine's magnetic coenergy at a set of currents and rotor positions covering the ranges to be experienced in operation. The machine flux linkages and cogging torques are determined by computing partial differentials of piecewise polynomial representation of the coenergies. The good agreement between the equation calculation and the FEA results validates the feasibility of this coenergy based approach. This approach reduces computational time substantially from that required by a co-simulation approach. Sample transient simulation results demonstrate the application of the proposed model.