Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MULTI-SPECTRAL IR AND VISIBLE IMAGING SPECTROMETER ( MIVIS ) DATA TO ASSESS OPTICAL PROPERTIES IN SHALLOW WATERS

Extensions of submerged macrophyte and their variation in time along the littoral zone of Sirmione Peninsula, in the southern part of Lake Garda (Northern Italy), were investigated from imaging spectrometry. Two images with a ground resolution of 5 m were acquired by the Multispectral Infrared and Visible Imaging Spectrometer (MIVIS) during summer 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2005. Image data were geo-coded and atmospherically corrected using the 6S radiative transfer code and converted into Remote sensing reflectance Rrs values applying an additional correction for skylight reflection at the water surface. The MIVIS-derived Rrs values were inverted using a bio-optical model, ad hoc parameterised with inherent optical properties of Lake Garda waters. The inversion was run in the wavelength range from 0.48 to 0.60 μm, where the bio-optical model resulted more sensitive to variation of substrate albedo. The bio-optical model-driven optimisation provided reasonable estimation of bottom depth and of two different bottom albedo substrates: bare sand and submerged vegetation, which include a mixture of valuable freshwater species. Overall, the comparison of the substrate products over 10 years shown a marked disappearance of macrophyte beds, replaced by sandy substrates starting from 2000. In 2005 the situation was comparable to the older imagery, acquired in 1994. It is likely that increasing anthropogenic pressure in the Sirmione Peninsula as well as the increasing of variation range of water levels are responsible for the disappearance of valuable prairies of macrophytes in the study area.
Automated least-squares calibration of the coregistration parameters for a micro PET-CT system

A previously developed method derives co-registration parameters from PET and CT images of a four-point-source calibration phantom by manually adjusting the offsets and orientation of the CT image to achieve alignment with the PET image in a graphic viewer. This manual process is tedious and can be inaccurate, especially when rotational offsets exist. An automated segmentation method has been developed, based on thresholding and application of constraints on the sizes of point sources in the images. After point sources are identified on PET and CT images, co-registration is performed using an analytic rigid-body registration algorithm which is based on singular value decomposition and minimization of the co-registration error. The co-registration parameters thus derived can then be applied to co-register other PET and CT images from the same system. Twenty PET-CT images of the calibration phantom at various locations and/or orientations were obtained on a Siemens Inveon® Multi-Modality scanner. We tested the use of from 1 to 10 data sets to derive the co-registration parameters, and found that the co-registration accuracy improves with increasing number of data sets until it stabilizes. Co-registration of PET-CT images with an accuracy of 0.33±0.11 mm has been achieved by this method on the Inveon Multi-Modality scanner.
Embarking on the Internet: what motivates people?

Issues of becoming an Internet user primarily in non‐work contexts are discussed. The author reviews individual, social and economic factors motivating network use. Main findings of an empirical study based on the interviews of 23 Finns in 1997 are analysed. In addition, comparisons are made with the findings of the Consumer Research Project (1996‐98), conducted in Finland. The main motivating factors leading to network use were the requirements of work and study; also making everyday transactions easier, for example by home banking, was seen as important. The network connections were also acquired for keeping in contact with others and for hobbies, whereas entertainment purposes were not valued.
Minimising Task Migration and Priority Changes in Mode Transitions

Handling mode changes is one of the most complex and important problems for real-time systems designers. The challenge is to move a system from running one set of software to another while still achieving the quality of service guarantees necessary. There has been previous work which concentrated on how to perform scheduling and timing analysis of mode changes. However, a common theme of all this research is that if the system's schedule and allocation is chosen to minimise the set of differences between modes then the mode transition problem can be performed more easily and quickly. This paper investigates how this can be achieved
Morphologic and morphometric magnetic resonance imaging features of Doberman Pinschers with and without clinical signs of cervical spondylomyelopathy.

OBJECTIVE To compare morphologic and morphometric features of the cervical vertebral column and spinal cord of Doberman Pinschers with and without clinical signs of cervical spondylomyelopathy (CSM; wobbler syndrome) detected via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). ANIMALS 16 clinically normal and 16 CSM-affected Doberman Pinschers. PROCEDURES For each dog, MRI of the cervical vertebral column (in neutral and traction positions) was performed. Morphologically, MRI abnormalities were classified according to a spinal cord compression scale. Foraminal stenosis and intervertebral disk degeneration and protrusion were also recorded. Morphometric measurements of the vertebral canal and spinal cord were obtained in sagittal and transverse MRI planes. RESULTS 4 of 16 clinically normal and 15 of 16 CSM-affected dogs had spinal cord compression. Twelve clinically normal and all CSM-affected dogs had disk degeneration. Foraminal stenosis was detected in 11 clinically normal and 14 CSM-affected dogs. Vertebral canal and spinal cord areas were consistently smaller in CSM-affected dogs, compared with clinically normal dogs. In neutral and traction positions, the intervertebral disks of CSM-affected dogs were wider than those of clinically normal dogs but the amount of disk distraction was similar between groups. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE The incidence of intervertebral disk degeneration and foraminal stenosis in clinically normal Doberman Pinschers was high; cervical spinal cord compression may be present without concurrent clinical signs. A combination of static factors (ie, a relatively stenotic vertebral canal and wider intervertebral disks) distinguished CSM-affected dogs from clinically normal dogs and appears to be a key feature in the pathogenesis of CSM.
Approaches for Annotating Medical Documents

Annotations are useful to semantically enrich documents and other datasets with concepts of ontologies. In the medical domain, many documents are not annotated at all and manual annotation is a difficult process making automatic annotation methods highly desirable to support human annotators. We propose a linguistic-based and a reuse-based approach annotating medical documents by concepts from an ontology. The reuse-based approach utilizes previous annotations to annotate similar medical documents. The approach clusters items in documents such as medical forms according to previous ontology-based annotations and uses these clusters to determine candidate annotations for new items.
The Arabidopsis Histidine Phosphotransfer Proteins Are Redundant Positive Regulators of Cytokinin Signaling[W]

Arabidopsis thaliana histidine phosphotransfer proteins (AHPs) are similar to bacterial and yeast histidine phosphotransfer proteins (HPts), which act in multistep phosphorelay signaling pathways. A phosphorelay pathway is the current model for cytokinin signaling. To assess the role of AHPs in cytokinin signaling, we isolated T-DNA insertions in the five AHP genes that are predicted to encode functional HPts and constructed multiple insertion mutants, including an ahp1,2,3,4,5 quintuple mutant. Single ahp mutants were indistinguishable from wild-type seedlings in cytokinin response assays. However, various higher-order mutants displayed reduced sensitivity to cytokinin in diverse cytokinin assays, indicating both a positive role for AHPs in cytokinin signaling and functional overlap among the AHPs. In contrast with the other four AHPs, AHP4 may play a negative role in some cytokinin responses. The quintuple ahp mutant showed various abnormalities in growth and development, including reduced fertility, increased seed size, reduced vascular development, and a shortened primary root. These data indicate that most of the AHPs are redundant, positive regulators of cytokinin signaling and affect multiple aspects of plant development.
Feedback and Uptake in Teacher-Student Interaction: An Analysis of 18 English Lessons in Hong Kong Secondary Classrooms

This paper analyzes 18 non-native English lessons on teacher feedback and learner uptake at secondary levels in Hong Kong across Forms 1 to 5 (equivalent to Grades 7 to 11) and different types of lessons (Reading, Writing, Speaking, General English). 945 minutes of lessons were transcribed and analyzed. Results show: (1) Recast and explicit correction were the most frequent types of feedback; (2) none of the student-generated repairs resulted from recast or explicit correction, and the most frequent student-generated repair followed repetition; (3) most grammatical repairs followed from negotiation; and phonological repairs followed equally frequently from recast and explicit correction. There are two implications. First, recast may give way to other types of feedback moves (elicitation, clarification request, metalinguistic feedback, repetition), which may be more effective than the provision of correct forms. Second, while recast and explicit correction are more appropriate for phonological errors, negotiation facilitates grammatical repairs.
Reconstructing the Cultural Context of Urban Schools: Listening to the Voices of High School Students

Through listening to the voices of students, educators and community members can begin to reconstruct the culture of urban schools that are often full of stories about student deficits, genetic explanations about achievement, and cultural mismatch theories that may be traced to historical and sociological ideologies. The purpose of this heuristic qualitative investigation was to explore the ways in which student voice can contribute to reculturing high schools in urban settings. Data sources for this study included videotaped interviews and observations in two Midwestern urban high schools to explore the stories of 28 culturally and linguistically diverse students in grades 10 through 12. Findings suggested that the teens in these urban high schools want caring teachers who listen attentively, provide engaging learning opportunities, and who demonstrate high expectations for achievement. They did not want teachers who, in essence, perpetuate hegemonic discourses via pedagogical practices, and school environments that resemble prisons. At the same time, students wanted more structure to “avoid chaos” and asked teachers to give attention to the paradigm of the personal within the school curriculum. We extend the meaning of the study to include student voice as a critical stance for reconstructing the cultural context of urban schools, which entails listening to students to identify complex and sensitive topics for dialogue and inquiry.
Perception-Action Coupling via Imitation and Attention

When we interact with objects, we give them meaning, i.e. we show what they are potentially useful for. We believe that physical entities are anchored to perceptual representations, and through them to the actions that they ‘afford’. This paper brings an imitation mechanism and an attention system together computationally, with the aim of having a system that is capable of creating and maintaining these anchors. The integrated system is implemented on two different platforms: a simulated humanoid robot learning from another how to drink a glass of beer, and a simulated mobile robot learning from another how to follow walls.
Black-White Differences in Occupational Prestige

This article examines whether differences in parental occupational prestige mediate or moderate race differences in four indicators of child development—reading scores, math scores, Behavior Problems Index, and health status—using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement. The authors find that although for behavioral problems there is no impact of parental occupational prestige, for reading, math, and health there are significant academic returns to parental occupational prestige, but only for White families. The authors hypothesize that this racially distinct dynamic may be a result of ongoing discrimination in the labor market, thereby reducing the association between ability (job and parenting) and prestige; or it may be a result of the difficulty of Blacks to translate occupational prestige gains into other benefits as a result of discrimination outside the labor market; or finally, it may be the result of a generational lag between occupational status and parenting practices.
The Role of Positive and Negative Signaling Communication by Strong and Weak Ties in the Shaping of Safe Sex Subjective Norms of Adolescents in South Africa

We propose the theory that subjective (injunctive) social norms are shaped through two intertwined processes: positive and negative signaling communication by the personal social network and construal of the communicated social norm. Construal is evoked by the strength of the relation between a tie and the individual. With strong ties, individuals conform to the communicated injunctive norm, while with weak ties individuals do not conform to the communicated injunctive norm. We assessed the validity of the theoretical framework in a study on condom-use norms among 98 adolescents from different cultural backgrounds in South Africa. Parent injunctive norms were significantly related to positive and negative signaling about condoms of strong ties but not to positive and negative signaling of weak ties.
The expression Of Cultural Sensitivity in the Presence of African Americans

This study explores the motivational factors underlying European American individuals’ tendency to display more culturally sensitive behavior in the presence of African Americans. European American male college students (N = 75) individually viewed and evaluated racially insensitive humor, ostensibly in small groups with two confederates. The confederates’ racialbackgrounds were varied so that they consisted of either (a)two European Americans, (b) one European American and one African American, or (c) two African Americans. Half of the participants in each condition reacted to the humor privately, whereas the other half responded to the humor publicly. It was revealed that the mere perception of the presence of an African American individual prompted participants to display cultural sensitivity, evaluating the anti-African American humor negatively. It was interesting that this tendency was equally prevalent when participants rated the humor publicly and when they rated it privately. Implications for understanding the nature of cultural sensitivity and interracial self disclosure are discussed.
Reservation-based Scheduling: If You're Late Don't Blame Us!

The continuous shift towards data-driven approaches to business, and a growing attention to improving return on investments (ROI) for cluster infrastructures is generating new challenges for big-data frameworks. Systems originally designed for big batch jobs now handle an increasingly complex mix of computations. Moreover, they are expected to guarantee stringent SLAs for production jobs and minimize latency for best-effort jobs. In this paper, we introduce reservation-based scheduling, a new approach to this problem. We develop our solution around four key contributions: 1) we propose a reservation definition language (RDL) that allows users to declaratively reserve access to cluster resources, 2) we formalize planning of current and future cluster resources as a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem, and propose scalable heuristics, 3) we adaptively distribute resources between production jobs and best-effort jobs, and 4) we integrate all of this in a scalable system named Rayon, that builds upon Hadoop / YARN. We evaluate Rayon on a 256-node cluster against workloads derived from Microsoft, Yahoo! , Facebook, and Cloud-era's clusters. To enable practical use of Rayon, we open-sourced our implementation as part of Apache Hadoop 2.6.
Effect of Verbally Aggressive Television Programming on Viewers’ Self-Reported Verbal Aggression

ABSTRACT This study examined the effect of verbally aggressive media on self-reported verbal aggression. Using a theoretical framework provided by social cognitive theory, participants were randomly assigned to watch either a verbally aggressive television show or a neutral show. Participants' verbal aggression was assessed both several weeks before exposure and then again immediately after exposure. A between-subjects analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated an interaction between participants' sex and exposure condition, with males reporting greater verbal aggressiveness after exposure to the verbally aggression stimuli.
Repression: Active Censorship of Stressful Memories vs. Source Amnesia for Self-Consciously Dissociated Memories

Three groups of subjects were presented solvable and unsolvable anagrams, along with clues that were either perceived or imaged. For the two groups in which failure was made stressful, the perceptual clues from failed anagrams were most likely to be misremembered as imaginal clues. This finding suggests that the repression of past failure is manifested primarily as source amnesia, and is a passive aftereffect of having dissociatively experienced failure as “not real” as well as not imaginary in source. Such a suggestion challenges two key Freudian assumptions: that repression is universal, and that it entails active censorship.
Us(ed): The role of victim sensitivity in potentially exploitative intergroup relationships

In two studies, the influence of victim sensitivity, defined as individual differences in the extent to which people react emotionally when confronted with injustice to their own disadvantage, on intergroup emotions in potentially exploitative intergroup situations was examined. Using a cross-lagged design embedded in the German reunification context (N = 451), it was found that West Germans high in victim sensitivity felt more anger toward East Germans and angst for their ingroup’s future vitality 2 years later. In a second experimental study (N = 63), the effect of victim sensitivity on intergroup anger and intergroup angst was shown to be dependent upon perceived exploitation by an outgroup and explained unique variance over and beyond ideological variables (social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, political orientation). Taken together, these results suggest that victim sensitivity is an important variable to consider in potentially exploitative situations, not only on the interpersonal, but also on the intergroup level.
Regularized least-square object tracking based on ℓ2,1 minimization

In this paper, we propose a fast and long-term object tracking algorithm using the ℓ2,1 minimization to obtain a better tracking quality. Our method is based on Regularized Least-Squares Classification (RLSC), in which the target model is updated using an online learning process during object tracking. We construct an appearance model using saliency map, image intensity and position of the target and its surrounding regions. The Fourier analysis is adopted for fast learning and saliency map detection in this work. The proposed tracking algorithm runs at 165 frames-per-second(FPS) in MATLAB on an i5 machine. Extensive experimental results on challenging image sequences demonstrate the efficiency, accuracy and robustness of the proposed tracker in comparison with state-of-the-arts methods.
Synchronization in Electrically Coupled Neural Networks

This report investigates the synchronization of temporal activity in an electrically coupled neural network model. The electrical coupling is established by homotypic static gap-junctions (connexin-43). Two distinct network topologies, namely: sparse random network (SRN) and fully connected network (FCN), are used to establish the connectivity. The strength of connectivity in the FCN is governed by the mean gap˙ ˙
Repression of Tax Expression Is Associated both with Resistance of Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1-Infected T Cells to Killing by Tax-Specific Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes and with Impaired Tumorigenicity in a Rat Model

ABSTRACT Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) causes adult T-cell leukemia (ATL). Although the viral transactivation factor, Tax, has been known to have apparent transforming ability, the exact function of Tax in ATL development is still not clear. To understand the role of Tax in ATL development, we introduced short-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) against Tax in a rat HTLV-1-infected T-cell line. Our results demonstrated that expression of siRNA targeting Tax successfully downregulated Tax expression. Repression of Tax expression was associated with resistance of the HTLV-1-infected T cells to Tax-specific cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte killing. This may be due to the direct effect of decreased Tax expression, because the Tax siRNA did not alter the expression of MHC-I, CD80, or CD86. Furthermore, T cells with Tax downregulation appeared to lose the ability to develop tumors in T-cell-deficient nude rats, in which the parental HTLV-1-infected cells induce ATL-like lymphoproliferative disease. These results indicated the importance of Tax both for activating host immune response against the virus and for maintaining the growth ability of infected cells in vivo. Our results provide insights into the mechanisms how the host immune system can survey and inhibit the growth of HTLV-1-infected cells during the long latent period before the onset of ATL.
Comparability of probable and definite autoimmune hepatitis by international diagnostic scoring criteria.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The diagnostic scoring systems for autoimmune hepatitis categorize some patients as having probable disease; this designation can affect treatment strategies and recruitment to clinical studies. A retrospective study was performed to determine the bases for the classification of probable autoimmune hepatitis and its clinical importance. METHODS The study included 185 adult patients who had been assessed at presentation for findings common to both international diagnostic scoring systems. RESULTS Seventeen patients (9%) were graded as probable autoimmune hepatitis by the revised original scoring system, and 28 patients (15%) were similarly designated by the simplified scoring system. These patients were distinguished from those designated as definite autoimmune hepatitis by male sex, concurrent immune diseases, lower serum γ-globulin and immunoglobulin G levels, and lower titers of autoantibody. Patients with definite or probable designations by either scoring system responded similarly to conventional corticosteroid regimens during comparable intervals of treatment. Full, partial, or nonresponses and treatment dependence were evident in all diagnostic categories with similar frequencies. Twenty-seven patients designated as probable autoimmune hepatitis by one system were designated as definite autoimmune hepatitis by the other system. CONCLUSIONS The designation of probable autoimmune hepatitis by the international scoring systems is based on differences in clinical manifestations and does not reflect differences in the validity of the diagnosis or its treatment response. Large multicenter prospective studies are necessary to establish these observations.