Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-Term Depression Is Not Induced by Low-Frequency Stimulation in Rat Visual Cortex In Vivo: A Possible Preventing Role of Endogenous Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor

Low-frequency stimulation (LFS) at 1 Hz for 15 min is an effective protocol to induce homosynaptic long-term depression (LTD) in visual cortical slices. It is reported that LFS becomes ineffective when brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is applied to slices. It is not known, however, whether such a protocol induces LTD in visual cortex in vivo, and whether endogenous BDNF has the same or similar action. To address these questions, we recorded field potentials of rat visual cortex evoked by stimulation of lateral geniculate nucleus, white matter, or cortical layer IV. We found that LFS did not induce LTD of cortical responses in vivo. To test the possibility that spontaneous activity from retinas would interfere with the induction of LTD, both eyes were removed or inactivated by tetrodotoxin. LTD was not induced in these conditions either. To test whether the difference in temperature between the two preparations is a factor for the discrepancy, the temperature of slices was increased from 31 to 37°C. LTD was induced in slices at either temperature. Then, we hypothesized that endogenous BNDF and its receptors, TrkB, prevent the induction of LTD. To test this, we infused the cortex with an inhibitor of Trk receptor tyrosine kinases, anti-TrkB IgG1, anti-BDNF, and anti-neurotrophin 4/5 antibodies. LTD was induced when the BDNF–TrkB system was blocked. In slices, the level of phosphorylation of Trks was found to decrease with time. These results indicate that activation of TrkB signal pathway prevents LFS from inducing synaptic depression in visual cortex in vivo.
Reaching millikelvin resolution in Raman distributed temperature sensing using image processing

Image processing is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to improve the capabilities of Raman distributed optical fibre sensors. The here reported technique consists in stacking consecutive one-dimensional Raman Stokes and anti-Stokes traces in two-dimensional data arrays (one for each Raman component), which are then processed by an image denoising algorithm. Owing to the high level of correlation between consecutive measurements in conventional Raman sensing, it is experimentally demonstrated that this newly-proposed two-dimensional denoising approach provides a significant signal-to-noise ratio improvement, which in this case reaches 13.6 dB with no hardware modification to the conventional set-up. Experimental results demonstrate Raman distributed sensing with a remarkably enhanced temperature resolution of 4 mK at 9 km distance, which is obtained with 2 m spatial resolution and a short acquisition time of 35 s.
A 2.4GHz SiGe low phase-noise VCO using on chip tapped inductor

An on-chip tapped inductor technique is shown to be an efficient method for reducing oscillator phase noise. Higher signal amplitude can be achieved while avoiding breakdown and without penalty in area or tuning range. A commercial SiGe BJT process was used to fabricate the 2.4GHz VCO. The measured phase noise at 1MHz offset frequency is -128 dBc/Hz with 23% tuning range. The VCO dissipates 16.5mA at a 2.5V supply voltage.
Time-scale domain characterization of ultrawideband 2× 2 MIMO channel and range extension for Infostation environment

In this paper, we present the time-scale domain channel characterization of the multiple-input-multiple-output ultra-wideband (MIMO-UWB) channel typical of the Infostation channel. Specifically, we consider 2 × 2 MIMO-UWB taking into account the mobility of the transceiver (time-variation). Due to the uniqueness of the time-varying UWB propagation mechanism, we consider the channel response as a time-scale domain tensor instead of a matrix, and define a time-scale domain MIMO-UWB channel representation. We use the tensor model to represent a typical Infostation channel and obtain the diversity gain, and invariably the range extension in terms of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for both the single-input-single-output (SISO) and MIMO cases at different data rates. Results show that at an acceptable SNR of say 12 dB and data rate of 55 Mbps, the coverage range can be extended from 15 m to well over 25 m using 2 × 2 MIMO. For 110 Mbps, the range can be extended from 10 m to 25 m. And in the case of 480 Mbps, the impact of using 2 × 2 MIMO-UWB in the range extension is not quite appreciable.
Maximum a posteriori linear regression for hidden Markov model adaptation

In the past few years, transformation-based model adaptation techniques have been widely used to help reducing acoustic mismatch between training and testing conditions of automatic speech recognizers. The estimation of the transformation parameters is usually carried out using estimation paradigms based on classical statistics such as maximum likelihood, mainly because of their conceptual and computational simplicity. However, it appears necessary to introduce some constraints on the possible values of the transformation parameters to avoid getting unreasonable estimates that might perturb the underlying structure of the acoustic space. In this paper, we propose to introduce such constraints using Bayesian statistics, where a prior distribution of the transformation parameters is used. A Bayesian counterpart of the well known maximum likelihood linear regression (MLLR) adaption is formulated based on maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation. Supervised, unsupervised and incremental non-native speaker adaptation experiments are carried out to compare the proposed MAPLR approach to MLLR. Experimental results show that MAPLR outperforms MLLR.
Training neural networks using Clonal Selection Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization: A comparisons for 3D object recognition

Clonal Selection Algorithm (CLONALG) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) have been applied for wide spectrum of computer vision problems. However, their applications to 3D object recognition receive only little attention. In this paper, CLONALG and PSO algorithms for recognition of 3D object are discussed. Instead of using any predefined model to extract the geometrical information, the 3D object is modeled based on its 2D image appearance. Firstly, the 2D image is segmented using Otsu thresholding method. Secondly, a set of moment features that are invariant under translation, changes in scale, and rotation is extracted. Thirdly, the CLONALG and PSO are used to initialize the neural network weights. Then, the neural network training is continued by Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. The experimental results showed that the CLONALG-LM is better than PSO-LM and the other traditional training algorithms: Levenberg-Marquardt (LM), Scaled Conjugate Gradient (SCG), Gradient Descent (GD), Gradient Descent with Momentum (GDM), Gradient Descent with Adaptive Learning Rate (GDA), and Gradient descent with momentum and adaptive learning rate (GDMA).
Improved acknowledgement intrusion detection system in MANETs using hybrid cryptographic technique

Wireless networks are highly demanding due to its features, like flexibility and scalability. Among all the available wireless networks, MANET has the dynamic topology and it does not have the fixed network infrastructure. Each node acts as the transmitter along with the router. The nodes can communicate with each other either directly or with the help of neighbors. MANET is easily vulnerable to attack due to the open access medium. This paper introduces a hybrid technique to reduce NetworkOverhead, which is caused by the digital signature and provides security to a network. Here hybrid technique of RSA and AES is used, to make the system more secure as RSA algorithm is used to communicate with the receiver through session key and AES algorithm is used to encrypt this session key which makes the key more secure as a result enhancing the security level.
Assessing Instructor Performance: Best Practices From the Intelligence Community

Megan J. Hennessey is Instructor of Faculty Development at the National Geospatial-Intelligence College in Springfi eld, VA, and PhD Candidate in Higher Education at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Address correspondence to Megan J. Hennessey (E-mail: mhennes2@gmu.edu). Color versions of one or more of the fi gures in this article can be found online at www.tandfonline. com/ujch. Assessing Instructor Performance: Best Practices From the Intelligence Community
Solanum Incanum Extract Downregulates Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1-Mediated Stemness and Inhibits Tumor Formation in Ovarian Cancer Cells

Solanum incanum extract (SR-T100), containing the active ingredient solamargine, can induce apoptosis via upregulation of tumor necrosis factor receptor expression and activation of the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway, and has therapeutic effects in patients with actinic keratosis. Here, we evaluate the novel molecular mechanisms underlying SR-T100-regulated stemness and chemoresistance. The concentration of SR-T100 that inhibited 50% cell viability (IC50) was lower in ovarian cancer cells than in nonmalignant cells. Furthermore, the SR-T100 IC50 in chemoresistant cells was similar to the IC50 in chemosensitive cells. Additionally, SR-T100 increased cisplatin and paclitaxel sensitivity in chemoresistant cells. SR-T100 downregulated the expression of stem cell markers, including aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1), Notch1, and FoxM1, and reduced sphere formation in ovarian cancer cells. Using microarray analyses, immunoblotting, luciferase activity, and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays, we showed that SR-T100 suppressed the expression of c/EBPβ and COL11A1, and its promoter activity, in resistant cells, but not sensitive cells. SR-T100, paclitaxel, and cisplatin inhibited the growth of A2780CP70 cells in mouse xenografts, as compared to the vehicle control, and the combination of cisplatin and SR-T100 was more effective than either treatment alone. SR-T100 may represent a potential therapeutic adjunct to chemotherapy for ovarian cancer treatment.
Input switched single phase buck and buck-boost AC-DC converter with improved power quality

Two new topologies of single-phase AC-DC converter using Buck and Buck-Boost conversion with low input current THD and high input power factor are proposed. Instead of using a single phase rectifier followed by a boost DC-DC converter, or using a bridge rectifier with two diodes and two switches, the rectifier's input is chopped at high frequency during positive and negative cycles by a single bi-directional switch to get step-up/step-down ac-dc conversion. Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the input current of the proposed circuit with small input current filter is low. Input power factor and the efficiency of conversion of the circuit are high. No additional control is required to achieve the advantages.
Ontogeny of head and caudal fin shape of an apex marine predator: The tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier)

How morphology changes with size can have profound effects on the life history and ecology of an animal. For apex predators that can impact higher level ecosystem processes, such changes may have consequences for other species. Tiger sharks (Galeocerdo cuvier) are an apex predator in tropical seas, and, as adults, are highly migratory. However, little is known about ontogenetic changes in their body form, especially in relation to two aspects of shape that influence locomotion (caudal fin) and feeding (head shape). We captured digital images of the heads and caudal fins of live tiger sharks from Southern Florida and the Bahamas ranging in body size (hence age), and quantified shape of each using elliptical Fourier analysis. This revealed changes in the shape of the head and caudal fin of tiger sharks across ontogeny. Smaller juvenile tiger sharks show an asymmetrical tail with the dorsal (upper) lobe being substantially larger than the ventral (lower) lobe, and transition to more symmetrical tail in larger adults, although the upper lobe remains relatively larger in adults. The heads of juvenile tiger sharks are more conical, which transition to relatively broader heads over ontogeny. We interpret these changes as a result of two ecological transitions. First, adult tiger sharks can undertake extensive migrations and a more symmetrical tail could be more efficient for swimming longer distances, although we did not test this possibility. Second, adult tiger sharks expand their diet to consume larger and more diverse prey with age (turtles, mammals, and elasmobranchs), which requires substantially greater bite area and force to process. In contrast, juvenile tiger sharks consume smaller prey, such as fishes, crustaceans, and invertebrates. Our data reveal significant morphological shifts in an apex predator, which could have effects for other species that tiger sharks consume and interact with. J. Morphol. 277:556–564, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Performance Debugging Tool for High Performance Fortran Programs

Parallel languages allow the programmer to express paralleism at a high level. The management of parallelism and the generation of inter–processor communi cation is left to the compiler and the runtime system. This approach to parallel programming is particularly attr active if a suitable widely accepted parallel language is available. High Performance Fortran (HPF) has emerged as the first popular machine independent parallel languageand remarkable progress has been made towards comp ilingHPF efficiently. However, the performance of HPF programs is often poor and unpredictable, and obtaini ng adequate performance is a major stumbling block that must be overcome if HPF is to gain widespread accep tance. The programmer is often in the dark about how to improve the performance of an HPF program since poor performance can be attributed to a variety of reasons, including poor choice of algorithm, limited use of parallelism, or an inefficient data mapping. This paper presents a profiling tool that allows the programmer to identify the regions of the program that execute inefficiently, and to focus on the potential causes o f poor performance. The central idea is to distinguish the code that is executing efficiently from the code that is ex ecuting poorly. Efficient code uses all processors of a parallel system to make progress, while inefficient code cau ses processors to wait, execute replicated code, idle, communicate, or perform compiler bookkeeping. We designat e the latter code asnon-scalable, since adding more processors generally does not lead to improved perform ance for such code. By analogy, the former code is calledscalable. The tool presented here separates a program into scalable a nd non-scalable components and identifies the causes of non-scalability of different compo nents. We show that compiler information is the key to dividing the execution times into logical categories tha t are meaningful to the programmer. We present the design and implementation of a profiler that is integrated wi th Fx, a compiler for a variant of HPF. The paper includes two examples that demonstrate how the data reporte d by the profiler is used to identify and resolve performance bugs in parallel programs.
An Investigation of the Role of Sequencing in Children's Reading Comprehension

To date, little is known about the high-level language skills and cognitive processes underlying reading comprehension in children. The present study aimed to investigate whether children with high, compared with low, reading comprehension differ in their sequencing skill, which was defined as the ability to identify and recall the temporal order of events in narratives. A novel age-appropriate reading and recall measure was developed to assess sequencing in typically developing primary school students. Sixty-four students between the ages of 8 and 11 years read short narratives containing either a forward or backward temporal shift and then placed a set of cards depicting the scenario in either picture or text format in the correct chronological order that the events occurred. Participants also completed measures of verbal and visuospatial working memory to investigate potential relations between working memory and sequencing ability. High comprehenders were found to produce more accurate sequences than low comprehenders in all conditions of the sequencing task, suggesting that sequencing ability may be important for facilitating comprehension. Additionally, participants produced more accurate sequences in the forward condition than the backward condition, indicating that sequencing is facilitated by chronological presentation of events in text. Measures of working memory were unrelated to sequencing ability or comprehension. The results of this study provide preliminary evidence that sequencing is an important skill for children's comprehension of narrative texts and have implications for reading education and intervention programs.
Exploiting fuzzy reasoning optimized by Particle Swarm Optimization and adaptive thresholding to diagnose multiple faults in dynamic hybrid systems

In this paper, a general methodology to diagnose multiple faults in hybrid dynamic systems is proposed. The considered dynamic hybrid systems exhibit continuous dynamics with discernable discrete functioning modes. The inputs of the proposed methodology are residuals representing the numerical evaluation of Analytical Redundancy Relations extended to hybrid systems. These residuals are generated due to the use of switched bond graph modeling. The evaluation of these residuals is based on the combination of adaptive thresholding and fuzzy logic reasoning optimized by Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The results of the detection module are displayed as a colored causal graph. This causal graph is exploited to correctly isolate multiple faults. The ongoing experiments focus on a simulation of the three-tank hydraulic system, a benchmark in the diagnosis domain.
Leveraging decoupling in enabling energy aware D2D communications

Downlink/Uplink decoupling (DUDe) in LTE networks has caught the attention of researchers as it provides better uplink SINR and reduced power consumption per device due to decoupled connection of a device with the Macro (in downlink) and a small cell (in uplink). These characteristics of DUDe can be exploited to encourage more D2D communications in the network. This paper first proposes a model to estimate decoupling region within which a device is allowed to perform DUDe. Then, it formulates an equation to calculate the total power saved by devices due to decoupling. Finally, the extra area due to decoupling which can be used to enable D2D pairs is calculated. Simulation results are shown based on different simulation scenarios for different objectives for better understanding the idea proposed.
Leisure Routine and Positive Attitudes

Abstract Behavior, attitudes, and lifespan development are key antecedents of happiness. However, little is known about the multivariate effect of those items on happiness. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the comparative impacts of leisure routines and attitudes on overall happiness and to elucidate how routine leisure activities and attitudes may influence happiness at different life stages. Questionnaires were completed by 379 students and 253 alumni members of the same university. Analysis of variance indicated alumni rated locus of control and happiness variables significantly higher than did current students. Students rated the leisure routine variable significantly higher than did alumni. Structural equation modeling showed leisure routines had a significant indirect effect on happiness with attitudes as a full mediator. Multigroup path analysis showed there is little variance between the two groups. Findings indicate that one's routine leisure activities and attitudes can have a significant positive effect on overall happiness, and this path is consistent at different life stages.
Inflow and Retention in OSS Communities with Commercial Involvement

Motivation: Open-source projects are often supported by companies, but such involvement often affects the robust contributor inflow needed to sustain the project and sometimes prompts key contributors to leave. To capture user innovation and to maintain quality of software and productivity of teams, these projects need to attract and retain contributors. Aim: We want to understand and quantify how inflow and retention are shaped by policies and actions of companies in three application server projects. Method: We identified three hybrid projects implementing the same JavaEE specification and used published literature, online materials, and interviews to quantify actions and policies companies used to get involved. We collected project repository data, analyzed affiliation history of project participants, and used generalized linear models and survival analysis to measure contributor inflow and retention. Results: We identified coherent groups of policies and actions undertaken by sponsoring companies as three models of community involvement and quantified tradeoffs between the inflow and retention each model provides. We found that full control mechanisms and high intensity of commercial involvement were associated with a decrease of external inflow and with improved retention. However, a shared control mechanism was associated with increased external inflow contemporaneously with the increase of commercial involvement. Implications: Inspired by a natural experiment, our methods enabled us to quantify aspects of the balance between community and private interests in open- source software projects and provide clear implications for the structure of future open-source communities.
Numerical Comparison of Packaging Technologies for Power Electronics Modules

In this paper we present a comparison of the parasitics induced by the packaging structures in power electronic modules by means of numerical methods. The goals were to identify the critical substrate layouts and packaging components and to understand the mechanisms that affect the module's switching performance. The presented investigations compare the classical and widely used wire bonding technology with new area bonding techniques such as dimple array, metal post, and power overlay. Numerical analysis was done with a dedicated simulation platform based on a PEEC method solver and SPICE circuit simulations. A 1200 V/300 A IGBT module was used as a case study to illustrate the investigation results
Improved deterministic model for the characterization of wireless channel

In this work, we present an improved deterministic model to characterize the field in the shadow of a building. The model includes the higher order diffraction coefficient (slope diffraction) and transmission through the building. A generalized transmission model for a series of n buildings is also presented. The proposed model is validated for a single building scenario with the available measurements.
Aspects of the intonational phonology of Bàsàá

Two major aspects of the intonational phonology of Bàsàá, a Northwest Bantu language spoken in Southern Cameroon with an underlying opposition between high, low and toneless tone bearing units, are presented in this chapter. First, two tonal processes, high tone spreading (HTS) and falling tone simplification (FTS), show sensitivities to prosodic domains: the phonological phrase and the intonational phrase, respectively. Second, tones do not seem to be affected by sentence modalities or information structure. Declarative sentences and yes-no questions show nearly identical intonation patterns, and varying the location of focus in a sentence does not significantly affect sentence prosody either. So far, Bàsàá is a language that shows little interaction between tone and intonation.