Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Programmed method: developing a toolset for capturing and analyzing tweets

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce Digital Methods Initiative Twitter Capture and Analysis Toolset, a toolset for capturing and analyzing Twitter data. Instead of just presenting a technical paper detailing the system, however, the authors argue that the type of data used for, as well as the methods encoded in, computational systems have epistemological repercussions for research. The authors thus aim at situating the development of the toolset in relation to methodological debates in the social sciences and humanities. Design/methodology/approach – The authors review the possibilities and limitations of existing approaches to capture and analyze Twitter data in order to address the various ways in which computational systems frame research. The authors then introduce the open-source toolset and put forward an approach that embraces methodological diversity and epistemological plurality. Findings – The authors find that design decisions and more general methodological reasoning can and sh.
Terahertz detector arrays in a high-performance SiGe HBT technology

This paper presents heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) based terahertz power detectors implemented in a 0.25-μm SiGe process technology. The detectors have been arranged in a 3 × 5-pixel FPA and characterized at 0.65 THz. Referred to the collecting aperature of a 3-mm diameter lens, a maximum current responsivity RI of 0.79 A/W and a minimum noise equivalent power NEP of 370 pW/√Hz have been measured at a 1-kHz chopping frequency.
Hypoxic mechanisms in primary headaches

Background Hypoxia causes secondary headaches such as high-altitude headache (HAH) and headache due to acute mountain sickness. These secondary headaches mimic primary headaches such as migraine, which suggests a common link. We review and discuss the possible role of hypoxia in migraine and cluster headache. Methods This narrative review investigates the current level of knowledge on the relation of hypoxia in migraine and cluster headache based on epidemiological and experimental studies. Findings Epidemiological studies suggest that living in high-altitude areas increases the risk of migraine and especially migraine with aura. Human provocation models show that hypoxia provokes migraine with and without aura, whereas cluster headache has not been reliably induced by hypoxia. Possible pathophysiological mechanisms include hypoxia-induced release of nitric oxide and calcitonin gene-related peptide, cortical spreading depression and leakage of the blood-brain barrier. Conclusion There is a possible link between hypoxia and migraine and maybe cluster headache, but the exact mechanism is currently unknown. Provocation models of hypoxia have yielded interesting results suggesting a novel approach to study in depth the mechanism underlying hypoxia and primary headaches.
Genes, maternal smoking, and the offspring brain and body during adolescence: Design of the Saguenay Youth Study

The search for genes of complex traits is aided by the availability of multiple quantitative phenotypes collected in geographically isolated populations. Here we provide rationale for a large‐scale study of gene‐environment interactions influencing brain and behavior and cardiovascular and metabolic health in adolescence, namely the Saguenay Youth Study (SYS). The SYS is a retrospective study of long‐term consequences of prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking (PEMCS) in which multiple quantitative phenotypes are acquired over five sessions (telephone interview, home, hospital, laboratory, and school). To facilitate the search for genes that modify an individual's response to an in utero environment (i.e. PEMCS), the study is family‐based (adolescent sibships) and is carried out in a relatively geographically isolated population of the Saguenay Lac‐Saint‐Jean (SLSJ) region in Quebec, Canada. DNA is acquired in both biological parents and in adolescent siblings. A genome‐wide scan will be carried out with sib‐pair linkage analyses, and fine mapping of identified loci will be done with family‐based association analyses. Adolescent sibships (12–18 years of age; two or more siblings per family) are recruited in high schools throughout the SLSJ region; only children of French‐Canadian origin are included. Based on a telephone interview, potential participants are classified as exposed or nonexposed prenatally to maternal cigarette smoking; the two groups are matched for the level of maternal education and the attended school. A total of 500 adolescent participants in each group will be recruited and phenotyped. The following types of datasets are collected in all adolescent participants: (1) magnetic resonance images of brain, abdominal fat, and kidneys, (2) standardized and computer‐based neuropsychological tests, (3) hospital‐based cardiovascular, body‐composition and metabolic assessments, and (4) questionnaire‐derived measures (e.g. life habits such as eating and physical activity; drug, alcohol use and delinquency; psychiatric symptoms; personality; home and school environment; academic and vocational attitudes). Parents complete a medical questionnaire, home‐environment questionnaire, a handedness questionnaire, and a questionnaire about their current alcohol and drug use, depression, anxiety, and current and past antisocial behavior. To date, we have fully phenotyped a total of 408 adolescent participants. Here we provide the description of the SYS and, using the initial sample, we present information on ascertainment, demographics of the exposed and nonexposed adolescents and their parents, and the initial MRI‐based assessment of familiality in the brain size and the volumes of grey and white matter. Hum Brain Mapp 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Determination of malondialdehyde as dithiobarbituric acid adduct in biological samples by HPLC with fluorescence detection: comparison with ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry.

Living cells are constantly exposed to reactive oxygen species, some of which are capable of initiating lipid peroxidation by abstraction of an allylic proton from a polyunsaturated fatty acid. This process, by multiple stages leading to the formation of lipid hydroperoxides, is a known contributor to the development of atherosclerosis (1). The thiobarbituric acid (TBA) test is an easy and quick assay for the assessment of lipid peroxidation in which malondialdehyde (MDA) is derivatized. The rationale and methodology have been discussed in detail elsewhere (2)(3) and have rightfully been criticized for low specificity and artifact formation because only a fraction of the MDA measured was generated in vivo (1)(3). Furthermore, the TBA derivatization procedure itself leads to the formation of several MDA-unrelated ultraviolet (UV)-absorbing and fluorescent species, the latter as shown in Fig. 1⇓ , A–C. Despite this fact, the method remains one of the most useful and commonly used measurements of oxidative damage because of its simplicity. In recent years, several HPLC-based TBA assays have evolved with increased specificity (4)(5)(6)(7), but nevertheless the spectrophotometric methods remain commonly used. In the present report, MDA was quantified in plasma, erythrocytes, and liver homogenates from 3-month-old guinea pigs by either our “modern” TBA test based on HPLC with fluorescence detection, which quantifies only the genuine MDA(TBA)2 adduct, or by the original less specific and less sensitive spectrophotometric method, which measures the total absorbance of several species. The purpose was to evaluate the use of the original TBA test by today’s standards by assessing the overestimation and sensitivity in the various applications that are routinely performed in several laboratories. All compounds were of the highest quality available. Specifically, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), tetramethoxypropane, TBA, and phosphotungstic acid were from Fluka. Sample …
Contributions to the design of novel hand-based interaction techniques for virtual environments. (Contributions à la conception de nouvelles techniques pour interagir avec les mains en environnement virtuel)

Directly using our hands to explore virtual environments and interact with their contents produces a natural and compelling interaction. In this thesis, we propose contributions to improve hand-based interaction in the context of Virtual Reality by considering two main challenges: (1) improving the control of articulated hand models, and (2) providing haptic sensations with accessible techniques. We first address the challenge of interacting through realistic, articulated virtual hands and propose two methods for easing their control. As a first step, we reduce the degrees of freedom of complex hand models in order to make multi-finger interaction possible with common multi-touch interfaces. The resulting system allows users to control a virtual hand by performing gestures over a tactile tablet. Then, we take another approach and separate the degrees of freedom of one virtual hand between two haptic interfaces handled in parallel. Through this distribution of controls and feedback, users are exposed to a variety of haptic effects, otherwise restricted to complex haptic workstations. We then address the challenge of providing haptic sensations during hand-based interaction. To do so, we introduce different techniques that combine passive haptic feedback and pseudo-haptics as an alternative to complex and cumbersome active interfaces. We consider various types of interaction at different scales, starting with coarse interaction with the arm through an elastic armature that provides an egocentric and mobile haptic feedback. We then focus on object grasping and manipulation and propose an interaction paradigm that relies on elastic input devices for reproducing grasping gestures and perceiving modulable haptic properties through crossmodal feedback. Finally, we consider fine multi-finger manipulation and we propose a passive exoskeleton that constrains the digits individually, associated to a multi-finger pseudo-haptic feedback for simulating complex interaction with heterogeneous materials.
Comparing the in Vivo Function of α-Carboxysomes and β-Carboxysomes in Two Model Cyanobacteria1[W][OPEN]

Despite evolutionary and structural differences between carboxysomes, Rubisco kinetics and in vivo performance are similar. The carbon dioxide (CO2)-concentrating mechanism of cyanobacteria is characterized by the occurrence of Rubisco-containing microcompartments called carboxysomes within cells. The encapsulation of Rubisco allows for high-CO2 concentrations at the site of fixation, providing an advantage in low-CO2 environments. Cyanobacteria with Form-IA Rubisco contain α-carboxysomes, and cyanobacteria with Form-IB Rubisco contain β-carboxysomes. The two carboxysome types have arisen through convergent evolution, and α-cyanobacteria and β-cyanobacteria occupy different ecological niches. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the first direct comparison of the carboxysome function from α-cyanobacteria (Cyanobium spp. PCC7001) and β-cyanobacteria (Synechococcus spp. PCC7942) with similar inorganic carbon (Ci; as CO2 and HCO3−) transporter systems. Despite evolutionary and structural differences between α-carboxysomes and β-carboxysomes, we found that the two strains are remarkably similar in many physiological parameters, particularly the response of photosynthesis to light and external Ci and their modulation of internal ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate, phosphoglycerate, and Ci pools when grown under comparable conditions. In addition, the different Rubisco forms present in each carboxysome had almost identical kinetic parameters. The conclusions indicate that the possession of different carboxysome types does not significantly influence the physiological function of these species and that similar carboxysome function may be possessed by each carboxysome type. Interestingly, both carboxysome types showed a response to cytosolic Ci, which is of higher affinity than predicted by current models, being saturated by 5 to 15 mm Ci. This finding has bearing on the viability of transplanting functional carboxysomes into the C3 chloroplast.
Immunologic Alterations Associated with High Blood Transfusion Volume After Multiple Injury: Effects on Plasmatic Cytokine and Cytokine Receptor Concentrations

The initial transfusion therapy after trauma has been identified as an independent risk factor for the incidence of multiple organ failure (MOF). Late occurrence of MOF in severely injured patients may be a clinical consequence of disturbed mediator homeostasis. For this reason, levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors (sTNFR) p55 and p75 were analyzed in the plasma of patients with comparable injury severity but with a different supply of packed red blood cells (PRBC). Thirty-eight multiple trauma patients with an injury severity score range of 25–54 points were separated into two groups according to their PRBC supply within the first 24 h after trauma. Patients who received at least 15 units of PRBC were analyzed in group 2 (n = 11); the remaining patients (n = 27) were assigned to group 1. The incidence of MOF was higher (P < 0.05) in group 2 patients. Correspondingly, levels of all assayed mediators were found significantly elevated at several time points in this patient group. We conclude that increases in mediator concentrations may be causally related to the extent of blood transfusion therapy itself or to the conditions for which it was needed.
Corpus-based pronunciation variation rule analysis for singapore English

In this paper, we evaluate a set of linguistic rules for pronunciation variations in Singapore English. We collect and annotate a speech corpus for Singapore English and label it with IPA narrow transcriptions. Data driven pronunciation rules are derived using American English (Buckeye corpus) as a reference. We compare the data driven rules with linguistic rules proposed by phoneticians, and found that some pronunciation variations observed in Singapore English are also observed in American English, but with different frequencies of occurrence. Our analysis verifies the linguistic rules previously proposed for Singapore English and demonstrates an approach to utilizing our findings to improve pronunciation feedback.
Graph-based Campaign Amplification in Telecom Cloud

Majority of telecom operators are making a transition from a monolithic, stove-pipe approach of creating services to a more flexible architecture that provides them agility to rapidly develop and deploy services. New revenue streams require an ability to rapidly identify and target dynamic shifts in traffic patterns and subscriber behaviour. As subscriber behaviour morphs with plans, promotions, devices, location and time, this presents challenges and opportunities for an operator to create and launch targeted campaigns. The enormous volume of data being generated requires a scalable platform for processing massive xDR (eg. Call Detail Records). This paper proposes graph databases in a telecom cloud environment for quickly identifying trends, isolating a targeted subscriber base and rapidly launching campaigns. We also highlight the limitations of a conventional relational database in terms of capturing complex relationships as compared to a NoSQL graph database and the benefits of automatic provisioning and deployment in the
Fast confocal imaging of calcium released from stores in dendritic spines

The emerging significance of calcium stores in neuronal plasticity and the assumed involvement of dendritic spines in long‐term plastic properties of neurons have led us to examine the presence and possible regulation of calcium stores in dendritic spines. Immunohistochemical staining for ryanodine receptors was found in dendritic spines of cultured hippocampal neurons. Confocal microscopic imaging of calcium transients in dendritic spines of these neurons in response to caffeine allowed us to demonstrate an independent and unique calcium store in spines. The response to caffeine was blocked by thapsigargin and ryanodine, and maintained in calcium‐free medium. The calcium stores were depleted faster in the spines than the dendrites. Furthermore, when calcium was released from stores under calcium‐free conditions, and diffused passively between the spine and the dendrite, the length of the spine neck determined the degree of spine independence. Finally, the caffeine‐sensitive ryanodine receptor‐linked calcium store was instrumental in regulating the response of neurons to glutamate. These results have important implications for understanding the roles of dendritic spines in neuronal integration and plasticity.
License . 10-year spatial and temporal trends of PM 2 . 5 concentrations in the southeastern US estimated using high-resolution satellite data

Long-term PM2.5 exposure has been associated with various adverse health outcomes. However, most ground monitors are located in urban areas, leading to a potentially biased representation of true regional PM 2.5 levels. To facilitate epidemiological studies, accurate estimates of the spatiotemporally continuous distribution of PM 2.5 concentrations are important. Satellite-retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD) has been increasingly used for PM 2.5 concentration estimation due to its comprehensive spatial coverage. Nevertheless, previous studies indicated that an inherent disadvantage of many AOD products is their coarse spatial resolution. For instance, the available spatial resolutions of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) AOD products are 10 and 17.6 km, respectively. In this paper, a new AOD product with 1 km spatial resolution retrieved by the multi-angle implementation of atmospheric correction (MAIAC) algorithm based on MODIS measurements was used. A two-stage model was developed to account for both spatial and temporal variability in the PM 2.5–AOD relationship by incorporating the MAIAC AOD, meteorological fields, and land use variables as predictors. Our study area is in the southeastern US centered at the Atlanta metro area, and data from 2001 to 2010 were collected from various sources. The model was fitted annually, and we obtained model fitting R2 ranging from 0.71 to 0.85, mean prediction error (MPE) from 1.73 to 2.50 μg m−3, and root mean squared prediction error (RMSPE) from 2.75 to 4.10 μg m −3. In addition, we found cross-validationR2 ranging from 0.62 to 0.78, MPE from 2.00 to 3.01 μg m−3, and RMSPE from 3.12 to 5.00 μg m −3, indicating a good agreement between the estimated and observed values. Spatial trends showed that high PM 2.5 levels occurred in urban areas and along major highways, while low concentrations appeared in rural or mountainous areas. Our time-series analysis showed that, for the 10-year study period, the PM2.5 levels in the southeastern US have decreased by ∼ 20 %. The annual decrease has been relatively steady from 2001 to 2007 and from 2008 to 2010 while a significant drop occurred between 2007 and 2008. An observed increase in PM2.5 levels in year 2005 is attributed to elevated sulfate concentrations in the study area in warm months of 2005.
Land use modeling in North Rhine-Westphalia with interaction and scaling laws

The study of land use at large scale has recently been approached as the description of a territory in terms of Local Climate Zones (LCZ). These are subdivisions of a landscape into a set of categories which are of uniform coverage, represent similar land cover characteristics and patterns and are of several hundreds of meters in surface. Specifically, we map the region of NorthRhine-Westfalia (Germany), a region of approx. 34′000 km2, in terms of LCZ, with a statistical model trained using multimodal geospatial data (remote sensing, land cover, 3D models and volunteered geographic information) and constrained with both spatial interaction and scaling behavior logics. The proposed model improves LCZ classification accuracy, in particular for scarce classes, with an increase of up to 4 κ points and 5% in average accuracy as compared to conventional pixelwise classification.
Polymorphic grouping for image segmentation

The paper describes a new approach to image segmentation. It accepts the inherent deficiencies occuring when extracting low-level features and when dealing with the complexity of real scenes. Image segmentation therefore is understood as deriving a rich symbolic description useful for tasks such as stereo or object recognition in outdoor scenes. The approach is based on a polymorphic scheme for simultaneously extracting points, lines and segments in a topologically consistent manner, together with their mutual relations derived from the feature adjacency graph (FAG) thereby performing several grouping steps which gradually use more and more specific domain knowledge to achieve an optimal image description. The heart of the approach is (1) a detailed analysis of the FAG and (2) a robust estimation for validating the found geometric hypotheses. The analysis of the FAG, derived from the exoskeleton of the features, allows to detect inconsistencies of the extracted features with the ideal image model, a cell-complex. The FAG is used for finding hypotheses about incidence relations and geometric hypotheses, such as collinearity or parallelity, also between non-neighbored points and lines. The M-type robust estimation is used for simultaneously eliminating wrong hypotheses on geometric relationships. It uses a new argument for the weighting function. <<ETX>>
Homogeneous 1‐based structures and interpretability in random structures

Let V be a finite relational vocabulary in which no symbol has arity greater than 2. Let M be countable V‐structure which is homogeneous, simple and 1‐based. The first main result says that if M is, in addition, primitive, then it is strongly interpretable in a random structure. The second main result, which generalizes the first, implies (without the assumption on primitivity) that if M is “coordinatized” by a set with SU‐rank 1 and there is no definable (without parameters) nontrivial equivalence relation on M with only finite classes, then M is strongly interpretable in a random structure.
Rapid determination of total homocysteine in blood spots by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry.

The determination of total homocysteine (tHcy) plays an important role in diagnosis and therapy of folate and cobalamin (vitamin B12) deficiencies. In addition, it is now widely accepted that increased tHcy is an independent risk factor for thromboembolism and cardiovascular disease, including coronary occlusive disease (1)(2)(3). Although the causal role of Hcy in the development of vascular occlusive disease has yet to be determined, prospective intervention trials that will effectively lower total plasma Hcy currently are in progress (4). As a result, various analytical methods have been established to measure tHcy in serum or plasma (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). We have established a more rapid protocol suitable for accurately measuring tHcy in hemolysates by use of liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The LC/MS/MS method circumvents the disadvantages of time-consuming derivatization and allows the processing of >400 samples per day. Blood was collected in hemolysate tubes that keep the tHcy concentration constant for at least 48 h at room temperature (11). For longer time periods, the hemolysate was stored at −20 °C. Hemolysate (20 μL) was pipetted onto filter paper (Neonatal Screening Card; Schleicher & Schuell). For each sample, two spots (equivalent to 4.7 μL) were punched out and incubated for 15 min at room temperature with a mixture of 20 μL of reducing agent (500 mmol/L dithiothreitol in doubly distilled water) and of 20 μL of internal standard {0.0025 mmol/L d,l …