Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extracting the S 1 Lamb mode from the impact echo signal

The objective of this presentation is to extract the Lamb mode from the signal measured during the impact echo test and to identify the thickness frequency. The proposed technique consists in first processing the signal impact echo with a continuous wavelet transform tool, then, extracting the stationary Lamb mode and finally estimating the thickness frequency from the Lamb mode. Applications to both numerical and experimental data from the impact echo test are presented. 1 S
Food fussiness and food neophobia share a common etiology in early childhood

Background ‘Food fussiness’ (FF) is the tendency to be highly selective about which foods one is willing to eat, and emerges in early childhood; ‘food neophobia’ (FN) is a closely related characteristic but specifically refers to rejection of unfamiliar food. These behaviors are associated, but the extent to which their etiological architecture overlaps is unknown. The objective of this study was to quantify the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences to variation in FF and FN in early childhood; and to establish the extent to which they share common genetic and environmental influences. Method Participants were 1,921 families with 16‐month‐old twins from the Gemini birth cohort. Parents completed the Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire which included three FF items and four FN items. Bivariate quantitative genetic modeling was used to quantify: (a) genetic and environmental contributions to variation in FF and FN; and (b) the extent to which genetic or environmental influences on FF and FN are shared across the traits. Results Food fussiness and FN were strongly correlated (r = .72, p < .001). Proportions of variation in FF were equally explained by genetic (.46; 95% CI: 0.41–0.52) and shared environmental influences (.46; 95% CI: 0.41–0.51). Shared environmental effects accounted for a significantly lower proportion of variation in FN (.22; 95% CI: 0.14–0.30), but genetic influences were not significantly different from those on FF (.58, 95% CI: 0.50–0.67). FF and FN largely shared a common etiology, indicated by high genetic (.73; 95% CI: 0.67–0.78) and shared environmental correlations (.78; 95% CI: 0.69–0.86) across the two traits. Conclusions Food fussiness and FN both show considerable heritability at 16 months but shared environmental factors, for example the home environment, influenced more interindividual differences in the expression of FF than in FN. FF and FN largely share a common etiology.
The complexity and composability of secure interoperation

Advances in distributed systems and networking technology have made interoperation not only feasible but also increasingly popular. The authors define the interoperation of secure systems and its security, and prove complexity and composability results on obtaining optimal and secure interoperation. Most problems are NP-complete even for systems with very simple access control structures. Nevertheless, composability reduces complexity in that secure global interoperation can be obtained incrementally by composing secure local interoperation. The authors illustrate, through an application, how these theoretical results can help system designers in practice. <<ETX>>
The Adventures of the Rocketeer: Accelerated Motion Under the Influence of Expanding Space*

Abstract It is well known that interstellar travel is bounded by the finite speed of light, but on very large scales any rocketeer would also need to consider the influence of cosmological expansion on their journey. This paper examines accelerated journeys within the framework of Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker universes, illustrating how the duration of a fixed acceleration sharply divides exploration over interstellar and intergalactic distances. Furthermore, we show how the universal expansion increases the difficulty of intergalactic navigation, with small uncertainties in cosmological parameters resulting in significantly large deviations. This paper also shows that, contrary to simplistic ideas, the motion of any rocketeer is indistinguishable from Newtonian gravity if the acceleration is kept small.
Author ' s personal copy Uncertain outcomes and climate change policy

I incorporate distributions for temperature change and its economic impact in an analysis of climate change policy. As a measure of willingness to pay (WTP), I estimate the fraction of consumption wðtÞ that society would be willing to sacrifice to ensure that any increase in temperature at a future point is limited to t. Using information on distributions for temperature change and economic impact from recent studies assembled by the IPCC and others, I fit displaced gamma distributions for these variables. These fitted distributions, which roughly reflect the ‘‘state of knowledge’’ regarding warming and its impact, generally yield values of wðtÞ below 2%, even for small values of t, consistent with moderate abatement policies. I also calculate WTP for shifts in the mean and standard deviation of the temperature distribution, and show how WTP, and thus the demand for abatement, are driven more by outcome uncertainty than expected outcomes. & 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Search Strategies Guided by the Evidence for the Selection of Basis Functions in Regression

This work addresses the problem of selecting a subset of basis functions for a model linear in the parameters for regression tasks. Basis functions from a set of candidates are explicitly selected with search methods coming from the feature selection field. Following approximate Bayesian inference, the search is guided by the evidence. The tradeoff between model complexity and computational cost can be controlled by choosing the search strategy. The experimental results show that, under mild assumptions, compact and very competitive models are usually found.
Hierarchies and the organization of specialization

This paper studies both theoretically and empirically hierarchies’ role in organizing the division of labor. We develop an equilibrium model of the depth and breadth of knowledge individuals acquire and of the organizational implications of these choices. We show that as the size of the economy increases, the value of the arbitrage between fields performed by generalists declines, and this leads more agents to field-specialize. We then show that organizational changes should accompany increases in field-specialization. As individuals’ knowledge becomes narrower but deeper, organizing in hierarchies becomes more valuable because hierarchies raise the utilization rate of costly knowledge. It follows that both the share of individuals who work in hierarchies and “spans of control” within hierarchies should be greater in larger economies. We then analyze the hierarchical organization of law offices using confidential data from the 1992 Census of Services. Our main findings are that: (1) the share of lawyers working in hierarchies increases with local market size; (2) this change takes the shape of a move from low leverage/unleveraged generalists to leveraged specialists; (3) all of the increase in this share is accounted for by an increase in the share of lawyers who are associates; and (4) changes in hierarchical structure are stronger at the partner/associate margin than at the lawyer/non-lawyer margin, a margin where there are legal constraints on the division of labor. These patterns are consistent with the view that hierarchies play an important role in organizing specialized knowledge within law offices. *University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and CEPR **University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and NBER We thank Pedro Vicente for useful comments. The research in the paper was conducted while the authors were Census Bureau research associates at the Chicago Research Data Center. Research results and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily indicate concurrence by the Bureau of the Census. This paper has been screened to insure that no confidential data are revealed.
Methods for Record Linkage and Bayesian Networks

Although terminology differs, there is considerable overlap between record linkage methods based on the Fellegi-Sunter model (JASA 1969) and Bayesian networks used in machine learning (Mitchell 1997). Both are based on formal probabilistic models that can be shown to be equivalent in many situations (Winkler 2000). When no missing data are present in identifying fields and training data are available, then both can efficiently estimate parameters of interest. EM and MCMC methods can be used for automatically estimating parameters and error rates in some of the record linkage situations (Belin and Rubin 1995, Larsen and Rubin 2001).
'You start to know what they're thinking': The Social Construction of Knowledge in a Collaborative Teacher Study Group

The purpose of this social constructivist inquiry was to examine views of collaboration in elementary music education held and co-constructed by three elementary music teachers and the researcher in a collaborative teacher study group (CTSG). The research question was: What can these music teachers tell other music educators about student collaboration? The CTSG met seven times to analyze video from each participant’s classroom for aspects of collaboration. Using meeting transcripts, the researcher investigated how CTSG members identified and described collaboration in elementary music. The evolution of the group’s socially constructed definitions of collaboration was traced and documented. Three principles of collaboration were distilled from the definitions: (a) Collaboration facilitates student self-expression and independence; (b) Students who are collaborating share goals. The teacher allows space for, or guides students in creating, productive student-student interactions; and (c) A teacher collaborating with her students facilitates their movement toward a shared goal. Teacher provides necessary background skills, creates student buy-in for the goal, and then fades away to allow students to take ownership.
Toward XML-based knowledge discovery systems

Inductive databases are intended to be general purpose databases in which both source data and mined patterns can be represented, retrieved and manipulated. However, the heterogeneity of models for mined patterns makes difficult to realize them. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of using XML as the unifying framework for inductive databases, introducing a suitable data model called XDM (XML for data mining). XDM is designed to describe source raw data, heterogeneous mined patterns and data mining statements, so that they can be stored inside a unique XML-based inductive database.
Effects of mindfulness training on regulatory and academic abilities in preadolescents: Results from a pilot study

Abstract Regulatory abilities such as self-regulation and stress regulation are key predictors of essential developmental outcomes, including intellectual and socioemotional milestones as well as academic achievement. Preadolescence has been proposed as a period that is crucial for training these abilities. The present pilot study investigated the effects of mindfulness training on preadolescents‘ regulatory abilities and school-related outcomes. A group of 34 fifth graders received either mindfulness training (experimental group), Marburg Concentration Training (alternative treatment group), or no treatment (passive control group) and were monitored over a four-month intervention period. Regulatory abilities were assessed first, with two self-report questionnaires that operationalized impulsivity and coping with stress, respectively. Second, physical stress regulation was examined on the basis of diurnal cortisol as well as salivary α-amylase (sAA) profiles. Finally, school-related outcomes were measured with a paperpencil based performance test of verbal memory. Results show that impulsivity increased in all groups over time, whereas there were no significant training effects on self-reported coping with stress. Both training groups showed more adaptive physiological stress regulation in terms of steeper diurnal cortisol slopes and marginally less pronounced sAA awakening responses, however, with respect to physiological measures, no data of the passive control group are available. With respect to school-related outcomes, the results indicate a slight superiority regarding verbal memory for the mindfulness training group compared to the Marburg Concentration Training group.
Pertuzumab increases epidermal growth factor receptor down-regulation by counteracting epidermal growth factor receptor-ErbB2 heterodimerization

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and ErbB2 readily form heterodimers when both are expressed in the same cell and the EGFR is activated by one of its ligands. Our data show that such heterodimers are constitutively formed also in a ligand-independent manner on overexpression of EGFR and ErbB2 in porcine aortic endothelial cells. Interestingly, cross-linking experiments showed that incubation with the antibody pertuzumab, which has been shown to bind the dimerization arm of ErbB2, resulted in dissolution of EGFR-ErbB2 heterodimers. Incubation with pertuzumab also increased the amount of EGF-induced EGFR homodimers, and under these conditions, endocytosis of radiolabeled EGF was increased. This increase was significant, although slightly more EGF was internalized in cells expressing EGFR only compared with pertuzumab-treated cells expressing both EGFR and ErbB2. By confocal microscopy analysis, more EGF was observed in endosomes on incubation with pertuzumab, and under similar conditions, immunoblotting experiments showed increased EGFR degradation on incubation with both EGF and pertuzumab. These results show that pertuzumab enhanced the endocytic down-regulation of EGFR by counteracting EGFR-ErbB2 heterodimerization. Our previous results showing that ErbB2 counteracts EGFR endocytosis can therefore be explained by tethering of EGFR to ErbB2 at the plasma membrane. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(7):1885–92]
Electrophysiological properties of gap junctions between dissociated pairs of rat hepatocytes

Physiological properties of isolated pairs of rat hepatocytes were examined within 5 h after dissociation. These cells become round when separated, but cell pairs still display membrane specializations. Most notably, canaliculi are often present at appositional membranes which are flanked by abundant gap and tight junctions. These cell pairs are strongly dye-coupled; Lucifer Yellow CH injected into one cell rapidly diffuses to the other. Pairs of hepatocytes are closely coupled electrically. Conductance of the junctional membrane is not voltage sensitive: voltage clamp studies demonstrate that gj is constant in response to long (5 s) transjunctional voltage steps of either polarity (to greater than +/- 40 mV from rest). Junctional conductance (gj) between hepatocyte pairs is reduced by exposure to octanol (0.1 mM) and by intracellular acidification. Normal intracellular pH (pHi), measured with a liquid ion exchange microelectrode, was generally 7.1-7.4, and superfusion with saline equilibrated with 100% CO2 reduced pHi to 6.0- 6.5. In the pHi range 7.5-6.6, gj was constant. Below pH 6.6, gj steeply decreased and at 6.1 coupling was undetectable. pHi recovered when cells were rinsed with normal saline; in most cases gj recovered in parallel so that gj values were similar for pHs obtained during acidification or recovery. The low apparent pK and very steep pHi-gj relation of the liver gap junction contrast with higher pKs and more gradually rising curves in other tissues. If H+ ions act directly on the junctional molecules, the channels that are presumably homologous in different tissues must differ with respect to reactive sites or their environment.
Chemical evolution using smooth particle hydrodynamical cosmological simulations – I. Implementation, tests and first results

We develop a model to implement metal enrichment in a cosmological context based on the hydrodynamical AP3MSPH code described by Tissera, Lambas and Abadi (1997). The star formation model is based on the Schmidt law and has been modified in order to describe the transformation of gas into stars in more detail. The enrichment of the interstellar medium due to supernovae I and II explosions is taken into account by assuming a Salpeter Initial Mass Function and different nucleosynthesis models. The different chemical elements are mixed within the gaseous medium according to the Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics technique. Gas particles can be enriched by different neighbouring particles at the same time. We present tests of the code that assess the effects of resolution and model parameters on the results. We show that the main effect of low numerical resolution is to produce a more effective mixing of elements, resulting in abundance relations with less dispersion. We have performed cosmological simulations in a standard Cold Dark Matter scenario and we present results of the analysis of the star formation and chemical properties of the interstellar medium and stellar population of the simulated galactic objects. We show that these systems reproduce abundance ratios for primary and secondary elements of the interstellar medium, and the correlation between the (O/H) abundance and the gas fraction of galaxies. We find that star formation efficiency, the relative rate of supernovae II to supernovae I and life-time of binary systems as well as the stellar nucleosynthesis
Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold ( Review )

Seven trial comparisons examined the effect of therapeutic vitamin C (3249 episodes). No consistent differences from the placebo group were seen in the duration or severity of colds. Authors’ conclusions The failure of vitamin C supplementation to reduce the incidence of colds in the general population indicates that routine prophylaxis is not justified. Vitamin C could be useful for people exposed to brief periods of severe physical exercise. While the prophylaxis trials have consistently shown that vitamin C reduces the duration and alleviates the symptoms of colds, this was not replicated in the few therapeutic trials that have been carried out. Further therapeutic RCTs are warranted. P L A I N L A N G U A G E S U M M A R Y Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold The term ’the common cold’ does not denote a precisely defined disease, yet the characteristics of this illness are familiar to most people. It is a major cause of visits to a doctor in Western countries and of absenteeism from work and school. It is usually caused by respiratory viruses for which antibiotics are useless. Other potential treatment options are of substantial public health interest. Since vitamin C was isolated in the 1930s it has been proposed for respiratory infections. It became particularly popular in the 1970s when Nobel laureate Linus Pauling concluded from earlier placebo-controlled trials that vitamin C would prevent and alleviate the common cold. Over two dozen new trials were undertaken thereafter. Vitamin C has been widely sold and used as both a preventive and therapeutic agent. This review is restricted to placebo-controlled trials testing 0.2 g per day or more of vitamin C. Regular ingestion of vitamin C had no effect on common cold incidence in the ordinary population. However, it had a modest but consistent effect in reducing the duration and severity of common cold symptoms. In five trials with participants exposed to short periods of extreme physical stress (including marathon runners and skiers) vitamin C halved the common cold risk. Trials of high doses of vitamin C administered therapeutically, starting after the onset of symptoms, showed no consistent effect on either duration or severity of common cold symptoms. However, only a few therapeutic trials have been carried out, and none have examined children, although the effect of prophylactic vitamin C has been greater in children. One large trial with adults reported equivocal benefit from an 8 g therapeutic dose at the onset of symptoms, and two trials using five-day supplementation reported benefit. More trials are necessary to settle the possible role of therapeutic vitamin C, meaning administration immediately after the onset of symptoms.
Best Practices for Online Instructors: Reminders

Online education has become increasingly popular in higher education, which is a trend that will continue as more universities have begun to heavily invest in online teaching due to student demand. While best practices for implementing online instruction are well documented in previous literature, factors identified in this review of literature serve as reminders that should be considered by higher education faculty to enhance the quality of their online courses. Teaching online requires a faculty member to think differently about teaching and learning, learn a host of new technological skills, and engage in ongoing faculty development for design and development of quality online instruction.
InScript - a C-like Preprocessor for PostScript

SUMMARY INSCRIPT is a front-end for the POSTSCRIPT page-description language. INSCRIPT is easier to write (and read) than POSTSCRIPT as it uses high-level syntax, performs automatic stack manipulation and defines a clearer interface to the POSTSCRIPT imaging model. INSCRIPT programs for graphic imaging can be developed interactively, or compiled to produce POSTSCRIPT code for off-line use. This paper describes the INSCRIPT environment, its language features, its implementation, and the way POSTSCRIPT code is generated from its various constructs. Possible enhancements to POSTSCRIPT are suggested which would turn it into a better ‘execute engine’ for code generated from high level languages. Direct P OSTSCRIPT programming would then be much easier as well.
Brain Cancer Segmentation in MRI Medical Image Using Combined Watershed Algorithm and Thresholding with Multilayer Perceptron (CWTMP) Neural Network

Digital image processing is the use of computer algorithms to perform image processing on digital images. Image segmentation refers to partitioning an image into various sub regions and also identifying a tumor part in a brain MRI image. This paper proposes an efficient algorithm for combined watershed and thresholding with multilayer perceptron(CWTMP) image segmentation technique,to segment tumor portion in a given MRI medical image.This proposed method consists of preprocessing, segmentation, classification and performance evaluation. Preprocessing uses Gaussian smoothing, Improved watershed method is applying for segmentation process, a Multilayer Perceptron neural network(CWTMP) classification method is used for classification. The performance of the proposed method(CWTMP) is validated both quantitatively and qualitatively,using performance metrics such as peak signal noise ratio.