Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Adaptively Biased Class-C VCO With a Self-Turn-Off Auxiliary Class-B Pair for Fast and Robust Startup

In this letter, an adaptively biased class-C Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) with a self-turn-off auxiliary class-B pair is presented for fast and robust startup in a 65-nm CMOS process. It consists of a main class-C core and an auxiliary class-B cross-coupled pair. The class-B auxiliary pair is used to solve the inherent startup problem of class-C VCOs. It works only during startup and turns itself off when the VCO reaches a steady state using an adaptive bias scheme. The dc current consumption of the VCO and bias circuit is 5 mA at 1.2 V VDD. Here, a good phase noise level of -132.41 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz offset frequency from a 2.46-GHz carrier is shown, to yield a Figure-of-Merit (FOM) of 192.45.
Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Myths and Realities

Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) play a key but still largely unrecognized role in the higher educational attainment of Hispanics. Despite this lack of national recognition among educators, researchers, and decision makers, HSIs are finally emerging from the shadows as institutions of success for Hispanics seeking college degrees. Defined by the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, as amended in 1992, HSIs are those 2and 4-year colleges and universities with 25% or more total undergraduate Hispanic full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollments. HSIs account for nearly 6% of all postsecondary institutions and enroll more than 1.4 million Hispanic students. More specifically, HSIs educate nearly 50% of all Hispanic college students in the United States and another 20% of students from other ethnic backgrounds (The White House Initiative, 2001). In a sense,
From Lexical Cohesion to Textual Coherence: A Data Driven Perspective

This paper presents research that connects the cohesion structure of a text to the derivation of its coherence structure. Two different algorithms that derive the cohesion structure in the form of lexical paths from large thesauri are illustrated. Their results are correlated with (1) cue phrases of discourse usage and (2) coherence constraints empirically derived. A novel model of coherence structure is devised, based on the data provided by lexical paths from real world texts.
Tech United Eindhoven @Home 2015 Team Description Paper

This paper provides an overview of the main developments of the Tech United Eindhoven RoboCup@Home team. The main research eort of the past year has focused on developing a global, volumetric, object-oriented world model. This world model should replace all world representations that are commonly present in an architecture, e.g., for navigation and manipulation. As a result, these modules can benet from the additional knowledge that is present in the world model. This world modeling approach is expected to i) make modules such as navigation more robust since these can benet from the additional knowledge that is present in the world model and ii) reduce the amount of hardcoded knowledge that is commonly present.
The &dgr;C Isoform of CaMKII Is Activated in Cardiac Hypertrophy and Induces Dilated Cardiomyopathy and Heart Failure

Abstract— Recent studies have demonstrated that transgenic (TG) expression of either Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CaMKIV) or CaMKII&dgr;B, both of which localize to the nucleus, induces cardiac hypertrophy. However, CaMKIV is not present in heart, and cardiomyocytes express not only the nuclear CaMKII&dgr;B but also a cytoplasmic isoform, CaMKII&dgr;C. In the present study, we demonstrate that expression of the &dgr;C isoform of CaMKII is selectively increased and its phosphorylation elevated as early as 2 days and continuously for up to 7 days after pressure overload. To determine whether enhanced activity of this cytoplasmic &dgr;C isoform of CaMKII can lead to phosphorylation of Ca2+ regulatory proteins and induce hypertrophy, we generated TG mice that expressed the &dgr;C isoform of CaMKII. Immunocytochemical staining demonstrated that the expressed transgene is confined to the cytoplasm of cardiomyocytes isolated from these mice. These mice develop a dilated cardiomyopathy with up to a 65% decrease in fractional shortening and die prematurely. Isolated myocytes are enlarged and exhibit reduced contractility and altered Ca2+ handling. Phosphorylation of the ryanodine receptor (RyR) at a CaMKII site is increased even before development of heart failure, and CaMKII is found associated with the RyR in immunoprecipitates from the CaMKII TG mice. Phosphorylation of phospholamban is also increased specifically at the CaMKII but not at the PKA phosphorylation site. These findings are the first to demonstrate that CaMKII&dgr;C can mediate phosphorylation of Ca2+ regulatory proteins in vivo and provide evidence for the involvement of CaMKII&dgr;C activation in the pathogenesis of dilated cardiomyopathy and heart failure.
Performance analysis of synchronous and receiver initiated MAC protocols under varying traffic density over Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are of great interest to researchers due to their various applications in areas such as environmental monitoring, process monitoring and tracking surveillance systems. Sensors are deployed in hostile in random fashion giving self-organized topology. Medium Access Control (MAC) plays a vital role in the power saving mechanism of WSNs. MAC schemes for WSNs are different from traditional wireless MAC scheme such as IEEE802.11. This paper provides comprehensive performance analysis of the existing synchronous and asynchronous MAC layer protocols. The widely used synchronous and asynchronous mechanisms in WSNs are SMAC and Receiver Initiated MAC (RI-MAC). The paper presents a comparison of the performance of SMAC and RI-MAC on flat grid topology with a single sensor node as the sink. Here multi-hop transmissions are considered and various performance metric factors such as throughput, energy and latency are evaluated. Ns2 simulation result shows that RI-MAC has better performance than SMAC upon taking various performance metric factors in WSNs.
Community-based research and leisure scholarship: a discernment process

Many communities are realizing the importance of becoming more responsive and welcoming in light of the many local and global challenges facing them. Approaches to epistemology that are more participatory in nature may play a role in this social change process. Community-based research (CBR) is known for its ability to be both participatory and action-oriented and represents a paradigm shift from conventional research approaches. Unfortunately, over the years, relatively few leisure researchers have utilized CBR. A discernment process can assist researchers in their deliberations about whether to use CBR. The discernment process includes the exploration of issues such as personal background, project direction including purpose and principles, concept clarification, leadership, choosing an inquiry, stakeholder engagement, power and professionalism. Leisure scholars who embrace CBR understand the importance of collaboration and shifting the paradigm of research practice.
Evaluation of Group and Individual Change in a Multidisciplinary Pain Management Program

Objectives:Systematic reviews have consistently shown that multidisciplinary interventions are more effective than waitlist and other unimodal active treatments for a range of chronic pain conditions. However, these group-based statistics fail to inform us whether these programs result in clinically meaningful improvement at the individual level. The current study examines group changes and individual responsiveness to a CBT-informed multidisciplinary chronic pain management program. Methods:The analyses are based on data obtained from 263 outpatients. In addition to examining group-based treatment effects, we evaluated individual responsiveness to the program using 3 different criteria for assessing clinically important change. Results:Statistically significant improvement was found for all measures at posttreatment, with effect sizes ranging from small to medium. Gains were largely maintained at follow-up. The results of the clinically important change analysis revealed that not everyone improved uniformly, and the magnitude of change varied across the 3 different methods. This variability in the extent of improvement prompted further analyses in an attempt to identify individual differences that could predict responsiveness to treatment. No differences were found between responders and nonresponders to treatment. Discussion:The results of our study are consistent with previous research, and highlight the potential for multidisciplinary programs to improve the well-being of individuals with chronic pain. Clinically important change analyses underscore the variability that exists in chronic pain patients and allows for a more fine grained evaluation of individual responsiveness to treatment. Considering the strengths and limitations of each methodological approach for assessing clinically important change, guidelines are offered for future research and program development.
Pose-Encoded Spherical Harmonics for Face Recognition and Synthesis Using a Single Image

Face recognition under varying pose is a challenging problem, especially when illumination variations are also present. In this paper, we propose to address one of the most challenging scenarios in face recognition. That is, to identify a subject from a test image that is acquired under different pose and illumination condition from only one training sample (also known as a gallery image) of this subject in the database. For example, the test image could be semifrontal and illuminated by multiple lighting sources while the corresponding training image is frontal under a single lighting source. Under the assumption of Lambertian reflectance, the spherical harmonics representation has proved to be effective in modeling illumination variations for a fixed pose. In this paper, we extend the spherical harmonics representation to encode pose information. More specifically, we utilize the fact that 2D harmonic basis images at different poses are related by close-form linear transformations, and give a more convenient transformation matrix to be directly used for basis images. An immediate application is that we can easily synthesize a different view of a subject under arbitrary lighting conditions by changing the coefficients of the spherical harmonics representation. A more important result is an efficient face recognition method, based on the orthonormality of the linear transformations, for solving the above-mentioned challenging scenario. Thus, we directly project a nonfrontal view test image onto the space of frontal view harmonic basis images. The impact of some empirical factors due to the projection is embedded in a sparse warping matrix; for most cases, we show that the recognition performance does not deteriorate after warping the test image to the frontal view. Very good recognition results are obtained using this method for both synthetic and challenging real images.
Modern Evolution of the Experimental Report in Physics: Spectroscopic Articles in Physical Review, 1893-1980

Recent studies of scientific texts need to be set against the history of the genre, which in part establishes the institutional framework within which any individual text is created. The definition of the appropriate form of communication is part of how a discipline constitutes itself, and is part of the achievement of that discipline. This paper examines the changing features of spectroscopic articles in Physical Review since its founding. Analyses of article length, use of references, sentence length and syntax, vocabulary, graphic features, organization and argument indicate that articles become increasingly theory-based and knowledge-embedded through time. Self-consciousness about the theoretical character of argument also increases. The changing character of communication within a scientific community also has implications for the social structure of that community.
Parenting a Child with a Disability: A Longitudinal Study of Parental Stress and Adaptation

Mothers' experiences in parenting children with disabilities were examined in this 3-year longitudinal study. Thirty-five mother-child pairs participated in the study. Mothers and their children representing one of three disability groups (Down syndrome, hearing impairment, and neurological impairment) were observed wher the children were toddler age, age 3, and age 4 years. Parental stress and adaptation to parenting were documented using the Parenting Stress Index, the Inventory of Parent Experiences, and a clinical intewiew with mothers. Results showed significant relationships between maternal stress and parenting experiences. However, few differences across groups were noted with regard to reported stress or parenting experiences and adaptation. Findings are discussed in terms of their relationships to other study variables (e.g., child's developmental status, attachment, mother—child interaction) and with regard to implications for early intervention service providers.
Effect of Arterial Lumen Enlargement on Carotid Arterial Compliance in Normotensive Postmenopausal Women

A reduction in central arterial compliance has been identified as an independent risk factor for future cardiovascular disease. The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of age-related carotid arterial enlargement on carotid arterial compliance in postmenopausal females, using a cross-sectional study design. Carotid arterial properties were measured with applanation tonometry and ultrasound system in 113 normotensive females (aged 50–78). Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) measured by a plethysmographic technique was used as an index of arterial stiffness. In comparisons among the three age groups (50–59, 60–69, and 70–78 years old), baPWV (F=11.9, p<0.001) and carotid systolic (F=4.5, p<0.05) and pulse pressures (F=9.6, p<0.0001), and lumen diameter (F=5.6, p<0.01) increased with advancing age. Carotid arterial compliance gradually decreased with age, but not significantly. A stepwise regression analysis revealed that carotid systolic pressure and lumen diameter and age were independent correlates of carotid arterial compliance. After carotid lumen diameter was taken into account (ANCOVA), the differences in carotid arterial compliance among the three age groups became significant (F=3.8, p<0.05). These results suggest that an increase in arterial lumen diameter might compensate for the age-related increase in arterial stiffness and limit the deterioration of the buffering capacity of the central artery in normotensive postmenopausal females.
A majorization-minimization algorithm with projected gradient updates for time-domain spectrogram factorization

We previously introduced a framework called time-domain spectrogram factorization (TSF), which realizes nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF)-like source separation in the time domain. This framework is particularly noteworthy in that, while maintaining the ability of NMF to obtain a parts-based representation of magnitude spectra, it allows us to (i) circumvent the commonly made assumption with the NMF approach that the magnitude spectra of source components are additive and (ii) take account of the interdependence of the phase/amplitude components at different time-frequency points. In particular, the second factor has been overlooked despite its potential importance. Our previous study revealed that the conventional TSF algorithm was relatively slow due to large matrix inversions, and the early stopping of the algorithm often resulted in poor separation accuracy. To overcome this problem, this paper presents an iterative TSF solver using projected gradient updates. Simulation results show that the proposed TSF approach yields higher source separation performance than NMF and the other variants including the original TSF.
Online brand community within the integrated marketing communication system: When chocolate becomes seductive like a person

This study proposes brand communities as an effective tool within the integrated marketing communication (IMC) system. The paper utilizes the Brand Concept Map quali-quantitative technique in order to represent and compare mental association texture within one group of non-members of a brand community versus one group of people engaged in the same community. Brand stimulus is Nutella (chocolate cream) which boasts a crowded and lively online brand community: Nutellaville. Results show that brand community is effective in terms of contribution, commonality, and complementarity within the IMC system. In particular, Nutella brand image within the online community participants is composed of some mental associations overlapping other communication tools (commonality), and by new mental associations (complementarity) referred to the brand image dimension named ‘brand as person’ (seductive, popular, reassuring); second, this anthropomorphism effect solves the issue of sense of guilt excited by chocolate (contribution).
'You have to do it rather than being in a class and just listening.' The impact of problem-based learning on the student experience in sports and exercise biomechanics.

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been used in many situations to develop students’ critical thinking, interaction and problem solving skills. Despite being commonly used by lecturers, the effects of PBL have not been investigated in sports studies. This paper outlines the process of developing a second year, undergraduate module in sport and exercise biomechanics using problem-based learning. Following completion of the module, students completed reflective learning reports and participated in focus group interviews. Results from the focus group interviews and end-module questionnaires revealed that PBL delivery allowed greater autonomy to explore issues and problems, and served to develop the students’ enthusiasm for and engagement with the subject compared to traditionally delivered modules. The students also reported that the content was stimulating, that PBL based delivery would help them prepare for the final year of their degree, and allowed them to develop particular skills that might be useful in later employment.
Bayesian Model Comparison and Parameter Inference in Systems Biology Using Nested Sampling

Inferring parameters for models of biological processes is a current challenge in systems biology, as is the related problem of comparing competing models that explain the data. In this work we apply Skilling's nested sampling to address both of these problems. Nested sampling is a Bayesian method for exploring parameter space that transforms a multi-dimensional integral to a 1D integration over likelihood space. This approach focusses on the computation of the marginal likelihood or evidence. The ratio of evidences of different models leads to the Bayes factor, which can be used for model comparison. We demonstrate how nested sampling can be used to reverse-engineer a system's behaviour whilst accounting for the uncertainty in the results. The effect of missing initial conditions of the variables as well as unknown parameters is investigated. We show how the evidence and the model ranking can change as a function of the available data. Furthermore, the addition of data from extra variables of the system can deliver more information for model comparison than increasing the data from one variable, thus providing a basis for experimental design.
Model-based blind estimation of reverberation time: application to robust ASR in reverberant environments

This paper presents a method for blind estimation of reverberation times in reverberant enclosures. The proposed algorithm is based on a statistical model of short-term log-energy sequences for echo-free speech. Given a speech utterance recorded in a reverberant room, it computes a Maximum Likelihood estimate of the room full-band reverberation time. The estimation method is shown to require little data and to perform satisfactorily. The method has been successfully applied to robust automatic speech recognition in reverberant environments by model selection. For this application, the reverberation time is first estimated from the reverberated speech utterance to be recognized. The estimation is then used to select the best acoustic model out of a library of models trained in various artificial reverberant conditions. Speech recognition experiments in simulated and real reverberant environments show the efficiency of our approach which outperforms standard channel normalization techniques.
The Costs of Respiratory Illnesses Arising from Florida Gulf Coast Karenia brevis Blooms

Background Algal blooms of Karenia brevis, a harmful marine algae, occur almost annually off the west coast of Florida. At high concentrations, K. brevis blooms can cause harm through the release of potent toxins, known as brevetoxins, to the atmosphere. Epidemiologic studies suggest that aerosolized brevetoxins are linked to respiratory illnesses in humans. Objectives We hypothesized a relationship between K. brevis blooms and respiratory illness visits to hospital emergency departments (EDs) while controlling for environmental factors, disease, and tourism. We sought to use this relationship to estimate the costs of illness associated with aerosolized brevetoxins. Methods We developed a statistical exposure–response model to express hypotheses about the relationship between respiratory illnesses and bloom events. We estimated the model with data on ED visits, K. brevis cell densities, and measures of pollen, pollutants, respiratory disease, and intra-annual population changes. Results We found that lagged K. brevis cell counts, low air temperatures, influenza outbreaks, high pollen counts, and tourist visits helped explain the number of respiratory-specific ED diagnoses. The capitalized estimated marginal costs of illness for ED respiratory illnesses associated with K. brevis blooms in Sarasota County, Florida, alone ranged from $0.5 to $4 million, depending on bloom severity. Conclusions Blooms of K. brevis lead to significant economic impacts. The costs of illness of ED visits are a conservative estimate of the total economic impacts. It will become increasingly necessary to understand the scale of the economic losses associated with K. brevis blooms to make rational choices about appropriate mitigation.
A Fully Automated Method for Lung Nodule Detection From Postero-Anterior Chest Radiographs

In the past decades, a great deal of research work has been devoted to the development of systems that could improve radiologists' accuracy in detecting lung nodules. Despite the great efforts, the problem is still open. In this paper, we present a fully automated system processing digital postero-anterior (PA) chest radiographs, that starts by producing an accurate segmentation of the lung field area. The segmented lung area includes even those parts of the lungs hidden behind the heart, the spine, and the diaphragm, which are usually excluded from the methods presented in the literature. This decision is motivated by the fact that lung nodules may be found also in these areas. The segmented area is processed with a simple multiscale method that enhances the visibility of the nodules, and an extraction scheme is then applied to select potential nodules. To reduce the high number of false positives extracted, cost-sensitive support vector machines (SVMs) are trained to recognize the true nodules. Different learning experiments were performed on two different data sets, created by means of feature selection, and employing Gaussian and polynomial SVMs trained with different parameters; the results are reported and compared. With the best SVM models, we obtain about 1.5 false positives per image (fp/image) when sensitivity is approximately equal to 0.71; this number increases to about 2.5 and 4 fp/image when sensitivity is ap0.78 and ap0.85, respectively. For the highest sensitivity (ap0.92 and 1.0), we get 7 or 8 fp/image