Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A FUSE SURVEY OF THE ROTATION RATES OF VERY MASSIVE STARS IN THE SMALL AND LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS

We present projected rotational velocity values for 97 Galactic, 55 SMC, and 106 LMC O-B type stars from archival FUSE observations. The evolved and unevolved samples from each environment are compared through the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test to determine if the distribution of equatorial rotational velocities is metallicity dependent for these massive objects. Stellar interior models predict that massive stars with SMC metallicity will have significantly reduced angular momentum loss on the main sequence compared to their Galactic counterparts. Our results find some support for this prediction but also show that even at Galactic metallicity, evolved and unevolved massive stars have fairly similar fractions of stars with large Vsin i values. Macroturbulent broadening that is present in the spectral features of Galactic evolved massive stars is lower in the LMC and SMC samples. This suggests the processes that lead to macroturbulence are dependent upon metallicity.
Ensemble Methods for Continuous Affect Recognition: Multi-modality, Temporality, and Challenges

In this paper we present a multi-modal system based on audio, video and bio-physiological features for continuous recognition of human affect in unconstrained scenarios. We leverage the robustness of ensemble classifiers as base learners and refine the predictions using stochastic gradient descent based optimization on the desired loss function. Furthermore we provide a discussion about pre- and post-processing steps that help to improve the robustness of the regression and subsequently the prediction quality.
The supercluster-void network - II. An oscillating cluster correlation function

We use rich clusters of galaxies in the Northern and Southern Galactic hemispheres up to a redshift z = 0.12 to determine the cluster correlation function for a separation interval =650h-1 Mpc (h is the Hubble constant in units of 100 kms-1Mpc-1). We show that superclusters of galaxies and voids between them form a moderately regular network. As a result the correlation function determined for clusters located in rich superclusters oscillates: it has a series of regularly spaced secondary maxima and minima. The scale of the supercluster­ void network, determined from the period of oscillations, is P = 115 ± 15 h-1 Mpc. Five periods are observed. The correlation function found for clusters in poor and medium-rich superclusters is zero on large scales. The correlation functions calculated separately for the Northern and Southern Galactic hemispheres are similar; only the amplitude of oscillations for clusters in the Southern hemisphere is larger by a factor of about 1.5. We investigate the influence of possible errors in the correlation function. The amplitude of oscillations for clusters in very rich superclusters is about 3 times larger than the estimated error. We argue that the oscillations in the correlation function are due neither to the double­ cone shape of the observed volume of space, nor to the inaccuracy in the selection function. 'We compare the observed cluster correlation function with similar functions derived for popular models of structure formation, as well as for simple geometrical models of cluster distribution. We find that the production of the observed cluster correlation function in any model with a smooth transition of the power spectrum from a Harrison-Zeldovich regime with positive spectral index at long wavelengths to a negative spectral index at short wavelengths is highly unlikely. The power spectrum must have an extra peak located at a wavelength equal to the period of oscillations of the correlation function. The relative amplitude of the peak over the smooth spectrum is probably of the order of a factor of at least 1.25. These quantitative tests show that high-density regions in the Universe marked by rich clusters of galaxies are distributed more regularly than expected. Thus our present under­ standing of structure formation needs revision.
Characterization of Vaginal Escherichia coli Isolated from Pregnant Women in Two Different African Sites

The relevance of vaginal colonization of pregnant women by Escherichia coli is poorly understood, despite these strains sharing a similar virulence profile with other extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli producing severe obstetric and neonatal infections. We characterized the epidemiology, antimicrobial susceptibility and virulence profiles of 84 vaginal E. coli isolates from pregnant women from Rabat (Morocco) and Manhiça (Mozambique), two very distinct epidemiological settings. Low levels of antimicrobial resistance were observed to all drugs tested, except for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in Manhiça, where this drug is extensively used as prophylaxis for opportunistic HIV infections. The most prevalent virulence factors were related to iron acquisition systems. Phylogroup A was the most common in Rabat, while phylogroups E and non-typeable were the most frequent in Manhiça. Regardless of the apparently “low virulence” of these isolates, the frequency of infections is higher and the outcomes more devastating in constrained-resources conditions, especially among pregnant women and newborns.
Globalization and Inflation-Output Tradeoffs

We demonstrate how capital account and trade account liberalizations help reduce inefficiencies associated with the fluctuations in the output gap, relative to the inefficiencies associated with the fluctuations in inflation. With capital account liberalization the representative household is able to smooth fluctuations in consumption, and thus becomes relatively insensitive to fluctuations in the output gap. With trade liberalization the economy tends to specialize in production but not in consumption. The correlation between fluctuations in the output gap and aggregate consumption is therefore weakened by trade openness; hence a smaller weight on the output gap in the utility-based loss function, compared to the closed economy situations.A key implication of the theory is that globalization forces could induce monetary authorities, to put a greater emphasis on reducing the inflation rate than on narrowing the output gaps. We provide a re- interpretation of the evidence on the effect of openness on the sacrifice ratio which supports the prediction of the theory.
Autonomous Sports Training from Visual Cues

Computer driven biometric analysis of athlete's movements have proven themselves as effective sports training tools. Most current systems rely on the use of retro-reflective markers or magnetic sensors to capture the motion of the athlete, so the biometric analysis can be performed. Video based training tools have also proved to be valuable instructional aids, however most require significant human interaction for analysis to be performed. This paper outlines an ongoing project focussed on capturing posture without the use of any markers or sensors, while still capturing enough information for an automated analysis to be performed. The approach taken to solving this problem is presented, as well as the current state of development of a an instructional aid for golfers.
M ay 2 00 3 Quantum Physics of Simple Optical Instruments

Simple optical instruments are linear optical networks where the incident light modes are turned into equal numbers of outgoing modes by linear transformations. For example, such instruments are beam splitters, multiports, interferometers, fibre couplers, polarizers, gravitational lenses, parametric amplifiers, phase-conjugating mirrors and also black holes. The article develops the quantum theory of simple optical instruments and applies the theory to a few characteristic situations, to the splitting and interference of photons and to the manifestation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations in parametric downconversion. How to model irreversible devices such as absorbers and amplifiers is also shown. Finally, the article develops the theory of Hawking radiation for a simple optical black hole. The paper is intended as a primer, as a nearly self-consistent tutorial. The reader should be familiar with basic quantum mechanics and statistics, and perhaps with optics and some elementary field theory. The quantum theory of light in dielectrics serves as the starting point and, in the concluding section, as a guide to understand quantum black holes.
A Boosting-Based Prototype Weighting and Selection Scheme

Prototype Selection (PS), i.e., search for relevant subsets of instances, is an interesting Data Mining problem. Original studies of Hart and Gates consisted in producing stepwise a Co~e’csed or Reduced set of prototypes, evaluated using the accuracy of a Nearest Neighbor rule. We present in this paper a new approach to PS. It is inspired by a recent cl~m~ification technique known as Boosting, whose ideas were previously unused in that field. Three interesting properties emerge from our adaptation. First, the accuracy, which was the standard in PS since Hart and Gates, is no longer the reliability criterion. Second, PS interacts with a prototype ~eightis~g scheme, i.e., each prototype receives periodically a real confidence, its significance, with respect to the currently selected set. Finally, Boosting as used in PS allows to obtain an algorithm whose time complexity compares favorably with classical PS algorithms. Experiments lead to the following conclusion: the output of the algorithm on fourteen benchmarks is often more accurate than those of three state-of-the-art PS algorithms.
A study of superstitious beliefs among bingo players

This study was conducted in order to examine the beliefs players have regarding superstition and luck and how these beliefs are related to their gambling behaviour. A self-completion questionnaire was devised and the study was carried out in a large bingo hall in Nottingham, over four nights. 412 "volunteer" bingo players completed the questionnaires. Significant relationships were found in many areas. Many players reported beliefs in luck and superstition; however, a greater percentage of players reported having "everyday" superstitious beliefs, rather than those concerned with bingo.
HBE: Hashtag-Based Emotion Lexicons for Twitter Sentiment Analysis

In this paper we report the first effort of constructing emotion lexicon by utilizing Twitter as source of data. Specifically we used hashtag feature to obtain tweets with certain emotion label in English. There are eight emotion classes used in our work, comprising of angry, disgust, fear, joy, sad, surprise, trust and anticipation that refer to the Plutchik's wheel. To obtain the lexicon, we first ranked the words according to its term frequency. After that, we reduced some irrelevant words by removing words with low frequency. We also enriched the lexicon with the synonym and conducted filtering by utilizing sentiment lexicon (40,288 words). As result, we successfully constructed 4 Hashtag-Based Emotion (HBE) Lexicons through different procedures and called them as HBE-A1 (50,613 words), HBE-B1 (23,400 words), HBE-A2 (26,909 words) and HBE-B2 (14,905 words). In our experiment, we used the lexicons in investigating Twitter Sentiment Analysis and the result reveals that our proposed emotion lexicons can boost the accuracy and even improve over than NRC-Emotion lexicon. It is also worth noting that our construction idea is simple, automatic, inexpensive and suitable for Social Media analysis.
Hepcidin and iron species distribution inside the first-trimester human gestational sac

We have investigated factors affecting iron distribution in the first-trimester gestational sac, by the measurement of transferrin, non-transferrin-bound iron (NTBI) and pro-hepcidin (Hep) in maternal serum, coelomic fluid (CF) and amniotic fluid (AF) and by immunostaining for Hep in villous and secondary yolk sac biopsies. These samples were obtained from 15 first-trimester pregnancies at 8–11 weeks gestation. Transferrin concentrations were significantly lower in fetal (0.56 mg/ml) than maternal serum (1.71 mg/ml), with very low concentrations in CF and AF (0.09 mg/ml). In contrast, transferrin saturations were significantly higher in fetal (77%) than maternal serum (33%). NTBI was present in fetal serum, CF and AF, presumably as a consequence of low transferrin concentrations in these compartments. Pro-Hep was present at lower levels in fetal (140.0 ± 11.1) than maternal serum (206.2 ± 9.2) and at low concentrations in CF (19.4 ± 3.1) and AF (21.8 ± 5.2). Immunostaining with Hep antibody was found in the syncytiotrophoblast of first-trimester placenta as well as in mesothelial and endodermal layers of the secondary yolk sac at 10 weeks. The presence of Hep in syncytiotrophoblast cells of first-trimester placenta as well as in mesothelial and endodermal layers of the secondary yolk sac suggest a key regulatory role for this protein in iron transfer to the first-trimester fetus. The low transferrin concentrations and the presence of NTBI in CF and AF suggest that transferrin-independent iron transfer is important in early gestation.
SEPARATION OF ARTERIAL PRESSURE INTO SOLITARY WAVES AND WINDKESSEL FLOW

A simplified model of arterial blood pressure intended for use in model-based signal processing applications is presented. The main idea is to decompose the pressure into two components: a travelling wave describes the fast propagation phenomena predominating during the systolic phase and a windkessel flow represents the slow phenomena during the diastolic phase. Instead of decomposing the blood pressure pulse into a linear superposition of forward and backward harmonic waves, as in the linear wave theory, a nonlinear superposition of travelling waves matched to a reduced physical model of the pressure, is proposed. Very satisfactory experimental results are obtained by using forward waves, the N- soliton solutions of a Korteweg-de Vries equation in conjunction with a two-element windkessel model. The parameter identifiability in the practically important 3- soliton case is also studied. The proposed approach is briefly compared with the linear one and its possible clinical relevance is discussed.
Decentralized resource sharing platform exploiting in-network guidance information

Currently, most of cloud computing services based on IaaS are provided by one specific provider for many users. However, this has some problems in terms of initial cost or ISP transit cost. In addition, individual small use is difficult because the services tend to be provided in a large unit to use. To solve these problems, we advocate a “participating cloud computing platform” that personal or small company level resource suppliers participate in, configure and provide cloud computing. Then, to efficiently search nearby resources among many and various ones in the platform, we propose Resource Breadcrumbs (RBC) as a key technology to provide in-network guidance capability for users' requests. This enables to supply users a smaller unit of resources: computing resource, memory resource, content, application etc. in comparison to traditional IaaS service. In the proposal, supplier-nodes distribute, around them, guidance information directed to themselves with dedicated control message. The distributed information enables user to autonomously locate nearby resources. In addition, distributed management reduces computational load on central database and enables to build cloud platform with lower cost.
Les dépenses militaires, moteur de la croissance économique japonaise ?

L’objet de cet article est d’etudier la nature et l’importance des liens pouvant exister entre la dynamique structurelle des depenses militaires et celle du systeme socio-economique du Japon avant la seconde guerre mondiale. Nous utilisons une triple base de donnees originales issues des travaux de Ohkawa et al., de Taeuber et de Diebolt, afin de determiner le sens du rapport de causalite, s’il existe, entre les deux systemes. Si les resultats montrent que toutes les depenses ont un impact sur la croissance economique japonaise, les depenses militaires ont toutefois un role plus central, tant sur le plan economique que sur le plan social, et peuvent etre considerees, tout comme les depenses educatives, comme l’un des elements moteurs de la croissance economique du pays.
Rolling SLIP model based running on a hexapod robot

We report on development of dynamic running behavior on the RHex-style hexapod robot. By using the Rolling SLIP (R-SLIP) model as the “template” of the robot, together with the investigation of the stability properties of the R-SLIP model, the robot implemented with the selected trajectory based on the R-SLIP motion can immediately excite its dynamic running behavior (i.e., composed of stance and flight phases) without necessity of extra tuning or optimization effort. In addition, a feedback control strategy is proposed to regulate the robot's motion when the robot's operating region is not located at the stable area of the R-SLIP model (i.e., no stable fixed point). The controller includes three portions: a body velocity estimator, a database containing a wide range of pre-computed R-SLIP trajectories, and a control law which regulates the robot motion to the desired R-SLIP profile. The proposed methodology of robot trajectory generation and strategy of running regulation are experimentally evaluated.
A Center Manifold Result for Delayed Neural Fields Equations

We develop a framework for the study of delayed neural fields equations and prove a center manifold theorem for these equations. Specific properties of delayed neural fields equations make it difficult to apply existing methods from the literature concerning center manifold results for functional differential equations. Our approach for the proof of the center manifold theorem uses the original combination of results from Vanderbauwhede et al. together with a theory of linear functional differential equations in a history space larger than the commonly used set of time-continuous functions.
Reward Anticipation in Ventral Striatum and Individual Sensitivity to Reward: A Pilot Study of a Child-Friendly fMRI Task

Reward processing has been implicated in developmental disorders. However, the classic task to probe reward anticipation, the monetary incentive delay task, has an abstract coding of reward and no storyline and may therefore be less appropriate for use with developmental populations. We modified the task to create a version appropriate for use with children. We investigated whether this child-friendly version could elicit ventral striatal activation during reward anticipation in typically developing children and young adolescents (aged 9.5–14.5). In addition, we tested whether our performance-based measure of reward sensitivity was associated with anticipatory activity in ventral striatum. Reward anticipation was related to activity in bilateral ventral striatum. Moreover, we found an association between individual reward sensitivity and activity in ventral striatum. We conclude that this task assesses ventral striatal activity in a child-friendly paradigm. The combination with a performance-based measure of reward sensitivity potentially makes the task a powerful tool for developmental imaging studies of reward processing.
Comparison of Three Different Methods for Measurement of Cervical Cord Atrophy in Multiple Sclerosis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Evidence is mounting that spinal cord atrophy significantly correlates with disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The purpose of this work was to validate 3 different measures for the measurement of cervical cord atrophy on high-resolution MR imaging in patients with MS and in normal control subjects (NCs). We also wanted to evaluate the relationship between cervical cord atrophy and clinical disability in the presence of other conventional and nonconventional brain MR imaging metrics by using a unique additive variance regression model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 66 MS patients (age, 41.2 ± 12.4 years; disease duration, 11.8 ± 10.7 years; Expanded Disability Status Scale, 3.1 ± 2.1) and 19 NCs (age, 30.4 ± 12.0 years). Disease course was relapsing-remitting (34), secondary-progressive (14), primary-progressive (7), and clinically isolated syndrome (11). The cervical cord absolute volume (CCAV) in cubic millimeters and 2 normalized cervical cord measures were calculated as follows: cervical cord fraction (CCF) = CCAV/thecal sac absolute volume, and cervical cord to intracranial volume (ICV) fraction (CCAV/ICV). Cervical and brain lesion volume measures, brain parenchyma fraction (BPF), and mean diffusivity were also calculated. RESULTS: CCAV (P < .0001) and CCF (P = .007) showed the largest differences between NCs and MS patients and between different disease subtypes. In regression analysis predicting disability, CCAV was retained first (R2 = 0.498; P < .0001) followed by BPF (R2 = 0.08; P = .08). Only 8% of the variance in disability was explained by brain MR imaging measures when coadjusted for the amount of cervical cord atrophy. CONCLUSIONS: 3D CCAV measurement showed the largest differences between NCs and MS patients and between different disease subtypes. Cervical cord atrophy measurement provides valuable additional information related to disability that is not obtainable from brain MR imaging metrics.
A Dynamic Admission Control for IEEE802.16e Wireless Network

The grunt/request mechanism in IEEE 802.16e MAC provides different quality of service (QoS) for different service flows, wherein the call admission control (CAC) comparing the network resource available in the system with requirement of the QoS of the connection to decide if a connection can be admitted is an important stage to guarantee the QoS of each connection. Aiming at the current CAC's shortcoming of lower utilization of network resource and incomplete guarantee of QoS due to a static, constant and identical network resource for each connection, a dynamic resource allocation based admission control is proposed in this paper. In order to realize the dynamic admission control, a user-oriented based connection-oriented resource allocation is investigated at first in this paper. The novel CAC works together with such adaptive resource allocation based on OFDMA, where the resource is distributed to each connection according to the priority of the connection and channel condition of the user subjected to the connection's QoS and the admission decision is made by satisfaction to requirement of QoS, so the QoS of the connection is guaranteed, meanwhile, the utilization of network source can be maximized. The simulation results reveal that the number of the user admitted with the novel strategy and the utilization of the network resource is much larger than that with traditional algorithm.