Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An exploratory test for an excess of significant findings

Background The published clinical research literature may be distorted by the pursuit of statistically significant results. Purpose We aimed to develop a test to explore biases stemming from the pursuit of nominal statistical significance. Methods The exploratory test evaluates whether there is a relative excess of formally significant findings in the published literature due to any reason (e.g., publication bias, selective analyses and outcome reporting, or fabricated data). The number of expected studies with statistically significant results is estimated and compared against the number of observed significant studies. The main application uses α = 0.05, but a range of α thresholds is also examined. Different values or prior distributions of the effect size are assumed. Given the typically low power (few studies per research question), the test may be best applied across domains of many meta-analyses that share common characteristics (interventions, outcomes, study populations, research environment). Results We evaluated illustratively eight meta-analyses of clinical trials with >50 studies each and 10 meta-analyses of clinical efficacy for neuroleptic agents in schizophrenia; the 10 meta-analyses were also examined as a composite domain. Different results were obtained against commonly used tests of publication bias. We demonstrated a clear or possible excess of significant studies in 6 of 8 large meta-analyses and in the wide domain of neuroleptic treatments. Limitations The proposed test is exploratory, may depend on prior assumptions, and should be applied cautiously. Conclusions An excess of significant findings may be documented in some clinical research fields. Clinical Trials 2007; 4: 245—253; http://ctj.sagepub. com
Effect of follicle size at time of GnRH-induced ovulation on luteal function and fertility

The use of GnRH in fixed-time AI protocols results in the ovulation of a wide range of follicle sizes. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effect of follicle size at induced ovulation on corpus luteum (CL) function and fertility in cyclic and anestrous cows. Multiparous beef cows (n = 45) were assigned to one of three treatments: Cyclic cows treated with the CO-Synch protocol (n = 20), anestrous cows treated with the CO-Synch protocol (n = 16), and anestrous control cows (n = 9). CO-Synch treated cows received GnRH (100 μg; i.m.) on d 0 of treatment, and all cows received PG (25 mg; i.m.) on d 7. Forty-eight hours following PG injection, cows received GnRH (100 μg; i.m.) and were artificially inseminated. Blood was collected daily from d 0 to d 31 and once weekly from d 34 to d 69. Ovarian follicles were measured by transrectal ultrasonography on d 7, 8, and 9 to determine growth rate and ovulatory size. Transrectal ultrasonography was used to determine pregnancy rates on d 34 and fetal viability on d 41, 48, 55, 62, and 69. Cyclic cows were further postpartum than anestrous cows (51.4 ± 1.9 d and 36.8 ± 1.7 d; P 0.05). CO-Synch treated cows had longer luteal lifespan than control cows (19.7 ± 0.9 d and 9.6 ± 1.8 d; P 0.05) in pregnancy rates among follicle size groups of CO-Synch cows [4/7 (57%), 8/10 (80%), 10/13 (77%), and 4/6 (67%) for 10 to 12, 12.5 to 14, 14.5 to 16, and > 16 mm; respectively]; however, by d 60 post-insemination, cows that ovulated 10 to 12 mm follicles maintained fewer pregnancies [2/7 (29%); P < 0.05] than cows that ovulated 14.5 to 16 [9/12 (75%)] mm follicles. This decrease in pregnancy rate was due to greater embryonic mortality in cows that ovulated 10 to 12 mm follicles. In summary, ovulation of smaller follicles does not affect CL formation and progesterone secretion, but may lead to increased embryonic death.
Laser speckle photometry – Optical sensor systems for condition and process monitoring

Abstract Laser speckle photometry (LSP) is an innovative, non-destructive monitoring technique based on the detection and analysis of thermally or mechanically activated speckle dynamics in a non-stationary optical field. With the development of speckle theories, it has been found that speckle patterns carry information about surface characteristics. Therefore, LSP offers a great potential for the characterization of material properties and monitoring of manufacturing processes. In contrast to the speckle interferometry method, LSP is very simple and robust. The sample is illuminated by only one laser beam to generate a speckle pattern on the surface. The signals obtained are directly recorded by a CCD or CMOS camera. By appropriate optical solutions for the beam path, typically, resolutions of less than 10 μm are reached if larger areas are illuminated. LSP is definitely a contactless, quick and quality relevant material characterization and defect detection method, allowing process monitoring in many industrial fields. Examples from online biotechnological monitoring and laser based manufacturing demonstrate further potentials of the method for process monitoring and controlling.
Markov random field segmentation of brain MR images

Describes a fully-automatic three-dimensional (3-D)-segmentation technique for brain magnetic resonance (MR) images. By means of Markov random fields (MRF's) the segmentation algorithm captures three features that are of special importance for MR images, i.e., nonparametric distributions of tissue intensities, neighborhood correlations, and signal inhomogeneities. Detailed simulations and real MR images demonstrate the performance of the segmentation algorithm. In particular, the impact of noise, inhomogeneity, smoothing, and structure thickness are analyzed quantitatively. Even single-echo MR images are well classified into gray matter, white matter, cerebrospinal fluid, scalp-bone, and background. A simulated annealing and an iterated conditional modes implementation are presented.
Design and Experimental Evaluation of Fast Model Predictive Control for Modular Multilevel Converters

In recent years, modular multilevel converters (MMCs) are very popular in medium/high-voltage motor drive systems and high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) applications. The conventional model predictive control (MPC) strategies for the MMC are not practical due to their substantial calculation requirements, especially under high number of voltage levels. To solve this problem, a fast MPC strategy combined with a submodule (SM)-voltage sorting balancing method is proposed based on the discrete mathematical model derived for the MMC in this paper. By optimizing the implementation of the control objectives and simplifying the rolling optimization, the proposed strategy is simpler to expand to a system with larger number of SMs, with the amount of calculation reduced and the advantages of the conventional MPC algorithm reserved. In addition, the proposed control can minimize the dv/dt of the output voltages. Both steady-state and transient performances are evaluated by a down-scaled three-phase MMC prototype under various experimental conditions, which validates the proposed fast MPC strategy.
An Efficient Algorithm for Implementing the Crank–Nicolson Scheme in the Mixed Finite-Element Time-Domain Method

In this paper, an efficient algorithm for implementing Crank-Nicolson scheme in the finite-element time-domain (FETD) method is presented. Based on a direct discretization of the first-order coupled Maxwell curl equations, this algorithm employs edge elements (Whitney 1-form) to expand the electric field and face elements (Whitney 2-form) for the magnetic field. Since the curl of an edge-element is the linear combination of those face elements whose faces contain the given edge, only the Maxwell-Ampere equation composes a sparse linear matrix equation for the electric field update; the Maxwell-Faraday equation is explicit. The Crank-Nicolson scheme is implemented leading to an unconditionally stable vector FETD method and the matrix inverse is not required to be computed explicitly. Therefore, only one matrix equation is required to be solved at each time step. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed method is efficient when compared with the conventional leap-frog mixed FETD method and the Crank-Nicolson FDTD method.
EERS: Energy Efficient Rate Selection Approach for Wireless Battery Operated Networks

For mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) and sensor networks, due to the battery recovery effect, a node with longer idle period after finishing a transmission task will recover more over-consumed energy; however, longer recovery period requires shorter transmission period and hence higher transmission rate which leads to more energy consumption for transmission. Therefore, there is a tradeoff between the energy consumption for transmission and the energy recovery when minimizing the overall energy depletion at each node. This paper firstly defines a new metric termed actual energy depletion (AED), which quantifies the actual energy consumption during a transmission and recovery time unit of a node. We then describe the rate selection problem into an optimizing model to minimize AED subject to the channel's capacity constrain. We propose a novel energy efficient rate selection (EERS) approach for wireless battery operated networks. We analyze the mathematical procedure on how to obtain the required optimal rate for the proposed model and provide its implementation method in real networks in a distributive way. Numerical results are provided to show the efficiency of EERS in prolonging network lifetime.
Oxidant and Carbonyl Stress-Related Apoptosis in End-Stage Kidney Disease: Impact of Membrane Flux

Apoptosis is a highly regulated process which mostly affects cell-mediated immunity. In this open-label, randomized, prospective clinical study, we determined the impact in 10 hemodialysis patients treated with high-, medium-, and low-flux membranes on spontaneous or plasma-induced apoptosis, on monocytes, as well as on oxidant and carbonyl stress. High- and medium-flux membranes significantly reduced patients’ plasma-dependent proapoptotic activity on U937 monocytic cell lines. Patients who had the highest levels of plasma-induced proapoptotic activity exhibited the highest plasma levels of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs) and carbonyls. Plasma carbonyl residues but not AOPPs were significantly lowered. Finally, a significant correlation could be drawn between the extent of plasma-induced proapoptotic activity and both plasma carbonyl and AOPP levels.
The Gα o Activator Mastoparan-7 Promotes Dendritic Spine Formation in Hippocampal Neurons

Mastoparan-7 (Mas-7), an analogue of the peptide mastoparan, which is derived from wasp venom, is a direct activator of Pertussis toxin- (PTX-) sensitive G proteins. Mas-7 produces several biological effects in different cell types; however, little is known about how Mas-7 influences mature hippocampal neurons. We examined the specific role of Mas-7 in the development of dendritic spines, the sites of excitatory synaptic contact that are crucial for synaptic plasticity. We report here that exposure of hippocampal neurons to a low dose of Mas-7 increases dendritic spine density and spine head width in a time-dependent manner. Additionally, Mas-7 enhances postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95) clustering in neurites and activates Gα o signaling, increasing the intracellular Ca2+ concentration. To define the role of signaling intermediates, we measured the levels of phosphorylated protein kinase C (PKC), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and calcium-calmodulin dependent protein kinase IIα (CaMKIIα) after Mas-7 treatment and determined that CaMKII activation is necessary for the Mas-7-dependent increase in dendritic spine density. Our results demonstrate a critical role for Gα o subunit signaling in the regulation of synapse formation.
Detection and Correction of Phase Errors in Audio Signals for Application in Blind Source Separation

The Nonnegative Matrix Factorization is a pow- erful and widely used tool in blind audio source separation applications. However, it operates only on the magnitude spectrogram of the Short-Time-Fourier-Transform and dis- regards the phase information which can lead to audible ar- tifacts in the reconstructed sources after separation. This paper presents a postprocessing method to detect and cor- rect potential phase errors within the Short-Time-Fourier- Transform of a signal, based on autoregressive modeling and linear prediction. Both magnitude and phase of the distorted signal are evaluated and interpolated independently.
Abstract ON THE B → J/Ψ + K ∗ DECAY

Within the QCD factorization approach, we calculate the processandpolarization-dependent nonfactorizable terms̃aλ of the B→ J/Ψ+K∗ decay. The longitudinal part̃ a0 is infrared convergent and large enough to agree with recent experimental data, provid ed that the B-K∗ form factorsA1(mΨ) andA2(mΨ) satisfy some constraints met by some (but not all) models. Th e transverse parts̃ a± on the other hand are infrared divergent, the procedure used to handle such divergence is discussed in relation with the B→ J/Ψ + K case in which the same problem arises. Our nonzero phases of t he helicity amplitudes are consistent with experimental data recently measured for the first time by the CDF and BaBar groups. PACS number(s): 13.25. Hw, 12.38. Bx, 12.39. Hg E-mail: xuanson@lpthe.jussieu. fr E-mail: pham@lpthe.jussieu. fr LPTHE tour 16 / 1er étage, Université P. et M. Curie, BP 126, 4 place Jussieu, F -75252 PARIS CEDEX 05 (France).
Development Status of Superconducting RF Transmission Electron Microscope

Now we are developing a new type of transmission electron microscope (TEM) employing the accelerator technologies. In place of a DC thermal gun generally used in conventional TEMs, we apply a photocathode gun and a special-shaped superconducting cavity, named two-mode cavity. The two-mode cavity has two resonant modes of TM010 (1.3 GHz) and TM020 (2.6 GHz). To superimpose these, we can suppress the increase of the energy spread, which is needed for the high-spatial-resolution TEMs. We have already developed some prototypes of the photocathode gun and two-mode cavity, and now in the middle of the performance tests. In this presentation, we will show the latest status of the development.
Exploring the Nexus: Management practices, innovation and firm performance

The purpose of this study is to test the relationship between knowledge-based HRM practices, Collaborative HRM practices and innovative orientation, innovative activities and firm performance and to test the mediating effect of innovative activities on the firm performance. To accomplish this purpose, survey was to carry out in the twin cities Rawalpindi-Islamabad of Pakistan. Total three hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed among the middle level employees of telecom organizations. Out of Total, two hundred and fifty three (253) questionnaires were retrieved back. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the model. The results of the SEM indicates that the Knowledge-based HRM practices, Collaborative HRM practices and Innovation orientation have significant and positive impact on Innovative activities of the firm, whereas, Innovative activities has significant and positive impact on firm financial performance. The study recommends that organizations should incorporate and intensify collaborative HRM practices, Knowledge-based HRM practices in the organizational policies to improve business performance and stay competitive in the market. Organizations should understand the consequences of such functions as strategic options and should integrate the contribution of Knowledge-based and collaborative HRM practices to strategic decision-making. This partnership envisions a more active role in HRM professionals in the organization to support changes in the organization through a partnership of front line managers.
Strategies for principal component analysis in wireless sensor networks

This paper deals with the issue of monitoring physical phenomena using wireless sensor networks. It provides principal component analysis for the time series of sensors' measurements. Without the need to compute the sample covariance matrix, we derive several in-network strategies to estimate the principal axis, including noncooperative and diffusion strategies. The performance of the proposed strategies is illustrated in the issue of monitoring gas diffusion.
Additively Weighted Voronoi Diagrams for Optimal Sequenced Route Queries

The Optimal Sequenced Route (OSR) query strives to flnd a route of minimum length starting from a given source location and passing through a number of typed locations in a speciflc sequence imposed on the types of the locations. In this paper, we propose a precomputation approach to OSR query in vector spaces. We exploit the geometric properties of the solution space and theoretically prove its relation to Additively Weighted Voronoi diagrams. Our approach recursively accesses these diagrams to incrementally build the optimal sequenced route. Our experimental results verify that our pre-computation approach outperforms the previous index-based approaches in terms of query response time.
Gestures all around us: user differences in social acceptability perceptions of gesture based interfaces

Gesture based interfaces provide a new way for us to interact with mobile devices, but also require us to make new decisions about how we feel about this new technology and which gestures we decide are usable and appropriate. These decisions are based on the social and public settings where these devices are used on a daily basis. Our ideas about which gestures are socially acceptable or not are an important factor in whether or not these gestures will be adopted. The ways in which users evaluate social acceptability is not only highly variable, but with drastically different results amongst different users. These differences are not dependant on factors such as age, gender, occupation, geographic location, or previous technology usage. Future work into the social acceptability perceptions of users will focus on personality traits as a new way of understanding how social acceptability is determined.
Synthesis and characterization of porous silicon gas sensors

In this work, photo-electrochemical etching process of n-type Silicon of resistivity(10 Ω.cm) and (100) orientation, using two illumination sources IR and violet wavelength in HF acid have been used to produce PSi gas detection device. The fabrication process was carried out at a fixed etching current density of 25mA/cm2 and at different etching time (5, 10, 15 and 20) min and (8, 16, 24, and 30) min. Two configurations of gas sensor configuration planer and sandwich have been made and investigated. The morphological properties have been studied using SEM,the FTIR measurement show that the (Si-Hx) and (Si-O-Si) absorption peak were increases with increasing etching time,and Photoluminescence properties of PSi layer show decrease in the peak of PL peak toward the violet shift. The gas detection process is made on the CO2 gas at different operating temperature and fixed gas concentration. In the planner structure, the gas sensing was measured through, the change in the resistance readout as a function to the exposure time, while for sandwich structure J-V characteristic have been made to determine the sensitivity.
Neuronal Avalanches Are Diverse and Precise Activity Patterns That Are Stable for Many Hours in Cortical Slice Cultures

A major goal of neuroscience is to elucidate mechanisms of cortical information processing and storage. Previous work from our laboratory (Beggs and Plenz, 2003) revealed that propagation of local field potentials (LFPs) in cortical circuits could be described by the same equations that govern avalanches. Whereas modeling studies suggested that these “neuronal avalanches” were optimal for information transmission, it was not clear what role they could play in information storage. Work from numerous other laboratories has shown that cortical structures can generate reproducible spatiotemporal patterns of activity that could be used as a substrate for memory. Here, we show that although neuronal avalanches lasted only a few milliseconds, their spatiotemporal patterns were also stable and significantly repeatable even many hours later. To investigate these issues, we cultured coronal slices of rat cortex for 4 weeks on 60-channel microelectrode arrays and recorded spontaneous extracellular LFPs continuously for 10 hr. Using correlation-based clustering and a global contrast function, we found that each cortical culture spontaneously produced 4736 ± 2769 (mean ± SD) neuronal avalanches per hour that clustered into 30 ± 14 statistically significant families of spatiotemporal patterns. In 10 hr of recording, over 98% of the mutual information shared by these avalanche patterns were retained. Additionally, jittering analysis revealed that the correlations between avalanches were temporally precise to within ±4 msec. The long-term stability, diversity, and temporal precision of these avalanches indicate that they fulfill many of the requirements expected of a substrate for memory and suggest that they play a central role in both information transmission and storage within cortical networks.
Use of anatomical parcellation to catalog and study structure‐function relationships in the human brain

We describe a functional neuroanatomy approach that combines structural (MRI) and functional (PET) data at the individual level. For each subject MRI dataset, sulci are first localized using hemisphere surface rendering and sections and stored. Using these landmarks, the subject brain volume is then divided in 100 anatomical volumes of interest (AVOI). AVOI morphometric measurements are readily obtained as well as functional parameters (CBF) after MRI‐PET alignment. This approach allows structure‐function relationship investigations both at the single case and at the intersubject average level; in addition, individual morphometric and functional parameters can be easily archieved in a database for further meta‐analysis. This approach is applicable to all imaging modalities and is especially suited for a priori hypothesis testing and for the investigation of interindividual functional neuroanatomy variability. Hum. Brain Mapping 5:228–232, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Biomarkers of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in infants

Abstract Non-invasive biomonitoring of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) by means of hair is attractive in children, although systematic evaluation is required in infants. The objective was to compare nicotine and cotinine concentrations in hair and plasma and parentally reported exposure to ETS in a birth cohort of 411 infants. Plasma was collected from 356 six-month-old infants and hair samples were collected from 368 one-year-old infants. Concentrations of nicotine and cotinine were measured by an optimized gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS)-based method requiring 4 mg hair or 200 µl plasma. Information was obtained on the number of days with ETS exposure during the first year of life, the smoking habits of the parents, and the number of cigarettes smoked per day in the home. All three parentally reported indices of ETS exposure were significantly associated with the biomarkers, with clear dose–response relationships. There was a significant association between days with ETS exposure and nicotine in hair at relatively low exposure levels (10–99 days per year), whereas the other biomarkers only showed significant increases at higher exposure levels. In conclusion, nicotine in hair appears to be the biomarker most strongly associated with parental reports on exposure to ETS in infants.