Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Collisions in compact star clusters

The high stellar densities in young compact star clusters, such as the star cluster R 136 in the 30 Doradus region, may lead to a large number of stellar collisions. Such collisions were recently found to be much more frequent than previous estimates. The number of collisions scales with the number of stars for clusters with the same initial relaxation time. These collisions take place in a few million years. The collision products may finally collapse into massive black holes. The fraction of the total mass in the star cluster which ends up in a single massive object scales with the total mass of the cluster and its relaxation time. This mass fraction is rather constant, within a factor two or so. Wild extrapolation from the relatively small masses of the studied systems to the cores of galactic nuclei may indicate that the massive black holes in these systems have formed in a similar way.
Robust Tracking in Aerial Imagery Based on an Ego-Motion Bayesian Model

A novel strategy for object tracking in aerial imagery is presented, which is able to deal with complex situations where the camera ego-motion cannot be reliably estimated due to the aperture problem (related to low structured scenes), the strong ego-motion, and/or the presence of independent moving objects. The proposed algorithm is based on a complex modeling of the dynamic information, which simulates both the object and the camera dynamics to predict the putative object locations. In this model, the camera dynamics is probabilistically formulated as a weighted set of affine transformations that represent possible camera ego-motions. This dynamic model is used in a Particle Filter framework to distinguish the actual object location among the multiple candidates, that result from complex cluttered backgrounds, and the presence of several moving objects. The proposed strategy has been tested with the aerial FLIR AMCOM dataset, and its performance has been also compared with other tracking techniques to demonstrate its efficiency.
CDKN2A/p16INK4a expression is associated with vascular progeria in chronic kidney disease

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) display a progeric vascular phenotype linked to apoptosis, cellular senescence and osteogenic transformation. This has proven intractable to modelling appropriately in model organisms. We have therefore investigated this directly in man, using for the first time validated cellular biomarkers of ageing (CDKN2A/p16INK4a, SA-β-Gal) in arterial biopsies from 61 CKD patients undergoing living donor renal transplantation. We demonstrate that in the uremic milieu, increased arterial expression of CDKN2A/p16INK4a associated with vascular progeria in CKD, independently of chronological age. The arterial expression of CDKN2A/p16INK4a was significantly higher in patients with coronary calcification (p=0.01) and associated cardiovascular disease (CVD) (p=0.004). The correlation between CDKN2A/p16INK4a and media calcification was statistically significant (p=0.0003) after correction for chronological age. We further employed correlate expression of matrix Gla protein (MGP) and runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) as additional pathognomonic markers. Higher expression of CDKN2A/p16INK4a, RUNX2 and MGP were observed in arteries with severe media calcification. The number of p16INK4a and SA-β-Gal positive cells was higher in biopsies with severe media calcification. A strong inverse correlation was observed between CDKN2A/p16INK4a expression and carboxylated osteocalcin levels. Thus, impaired vitamin K mediated carboxylation may contribute to premature vascular senescence.
Spacetime sweeping: an interactive dynamic constraints solver

This paper presents a new method for editing an existing motion to satisfy a set of user-specified constraints, and in doing so guaranteeing the kinematic and dynamic soundness of the transformed motion. We cast the motion editing problem as a constrained state estimation problem based on the per-frame Kalman filter framework. To handle various kinds of kinematic and dynamic constraints in a scalable fashion, we develop a new algorithm, called spacetime sweeping, which sweeps through the frames with two consecutive filters. The unscented Kalman (UK) filter estimates an optimal pose for the current frame that conforms to the given constraints, and feeds the result to the least-squares (LS) filter. Then, the LS filter resolves the inter-frame inconsistencies introduced by the UK filter due to the independent handling of the position, velocity and acceleration. The per-frame approach of the space-time sweeping provides a surprising performance gain. Thus editing of motion that involves dynamic constraints, such as dynamic balancing, can be done interactively.
Distributed Mathematical Problem Solving

Coupling computer algebra systems and theorem provers enables to extend the capabilities they have when standing alone. We report on an ongoing research project whose long term goal is to provide an open environment for doing mathematics including reasoners and symbolic calculators. It is extensible by users which can construct complex systems by combination and insertion of existing packages. These systems may be based on different logics, formalisms, data structures, interfaces. A result of this work is illustrated by a prototype implementation of an interface between Isabelle and Maple.
Antecedents and Consequences of E-Learning Adoption in Jordanian Higher Education Institution

This research aimed at investigating the factors influencing instructor’s intention to adopt e-learning by usingTechnology Acceptance Model in Jordanian universities. The paper takes a social and technical approach in its investigation by using a research theory based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to identify the factors that affect intention to adopt e-learning. The sample consisted of (320) instructors. They were drawn randomly from the population, by using proportional stratified random sample method. A questionnaire was develop to collect data. Validity and reliability of the tool were assured. Multiple regression Analysis was used to assess the relationships in the constructs. The findings indicated that the perceived usefulness (PU) has a significant influence on behavioral intention (BI) (P 0.01). The study also provides an indicator of instructors’ acceptance of e-learning as well as identifying the important factors that would contribute to its successful use. The outcomes will enrich the understanding of instructor’s acceptance of e-learning and will assist in its continuing implementation at Jordanian Universities.
Generalized Smarr relation for Kerr-AdS black holes from improved surface integrals

By using suitably improved surface integrals, we give a unified geometric derivation of the generalized Smarr relation for higher dimensional Kerr black holes which is valid both in flat and in anti-de Sitter backgrounds. The improvement of the surface integrals, which allows one to use them simultaneously at infinity and on the horizon, consists in integrating them along a path in solution space. Path independence of the improved charges is explicitly proved. It is also shown that the charges for higher dimensional Kerr-AdS black holes can be correctly computed from the standard Hamiltonian or Lagrangian surface integrals.
WldS Reduces Paraquat-Induced Cytotoxicity via SIRT1 in Non-Neuronal Cells by Attenuating the Depletion of NAD

WldS is a fusion protein with NAD synthesis activity, and has been reported to protect axonal and synaptic compartments of neurons from various mechanical, genetic and chemical insults. However, whether WldS can protect non-neuronal cells against toxic chemicals is largely unknown. Here we found that WldS significantly reduced the cytotoxicity of bipyridylium herbicides paraquat and diquat in mouse embryonic fibroblasts, but had no effect on the cytotoxicity induced by chromium (VI), hydrogen peroxide, etoposide, tunicamycin or brefeldin A. WldS also slowed down the death of mice induced by intraperitoneal injection of paraquat. Further studies demonstrated that WldS markedly attenuated mitochondrial injury including disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, structural damage and decline of ATP induced by paraquat. Disruption of the NAD synthesis activity of WldS by an H112A or F116S point mutation resulted in loss of its protective function against paraquat-induced cell death. Furthermore, WldS delayed the decrease of intracellular NAD levels induced by paraquat. Similarly, treatment with NAD or its precursor nicotinamide mononucleotide attenuated paraquat-induced cytotoxicity and decline of ATP and NAD levels. In addition, we showed that SIRT1 was required for both exogenous NAD and WldS-mediated cellular protection against paraquat. These findings suggest that NAD and SIRT1 mediate the protective function of WldS against the cytotoxicity induced by paraquat, which provides new clues for the mechanisms underlying the protective function of WldS in both neuronal and non-neuronal cells, and implies that attenuation of NAD depletion may be effective to alleviate paraquat poisoning.
The efficiency and fidelity of 8-oxo-guanine bypass by DNA polymerases δ and η

A DNA lesion created by oxidative stress is 7,8-dihydro-8-oxo-guanine (8-oxoG). Because 8-oxoG can mispair with adenine during DNA synthesis, it is of interest to understand the efficiency and fidelity of 8-oxoG bypass by DNA polymerases. We quantify bypass parameters for two DNA polymerases implicated in 8-oxoG bypass, Pols δ and η. Yeast Pol δ and yeast Pol η both bypass 8-oxoG and misincorporate adenine during bypass. However, yeast Pol η is 10-fold more efficient than Pol δ, and following bypass Pol η switches to less processive synthesis, similar to that observed during bypass of a cis-syn thymine-thymine dimer. Moreover, yeast Pol η is at least 10-fold more accurate than yeast Pol δ during 8-oxoG bypass. These differences are maintained in the presence of the accessory proteins RFC, PCNA and RPA and are consistent with the established role of Pol η in suppressing ogg1-dependent mutagenesis in yeast. Surprisingly different results are obtained with human and mouse Pol η. Both mammalian enzymes bypass 8-oxoG efficiently, but they do so less processively, without a switch point and with much lower fidelity than yeast Pol η. The fact that yeast and mammalian Pol η have intrinsically different catalytic properties has potential biological implications.
Memory training program for older adults

ABSTRACT Objective: Memory loss affects a large proportion of older adults. Research indicates a positive association between memory training and better memory performance as people age. However, studies on specific memory training using an experimental design are limited. This study explored whether memory training has improved memory performance in a group of older adults. Method: A convenience sample of 48 participants was recruited from two communities. Disregarding dropouts, this left 23 experimental (mean age = 65.4 ± 6.0, range = 56–80) and 19 control participants (mean age = 64.5 ± 4.9, range: 57–72). The intervention consisted of 60-min classes held on a weekly basis continuing for 8 weeks. The class session was held after a 1-h exercise class and before a 1-h session of cognitive games. The pre–post objective memory performances, including associative, list, text, place, grocery learning, and transfer-effect of daily event memory (ecology validity), were examined to determine whether the intervention was effective. Results: Intragroup: With Wilcoxon test, the findings showed that the intervention of both the list and place learning had significant differences for the experimental group, but not for the control group. Intergroup: The main effects were found for the associative and text learning. The mixed design ANOVA indicated that there is an interaction (time x group) on the dependent variable of the place learning test. Daily events memory: We found within group that the pre–post differences were significant for the experimental group but not for the control group. Conclusion: The study showed that memory training can help older adults to ameliorate memory loss problems and these findings deserve more attention.
Turbulent protostellar discs

Aspects of turbulence in protostellar accretion discs are being reviewed. The emergence of dead zones due to poor ionization and alternatives to the magneto-rotational instability are discussed. The coupling between dust and gas in protostellar accretion discs is explained and the turbulent drag is compared with laminar drag in the Stokes and Epstein regimes. Finally, the significance of magnetic-field generation in turbulent discs is emphasized in connection with driving outflows and with star–disc coupling.
The Anaphor-Antecedent Match : Issues for Referring Expressions Generation

The design of referring expressions generation algorithms that produce descriptions closer to human performance may benefit from evidence on how human speakers actually interpret these descriptions. To shed light on this issue, in this paper we present an experiment to measure the time required for the interpretation of matching and non-matching anaphoric definite description pairs. Preliminary results suggest that non-matching descriptions, or those that share fewer attributes with the antecedent term, seem to be more difficult to interpret, an insight that may be potentially useful to the design of novel referring expressions generation algorithms.
Jets as Diagnostics of the Circumstellar Medium and the Explosion Energetics of Supernovae: The Case of Cassiopeia A

We present hydrodynamical models for the Cassiopeia A (Cas A) supernova remnant and its observed jet/counterjet system. We include the evolution of the progenitor’s circumstellar medium, which is shaped by a slow red supergiant wind that is followed by a fast Wolf-Rayet (WR) wind. The main parameters of the simulations are the duration of the WR phase and the jet energy. We find that the jet is destroyed if the WR phase is sufficiently long and a massive circumstellar shell has formed. We therefore conclude that the WR phase must have been short (a few thousand years), if present at all. Since the actual jet length of Cas A is not known, we derive a lower limit for the jet energy, which is ~1048 erg. We discuss the implications for the progenitor of Cas A and the nature of its explosion.
Inequality, Property Rights, and Economic Growth in Transition Economies: Theory and Russian Evidence

For economies in transition, the issues of property rights protection provided by the state and implications for economic performance are very important. The paper develops an endogenous growth model with incomplete capital markets and the level of public protection of property rights determined by voting (possibly different from the majority voting) and verifies the implications using cross-section data on Russian regions. During transition (since 1992), Russian regions demonstrated enormous differences in growth rates. It is found that these differences may be explained by initial conditions and effectiveness of institutions. Also, positive impact of inequality on the level of public protection of property rights is found and a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon in the framework of the model is provided.
Convolutional neural network for 3D object recognition based on RGB-D dataset

Object recognition is fundamental to some high-level computer vision tasks such as image segmentation, object tracking and behavior analysis. The main objective of object recognition is to answer whether a specified object exists in a given image, so extracting representative features from images and training a right classifier become the key techniques in this area. In this paper, we use convolutional neural network model to learn features from RGB-D dataset which are then given to a linear SVM classifier to classify objects. As the number of images in RGB-D dataset is not big enough to retrain a deep neural network with high feature extraction accuracy, we fine-tune the caffe model which was trained on approximately 1.2 million RGB images from ImageNet database. While the framework of depth image is intrinsically different form RGB image, we transform the depth image into three channels and use the same method with the RGB image to extract features. We can achieve a classification accuracy of 91.35% which is much better than the state of the art.
Simulation and Modeling Bandwidth Control in Wireless Healthcare Information Systems

Next generation wireless networks have been designed to provide support for multimedia services, with different traffic characteristics and different Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. Medical broadband applications have attracted increased attention in recent years and furthermore, the tremendous growth of wireless technologies has introduced the potential of continuous healthcare monitoring for mobile patients. The bandwidth requirements and the emergency nature of medical applications introduce the need for QoS provisioning in wireless broadband medical networks. Wireless networks may support a number of e-health applications with different traffic requirements and characteristics, providing at the same time QoS guarantees. Resource allocation in e-health application is inherently different in many aspects including the offered services, traffic requirements, propagation characteristics, and network structure. In this paper, an adaptive resource allocation scheme for QoS provisioning in wireless healthcare information systems is proposed.
A Response Regulator Interfaces between the Frz Chemosensory System and the MglA/MglB GTPase/GAP Module to Regulate Polarity in Myxococcus xanthus

How cells establish and dynamically change polarity are general questions in cell biology. Cells of the rod-shaped bacterium Myxococcus xanthus move on surfaces with defined leading and lagging cell poles. Occasionally, cells undergo reversals, which correspond to an inversion of the leading-lagging pole polarity axis. Reversals are induced by the Frz chemosensory system and depend on relocalization of motility proteins between the poles. The Ras-like GTPase MglA localizes to and defines the leading cell pole in the GTP-bound form. MglB, the cognate MglA GTPase activating protein, localizes to and defines the lagging pole. During reversals, MglA-GTP and MglB switch poles and, therefore, dynamically localized motility proteins switch poles. We identified the RomR response regulator, which localizes in a bipolar asymmetric pattern with a large cluster at the lagging pole, as important for motility and reversals. We show that RomR interacts directly with MglA and MglB in vitro. Furthermore, RomR, MglA, and MglB affect the localization of each other in all pair-wise directions, suggesting that RomR stimulates motility by promoting correct localization of MglA and MglB in MglA/RomR and MglB/RomR complexes at opposite poles. Moreover, localization analyses suggest that the two RomR complexes mutually exclude each other from their respective poles. We further show that RomR interfaces with FrzZ, the output response regulator of the Frz chemosensory system, to regulate reversals. Thus, RomR serves at the functional interface to connect a classic bacterial signalling module (Frz) to a classic eukaryotic polarity module (MglA/MglB). This modular design is paralleled by the phylogenetic distribution of the proteins, suggesting an evolutionary scheme in which RomR was incorporated into the MglA/MglB module to regulate cell polarity followed by the addition of the Frz system to dynamically regulate cell polarity.
Evaluation of Methods for Aerodynamic Roughness Length Retrieval from Very High-Resolution Imaging LIDAR Observations over the Heihe Basin in China

The parameterization of heat transfer based on remote sensing data, and the Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) scheme to retrieve turbulent heat fluxes, already proved to be very appropriate for estimating evapotranspiration (ET) over homogeneous land surfaces. However, the use of such a method over heterogeneous landscapes (e.g., semi-arid regions or agricultural land) becomes more difficult, since the principle of similarity theory is compromised by the presence of different heat sources at various heights. This study aims to propose and evaluate some models based on vegetation geometry partly developed by Colin and Faivre, to retrieve the surface aerodynamic roughness length for momentum transfer ( z 0 m ), which is a key parameter in the characterization of heat transfer. A new approach proposed by the authors consisted in the use of a Digital Surface Model (DSM) as boundary condition for experiments with a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model to reproduce 3D wind fields, and to invert them to retrieve a spatialized roughness parameter. Colin and Faivre also applied the geometrical Raupach’s approach for the same purpose. These two methods were evaluated against two empirical ones, widely used in Surface Energy Balance Index (SEBI) based algorithms (Moran; Brutsaert), and also against an alternate geometrical model proposed by Menenti and Ritchie. The investigation was carried out in the Yingke oasis (China) using very-high resolution remote sensing data (VNIR, TIR & LIDAR), for a precise description of the land surface, and a fine evaluation of estimated heat fluxes based on in-situ measurements. A set of five numerical experiments was carried out to evaluate each roughness model. It appears that methods used in experiments 2 (based on Brutsaert) and 4 (based on Colin and Faivre) are the most accurate to estimate the aerodynamic roughness length, according to the estimated heat fluxes. However, the formulation used in experiment 2 allows to minimize errors in both latent and sensible heat flux, and to preserve a good partitioning. An additional evaluation of these two methods based on another k B − 1 parameterization could be necessary, given that the latter is not always compatible with the CFD-based retrieval method.
Incidence and Predictors of Acute Psychological Distress and Dissociation After Motor Vehicle Collision: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: We examined the incidence and predictors of peritraumatic distress and dissociation after one of the most common forms of civilian trauma exposure: motor vehicle collision (MVC). Method: In this study, patients presenting to the emergency department after MVCs who were without serious injury and discharged to home after evaluation (n = 935) completed an emergency department interview evaluating sociodemographic, collision-related, and psychological characteristics. Results: The incidence and predictors of distress (Peritraumatic Distress Inventory score ≥23) and dissociation (Michigan Critical Events Perception Scale score >3) were assessed. Distress was present in 355 of 935 patients (38%), and dissociation was present in 260 of 942 patients (28%). These outcomes showed only moderate correlation (r = .45) and had both shared and distinct predictors. Female gender, anxiety symptoms prior to the MVC, and vehicle damage severity predicted both distress and dissociation. Higher socioeconomic status (higher education, higher income, full-time employment) had a protective effect against distress but not dissociative symptoms. Better physical health and worse overall mental health were associated with increased risk of dissociation but not distress. Distress but not dissociation was associated with lower patient confidence in recovery and a longer expected duration of recovery. Conclusion: There are unique predictors of peritraumatic distress and dissociation. Further work is needed to better understand the neurobiology of peritraumatic distress and dissociation and the influence of these peritraumatic outcomes on persistent psychological sequelae.