Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
STUDIES ON AUTOREGRESSIVE TIME SERIES ANALYSIS

This dissertation is concerned with statistical investigations of various modern parametric time series analysis technique. In particular, autoregressive (AR) -type methods are extensively treated and analyzed from an unified view point. That is, through the systematic use of the periodogram, a basic quantity in the frequency domain analysis, their statistical properties are obtained. After rederiving well known previous results on pure AR processes, a new parameter estimation algorithm based on noisy data is proposed and analyzed. This has applications in image and speech processing. Then, the periodogram technique is applied to situations where there are randomly or regularly missed observations. This technique is particularly useful since other techniques do not work for these cases. In some cases, the concept of missing observations can be positively utilized to obtain more reliable estimates. Next, line spectral analyses by AR and Pisarenko methods are considered. The variances of the above two sinusoidal frequency estimation methods are derived. The signal-to-noise (SNR) and the data length play a kind of dual roles in the expressions of the variances at different SNR regions. Next, some problems on multivariate AR processes are treated. It is shown that statistical properties of the multivariate AR spectral estimate become similar to those of the multivariate Blackman-Tukey method as the fitting order becomes large. A multivariate version of Quenouille's theorem on partial autocorrelations is also obtained. Lastly, a Levinson-type recursive algorithm for Pagano's new method is derived and based on this recursion, a circular lattice structure of the algorithm is shown.
Changes in Sleep Pattern During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Patients With Narcolepsy, Idiopathic Hypersomnia, and Restless Legs Syndrome

Background and Objectives To explore the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown effect on sleep symptoms in patients with narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia (IH), and restless legs syndrome (RLS). Methods Between March and May 2020, a sample of adult patients regularly followed up in a Reference Hospital Sleep Unit (299 with narcolepsy, 260 with IH, and 254 with RLS) was offered an online survey assessing their sleep-wake habits, daily activities, medication intake, and validated scales: International RLS Study Group questionnaire, Narcolepsy Severity Scale (NSS), IH Severity Scale (IHSS), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Insomnia Severity Index, Beck Depression Inventory–II, and European Quality of Life (QoL) scale. The survey was proposed once, and the questions were answered for the prelockdown (recall of the month before the confinement) and the lockdown (time of study) periods. Results Overall, 331 patients completed the survey (response rate 40.7%): 102 with narcolepsy, 81 with IH, and 148 with RLS. All patients reported later bedtimes, with reduced differences for time in bed (TIB) and total sleep time (TST) over 24 hours between weekdays and weekends. Patients with narcolepsy spent more TIB and increased TST overnight, with more daytime napping. They had more awakenings, higher ESS scores, lower QoL, and no NSS changes. Patients with IH also increased their TIB, TST overnight and 24 hours on weekdays. Nocturnal sleep latency and the number of awakenings increased but with no change in ESS, QoL, and IHSS scores. Patients with RLS reported longer nocturnal sleep latency, more awakenings, more naps, decreased TIB, and TST overnight. RLS severity increased while QoL decreased. A significant portion of patients reported disease worsening during the lockdown (narcolepsy: 39.4%, IH: 43.6%, and RLS: 32.8%), and some patients stopped or lowered their medication (narcolepsy: 22.5%, IH: 28%, and RLS: 9.5%). Discussion During the lockdown, all patients reported later bedtimes; those with narcolepsy and IH extended their sleep duration unlike patients with RLS. These changes were often associated with negative consequences on QoL. In the current context of recurrent COVID-19 waves, the recent development of teleconsultations should enable physicians to monitor patients with chronic sleep disorders more closely and to recommend optimized sleep schedules and duration, in order to prevent psychological problems and improve their QoL.
Leveraging Allele-Specific Expression for Therapeutic Response Gene Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is the most prevalent primary malignant brain tumor in adults and is characterized by poor prognosis and universal tumor recurrence. Effective glioblastoma treatments are lacking, in part due to somatic mutations and epigenetic reprogramming that alter gene expression and confer drug resistance. To investigate recurrently dysregulated genes in glioblastoma we interrogated allele-specific expression (ASE), the difference in expression between two alleles of a gene, in glioblastoma stem cells (GSC) derived from 43 patients. A total of 118 genes were found with recurrent ASE preferentially in GSCs compared to normal tissues. These genes were enriched for apoptotic regulators, including schlafen family member 11 ( SLFN11 ). Loss of SLFN11 gene expression was associated with aberrant promoter methylation and conferred resistance to chemotherapy and PARP inhibition. Conversely, low SLFN11 expression rendered GSCs susceptible to the oncolytic flavivirus Zika. This discovery effort based upon ASE revealed novel points of vulnerability in GSCs, suggesting a potential alternative treatment strategy for chemotherapy resistant glioblastoma. , and GSCs. Manhattan plots for enriched genes were generated using ggbio (1.30). Gene ontology enrichment analysis for genes showing recurrent ASE in GSCs was carried out using topGO (2.34, RRID:SCR_014798)(28). targets regulatory
Optical methods for visualization of ultrasound fields

A brief review of optical techniques for visualizing ultrasound fields is given. Acousto-optic interaction is discussed as a basic principle for visualizing inhomogeneity in refractive index fields. Light diffraction and deflection are also discussed as important phenomena, especially for visualization of ultrasound fields. Three techniques, Schlieren, phase contrast, and shadowgraph techniques, used for visualization of ultrasound fields are reviewed with discussion of the differences in optical systems and visualized field images. A newly developed focused shadowgraph technique that achieves sensitive detection with simple optics is introduced, and its usefulness for visualization of very short pulses of diagnostic ultrasound equipment is shown.
Frailty Additive and Multiplicative Gamma Polygonal in Survival Data Analysis

Proportional hazards model is commonly used in survival analysis for estimating the effects of different covariates influencing survival data. There are two ways to define the hazard function model: as a product of the baseline hazard function and a non-negative function of covariates or as the sum of the baseline hazard function and a non-negative function of covariates. In this paper, we propose an additive and multiplicative Gamma Polygonal with frailty in the hazard function using OpenBUGS. The family of frailty models can make the hazard modeling scheme more flexible and facilitates a variety of relationships between the baseline hazard and hazard function. The proposed models are more flexible survival models for non-informative censored data using a Bayesian approach. Multiplicative Gamma Polygonal has given a better performance compared to additive Gamma Polygonal since an additive Gamma Polygonal intensity model with frailty is a complex model. We have used the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to compute the Bayesian estimator on Leukemia data.
E UROPEAN A IRLINE M ERGERS , A LLIANCE C ONSOLIDATION , AND C ONSUMER W ELFARE

This paper explores the effects of a European airline merger followed by a consolidation of two competing international alliances. The exercise has been inspired by the Air France-KLM merger, which is expected to spur consolidation of the Northwest-KLM and SkyTeam alliances into a single mega-alliance. The results of the analysis show that, although the airlines benefit through higher profits, the merger and alliance consolidation harm consumers while reducing overall social surplus. The reason for this negative outcome is that, as modeled, all the effects of the merger and alliance consolidation are anticompetitive.
Decentralized Bootstrapping for WebRTC-based P2P Networks

—Around the millennium, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks were standalone applications, where users had to conﬁgure their ﬁrewalls properly to be able to connect to the network. Nowadays, P2P connections between browsers are possible without the need for any user-side conﬁguration. This can be achieved with the Web Real-Time Communication protocol stack (WebRTC). Recent research showed that WebRTC-based peer-to-peer networks can work as a decentralized, redundant and encrypted storage for user data. However, all existing networks employ a centralized bootstrapping infrastructure, which still is a single point of failure. In this paper, we present a decentralized architecture to handle bootstrapping for a WebRTC-based peer-to-peer network, completely removing the need for a central instance. The architecture uses the highly decentralized Domain Name System (DNS), combined with so-called Master-Peers. Our evaluation shows that the architecture scales well and reduces the bootstrapping time remarkably.
Radiative Cooling of Silicon Mirror for Gravity Wave Detection

Gravitational waves are distortions in the fabric of space-time caused by the acceleration of masses, such as rotating black hole binaries. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO) is attempting to detect cosmic gravitational waves. My experiment involves investigating the feasibility of cooling mirrors to reduce thermal noise and hence increase the sensitivity of the detector for the Third Generation LIGO. I am investigating radiative cooling of silicon mirror substrates to 120K using high-emissivity coatings. I will measure the emissivity and the mechanical Quality factor (Q) of the wafer with and without using high emissivity coating.
Impaired NK1.1 T Cell Development in Mice Transgenic for a T Cell Receptor (cid:98) Chain Lacking the Large, Solvent-exposed C (cid:98) FG Loop

Summary A striking feature of the T cell receptor (TCR) (cid:98) chain structure is the large FG loop that pro-trudes freely into the solvent on the external face of the C (cid:98) domain. We have already shown that a transgene-encoded V (cid:98) 8.2 (cid:49) TCR (cid:98) chain lacking the complete C (cid:98) FG loop supports normal development and function of conventional (cid:97) / (cid:98) T cells. Thus, the FG loop is not abso-lutely necessary for TCR signaling. However, further analysis has revealed that a small population of (cid:97) / (cid:98) T cells coexpressing NK1.1 are severely depleted in these transgenic mice. The few remaining NK1.1 T cells have a normal phenotype but express very low levels of TCR. We find that the TCR V (cid:98) 8.2 (cid:49) chain lacking the C (cid:98) FG loop cannot pair efficiently with the invariant V (cid:97) 14-J (cid:97) 281 TCR (cid:97) chain commonly expressed by this T cell family. Consequently, fewer NK1.1 T cells develop in these mice. Our results suggest that expression of the V (cid:97) 14 (cid:49) TCR (cid:97) chain is particularly sensitive to TCR- (cid:98) conformation. Development of NK1.1 T cells appears to need a TCR- (cid:98) conformation dependent on the presence of the C (cid:98) loop that is not necessarily required for assembly and function of TCRs on most (cid:97) / (cid:98) T cells.
The effect of Fracture Inclination in Multiple Planes on Fracture Stability and Reoperation Risks in Femoral-Neck Fractures of Nongeriatric Patients

Dajun Jiang Shanghai Jiao Tong University A liated Sixthd People's Hospital Shi Zhan Shanghai Jiao Tong University A liated Sixth People's Hospital Hai Hu Shanghai Jiao Tong University A iated Sixth People's Hospital Hongyi Zhu Shanghai Jiao Tong University A liated Sixth People's Hospital Changqing Zhang Shanghai Jiao Tong University A liated Sixth People's Hospital Weitao Jia (  jiaweitao@shsmu.edu.cn ) Shanghai 6th Peoples Hospital A liated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9363-5598
Multimerization of Hepatitis Delta Antigen Is a Critical Determinant of RNA Binding Speciﬁcity (cid:1)

Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) RNA forms an unbranched rod structure that is associated with hepatitis delta antigen (HDAg) in cells replicating HDV. Previous in vitro binding experiments using bacterially expressed HDAg showed that the formation of a minimal ribonucleoprotein complex requires an HDV unbranched rod RNA of at least about 300 nucleotides (nt) and suggested that HDAg binds the RNA as a multimer of ﬁxed size. The present study speciﬁcally examines the role of HDAg multimerization in the formation of the HDV ribonucleoprotein complex (RNP). Disruption of HDAg multimerization by site-directed mutagenesis was found to profoundly alter the nature of RNP formation. Mutant HDAg proteins defective for multimerization exhibited neither the 300-nt RNA size requirement for binding nor speciﬁcity for the unbranched rod structure. The results unambiguously demonstrate that HDAg binds HDV RNA as a multimer and that the HDAg multimer is formed prior to binding the RNA. RNP formation was found to be temperature dependent, which is consistent with conformational changes occurring on binding. Finally, analysis of RNPs constructed with unbranched rod RNAs successively longer than the minimum length indicated that multimeric binding is not limited to the ﬁrst HDAg bound and that a minimum RNA length of between 604 and 714 nt is required for binding of a second multimer. The results conﬁrm the previous proposal that HDAg binds as a large multimer and demonstrate that the multimer is a critical determinant of the structure of the HDV RNP.
Geometry, Dynamics and Control of Coupled Systems

Abstract : In this dissertation, the author studies the dynamics and control of coupled mechanical systems. A key feature of this work is the systematic use of modern geometric mechanics, including methods based on symplectic geometry, Lie symmetry groups, reductions, Lagrangian mechanics, and Hamiltonian mechanics to investigate specific Eulerian many-body problems. A general framework for gyroscopic systems with symmetry is introduced and analyzed. The influence of the gyroscopic term (linear term in Lagrangian) on the dynamical behavior is exploited. The notion of gyroscopic control is proposed to emphasize the role of the gyroscopic term in designing control algorithms. The block-diagonalization techniques associated with the energy-momentum method proved to be very useful in determining stability for simple mechanical systems with symmetry. These techniques are successfully extended to gyroscopic systems with symmetry. The techniques developed here are applied to several interesting mechanical systems. These examples include the dual-spin method of attitude control for artificial satellites, a multi-body analog of the dual-spin problem, a rigid body with momentum wheels in a central gravitational force field, and a rigid body with momentum wheels and a flexible attachment.
ArticleThe Effect of Social Presence and Chatbot’s Error on Trust Diana-Cezara Toader 1*

This article explores the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots for creating positive change by supporting customers in the digital realm. Our study, which focuses on the customer and his/her declarative psychological responses to an interaction with a virtual assistant, will fill a gap in the digital marketing research, where little attention has been paid to the impact of Error and Gender, as well as the extent to which Social Presence and Perceived Competence mediate the relationships between Anthropomorphic design cues and Trust. We provide consistent evidence of the significant negative effect of erroneous conversational interfaces on several constructs considered in our conceptual model, such as: perceived competence, trust, as well as positive consumer responses. We also provide support to previous research findings and confirm that people employ a biased thinking across gender and this categorization also influences their acceptance of chatbots taking social roles. The results of an empirical study demonstrated that highly anthropomorphized female chatbots that engage in social behaviors are significantly shaping positive consumer responses, even in the error condition. Moreover, female virtual assistants are much more commonly forgiven when committing errors compared to male chatbots.
Orbital period derivative of a binary system using an exact orbital energy equation

It is proposed that the equations of motion in periodic relativity which yielded major predictions of general relativity without utilizing Riemannian geometry and geodesic trajectories are exact in nature and can be applied to pulsars and inspiraling compact binaries for analyzing orbital period derivative and two polarization gravitational wave forms. Exactness of these equations eliminates the need for higher order xPN corrections to the orbital energy part of the balance equation. This is mainly due to the introduction of dynamic WEP which states that the gravitational mass is equal to the relativistic mass.
Commentary Ectomycorrhizas – out of Africa?

The composition of the atmosphere and global climate have changed signiﬁcantly since the start of the industrial revolution and these changes are impacting ecosystem structure and function (Prather et al ., 2001). Experimental studies that manipulate atmospheric concentrations of CO 2 and O 3 , nitrogen deposition, or temperature and precipitation regimes, provide evidence that these factors can have signiﬁcant and sustained impacts on net primary productivity (NPP) (Weltzin et al ., 2000; Zavaleta et al ., 2003; Hanson et al ., 2005; Morgan et al ., 2005; Norby & Iversen, 2006). Because of the interactive effects and feedbacks that emerge when factors are applied together, experiments in which only single factors are manipulated may be inadequate to fully predict the impacts of future atmospheric change on ecosystems. With this in mind, many experiments, both empirical and theoretical, have been initiated that examine the effect of multiple global change factors on ecosystems. Despite the knowledge gained from these experiments, many questions remain unresolved and the broad goal of multifactor experiments – to understand the interactions between multiple global change factors and their impacts on ecosystem structure and function – remains elusive. To aid in reaching this goal, the symposium ‘Mucking through multifactor experiments; design and analysis of multifactor studies in global change research’ was organized by Aimée Classen (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) in cooperation with the NSF Research Coordination Network ‘Terrestrial Ecosystem Response to Atmospheric and Climatic Change’ (TERACC) and the New Phytologist Trust at the 91st annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Memphis, Tennessee.
Facilitatory Interplay in (cid:1) 1a and (cid:2) 2 Adrenoceptor Function Reveals a Non-G q Signaling Mode: Implications for Diversification of Intracellular Signal Transduction □ S

Agonist occupied (cid:1) 1 -adrenoceptors ( (cid:1) 1 -ARs) engage several signaling pathways, including phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis, calcium mobilization, arachidonic acid release, mitogen-acti- vated protein (MAP) kinase activation, and cAMP accumulation. The natural agonist norepinephrine (NE) activates with variable affinity and intrinsic efficacy all adrenoceptors, and in cells that coexpress (cid:1) 1 - and (cid:2) -AR subtypes, such as cardiomyocytes, this leads to coactivation of multiple downstream pathways. This may result in pathway cross-talk with significant conse-quences to heart physiology and pathologic state. To dissect signaling components involved specifically in (cid:1) 1A - and (cid:2) 2 -AR signal interplay, we have developed a recombinant model sys- tem that mimics the levels of receptor expression observed in native cells. We followed intracellular Ca 2 (cid:1) mobilization to monitor in real time the activation of both G q and G s pathways. We found that coactivation of (cid:1) 1A - and (cid:2) 2 -AR by the nonselective agonist NE or via a combination of the highly selective (cid:1) 1A -AR agonist A61603 and the (cid:2) -selective agonist isoproterenol led to increases in Ca 2 (cid:1) influx from the extracellular compartment relative to stimulation with A61603 alone, with no effect on the associated transient release of Ca 2 (cid:1) from intracellular stores. This effect became more evident upon examination of an (cid:1) 1A -AR variant exhibiting a partial defect in coupling to G q , and we attribute it to potentiation of a non G q -pathway, uncovered by application of a combination of xestospongin C, an endo- plasmic reticulum inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor blocker, and 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate, a nonselective store- operated Ca 2 (cid:1) entry channel blocker. We also found that stimulation with A61603 of a second (cid:1) 1A -AR variant entirely unable to signal induced no Ca 2 (cid:1) unless (cid:2) 2 -AR was concomitantly activated. These results may be accounted for by the presence of (cid:1) 1A / (cid:2) 2 -AR heterodimers or alternatively by specific adreno- ceptor signal cross-talk resulting in distinct pharmacological behavior. Finally, our findings provide a new conceptual frame- work to rationalize outcomes from clinical studies targeting (cid:1) and (cid:2) -adrenoceptors.
DIFFERENTIATION AND EVALUATION OF DISEASE PROGRESSION IN ESSENTIAL TREMOR UTILIZING MRI BIOMARKERS

Author: Cameron, Eric M. PhD Institution: Purdue University Degree Received: May 2019 Title: Differentiation and Evaluation of Disease Progression in Essential Tremor Utilizing MRI Biomarkers. Committee Chair: Ulrike Dydak Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders, characterized by kinetic tremor in the upper extremities with additional cranial tremor often present in the neck or jaw. While it is well established that ET is primarily a cerebellar disorder, recent investigations have shown more widespread pathological effects throughout the brain. Furthermore, the neurodegenerative nature of ET is still disputed and requires additional investigation. Additionally, the link between ET and Parkinson’s disease (PD) is of special interest, as it can be challenging to clinically differentiate these diseases. While post-mortem studies have helped to further the pathological understanding of these diseases, non-invasive in-vivo techniques allow for more accurate diagnosis in the clinic. With a more accurate diagnosis comes a more targeted treatment, and hopefully an improved remediation of the disease. My thesis seeks to further investigate the neurodegenerative hypothesis of ET as well as explore magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) biomarkers for potential differences in ET and PD. These aims will be accomplished in three steps. First, gray matter volume loss in the cerebellum was investigated using voxel-based morphometry and the Spatially Unbiased InfraTentorial Template (SUIT) atlas on a lobule level. High resolution 3D T1-weighted MRI images were acquired on 47 ET cases and 36 controls. The cerebellum was segmented into 34 lobules using the SUIT atlas. Percent gray matter was calculated as the ratio of lobule gray matter volume divided by total lobule volume. No significant differences were identified between ET cases and controls in any of the 34 lobules. However, nine lobules had significantly decreased percent gray matter in ET cases with head or jaw tremor (n = 27) compared to controls. Also, 11 lobules had significantly decreased percent gray matter in ET cases with voice tremor (n = 22) compared to controls. This result confirms, with increased regional accuracy, gray matter volume loss in the cerebellum of ET cases.