Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Germ Cell Tumors of the Ovary

Context. —The field of ovarian germ cell tumors (OGCTs) has remained relatively unchanged in the last 2 decades. However, the introduction of new stem cell pluripotency markers has provided a new understanding into the identification and taxonomy of OGCT types. New data have provided new insights into unusual teratoma-associated autoimmune disorders and the origin of gliomatosis peritonei. Objective. —To review the impact of new pluripotency markers in the diagnosis of malignant OGCT (MOGCT) and analyze new nomenclature proposals and clinicopathologic entities. Data Sources. —Ovarian germ cell tumors from routine material and expert consultation files at San Cecilio University Hospital, Granada, Spain, and the relevant literature were reviewed. Conclusions. —Although a correct diagnosis of MOGCT can often be made with histologic and classic immunohistochemical studies, the new immunohistochemical pluripotency markers give higher diagnostic accuracy. Germ cell tumors represent a caricature of the phases of normal embryonic differentiation from primordial germ and stem cells to extraembryonal and somatic tissue differentiation. Since every stage of differentiation and its related tumor type exhibit characteristic markers, the analysis of their expression facilitates tumor typing, thus complementing the use of classic antibodies. They also allow a more precise evaluation of the degree of immaturity in teratoma. The new term, primitive endodermal tumors, simplifies the understanding of the complex histology of the yolk sac tumor group, as this terminology encompasses its multiple endodermal differentiations. Recently described autoimmune encephalitis due to antibodies against the N-methylD-aspartate receptor has become the most frequent autoimmune disorder associated with ovarian teratoma. (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2014;138:351–362; doi: 10.5858/ arpa.2012-0547-RA)
Linearized Riccati Equation as a Tool for Nonlinear Optics of Weakly Excited Two-Level Systems

Linearized version of the Riccati-type differential equation for the ratio of population amplitudes in a laserdriven two-level system is used to calculate analytically the induced electric dipole moment. The formula found for the dipole moment is valid for weak excitations by smooth-shape pulses of arbitrary off-resonant frequencies, i.e., those producing neither exact one-photon nor odd multiphoton resonances. For a given pulse shape, the formula allows to express the Fourier components of the induced dipole moment as functions of both laser frequency and intensity and to find the field-dependent refractive index of the system versus laser frequency.
Solution for the discrimination of three qubit-mixed quantum states

In this article, by treating minimum error state discrimination as a complementarity problem, we obtain the geometric optimality conditions. These can be used as the necessary and sufficient conditions to determine whether every optimal measurement operator can be nonzero. Using these conditions and an inductive approach, we demonstrate a geometric method and the intrinsic polytope for N-qubit mixed-state discrimination. When the intrinsic polytope becomes a point, a line segment, or a triangle, the guessing probability, the necessary and sufficient condition for the exact solution, and the optimal measurement are analytically obtained. We apply this result to the problem of discrimination to arbitrary three-qubit mixed states with given a priori probabilities and obtain the complete analytic solution to the guessing probability and optimal measurement.
A Low Cost Ultrasound-based Localisation System for Ground Robotics

This paper presents a low-cost localisation system based on ultrasonic sensing and time of flight measurements. A compact ultrasound emitter has been designed to generate an omnidirectional train of ultrasound pulses which are then picked up by several fixed receivers measuring the time difference of arrival. A least squares approach is used to analytically obtain a first estimate of the emitter position, which is then refined through steepest descent optimisation. All processing is done via a standard Arduino platform, proving the low computational demands of the method. Localisation results are validated against a state-of-the-art Optitrack motion capture system. It is shown that the system can cover a 4.3×3.1 m arena with a mean error localisation error of 1.57 cm and an average standard deviation of 1.39 cm throughout the arena. The effectiveness of the proposed localization system is demonstrated by integrating it with a mobile ground robot to enable waypointbased path following.
CASY: The Haskins Configurable Articulatory Synthesizer

In this paper, we outline some recent developments in the Haskins configurable articulatory synthesizer, CASY. The main advances are the adoption of a conic section model of the tongue body, extension of the configurability of the synthesizer parameters to model speaker variation, and the adoption of a new configurable area function model. These developments allow the system to accurately model the static and dynamic properties of the articulatory process, as well as the natural biological variation in the details of the process.
“No disease for the others”: How COVID-19 data can enact new and old alterities

The COVID-19 pandemic invites a question about how long-standing narratives of alterity and current narratives of disease are entwined and re-enacted in the diagnosis of COVID-19. In this commentary, we discuss two related phenomena that, we argue, should be taken into account in answering this question. First, we address the diffusion of pseudoscientific accounts of minorities’ immunity to COVID-19. While apparently praising minorities’ biological resistance, such accounts rhetorically introduce a distinction between “Us” and “Them,” and in so doing produce new and re-enact old narratives of alterity. Second, these unsubstantiated narratives thrive on fake news and scarcity of data. The second part of this commentary thus surveys the methods through which the COVID-19 test is administered in various countries. We argue that techniques used for data collection have a major role in producing COVID-19 data that render contagion rates among migrants and other minorities invisible. In the conclusion, we provide two recommendations about how COVID-19 data can instead potentially work towards inclusion.
Artificial skin calibration for a humanoid robot: comparing or combining “self-touch” and 3D reconstruction from images

This work is focused on the calibration of tactile sensor positions on a robot body. We are working with an artificial skin consisting of triangular modules mounted on a humanoid robot Nao. This project builds on a previous work which provided a kinematic model of the robot with skin and performed several calibrations using the self-touch method. The purpose now is to improve the accuracy of estimated skin elements’ position by adding a singlepoint end effector to one of the kinematic chains in self-touch configurations and by providing a model of the skin using 3D surface reconstruction from photographs. The single-point end effector improved the estimated positions when combined with the existing datasets consisting of configurations with two touching skin parts. The 3D reconstruction process provided very accurate mutual positions of the tactile sensors and significantly reduced the number of parameters needed to be optimized.
Geometric Matrix Completion: A Functional View

We propose a totally functional view of geometric matrix completion problem. Differently from existing work, we propose a novel regularization inspired from the functional map literature that is more interpretable and theoretically sound. On synthetic tasks with strong underlying geometric structure, our framework outperforms state of the art by a huge margin (two order of magnitude) demonstrating the potential of our approach. On real datasets, we achieve state-of-the-art results at a fraction of the computational effort of previous methods. Our code will be publicly available at \url{https://github.com/Not-IITian/functional_matrix_completion}
Taking Skills Seriously: Toward an Integrative Model and Agenda for Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills

Success in life is influenced by more than cognitive ability and opportunity. Success is also influenced by social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills: a person’s capacities to maintain social relationships, regulate emotions, and manage goal- and learning-directed behaviors. In this article, we propose an integrative model that defines SEB skills as capacities (what someone is capable of doing) rather than personality traits (what someone tends to do) and identifies five major skill domains: social engagement, cooperation, self-management, emotional resilience, and innovation. We then argue that operational measures of SEB skills should reflect rather than obscure the distinction between skills and traits. Finally, we propose an agenda for future work by highlighting open questions and hypotheses about the assessment, development, and outcomes of SEB skills as well as interventions and public policy targeting these skills.
Monitoring biodiversity and water pollution via high-throughput eDNA metabarcoding

Traditionally, monitoring of water pollution via detection of bioindicators has been a tedious and time-consuming task that involves the use of stereomicroscope and morphological dichotomous keys. In contrast, with high-throughput eDNA metabarcoding, the identification of a bioindicator is carried out in silico in a costand time-effective manner. This study focuses on demonstrating the application of Illumina’s MiSeq-based high-throughput amplicon sequencing to eDNA samples to characterize three freshwater ecosystems with substantial anthropogenic impacts in Berkeley, California. The method captures information that is indicative of the predator-prey relationships between arthropods and rotifers commonly found in freshwater ecosystems among all three habitats sampled. Furthermore, calculation of community pollution values revealed that Strawberry Creek possesses the worst water quality and ecosystem health across the three habitats sampled. A cost-benefit analysis demonstrated that the normalized cost per bioinformatic sample of high-throughput eDNA metabarcoding is estimated at 18.918 minutes and $10 in terms of total time and cost, respectively. This is to be put in contrast with the at least 10-fold increase in requirements of 250 minutes and $85 per traditional stereomicroscopic sample. We conclude with a novel quantitative approach that reproduces the same success regarding biodiversity documentation of a freshwater ecosystem elucidated by stereomicroscopic approaches using high-throughput eDNA metabarcoding in a costand time-efficient manner. Major, Year, and Department: Computer Science and Microbial Biology, 3rd year, Departments of Integrative Biology and Statistics.
Distributed Sampling Almost-Uniform Graph Coloring with Fewer Colors

Sampling almost-uniform graph colorings is one of the most important problems in the theory of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. A famous result, discovered independently by Jerrum [27] and Salas and Sokal [31], is that, assuming the Dobrushin’s condition q > (2 + δ )∆ , the classic Metropolis chain for proper q -colorings on graphs with n vertices and maximum degree ∆ has mixing time O ( n log n ) . In this paper, we study a distributed variant of the Metropolis chain, called the Lazy Local Metropolis algorithm. The chain achieves an optimal O (log n ) mixing time assuming Dobrushin’s condition q > (2 + δ )∆ (discovered independently by Fischer and Ghaffari [17]). We further show that on graphs without small cycles (in particular, girth at least 9), the algorithm achieves the optimal O (log n ) mixing time with fewer colors, assuming q ≥ ( α ∗ + δ )∆ + O (1) where α ∗ ≈ 1 . 763 satisfies α ∗ = e 1 /α ∗ . This mixing result with fewer colors is obtained by establishing a so-called local uniformity property for the distributed Markov chain, which asserts that after running for a constant time, the chain already behaves locally like in the stationary. This is the first time the local uniformity property is established on a distributed Markov chain.
Coupling biochemical reaction networks with cell population dynamics: application to reproductive biology

One of the main challenges of Multiscale Systems Biology consists in coupling the dynamics of intracellular networks with the dynamics of cell populations underlying tissular and organic functions. On a generic ground, there are numerous methodological challenges associated with this issue (such as model or graph reduction, theoretical and computational connection between different modeling formalisms, integration of heterogenous data, or exploration of the whole parameter space . . .), which are far from being overcome at the moment. To bridge the gap, one key point is to understand how intracellular networks translate different signaling inputs into biological outcomes (e.g. cell fate, cell-to-cell communication). These biological outcomes can then be embedded in a multicellular framework, impacting the tissular level. In turn, the dynamics emerging on the whole cell population level feedback onto the individual cell level by tuning the signal inputs qualitatively and quantitatively.
Research on the bandwidth effect on binaural loudness summation on the Cam scale

Researches have showed that stimulus bandwidth has an effect on binaural loudness summation. Yet there was no systematic research on that. This paper presents a research on binaural loudness summation adopting different stimulus bandwidths on the Cam scale. The loudnesses of dichotic stimuli with interaural level differences (ILDs) of 2-12 dB were matched by those of diotic stimuli at the same bandwidth (reference stimuli). The center frequency of stimuli was 1 kHz and the bandwidths of stimuli were 1-ERB, 3-, and 5-ERBs. Results showed that the wider the stimulus bandwidth, the more slowly the overall loudness increased with ILD. A function describing the characteristic of overall loudness changing with ILD and bandwidth
Fast production of organosilicon nanoparticles by plasma-induced decomposition of hexamethyldisiloxane liquid

A technique for the fast production of organosilicon nanoparticles by sustaining plasmas in hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) is presented. The discharge is obtained by applying pulse microsecond electric fields between pin-to-pin electrodes immersed in HMDSO. The plasma as well as the nanoparticles are characterized.
On Existence Theorems for Monotone and Nonmonotone Variational Inequalities

where 〈·, ·〉 denotes the canonical pairing between E and E. There are two standard approaches to the existence of solutions of (VIP), namely with or without some monotonicity requirements and in each of these two directions we have a lot of existence results. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze various existence results, disseminated in various papers, and try to do a comparison in order to find the most general and/or the easiest to handle. The paper is organized as follows.
Evaluations of the Chuanqi Ophthalmic Microemulsion In Situ Gel on Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration Treatment

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the third largest eye disease. However, the eye has a variety of drug delivery barriers, which prevent the drug from reaching the lesions in the posterior segment of the eye, coupled with the pathogenesis of dry-AMD; these lead to the lack of effective treatment drugs for dry-AMD. Therefore, the developments of a suitable therapeutic drug and a novel ophthalmic preparation are of great significance for the treatment of dry-AMD. The purposes of this study were to construct a novel traditional Chinese medicine (Chuanqi Fang) anti-AMD microemulsion in situ gel for treating dry-AMD and investigate its characteristic, efficiency, irritation, and tissue distribution. In this study, the characteristic of the Chuanqi microemulsion in situ gel was measured by dynamic light scattering. The electroretinogram (ERG) indicators and the number of retinal pigment epithelial cells were measured to evaluate the therapeutic effect of the novel ophthalmic nanopreparations. Irritation was evaluated according to Technical Guideline Principles (ZGPT4-1). The analysis of tissue distribution was carried out with LC-MS. The research showed that the particle size of microemulsion was 38.56 ± 0.21 nm. The Chuanqi microemulsion in situ gel had certain roles in repairing retina damage of the dry-AMD animal model and showed no irritation. The tissue distribution study found that the microemulsion in situ gel could effectively deliver the drug to the posterior eye of the AMD model rat through the route of cornea-vitreous body-retina. In conclusion, this study provided a meaningful research strategy and research basis for the development of new dry-AMD therapeutic drugs.
A Robust Indoor Mobile Localization Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Network in Mixed LOS/NLOS Environments

Wireless sensor network (WSN) is a self-organizing network which is composed of a large number of cheap microsensor nodes deployed in the monitoring area and formed by wireless communication. Since it has the characteristics of rapid deployment and strong resistance to destruction, the WSN positioning technology has a wide application prospect. In WSN positioning, the nonline of sight (NLOS) is a very common phenomenon affecting accuracy. In this paper, we propose a NLOS correction method algorithm base on the time of arrival (TOA) to solve the NLOS problem. We firstly propose a tendency amendment algorithm in order to correct the NLOS error in geometry. Secondly, this paper propose a particle selection strategy to select the standard deviation of the particle swarm as the basis of evolution and combine the genetic evolution algorithm, the particle filter algorithm, and the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) algorithm. At the same time, we apply orthogon theory to the UKF to make it have the ability to deal with the target trajectory mutation. Finally we use maximum likelihood localization (ML) to determine the position of the mobile node (MN). The simulation and experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can perform better than the extend Kalman filter (EKF), Kalman filter (KF), and robust interactive multiple model (RIMM).
THE ROLE OF GRANTS IN HELPING EMERGING SOUTH AFRICAN FARMERS TO ACCESS AGRICULTURAL MARKETS

The aim of this minor dissertation is to explore the nature of the relationship between social grants and the commercialisation of emerging farmers in South Africa. The use of social grants is not subject to any conditions, though they are intended to support the basic needs of the recipients. These basic needs include food security, which is a function of agricultural production. Therefore, social grants can be utilised to meet both the basic needs of households and assist emerging farmers to increase their production and market access. There are more than 17 million ─ approximately one third of the population ─ of vulnerable people in South Africa who receive social grants, which makes it the type of cash transfer that is ideal for investigating the unintended benefits. The literature on the proposed topic is extremely sparse, especially in South Africa. The only other study found, analysed a single province in South Africa and made use of cross-sectional data, with a questionable dependent variable (the proportion of cultivated land area as a proxy for market commercialisation). Other studies investigated the relationship between other cash transfers or access to credit and market commercialisation or the welfare of farmers. The estimation methods are mostly limited to Probit, Logit or Tobit models and rarely used the double-hurdle models. These gaps are addressed in the current study. The double-hurdle model
Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride

Public recognition is frequently used to motivate desirable behavior, yet its welfare effects—such as costs of shame or gains from pride— are rarely measured. We develop a portable empirical methodology for measuring and monetizing social image utility, and we deploy it in experiments on exercise and charitable behavior. In all experiments, public recognition motivates desirable behavior but creates highly unequal image payoffs. High-performing individuals enjoy significant utility gains, while low-performing individuals incur significant utility losses. We estimate structural models of social signaling, and we use the models to explore the social efficiency of public recognition policies. (JEL C93, D64, D82, D91)
PDFlib PLOP: PDF Linearization, Optimization, Protection Page inserted by evaluation version

Animal studies have already shown the possibility to modulate insulin action by changing not only the amount of total fat, but also the type of fat. In these studies, saturated fat significantly increased insulin resistance, longand short-chain 3 fatty acids significantly improved it, whereas the effects of monounsaturated and 6 polyunsaturated fatty acids ranged somewhere in between the two. A recent multicenter study (the Kanwu study) on humans has shown that shifting from a diet rich in saturated fatty acids to one rich in monounsaturated fat improved insulin sensitivity in healthy people, while a moderate 3 supplementation did not affect it; this second finding confirms previous results in type 2 diabetic patients with hypertriglyceridemia. There are also other aspects of the metabolic syndrome that can be influenced by the different type of dietary fat, particularly blood pressure and lipid metabolism. With respect to blood pressure, the majority of studies show that 3 fatty acids are able to reduce blood pressure in hypertensive patients, but not in normotensive individuals; this result has been confirmed also by the Kanwu study, where no changes in blood pressure were seen after 3 supplementation in healthy people. On the other hand, in this study, the change from saturated to monounsaturated fatty acids was able to significantly reduce diastolic blood pressure. As to the lipid abnormalities more frequently present in the metabolic syndrome (i.e., hypertriglyceridemia and low HDL cholesterol), the main effects are related to 3 fatty acids, which surely reduce triglyceride levels, but at the same time increase LDL cholesterol. In conclusion, there is so far sound evidence in humans that the quality of dietary fat is able to influence insulin resistance and some of the related metabolic abnormalities.
Pedagogical Resources Indexation Based on Ontology in Intelligent Recommendation System for Contents Production in d-Learning Environment

We witness, today, a strong evolution of learning environments. In parallel, a problem has emerged, consisting in how to capitalize the production of resources when switching from one environment to another. The heterogeneity of the environments, the evolution of the platforms and the will to reuse the educational resources already produced pushed us to design an intelligent system based on cases. In this study, we will focus on the need for resource indexing to facilitate the task of researching and recommending educational resources for authors regardless of the learning environment used. In the literature, this representation can take two forms: Standards or ontologies. The use of standards has partially solved our problem since it is very beneficial for systems that are under construction. On the other hand, it is more interesting to go through the ontologies for systems that are already designed, that we wish to reuse, especially for those that have shown, through the authors, a great satisfaction in the field of knowledge management. Indeed, their use does not require an investment in the environments concerned by the reuse.