Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Primate cerebellar granule cells exhibit a tonic GABAAR conductance that is not affected by alcohol: a possible cellular substrate of the low level of response phenotype

In many rodent brain regions, alcohol increases vesicular release of GABA, resulting in an increase in the frequency of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) and the magnitude of tonic GABAA receptor (GABAAR) currents. A neglected issue in translating the rodent literature to humans is the possibility that phylogenetic differences alter the actions of alcohol. To address this issue we made voltage-clamp recordings from granule cells (GCs) in cerebellar slices from the non-human primate (NHP), Macaca fascicularis. We found that similar to Sprague Dawley rats (SDRs), NHP GCs exhibit a tonic conductance generated by α6δ subunit containing GABAARs, as evidenced by its blockade by the broad spectrum GABAAR antagonist, GABAzine (10 μM), inhibition by α6 selective antagonist, furosemide (100 μM), and enhancement by THDOC (10–20 nM) and THIP (500 nM). In contrast to SDR GCs, in most NHP GCs (~60%), application of EtOH (25–105 mM) did not increase sIPSC frequency or the tonic GABAAR current. In a minority of cells (~40%), EtOH did increase sIPSC frequency and the tonic current. The relative lack of response to EtOH was associated with reduced expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), which we recently reported mediates EtOH-induced enhancement of vesicular GABA release in rats. The EtOH-induced increase in tonic GABAAR current was significantly smaller in NHPs than in SDRs, presumably due to less GABA release, because there were no obvious differences in the density of GABAARs or GABA transporters between SDR and NHP GCs. Thus, EtOH does not directly modulate α6δ subunit GABAARs in NHPs. Instead, EtOH enhanced GABAergic transmission is mediated by enhanced GABA release. Further, SDR GC responses to alcohol are only representative of a subpopulation of NHP GCs. This suggests that the impact of EtOH on NHP cerebellar physiology will be reduced compared to SDRs, and will likely have different computational and behavioral consequences.
Modeling of Frequency Dependent Losses of Transmission Lines with VHDL-AMS in Time Domain

A time domain model of a three conductor transmission line considering frequency depended losses, e.g. skin-effect, for the modeling language VHDL-AMS was developed. The calculation features of VHDL-AMS were considered and flexible and efficient approximations for the frequency dependent propagation and admittance functions could be implemented. The model can be used for linear and non-linear time and frequency domain simulations. It forms a basis for EMC extensions that can be implemented using the developed approximation techniques. Modern standardized modeling languages like VHDL-AMS (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language - Analog and Mixed Signal) have the important advantage that growing model libraries permit fast creation of complex simulation models. Exchange and extension of models is easily possible. After a short introduction and presentation of the theory used for modeling, application examples are shown. The developed model is compared to measurement results and to a lossless multiconductor transmission line model. The validity of the implemented VHDL-AMS model is proved.
Evaluation of Accuracy in Design Pattern Occurrence Detection

Detection of design pattern occurrences is part of several solutions to software engineering problems, and high accuracy of detection is important to help solve the actual problems. The improvement in accuracy of design pattern occurrence detection requires some way of evaluating various approaches. Currently, there are several different methods used in the community to evaluate accuracy. We show that these differences may greatly influence the accuracy results, which makes it nearly impossible to compare the quality of different techniques. We propose a benchmark suite to improve the situation and a community effort to contribute to, and evolve, the benchmark suite. Also, we propose fine-grained metrics assessing the accuracy of various approaches in the benchmark suite. This allows comparing the detection techniques and helps improve the accuracy of detecting design pattern occurrences.
Eculizumab in atypical haemolytic–uraemic syndrome allows cessation of plasma exchange and dialysis

Disorders in complement regulation are a major cause of atypical haemolytic–uraemic syndrome (aHUS). Eculizumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting complement C5 and blocking the terminal complement cascade, should theoretically be useful in this disease, particularly when associated with specific complement pathway anomalies such as Factor H deficiency. Eculizumab is emerging as an effective treatment for post-transplant aHUS recurrence and may have a role in treating de novo aHUS, halting the haemolytic process. In this case report, we describe the fourth case of aHUS treated with eculizumab. In our patient, with a known complement Factor H mutation, not only has the disease process become quiescent but also this therapy has led to significantly improved renal function so that dialysis is no longer necessary.
Incentive cloud-based demand response program using game theory in smart grid

The demand for more electricity is growing with the increasing trend in using more electrical devices. Therefore besides allocating more sources of energy to generate electricity, many utility companies try hard to make sure that they can manage the demand for more electricity by the adaptation of well-established demand response program. Demand response programs bring proved benefit to grid operation and yields market efficiency by incorporating customers' decision. In this paper, we propose an incentive cloud-based demand response program utilizing game theory in customers' side. In contrast to other methods which include a bargaining process between utility and customers, the proposed model uses resource allocation to offer a fair incentive price to each user. In this manner, we encourage users to take part in incentive-based demand response program. The utility will also profit from this process by allocating price individually to each user. Numerical results confirm that the proposed work is successful to achieve its goals.
Understanding Aesthetics of Interaction: A Repertory Grid Study

This work in progress paper explores users' perceptions of the aesthetics of interaction. We describe a qualitative study using the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT) that elicited individuals' personal constructs, bipolar adjectives such as beautiful vs ugly that characterize individuals' idiosyncratic ways of classifying and differentiating between a set of stimuli. The constructs were sorted by similarity, resulting in a set of aesthetic categories. Quantitative data (i.e., participants' ratings) from the RGT further enables us to assess the internal consistency of the emerging categories as well as to chart the design space of aesthetic interactions. All in all, 23 categories of aesthetics of interaction were established based on users' perceptions. These categories partially corroborated (e.g., speed, proximity, complexity) but also expanded (e.g., natural realism, congruence, dimensionality) prior work on experience qualities in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).
A Survey on Finding Influential Individuals to Maximize Influences Spread within Social Network

Finding influential individuals is an important part in Social Networks. The main aim of influence maximization is to find the top influential individuals in a social network. Many basic greedy algorithms have provided good approximation to optimal result but they suffer from low efficiency. The excessively long execution time in application to large-scale social networks is also suffered. A framework is presented to accelerate the influence maximization using parallel processing with capability of graphics processing unit (GPU). Therefore, with the same objective accelerates the influence maximization by taking help of the parallel processing . It has been a NP hard problem. GPU implementation is used for improving existing greedy algorithms and designing a bottomup traversal algorithm.
Extracting Biological Information from Full-length Papers Technical report RN / 03 / 17

Converting the vast quantity of free-format text found in journals into a concise, structured database makes the researcher’s quest for information easier. Recently, several information extraction systems have been developed that attempt to simplify the retrieval and analysis of biological and medical data. Most of this work has used the abstract alone, owing to the convenience of access and the quality of data. Abstracts are generally available through central collections with easy direct access (e.g. PubMed). The full-text papers contain more information, but are distributed across many locations (e.g. publishers’ web sites, journal web sites, and local repositories), making access more difficult. In this paper, we present BioRAT, a new information extraction (IE) tool, specifically designed to perform biomedical IE, and which is able to access and analyse both abstracts and full-length papers. BioRAT is a Biological Research Assistant for Text mining, and incorporates a document search ability with domain specific IE. We show first, that BioRAT performs as well as existing systems, when applied to abstracts; and second, that significantly more information is available to BioRAT through the full-length papers than via the abstracts alone. Typically, less than half of the available information is extracted from the abstract, with the majority coming from the body of each paper. Overall, BioRAT achieved 39% recall with 48% precision.
Stress relaxation of fibroblasts activates a cyclic AMP signaling pathway

Mechanical force regulates gene expression and cell proliferation in a variety of cell types, but the mechanotransducers and signaling mechanisms involved are highly speculative. We studied the fibroblast signaling mechanism that is activated when cells are switched from mechanically stressed to mechanically relaxed conditions, i.e., stress relaxation. Within 10 min after initiation of stress relaxation, we observed a transient 10-20-fold increase in cytoplasmic cyclic AMP (cAMP) and a threefold increase in protein kinase A activity. The increase in cAMP depended on stimulation of adenylyl cyclase rather than inhibition of phosphodiesterase. Generation of cAMP was inhibited by indomethacin, and release of arachidonic acid was found to be an upstream step of the pathway. Activation of signaling also depended on influx of extracellular Ca2+ because addition of EGTA to the incubations at concentrations just sufficient to exceed Ca2+ in the medium inhibited the stress relaxation-dependent increase in free arachidonic acid and cAMP. This inhibition was overcome by adding CaCl2 to the medium. On the other hand, treating fibroblasts in mechanically stressed cultures with the calcium ionophore A23187-stimulated arachidonic acid and cAMP production even without stress relaxation. In summary, our results show that fibroblast stress relaxation results in activation of a Ca(2+)-dependent, adenylyl cyclase signaling pathway. Overall, the effect of stress relaxation on cAMP and PKA levels was equivalent to that observed after treatment of cells with forskolin.
An Experimental Comparison of Usage-Based and Checklist-Based Reading

Software quality can be defined as the customers' perception of how a system works. Inspection is a method to monitor and control the quality throughout the development cycle. Reading techniques applied to inspections help reviewers to stay focused on the important parts of an artifact when inspecting. However, many reading techniques focus on finding as many faults as possible, regardless of their importance. Usage-based reading helps reviewers to focus on the most important parts of a software artifact from a user's point of view. We present an experiment, which compares usage-based and checklist-based reading. The results show that reviewers applying usage-based reading are more efficient and effective in detecting the most critical faults from a user's point of view than reviewers using checklist-based reading. Usage-based reading may be preferable for software organizations that utilize or start utilizing use cases in their software development.
Integration of HFSW Radar and AIS Data: Ship Detection and Classification

This paper focuses on the possibility of combining Automatic Identification System (AIS) and High-Frequency Surface-Wave Radar (HFSWR) data for vessel detection, tracking and classification purposes. The test based on the Normalized Adaptive Matched Filter (NAMF) is applied for target detection in compound-Gaussian HF sea clutter. The unknown clutter covariance matrix is evaluated by means of three adaptive estimators. The detection algorithms are described and their performances evaluated based on data recorded in the Bay of Brest, France. Finally, the combined use of AIS plots provided by cooperative targets allows to evaluate the performances of the proposed algorithms and to discriminate uncooperative targets and possible threats.
Aging monitoring with local sensors in FPGA-based designs

In nanoscale FPGAs, variability and aging significantly limit performance. In this paper, a novel aging monitoring methodology for FPGA-based designs to mitigate those effects is proposed. Local sensors are embedded in the configured functionality, monitoring critical paths, at production or during product lifetime. No design freeze (slice and routing locked) is required. When sensors observe a user's defined time guardband violation, safe operation is endangered and action can be triggered, either to reduce clock frequency or to increase core VDD. Simulation and experimental results are presented, using Spartan 6 boards and vendor tools. The testbench uses a Data Acquisition (DAQ) system with Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) architecture and a Built-In Self-Test (BIST) infrastructure. It is shown that local sensors will anticipate system failure. Various devices are also used to analyze sensitivity to process variations.
VLSI design for low-power data-adaptive motion estimation

A data-adaptive motion estimation algorithm and its low-power VLSI implementation are presented in this paper. Basically, the proposed technique exploits the input data variations to dynamically reconfigure the search window size of an exhaustive block-matching search. As proved by computer simulations, the same high performance of the conventional full-search approach is achieved for a remarkable reduction of the circuit power consumption.
Sick of the Welfare State? Sticky Stigma and Demand for Social Insurance

We argue that the supply of social insurance programs has long term effects on individual demand for program benefits. We postulate a model where the utility of taking up social insurance benefits depends on older generations’ past behavior, and we estimate the model using individual panel data. This intertemporal mechanism can account for three-quarters of the younger generations’ higher demand for social insurance benefits. The influence of older generations’ behavior remains when we instrument using mortality rates. JEL codes: H31, I18, I38, J22
IDRIS ---: systems programming meets full dependent types

Dependent types have emerged in recent years as a promising approach to ensuring program correctness. However, existing dependently typed languages such as Agda and Coq work at a very high level of abstraction, making it difficult to map verified programs to suitably efficient executable code. This is particularly problematic for programs which work with bit level data, e.g. network packet processing, binary file formats or operating system services. Such programs, being fundamental to the operation of computers in general, may stand to benefit significantly from program verification techniques. This paper describes the use of a dependently typed programming language, Idris, for specifying and verifying properties of low-level systems programs, taking network packet processing as an extended example. We give an overview of the distinctive features of Idris which allow it to interact with external systems code, with precise types. Furthermore, we show how to integrate tactic scripts and plugin decision procedures to reduce the burden of proof on application developers. The ideas we present are readily adaptable to languages with related type systems.
Maneuver segmentation for autonomous parking based on ensemble learning

A classification system for the segmentation of parking maneuvers and its validation using a small-scale autonomous vehicle are presented in this work. The classifiers are designed to detect points that are crucial for the path-planning task, thus enabling the implementation of efficient autonomous parking maneuvers. The training data set is generated by simulations using appropriate vehicle-dynamics models and the resulting classifiers are validated with the small-scale autonomous vehicle. To achieve both a high classification performance and a classification system that can be implemented on a microcontroller with limited computational resources, a two-stage design process is applied. In a first step an ensemble classifier, the Random Forest (RF) algorithm, is constructed and based on the RF-kernel a General Radial Basis Function (GRBF) classifier is generated. The GRBF-classifier is integrated into the small-scale autonomous vehicle leading to an excellent performance in both parallel- and cross-parking maneuvers.
Molecular chaperone Hsp90 stabilizes Pih1/Nop17 to maintain R2TP complex activity that regulates snoRNA accumulation

Hsp90 is a highly conserved molecular chaperone that is involved in modulating a multitude of cellular processes. In this study, we identify a function for the chaperone in RNA processing and maintenance. This functionality of Hsp90 involves two recently identified interactors of the chaperone: Tah1 and Pih1/Nop17. Tah1 is a small protein containing tetratricopeptide repeats, whereas Pih1 is found to be an unstable protein. Tah1 and Pih1 bind to the essential helicases Rvb1 and Rvb2 to form the R2TP complex, which we demonstrate is required for the correct accumulation of box C/D small nucleolar ribonucleoproteins. Together with the Tah1 cofactor, Hsp90 functions to stabilize Pih1. As a consequence, the chaperone is shown to affect box C/D accumulation and maintenance, especially under stress conditions. Hsp90 and R2TP proteins are also involved in the proper accumulation of box H/ACA small nucleolar RNAs.
A tool for sensor placement and system monitoring in assistive environments

Assistive Environments is a rapidly growing research field where researchers try to introduce state of the art technology into everyday life aiming to improve its quality. Everyone can benefit from it but first and foremost people with special needs such as elderly, disabled or patients. The Major Research Instrument project aims to develop a state of the art web based application, named zScope, that will be able to monitor human behaviour. The proposed tool is part of zScope and is responsible for placing and monitoring the various sensors in the environment. It provides functionality for environment layout design and is able to recommend near optimal positions for each sensor, using the Extended Max Sum Decentralised Coordination [1] algorithm, monitor each sensor's health and respond to any failures that might occur.
Hydrodynamics from Grad ’ s equations for weakly inelastic granular flows

We introduce and discuss Grad’s moment equations for dilute granular systems of hard spheres with dissipative collisions and variable coefficient of restitution, under the assumption of weak inelasticity. An important byproduct is that in this way we obtain an hydrodynamic description of a system of nearly elastic particles by a direct procedure from the Boltzmann equation. In particular, it is shown that the statistical correlation function plays a fundamental role in the decay of the temperature, and that the latter is described, in space homogeneous conditions, by a corrected Haff’s law.
Investigation of dynamic 3D hand motion reproduction by a robot using a Leap Motion

To increase their competitiveness, companies use more and more robotic systems to perform various complex tasks. These robots are very attractive because they are flexible and low-cost. A main current issue is the co-activity with human. With the very recent introduction of the new low-cost motion capture system Leap Motion, which has characteristics of accuracy unmatched to this cost for the moment, authors propose a first work concerning the real-time reproduction of 3D human motion by a robotic system. The aim is to reproduce complex tasks in 3D without any constraints for the operator. This device allows to generate a very accurate point cloud of positions and directions. To ensure a good repeatability of the movement on an UR10 robot, interpolation of these data by polynomial splines minimizing the L1 norm are done. This formalism has been developed recently and presents a linear complexity calculation with data and maintains the shape of the data even when the discretization is not uniform in space.
Persistent Sodium Current in Layer 5 Neocortical Neurons Is Primarily Generated in the Proximal Axon

In addition to the well described fast-inactivating component of the Na+ current [transient Na+ current (INaT)], neocortical neurons also exhibit a low-voltage-activated, slowly inactivating “persistent” Na+ current (INaP), which plays a role in determining neuronal excitability and synaptic integration. We investigated the Na+ channels responsible for INaP in layer 5 pyramidal cells using cell-attached and whole-cell recordings in neocortical slices. In simultaneous cell-attached and whole-cell somatic recordings, no persistent Na+ channel activity was detected at potentials at which whole-cell INaP operates. Detailed kinetic analysis of late Na+ channel activity in cell-attached patches at 36°C revealed that somatic Na+ channels do not demonstrate “modal gating” behavior and that the probability of single late openings is extremely low (<1.4 × 10−4 or <0.02% of maximal open probability of INaT). Ensemble averages of these currents did not reveal a sustained component whose amplitude and voltage dependence could account for INaP as seen in whole-cell recordings. Local application of TTX to the axon blocked somatically recorded INaP, whereas somatic and dendritic application had little or no effect. Finally, simultaneous current-clamp recordings from soma and apical dendrite revealed that Na+ plateau potentials originate closer to the axon. Our data indicate that the primary source of INaP is in the spike initiation zone in the proximal axon. The focal axonal presence of regenerative subthreshold conductance with voltage and time dependence optimal to manipulate integration of synaptic input, spike threshold, and the pattern of repetitive firing provides the layer 5 pyramidal neuron with a mechanism for dynamic control of its gain.
Human-Computer Interaction Using Robust Gesture Recognition

We present a detector cascade for robust real-time tracking of hand movements on consumer-level hardware. We adapt existing detectors to our setting: Haar, CAMSHIFT, shape detector, skin detector. We use all these detectors at once. Our main contributions are: first, utilization of bootstrapping: Haar bootstraps itself, then its results are used to bootstrap the other filters; second, the usage of temporal filtering for more robust detection and to remove outliers; third, we adapted the detectors for more robust hand detection. The resulting system produces very robust results in real time. We evaluate both the robustness and the real-time capability.