Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of hormones in the pathogenesis of psoriasis vulgaris

Psoriasis vulgaris is a chronic, common skin disease, which affects the patient’s quality of life to the highest degree. Several exogenous factors and endogenous hormonal changes may act as triggers for psoriasis. The skin possesses a true endocrine system, which is very important in multiple systemic diseases. A number of conditions are associated with psoriasis, and its severity can also be influenced by hormones. Even though the sex hormones and prolactin have a major role in psoriasis pathogenicity, there are a lot of other hormones which can influence the psoriasis clinical manifestations: glucocorticoids, epinephrine, thyroid hormones, and insulin.
The Virgo Stellar Overdensity: Mapping the Infall of the Sagittarius Tidal Stream onto the Milky Way Disk

The recently discovered Virgo stellar overdensity, which extends over ~1000 deg2 perpendicular to the Galactic disk plane (7 kpc < Z < 15 kpc, R ~ 7 kpc), is the largest clump of tidal debris ever detected in the outer halo and is likely related to the accretion of a nearby dwarf galaxy by the Milky Way. We carry out N-body simulations of the Sagittarius stream to show that this giant stellar overdensity is a confirmation of theoretical model predictions in which the leading arm of the Sagittarius stream crosses the Milky Way plane in the solar neighborhood. Radial velocity measurements are needed to confirm this association and to further constrain the shape of the Milky Way dark matter halo through a new generation of theoretical models. If the identification of the Virgo overdensity and the Sagittarius leading arm is correct, we predict highly negative radial velocities for the stars of the Virgo overdensity. The detection of this new portion of the Sagittarius tidal stream would represent an excellent target for ongoing and future kinematic surveys and for dark matter direct detection experiments in the proximity of the Sun.
07 03 06 4 v 1 7 M ar 2 00 7 Strings in Horizons , Dissipation and a simple Interpretation of the Hagedorn Temperature

In this letter we give a nice physical (rather semi-classical) argument, related to maximal acceleration and Rindler coordinates, to show the existence of a critical temperature for closed bosonic strings, beyond which, strings could not exist in thermal equilibrium . We also may estimate this critical value by those same arguments, whose order of magnitude coincides with the Hagedorn temperature, providing an interpretation consistent with the fact of having a partition function which is bad defined for higher temperatures. In order to shed some light on the nature of this critical behavior, we consider the entanglement of closed bosonic strings intersecting an event horizon, and some elements of the simplest string field theory to argue that a dissipative behavior should be expected in this situation. Possible implications of the present approach on the microscopical structure of stretched horizons are also pointed out.
Electronic Word-of-Mouth: an Integration of Social Influence and Identity

Over the past decade, electronic word-of-mouth communication (EWOM) has become more salient in online contexts. However, the extant literature on EWOM has largely depended upon theories developed in traditional offline contexts. We proposed that both individual and social settings should not be ignored in the study of EWOM and sought to integrate two perspectives: social influence and social identity. More specifically, we examined the impact of cognitive and emotional social identities on social influence. While both types of social identities were positively associated with social influence, the strength of influence varied depending on the type of products being consumed. We also found that fewer members identified with communities where there were high discrepancies in members’ product expertise. Conversely, more members identified with communities where they had strong ties. These findings had strong theoretical and practical implications on EWOM.
Research on the effect of selection of objective function on optimization results

In this paper, based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to observe the different optimization results by changing the objective function. By comparing indicators of various types of objective function, clearly showing its intuitive respective advantages and disadvantages. Herein we can derived from the comprehensive objective function is a relatively good target function, stability, accuracy and rapidity performance can better meet the requirements of people.
Task Scheduling and Memory Partitioning for multiprocessor System-on-Chip using Low-Power L2 Cache Architecture

Significant portion of cache energy in a highly associative cache is consumed during tag comparison. In this paper tag comparison is carried out by predicting both cache hit and cache miss using multistep tag comparison method. A partially tagged bloom filter is used for cache miss predictions by checking the non-membership of the addresses and hotline check for cache hit prediction by reducing the tag comparisons. Current complex embedded application employs a multiprocessor system-on-chip (MPSoC). A MPSoC consists of multiple processors, shared memory hierarchy and a global off-chip memory. This architecture meets the performance requirements of multimedia application respecting the constraints on memory, cost, size, time and power. Scheduling the tasks of an embedded application on the processors and partitioning the available L2 cache budget among these processors are two critical issues in such systems. In this paper, an integrated approach is used for task scheduling and L2 cache partitioning to further reduce the execution time of embedded applications.
Asac 2008 Halifax, Nova Scotia Too Much or Too Little? Price Decreases in Multi-component Systems Markets 11

In this paper we investigate price decreases made by sellers of multi-component systems. Price reductions are perhaps the most widely used retail tactic to boost sales, and the desired magnitude of price reductions is of great interest to marketers. On the one hand, small price reductions when large reductions are warranted may only deplete retail margins without any impact on sales volume. On the other hand, large price reductions when they are unwarranted, leaves money on the table that would have boosted the retailer’s bottom line. Price reduction decisions tend to be complex, therefore.
Raising intercultural awareness through speaking tasks in fifth graders classroom project

In recent years the intercultural communicative competence has been regarded as an important element in EFL education around the world, being the subject of study of many authors such as Byram (2002), Kramsch (2002), Meyer (1991), Gomez (2010), Barletta (2009), and Alvarez & Bonilla (2009). Intercultural education has started to be considered along with linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic competences, as mentioned by the “guía 22” in the Colombian context as an integral part of teaching the English language. The purpose of this study was to raise intercultural awareness through speaking tasks in young learners, in a primary public school in Pereira, Colombia. The project involved 35 fifth graders whose ages ranged from 8 to 10. Data was gathered through the use of classroom observations, and journals, then it was analyzed in and on action reflection to draw the conclusions. The results revealed that it was possible to foster intercultural awareness in young learners, however, authentic material needed to be adapted or created, a careful lesson planning considered, and appropriate content for the age of learners to fit their cognitive processes, in order to develop the skill of recognizing similarities and differences between cultures presented in specific pieces of language. As a conclusion, including contents related to cultural aspects are highly engaging and motivating for learners, besides it generates a sense of tolerance and respect towards others’ ways to express themselves. Furthermore, the use of Spanish in the EFL classroom is not necessary for students to understand and interpret meaning. The reported results can help in future research on how to develop the intercultural competence.
PERCEIVED PARENTING STYLES AND SCHOOL ANXIETY IN PREADOLESCENTS

The goal of this study was to test the relationship between perceived authoritative, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles and school anxiety (anxiety about aggression, about social evaluation and about school failure). A Romanian sample of 182 students (93 girls), enrolled in 5 th to 8 th grade in two secondary schools from rural areas, completed self-report measures assessing school anxiety and perception of parenting styles. Results indicated a predominance of authoritative parenting style and a moderate level of school anxiety. The highest mean score in school anxiety was in school failure. Gender differences were found in school anxiety, but not in parenting styles. Grade level differences were found in anxiety about school failure and in perceived parenting styles. Preadolescents whose parents expressed prevailing authoritarian and permissive styles had higher levels of school anxiety. Gender differences were found for the relationship between parenting styles and school anxiety. Implications of results in parental education field are discussed.
Edge Contraction Simplification Based on DEM Terrain

Edge contraction simplification based on DEM terrain algorithm is proposed as a new terrain simplification algorithm which is based on DEM terrain data characteristics. The algorithm introduces the gradient of triangle, and combines with gradient and the length of edges as weight of the vertex to represent the importance of a vertex. By using the vertex weight, we can constrain the region being affected by edge contraction small, which will avoid appearing too large triangle or oversimplification for somewhere of the model. Experimental results show that our algorithm runs fast and is easy to implement. Keywordsmesh simplification; edge contraction; gradient of triangle; vertex weight
The Nucleosynthesis of 26Al and 60Fe in Solar Metallicity Stars Extending in Mass from 11 to 120 M☉: The Hydrostatic and Explosive Contributions

We present the 26Al and 60Fe yields produced by a generation of solar metallicity stars ranging in mass between 11 and 120 M☉. We discuss the production sites of these γ-ray emitters and quantify the relative contributions of the various components. We provide the contributions of the wind, the C convective shell, and the explosive Ne/C burning to the total 26Al yield together with the contributions of the He convective shell, the C convective shell, and the explosive Ne/C burning to the 60Fe yield. We conclude that, at variance with current beliefs, 26Al is mainly produced by the explosive C/Ne burning over most of the mass interval analyzed here, while 60Fe is mainly produced by the C convective shell and the He convective shell. By means of these yields we try to reproduce two quite strong observational constraints related to the abundances of these nuclei in the interstellar medium, i.e., the number of γ1. 8 photons per Lyman continuum photon, RGxL, and the 60Fe/26Al γ-ray line flux ratio. RGxL is found to be roughly constant along the Galactic plane (and of the order of 1.25 × 10-11), while the 60Fe/26Al ratio has been recently measured by both RHESSI (0.17 ± 0.05) and SPI (INTEGRAL) (0.11 ± 0.03). We can quite successfully fit simultaneously both ratios for a quite large range of exponents of the power-law initial mass function. We also address the fit to γ2 Velorum, and we find that a quite large range of initial masses, at least from 40 to 60 M☉, do eject an amount of 26Al (through the wind) compatible with the current upper limit quoted for this W-R star: such a result removes a long-standing discrepancy between the models and the observational data.
Distribution of the largest eigenvalues of the Levi - Smirnov ensemble

We calculate the distribution of the k-th largest eigenvalue in the random matrix Levi-Smirnov (LSE) ensemble, using the spectral dualism between LSE and chiral Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (GUE). Then we reconstruct universal spectral oscillations and we investigate an asymptotic behavior of the spectral distribution.
On information plus noise kernel random matrices

Kernel random matrices have attracted a lot of interest in recent years, from both practical and theoretical standpoints. Most of the theoretical work so far has focused on the case were the data is sampled from a low-dimensional structure. Very recently, the first results concerning kernel random matrices with high-dimensional input data were obtained, in a setting where the data was sampled from a genuinely high-dimensional structure— similar to standard assumptions in random matrix theory. In this paper, we consider the case where the data is of the type "information + noise. " In other words, each observation is the sum of two independent elements: one sampled from a "low-dimensional" structure, the signal part of the data, the other being high-dimensional noise, normalized to not overwhelm but still affect the signal. We consider two types of noise, spherical and elliptical. In the spherical setting, we show that the spectral properties of kernel random matrices can be understood from a new kernel matrix, computed only from the signal part of the data, but using (in general) a slightly different kernel. The Gaussian kernel has some special properties in this setting. The elliptical setting, which is important from a robustness standpoint, is less prone to easy interpretation.
Gravitational lensing statistics and constraints on the cosmological constant revisited

We re-analyze constraints on the cosmological constant that can be obtained by examining the statistics of strong gravitational lensing of distant quasars by intervening galaxies, focusing on uncertainties in galaxy models (including velocity dispersion, luminosity functions, core radii and magnification bias effects) and on the parameters of the galaxy distribution and luminosity functions. In the process we derive new results on magnification biasing for galaxy lenses with nonzero core radii, and on how to infer the proper velocity dispersions appropriate for use in lensing statistics. We argue that the existing data do not disfavor a large cosmological constant. In fact, for a set of reasonable parameter choices, using the results of five optical quasar lensing surveys we find that a maximum likelihood analysis favors a value of Ω0 in the range ≈ 0.25–0.55 in a flat universe. An open cosmology is not favored by the same statistical analysis. Systematic uncertainties are likely to be dominant, however, as these results are sensitive to uncertainties in our understanding of galaxy luminosity functions, and dark matter velocity dispersions, as well as the choice of lensing survey, and to a lesser extent the existence of core radii. Further observational work will be required before it is possible to definitively distinguish between cosmological models on the basis of gravitational lensing statistics.
PID controller for positioning an eletric vehicle model based on an optical sensor

The process that use automatic guided vehicle (AVG) in its architecture suffer with the lack of flexibility of some of these devices. The control, navigation and interaction with the working environment of AGV are indispensable processes for material handling in a Flexible Manufacturing System. The prospect of using an optical sensor as an economical yet efficient alternative sensor for AG navigation and control is depicted. Using optical sensors and techniques of digital images processing, a proposal of an AGV will be presented, proposing the reduction of dependence of the vehicle model in relation to layout where it is located, just by changes in programming to adapt them to other plants. The steps of a control project will be carried out, since the modeling of the system until the implementation of the PID controller used with the analysis and discussion of the results obtained.
Measure and cocycle rigidity for certain nonuniformly hyperbolic actions of higher-rank abelian groups

We prove absolute continuity of "high-entropy'' hyperbolic invariant measures for smooth actions of higher-rank abelian groups assuming that there are no proportional Lyapunov exponents. For actions on tori and infranilmanifolds the existence of an absolutely continuous invariant measure of this kind is obtained for actions whose elements are homotopic to those of an action by hyperbolic automorphisms with no multiple or proportional Lyapunov exponents. In the latter case a form of rigidity is proved for certain natural classes of cocycles over the action.
■ Households' inflation opinions - a tale of two surveys

From the late 1970s up to the end of 2001, households’ perspectives on current and future price developments were surveyed by Statistics Sweden (SCB, the Swedish acronym). As of 2002 the survey has been taken over by Growth from Knowledge (GfK), an international market research company. Before the changeover, in November and December 2001, GfK undertook surveys alongside SCB’s regular surveys. Despite nearly identical questions, the average inflation perceptions and expectations were considerably higher according to GfK. Our examination of the responses shows that a part of the discrepancies is due to different ways of handling responses implying that prices were “about the same”: GfK probed such responders to be more precise. Moreover, GfK picked up a greater proportion of low-income households, with higher inflation perceptions and expectations. These two factors account for up to a third of the discrepancy between SCB’s and GfK’s results. The remaining discrepancy comes mainly from GfK’s surveys having more responders who believe in virtual price stability, that is, unchanged prices. The survey ‐ past and present A survey called Hushallens inkopsplaner (HIP, Households’ purchasing plans) has been undertaken in Sweden ever since 1973. The survey, collected quarterly up to 1992 and monthly since then, asks households for their opinions about both their own and Sweden’s economic development. Other questions relate more directly to households’ purchasing plans, for example whether they intend to buy (or exchange) a car or a house in the coming two years. From 1979, when responsibility for the survey was transferred to Konjunkturinstitutet (KI, the National Institute of Economic Research), households have been asked for their perspectives
Photometric Redshifts in the IRAC Shallow Survey

Accurate photometric redshifts are calculated for nearly 200,000 galaxies to a 4.5 μm flux limit of ~13 μJy in the 8.5 deg2 Spitzer IRAC Shallow Survey. Using a hybrid photometric redshift algorithm incorporating both neural net and template-fitting techniques, calibrated with over 15,000 spectroscopic redshifts, a redshift accuracy of σ = 0.06(1 + z) is achieved for 95% of galaxies at 0 < z < 1.5. The accuracy is σ = 0.12(1 + z) for 95% of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at 0 < z < 3. Redshift probability functions, central to several ongoing studies of the galaxy population, are computed for the full sample. We demonstrate that these functions accurately represent the true redshift probability density, allowing the calculation of valid confidence intervals for all objects. These probability functions have already been used to successfully identify a population of Spitzer-selected high-redshift (z > 1) galaxy clusters. We present one such spectroscopically confirmed cluster at ⟨z⟩ = 1.24, ISCS J1434.5+3427. Finally, we present a measurement of the 4.5 μm-selected galaxy redshift distribution.
A framework for implementing highly parallel applications on distributed memory architectures

We present here a massively parallel formalism, the Cellular Abstract Machine (CAM), and its implementation principles on a distributed memory multi-processor architecture. The theoretical machine is more especially dedicated to connection-nist applications and other massively parallel artiicial intelligence applications, such as semantic networks. This paper brieey describes the CAM and gives an example of CAM program. Then we explain an implementation method on transputer based architectures. We derive theoretical expressions predicting the implementation performances. We nally discuss brieey some practical issues of the actual multi-processor implementation. The concept of an abstract or virtual machine has been widely used since the beginning of modern computer science history. Its rst advantage is to hide from the developer the details of the real computer's architecture. The second advantage of the abstract machine concept is to increase software portability to a new computer architecture. Only the virtual machine itself has to be actually ported and not the languages and the applications running in it. When it comes to parallel computing, the speciic features of the hardware innuence software development even more than in the case of sequential computing. Placement of the concurrent parts of the software on the diierent hardware components, load balancing and communication optimisation become major issues of the development. They sometimes induce programmers to re-parallelize parallel applications in a way diier-ent from their initial form. Eventually, in the course of solving a parallel
Effect of serotesting with counselling on condom use and seroconversion among HIV discordant couples in Africa.

OBJECTIVE--To determine whether HIV testing and counselling increased condom use and decreased heterosexual transmission of HIV in discordant couples. DESIGN--Prospective study. SETTING--Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. SUBJECTS--Cohabiting couples with discordant HIV serology results. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Condom use in the couple and HIV seroconversion in the negative partners. RESULTS--60 HIV discordant couples were identified, of whom 53 were followed for an average of 2.2 years. The proportion of discordant couples using condoms increased from 4% to 57% after one year of follow up. During follow up two of the 23 HIV negative men and six of the 30 HIV negative women seroconverted (seroconversion rates of 4 and 9 per 100 person years). The rate among women was less than half that estimated for similar women in discordant couples whose partners had not been serotested. Condom use was less common among those who seroconverted (100% v 5%, p = 0.01 in men; 67% v 25%, p = 0.14 in women). CONCLUSIONS--Roughly one in seven cohabiting couples in Kigali have discordant HIV serological results. Confidential HIV serotesting with counselling caused a large increase in condom use and was associated with a lower rate of new HIV infections. HIV testing is a promising intervention for preventing the spread of HIV in African cities.