Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Genetic Variants of the N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor on Emotion and Social Behavior in Adolescents

Considerable evidence has suggested that the epigenetic regulation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptors plays a crucial role in neuropsychiatric disorders. Previous exploratory studies have been primarily based on evidence from patients and have rarely sampled the general population. This exploratory study examined the relationship of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) variations in the genes encoding the NMDA receptor (i.e., GRIN1, GRIN2A, GRIN2B, GRIN2C, and GRIN2D) with emotion and social behavior in adolescents. For this study, 832 tenth-grade Taiwanese volunteers were recruited, and their scores from the Beck Youth Inventories were used to evaluate their emotional and social impairments. Based on these scores, GRIN1 (rs4880213) was significantly associated with depression and disruptive behavior. In addition, GRIN2B (rs7301328) was significantly associated with disruptive behavior. Because emotional and social impairment greatly influence learning ability, the findings of this study provide important information for clinical treatment and the development of promising prevention and treatment strategies, especially in the area of psychological adjustment.
A unified method for computing position and orientation workspaces of general Stewart platforms

The workspace of a Stewart platform is a complex six- dimensional volume embedded in the Cartesian space defined b y six pose parameters. Because of its large dimension and com- plex shape, such workspace is difficult to compute and repres ent, so that comprehension on its structure is being gained by stu dy- ing its three-dimensional slices. While successful method s have been given to determine the constant-orientation slice, th e com- putation and appropriate visualization of the constant-po sition slice (also known as the orientation workspace) has proved t o be a challenging task. This paper presents a unified method fo r computing both of such slices, and any other ones defined by fixing three pose parameters, on general Stewart platforms i n- volving mechanical limits on the active and passive joints. Ad- ditional advantages over previous methods include the abil ity to determine all connected components of the workspace, and an y motion barriers present in its interior.
Fast registration of 3D multimodal volume images using mutual information extracted from orthogonal planes

Voxel-intensity based multimodal volume registration methods commonly use mutual information. Computing transformations and mutual information of volume is highly computation intensive and the registration method we propose in this paper reduces computation time considerably. The method uses information from only three orthogonal central planes of multimodal volume images. Performance results show that good and fast registration is achieved using suitably selected optimization algorithms.
High-Level Design and Validation of ATM Switch

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) has emerged as a backbone for high-speed broadband communications networks. In this paper we present ATM switch design starting from a parametric high-level model, validating the model using a combination of formal veriication and simulation. We used a combination of theorem proving and model checking to discover bugs in the high-level model that was presumed correct using simulation. Parametric design validation obviates the need to validate speciic ATM switch designs derived from the parametric model.
FGF and canonical Wnt signaling cooperate to induce paraxial mesoderm from tailbud neuromesodermal progenitors through regulation of a two-step EMT

Mesoderm induction begins during gastrulation. Recent evidence from several vertebrate species indicates mesoderm induction continues after gastrulation in neuromesodermal progenitor cells (NMPs) within the posterior-most embryonic structure called the tailbud. It is unclear to what extent the molecular mechanisms of mesoderm induction are conserved between gastrula and postgastrula stages of development. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling is required for mesoderm induction during gastrulation through positive transcriptional regulation of the t-box transcription factor brachyury (ntla in zebrafish). We find that FGF is continuously required for paraxial mesoderm (PM) induction in post-gastrula NMPs, but has the opposite effect on brachyury expression. FGF signaling represses brachyury and the NMP marker sox2 through regulation of tbx16 and msgn1, thereby committing cells to a PM fate. FGF mediated PM induction in NMPs functions in tight coordination with canonical Wnt signaling during the epithelial to mesenchymal transition from NMP to mesodermal progenitor. Wnt signaling initiates the EMT, while FGF signaling terminates this event. Our results indicate that germ layer induction in the tailbud is not a simple continuation of gastrulation events. D ev el o pm en t • A dv an ce a rt ic le http://dev.biologists. org/lookup/doi/10.1242/dev.143578 Access the most recent version at Development Advance Online Articles. First posted online on 27 February 2017 as 10.1242/dev.143578
The Mid-Infrared Spectra of Normal Galaxies

The mid-infrared spectra (2.5-5 and 5.7-11.6 μm) obtained by ISOPHOT reveal the interstellar medium emission from galaxies powered by star formation to be strongly dominated by the aromatic features at 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, and 11.3 μm. Additional emission appears in between the features, and an underlying continuum is clearly evident at 3-5 μm. This continuum would contribute about a third of the luminosity in the 3-13 μm range. The features together carry 5%-30% of the 40-120 μm far-infrared (FIR) luminosity. The relative fluxes in individual features depend very weakly on galaxy parameters such as the far-infrared colors, direct evidence that the emitting particles are not in thermal equilibrium. The dip at 10 μm is unlikely to result from silicate absorption since its shape is invariant among galaxies. The continuum component has a fν ∝ ν+0.65 shape between 3 and 5 μm and carries 1%-4% of the FIR luminosity; its extrapolation to longer wavelengths falls well below the spectrum in the 6-12 μm range. This continuum component is almost certainly of nonstellar origin and is probably due to fluctuating grains without aromatic features. The spectra reported here typify the integrated emission from the interstellar medium of the majority of star-forming galaxies and could thus be used to obtain redshifts of highly extincted galaxies up to z = 3 with SIRTF.
The perspectives of Gambian men on the sexuality of cut and uncut women

The aim of the study has been to investigate men’s perspective on the effect of female genital cutting (FGC) on both women and men’s sexual feelings, their sensitivity, well-being and attitudes. Do men perceive any difference between a cut and an uncut woman when it comes to sexuality? If so, how do men understand and interpret the impact of FGC? Will their personal sexual experience have an influence on their attitude to the practice? Is there a mismatch between sexual scripts and personal experience when it comes to FGC? During 2014, 50 Gambian men, Mandinka and Wolof, and eight Mandinka women were interviewed. The interviews had a qualitative and open structure, and the men were asked to compare and assess the effects that they thought FGC had on the women, and on the sexual act itself, as they experienced it. The interviews disclosed that men perceive a difference in the feelings and behaviour expressed by women who are cut and those who are uncut. Their sense of women’s feelings have an impact on their own sexual pleasure, and on their attitude to the practice.
Testosterone in Females: Mediator of Adaptive Traits, Constraint on Sexual Dimorphism, or Both?

When selection on males and females differs, the sexes may diverge in phenotype. Hormones serve as a proximate regulator of sex differences by mediating sex‐biased trait expression. To integrate these perspectives, we consider how suites of traits mediated by the same hormone in both sexes might respond to selection. In male birds, plasma testosterone (T) varies seasonally and among species according to mating system. When elevated experimentally, it is known to enhance some components of fitness and to decrease others. We report that female T also varies seasonally and co‐varies with male T. Female T is higher in relation to male T in sexually monomorphic species and is higher absolutely in females of species with socially monogamous mating systems, which suggests adaptation. We also consider the effect of experimentally elevated T on females and whether traits are sensitive to altered T. We hypothesize that sensitive traits could become subject to selection after a natural change in T and that traits with opposing fitness consequences in males and females could constrain dimorphism. Results from birds, including the dark‐eyed junco (Junco hyemalis), reveal many sensitive traits, some of which appear costly and may help to account for observed levels of sexual dimorphism.
Cyanobacterial Neurotoxin β-N-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) in Shark Fins

Sharks are among the most threatened groups of marine species. Populations are declining globally to support the growing demand for shark fin soup. Sharks are known to bioaccumulate toxins that may pose health risks to consumers of shark products. The feeding habits of sharks are varied, including fish, mammals, crustaceans and plankton. The cyanobacterial neurotoxin β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) has been detected in species of free-living marine cyanobacteria and may bioaccumulate in the marine food web. In this study, we sampled fin clips from seven different species of sharks in South Florida to survey the occurrence of BMAA using HPLC-FD and Triple Quadrupole LC/MS/MS methods. BMAA was detected in the fins of all species examined with concentrations ranging from 144 to 1836 ng/mg wet weight. Since BMAA has been linked to neurodegenerative diseases, these results may have important relevance to human health. We suggest that consumption of shark fins may increase the risk for human exposure to the cyanobacterial neurotoxin BMAA.
Multi-dimensions of Developer Trustworthiness Assessment in OSS Community

With the prosperity of the Open Source Software, various software communities are formed and they attract huge amounts of developers to participate in distributed software development. For such software development paradigm, how to evaluate the skills of the developers comprehensively and automatically is critical. However, most of the existing researches assess the developers based on the Implementation aspects, such as the artifacts they created or edited. They ignore the developers' contributions in Social collaboration aspects, such as answering questions, giving advices, making comments or creating social connections. In this paper, we propose a novel model which evaluate the individuals' skills from both Implementation and Social collaboration aspects. Our model defines four metrics from muti-dimensions, including collaboration index, technical skill, community influence and development contribution. We carry out experiments on a real-world online software community. The results show that our approach can make more comprehensive measurement than the previous work.
What can you do with a Web in your Pocket?

The amount of information available online has grown enormously over the past decade. Fortunately, computing power, disk capacity, and network bandwidth have also increased dramatically. It is currently possible for a university research project to store and process the entire World Wide Web. Since there is a limit on how much text humans can generate, it is plausible that within a few decades one will be able to store and process all the human-generated text on the Web in a shirt pocket. The Web is a very rich and interesting data source. In this paper, we describe the Stanford WebBase, a local repository of a significant portion of the Web. Furthermore, we describe a number of recent experiments that leverage the size and the diversity of the WebBase. First, we have largely automated the process of extracting a sizable relation of books (title, author pairs) from hundreds of data sources spread across the World Wide Web using a technique we call Dual Iterative Pattern Relation Extraction. Second, we have developed a global ranking of Web pages called PageRank based on the link structure of the Web that has properties that are useful for search and navigation. Third, we have used PageRank to develop a novel search engine called Google, which also makes heavy use of anchor text. All of these experiments rely significantly on the size and diversity of the WebBase.
Making Pedagogical Agents More Socially Intelligent

Advances in agent and Web technologies are making it increasingly possible to incorporate guidebots, or animated pedagogical agents, in a wide range of Webbased learning materials. If designed properly these guidebots can promote deeper learning and improve the learner's subjective experience. Guidebots exploit a person's natural tendency to interact socially with computers, as documented by Reeves, Nass, and their colleagues (Reeves & Nass, 1996).
Adaptive spatialwavelets for motion-compensated orthogonal video transforms

This paper discusses adaptive spatial wavelets for the class of motion-compensated orthogonal video transforms. Motion-compensated orthogonal transforms (MCOT) are temporal transforms for video sequences that maintain orthonormality while permitting flexible motion compensation. Orthogonality is maintained for arbitrary integer-pixel or sub-pixel motion compensation by cascading a sequence of incremental orthogonal transforms and updating so-called scale counters for each pixel. The energy of the input pictures is accumulated in a temporal low-band while the temporal high-bands are zero if the input pictures are identical after motion compensation. For efficient coding, the temporal subbands should be further spatially decomposed to exploit the spatial correlation within each temporal subband. In this paper, we discuss adaptive spatial wavelets that maintain the orthogonal representation of the temporal transforms. Similar to the temporal transforms, they update scale counters for efficient energy concentration. The type−1 adaptive wavelet is a Haar-like wavelet. The type−2 considers three pixels at a time and achieves better energy compaction than the type−1.
Projector-camera pair : an universal IO device for Human Machine Interaction

Video projectors and cameras are widely used in augmented environment applications, such as telepresence, smart rooms or immersive spaces. In this paper we discuss the potential of camera-projector systems as sensor-actuator devices that are particularly suitable for robots operating in human-populated environments. A brief review of sensing techniques and possible applications involving the use of a camera-projector pair is presented. In order to illustrate the use of camera-projector systems in human-machine interaction, an application of a portable display surface is presented. The application involves tracking a rectangular card-board and augmenting it with projected images, thus transforming the card-board into a display surface. The results of system latency evaluation highlight an important challenge for camera-projector-based system.
Do Age-Friendly Characteristics Influence the Expectation to Age in Place? A Comparison of Low-Income and Higher Income Detroit Elders

Currently there is limited evidence linking age-friendly characteristics to outcomes in elders. Using a representative sample of 1,376 adults aged 60 and older living in Detroit, this study examined the association between age-friendly social and physical environmental characteristics and the expectation to age in place, and the potential differences between low- and higher-income elders. Based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) age-friendly guide, we identified six factors reflecting age-friendly characteristics. Logistic regression models indicated that regardless of income level only neighborhood problems were significantly associated with expecting to age in place. Low-income elders were more likely to expect to age in place than their higher-income counterparts, and it is unclear whether this resulted from a desire to remain in the home or that there is no place else to go. Future research should address the ways in which financial resources affect the choices, expectations, and outcomes of aging in place.
Social Structure and Depression in TrevorSpace

We discover patterns related to depression in the social graph of an online community of approximately 20,000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth. With survey data on fewer than two hundred community members and the network graph of the entire community (which is completely anonymous except for the survey responses), we detected statistically significant correlations between a number of graph properties and those TrevorSpace users showing a higher likelihood of depression, according to the Patient Healthcare Questionnaire-9, a standard instrument for estimating depression. Our results suggest that those who are less depressed are more deeply integrated into the social fabric of TrevorSpace than those who are more depressed. Our techniques may apply to other hard-to-reach online communities, like gay men on Facebook, where obtaining detailed information about individuals is difficult or expensive, but obtaining the social graph is not.
Ju l 2 00 4 Disappearance of the Black Hole Singularity in Quantum Gravity

We apply techniques recently introduced in quantum cosmology to the Schwarzschild metric inside the horizon and near the black hole singularity at r = 0. In particular, we use the quantization introduced by Husain and Winkler, which is suggested by Loop Quantum Gravity and is based on an alternative to the Schrödinger representation introduced by Halvorson. Using this quantization procedure, we show that the black hole singularity disappears and spacetime can be dynamically extended beyond the classical singularity.
Video Compression Scheme Using DEMD Based Texture Synthesis

In this paper we present a video coding scheme based on texture synthesis through Directional Empirical Mode Decomposition (DEMD). In this scheme P and B-frames of the video sequence are decomposed and parametrically coded with the help of DEMD algorithm, while I-frames are coded with the help of H.264. All P and B frames are decomposed into Intrinsic Mode Function (IMF) image and its residue. Only the first level IMF image for P and B frames are coded. At decoder stage subsequent IMF images are synthesized with the help of correlation search. Wavelet decomposition is performed over residual image and energy level at the HH band is used as a decision criterion for number of decomposition to be performed for optimum synthesis. The experimental result demonstrates the effectiveness of the algorithm in multi-resolution parametric modeling of image data which can be efficiently coded to achieve significant compression with acceptable quality. This scheme also enables to perform scalable coding of IMF parameters to achieve higher compression with perceptual quality.
Public Policy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Policy Analysis

Contents: PART I 1.1 Introduction 1.2 'Public and 'Policy' as Concepts 1.3 The Development of the Policy Approach 1.4 Kinds of Policy Analysts and Policy Analysis 1.5 Varieties of Analytical Frameworks 1.6 Philosophical Frameworks 1.7 Analysis and the Policy Process 1.8 Models, Maps and Metaphors 1.9 Paradigms Lost and Found: Sifts in the Focus and Frameworks of Policy Analysis 1.10 Stages and Cycles: Mapping the Policy Process 1.11 The Arrangement of Parts Two, Three and Four PART II 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Social Problem Approaches 2.3 Public Opinion and Public Policy 2.4 Theories of Agenda Control 2.5 Typologies of Policy Issues 2.6 Pluralism, Non-Decision-Making and the Third Dimension of Power 2.7 Neo-Marxist and Critical Approaches 2.8 Knowledge and the Policy Agenda 2.9 Policies and Problems as Symbols 2.10 Networks, Streams, Advocacy Coalitions and Punctuated Equilibrium 2.11 Analysing the Boundaries 2.12 Globalization and Policy-Making: The International Parameters PART III 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Decision-Making: Frameworks and Disciplinary Contexts 3.3 Power Approaches to Decision-Making 3.4 Rationality and Decision-Making 3.5 The Public Choice Approach to Decision-Making 3.6 Institutional Approaches 3.7 Personality, Cognition and Information Processing in Decision-Making 3.8 Policy Analysis and Public Decisions 3.9 Rational Decision-Making and the quest for Knowledgeable Governance 3.10 Critiques of Policy Analysis PART IIII 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Arrangement of Part Four 4.3 Implementation 4.4 Delivery Systems 4.5 Evaluation 4.6 Change and Continuity in Policy-Making 4.7 Promise and Performance: Evaluating Impact and Outcomes 4.8 Conclusion: Beyond Delivery and Towards Democratization Index
Fast Mini-Batch K-Means by Nesting

A new algorithm is proposed which accelerates the mini-batch k-means algorithm of Sculley (2010) by using the distance bounding approach of Elkan (2003). We argue that, when incorporating distance bounds into a mini-batch algorithm, already used data should preferentially be reused. To this end we propose using nested mini-batches, whereby data in a mini-batch at iteration t is automatically reused at iteration t+1. Using nested mini-batches presents two difficulties. The first is that unbalanced use of data can bias estimates, which we resolve by ensuring that each data sample contributes exactly once to centroids. The second is in choosing mini-batch sizes, which we address by balancing premature fine-tuning of centroids with redundancy induced slow-down. Experiments show that the resulting nmbatch algorithm is very effective, often arriving within 1% of the empirical minimum 100 times earlier than the standard mini-batch algorithm.
Nonlinear hydrodynamics in a Mediterranean lagoon

The paper addresses the application of the non- linear hydrodynamics model (RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) equations) in a wide semi-enclosed Mediter- ranean lagoon (Berre lagoon), considering three natural forc- ing functions, i.e., sea tide propagating through a long narrow channel, wind and runoff. Main attention is focused to char- acteristic velocities (at free surface and bottom) and to free surface elevation associated to each of these three mecha- nisms, with special attention to the nearshore areas (i.e., in shallow water). The most interesting result concerns wind effects which, due to Berre lagoon bathymetry, give rise to downwind coastal jets, alongshore, in shallow water areas. Such coastal jets were never mentioned before in Berre la- goon literature.