Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Racial variations and social support and its impact on stress and depression

Evidence suggests that social support can mitigate some of the harmful effects of stress on health. Social support theorists argue that certain social groups have differential access to social support; therefore, certain social groups are at a higher risk of experiencing psychiatric symptoms. Although social networks are beyond the scope of these analyses, it is an important component to consider when examining the uneven distributions of social support between social groups. If racial differences exist in the networks in which individuals are embedded, then part of the differential access to social support could be explained by examining the various compositions of networks. This thesis examines racial differences in the social support process. Using data collected on recovery support during Hurricane Georges, I examine: (1) whether and how social support systems for blacks and whites differ in nonroutine situations and (2) whether the relationship among stress, support, and depression differ between blacks and whites. My results indicate that blacks are less likely than whites to receive instrumental support in the preparation phase of the storm and blacks who receive less instrumental support after the storm are more likely to suffer from depression. This suggests that future research should explore systematic differences in blacks’ and whites’ network characteristics, including the types of resources, and the variations in the network structure.
15 years of very long baseline interferometry observations of two compact radio sources in Messier 82

We present the results of a second epoch of 18-cm global very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations, taken on 2001 February 23, of the central kiloparsec of the nearby starburst galaxy Messier 82. These observations further investigate the structural and flux evolution of the most compact radio sources in the central region of M82. The two most compact radio objects in M82 have been investigated (41.95+575 and 43.31+592). Using this recent epoch of data in comparison with our previous global VLBI observations and two earlier epochs of European VLBI network observations, we measure expansion velocities in the range of 1500–2000 km s−1 for 41.95+575 and 9000–11 000 km s−1 for 43.31+592 using various independent methods. In each case, the measured remnant expansion velocities are significantly larger than the canonical expansion velocity (500 km s−1) of supernova remnants (SNRs) within M82 predicted from theoretical models. In this paper, we discuss the implications of these measured expansion velocities with respect to the high-density environment that the SNRs are expected to reside in within the centre of the M82 starburst.
One organization's use of Lotus Notes

The HDB’s Office Automation (OA) initiative is a series of projects aimed at raising HDB staff productivity (see [2]). A key OA project is the Integrated Office System (IOS), which facilitates organizationwide communication and provides shared access to information and documents. The IOS was implemented with Lotus Notes software in 1993. Chosen for its full application development environment and integrated imaging and voice functionality, Notes also facilitates the development of department filing registries with free-text search capabilities. In addition, Notes supports the Microsoft Windows interface and Novell LANs as well as shared documented databases. Initially, HDB’s Notes infrastructure configuration included: three hub servers; 17 departmental servers; 19 branch servers; 17 database/image servers; 12 ID servers; one communications server; one voice server; one OCR server; one optical jukebox; 18 scanners; and about 3,000 licensed users. HDB’s Notes applications can be divided into three levels: corporate applications, departmental applications, and interorganizational applications. By mid-1996, the first two were in use. Corporate applications are classified as core, business, or other. The initial five core applications are maintained by the corporate IS department (ISD). They are the HDB Email Database, which enables internal and external email communication; the Electronic Filing Registry, which enables the efficient filing, retrieval and management of documents; the HDB Circulars Database, which enables the preparation, filing and retrieval of intraand inter-department circulars; the HDB Papers/Reports Database, which enables HDB staff to prepare, distribute and save all papers/reports designated for discussion, distribution or approval; and the HDB Meeting Template Database, which facilitates the preparation, dissemination, tracking and access to documents pertaining to meetings. The HBD has four major corporate business applications (systems). The press reply system routes complaints or stories published in local newspapers to departments, keeps track of the status of department replies, and retrieves previous information and replies, as well as generates detailed analysis and reports for top management. The helpline system routes records of calls received through a quality service management employee, distributes to departments images of letters addressed to the quality service manager, keeps track of the status of department replies, retrieves previous information and replies, and generates detailed analysis and reports for top management. The staff information system provides access to staff information and information needed to locate and contact HDB officers. On Site
A DCT coefficient sign-based background model for moving objects detection from motion JPEG coded movies

This paper proposes a robust moving objects detection method for Motion JPEG coded movies. The proposed method utilizes the similarity based on of the positive and negative sign of discrete cosine transformed (DCT) coefficients. The proposed method describes a time-varying background by an adaptive model consisting of multiple sets of DCT signs with respect to each 8×8 DCT block to adapt to non-stationary scenes. In addition, the multi block-based processing reduces false detection. Moreover, since DCT sign is encoded separately from its corresponding magnitude in a Motion JPEG codestream, the sign can be obtained without decoding a codestream. Experimental results comparing with a conventional method using Gaussian mixture model show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Parameters of Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI as Imaging Markers for Angiogenesis and Proliferation in Human Breast Cancer

Background Breast cancer is the most common malignancy and the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide; however, early diagnosis has been difficult due to its complex pathological structure. This study evaluated the value of morphological examination in conjunction with dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) for more precise diagnosis of breast cancer, as well as their correlation with angiogenesis and proliferation biomarkers. Material/Methods DCE-MRI parameters (including Ktrans: volume transfer coefficient reflecting vascular permeability, Kep: flux rate constant, Ve: extracellular volume ratio reflecting vascular permeability, and ADC: apparent diffusion coefficient) were obtained from 124 patients with breast cancer (124 lesions). Microvessel density (MVD) was evaluated by the immunohistochemical analysis of tumor vessels for CD31 and CD105 expression. The proliferation was assessed by analyzing Ki67. Results Ktrans values were in the order of: malignant lesions > benign lesions > normal glands. Similar results were observed for Kep. The opposite changes were seen with Ve. Ktrans and Kep values were significantly higher in invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) than in mammary ductal dysplasia (MDD; ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s test). In sharp contrast, ADC values were lower in IDC and DCIS than in MDD, and Ve was not significantly different among the three groups. The data from MIP (maximum intensity projection) showed that benign breast lesions had no or only one blood vessel, whereas malignant lesions had two or more blood vessels. In addition, expression of CD105 and Ki67, the commonly recognized markers for angiogenesis and proliferation, respectively, were closely correlated with MRI parameters as revealed by Pearson analysis. Conclusions Determination of Ktrans, Kep and ADC values permits estimation of tumor angiogenesis and proliferation in breast cancer and DCE-MRI parameters can be used as imaging biomarkers to predict patient prognosis and the biologic aggressiveness of the tumor.
The Mackey-Glass models, 40 years later

In 1977, Michael Mackey and Leon Glass published a short paper that presented and analyzed three delay-differential physiological models, one of which, now known as the Mackey-Glass equation, was shown to generate chaotic behavior. This paper also introduced the concept of a dynamical disease. In this perspective article, I attempt to place the Mackey-Glass paper and a 1979 followup in historical context, and thereby to gain some understanding of the very significant influence it has had across the sciences. This influence is mapped through a citation analysis, revealing both the timelessness of the themes broached in the Glass-Mackey papers, and of the broad influence of these papers, far transcending the specific scientific problems originally tackled.
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Nine High-Redshift ESSENCE Supernovae,,

We present broadband light curves of nine supernovae ranging in redshift from 0.5 to 0.8. The supernovae were discovered as part of the ESSENCE project, and the light curves are a combination of Cerro Tololo 4 m and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry. On the basis of spectra and/or light-curve fitting, eight of these objects are definitely Type Ia supernovae, while the classification of one is problematic. The ESSENCE project is a 5 yr endeavor to discover about 200 high-redshift Type Ia supernovae, with the goal of tightly constraining the time average of the equation-of-state parameter [w = p/(ρc2)] of the "dark energy. " To help minimize our systematic errors, all of our ground-based photometry is obtained with the same telescope and instrument. In 2003 the highest redshift subset of ESSENCE supernovae was selected for detailed study with HST. Here we present the first photometric results of the survey. We find that all but one of the ESSENCE supernovae have slowly declining light curves and that the sample is not representative of the low-redshift set of ESSENCE Type Ia supernovae. This is unlikely to be a sign of evolution in the population. We attribute the decline-rate distribution of HST events to a selection bias at the high-redshift edge of our sample and find that such a bias will infect other magnitude-limited Type Ia supernova searches unless appropriate precautions are taken.
Salubrinal protects against tunicamycin and hypoxia induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis via the PERK-eIF2α signaling pathway

Objectives This study examined the protective effect of salubrinal and the mechanism underlying this protection against tunicamycin (TM)- and hypoxia-induced apoptosis in rat cardiomyocytes. Methods Neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were cultured from the ventricles of 1-day-old Wistar rats. Cells were exposed to different concentrations of salubrinal (10, 20, and 40 µmol/L) for 30 min followed by TM treatment or hypoxia for 36 h. Apoptosis was measured by a multiparameter HCS (high content screening) apoptosis assay, TUNEL assay and flow cytometry. The phosphorylation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 subunit alpha (eIF2α) and the expression of cleaved caspase-12 were determined by Western blotting. C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) was detected by immunocytochemistry. Results HCS, TUNEL assays and flow cytometry showed that salubrinal protected cardiomyocytes against apoptosis induced by TM or hypoxia. Western blotting showed that salubrinal protected cardiomyocytes against apoptosis by inducing eIF2α phosphorylation and down-regulating the expression of the endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated apoptotic proteins, CHOP and cleaved caspase-12. Conclusions Our study suggests that salubrinal protects rat cardiomyocytes against TM- or hypoxia-associated apoptosis via a mechanism involving the inhibition of ER stress-mediated apoptosis.
Learning to produce complement predicates with shared semantic subjects

Many sentences of adult English are analytic constructions, namely clauses with a matrix verb complemented by a dependent predicate that does not have an expressed syntactic subject. Examples are subject and object control, raising to subject or object, periphrastic tense, aspect and modality, copular predication and do-support. In this article the authors test a suggestion derived from Dependency Grammar that despite differences in detail, all such constructions are governed by a common principle of structure sharing which young children master when they produce such sentences. Analytic sentences and telegraphic sentences were examined in the speech of 439 young children, mean age 2;3.11 (SD = 0;4.02). The production of different analytic constructions was significantly associated, raising the probability of each other by 32% on average. Telegraphic sentences overtly expressing the input’s covert predicate–argument relations also positively predicted the production of analytic sentences. These results suggest that children learn a general principle of sharing arguments, common to constructions with dependent predicates, making transfer and facilitation possible.
Pedestrian Detection Based on Histogram of Oriented Gradient in Intelligent Transportation System

Pedestrian detection technology which is based on vision is one of the core technologies in the intelligent transportation system. This paper focuses on the image and video in traffic system. The image and video are normalized and are extracted of histograms of oriented gradients (HOG) by using the linear support vector machine (SVM) to construct efficient classifier. It can realize accurate detection of pedestrians in traffic image. Moreover, the pedestrian detection technology is proved in disclosed INRIA database and experiments of actual traffic video image, and the method can rapidly achieve accurate detection results.
Learning-dependent plasticity with and without training in the human brain

Long-term experience through development and evolution and shorter-term training in adulthood have both been suggested to contribute to the optimization of visual functions that mediate our ability to interpret complex scenes. However, the brain plasticity mechanisms that mediate the detection of objects in cluttered scenes remain largely unknown. Here, we combine behavioral and functional MRI (fMRI) measurements to investigate the human-brain mechanisms that mediate our ability to learn statistical regularities and detect targets in clutter. We show two different routes to visual learning in clutter with discrete brain plasticity signatures. Specifically, opportunistic learning of regularities typical in natural contours (i.e., collinearity) can occur simply through frequent exposure, generalize across untrained stimulus features, and shape processing in occipitotemporal regions implicated in the representation of global forms. In contrast, learning to integrate discontinuities (i.e., elements orthogonal to contour paths) requires task-specific training (bootstrap-based learning), is stimulus-dependent, and enhances processing in intraparietal regions implicated in attention-gated learning. We propose that long-term experience with statistical regularities may facilitate opportunistic learning of collinear contours, whereas learning to integrate discontinuities entails bootstrap-based training for the detection of contours in clutter. These findings provide insights in understanding how long-term experience and short-term training interact to shape the optimization of visual recognition processes.
Synchronous motor observability study and an improved zero-speed position estimation design

This paper deals with the Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) observability analysis for sensorless control design. The problem of loss of observability at low frequency range is always recognized in experimental settings. Nevertheless, there are no sufficient theoretical observability analyses for the PMSM. In the literature, only the sufficient observability condition has been presented. Therefore, the current work is aimed especially to the necessary observability condition analysis. Furthermore, an Estimator/Observer Swapping system is designed here for the surface Permanent Magnet SynchronousMotor (PMSM) to overcome position observability problems at zero speed which is an unobservable state point.
FPGA implementation of ICA algorithm for blind signal separation and adaptive noise canceling

An field programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation of independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm is reported for blind signal separation (BSS) and adaptive noise canceling (ANC) in real time. In order to provide enormous computing power for ICA-based algorithms with multipath reverberation, a special digital processor is designed and implemented in FPGA. The chip design fully utilizes modular concept and several chips may be put together for complex applications with a large number of noise sources. Experimental results with a fabricated test board are reported for ANC only, BSS only, and simultaneous ANC/BSS, which demonstrates successful speech enhancement in real environments in real time.
Exploring the Role of the Dorsal Attention Network in Sustained Attention With rTMS

Sustained attention that is effortful during challenging cognitive tasks has been associated with robust activity in brain areas involved with cognitive control, collectively referred to as the dorsal attention network (DAN). In contrast, the periods of optimal sustained attention have been associated with relatively less DAN activity than periods of struggle. Optimal sustained attention may be less dependent on DAN function and more dependent on brain networks related to task automation such as the default mode network (DMN). Alternatively, optimal sustained attention may be recruiting DAN function efficiently, thus resulting in less overall activity. These two hypotheses were examined by temporarily disrupting DAN activity by applying repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to the frontal eye fields (FEF) in the DAN and then measuring sustained attention to a cognitive task. Subjects randomly received real or sham rTMS to the left or right FEF and then performed a modified go/no-go sustained attention task referred to as the gradCPT. For subjects receiving real rTMS to the right FEF, response accuracy decreased and reaction time variability increased on the gradCPT during periods of optimal sustained attention. The findings suggest that optimal sustained attention to cognitive tasks is supported by the refined, economical recruitment of right hemisphere DAN function.
Optimization problems in system-level synthesis∗

System-level synthesis aims at partially automating the design and synthesis process of complex systems that consist of both hardware and software. This involves the usage of formal methods such as graph theory, as well as the formulation of some design steps explicitly as optimization problems. This paper describes such a graph-theoretic model, and presents three important optimization problems: scheduling, allocation, and partitioning. All of these turn out be NP-hard. However, some important sub-cases can be efficiently solved.
Muscle Ergoreceptor Overactivity Reflects Deterioration in Clinical Status and Cardiorespiratory Reflex Control in Chronic Heart Failure

Background—In chronic heart failure (CHF), overactivation of ergoreceptors (afferents sensitive to the metabolic effects of muscular work) may be a link between peripheral changes, sympathetic overactivation, and increased hemodynamic and ventilatory responses to exercise. The relationship between ergoreceptors, autonomic changes, and the progression of the syndrome has not yet been studied. Methods and Results—Thirty-eight stable CHF patients (age, 57±1 years; ejection fraction, 26±2%) were compared with 12 age-matched normal control subjects. The ergoreflex contribution to the ventilatory and hemodynamic responses to exercise, together with peripheral and central chemoreceptor sensitivity, arterial baroreflex sensitivity, plasma norepinephrine, epinephrine, and heart rate variability, were measured. Enhanced ergoreflex effects on ventilation (78±2% versus 50±8%), peripheral chemosensitivity (0.6±0.4 versus 0.2±0.1 L/min per percent Sao2), and central chemosensitivity (2.9±0.2 versus 2.0±0.2 L · min−1 · mm Hg−1) and an impaired baroreflex function (4.1±0.6 versus 9.1±5.6 ms/mm Hg) were confirmed in CHF compared with control subjects (P <0.01 in all comparisons). Ergoreceptor overactivity was associated with a worse symptomatic state (NYHA class, P <0.05), lower exercise tolerance (peak Vo2, P <0.05), and pronounced exercise hyperventilation (&OV0312;e/Vco2, P <0.01). It was also a strong predictor of increased central chemosensitivity (independently of clinical parameters), baroreflex impairment, and sympathetic activation (plasma catecholamines and heart rate variability indexes; all P <0.05). In multivariate analysis, among all reflexes studied, the ventilatory component of the ergoreflex was the only independent predictor of peak Vo2 and &OV0312;e/Vco2. Conclusions—In CHF, overactivation of the ergoreflex is associated with abnormal cardiorespiratory reflex control, independently of clinical severity. Among impaired reflexes, overactivation of the ergoreflex is an important determinant of exercise hyperventilation and reduced exercise tolerance.
CWig: compressed representation of Wiggle/BedGraph format

MOTIVATION BigWig, a format to represent read density data, is one of the most popular data types. They can represent the peak intensity in ChIP-seq, the transcript expression in RNA-seq, the copy number variation in whole genome sequencing, etc. UCSC Encode project uses the bigWig format heavily for storage and visualization. Of 5.2 TB Encode hg19 database, 1.6 TB (31% of the total space) is used to store bigWig files. BigWig format not only saves a lot of space but also supports fast queries that are crucial for interactive analysis and browsing. In our benchmark, bigWig often has similar size to the gzipped raw data, while is still able to support ∼ 5000 random queries per second. RESULTS Although bigWig is good enough at the moment, both storage space and query time are expected to become limited when sequencing gets cheaper. This article describes a new method to store density data named CWig. The format uses on average one-third of the size of existing bigWig files and improves random query speed up to 100 times. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION http://genome.ddns. comp.nus. edu.sg/∼cwig.