Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Topographic organization of inferior olive cells projecting to translational zones in the vestibulocerebellum of pigeons

In the nodulus and ventral uvula of pigeons, there are four parasagittal zones containing Purkinje cells responsive to patterns of optic flow that results from self‐translation along a particular axis in three‐dimensional space. By using a three‐axis system to describe the preferred direction of translational optic flow, where +X, +Y, and +Z represent rightward, upward, and forward self‐motion, respectively, the four cell types are: +Y, −Y, −X−Z, and −X+Z (assuming recording from the left side of the head). The −X−Z zone is the most medial, followed in sequence by the −X+Z, −Y zone, and the +Y zones. In this study, we injected the retrograde tracer cholera toxin subunit B into each of the four translational zones to determine the origin of the climbing fiber inputs in the inferior olive. Retrograde labeling in the inferior olive was found in the ventrolateral margin of the medial column from injections into all four translational zones; however, there was a clear functional topography. Retrograde labeling from −Y zone injections was found most rostrally in the medial column, whereas retrogradely labeled cells from −X−Z zone injections were found most caudally in the medial column. Labeling from +Y and −X+Z zone injections were found between the labeling from −Y zones and −X−Z zones, with +Y labeling located slightly caudal to −X+Z labeling. J. Comp. Neurol. 419:87–95, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A particle filter object tracking based on feature and location fusion

For the object tracking under complex scenes, this paper proposes a tracking algorithm combining both the sample feature and the location. According to differences between the object and its neighboring background in different color subspaces, the suitable color subspaces, which make the object outstanding from the background, are selected and the multiple feature descriptions based on the selected color subspace are produced to represent the object. Thus, under the particle filter framework, the similarity matrix which is based on the sample feature and the location are computed. According to the similarity matrix, the algorithm determine the final object location. The results show the proposed algorithm realizes the robustness of the video object tracking to some extent.
Digital Image Security in Network Transmission with High Level of Fidelity

In the modern world, digital images can be easily and rapidly transferred over networks. This may give rise to the possibilities of illegal copy or reproduction. Securing digital images while transferring through networks and later extracting it in the original form is a very challenging task. Several advance computation techniques have been developed which provide security to digital media while transmission through open networks. To prevent digital content from illegal copy or reproduction, digital watermarking is evolved. There have been several proposals from various researchers, to hide and extract watermark from digital image using spatial and frequency domain techniques. However, in most of the methods, there is a gradual reduction in the fidelity of the original cover image with the increase in embedded information content. This paper discusses a new technique, which utilizes the insignificant portion of the fractional part of the cover image pixel intensity value, to hide the watermark, and then later, successfully extract it in the original form. The technique preserves high level of fidelity of watermarked image.
Crowdsourced ethics with personalized story matching

Cyberbullying is a widespread and growing social problem, threatening the viability of social networks for youth. We believe that one of the best ways to combat this problem is to use these incidents as "teaching moments", encouraging teens to reflect on their behavior and choices. Sites that offer community discussions around the ethical aspects of social situations can help teens feel less alone in their plight, and provide useful advice and emotional support. But the success of these "crowdsourced ethics" sites depends critically on the user feeling like discussions are relevant to their own personal experience. We have augmented the crowdsourced ethics site "Over The Line", offered by MTV Networks, with a personalized story matcher that classifies stories according to dynamically discovered high-level themes like "sending nude pictures online" or "feeling pressure in relationships". The matcher uses a mixed-initiative LDA machine learning technique [2], and a commonsense knowledge base specialized to the bullying problem. The site is currently public, and attracts an audience of thousands of users daily.
WORK-FAMILY-CONFLIT: PREDICTOR OF MARITAL SATISFACTION OF MOTHERS IN THE BANKING SECTOR

The study investigated work-family conflict as a predictor variable of marital satisfaction. Using criterion sampling technique, 33 mothers working in Banks in Enugu metropolis of Enugu State in Eastern Nigeria, were drawn to participate in the study. The participants were living with their husbands, house helps and have had at least one child. They were aged between 26 and 55 years. They had a minimum educational qualification of Ordinary National Diploma, were Christians and have Igbo cultural background. The hypothesis was that there would be a significant relationship between work-family conflict and marital satisfaction of working mothers in the banking sector. Two sets of instruments were used to generate the data thus: 1) Okonkwo(2009) Work-family conflict interference sub scale to assess work interference in the family. 2) Spanier(1976) dyadic adjustment scale assess marital satisfaction of these women. A co relational design and statistics was used for data collection and analysis. Result showed no significant relationship between work-family conflict and marital satisfaction(r = 0.117, r 2 = 0.0104, p ≥ 0.05). The result was discussed in relation to literature. It was concluded that work – family conflict does not influence marital satisfaction and should not be emphasized on while carrying out research on work-family conflict. Key Words: Work-family conflict, marital satisfaction, general well being.
Obesity and socioeconomic status in developing countries: a systematic review

We undertook a systematic review of studies assessing the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and measured obesity in low‐ and middle‐income countries (defined by the World Bank as countries with per capita income up to US$12,275) among children, men and women. The evidence on the subject has grown significantly since an earlier influential review was published in 2004. We find that in low‐income countries or in countries with low human development index (HDI), the association between SES and obesity appears to be positive for both men and women: the more affluent and/or those with higher educational attainment tend to be more likely to be obese. However, in middle‐income countries or in countries with medium HDI, the association becomes largely mixed for men and mainly negative for women. This particular shift appears to occur at an even lower level of per capita income than suggested by an influential earlier review. By contrast, obesity in children appears to be predominantly a problem of the rich in low‐ and middle‐income countries.
MicroRNA-100 promotes the autophagy of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by inhibiting the expression of mTOR and IGF-1R

We found that restoration of miR-100 expression resulted in accumulation of LC3B-II and decrease of p62 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, whereas antagonism of miR-100 reduced the level of LC3B-II. Moreover, a significant correlation between miR-100 downregulation and p62 upregulation was observed in human HCC tissues, suggesting an autophagy-promoting effect of miR-100. Subsequent investigations disclosed that knockdown of Atg7 but not Beclin-1 attenuated the miR-100-induced LC3B-II elevation. Furthermore, miR-100 overexpression caused massive cell death, which was abrogated by both the Atg7 silencing and chloroquine treatment. Simultaneously, miR-100 expression led to increased fraction of cells with Annexin V-staining and loss of mitochondrial potential, implying that miR-100 may promote the Atg7-dependent autophagy and subsequent apoptotic cell death. Consistently, mouse xenograft models revealed that miR-100 inhibited the in vivo growth of HCC cells. We further showed that miR-100 suppressed the expression of mTOR and IGF-1R by binding to their 3′ untranslated region, and knockdown of mTOR or IGF-1R phenocopied the pro-autophagy effect of miR-100, indicating that miR-100 may promote autophagy by reducing mTOR and IGF-1R level. Collectively, our data uncover a new regulatory mechanism of autophagy and a novel function of miR-100, and provide a potential therapeutic target for HCC.
Cariogenicity of Streptococcus mutans Glucan-Binding Protein Deletion Mutants

Streptococcus mutans is a principal etiologic agent in the development of dental caries due to its exceptional aciduric and acidogenic properties, and its ability to adhere and accumulate in large numbers on tooth surfaces in the presence of sucrose. Sucrose-dependent adherence is mediated by glucans, polymers of glucose synthesized from sucrose by glucosyltransferase (Gtf) enzymes. S. mutans makes several proteins that have the property of binding glucans. We hypothesized that three of these glucan-binding proteins (Gbps), Gbps A, C and D, contribute to the cariogenicity of S. mutans. A specific pathogen-free rat model was used to compare the cariogenicity of S. mutans UA130 and a panel of mutants with individual or multiple gbp gene deletions. The mutants were also evaluated in vitro for properties related to cariogenicity, such as acidogenicity, aciduricity, and adhesion to glucan. Only a subset of Gbp mutants were attenuated for cariogenicity, with the combined loss of Gbps A and C most affecting smooth surface caries. The attenuation of Gbp mutant strains was unlikely due to differences in acid-related properties since the mutants were at least as acidogenic and acid-tolerant as the parental strain. Additionally, loss of Gbps did not reduce adhesion to a pre-formed biofilm of S. sanguinis. Analyses of the caries data with in vitro biofilm properties previously determined for the mutant panel found correlations between cariogenicity and biofilm depth and substratum coverage. It is concluded that Gbps contribute to the cariogenicity of S. mutans through a mechanism that may involve alteration of biofilm architecture.
A proposal for corpus normalization

In order to compare work done under natural language processing, the corpora involved in different studies should be standardized/normalized. Entropy, used as language model performance metric, totally depends on signal information. Whereas, when language is considered semantic information should also be considered. Here we propose a metric that exploits Zipf's and Heaps' power laws to respresent semantic information in terms of signal information and estimates the amount of information anticipated from a corpus of given length in words. The proposed metric is tested on 20 different lengths of sub-corpora drawn from major corpus in Turkish (METU). While the entropy changed depending on the length of the corpus, the value of our proposed metric stayed almost constant which supports our claim about normalizing the corpus.
Diagnostics of irradiated dense gas in galaxy nuclei. II. A grid of XDR and PDR models

Aims. The nuclei of active galaxies harbor massive young stars, an accreting central black hole, or both. In order to determine the physical conditions that pertain to molecular gas close to t he sources of radiation, numerical models are constructed. Methods. These models iteratively determine the thermal and chemical balance of molecular gas that is exposed to X-rays (1-100 keV) and far-ultraviolet radiation (6-13.6 eV), as a functi on of depth. Results. We present a grid of XDR and PDR models that span ranges in density (10 2 10 6.5 cm 3 ), irradiation (10 0.5 10 5 G0 and FX = 1.6 × 10 2 160 erg cm 2 s 1 ) and column density (3 × 10 21 1 × 10 25 cm 2 ). Predictions are made for the most important atomic fine-structure lines, e.g., [CII], [OI], [ CI], [SiII], and for molecular species like HCO + , HCN, HNC, CS and SiO up to J = 4, CO and 13 CO up to J = 16, and column densities for CN, CH, CH + , HCO, HOC + , NO and N2H + . We find that surface temperatures are higher (lower) in PDRs compared to XDRs for densities > 10 4 ( 1) for XDRs (PDRs) if the density exceeds 10 5 cm 3 and if the column density is larger than 10 23 cm 2 . For columns less than 10 22.5 cm 2 the XDR HCN/HCO + 1-0 ratio becomes larger than one, although the individual HCN 1-0 and HCO + 1-0 line intensities are weaker. For modest densities, n = 10 4 10 5 cm 3 , and strong radiation fields ( > 100 erg s 1 cm 2 ), HCN/HCO + ratios can become larger in XDRs than PDRs as well. Also, the HCN/CO 1-0 ratio is typically smaller in XDRs, and the HCN emission in XDRs is boosted with respect to CO only for high (column) density gas, with columns in excess of 10 23 cm 2 and densities larger than 10 4 cm 3 . Furthermore, CO is typically warmer in XDRs than in PDRs, for the same total energy input. This leads to higher CO J=N+1-N/CO 1-0, N � 1, line ratios in XDRs. In particular, lines with N � 10, like CO(16-15) and CO(10-9) observable with HIFI/Herschel, discriminate very well between XDRs and PDRs. This is crucial since the XDR/AGN contribution will typically be of a much smaller (possibly beam diluted) angular scale and a 10-25% PDR contribution can already suppress XDR distinguishing features involving HCN/HCO+ and HNC/HCN. For possible future observations, column density ratios indicate that CH, CH + , NO, HOC + and HCO
Replicated Evidence of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Disability Identification in U.S. Schools

Federal legislation and policy increasingly seek to address minority overrepresentation in special education due to concerns that U.S. schools are misidentifying children as disabled based on their race or ethnicity. Yet whether and to what extent this is occurring is currently in dispute. We estimated racial disparities in disability identification using very large (e.g., Ns = 183,570, 165,540, and 48,560) student-level, nationally representative data sets and multivariate logistic regression including school fixed effects models along with tabulations of percentage with a disability among racial or ethnic groups across academic achievement deciles. Among children who were otherwise similar in their academic achievement, poverty exposure, gender, and English language learner status, racial or ethnic minority children were consistently less likely than White children to be identified as having disabilities. Minority children’s disability underidentification was evident (a) in elementary, middle, and high school; (b) across racially diverse groups and specific disability conditions; and (c) throughout the achievement distribution. Contrary to federal regulatory and policy efforts, minority children have been less likely than otherwise similarly achieving White children to receive special education services in the United States since at least 2003.
Absolute Bioavailability and Intracellular Pharmacokinetics of Azithromycin in Patients with Cystic Fibrosis

ABSTRACT Chronic pulmonary infections with Pseudomonas aeruginosa are the primary cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The macrolide antibiotics exhibit immunomodulatory and antivirulence activity. Clinical trials with azithromycin in CF have demonstrated significant improvements in pulmonary function and decreased hospitalizations. The purpose of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetics (PK) of azithromycin in patients with CF and controls. The study was conducted as an open-label, parallel, two-period crossover study involving 12 healthy volunteers and 12 patients with CF. Period 1 examined the serum PK following a single oral and intravenous dose, while period 2 examined the intracellular PK following multiple-dose oral administration. CF subjects differed significantly from controls based on weight (53.1 versus 71.0 kg; P < 0.01) and body mass index (19.7 versus 23.2; P < 0.01), respectively. Ninety-two percent of CF patients were pancreatic insufficient and were receiving pancreatic enzymes. The rate (time to reach maximum serum drug concentration, 3.0 versus 3.0 h; P = 0.78) and extent of absorption (absolute bioavailability, 34.2 versus 42.8%; P = 0.37) were similar in patients with CF and controls, respectively. Distribution to the tissues (rate of drug transfer from the central to the peripheral compartment, 1.22 versus 0.759 h−1; P = 0.03) and elimination (rate of elimination from the central compartment, 0.693 versus 0.492 h−1; P < 0.01) were more rapid in the healthy volunteers than in the CF subjects, respectively. Mononuclear cell concentrations (15.2 ± 6.0 mg/liter) far exceeded the maximum serum drug concentration (∼50-fold), demonstrating significant intracellular accumulation. These results indicate no alteration in dosage of azithromycin is necessary in patients with CF taking pancreatic enzymes.
Photoacclimatory and photoprotective responses to cold versus heat stress in high latitude reef corals

Corals at the world's southernmost coral reef of Lord Howe Island (LHI) experience large temperature and light fluctuations and need to deal with periods of cold temperature (<18°C), but few studies have investigated how corals are able to cope with these conditions. Our study characterized the response of key photophysiological parameters, as well as photoacclimatory and photoprotective pigments (chlorophylls, xanthophylls, and β‐carotene), to short‐term (5‐d) cold stress (~15°C; 7°C below control) in three LHI coral species hosting distinct Symbiodinium ITS2 types, and compared the coral–symbiont response to that under elevated temperature (~29°C; 7°C above control). Under cold stress, Stylophora sp. hosting Symbiodinium C118 showed the strongest effects with regard to losses of photochemical performance and symbionts. Pocillopora damicornis hosting Symbiodinium C100/C118 showed less severe bleaching responses to reduced temperature than to elevated temperature, while Porites heronensis hosting Symbiodinium C111* withstood both reduced and elevated temperature. Under cold stress, photoprotection in the form of xanthophyll de‐epoxidation increased in unbleached P. heronensis (by 178%) and bleached Stylophora sp. (by 225%), while under heat stress this parameter increased in unbleached P. heronensis (by 182%) and in bleached P. damicornis (by 286%). The xanthophyll pool size was stable in all species at all temperatures. Our comparative study demonstrates high variability in the bleaching vulnerability of these coral species to low and high thermal extremes and shows that this variability is not solely determined by the ability to activate xanthophyll de‐epoxidation.
ON CASSON-TYPE INSTANTON MODULI SPACES OVER NEGATIVE DEFINITE 4-MANIFOLDS

Recently Andrei Teleman considered instanton moduli spaces over negative definite 4-manifolds X with b2(X) ≥ 1. If b2(X) is divisible by four and b1(X) = 1 a gauge-theoretic invariant can be defined; it is a count of flat connections modulo the gauge group. Our first result shows that if such a moduli space is non-empty and the manifold admits a connected sum decomposition X ≅ X1 # X2, then both b2(X1) and b2(X2) are divisible by four; this rules out a previously naturally appearing source of 4-manifolds with non-empty moduli space. We give in some detail a construction of negative definite 4-manifolds which we expect will eventually provide examples of manifolds with non-empty moduli space.
An improved PSO algorithm for constrained multiobjective optimization problems

In this paper, we propose an improved PSO algorithm for solving constrained multiobjective optimization problems (CMOP). The new algorithm is based on the ε tolerable constrained Pareto dominance and and effective nondominated solution set maintenance strategy. To improve the convergence and diversity of the Pareto-optimal set, the position and velocity adjustment strategy and the Pareto-optimal solution searching (gbest) method are presented in this paper. The simulation results of the typical mutiobjective optimization problems demonstrate the validity of the algorithm.
Natural Scene Image Segmentation Based on Multi-Layer Feature Extraction

This paper addresses the problem of natural image segmentation by extracting information from a multi-layer array which is constructed based on color, gradient, and statistical properties of the local neighborhoods in an image. A Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is used to improve the effectiveness of local spectral histogram features. Grouping these features leads to forming a rough initial over-segmented layer which contains coherent regions of pixels. The regions are merged by using two proposed functions for calculating the distance between two neighboring regions and making decisions about their merging. Extensive experiments are performed on the Berkeley Segmentation Dataset to evaluate the performance of our proposed method and compare the results with the recent state-of-the-art methods. The experimental results indicate that our method achieves higher level of accuracy for natural images compared to recent methods.
Interoperability and Portability of Cloud Service Enablers in a PaaS Environment

Nowadays, the competition in the telecommunications market is exciting and new entities with value-added services have emerged over the core network of Telecommunications operators (Telcos). These new participants have taken out the operators’ relevance since they are entirely agnostic from infrastructure service connectivity. Therefore Telcos, like Portugal Telecom Inovacao (PTIN), need to focus on the provision of services to a user’s point of view to not become just a dumb-pipe between the consumers and Cloud service
Towards the distributed core for ubiquitous superfast broadband optical access

In this paper, we describe recent architectural and technological advances of the end to end optical network architecture proposed by the DISCUS project (the DIStributed Core for unlimited bandwidth supply for all Users and Services). The two main targets of DISCUS are the principle of equivalence in the access and the reduction of optical-to-electronic conversions in the metro-core network. Technological advances and techno-economic evaluation of Long-Reach Passive Optical Networks (LR-PON), as well as the optimal metro-core node architecture and the required network control plane framework are reported. Network infrastructure sharing challenges are also discussed.