Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Binomial QMF-Wavelet Transform for Multiresolution Signal Decomposition

Perfect reconstruction quadrature mirror filters (PR QMF’s) have been proposed as structures suitable for hierarchical subband coding [ ll-[4], and also for multiresolution signal decomposition as might be used in image pyramid coding [5]. More recently, multiresolution signal decomposition methods are being examined from the standpoint of the discrete wavelet transform for continuous-time signals [6]-[8]. In this paper, we describe a class of orthogonal binomial filters that provide basis functions for a perfect reconstruction bank of finite impulse response QMF’s. The orthonormal wavelet filters derived by Daubechies 171 from a discrete wavelet transform approach are shown to be the same as the solutions inherent in the binomial-based filters. The energy compaction performance of the binomial QMF decomposition is computed and shown to be better than the DCT for the Markov source models, as well as real-world images considered. The proposed binomial structure is efficient, simple to implement on VLSI, and suitable for multiresolution signal decomposition and coding applications.
Hearth and Home in Cape Town: African Women, Energy Resourcing, and Consumption in an Urban Environment

This article adds to the literature on energy consumption in South Africa through the contribution of a historical and gendered perspective. It focuses on how differing generations of African women in the apartheid (1948â1994) and post-apartheid periods resourced, consumed, and related to various types of fuels. "Energy histories" solicited from twenty-five African female residents of Cape Town across three generational cohorts show women's broad and complex engagement with the material fabric of the city. In an era of globalized access and technological change, electricity was increasingly seen as essential to a modern, "easy" lifestyle. Electrical appliances themselves provided a medium through which women questioned and brokered household power relations. Yet women also revealed a tenacious loyalty to older patterns of energy use. This was reflective of the historically uneven progress towards electrification of African townships, as well as issues more intimately related to gendered and generational dynamics.
Walton, Which Sponsored Me at the Project's Origin during Summer 2004). I Also Thank William Zawiski for Collection Help. Collections Were Made under Scientific Collection Permits from the States of Michigan and Ohio. Members of the Great Lakes Genetics

An Abstract of Molecular, morphological, and biogeographic resolution of cryptic taxa in the Greenside Darter Etheostoma blennioides complex DNA sequencing has led to the resolution of many cryptic taxa, which are especially prevalent in the North American darter fishes (Family Percidae). The Greenside Darter Etheostoma blennioides commonly occurs in the lower Great Lakes region, where two putative subspecies, the eastern " Allegheny " type E. b. blennioides and the western " Prairie " type E. b. pholidotum, overlap. The objective of this study was to test the systematic identity and genetic divergence distinguishing the two subspecies in areas of sympatry and allopatry in comparison to other subspecies and close relatives. DNA sequences from the mtDNA cytochrome b gene and control region and the nuclear S7 intron 1 comprising a total of 1,497 bp were compared from 294 individuals across 18 divergences among taxa (θ ST = 0.92 – 0.97; p-distance = 0.025 – 0.039) presently designated as E. b. blennioides, E. b. newmanii, and E. b. pholidotum, as well as identification of a fourth clade in the Meramec River. Most traditional morphological iv characters were significantly different (P= 0.0001) in distinguishing between E. b. blennioides and E. b. pholidotum, including scale counts and degree of ventral squamation. However, the range of variation within these characters overlapped, obscuring accurate assignment of individuals to the taxa. The four significantly divergent taxa of the Greenside Darter complex should be evaluated further for potential elevation to species status. v Acknowledgments I am grateful to my advisor, Dr. Carol Stepien, for her support and mentoring throughout the course of my project. Villet helped with field and laboratory work, and provided a valuable sounding board for ideas and improvements. My committee members Dr. Timothy Fisher and Dr. Johan Gottgens made suggestions that improved both the thesis and manuscript, and Dr. Timothy Fisher helped to determine the distribution of the Greenside Darter during the Pleistocene glaciations. Additional aid was provided by Dr. Peter Berendzen with glacial distribution figures, Dr. Brooks Burr with morphological determination, Dr. David Krantz with Quaternary geological information, Dr. Ann Krause with statistical analyses, and Dr. Brady Porter supplied outgroup samples. Patricia Uzmann provided logistic support. I thank my husband, Michael Bagley, for all of the support he has provided me for the past two years and my family, Arthur, Sheila, and Alexis Haponski, for always pushing me to do my best. Last but …
Effects of cryogen spray cooling and high radiant exposures on selective vascular injury during laser irradiation of human skin.

BACKGROUND Increasing radiant exposure offers a means to increase treatment efficacy during laser-mediated treatment of vascular lesions, such as port-wine stains; however, excessive radiant exposure decreases selective vascular injury due to increased heat generation within the epidermis and collateral damage to perivascular collagen. OBJECTIVE To determine if cryogen spray cooling could be used to maintain selective vascular injury (ie, prevent epidermal and perivascular collagen damage) when using high radiant exposures (16-30 J/cm2). DESIGN Observational study. SETTING Academic hospital and research laboratory. PATIENTS Twenty women with normal abdominal skin (skin phototypes I-VI). INTERVENTIONS Skin was irradiated with a pulsed dye laser (wavelength = 585 nm; pulse duration = 1.5 milliseconds; 5-mm-diameter spot) using various radiant exposures (8-30 J/cm2) without and with cryogen spray cooling (50- to 300-millisecond cryogen spurts). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Hematoxylin-eosin-stained histologic sections from each irradiated site were examined for the degree of epidermal damage, maximum depth of red blood cell coagulation, and percentage of vessels containing perivascular collagen coagulation. RESULTS Long cryogen spurt durations (>200 milliseconds) protected the epidermis in light-skinned individuals (skin phototypes I-IV) at the highest radiant exposure (30 J/cm2); however, epidermal protection could not be achieved in dark-skinned individuals (skin phototypes V-VI) even at the lowest radiant exposure (8 J/cm2). The red blood cell coagulation depth increased with increasing radiant exposure (to >2.5 mm for skin phototypes I-IV and to approximately 1.2 mm for skin phototypes V-VI). In addition, long cryogen spurt durations (>200 milliseconds) prevented perivascular collagen coagulation in all skin types. CONCLUSIONS Cryogen spurt durations much longer than those currently used in therapy (>200 milliseconds) may be clinically useful for protecting the epidermis and perivascular tissues when using high radiant exposures during cutaneous laser therapies. Additional studies are necessary to prove clinical safety of these protocols.
Responding to Public and Private Politics: Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Strategies

The challenges associated with climate change will require governments, citizens, and firms to work collaboratively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a task that requires information on companies’ emissions levels, risks, and reduction opportunities. This paper explores the conditions under which firms participate in this endeavor. Building on theories of how social activists inspire changes in organizational norms, beliefs, and practices, we hypothesize that shareholder actions and regulatory threats are likely to prime firms to adopt practices consistent with the aims of a broader social movement. We find empirical evidence of direct and spillover effects. In the domain of private politics, shareholder resolutions filed against it and others in its industry increase a firm’s propensity to engage in practices consistent with the aims of the related social movement. Similarly, in the realm of public politics, threats of state regulations targeted at a firm’s industry as well as regulations targeted at other industries increase the likelihood that the firm will engage in such practices. These findings extend existing theory by showing that both activist groups and government actors can spur changes in organizational practices, and that challenges mounted against a single firm and an industry can inspire both firm and field-level changes.
Probability of second law violations in shearing steady states.

We propose a new definition of natural invariant measure for trajectory segments of finite duration for a many-particle system. On this basis we give an expression for the probability of fluctuations in the shear stress of a fluid in a nonequilibrium steady state far from equilibrium. In particular we obtain a formula for the ratio that, for a finite time, the shear stress reverse sign, violating the second law of thermodynamics. Computer simulations support this formula.
Poor metacognition in Narcissistic and Avoidant Personality Disorders: four psychotherapy patients analysed using the Metacognition Assessment Scale

Personality Disorders (PDs) are hypothesized to involve a decrement in the capacity to understand one's own thoughts and feelings. Patients may not, for example, recognize their own emotions or put together integrated representations of self with other. Some researchers have suggested that this deficit varies between the different PDs. However, empirical evidence that might confirm or disconfirm this hypothesis is scarce. The goal of the present research is to evaluate the metacognitive capacity in four participants, two with Narcissistic Personality Disorder and two with Avoidant Personality Disorder. Using the Metacognition Assessment Scale to analyse the transcripts of their first year of psychotherapy, we have found that three of the four participants displayed difficulties in recognizing their inner states and in linking them to the environmental and psychological causes behind them. There was, additionally, a milder deficit in the ability to integrate multiple images of self with other. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Use of Halogenated Precursors for Simultaneous DNA and RNA Detection by Means of Immunoelectron and Immunofluorescence Microscopy

We have developed a novel approach for in situ labeling and detection of nucleic acids in cultured cells. It is based on in vivo incorporation of chlorouridine (ClU) or iododeoxyuridine (IdU) into Chinese hamster ovary cells with the aim of labeling RNA and DNA, respectively. The halogenated nucleotides are immunolabeled on ultrathin sections with anti-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) monoclonal antibodies that specifically react with either IdU or ClU. Furthermore, we combined ClU and IdU incubation to label simultaneously RNA and DNA in the same cell. Both were visualized by means of anti-BrdU antibodies exhibiting strong affinity for one of the two halogenated epitopes. Confocal imaging of interphase nuclei and electron microscopic analysis showed evidence of a partial colocalization of newly synthesized DNA and RNA inside the cell nucleus. RNase and DNase digestion of ultrathin sections after formaldehyde fixation and acrylic resin embedding confirmed the specificity of incorporation. Consequently, this method allows us to differentially label DNA and RNA on the same section. Using short pulses with the precursors, we could show that newly synthesized DNA and RNA both preferentially occur within the perichromatin region at the border of condensed chromatin domains.
Promoters of Mycoplasma capricolum ribosomal RNA operons: identical activities but different regulation in homologous and heterologous cells

The 5' region of the rRNA operon, rrnA, of M. capricolum was cloned. Sequence analysis revealed two tRNA genes, tRNA(leu) and tRNA(lys), upstream to the promoter of the rRNA operon. The in vivo transcription start sites of the rRNA operon and of the tRNA genes were mapped. The same promoters used by M. capricolum RNA polymerase are also recognized by E. coli RNA polymerase both in vivo and in vitro. We find that high levels of ppGpp in E. coli, resulting from amino acid starvation or from spoT mutation, activate rather than repress the transcription of the mycoplasma rrnA operon.
Leadership research: choosing gods and devils on the run*

The accumulated research, while contributing substantially to our understanding of complex leadership processes, has not yet produced an integrated body of knowledge. Still plagued by definitional ambiguity, a proliferation of terms, and contradictory research findings, the mountain of evidence has left many unanswered questions. Traditional approaches to leadership have focused primarily on the relationship between the leader and the group. Studies of what managers actually do—as opposed to what they should, could, or say they do—suggest that the leader–system relationship may be a more fruitful focus. The nature of managerial work, as reflected by observed behaviour, can be a valuable guide for designing future leadership research and training.
Conformational Selection and Equilibrium Governs the Ability of Retinals to Bind Opsin*

Background: A current hypothesis proposes that retinal binding to opsin requires transient activation of receptor. Results: Our data show that an active conformation only promotes agonist binding; inverse agonist binding is impaired with increased relative fraction of active receptor. Conclusion: Retinal isomers must match opsin conformation to form a stable complex. Significance: Rhodopsin displays conformational selection for retinal binding similar to other ligand-binding GPCRs. Despite extensive study, how retinal enters and exits the visual G protein-coupled receptor rhodopsin remains unclear. One clue may lie in two openings between transmembrane helix 1 (TM1) and TM7 and between TM5 and TM6 in the active receptor structure. Recently, retinal has been proposed to enter the inactive apoprotein opsin (ops) through these holes when the receptor transiently adopts the active opsin conformation (ops*). Here, we directly test this “transient activation” hypothesis using a fluorescence-based approach to measure rates of retinal binding to samples containing differing relative fractions of ops and ops*. In contrast to what the transient activation hypothesis model would predict, we found that binding for the inverse agonist, 11-cis-retinal (11CR), slowed when the sample contained more ops* (produced using M257Y, a constitutively activating mutation). Interestingly, the increased presence of ops* allowed for binding of the agonist, all-trans-retinal (ATR), whereas WT opsin showed no binding. Shifting the conformational equilibrium toward even more ops* using a G protein peptide mimic (either free in solution or fused to the receptor) accelerated the rate of ATR binding and slowed 11CR binding. An arrestin peptide mimic showed little effect on 11CR binding; however, it stabilized opsin·ATR complexes. The TM5/TM6 hole is apparently not involved in this conformational selection. Increasing its size by mutagenesis did not enable ATR binding but instead slowed 11CR binding, suggesting that it may play a role in trapping 11CR. In summary, our results indicate that conformational selection dictates stable retinal binding, which we propose involves ATR and 11CR binding to different states, the latter a previously unidentified, open-but-inactive conformation.
A Comparative Analysis of the Domestic Retailing Systems of Canada and Sweden

This article relates the structural developments of retail systems in Sweden and Canada to the comparative distribution and retailing literature. The two countries have similar types of market and marketing system development. The emergence of strong consumer markets has brought about corresponding structural changes in the distribution systems of both countries. Similarities and differences in the retailing systems of the two countries are examined systematically in relation to demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural factors of the environment. The differences in the retail systems indicate that each country's retail industry is at a different stage of development. Canada has higher total retail turnover (retail turnover as percentage of personal expenditures) and a higher total number of retail stores, but Sweden has higher per capita sales and per store retail turnover, and a larger population per store. These comparisons pinpoint the nature and structure of the prevailing Swedish and Canadian consumer markets and the emerging retail distribution systems of the future. The study also offers certain important policy implications to both marketing practitioners and marketing scholars with regards to the workings of retail systems in multiple environments.
Lazy evaluation methods for detecting complex events

The goal of Complex Event Processing (CEP) systems is to efficiently detect complex patterns over a stream of primitive events. A pattern of particular significance is a sequence, where we are interested in identifying that a number of primitive events have arrived on the stream in a predefined order. Many popular CEP systems employ Non-deterministic Finite Automata (NFA) arranged in a chain topology to detect such sequences. Existing NFA-based mechanisms incrementally extend previously observed prefixes of a sequence until a match is found. Consequently, each newly arriving event needs to be processed to determine whether a new prefix is to be initiated or an existing one extended. This approach may be very inefficient when events at the beginning of the sequence are very frequent. We address the problem by introducing a lazy evaluation mechanism that is able to process events in descending order of selectivity. We employ this mechanism in a chain topology NFA, which waits until the most selective event in the sequence arrives and then adds events to partial matches according to a predetermined order of selectivity. In addition, we propose a tree topology NFA that does not require the selectivity order to be defined in advance. Finally, we experimentally evaluate our mechanism on real-world stock trading data, demonstrating a performance gain of two orders of magnitude, with significantly reduced memory resource requirements.
The effect of hunger on the learning of new food preferences in the Mongolian gerbil

A new and more profitable food type was introduced to three groups of Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus). When first presented with the new food one group was sated, another was hungry and the third group was hungry and expected a food shortage. In addition to the new food all groups had access to familiar food during the experimental sessions. The group that expected a food shortage had a lower intake of new food than either of the other groups, both in absolute and relative numbers. Both the sated and the hungry group ate the same absolute amount of new food during the first presentation, but since the sated animals had a lower total intake, the new food represented a higher proportion of the intake for these animals. The animals were then tested during the subsequent days (all groups now hungry). Thc group that had been sated showed a stronger preference for the new and profitable food than the hungry group, which in turn showed a stronger preference than the expected food shortage group. This means that in a semi-natural situation a strong need may actually decrease the rate of learning. The results can be explained in terms of risk prone/risk aversive behaviour along the lines of previous studies of risk sensitivity in optimal foraging. In an additional experiment it was shown that sated individuals will decrease their total intake of food when presented with both new and familiar food, in comparison with when only familiar food is present. This may have the effect of enhancing learning about the new food.
Losing Legitimacy: Street Crime And The Decline Of Social Institutions In America

* Understanding Postwar Crime Trends * Riding the Wave: Street Crime Trends in Postwar America * Offender Characteristics and Crime Trends in Postwar America * Evaluating Common Explanations of Crime * Crime and Social Institutions * Crime and American Political Institutions * Crime and American Economic Institutions * Crime and Changes in the American Family * Institutional Responses to the Legitimacy Crisis: Criminal Justice, Education, and Welfare * Crime and Institutional Legitimacy in Postwar America
Study of Vibrio anguillarum strains from different sources with emphasis on ecological and pathobiological properties

A total of 317 Vibrio anguillarum strains were isolated from water, sediment, and diseased as well as healthy rainbow trout at a Danish mariculture farm and from feral fish caught close to the farm. All strains were examined serologically. Ten sera permitted determination of the O group in 66.7% of the strains from diseased rainbow trout. Furthermore, the O group could be determined in 45.1 to 65.4% of the strains from mucus, gills, and intestinal contents of healthy rainbow trout, while only 22.2 to 28.8% of the isolates from water, sediment, and gills or mucus of feral fish were groupable. Serogroup O1 and to some extent O2 appeared to be associated with trout. Strains from these serogroups were selected for analyses of hemagglutinating activity and surface hydrophobicity. Serogroup O1 comprised hemagglutinating as well as nonhemagglutinating strains; from cases of vibriosis, all O1 strains were nonhemagglutinating. The strains belonging to serogroup O2 were generally hemagglutinating. Examinations of surface hydrophobicity by salt aggregation and hydrophobic interaction chromatography suggested that the O1 strains were more hydrophobic than the O2 strains. In pathogenicity tests, O1 strains isolated from gills and mucus of healthy rainbow trout killed all trout in the test groups. A strain from the intestinal contents of healthy rainbow trout did not produce significant mortality. This strain could, however, be frequently reisolated from the pronephros of fish in the test group concerned. After challenge with strains from eel mucus and seawater, mortality was not produced, and furthermore, these strains could not be reisolated from the pronephros.
Test Anxiety, Academic Performance, and Cognitive Appraisals.

The impact of test anxiety on test performance and the cognitive appraisals of test-anxious students were explored. To overcome limitations of previous research, state and dispositional measures of test anxiety were used over repeated performance trials. Sixty-two students who were enrolled in an undergraduate statistics course that required multiple examinations served as subjects. The students' expectations, thoughts, and performance were assessed at each of the four exam occasions. Results indicated that test anxiety was related to poor test performance both early and late in the term. When state anxiety levels were controlled for, the test anxiety-test performance relation was apparent only during the later stages of the course. The pattern of students' anxiety and appraisals suggests that test-anxious students experience most doubt and concern early in the term. The implications of these findings for theories of test anxiety are discussed.