Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A gradient-based optimization technique employing determinants for the synthesis of microwave coupled filters

A procedure is presented whereby cross-coupled filters can be synthesized using a gradient-based optimization technique employing determinants. The cost of function formulated depends on a minimum set of characteristics that can completely describe the desired response. An analytical gradient is also derived for the error function enhancing the efficiency of the optimization process. The proposed algorithm is less vulnerable to local minima and proves more robust compared to other optimization techniques. Examples demonstrating the efficiency of the proposed algorithm are provided.
Hypoxia‐induced ischemic tolerance in neonatal rat brain involves enhanced ERK1/2 signaling

Hypoxic preconditioning (HP) 24 h before hypoxic‐ischemic (HI) injury confers significant neuroprotection in neonatal rat brain. Recent studies have shown that the mitogen‐activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol‐3‐kinase (PI3K) intracellular signaling pathways play a role in the induction of tolerance to ischemic injury in heart and brain. To study the role of MAPK (ERK1/2, JNK, p38MAPK) and PI3K/Akt/GSK3β signaling pathways in hypoxia‐induced ischemic tolerance, we examined the brains of newborn rats at different time points after exposure to sublethal hypoxia (8% O2 for 3 h). Immunoblot analysis showed that HP had no effect on the levels of phosphorylated Akt, GSK3β, JNK and p38MAPK. In contrast, significantly increased levels of phosphorylated ERK1/2 were observed 0.5 h after HP. Double immunofluorescence staining showed that hypoxia‐induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation was found mainly in microvessels throughout the brain and in astrocytes in white matter tracts. Inhibition of hypoxia‐induced ERK1/2 pathway with intracerebral administration of U0126 significantly attenuated the neuroprotection afforded by HP against HI injury. These findings suggest that activation of ERK1/2 signaling may contribute to hypoxia‐induced tolerance in neonatal rat brain in part by preserving vascular and white matter integrity after HI.
Naturalization and Employment of Immigrants in France (1968-1999)

Our study examines the empirical link between the naturalization of immigrants and their subsequent employment status in France from 1968 to 1999. For that purpose, we use longitudinal data coming from a panel dataset which follows almost 1% of the French population from 1968 to 1999 through information contained in the 1968, 1975, 1982, 1990 and 1999 French censuses. The dataset we use is especially valuable for studying social integration of immigrants since it allows us to deal with significant samples of immigrants, according to their origin country, these groups being generally too small in other surveys. We control for the potential endogeneity of the naturalization process through a bivariate probit model. We find that naturalization has a significant positive relationship with immigrants’ subsequent employability. This is particularly true for groups of immigrants who have a low probability of employment in the host country.
Correlation between synovial fluid markers of cartilage and bone turnover and scintigraphic scan abnormalities in osteoarthritis of the knee.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that scintigraphic evidence of bone activity will correlate with biochemical evidence of increased matrix turnover in osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS Keratan sulfate epitope (5D4), chondroitin sulfate epitope (3B3), and osteocalcin (OC) were measured in synovial fluid (SF) from 35 patients with knee OA, within 1 month of bone scan. RESULTS SF OC levels correlated with 5D4 levels (r = 0.32, P = 0.047) and with abnormalities on scintigraphic scan. Mean OC levels were 47% higher (P = 0.016) in patients with severely abnormal findings on scans compared with levels in patients with mildly abnormal scan findings. No significant association of 5D4 or 3B3 levels and perfusion- or late (bone)-phase scintigraphic abnormalities was found. CONCLUSION These data support the hypothesis that there is an association between late-phase bone scan abnormalities and SF biochemical markers of bone turnover in OA.
MOBICORS-Movie: A MOBIle COntents Recommender System for Movie

In spite of the rapid growth of mobile multimedia contents market, most of the customers experience inconvenience, lengthy search processes and frustration in searching for the specific multimedia contents they want. These difficulties are attributable to the current mobile Internet service method based on inefficient sequential search. To overcome these difficulties, this paper proposes a MOBIle COntents Recommender System for Movie (MOBICORS-Movie), which is designed to reduce customers ’ search efforts in finding desired movies on the mobile Internet. MOBICORS-Movie consists of three agents: CF (Collaborative Filtering), CBIR (Content-Based Information Retrieval) and RF (Relevance Feedback). These agents collaborate each other to support a customer in finding a desired movie by generating personalized recommendations of movies. To verify the performance of MOBICORS-Movie, the simulation-based experiments were conducted. The experiment results show that MOBICORS-Movie significantly reduces the customer’ s search effort and can be a realistic solution for movie recommendation in the mobile Internet environment.
Iron, ferritin, transferrin, and transferrin receptor in the adult rat retina.

PURPOSE The retina and other tissues need iron to survive. However, the normal iron metabolism in rodent retinas had not been characterized. This study was intended to investigate iron and iron homeostasis protein (ferritin, transferrin [Tf] and transferrin receptor [Tf-R]) distribution in 20- to 55-day-old rat retinas. METHODS Iron was revealed on retinal sections directly by proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) and indirectly by electron microscopy (EM). Ferritin, Tf, and Tf-R proteins were localized by immunohistochemistry. Transferrin expression was localized by in situ hybridization (ISH). Transferrin and ferritin proteins and mRNA were analyzed by Western blot analysis and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. RESULTS Iron is widely and unevenly distributed throughout the adult rat retina. The highest concentration was observed by PIXE in the choroid and the retinal pigmented epithelial cell (RPE) layer, and in inner segments of photoreceptors (IS). Outer segments of photoreceptors (OS) also contain iron. EM studies suggested the presence of iron inclusions inside the photoreceptor discs. Choroid, RPE, and IS showed a strong immunoreactivity for ferritin. Transferrin accumulated mainly in the IS and OS areas and in RPE cells but can also be detected slightly in retinal capillaries. Western blot analysis for Tf and ferritin confirmed their presence in the adult neural retina. By RT-PCR, H- and L-chains of ferritin and Tf mRNAs were expressed in neural retina, but the main sites of Tf synthesis observed by ISH were the RPE and choroid cell layers. Tf-R immunoreactivity was detected in the ganglion cell layer, inner nuclear layer, outer plexiform layer, IS, RPE, and choroid. These results were similar for all stages studied. CONCLUSIONS For the first time, the present study characterized both iron and iron homeostasis proteins in rodent retinas. In the outer retina, iron and ferritin shared the same distribution patterns. In contrast, Tf, mainly synthesized by RPE cells and detected in OS and IS areas, probably helps to transport iron to photoreceptors through their Tf-R. This is a likely pathway for filling iron needs in the outer retina.
Shift Estimation Algorithm for Dynamic Sensors With Frame-to-Frame Variation in Their Spectral Response

This study is motivated by the emergence of a new class of tunable infrared spectral-imaging sensors that offer the ability to dynamically vary the sensor's intrinsic spectral response from frame to frame in an electronically controlled fashion. A manifestation of this is when a sequence of dissimilar spectral responses is periodically realized, whereby in every period of acquired imagery, each frame is associated with a distinct spectral band. Traditional scene-based global shift estimation algorithms are not applicable to such spectrally heterogeneous video sequences, as a pixel value may change from frame to frame as a result of both global motion and varying spectral response. In this paper, a novel algorithm is proposed and examined to fuse a series of coarse global shift estimates between periodically sampled pairs of nonadjacent frames to estimate motion between consecutive frames; each pair corresponds to two nonadjacent frames of the same spectral band. The proposed algorithm outperforms three alternative methods, with the average error being one half of that obtained by using an equal weights version of the proposed algorithm, one-fourth of that obtained by using a simple linear interpolation method, and one-twentieth of that obtained by using a nai¿ve correlation-based direct method.
Needle Visualization in Ultrasound-Guided Regional Anesthesia: Challenges and Solutions

Needle visualization is important for safe and successful ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve block. However, accurate and consistent visualization of the needle tip can be difficult to achieve. This review article describes many of the challenges affecting needle visualization, summarizes the relevant literature on ultrasound imaging of needles, and offers practical strategies for improving needle tip visibility. Finally, future directions for research and development are suggested.
SCFTIR 1 / AFB-Based Auxin Perception : Mechanism and Role in Plant Growth and Development

Auxin regulates a vast array of growth and developmental processes throughout the life cycle of plants. Auxin responses are highly context dependent and can involve changes in cell division, cell expansion, and cell fate. The complexity of the auxin response is illustrated by the recent finding that the auxin-responsive gene set differs significantly between different cell types in the root. Auxin regulation of transcription involves a core pathway consisting of the TIR1/AFB F-box proteins, the Aux/IAA transcriptional repressors, and the ARF transcription factors. Auxin is perceived by a transient coreceptor complex consisting of a TIR1/AFB protein and an Aux/IAA protein. Auxin binding to the coreceptor results in degradation of the Aux/ IAAs and derepression of ARF-based transcription. Although the basic outlines of this pathway are now well established, it remains unclear how specificity of the pathway is conferred. However, recent results, focusing on the ways that these three families of proteins interact, are starting to provide important clues.
Genetic evidence for male‐biased dispersal in the three‐spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

Sex‐biased dispersal is capable of generating population structure in nonisolated populations and may affect adaptation processes when selective conditions differ among populations. Intrasexual competition for local resources and/or mating opportunities predicts a male‐biased dispersal in polygynous species and a female bias in monogamous species. The patterns of sex‐biased dispersal in birds and mammals are well explained by their respective mating systems, but the picture emerging from fish studies is still mixed. Using neutral genetic markers, we investigated whether there is any evidence for sex‐biased dispersal among Baltic Sea populations of the three‐spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). The null hypothesis of non sex‐biased dispersal was rejected in favour of male‐biased dispersal in this species. As the three‐spined stickleback has a polygynous mating system, the observed male bias in dispersal is consistent with the hypothesis that local mate competition might drive the observed pattern. Although more research both on the proximate and ultimate causes behind the observed pattern is needed, our results serve as a first step towards understanding patterns of sex‐biased dispersal in this species.
GeneralStore: Declarative Programmable Storage

Despite the broad and growing diversity of storage-intensive applications, storage interfaces have evolved little over time. Fears of vendor lock-in and loss or inaccessibility of legacy data have discouraged the evolution of the POSIX API to better support existing and emerging workloads. This has long been a source of consternation for applications developers, who are often required to duplicate signiﬁcant functionality to avoid ineﬃciencies [3]. Recently, the development of programmable storage systems (PSS) [5] has promised to upend this tradition, exposing a variety of composable subsystems as building blocks rather than a narrow storage interface. Such systems provide infrastructure programmers with great ﬂexibility in implementing application-speciﬁc semantics while reusing trusted components. Unfortunately, the composition of subsystems is a low-level task that couples and obscures orthogonal concerns including functional correctness, reliability and performance. Building a new interface typically requires thousands of lines of carefully-written C++ code, an eﬀort that must be repeated frequently as device and subsystem characteristics change. The problem of programmable storage closely parallels the advent
AuberGene — a sensitive genome alignment tool

Motivation: The accumulation of genome sequences will only accelerate in the coming years. We aim to use this abundance of data to improve the quality of genomic alignments and devise amethod which is capable of detecting regions evolving under weak or no evolutionary constraints. Results:WedescribeagenomealignmentprogramAuberGene,which explores the idea of transitivity of local alignments. Assessment of the program was done based on a 2Mbp genomic region containing the CFTR gene of 13 species. In this region, we can identify 53% of human sequence sharing common ancestry with mouse, as compared with 44% found using the usual pairwise alignment. Between human and tetraodon 93 orthologous exons are found, as compared with 77 detected by the pairwise human-tetraodon comparison. AuberGene allows the user to (1) identify distant, previously undetected, conserved orthogonal regions such asORFs or regulatory regions; (2) identify neutrally evolving regions in related species which are often overlooked by other alignment programs; (3) recognize false orthologous genomic regions. The increased sensitivity of the method is not obtained at the cost of reduced specificity. Our results suggest that, over the CFTR region, human shares 10% more sequence with mouse than previously thought ( 50%, instead of 40% found with the pairwise alignment). Availability: The source code and tracks for UCSC Genome Browser generated with the program are available from http://www.ibivu. cs.vu. nl/programs/aubergenewww. Contact: heringa@cs.vu. nl
Is Homesickness a Mini-Grief? Development of a Dual Process Model

Homesickness (HS) is associated with mental and physical health problems and is thus of clinical concern. In some highly influential theoretical models and widely used questionnaires, HS spans home-related losses and new-locality adjustments. A differentiated approach is needed: Evidence suggests that distinct manifestations are associated with these two domains. Collapsing home- and new-place-related phenomena has impeded understanding of separation-from-home-specific aspects. Thus, we propose a dual process model of coping with HS (DPM-HS). According to this framework, HS is fundamentally a separation phenomenon, a “mini-grief,” involving different (though possibly mutually exacerbating) stressors from new place ones. It follows that HS should be narrowly defined; separate examination of home–new place stressors, correlates, and consequences is mandatory; regulatory cognitive-emotional processes and incremental effects due to new place stressors need charting. Following DPM-HS principles, HS prevention and treatment should not only focus on distraction and adjustment, but also pay attention to missing home aspects and emotion-regulation strategies.
Models teòrics explicatius de l'aprenentatge motor

En este articulo se repasan los principales modelos teoricos explicativos del aprendizaje motor. En un primer apartado se comentan las aportaciones propias de la psicologia cognitiva y mas concretamente del corriente del procesamiento de la informacion: la Teoria del bucle cerrado de Jack Adams y la Teoria del esquema de Richard Schmidt. Posteriormente, se exponen las criticas que han recibido estos modelos y, para hacerlo, se introducen las principales aportaciones que el cientifico ruso Nikolai Bernstein hizo al estudio del aprendizaje y el control motor. A partir de estas aportaciones, se introducen las formulaciones teoricas que, surgidas desde la perspectiva dinamica-ecologica, pretenden superar las limitaciones de los modelos cognitivos. Finalmente, se comparan las dos perspectivas y se sugieren algunas posibles vias de desarrollo futuro del campo que nos ocupa. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Cet article permet a l’auteur de reviser les principaux modeles theoriques explicatifs de l’apprentissage moteur. Dans un premier chapitre, il commente les contributions propres de la psychologie cognitive et plus concretement du courant du traitement de l’information: la theorie en boucle fermee de Jack Adams et la theorie du schema de Richard Schmidt. Ensuite, il expose les critiques qu’ont recues ces modeles et, pour ce faire, il introduit les principales contributions que le scientifique russe Nikolai Bernstein a faites a l’etude de l’apprentissage et du controle moteur. A partir de ces contributions, il introduit les formulations theoriques, issues de la perspective dynamico-ecologique, qui pretendent aller au-dela des limites des modeles cognitifs. Enfin, il compare les deux perspectives et suggerent certaines voies possibles pour le developpement a venir du domaine qui nous interesse.
Who's got the floor?

ABSTRACT This study into the nature of “the floor” actually began as an open-ended inquiry into sex differences that might occur beyond the sentence level in the multi-party interaction of five informal committee meetings. Technical difficulties prompted the trying out of several different transcription displays, most of which failed to capture the “feel” of the interaction and each of which biased (in its own way) the perception of what had actually gone on. The type of unconventional display eventually used was intended to show the floor holder in the center of the page, flanked by co-occurring talk. Because there were many episodes for which a single floor holder could not be identified, the primary focus of the study shifted to the nature of the floor itself. Questions about sex differences became a secondary and succeeding focus. In the analysis, “floor” and “turn” were distinguished on the basis of “participant-sense” rather than technical criteria. Two kinds of floors were subjectively identified: F1, a singly developed floor; and F2, a collaborative venture where several people seemed to be either operating on the same wavelength or engaging in a free-for-all. The two kinds of floors were differentiated objectively by such features as quantity and frequency participation, language functions, number of nonturn utterances, overlaps, and pauses. There were indeed sex/language differences, but these were related to the type of floor being developed. Men took more and longer turns and did more of the joking, arguing, directing, and soliciting of responses F1 's. Turn length and frequency differences were neutralized in F2's, and certain language functions were used by women to a greater extent in F2's than in F1 's. (Conversational analysis, gender and language, qualitative research methodology.)
A block based temporal spatial nonlocal mean algorithm for video denoising with multiple resolution

In this paper a novel scheme for video denoising using nonlocal mean algorithm is proposed. In contrast to the traditional methods, the proposed scheme uses the mean absolute difference (MAD) of the current pixel block and the candidate blocks both in spatial and temporal domain as a pre-selecting criterion. At the same time, rather than one single pixel, this scheme reconstructs a block with different number of pixels according to the statistic property of the current pixel block, which dramatically lowers the computational burden and keeps good denoising performance. Several methods used in this algorithm share high similarity with the video encoding techniques today, and this algorithm is especially suitable to implement those video processing methods combined with video encoder.
The causal effects of high school tracks on cognitive skills, educational attainment, and labor market outcomes

This paper estimates how admissions to different types of well defined upper secondary tracks affect IQ-measures, drop out rates, final educational attainment, and labor market outcomes. We use data on all applicants to Swedish upper secondary schools during 1985-92 and rely on admissions discontinuities for identification. Specifically we study the effects of being admitted to vocational versus academic tracks, being admitted to long or short tracks, as well as the effects of concentration on math/science versus arts/social sciences among academic students and the effects of concentration on manual versus clerical work among vocational students. Although there are huge differences in mean outcomes depending on high school track, our preliminary results show very small, and in most cases statistically insignificant causal effects of track choice. These (preliminary) results suggest that most of the ensuing differences in IQ, educational performance and labor market outcomes are determined before high school entrance.
Genetics of Marbling in Wagyu Revealed by the Melting Temperature of Intramuscular and Subcutaneous Lipids

Extreme marbling or intramuscular deposition of lipid is associated with Wagyu breeds and is therefore assumed to be largely inherited. However, even within 100% full blood Wagyu prepared under standard conditions, there is unpredictable scatter of the degree of marbling. Here, we evaluate melting temperature (Tm) of intramuscular fat as an alternative to visual scores of marbling. We show that “long fed” Wagyu generally has Tm below body temperature but with a considerable range under standardized conditions. Individual sires have a major impact indicating that the variation is genetic rather than environmental or random error. In order to measure differences of lower marbling breeds and at shorter feeding periods, we have compared Tm in subcutaneous fat samples from over the striploin. Supplementary feeding for 100 to 150 days leads to a rapid decrease in Tm of 50% Red Wagyu (Akaushi) : 50% European crosses, when compared to 100% European. This improvement indicates that the genetic effect of Wagyu is useful, predictable, and highly penetrant. Contemporaneous DNA extraction does not affect the measurement of Tm. Thus, provenance can be traced and substitution can be eliminated in a simple and cost-effective manner.