Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cosmic String Theory: The Current Status

This is a pedagogical introduction to the basics of the cosmic string theory and also a review of the recent progress made with respect to the macrophysical predictions of the theory. Topics covered include, string formation and evolution, large scale structure formation, generation of peculiar velocity flows, cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations, lensing, gravitational waves and constraints from the msec pulsar. Particular emphasis is placed on the signatures predicted on the CMB and the corresponding non-gaussian features.
ArchC: a systemC-based architecture description language

This paper presents an architecture description language (ADL) called ArchC, which is an open-source SystemC-based language that is specialized for processor architecture description. Its main goal is to provide enough information, at the right level of abstraction, in order to allow users to explore and verify new architectures, by automatically generating software tools like simulators and co-verification interfaces. ArchC's key features are a storage-based co-verification mechanism that automatically checks the consistency of a refined ArchC model against a reference (functional) description, memory hierarchy modeling capability, the possibility of integration with other SystemC IPs and the automatic generation of high-level SystemC simulators. We have used ArchC to synthesize both functional and cycle-based simulators for the MIPS, Intel 8051 and SPARC V8 processors, as well as functional models of modern architectures like TMS320C62x, XScale and PowerPC.
Efficiency of U.S. Tissue Perfusion Estimators

We measure the detection and discrimination efficiencies of conventional power-Doppler estimation of perfusion without contrast enhancement. The measurements are made in a phantom with known blood-mimicking fluid flow rates in the presence of clutter and noise. Efficiency is measured by comparing functions of the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for Doppler estimators with those of the ideal discriminator, for which we estimate the temporal covariance matrix from echo data. Principal-component analysis is examined as a technique for increasing the accuracy of covariance matrices estimated from echo data. We find that Doppler estimators are <;50% efficient at directed perfusion detection between 0.1 and 2.0 mL/min per 2 cm2 flow area. The efficiency was 20%-40% for the task of discriminating between two perfusion rates in the same range. We conclude that there are reasons to search for more efficient perfusion estimators, one that incorporates covariance matrix information that could significantly enhance the utility of Doppler ultrasound without contrast enhancement.
The space between in space transportation: A relational analysis of the failure of STS-107

An epoxy resin composition having a remarkably improved storage stability and an excellent hardening characteristic when heated, which comprises an epoxy resin and an aromatic amino carboxylic acid or a derivative thereof as a hardener for the epoxy resin. This composition can be molded by injection molding, heretofore being deemed inapplicable to epoxy resin compositions, whereby the molded articled of epoxy resin can be produced with a high molding efficiency.
Efficient Linearization of Tree Kernel Functions

The combination of Support Vector Machines with very high dimensional kernels, such as string or tree kernels, suffers from two major drawbacks: first, the implicit representation of feature spaces does not allow us to understand which features actually triggered the generalization; second, the resulting computational burden may in some cases render unfeasible to use large data sets for training. We propose an approach based on feature space reverse engineering to tackle both problems. Our experiments with Tree Kernels on a Semantic Role Labeling data set show that the proposed approach can drastically reduce the computational footprint while yielding almost unaffected accuracy.
A Text Classifier Based on Sentence Category VSM

VSM is a mature model of text representation for categorization. Words are commonly used as dimensions of feature space of VSM, but words only provide little semantic information. Sentence category theory is an important component of HNC theory and can provide abundant information about meaning, structure and style of a sentence. We use sentence categories as dimensions of feature space, reduce the dimensionality by dividing mixed sentence categories and reform the weights by tfc-weighting algorithm. By simple vector distance calculation, we can get the parameters of the classifier and execute the categorization. The average precision and recall of our classifier are acceptable and can be improved by other HNC techniques.
Role of rice PPS in late vegetative and reproductive growth

The rice peter pan syndrome-1 (pps-1) mutant shows a prolonged juvenile phase and early flowering. Although the early vegetative phase and flowering time of pps-1 have been closely examined, the phenotypes in the late vegetative and reproductive phases are not yet well understood. In the ninth leaf blade of pps-1, the relative length of the midrib was comparable to the sixth leaf blade of wild-type. Moreover, pps-1 had a small inflorescence meristem and small panicles. These phenotypes indicate that in pps-1 the juvenile phase coexists with the late vegetative phase, resulting in small panicles. Gibberellin is known to promote the juvenile-adult phase transition. d18-k is dwarf and has a prolonged juvenile phase. Double mutant (d18-k pps-1) showed the same phenotype as the pps-1, indicating that PPS is upstream of GA biosynthetic genes.
Direct Torque Control for Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors Using Matrix Converters

An improved direct torque control (DTC) scheme for the matrix converter fed Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machine (IPMSM) is presented in this paper. In the proposed scheme, the modified DTC strategy for matrix converter IPMSM drives is achieved using a variable-structure torque and stator flux controller, and indirect space vector modulation (ISVM) technique. It features low torque and flux ripples, sinusoidal input/output currents and unity fundamental displacement factor at the input regardless of the load power factor while maintaining constant switching frequency. Numerical simulations are carried out in both steady-state and transient conditions, verifying the effectiveness of this new proposed scheme.
Cluster Evolution and Interpretation via Penalties

There are many applications where the world being interpreted via clusters can change. We present a method that discovers new clusters and describes the changes. The method works by constraining existing prototypes while penalizing changes in a variable, total number of clusters. This results in a clustering that is comparable to the old yet still flexible enough to learn new behaviors. Moreover, the results are highly interpretable. The paper offers two main contributions. One, we present a framework that distinguishes different types of change of interest. Two, we present a new cluster-based change description algorithm and test, both of which are applicable to multiple underlying clusterers
The tortoise and the hare: interactions between reinforcement learning and working memory

Learning to make rewarding choices in response to stimuli depends on a slow but steady process, reinforcement learning, and a fast and flexible, but capacity limited process, working memory. Using both systems in parallel, with their contributions weighted based on performance, should allow us to leverage the best of each system: rapid early learning, supplemented by long term robust acquisition. However, this assumes that using one process does not interfere with the other. We use computational modeling to investigate the interactions between the two processes in a behavioral experiment, and show that working memory interferes with reinforcement learning. Previous research showed that neural representations of reward prediction errors, a key marker of reinforcement learning, were blunted when working memory was used for learning. We thus predicted that arbitrating in favor of working memory to learn faster in simple problems would weaken the reinforcement learning process. We tested this by measuring performance in a delayed testing phase where the use of working memory was impossible, and thus subject choices depended on reinforcement learning. Counter-intuitively, but confirming our predictions, we observed that associations learned most easily were retained worse than associations learned slower: using working memory to learn quickly came at the cost of long-term retention. Computational modeling confirmed that this could only be accounted for by working memory interference in reinforcement learning computations. These results further our understanding of how multiple systems contribute in parallel to human learning, and may have important applications for education and computational psychiatry.
Adaptation of autonomic heart rate regulation in astronauts after spaceflight

Background Spaceflight causes changes in the cardiovascular control system. The aim of this study was to evaluate postflight recovery of linear and nonlinear neural markers of heart rate modulation, with a special focus on day-night variations. Material/Methods Twenty-four-hour Holter ECG recordings were obtained in 8 astronauts participating in space missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Data recording was performed 1 month before launch, and 5 and 30 days after return to Earth from short- and long-term flights. Cardiovascular control was inferred from linear and nonlinear heart rate variability (HRV) parameters, separately during 2-hour day and 2-hour night recordings. Results No remarkable differences were found in the postflight recovery between astronauts from short- and long-duration spaceflights. Five days after return to Earth, vagal modulation was significantly decreased compared to the preflight condition (day: p=0.001; night: p=0.019), while the sympathovagal balance was strongly increased, but only at night (p=0.017). A few nonlinear parameters were reduced early postflight compared to preflight values, but these were not always statistically significant. No significant differences remained after 30 days of postflight recovery. Conclusions Our results show that 5 days after return from both short- and long-duration space missions, neural mechanisms of heart rate regulation are still disturbed. After 1 month, autonomic control of heart rate recovered almost completely.
Specificity within the EGF family/ErbB receptor family signaling network

Recent years have witnessed tremendous growth in the epidermal growth factor (EGF) family of peptide growth factors and the ErbB family of tyrosine kinases, the receptors for these factors. Accompanying this growth has been an increased appreciation for the roles these molecules play in tumorigenesis and in regulating cell proliferation and differentiation during development. Consequently, a significant question has been how diverse biological responses are specified by these hormones and receptors. Here we discuss several characteristics of hormone‐receptor interactions and receptor coupling that contribute to specificity: 1) a single EGF family hormone can bind multiple receptors; 2) a single ErbB family receptor can bind multiple hormones; 3) there are three distinct functional groups of EGF family hormones; 4) EGF family hormones can activate receptors in trans, and this heterodimerization diversifies biological responses; 5) ErbB3 requires a receptor partner for signaling; and 6) ErbB family receptors differentially couple to signaling pathways and biological responses. BioEssays 20:41–48, 1998. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Toward a framework for sulfoproteomics: Synthesis and characterization of sulfotyrosine‐containing peptides

Tyrosine sulfation is one of the most common post‐translational modifications in secreted and transmembrane proteins and a key modulator of extracellular protein‐protein interactions. Several proteins known to be tyrosine sulfated play important roles in physiological processes, and in some cases a direct link between protein function and tyrosine sulfation has been established. In blood coagulation, tyrosine sulfation of factor VIII is required for efficient binding of von Willebrand factor; in leukocyte adhesion, tyrosine sulfation of the P‐selectin glycoprotein ligand‐1 mediates high‐affinity binding to P‐selectin; and in leukocyte chemotaxis, tyrosine sulfation of chemokine receptors is required for optimal interaction with chemokine ligands. Furthermore, tyrosine sulfation has been implicated in several infectious diseases. In particular, tyrosine sulfation of the HIV‐1 co‐receptor CCR5 is required for viral entry into host cells and tyrosine sulfation of the Duffy antigen/receptor for chemokines is crucial for erythrocyte invasion by the malaria parasite plasmodium vivax. Despite increasing interest in tyrosine sulfation in recent years, the sulfoproteome still remains largely unexplored. To date, only a relatively small number of sulfotyrosine‐containing peptides and proteins have been identified, and a specific role for tyrosine sulfation has not been established for most of these. Here, we provide an overview of the biology and enzymology of tyrosine sulfation and discuss recent developments in preparative and analytical methods that are central to sulfoproteome research. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 90: 459–477, 2008.
Roughness Encoding in Human and Biomimetic Artificial Touch: Spatiotemporal Frequency Modulation and Structural Anisotropy of Fingerprints

The influence of fingerprints and their curvature in tactile sensing performance is investigated by comparative analysis of different design parameters in a biomimetic artificial fingertip, having straight or curved fingerprints. The strength in the encoding of the principal spatial period of ridged tactile stimuli (gratings) is evaluated by indenting and sliding the surfaces at controlled normal contact force and tangential sliding velocity, as a function of fingertip rotation along the indentation axis. Curved fingerprints guaranteed higher directional isotropy than straight fingerprints in the encoding of the principal frequency resulting from the ratio between the sliding velocity and the spatial periodicity of the grating. In parallel, human microneurography experiments were performed and a selection of results is included in this work in order to support the significance of the biorobotic study with the artificial tactile system.
Number, countability and markedness in Lingala LI/-MA- noun class

In this paper the traditional, quasi-absolute, conception that where Bantu noun class prefixes can be paired the pairs correspond to a SINGULAR versus PLURAL opposition is disputed. In the particular case of the li-/mapair in Lingala, on which this paper is focused, it is observed that the opposition can alternatively be interpreted as INDIVIDUATED versus NON-INDIVIDUATED. It is argued that not only does such a view of the morphological opposition still capture the traditional singular versus plural opposition, it also accounts for oppositions where lidelimits a COUNTand-SINGULAR interpretation of a root and maits MASS interpretation. Further, it makes possible a generalized and uniform account of the similarities of formal grammatical behaviour between the mass and plural count nouns in regard to morphological number delimitation particularly. It is claimed that this alternative conception of the li-/maopposition and the likes in Lingala is to be preferred to the traditional one, and that it could perhaps be extended to languages such as English and French. Greenberg's (1963-1975) Universal on the unmarkedness of the singular (as opposed to a marked plural) is also reconsidered in this paper. On the basis of considerations similar to McCawley (1968) and others (e.g. distribution of mass and plural count nouns with non-numeral quantifiers) it is argued that semantically and functionally Lingala constitutes counter-evidence to Greenberg 's Universal.
Effet de l'hypnose ericksonienne associée aux techniques de rééducation orthophonique sur les productions stéréotypées d'un patient aphasique non fluent : étude de cas

L’aphasie motrice ou aphasie non fluente est caracterisee par une reduction de l’expression du discours spontane, parfois marquee par des stereotypies verbales. Les stereotypies verbales de l’aphasie non fluente ne sont pas prises en charge de facon protocolisee en orthophonie. Les progres en neuro-imagerie (IRMF et PET scan) et les experiences cliniques recentes ont permis de montrer la modification significative et tres selective de l’activite de regions cerebrales sous hypnose, y compris chez des patients au cerveau lese. Le but de cette etude de cas etait d’observer les effets de l’hypnose ericksonienne associee aux techniques de reeducation orthophonique sur les productions stereotypees d’un patient aphasique non fluent. Pour cela, pendant un mois, nous avons realise 20 seances de 50 a 60 minutes, associant au cours d’une meme seance hypnose ericksonienne et orthophonie avec un patient aphasique non fluent presentant des productions stereotypees. Nous avons objective une amelioration des competences linguistiques et de communication du patient sur les echelles d’examen de l’aphasie et les echelles de communication et avons pu constater un effet direct des techniques d’hypnose sur le controle des stereotypies avec la mise en place d’un comportement alternatif induit sous hypnose. Cette etude de cas pourrait ouvrir des perspectives sur l’interet de l’association de l’hypnose a des techniques de reeducation orthophonique pour des patients aphasiques non fluents avec ou sans stereotypie.
Seeking the environmental source of Leptospirosis reveals durable bacterial viability in river soils

Background Leptospirosis is an important re-emerging infectious disease that affects humans worldwide. Infection occurs from indirect environment-mediated exposure to pathogenic leptospires through contaminated watered environments. The ability of pathogenic leptospires to persist in the aqueous environment is a key factor in transmission to new hosts. Hence, an effort was made to detect pathogenic leptospires in complex environmental samples, to genotype positive samples and to assess leptospiral viability over time. Methodology/Principal findings We focused our study on human leptospirosis cases infected with the New Caledonian Leptospira interrogans serovar Pyrogenes. Epidemiologically related to freshwater contaminations, this strain is responsible for ca. 25% of human cases in New Caledonia. We screened soil and water samples retrieved from suspected environmental infection sites for the pathogen-specific leptospiral gene lipL-32. Soil samples from all suspected infection sites tested showed detectable levels of pathogenic leptospiral DNA. More importantly, we demonstrated by viability qPCR that those pathogenic leptospires were viable and persisted in infection sites for several weeks after the index contamination event. Further, molecular phylogenetic analyses of the leptospiral lfb-1 gene successfully linked the identity of environmental Leptospira to the corresponding human-infecting strain. Conclusions/Significance Altogether, this study illustrates the potential of quantitative viability-PCR assay for the rapid detection of viable leptospires in environmental samples, which might open avenues to strategies aimed at assessing environmental risk.
Responding to families with complex needs: a national survey of child and family health nurses

AIMS The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which Australian child and family health nurses work with families with complex needs and how their practice responds to the needs of these families. BACKGROUND Many families with young children face challenges to their parenting capacity, potentially placing their children at risk of poorer developmental outcomes. Nurses increasingly work with families with mental health problems, trauma histories and/or substance dependence. Universal child health services must respond effectively to these challenges, to address health inequalities and to promote the best outcomes for all children and families. DESIGN The descriptive study used cross-sectional data from the first national survey of child and family health nurses in Australia, conducted during 2011. METHODS Survey data reported how often, where and how child and family health nurses worked with families with complex needs and their confidence in nursing tasks. FINDINGS Many, but not all, of the 679 respondents saw families with complex needs in their regular weekly caseload. Child and family health nurses with diverse and complex caseloads reported using varied approaches to support their clients. They often undertook additional professional development and leadership roles compared with nurses who reported less complex caseloads. Most respondents reported high levels of professional confidence. CONCLUSION For health services providing universal support and early intervention for families at risk, the findings underscore the importance of appropriate education, training and support for child and family health professionals. The findings can inform the organization and delivery of services for families in Australia and internationally.
Transactions Concurrency Control in Web Service Environment

Business transactions in Web service environments run with relaxed isolation and atomicity property. In such environments, transactions can commit and roll back independently on each other. Transaction management has to reflect this issue and address the problems which result for example from concurrent access to Web service resources and data. In this paper we propose an extension to the WS-transaction protocol which ensures the consistency of the data when independent business transactions access the data concurrently under the relaxed transaction properties. Our extension is based on transaction dependency graphs maintained at the service provider side. We have implemented such a protocol on top of WS-transaction. The extension on the Web service provider side is simple to achieve as it can be an integral part of the service invocation mechanism. It has also an advantage from an engineering point of view as it does not change the way consumers or clients of Web services have to be programmed. Furthermore, it avoids direct communication between transaction coordinators which preserves security by keeping the information about business transactions restricted to the coordinators which are responsible for them
The Materiality of Everyday Sex: Thinking beyond 'prostitution'

This articles central argument is that the close association between sex and gifts--resulting in what has been called "transactional sex"--is a central factor driving multiple-partnered sexual relationships the principal cause of HIV infection in Mandeni. Transactional sex has a number of similarities to prostitution. In both cases non-marital sexual relationships often with multiple partners are underscored by the giving of gifts or cash. Transactional sex however differs in important ways: participants are constructed as "girlfriends" and "boyfriends" and not "prostitutes" and "clients" and the exchange of gifts for sex is part of a broader set of obligations that might not involve a predetermined payment. The use of the concept "transactional sex" is intended neither to maintain inflexible distinctions between the categories of "prostitution "/"transactional sex"/"non-transactional sex" (indeed sex like all embodied practices is always simultaneously material and meaningful in complex ways) nor to naturalize heterosexual sex the principal focus of this article. (excerpt)