Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gene expression of the GH receptor in subcutaneous and intraabdominal fat in healthy females: relationship to GH-binding protein.

OBJECTIVE Circulating GH-binding protein (GHBP) is produced by proteolytical cleavage of the extracellular part of the GH receptor (GHR) and is positively correlated to the amount of body fat. To test the hypothesis that adipose tissue may contribute to the production of circulating GHBP, we compared gene expression of two GHR isoforms in adipose tissue with serum GHBP concentrations in healthy females. DESIGN Twenty-two healthy females undergoing surgery for benign gynecological conditions were included in the study. METHODS During surgery, s.c. and intraabdominal fat biopsy samples were taken. Gene expression of the full-length GHR and a truncated GHR (GHRtr) was assessed by RT-PCR relative to the expression of beta-actin. RESULTS The full-length GHR was expressed to a much higher level than GHRtr in both tissues. The levels of both GHR and GHRtr mRNA were similar in intraabdominal and s.c. adipose tissues. Surprisingly, concentrations of circulating GHBP were negatively correlated to the levels of mRNA transcripts of both the full-length GHR and GHRtr in intraabdominal fat. Whole body resistance (as a measure of lean body mass) was positively correlated to mRNA levels for both GHRs in intraabdominal fat. CONCLUSIONS (i) The full-length GHR is expressed to a much higher level than GHRtr in s.c. as well as visceral abdominal fat; (ii) the observation of a significant correlation between GHR expression and GHBP levels further emphasizes the link between adipose tissue and GHBP; (iii) it remains, however, to be demonstrated whether circulating GHBP is produced to a significant degree by adipose tissue.
Micro-Doppler extraction from scatterer phase in ISAR image

Translation trajectory is approximated by Chebyshev polynomial to improve approximation accuracy under low signal-to-noise ratio. The parameters in the polynomial are estimated by matching pursuit (MP). The operation of translation parameters estimation is performed in frequency domain before pulse compression. After compensation of translation and rotation, micro-Doppler is extracted from the result of motion compensation based on vibration model. Simulation and experiment data are used to testify our method.
Six‐week gait retraining program reduces knee adduction moment, reduces pain, and improves function for individuals with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis

This study examined the influence of a 6‐week gait retraining program on the knee adduction moment (KAM) and knee pain and function. Ten subjects with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis and self‐reported knee pain participated in weekly gait retraining sessions over 6 weeks. Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores and a 10‐point visual‐analog pain scale score were measured at baseline, post‐training (end of 6 weeks), and 1 month after training ended. Gait retraining reduced the first peak KAM by 20% (p < 0.01) post‐training as a result of a 7° decrease in foot progression angle (i.e., increased internal foot rotation), compared to baseline (p < 0.01). WOMAC pain and function scores were improved at post‐training by 29% and 32%, respectively (p < 0.05) and visual‐analog pain scale scores improved by two points (p < 0.05). Changes in WOMAC pain and function were approximately 75% larger than the expected placebo effect (p < 0.05). Changes in KAM, foot progression angle, WOMAC pain and function, and visual‐analog pain score were retained 1 month after the end of the 6‐week training period (p < 0.05). These results show that a 6‐week gait retraining program can reduce the KAM and improve symptoms for individuals with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis and knee pain. © 2013 Orthopaedic Research Society Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 31:1020–1025, 2013
A Comparative Study on EM Algorithms for Color-Texture Image Segmentation

Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm has been thoroughly studied in the maximum likelihood estimate of model parameters for statistical learning. Albeit EM algorithms are exploited to the nature of a variety of problems, they are commonly faced with operational difficulty in practice, due to its convergence of local maxima. The actual performance of different EM variants are seldom evaluated to resolve the same application-specific problem, for example image segmentation. In this work, we have conducted a comparative study on different EM variants. To more visually compare them, we employ the EM variants into a color-texture image segmentation algorithm. We first evaluated the effectiveness of several EM variants using the log-likelihood and Bayesian Information Criterion on the image data. Then the EM variants are used for color quantization in the framework of the color-texture segmentation algorithm to assess the performance of them. The local maxima problem of the EM algorithm is also studied by the image segmentation results.
Placement of STATCOM in a wind integrated power system with storage for improving the loadability of the system

Voltage instability is a major issue that attracts worldwide interest because of its consequence of voltage collapses. These days power systems operate closer to their stability limits, transferring large amounts of powers from long distance and an inadequate supply of reactive power contribute to system voltage instability and eventually lead to voltage collapse. So estimating the margin in the loadability of the power system is essential in the real time system for voltage stability assessment. This paper investigates the enhancement of voltage stability using Static Compensator (STATCOM) in a wind integrated power system with storage. Wind energy is gaining the most interest among a variety of renewable energy resources and this requires energy storage because it is necessary to get a smooth output from a wind turbine. A battery energy storage system is connected to the system which enhances the voltage levels in weak buses. The combined action of battery storage and STATCOM enhances the voltage stability of the entire system. The analysis is done with power system analysis toolbox (PSAT), a powerful toolbox in MATLAB for power system analysis.
Experience generalization for concurrent reinforcement learners: the minimax-QS algorithm

This paper investigates the use of experience generalization on concurrent and on-line policy learning in multi-agent scenarios, using reinforcement learning algorithms. Agents learning concurrently implies in a non-stationary scenario, since the reward received by one agent (for applying an action in a state) depends on the behavior of the other agents. Non-stationary scenarios can be viewed as a two-player game in which an agent and the other player (which represents the other agents and the environment) select actions from the available actions in the current state; these actions define the possible next state. An RL algorithm that can be applied to such a scenario is the Minimax-Q algorithm, which is known to guarantee convergence to equilibrium in the limit. However, finding optimal control policies using any RL algorithm Minimax-Q included) can be very time consuming. We investigate the use of experience generalization for increasing the rate of convergence of RL algorithms, and contribute a new learning algorithm, Minimax-QS, which incorporates experience generalization to the Minimax-Q algorithm. We also prove its convergence to Minimax-Q values under suitable conditions.
Efficient battery management in wireless sensor node: Review paper

Wireless sensor network is an emerging field in wireless networking. Wireless Sensor Node (WSN) is the key component of wireless sensor networks for data communication inn large networks. WSN is powered with battery as its source of energy. It is usually deployed in hostile. Alkaline batteries are dominantly used in WSN. We need to maximize utilization of battery used in WSN. In this paper we have reviewed various models of the alkaline battery for maximizing its utilization and its lifetime. A brief experiment on relaxation model has been carried out which is most suitable battery model for predicting lifetime of battery in WSN.
Wage share variations in France and Germany since 1970: what does really matter?

This paper refers to a few recent studies, which have focused on methodological issues related to the estimation of the wage share variations, to compare the evolutions in France and former West Germany since 1970. It is shown that the usual method overestimates the long run drop of wage share in both countries but that the magnitude and thus the contribution of different biases are quite different in France and Germany. However no bias can explain the sharp drop of wage share in Germany since 2001, which has to be analysed within the framework of the euro area.
Reduced Size Frequency Agile Microwave Circuits Using Ferroelectric Thin-Film Varactors

A new concept for tunable and reduced size microwave circuits is presented based on barium-strontium-titanate (BST) varactors. The proposed design methodology relies on substitution of quarter-wavelength transmission line segments with their equivalent low-pass structures. The ferroelectric BST-varactors are used as tuning elements and allow for a frequency agile behavior and size reduction of the circuit. Candidates for this methodology are quarter-wavelength based circuits such as Wilkinson power dividers and branch-line couplers. Prototype boards for both topologies were implemented and characterized through scattering parameter measurements. For the implemented Wilkinson divider a tuning range from 1.7 to 2.1 GHz is achieved. The insertion loss in both output paths varies from 0.6 to 1.2 dB while maintaining a worst case amplitude- and phase difference of 0.5 dB and 9deg, respectively, for all operating cases. The isolation between the two output ports exceeded 25 dB over the whole tuning range. The implemented branch-line coupler exhibits a tuning range from 1.8 to 2.3 GHz with a maximum insertion loss of 2.7 dB while maintaining worst case amplitude- and phase difference of 0.4 dB and 90deg plusmn 5deg, respectively. Port matching and isolation levels of more than 15 dB are exhibited at all bias conditions.
Close Corporations and Agency Costs

The economic analysis of publicly held corporations has exploded in recent years. Yet there has been little attention to the more common corporate form of organization, the closely held corporation.2 This is not because one analysis will cover both. There is a fundamental difference between closely and publicly held corporations. Risk bearing and management are separated in publicly held but not in closely held corporations. The presence or absence of this separation of functions determines the governance mechanisms that have evolved in the two types of firms.3
Learning Complex, Extended Sequences Using the Principle of History Compression

Previous neural network learning algorithms for sequence processing are computationally expensive and perform poorly when it comes to long time lags. This paper first introduces a simple principle for reducing the descriptions of event sequences without loss of information. A consequence of this principle is that only unexpected inputs can be relevant. This insight leads to the construction of neural architectures that learn to divide and conquer by recursively decomposing sequences. I describe two architectures. The first functions as a self-organizing multilevel hierarchy of recurrent networks. The second, involving only two recurrent networks, tries to collapse a multilevel predictor hierarchy into a single recurrent net. Experiments show that the system can require less computation per time step and many fewer training sequences than conventional training algorithms for recurrent nets.
A Primer on Auction Design, Management, and Strategy

A guide to modeling and analyzing auctions, with the applications of game theory and auction theory to real-world auction decision making. Auctions are highly structured market transactions primarily used in thin markets (markets with few participants and infrequent transactions). In auctions, unlike most other markets, offers and counteroffers are typically made within a structure defined by a set of rigid and comprehensive rules. Because auctions are essentially complex negotiations that occur within a fully defined and rigid set of rules, they can be analyzed by game theoretic models more accurately and completely than can most other types of market transactions.This book offers a guide for modeling, analyzing, and predicting the outcomes of auctions, focusing on the application of game theory and auction theory to real-world auction design and decision making. After a brief introduction to fundamental concepts from game theory, the book explains some of the more significant results from the auction theory literature, including the revenue (or payoff) equivalence theorem, the winner's curse, and optimal auction design. Chapters on auction practice follow, addressing collusion, competition, information disclosure, and other basic principles of auction management, with some discussion of auction experiments and simulations. Finally, the book covers auction experience, with most of the discussion centered on energy and telecommunications auctions, which have become the proving ground for many new auction designs. A clear and concise introduction to auctions, auction design, and auction strategy, this Primer will be an essential resource for students, researchers, and practitioners.
ARPANI@BIT_DURG: KBP English Slot-filling Task Challenge

The present communication laid by the above mentioned TAC-SF Track participants aims to report TAC forum about the system-incorporated towards Slot-Filling task. Given a list of PER / ORG relevant attributes, the task aimed at extracting Noun-phrases that fit as assigned values to these attributes, as narrated either in one or more relevant pools of newswires or described as declarative and / or factual information in supporting knowledge-base. For accomplishing above, care was taken to identify such slot-fill patterns from every instance of relevant context whether in newswire or knowledge-base. Hence, the system relied upon generating exhaustive supporting vocabulary patterns that associate with desired slot-patterns in semantic sense. Three different kinds of sources were used to build entity-relevant vocabulary in the Task Challenge so as to search for the precise information about the entity-attributes (may be single-valued or multiple valued) mentioned in Slot-fill track task definition. The team’s spirits feels elevated at the thought of using the free text from the Wikipedia pages associated with the knowledge base nodes, while building the evaluation model as it adds to the robustness and reliability of the system even at the time of inaccessibility of the Web.
Pangenome Evidence for Higher Codon Usage Bias and Stronger Translational Selection in Core Genes of Escherichia coli

Codon usage bias, as a combined interplay from mutation and selection, has been intensively studied in Escherichia coli. However, codon usage analysis in an E. coli pangenome remains unexplored and the relative importance of mutation and selection acting on core genes and strain-specific genes is unknown. Here we perform comprehensive codon usage analyses based on a collection of multiple complete genome sequences of E. coli. Our results show that core genes that are present in all strains have higher codon usage bias than strain-specific genes that are unique to single strains. We further explore the forces in influencing codon usage and investigate the difference of the major force between core and strain-specific genes. Our results demonstrate that although mutation may exert genome-wide influences on codon usage acting similarly in different gene sets, selection dominates as an important force to shape biased codon usage as genes are present in an increased number of strains. Together, our results provide important insights for better understanding genome plasticity and complexity as well as evolutionary mechanisms behind codon usage bias.
Efficient biometric-based Encryption for fingerprints

In this paper, we describe the first generic construction for biometric Identity Based Encryption (IBE) considering two distance measures at the same time. Current protocols for fuzzy/biometric IBE consider either set overlap metric or Euclidean distance. However, the similarity measures for biometric templates can be quite different from those considered in theoretical works. For instance, a fingerprint template usually consists of a set of minutiae, and two templates are considered as similar if more than a certain number of minutiae in one template are near distinct minutiae in the other. In this case, the similarity measure has to consider both Euclidean distance and set difference at the same time. To achieve this property, our generic construction is based on two different biometric IBE systems encoding the same message. Specifically, we combine a fuzzy IBE-type scheme and the recently introduced Distance Based Encryption (DBE) scheme with minimum overhead in terms of public parameters, ciphertext and private key size. Also, we describe an efficient biometric IBE scheme denoted as ordFIBE, which is restricted for biometrics that can be represented as an ordered/grouped set of features. Finally, we instantiate the new construction based on ordFIBE and DBE of [1], which share the same setup phase, in particular, common public parameters.
Trade, globalization and poverty

Part 1: Poverty and Wages 1. Globalization and Poverty T.N. Srinivasan 2. Globalization and Poverty: What is the Evidence? Emma Aisbett, Ann Harisson, and Alix Peterson Zwane 3. International Trade, Labour Turnover, and the Wage Premium: Testing the Bhagwati-Dehejia Hypothesis for Canada Eugene Beaulieu, Vivek Dehejia, and Hazrat-Omar Zakhilwal 4. Human Capital, Trade Liberalization, and Income Risk Tom Kreps, Pravin Krishna, and William Maloney Part 2: International Technology Transfer and Multinational Firms 5. Patent Protection and Global Schumpeterian Growth Elias Dinopoulos, Ali Gungoraydinoglu, and Constantinos Syropoulos 6. Innovation, Imitation, and International Rivalry Kenji Fujiwara, Koji Shimomura, and Kar-yiu Wong 7. Foreign Manufacturing Affiliates of US Multinationals: Myths and Realities in the Globalization Debate James Markusen and Bridget Strand 8. Who Makes the Rules of Globalization? : Corporate Influence in Global and Regional Trade Agreements Alan Deardorff Part 3: Policies and Institutions 9. Preferential Trading and Welfare: The Small-union Case Revisited Arvind Panagariya 10. On the Viability of Conditional Assistance Programs Wolfgang Mayer and Alex Mourmouras 11. The United States is a Small Country in World Trade: Further Evidence and Implications for Globalization Steven Magee, Kwan Yeol Yoo, Nakgyoon Choi, and Hong Shik Lee 12. Taxing the Brain Drain: A Reassessment of the Bhagwati Proposal John Douglas Wilson
Foreground suppression for capturing and reproduction of crowded acoustic environments

Traditionally, sensor arrays and spatial filtering aim to enhance individual sources by suppressing ambient noise and reverberation. In this paper, the exactly opposite problem is examined, that of suppressing individual sources in favour of the ambient sound and of the whole acoustic scene in general. We consider a compact circular sensor array which is embedded in a crowded ambient acoustic environment and is at the same time prone to interference from directional speech originating from multiple nearby speakers. We propose a method for suppressing the undesired components and we compare its performance with two established approaches in spatial audio processing, namely, direct-to-diffuse decomposition and Primary-Ambient Extraction (PAE). Experimental results and a listening test which are presented illustrate the superiority of our method.
Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim

Part One: INTRODUCTION 1. Introduction to the field of organisational behaviour Part Two: INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR AND PROCESSES 2. Individual behaviour and learning in organisations 3. Perception and personality in organisations 4. Workplace values, ethics and emotions 5. Foundations of employee motivation 6. Applied motivation practices 7. Stress management Part Three: TEAM PROCESSES 8. Team dynamics 9. Decision making and employee involvement 10. Creativity and team decision making 11. Communicating in organisational settings 12. Power, politics and persuasion 13. Conflict and negotiation 14. Leadership Part Four: ORGANISATIONAL PROCESSES 15. Organisational structure and design 16. Organisational culture 17. Organisational change and development
ONE YEAR IMPLANTED PATIENTS FOLLOW UP : SUAW PROJECT FIRST RESULTS

Two patients were implanted with a sixteen channel neural/epimysial stimulator under the European SUAW project. Restoring standing up and short distance walking in paraplegics are the two main objectives. One year after the implantation, the first patient is able to achieve both movements with acceptable performances. During this year the system functioning and stimulation parameters were monitored. The very first results obtained with no statistic relevance, indicate tendencies and are close to the ones found in literature. The mix of both types of stimulation is possible and suitable. It provides a new set of useful data for the next generation of implantable FES systems. The experiment must be extended to a larger set of patients that have to be monitored on a longer period to confirm or not the validity of the strategy used.
Effects of Wheat Straw Incorporation on the Availability of Soil Nutrients and Enzyme Activities in Semiarid Areas

Soil infertility is the main barrier to dryland agricultural production in China. To provide a basis for the establishment of a soil amelioration technical system for rainfed fields in the semiarid area of northwest China, we conducted a four—year (2007–2011) field experiment to determine the effects of wheat straw incorporation on the arid soil nutrient levels of cropland cultivated with winter wheat after different straw incorporation levels. Three wheat straw incorporation levels were tested (H: 9000 kg hm-2, M: 6000 kg hm-2, and L: 3000 kg hm-2) and no straw incorporation was used as the control (CK). The levels of soil nutrients, soil organic carbon (SOC), soil labile organic carbon (LOC), and enzyme activities were analyzed each year after the wheat harvest. After straw incorporation for four years, the results showed that variable straw amounts had different effects on the soil fertility indices, where treatment H had the greatest effect. Compared with CK, the average soil available N, available P, available K, SOC, and LOC levels were higher in the 0–40 cm soil layers after straw incorporation treatments, i.e., 9.1–30.5%, 9.8–69.5%, 10.3–27.3%, 0.7–23.4%, and 44.4–49.4% higher, respectively. On average, the urease, phosphatase, and invertase levels in the 0–40 cm soil layers were 24.4–31.3%, 9.9–36.4%, and 42.9–65.3% higher, respectively. Higher yields coupled with higher nutrient contents were achieved with H, M and L compared with CK, where these treatments increased the crop yields by 26.75%, 21.51%, and 7.15%, respectively.