Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Stratification and Cultural Consumption: Music in England

In this article we use recent survey data to test three arguments on the relationship between social stratification and cultural consumption: i.e. what we label as the homology, individualization and omnivore–univore arguments. We note various conceptual and methodological problems in the ways these arguments have been advanced, and stress in particular the importance of maintaining the Weberian distinction between class and status. We concentrate on musical consumption and apply latent class models to identify types of musical consumer. We then examine the social character of these types through a regression analysis that includes a range of demographic and stratification variables. As would be anticipated from a Weberian standpoint, type of musical consumption proves to be more closely associated with status, and also with education, than with class. In general, our results provide little support for the homology or individualisation arguments. They are more consonant with the omnivore–univore argument, although a number of qualifications to this are also suggested.
Performance Analysis of Algorithms over FPGA for Removing Salt and Pepper Noise

This paper shows the possibility to improve the accuracy of medical diagnosis on contaminated radiographic image with salt and pepper noise using FPGA-based filters. Investigation is carried out using filters described widely in the literature, such as Blur, Smooth and Gaussian linear filters and nonlinear median filter implemented on FPGA in an attempt to eliminate the noise. Implementations are checked on a development board with Spartan 6slx100fgg484-3 FPGA and a low-power optimized version Spartan 6slx100lfgg484-1l. The results are verified through the filtered images, resources consumption and the lowest response time. The implementation methodology uses model-based engineering involving MATLAB/Simulink and System Generator software using the XSGlmgLib library to perform co-simulation. The results show that the FPGA implementation of the median filter has a good tradeoff between resource consumption and noise removal efficiency.
The Tribulations of Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Trialists.

Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) with catheter ablation has been demonstrated to be an effective method for controlling atrial fibrillation (AF) in most patients. It is assumed that complete isolation is required for effective treatment and clinical failure is because of electric reconnection of a pulmonary vein (PV). On rare occasions, some electrophysiologists have seen conversion of AF to sinus rhythm with continued fibrillation seen within the PV further supporting this theory (Figure). Aside from anecdotal evidence, the data from observational PV remapping studies and repeat ablations that describe exclusively reisolating veins as the only intervention resulting in a successful outcome after an initial failure further collaborate the importance of complete PVI.1 Figure. Could this patient possibly benefit from an incomplete pulmonary vein isolation strategy? See Article by Kuck et al Still, although PVI has been recommended to be the cornerstone of AF ablation, there has never been a randomized trial that compares PVI with purposeful incomplete PVI as a procedural end point. At first consideration, it may seem obvious that complete PVI should be required as part of an ablation strategy as agreed on by expert consensus.2 However, studies targeting only non-PV triggers and/or non-PV rotors reporting success have raised questions of the central role complete PVI has.3 In addition, chronic PV reconnection is common, and thus, it is assumed that there exists a certain portion of patients who have unintentional incomplete PVI because of this phenomenon, yet still may not have recurrence of AF. This is the reasoning behind the Gap-AF study in this issue of Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology . 4 This randomized, multicenter trial set out to understand whether an upfront approach of complete PVI (group B) is superior to intentionally allowing for electric reconnection (group A). Two hundred thirty-three patients with drug refractory, symptomatic, …
Providing deterministic quality of service guarantee in a wireless environment

The provision of quality of service (QoS) to multimedia applications is very important in future generation wireless networks. We propose a deterministic QoS guarantees method which is based on a mathematical framework that accurately characterizes multimedia traffic streams in conjunction with efficient scheduling and dropping algorithms. The uniqueness of this scheme is that it can deterministically provide bounded loss and bounded delay. We performed a set of evaluation experiments that demonstrate that our proposed framework can significantly support more connections than a system which do not allow any packet loss under the same required deterministic QoS. We also show that the proposed algorithms are able to out-perform statistical scheduling algorithms adopted in state-of-the-art wireless MAC protocols when the worst-case traffic is being used.
Nutritional status of high yielding crossbred cow around parturition

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate nutritional status of high yielding dairy cattle around parturition. Materials and methods: Nutritional status of cows around the peri-parturient period was investigated for six months in dairy farm. Seven to eight months’ pregnant cows were selected for this study. Blood samples from 24 randomly selected cows were collected at stage-1, -2 and -3. The serum was stored at -20C until analyzing glucose, total protein (TP), albumin (Alb), triglycerides (Tg), cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and phosphorus (P). Results: An increasing trend of glucose level was evidenced (P=0.07) during stage-1. Instead, higher levels of TP were found during stage-3 as compared to the stage-1 and -2. The Alb levels differed significantly (P
TO BUILD OPEN AND EVOLUTIVE APPLICATIONS: AN APPROACH BASED ON MDA AND GENERATIVE PROGRAMMING

With the emergence of the Internet and proliferation of new component and distributive technologies, the design and implementation of complex applications has to take into account standards, code distribution, deployment of components and reuse of business know-hows. To cope with these changes, applications need to be more open, adaptable and evolutive. To accommodate to these new challenges, this paper presents a new development approach based on transformations of different business models, each of them related to one possible concern of the application. This approach is MDA (Model-driven Architecture) compliant and relies on Generative Programming. It contributes to the research works on Domain Driven Development (DDD). The main expected results are i) to get softwares of better quality thanks to business models and technology separation, ii) to have a more straightforward code, iii) to allow the rapid development and insertion of new facets and iv) to facilitate the portability of applications towards new technologies or platforms. Finaly, in order to illustrate our approach, a generative programming system, called SMARTTOOLS, is presented. It may be compared to a software factory dedicated to applications which rely on one data model. This project is supported in part by the W3C consortiun with the IST2000-28767 QUESTION-HOW Project. We would also like to thank PASCAL DEGENNE and ALEXANDRE FAU for their software development efforts in SMARTTOOLS.
Cognitive therapy with elderly people.

Following an expansion in the range of psychological treatments used to treat psychiatric disorders in younger adults there is now increasing interest in the use of these techniques with older patients. This is accompanied by an awareness of the often poor prognosis of emotional disorders in older people, particularly depressive illness, and a need to develop effective interventions. Up to two-thirds of depressed elderly patients may fail to achieve a good outcome despite the use of conventional physical treatments and these treatments may themselves present problems because of concurrent medical problems. There is, therefore, a need to expand the range of suitable interventions. The recent US National Institute of Health consensus development conference [1] highlighted the need for the continued development and evaluation of psychosocial interventions, with particular reference to the way in which such treatments may complement or provide alternatives to physical treatments. Treatments for older patients should also address physical symptoms, whether these are the result of physical or psychological disorder.
Plant Reproductive Allocation Predicts Herbivore Dynamics across Spatial and Temporal Scales

Life‐history theory suggests that iteroparous plants should be flexible in their allocation of resources toward growth and reproduction. Such plasticity could have consequences for herbivores that prefer or specialize on vegetative versus reproductive structures. To test this prediction, we studied the response of the cactus bug (Narnia pallidicornis) to meristem allocation by tree cholla cactus (Opuntia imbricata). We evaluated the explanatory power of demographic models that incorporated variation in cactus relative reproductive effort (RRE; the proportion of meristems allocated toward reproduction). Field data provided strong support for a single model that defined herbivore fecundity as a time‐varying, increasing function of host RRE. High‐RRE plants were predicted to support larger insect populations, and this effect was strongest late in the season. Independent field data provided strong support for these qualitative predictions and suggested that plant allocation effects extend across temporal and spatial scales. Specifically, late‐season insect abundance was positively associated with interannual changes in cactus RRE over 3 years. Spatial variation in insect abundance was correlated with variation in RRE among five cactus populations across New Mexico. We conclude that plant allocation can be a critical component of resource quality for insect herbivores and, thus, an important mechanism underlying variation in herbivore abundance across time and space.
The Future of Homeless Services: An Introduction

Current knowledge about the services and supports needed to help individuals and families exit homelessness and maintain housing is incomplete. To date, there is limited research documenting which services are most effective, the best models of delivery, and recommended intensity and duration. The special issue of the Open Health Services and Policy Journal on The Future of Homeless Services seeks to advance the knowledge base underpinning the effective delivery of services and supports to help people exit homelessness. This article provides an overview of the eight articles that comprise the special issue. The special issue reviews the literature on homeless services in key areas as a step toward establishing the evidence base for best practices, outlining service strategies, and offering recommendations for future research.
A yeast-based assay identifies drugs that interfere with immune evasion of the Epstein-Barr virus

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is tightly associated with certain human cancers, but there is as yet no specific treatment against EBV-related diseases. The EBV-encoded EBNA1 protein is essential to maintain viral episomes and for viral persistence. As such, EBNA1 is expressed in all EBV-infected cells, and is highly antigenic. All infected individuals, including individuals with cancer, have CD8+ T cells directed towards EBNA1 epitopes, yet the immune system fails to detect and destroy cells harboring the virus. EBV immune evasion depends on the capacity of the Gly-Ala repeat (GAr) domain of EBNA1 to inhibit the translation of its own mRNA in cis, thereby limiting the production of EBNA1-derived antigenic peptides presented by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I pathway. Here we establish a yeast-based assay for monitoring GAr-dependent inhibition of translation. Using this assay we identify doxorubicin (DXR) as a compound that specifically interferes with the GAr effect on translation in yeast. DXR targets the topoisomerase-II–DNA complexes and thereby causes genomic damage. We show, however, that the genotoxic effect of DXR and various analogs thereof is uncoupled from the effect on GAr-mediated translation control. This is further supported by the observation that etoposide and teniposide, representing another class of topoisomerase-II–DNA targeting drugs, have no effect on GAr-mediated translation control. DXR and active analogs stimulate, in a GAr-dependent manner, EBNA1 expression in mammalian cells and overcome GAr-dependent restriction of MHC class I antigen presentation. These results validate our approach as an effective high-throughput screening assay to identify drugs that interfere with EBV immune evasion and, thus, constitute candidates for treating EBV-related diseases, in particular EBV-associated cancers.
Characterizing and predicting program behavior and its variability

To reach the next level of performance and energy efficiency, optimizations are increasingly applied in a dynamic and adaptive manner. Current adaptive systems are typically reactive and optimize hardware or software in response to detecting a shift in program behavior. We argue that program behavior variability requires adaptive systems to be predictive rather than reactive. In order to be effective, systems need to adapt according to future rather than most recent past behavior. We explore the potential of incorporating prediction into adaptive systems. We study the time-varying behavior of programs using metrics derived from hardware counters on two different microarchitectures. Our evaluation shows that programs do indeed exhibit significant behavior variation even at a granularity of millions of instructions. In addition, while the actual behavior across metrics may be different, periodicity in the behavior is shared across metrics. We exploit these characteristics in the design of on-line statistical and table-based predictors. We introduce a new class of predictors, cross-metric predictors, that use one metric to predict another, thus making possible an efficient coupling of multiple predictors. We evaluate these predictors on the SPECcpu2000 benchmark suite and show that table-based predictors outperform statistical predictors by as much as 69% on benchmarks with high variability.
Arms and the Man: The Problem of Symmetric Growth

The external features of our bodies are specified in the embryo and then grow for some 16 years, yet many are remarkably symmetrical. Just consider how similar in size and shape your two ears are. And if you extend your arms, you will likely find that they, too, are similar in length, even though they grew independently from tiny buds in the embryo. Their length matches with an accuracy of about 0.2% yet there is no known communication between the limbs during growth. You'll find the same holds for your two forefingers as it does for the size of internal body organs such as the kidneys and lungs. How is such coordination achieved? While we have a reasonably good understanding of how our limbs grow, we know relatively little about how their growth is so reliably controlled.
Factor IXa Inhibition Contributes to the Heparin Effect

Summary We investigated whether the inactivation of factor IXa contributes to the partial inhibition of thrombin formation that is observed at therapeutic concentrations of heparin. The action of standard unfractionated heparin (0.05 U/ml) on thrombin formation in the intrinsic system was compared to that of a mixture of dermatan sulfate (DS) and a synthetic pentasaccharide (PS). DS enhances the action of heparin cofactor II which inhibits thrombin only. PS specifically enhances the anti-factor Xa activity of antithrombin III (AT III). The concentrations of DS and PS were chosen so as to obtain equal anti-thrombin and anti-factor Xa activities as in 0.05 U/ml heparin. An extra inhibitory effect of heparin over the mixture is observed in situations where free factor IXa, not bound to factor VIIIa and phospholipid, limits the rate of thrombin formation, notably in contact activated plasma. We conclude that the inactivation of free factor IXa by heparin contributes importantly to the inhibition of thrombin formation in the intrinsic system such as e.g. measured in the activated partial thromboplastin time.
Evaluation of wax pattern properties in the lost-wax process

This article present achieved results of examination of wax pattern properties (wax compounds) which are used in lost wax process. Evaluation of those results was made with approach as it is taken in foundry. Evaluation included: evaluation of wax compound shrinkage, bending strength test, hardness test using penetration method, and resistance to creep of wax patterns in precision foundry environment.
Part VI. Antibiotic management and resistance in livestock production.

The antibiotic use and levels of antibiotic resistance found in animal populations in South Africa are reviewed: firstly, the framework for antibiotic management in livestock production; secondly, patterns of consumption by sector and application; and thirdly, what is known about bacterial resistance rates. The bacteria discussed are pathogenic to animals, zoonotic organisms and commensal bacteria.
Receiver-side digital signal processing for 100-GE coherent optical transmission systems

Polarization-multiplexed quaternary phase-shift keying (PM-QPSK) modulation associated with coherent detection and digital signal processing are the underlying technologies for 100-GE optical channels. Linear impairments such as chromatic dispersion (CD) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD) can now be easily overcome by adaptive digital filtering. Intra-channel nonlinear distortions such as the nonlinear phase noise (NLPN) and self-phase modulation (SPM) are the next limiting factors. Two of the highest performance intra-channel nonlinear equalizers proposed so far are the backward propagation split-step Fourier (BP-SSF) method and the frequency-domain Volterra series equalizer (FD-VSNE). In this paper we make a brief overview of digital signal processing for 100-GE optical carriers, and we test the performance limits of intra-channel nonlinear equalization algorithms, comparing the BP-SSF and FD-VSNE approaches in polarization-multiplexed transmission.
University of Huddersfield Repository Abstract Preference Frameworks — a Unifying Perspective on Separability and Strong Equivalence

Preference Frameworks — a Unifying Perspective on Separability and Strong Equivalence Users may access full items free of charge; copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided: • The authors, title and full bibliographic details is credited in any copy; • A hyperlink and/or URL is included for the original metadata page; and • The content is not changed in any way. Abstract We introduce abstract preference frameworks to study general properties common across a variety of preference formalisms. In particular, we study strong equivalence in preference formalisms and their separabil-ity. We identify abstract postulates on preference frameworks , satisfied by most of the currently studied preference formalisms, that lead to characterizations of both properties of interest.
Domain Independent Integrated Multimedia Data Mining is a Frivolous Exercise: Classicism vs. Connectionism Debate Revisited

In this paper the classicist and the connectionist debate is integrated in a multimedia data mining framework. Due to the ready availability of visual information digitally, the problem to store, retrieve and organize images is gaining tremendous importance and poses a serious challenge for practitioners of AI and databases alike. The central problem for image database management is the idea of an annotation associated with every image. This idea of an annotation as a representation of an image is explored in this paper. The claim is that arriving at a suitable annotation using data mining techniques however does not solve the problem of representation and reference. Most image annotation techniques are classicist, while connectionist approaches which have the advantage of contextuality have not been explored much because of the problem of systematicity. Consequently the image annotation problem can be used as a critique of both.
Anosmia in dementia is associated with Lewy bodies rather than Alzheimer's pathology

OBJECTIVES To assess olfactory function of patients with dementia. Odour detection ability is impaired in clinical Parkinson's disease. Evidence of impaired detection in patients with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease is inconsistent. No studies of olfaction have been neuropathologically validated. METHODS The olfactory function of 92 patients with dementia and 94 controls was assessed using a simple bedside test as part of the Oxford Project To Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA). Neuropathological assessment was made of cortical Lewy bodies and substantia nigra (SN) cell counts and of Alzheimer's disease in all 92 patients, 22 of whom had SN Lewy bodies and 43 of whom had only Alzheimer's disease. RESULTS Patients with Lewy bodies were more likely to be anosmic than those with Alzheimer's disease or controls. Patients with Alzheimer's disease were not more likely to be anosmic than controls. Nor was anosmia associated with degree of neurofibrillary tangles, as assessed by Braak stage. Among subjects with Lewy bodies, overall cortical Lewy body scores and Lewy body density in the cingulate were higher in those who were anosmic. Consensus clinical criteria for dementia with Lewy bodies had a sensitivity of 64% and specificity of 89%. In the absence of definite Alzheimer's disease, the criteria had sensitivity of 100%. In patients with definite Alzheimer's disease, anosmia was slightly more sensitive (55%) than the consensus criteria (33%). However, the addition of anosmia to the consensus criteria did not improve their overall performance. CONCLUSION Dementia with Lewy bodies is associated with impaired odour detection. Misdiagnosis may have accounted for some previous reports of impaired odour detection in Alzheimer's disease. Simple but more sensitive tests of anosmia are required if they are to be clinically useful in identifying patients with dementia with Lewy bodies.
Investigation of Silicon Nanowire Gate-All-Around Junctionless Transistors Built on a Bulk Substrate

A silicon nanowire (Si-NW) with a gate-all-around (GAA) structure is implemented on a bulk wafer for a junctionless (JL) field-effect transistor (FET). A suspended Si-NW from the bulk-Si is realized using a deep reactive ion etching (RIE) process. The RIE process is iteratively applied to make multiply stacked Si-NWs, which can increase the on-state current when amplified with the number of iterations or enable integration of 3-D stacked Flash memory. The fabricated JL FETs exhibit excellent electrostatic control with the aid of the GAA and junction-free structure. The influence on device characteristics according to the channel dimensions and additional doping at the source and drain extension are studied for various geometric structures of the Si-NW.