Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recent trends in low-frequency noise reduction techniques for integrated circuits

This paper presents the two main circuit techniques, namely autozeroing (AZ) and chopper stabilization (CS), that are used to reduce the 1/f noise and offset in amplifiers typically used in sensor electronics interfaces. After recalling their main properties, it looks into recent trends in circuit noise reduction techniques. First, the correlated multiple sampling (CMS) technique is presented as a generalization of AZ and correlated double sampling (CDS). Introduced in CMOS image sensors (CIS), it combines noise averaging and canceling and allows to further reduce the 1/f noise, but, like AZ, it is also ultimately limited by the aliasing of the broadband white noise. Another technique combining noise canceling and CS in a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) for bio-sensors is presented. It allows to maintain a low input impedance required by the TIA, while reducing the noise of the main transimpedance stage. CS is then used to cancel the noise of the following stages.
Relevance: The Whole History

Relevance is a fundamental, though not completely understood, concept for documentation, information science, and information retrieval. This article presents the history of relevance through an exhaustive review of the literature. Such history being very complex (about 160 papers are discussed), it is not simple to describe it in a comprehensible way. Thus, first of all a framework for establishing a common ground is defined, and then the history itself is illustrated via the presentation in chronological order of the papers on relevance. The history is divided into three periods (“Before 1958,” “1959–1976,” and “1977–present”) and, inside each period, the papers on relevance are analyzed under seven different aspects (methodological foundations, different kinds of relevance, beyond-topical criteria adopted by users, modes for expression of the relevance judgment, dynamic nature of relevance, types of document representation, and agreement among different judges). © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Novel steroidogenic factor‐1 homolog (ff1d) is coexpressed with anti‐Mullerian hormone (AMH) in zebrafish

ff1d is a novel zebrafish FTZ‐F1 gene with sequence characteristics indicating similar basic regulatory mechanisms as the previously characterized ff1 based on the presence of an FTZ‐F1 box in the DNA binding domain and an interactive domain (I‐Box) and an AF‐2 in the ligand binding domain. The highest sequence similarity was found between ff1d and ff1b (NR5A4), a gene previously shown to be a functional homolog to the steroidogenic factor 1 (SF‐1). The expression pattern of ff1d was comparable to ff1b both in brain and gonads in adults and in the pituitary and interrenal cells in embryos. SF‐1 is crucial in mammalian steroidogenesis and in sex determination by regulating the anti‐Mullerian hormone (AMH). In fish, AMH has not been described previously. In this study, we cloned a partial zebrafish AMH. AMH was detected in growing oocytes, the ovarian follicular layer and testicular Sertoli cells, similar to the mammalian pattern, suggesting a conserved role between zebrafish and mammalian AMH. Teleosts lack a gene homolog to SRY, which constitute the universal testis‐determining factor in mammalian sex determination. Comparison of sequences and expression patterns indicate that ff1d is a new candidate for sex determination and differentiation in a way similar to SF‐1, possibly involving AMH. Developmental Dynamics 233:595–604, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Changes in adiposity status from childhood to adolescence: A 6-year longitudinal study in Portuguese boys and girls

Background: Cross-sectional data show high prevalence of overweight in Portuguese children, but there are few longitudinal studies describing the patterns of obesity development in the young. Aim: To examine the trajectories of obesity from late childhood to adolescence. Subjects and methods: Triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness measurements were carried out in 288 children at age 9 (baseline) and later at age 15 (follow-up). Percentage body fat (%BF) was estimated according to Slaughter equations and the health-related definition of obesity ( ≥ 25%BF in boys and ≥ 30%BF in girls) was used. Results: In boys, the prevalence of obesity decreased from 21.9% to 14.8% (p < 0.05) while in girls it increased from 14.3% to 19.5%. The incidence of obesity in the 6-year study period was 2.6% and 8.3% for boys and girls, respectively (p < 0.05). In comparison with girls, the percentage of boys that reversed obesity was more than 3-fold higher (3% vs 9.7%, p < 0.05). Obesity tracked moderately in both sexes (Kappa = 0.6, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The results indicate a marked sex difference in the incidence and reversal of obesity from late childhood to adolescence that is unfavourable to girls. Consideration of this difference might be important when designing programmes for the prevention and treatment of obesity focusing on this period.
Peer violence in foster care: a review of the research evidence

Whilst a small amount of research has been undertaken on peer violence in residential settings, very little is known about peer violence in foster care. This paper reviews the published research since 1995 about the nature and extent of peer violence in foster care and interventions for preventing and managing these negative peer interactions. The evidence indicates that young people in foster care can be the instigators and recipients of peer violence, but the limited number of studies found means that conclusions cannot be drawn about the extent of the problem. There is some evidence about the impact of this type of violence on young people and fostering households. However, there remain gaps in the evidence about the full extent of all forms of exploitation and violence that are experienced and instigated by young people in foster care, the circumstances in which it takes place, the young people affected and its co-occurrence with other difficulties. Critically, young people's views were largely absent from included studies, an important area that requires further research.
Niosomal Delivery of Isoniazid -Development and Characterization

Purpose: To develop a niosomal formulation for the delivery of isoniazid to achieve effective treatment of tuberculosis. Methods: Niosomes were prepared by reverse phase evaporation method and given a charge with a charge-inducing agent, dicetyl phosphate. Drug entrapment efficiency in the niosomes was determined spectrophotometrically. The niosomes were further characterized for their particle size, polydispersity index (PI) and zeta potential as well as by scanning electron microscopy and stability studies. Furthermore, in vitro drug release and cellular uptake studies on the niosomes by macrophage J744 A were undertaken. Results: Suitable isoniazid niosomes were obtained. The niosomes demonstrated a potential to remain in the treated site for prolonged periods and were also capable of maintaining steady drug concentrations for up to 30 h. Cellular uptake of the drug-loaded niosomes by macrophage cells was as high as 61.8 %, a level that is capable of achieving effective treatment of tuberculosis. Conclusion: The isoniazid niosomes developed are capable of reducing drug dose and toxicity as well as dosing frequency which should bring about improved patient compliance. More importantly, macrophage targeting should be feasible at sites where tuberculosis bacteria are harbored.
Methyl 4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,2,3,3a,4,4a,5,12c-octahydrobenzo[f]chromeno[3,4-b]pyrrolizine-4a-carboxylate

In the title compound, C27H27NO4, both the pyrrolidine rings in the pyrrolizine ring system adopt envelope conformations, whereas the dihydropyran ring adopts a half-chair conformation. The methoxyphenyl group is oriented at an angle of 53.72 (4)° with respect to the naphthalene ring system. Intramolecular C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds are observed. The crystal structure is stabilized by weak intermolecular C—H⋯π interactions.
Assessing the Credibility of Claims on the Web

In my doctoral research, I plan to address the problem of assessing the credibility of arbitrary claims made in natural-language text - in an open-domain setting. Automatic credibility assessment is a complex task depending upon many factors. To start with, we propose three factors which can help in assessing the credibility of textual claims: (i) the reliability of the web sources talking about the claim, (ii) the language style of the articles reporting the claim and, (iii) their stance (i.e., support or refute) towards the claim. In addition, we also focus on extracting user-interpretable explanations as evidence supporting the verdict of the assessment.
Genetic Diversity and Population Structure of Busseola segeta Bowden (Lepidoptera; Noctuidae): A Case Study of Host Use Diversification in Guineo-Congolian Rainforest Relic Area, Kenya

Habitat modification and fragmentation are considered as some of the factors that drive organism distribution and host use diversification. Indigenous African stem borer pests are thought to have diversified their host ranges to include maize [Zea mays L. ] and sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] in response to their increased availability through extensive cultivation. However, management efforts have been geared towards reducing pest populations in the cultivated fields with few attempts to understand possible evolution of "new" pest species. Recovery and growing persistence of Busseola segeta Bowden on maize (Zea mays L.) in Kakamega called for studies on the role of wild host plants on the invasion of crops by wild borer species. A two-year survey was carried out in a small agricultural landscape along the edge of Kakamega forest (Kenya) to assess host range and population genetic structure of B. segeta. The larvae of B. segeta were found on nine different plant species with the majority occurring on maize and sorghum. Of forty cytochrome b haplotypes identified, twenty-three occurred in both wild and cultivated habitats. The moths appear to fly long distances across the habitats with genetic analyses revealing weak differentiation between hosts in different habitats (FST = 0.016; p = 0.015). However, there was strong evidence of variation in genetic composition between growing seasons in the wild habitat (FST = 0.060; p < 0.001) with emergence or disappearance of haplotypes between habitats. Busseola segeta is an example of a phytophagous insect that utilizes plants with a human induced distribution range, maize, but does not show evidence of host race formation or reduction of gene flow among populations using different hosts. However, B. segeta is capable of becoming an important pest in the area and the current low densities may be attributed to the general low infestation levels and presence of a wide range of alternative hosts in the area.
A comparative study of the polar version with the subimage version of Fast Factorized Backprojection in UWB SAR

This paper presents a comparative study of the polar and the subimage based variants of the time domain SAR algorithm Fast Factorized Backprojection. The difference between the two variants with regard to the phase error, which causes defocusing in the image, is investigated. The difference between the algorithms in interpolation between stages is also discussed. To investigate the sidelobes in azimuth, the paper gives simulation results for a low frequency UWB SAR system for both algorithms. How the algorithms differ with regard to amount of beams and length of beams is also discussed.
Rolling Conditional Correlations of Foreign Patents in the USA

Patent registrations have often been used as a proxy of innovation as they reflect a country’s technological capability. Recently, some studies have found that the Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model and an asymmetric extension, namely Glosten, Jagannathan and Runkle's (GJR) model, are useful to model the time-varying volatility of the patent ratio, namely the ratio of foreign patents registered in the USA to total patents in the USA. However, this approach assumes that the conditional variance is independent across countries. Furthermore, the time series properties of the patent growth rate, namely the rate of change of foreign patents registered in the USA, have not previously been analysed. This paper examines the conditional variance of the patent growth rate from the leading four foreign countries, namely Canada, France, Germany and Japan, using the Constant Conditional Correlation – Multivariate GARCH (CCC-MGARCH), Vector Autoregressive Moving Average – GARCH (VARMA-GARCH) and VARMA – Asymmetric GARCH (VARMA-AGARCH) models. The results reveal the existence of cross-countries effects in the patent growth rate among the leading four countries, as well as asymmetric effects using monthly data from January 1975 to December 1998. Rolling estimates show that the restrictive assumption of constant conditional correlation is unlikely to hold, and models that accommodate dynamic conditional correlations may provide greater insights for investigating the effects of global factors on changes in innovation for the four leading foreign countries.
ADDICTIVE BERA VIORS: ETIOLOGY AND TREATMENT

INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW . 224 CONCEPTUAL MODELS OF ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOR . 224 INITIATION PHASE. 227 Genetic and heritability studies . 227 Studies of adolescent drug use and abuse . 228 Primary and secondary intervention . 230 TRANSITION AND MAINTENANCE OF ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOR. 230 Epidemiological studies. 231 Personality . 231 Drug effects . 232 Expectancy factors . , . 233 Tolerance and dependence . 235 Integrative typologies of etiology . 236 INITIATION OF THE CHANGE PROCESS . 237 Self-change . 237 Seeking treatment . 238 ACTIVE CHANGE PROCESS . 239 Factors affecting outcome . 239 Evaluation methodology . 240 Patient-treatment matching. 242 MAINTENANCE OF SUCCESSFUL CHANGE . 243 CONCLUDING COMMENT . 244
Sleepiness and sleep disordered breathing in Prader-Willi syndrome: relationship to genotype, growth hormone therapy, and body composition.

STUDY OBJECTIVES Patients with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) suffer from excessive sleepiness and sleep disordered breathing (SDB). We reviewed the polysomnograms (PSGs) and multiple sleep latency tests (MSLTs) in a cohort of PWS patients to determine the relationship of BMI(Z) scores, daytime sleepiness, growth hormone (GH) treatments, and SDB. METHODS Attended overnight PSGs were performed for PWS patients referred for concern for SDB between January 2000 and January 2005. Age at time of study, genotype, use and dose of GH, sleepiness scale, normalized body-mass index (BMI(Z)), total sleep time, latency to stage I and REM sleep, sleep stage percentages, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), central apnea (CA) frequency, oxygen saturation nadir, maximum carbon dioxide tension, periodic limb movement index, presence of snoring, normality of EEG, and, in several patients, mean sleep latency testing were determined. RESULTS All patients exhibited some form of SDB. There was a positive correlation between the BMI(Z) and AHI. The BMI(Z) was significantly different between GH-treated and -untreated groups, but there was not a significant difference between AHI, CA, oxygen nadir, or maximum carbon dioxide tension of the GH-treated and -untreated groups. There was no significant correlation between the MSLT and the sleepiness scale or AHI. There was also no significant difference between the AHIs of patients with different genetic defects. CONCLUSIONS There should be a low threshold for obtaining PSG to evaluate SDB, but the type and severity of SDB were not predictable based on a sleepiness scale score, BMI(Z), or underlying genetic defect.
1 3 Fe b 20 05 Lengths are coordinates for convex structures

Suppose that N is a geometrically finite orientable hyperbolic 3-manifold. Let P(N,α) be the space of all geometrically finite hyperbolic structures on N whose convex core is bent along a set α of simple closed curves. We prove that the map which associates to each structure in P(N,α) the lengths of the curves in the bending locus α is one-to-one. If α is maximal, the traces of the curves in α are local parameters for the representation space R(N).
An Electronic Publication Dedicated to Early Stellar Evolution and Molecular Clouds Profiles of Strong Permitted Lines in Classical T Tauri Stars Predicting the Properties of Binary Stellar Systems: the Evolution of Accreting Protobinary Systems

We present a spectral analysis of 30 T Tauri stars observed with the Hamilton echelle spectrograph over more than a decade. One goal is to test magnetospheric accretion model predictions. Observational evidence previously published supporting the model, such as emission line asymmetry and a high frequency of redshifted absorption components, are considered. We also discuss the relation between different line forming regions and search for good accretion rate indicators. In this work we confirm several important points of the models, such as the correlation between accretion and outflow, broad emission components that are mostly central or slightly blueshifted and only the occasional presence of redshifted absorption. We also show, however, that the broad emission components supposedly formed in the magnetospheric accretion flow only partially support the models. Unlike the predictions, they are sometimes redshifted, and are mostly found to be symmetric. The published theoretical profiles do not have a strong resemblance to our observed ones. We emphasize the need for accretion models to include a strong turbulent component before their profiles will match the observations. The effects of rotation, and the outflow components, will also be needed to complete the picture. We investigate the formation of binary stellar systems. We consider a model where a 'seed' protobinary system forms, via fragmentation, within a collapsing molecular cloud core and evolves to its final mass by accreting material from an infalling gaseous envelope. This accretion alters the mass ratio and orbit of the binary, and is largely responsible for forming the circumstellar and/or circumbinary discs. Given this model for binary formation, we predict the properties of binary systems and how they depend on the initial conditions within the molecular cloud core. We predict that there should be a continuous trend such that closer binaries are more likely to have equal mass components and are more likely to have circumbinary discs than wider systems. Comparing our results to observations, we find that the observed mass-ratio distributions of binaries and the frequency of circumbinary discs as a function of separation are most easily reproduced if the progenitor molecular cloud cores have radial density profiles between uniform and 1/r (e.g. Gaussian) with near uniform-rotation. This is 1
Spatiotemporal Computations of an Excitable and Plastic Brain: Neuronal Plasticity Leads to Noise-Robust and Noise-Constructive Computations

It is a long-established fact that neuronal plasticity occupies the central role in generating neural function and computation. Nevertheless, no unifying account exists of how neurons in a recurrent cortical network learn to compute on temporally and spatially extended stimuli. However, these stimuli constitute the norm, rather than the exception, of the brain's input. Here, we introduce a geometric theory of learning spatiotemporal computations through neuronal plasticity. To that end, we rigorously formulate the problem of neural representations as a relation in space between stimulus-induced neural activity and the asymptotic dynamics of excitable cortical networks. Backed up by computer simulations and numerical analysis, we show that two canonical and widely spread forms of neuronal plasticity, that is, spike-timing-dependent synaptic plasticity and intrinsic plasticity, are both necessary for creating neural representations, such that these computations become realizable. Interestingly, the effects of these forms of plasticity on the emerging neural code relate to properties necessary for both combating and utilizing noise. The neural dynamics also exhibits features of the most likely stimulus in the network's spontaneous activity. These properties of the spatiotemporal neural code resulting from plasticity, having their grounding in nature, further consolidate the biological relevance of our findings.
What methods are used to apply positive deviance within healthcare organisations? A systematic review

Background The positive deviance approach focuses on those who demonstrate exceptional performance, despite facing the same constraints as others. ‘Positive deviants’ are identified and hypotheses about how they succeed are generated. These hypotheses are tested and then disseminated within the wider community. The positive deviance approach is being increasingly applied within healthcare organisations, although limited guidance exists and different methods, of varying quality, are used. This paper systematically reviews healthcare applications of the positive deviance approach to explore how positive deviance is defined, the quality of existing applications and the methods used within them, including the extent to which staff and patients are involved. Methods Peer-reviewed articles, published prior to September 2014, reporting empirical research on the use of the positive deviance approach within healthcare, were identified from seven electronic databases. A previously defined four-stage process for positive deviance in healthcare was used as the basis for data extraction. Quality assessments were conducted using a validated tool, and a narrative synthesis approach was followed. Results 37 of 818 articles met the inclusion criteria. The positive deviance approach was most frequently applied within North America, in secondary care, and to address healthcare-associated infections. Research predominantly identified positive deviants and generated hypotheses about how they succeeded. The approach and processes followed were poorly defined. Research quality was low, articles lacked detail and comparison groups were rarely included. Applications of positive deviance typically lacked staff and/or patient involvement, and the methods used often required extensive resources. Conclusion Further research is required to develop high quality yet practical methods which involve staff and patients in all stages of the positive deviance approach. The efficacy and efficiency of positive deviance must be assessed and compared with other quality improvement approaches. PROSPERO registration number CRD42014009365.