Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neurobiological Correlates of Individual Differences in Novelty-Seeking Behavior in the Rat: Differential Expression of Stress-Related Molecules

It is well established that individual rats exhibit marked differences in behavioral responses to a novel environment. Rats that exhibit high rates of locomotor activity and sustained exploration in such an environment also exhibit high concentrations of stress-induced plasma corticosterone, linking this behavior to the stress system. Furthermore, these high-responding (HR) rats, in contrast to their low-responding (LR) counterparts, have a greater propensity to self-administer drugs. Thus, HR rats have been described as “novelty” seeking in that they are more active and explore novel stimuli more vigorously, despite the fact that this elicits in them high stress responses. In this study, we have further characterized the behavior of HR and LR rats in tests of anxiety and characterized their stress responses to either experimenter- or self-imposed stressors. We then investigated the physiological basis of these individual differences, focusing on stress-related molecules, including the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in the context of the limbic–hypothalamo–pituitary adrenal axis. We have found that HR rats did not differ from LR in their basal expression of POMC in the pituitary. However, HR rats exhibited higher levels of CRH mRNA in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus but lower basal levels in the central nucleus of the amygdala. The basal expression of hippocampal MR is not different between HR and LR rats. Interestingly, the basal expression of hippocampal GR mRNA is significantly lower in HR than in LR rats. This low level of hippocampal GR expression in HR rats appears to be responsible, at least in part, for their decreased anxiety in exploring novelty. Indeed, the anxiety level of LR rats becomes similar to HR rats after the administration into the hippocampus of a GR antagonist, RU38486. These data indicate that basal differences in gene expression of key stress-related molecules may play an important role in determining individual differences in responsiveness to stress and novelty. They point to a new role of hippocampal GR, strongly implicating this receptor in determining individual differences in anxiety and novelty-seeking behavior.
Multi - Biometrics Approach for Facial Recognition

The automatic recognition of human faces presents a significant challenge to the pattern recognition research community. Typically, human faces are very similar in structure with minor differences from person to person. Input represents a set of measurements called the pattern vector. Principal component analysis (PCA) approaches to face recognition are data dependent and computationally expensive. To classify unknown faces they need to match the nearest neighbor in the stored database of extracted face features. Pattern recognition system performs a classification function on its input. Input represents a set of measurements called the pattern vector. In this paper we are interested in (1) testing facial performance with the Shannon entropy to the 2D face image, (2) testing 2D face using edge images, called edge based 2D facial recognition, (3) recognizing the person based on 2D Shannon entropy and edge Image data. The proposed approach is tested on the ORLface data sets.
Efficient Network Modification to Improve QoS Stability at Failures

When a link or node fails, flows are detoured around the failed portion, so the hop count of flows and the link load could change dramatically as a result of the failure. As real-time traffic such as video or voice increases on the Internet, ISPs are required to provide stable quality as well as connectivity at failures. For ISPs, how to effectively improve the stability of these qualities at failures with the minimum investment cost is an important issue, and they need to effectively select a limited number of locations to add link facilities. In this paper, efficient design algorithms to select the locations for adding link facilities are proposed and their effectiveness is evaluated using the actual backbone networks of 36 commercial ISPs.
Glial cell line‐derived neurotrophic factor and chronic electrical stimulation prevent VIII cranial nerve degeneration following denervation

As with other cranial nerves and many CNS neurons, primary auditory neurons degenerate as a consequence of loss of input from their target cells, the inner hair cells (IHCs). Electrical stimulation (ES) of spiral ganglion cells (SGCs) has been shown to enhance their survival. Glial cell line‐derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has also been shown to increase survival of SGCs following IHC loss. In this study, the combined effects of the GDNF transgene delivered by adenoviral vectors (Ad‐GDNF) and ES were tested on SGCs after first eliminating the IHCs. Animal groups received Ad‐GDNF or ES or both. Ad‐GDNF was inoculated into the cochlea of guinea pigs after deafening, to overexpress human GDNF. ES‐treated animals were implanted with a cochlear implant electrode and chronically stimulated. A third group of animals received both Ad‐GDNF and ES (GDNF/ES). Electrically evoked auditory brainstem responses were recorded from ES‐treated animals at the start and end of the stimulation period. Animals were sacrificed 43 days after deafening and their ears prepared for evaluation of IHC survival and SGC counts. Treated ears exhibited significantly greater SGC survival than nontreated ears. The GDNF/ES combination provided significantly better preservation of SGC density than either treatment alone. Insofar as ES parameters were optimized for maximal protection (saturated effect), the further augmentation of the protection by GDNF suggests that the mechanisms of GDNF‐ and ES‐mediated SGC protection are, at least in part, independent. We suggest that GDNF/ES combined treatment in cochlear implant recipients will improve auditory perception. These findings may have implications for the prevention and treatment of other neurodegenerative processes. J. Comp. Neurol. 454:350–360, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Genetic Structure of Culex erraticus Populations Across the Americas

ABSTRACT Culex erraticus (Dyar & Knab) is a potential competent vector for several arboviruses such as Eastern and Venezuelan equine encephalitis viruses and West Nile virus. It therefore may play a role in the maintenance and spread of viral populations in areas of concern, including the United States where it occurs in >33 states. However, little information is available on potential barriers to movement across the species' distribution. Here, we analyze genetic variation among Cx. erraticus collected from Colombia, Guatemala, and nine locations in the United States to better understand population structure and connectivity. Comparative sequence analysis of the second internal transcribed spacer and mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase genes identified two major lineages of sampled populations. One lineage represented the central and eastern United States, whereas the other corresponded to Central America, South America, and the western United States. Hierarchical analysis of genetic variation provided further evidence of regional population structure, although the majority of genetic variation was found to reside within populations, suggestive of large population sizes. Although significant physical barriers such as the Chihuahuan Desert probably constrain the spread of Cx. erraticus, large population sizes and connectivity within regions remain important risk factors that probably contribute to the movement of arboviruses within and between these regions.
Phase plane analysis based motion planning for underactuated overhead cranes

Inspired by the desire to achieve fast payload transportation as well as sufficient swing suppression, a novel phase plane based motion planning method is proposed for underactuated overhead cranes. Specifically, the variation law of the underactuated system states in the phase plane is firstly derived via mathematical analysis for the phase portraits. Based on this, an analytical three-segment acceleration trajectory (namely, a trapezoid velocity trajectory) with the coupling behavior being taken into consideration is obtained under actual crane control constraints. To deal with the jerk (discontinuity) problem, we then present two modified acceleration trajectories by introducing some transition stages and performing some rigorous analysis. Moreover, the trajectories generated by the proposed method can evaluate the maximum payload swing and the arrival time for a given transportation task in advance, which provides essential control indexes for crane operation. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the superior performance of the proposed trajectory planning method.
Eigen-inference moments method for cognitive wireless communications

In many situations, telecommunication engineers are faced with the problem of extracting information from the network. This corresponds in many cases to infer on functionals of spectrum of random matrices with only a limited knowledge on the statistics of the matrix entries. Here, the inference on the spectrum of random matrices is realized by moments method. In its full generality, the problem requires some sophisticated tools related to free probability theory and the explicit spectrum (complete information) can hardly be obtained (except for some trivial cases). Results in the asymptotic case and in the finite case are presented and simulations show how the moments method approach can be applied in practice. Several still open problems in this field are also presented.
Analysis on controller of grid-connected inverter by using virtual circuit

Control of grid-connected inverter (GCI) directly affects the performance of inverter-interfaced distributed generators. In this paper, a circuit-based modeling method is proposed to combine the control algorithm in software and the topology configuration in hardware of a GCI. On the basis of the same mathematical model, control blocks are equivalently changed into circuit models. By using the proposed circuit model, the mathematical principles and physical natures of proportional-integral (PI) and proportional-resonant (PR) controllers for GCI applications are examined in depth. It concludes that the PI controller cannot track sinusoidal reference without error, because of the equivalent capacitor and ac leakage current in the circuit model obtained for the GCI. In contrast, due to the extra equivalent inductor and resonance circuit in series compared with PI, the equivalent capacitor in PI is opened. And as a result, the PR control can provide accurate current-following performance. Selected experimental results are also presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control modeling method.
Model for assessing research activity by Sustainability Index using fuzzy AHP

It is important to assess sustainability of research activities carried out in a university. The result can be used as information for university administrators to develop a policy for preventing pollution and hazards generated from research activities. The objective of the paper is to present an application of a Sustainability Index model. The proposed model is used to assess the sustainable university regarding research activities. The important weight of sustainability is analyzed by using fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). FAHP emphasizes fuzzy theory and pairwise matrix comparison theory. This model is applied to a case of study of research projects in Thailand. At first, research activities are broken down and sources of sustainability are identified. The data were collected regarding research project lifecycle. Then, major sustainable initiatives are identified. The important weight of sustainability for each research activities is analyzed. The Sustainability Index is created from important weight of sustainability magnitude. Fuzzy numbers are used to cope with uncertainties associated with the data collected by questionnaires distributed to researchers.
Efficient data classification by GPU-accelerated linear mean squared slack minimization

An efficient parallel implementation of the recently proposed Slackmin classification algorithm that minimizes the mean squared slack variables energy is proposed in this paper. The efficacy of the resulted scheme is demonstrated both in terms of accuracy and computation speed. The parallelization of the Slackmin algorithm is achieved in the framework of GPU programming. Based on this framework the “cuLSlackmin” algorithm for linear problems was implemented, by using the CUDA C/C++ programming model and proposed herein. The introduced parallel algorithm is making use of the advantages imposed by the GPU architecture and achieves high classification rates in a short computation time. A set of experiments with some UCI datasets have shown the high performance of the cuLSlackmin algorithm compared to the Slackmin, LIBSVM and GPULIBSVM algorithms. The high performance of cuLSlackmin algorithm makes it appropriate for big data classification problems.
Locally nonlinear regression based on kernel for pose-invariant face recognition

The variation of facial appearance due to the viewpoint or pose obviously degrades the accuracy of any face recognition systems. One solution is generating the virtual frontal view from any given non-frontal view. In this paper, we propose an efficient and novel locally kernel-based nonlinear regression (LKNR) method, which generates the virtual frontal view from a given non-frontal face image. Eventually, after non-frontal face images are converted to virtual frontal view, we use PCA+FLDA method for pose-invariant face recognition. The comparison of the proposed method with locally linear regression (LLR) and eigen light-field (ELF) methods show that the proposed method outperforms two other methods in terms of robustness, visual effects and recognition accuracy.
Increased binding of fibrinogen to glycoprotein IIIa-proline33 (HPA-1b, PlA2, Zwb) positive platelets in patients with cardiovascular disease.

AIMS The GPIIb-IIIa complex on the platelet membrane plays an important part in thrombosis as it is the receptor for fibrinogen. The gene for platelet membrane glyco-protein IIIa has multiple alleles one of which, the GPIIIa-Proline33 (HPA-1b, PlA2, Zwb) allele has been reported in some, but not all studies, to be associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction. We investigated whether the presence of the Pro33 form of GPIIIa on the platelet membrane is associated with increased fibrinogen binding. METHODS AND RESULTS Blood samples from 70 patients (54 male) with stable angina of whom 22 (18 male) had a history of previous myocardial infarction, were analysed for the GPIIIa-Leu-Pro33 polymorphism at the genomic level, and for whole blood flow cytometric measurement of platelet fibrinogen binding. The GPIIIa-Pro33 form was present in 20 (28.6%) patients (1 homozygous) representing an allele frequency of 0.85 and 0.15 (GPIIIa-Leu33:Pro33). The incidence of myocardial infarction was higher (40.0%) in patients positive for GPIIIa-Pro33 than in those without (32.0%) but this was not significant (P=0.58). Fibrinogen binding to ADP-stimulated platelets was significantly higher in the GPIIIa-Pro33 positive group at all ADP concentrations (<0.0001; two way ANOVA). There was no association between fibrinogen binding and the level of expression of the GPIIb-IIIa complex, platelet volume or platelet count. Fibrinogen binding in response to thrombin stimulation was not different between the groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS The increased tendency of platelets from patients with the Pro33 form of GPIIIa may predispose patients with this allele to a higher risk of acute thrombotic events, and argues for selective use of therapeutic agents that inhibit ADP-mediated platelet activation in occlusive vascular disease states.
Irisin, a Link among Fatty Liver Disease, Physical Inactivity and Insulin Resistance

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in industrialized countries. The increasing prevalence of NAFLD mirrors the outbreak of obesity in western countries, highlighting the connection between these two conditions. Nevertheless, there is currently no specific pharmacotherapy for its treatment. Accepted management begins with weight loss and exercise. Moreover, exercise can provide metabolic benefits independently of weight loss. It is known how long-term aerobic training produces improvements in hepatic triglycerides, visceral adipose tissue and free fatty acids, even if there is no weight reduction. A recent study from Boström et al. unravels a potential molecular mechanism that may explain how exercise, independently of weight loss, can potentially improve metabolic parameters through a new messenger system (irisin) linking muscle and fat tissue. Irisin has been proposed to act as a hormone on subcutaneous white fat cells increasing energy expenditure by means of a program of brown-fat-like development. Moreover, it was also shown that irisin plasma concentration was higher in people who exercise, suggesting a molecular mechanism by which exercise may improve metabolism. The present systematic review is based on the possibility that irisin might represent a hypothetical connection between NAFLD pathogenesis and disease progression.
Precise industrial robot positioning and path-tracking over large surfaces using non-calibrated vision

This paper presents a methodology for precise robot positioning and path tracking, performed by industrial robots over large surfaces of arbitrary size, shape and orientation. The methodology is based on a vision-based, calibration-free robot control method known as camera-space manipulation. The path, defined and stored in a CAD file, is later adapted to the curved, work-surface by using a mapping procedure. When applied to large surfaces, the precision of the positioning and path-tracking maneuvers depends on several factors like the resolution of the cameras per unit physical space and the mapping procedure, which may introduce distortion specially in the case of non-developable surfaces. In order to reduce the influence of camera-resolution, this paper presents two alternatives: the use of multiple cameras and the application of cameras mounted over non-expensive, sensorless pan/tilt units. In the case of the distortion produced by the mapping procedure, the paper discusses several options like a modified geodesic mapping and virtual projection. The proposed techniques were tested multiple times over flat and deformed surfaces, by using a large work-envelope, industrial robot.
Blind index coding

We introduce the “blind index coding” (BIC) problem, which generalizes the classic index coding problem by considering a sender that has some uncertainty about the side information that is available at each receiver. This problem naturally arises in wireless networks in which users obtain their side information through wireless channels with errors that may be unknown to the sender. For the proposed BIC problem, we develop a new general outer bound by first proving it for the 3-user case and then generalizing its construction to K users. The proof of the outer bound relies on developing a key lemma that uses a strong data processing inequality to account for the sender's uncertainty. We also propose a hybrid coding scheme that XORs random combinations of bits from a subset of messages with uncoded bits of other messages in order to blindly exploit side information, and illustrate its gain.
Memorandum series How ‘ Provincial ’ is your Region ? Effects on Labour Productivity in Europe 2002-002

This paper estimates the determinants of labour productivity in European NUTS regions during 1989-1996. Unlike previous studies, which have focussed either on local technological capabilities or on agglomeration economies, we compare three potential explanations of regional advantages: Technological capabilities (proxied by regional patents), agglomeration economies (employment density), and openness. To study the latter we use a new measure, the number of airplane passengers embarked and disembarked in the region, and found that in spite of some limitations, this is a meaningful index for the openness of the regions and possibly of other locations (e.g. cities). By using instrumental variables, we confirm existing results that patents and employment density affect labour productivity. Our novel finding is that openness affects labour productivity as well. Acknowledgements We thank Zoltan Acs, Ashish Arora, Suma Athreye, Stefano Breschi, Simona Iammarino, Hugo Hollanders, Steve Klepper, Franco Malerba, Alessandro Nuvolari, David Soskice, Davide Ticchi, for helpful comments and suggestions. We acknowledge financial support from the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MURST), and the EU-DG XII projects AITEG and GRIT (Contract # HPSE-CT1999-00043 and SOE2-CT98-3073). Myriam Mariani also acknowledges support by the European Commission TMR “Marie Curie Fellowship” (Grant # HPMF-CT-200000694). Alfonso Gambardella Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa gambardella@sssup.it Myriam Mariani University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy and MERIT, University of Maastricht, Maastricht m.mariani@merit.unimaas. nl Salvatore Torrisi University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy svtorrisi@libero.it
A 94-GHz Monolithic Front-End for Imaging Arrays in SiGe:C Technology

A monolithic downconverter for 94 GHz imaging arrays implemented in SiGe:C technology is presented. The downconverter consists of a three stage differential LNA with lumped matching networks and a polyphase subharmonic mixer. It yields 20 dB conversion gain at 94 GHz with an input 1-dB compression point of -31 dB and a current consumption of 45 mA at 3.3 V supply voltage. The total required die area of the complete downconverter (excluding pad frame) is 0.1 mm2, making it particularly suitable as a front-end in multi-channel receiver systems.
Component-Level Reduction Rules for Time Petri Nets Based on DTPN

Time Petri Nets (TPNs) are a popular Petri net model for specification and verification of real-time systems. A widely applied method for analyzing Petri nets is component-level reduction analysis. The existing technique for component-level reduction analysis transforms a TPN component to a constant size of simple one while maintains the net external observable timing properties, but it neglects the internal properties of component such as synchronization, conflict and concurrency. Based on Delay Time Petri Net (DTPN), the paper transforms a TPN component to DTPN model in order to preserve such properties as synchronization, conflict and concurrency during the reduction. For the sake of analyzing the DTPN model, the paper proposes new schedule analysis method. Finally, reduction rules based on DTPN are applied to the TPN model analysis in the command and control (C2) system.