Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From child to musician: skill development during the beginning stages of learning an instrument

This article reports on a three-year longitudinal study with 157 children in school grades 3 and 4 (aged between 7 and 9 years), who commenced learning an instrument in one of eight school music programmes. The children were administered tests at the end of each school year to assess their abilities to perform rehearsed music, sight-read, play from memory, play by ear and improvise, and interviews were completed with the children’s mothers in order to calculate how much practice they had accumulated on their instrument. Data were also obtained to help clarify the quality of mental strategies the children adopted when performing. Findings extend previous research on skill acquisition by proposing that conceptions based on the amount of practice undertaken or that focus exclusively on children’s ability to reproduce rehearsed literature from notation are inadequate to understanding the early stages of instrumental development. It is proposed that a more coherent explanation comes from understanding the range of strategies children employ when performing and that the sophistication of children’s mental strategies provides an important means for understanding why some progress effortlessly in contrast to others who struggle and fail. Conclusions highlight the importance of helping students to develop a repertoire of task-appropriate strategies that will enable them to think musically when performing challenging tasks on their instrument.
RF microsystems for wireless sensors networks

This paper presents RF microsystems constituted by low-power devices for use in wireless sensors networks. As it is expected, the major emphasis is given to the fabrication of RF transceivers for integration in these microsystems. Features like low-power and low-voltage operations are discussed, at the same time are presented RF transceivers for the frequencies of 433 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.7 GHz, in order to comply with mandatory issues of WSN, e.g., working independently from a human operation, management and maintenance. Another reason for this, is the suitableness of these wireless microsystems to use thermoelectric energy scavenging systems.
Good Times, Bad Times

This article returns to a classic question of political economy: the zero-sum conflict between capital and labor over the division of the national income pie. A detailed description of labor’s share of national income in 16 industrialized democracies from 1960 to 2005 uncovers two long-term trends: an increase in labor’s share in the aftermath of World War II, followed by a decrease since the early 1980s. I argue that the working class’s relative bargaining power explains the dynamics of labor’s share, and I model inter- and intra-class bargaining power in the economic, political, and global spheres. Time-series cross-section equations predicting the short- and long-term determinants of labor’s share support most of my theoretical arguments and the main findings are robust to alternative specifications. Results suggest that the common trend in the dynamics of labor’s share of national income is largely explained by indicators for working-class organizational power in the economic (i.e., unionization and strike activity) and political (i.e., government civilian spending) spheres, working-class structural power in the global sphere (i.e., southern imports and foreign direct investments), and indirectly by an indicator for working-class integration in the intra-class sphere (i.e., bargaining centralization).
POLITICAL CLIMATES AND PARTY CHOICE OF HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH

P A OLITICAL SOCIALIZATION and political attitudes of the young have received increasing attention in recent years. The continuity across generations of political party choice is well documented. Not all youth, however, choose the party of their parents. Levin,1 writing in this journal several years ago, attempted "to assess the extent to which the political climates of opinion in the various social subsystems of which the adolescent is a member contribute to his political socialization and his choice of a political party. "2 He showed that "the nuclear family, the high school community, and the larger society each plays a part in impelling the adolescent to choose the political party which represents its consensus. "3 This article reports on research which, although not a precise replication of Levin's work, considers the same or similar variables in a different national political opinion climate and in communities more insulated from this climate. Levin's data were based on questionnaires from students in ten northern Illinois high schools and from mailed questionnaires to their parents. The schools were selected to obtain community diversity. The sample included prosperous farming or farming and industrial communities, a working-class parochial boys' school in a large city, working-class suburbs, small cities, and an upper-middle-class suburb.4 He
Fully integrated CMOS fractional-N frequency divider for wide-band mobile applications with spurs reduction

A spurs reduction fractional-N frequency divider with a frequency range which is 3.5 times larger than that of a conventional fractional-N divider is presented in this paper. A 1.2-GHz quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is designed as the input source of the frequency divider. The circuit was fabricated using the 0.25-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The power consumption of the frequency divider and the quadrature VCO are 3 and 6 mW, respectively, at a 2-V supply.
Fragmentation of Molecular Clouds: The Initial Phase of a Stellar Cluster

The isothermal gravitational collapse and fragmentation of a region within a molecular cloud and the subsequent formation of a protostellar cluster are investigated numerically. The clump mass spectrum that forms during the fragmentation phase can be well approximated by a power-law distribution dN/dM∝M−1.5. In contrast, the mass spectrum of protostellar cores that form in the centers of Jeans-unstable clumps and that evolve through accretion and N-body interactions is described by a lognormal distribution with a width that is in excellent agreement with observations of multiple stellar systems.
Transfer after Working Memory Updating Training

During the past decade, working memory training has attracted much interest. However, the training outcomes have varied between studies and methodological problems have hampered the interpretation of results. The current study examined transfer after working memory updating training by employing an extensive battery of pre-post cognitive measures with a focus on near transfer. Thirty-one healthy Finnish young adults were randomized into either a working memory training group or an active control group. The working memory training group practiced with three working memory tasks, while the control group trained with three commercial computer games with a low working memory load. The participants trained thrice a week for five weeks, with one training session lasting about 45 minutes. Compared to the control group, the working memory training group showed strongest transfer to an n-back task, followed by working memory updating, which in turn was followed by active working memory capacity. Our results support the view that working memory training produces near transfer effects, and that the degree of transfer depends on the cognitive overlap between the training and transfer measures.
First unaffected pregnancy using preimplantation genetic diagnosis for sickle cell anemia.

CONTEXT Sickle cell anemia is a common autosomal recessive disorder. However, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for this severe genetic disorder previously has not been successful. OBJECTIVE To achieve pregnancy with an unaffected embryo using in vitro fertilization (IVF) and PGD. DESIGN Laboratory analysis of DNA from single cells obtained by biopsy from embryos in 2 IVF attempts, 1 in 1996 and 1 in 1997, to determine the genetic status of each embryo before intrauterine transfer. SETTING University hospital in a large metropolitan area. PATIENTS A couple, both carriers of the recessive mutation for sickle cell disease. INTERVENTIONS Standard IVF treatment, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, embryo biopsy, single-cell polymerase chain reaction and DNA analyses, embryo transfer to uterus, pregnancy confirmation, and prenatal diagnosis by amniocentesis at 16.5 weeks' gestation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE DNA analysis of single blastomeres indicating whether embryos carried the sickle cell mutation, allowing only unaffected or carrier embryos to be transferred. RESULTS The first IVF attempt failed to produce a pregnancy. Of the 7 embryos analyzed in the second attempt, PGD indicated that 4 were normal and 2 were carriers; diagnosis was not possible in 1. Three embryos were transferred to the uterus on the fourth day after oocyte retrieval. A twin pregnancy was confirmed by ultrasonography, and subsequent amniocentesis revealed that both fetuses were unaffected and were not carriers of the sickle cell mutation. The patient delivered healthy twins at 39 weeks' gestation. CONCLUSION This first unaffected pregnancy resulting from PGD for sickle cell anemia demonstrates that the technique can be a powerful diagnostic tool for carrier couples who desire a healthy child but wish to avoid the difficult decision of whether to abort an affected fetus.
BioMiner: Paving the Way for Personalized Medicine

Personalized medicine is promising a revolution for medicine and human biology in the 21st century. The scientific foundation for this revolution is accomplished by analyzing biological high-throughput data sets from genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. Currently, access to these data has been limited to either rather simple Web-based tools, which do not grant much insight or analysis by trained specialists, without firsthand involvement of the physician. Here, we present the novel Web-based tool “BioMiner,” which was developed within the scope of an international and interdisciplinary project (SYSTHER†) and gives access to a variety of high-throughput data sets. It provides the user with convenient tools to analyze complex cross-omics data sets and grants enhanced visualization abilities. BioMiner incorporates transcriptomic and cross-omics high-throughput data sets, with a focus on cancer. A public instance of BioMiner along with the database is available at http://systherDB.microdiscovery. de/ , login and password: “systher”; a tutorial detailing the usage of BioMiner can be found in the Supplementary File.
On Social Psychology and Human Nature: An Interview with Roy Baumeister

Roy F. Baumeister currently holds the Eppes Eminent Professorship in the Department of Psychology at Florida State University. He received his PhD in social psychology from Princeton in 1978 working under Edward E. Jones. After a postdoctoral fellowship in sociology at Berkeley, he spent 23 years on the faculty at Case Western Reserve University, where he held the Elsie Smith Professorship in the Liberal Arts. He also held visiting positions at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the Max-Planck-Institute in Munich, Germany. He has taught social psychology, personality, sexuality, and interdisciplinary psychology. He has over 300 publications including 18 books. His new textbook, Social Psychology and Human Nature, is soon to be published. Natalie Kerr Lawrence is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at James Madison University, where she teaches general psychology, statistics, research methods, and social psychology. She is an active member of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology; her research interests focus on the teaching (and learning) of psychology. She is currently studying factors that enhance students' self-efficacy.
1.9 Mb microdeletion of 21q22.11 within Braddock–Carey contiguous gene deletion syndrome region: Dissecting the phenotype

Braddock–Carey syndrome is characterized by Pierre Robin sequence, agenesis of the corpus callosum, facial dysmorphisms, developmental delay, and congenital thrombocytopenia. Recently, Braddock–Carey syndrome was demonstrated to be caused by chromosomal microdeletion in 21q22 including the RUNX1 gene, whose haploinsufficiency is responsible for thrombocytopenia phenotype. Therefore, the syndrome has emerged as a contiguous gene deletion syndrome. Here, we describe an infant with Pierre Robin sequence, facial anomalies, congenital heart defects, hypotonia, and the absence of thrombocytopenia, who was found to have a 1.9 Mb microdeletion within the Braddock–Carey contiguous deletion syndrome region. This deletion spares the RUNX1 gene, narrowing the genomic region responsible for a part of the Braddock–Carey syndrome phenotype. Further studies are awaited to understand the role of the genes located within 21q22 in the pathogenesis of Braddock–Carey syndrome. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Chromatin Remodeling Factor SMARCB1 Forms a Complex with Human Cytomegalovirus Proteins UL114 and UL44

Background Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) uracil DNA glycosylase, UL114, is required for efficient viral DNA replication. Presumably, UL114 functions as a structural partner to other factors of the DNA-replication machinery and not as a DNA repair protein. UL114 binds UL44 (HCMV processivity factor) and UL54 (HCMV-DNA-polymerase). In the present study we have searched for cellular partners of UL114. Methodology/Principal Findings In a yeast two-hybrid screen SMARCB1, a factor of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, was found to be an interacting partner of UL114. This interaction was confirmed in vitro by co-immunoprecipitation and pull-down. Immunofluorescence microscopy revealed that SMARCB1 along with BRG-1, BAF170 and BAF155, which are the core SWI/SNF components required for efficient chromatin remodeling, were present in virus replication foci 24–48 hours post infection (hpi). Furthermore a direct interaction was also demonstrated for SMARCB1 and UL44. Conclusions/Significance The core SWI/SNF factors required for efficient chromatin remodeling are present in the HCMV replication foci throughout infection. The proteins UL44 and UL114 interact with SMARCB1 and may participate in the recruitment of the SWI/SNF complex to the chromatinized virus DNA. Thus, the presence of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex in replication foci and its association with UL114 and with UL44 might imply its involvement in different DNA transactions.
Robust face recognition by combining projection-based image correction and decomposed eigenface

This work presents a robust face recognition method, which can work even when an insufficient number of images are registered for each person. The method is composed of image correction and image decomposition, both of which are specified in the normalized image space (NIS). The image correction [(F. Sakaue and T. Shakunaga, 2004), (T. Shakunaga and F. Sakaue, 2002)] is realized by iterative projections of an image to an eigenspace in NIS. It works well for natural images having various kinds of noise, including shadows, reflections, and occlusions. We have proposed decomposition of an eigenface into two orthogonal eigenspaces [T. Shakunaga and K. Shigenari, 2001], and have shown that the decomposition is effective for realizing robust face recognition under various lighting conditions. This work shows that the decomposed eigenface method can be refined by projection-based image correction.
Dynamics for the Mean-field Random-cluster Model

The random-cluster model is a unifying framework for studying random graphs, spin systems in physics and random spanning trees. The model is closely related to, though much more general than the classical Ising and Potts models, but its dynamics are much less well understood. In this paper we study a natural non-local Markov chain known as the Chayes-Machta dynamics for the mean-field case of the random-cluster model, and identify a critical regime $(\lambda_s,\lambda_S)$ of the model parameter $\lambda$ in which the dynamics undergoes an exponential slowdown. Namely, we prove that the mixing time is $\Theta(\log n)$ if $\lambda \not\in [\lambda_s,\lambda_S]$, and $\exp(\Omega(\sqrt{n}))$ when $\lambda \in (\lambda_s,\lambda_S)$. These results hold for all values of the second model parameter $q > 1$. Thus, we obtain the first analysis of a dynamics for the random-cluster model for values of $q$ other than the already well understood special case $q=2$ (which corresponds to the Ising model) over almost the full range of values of $\lambda$. In addition, we prove that the local heat-bath dynamics undergoes a similar exponential slowdown in $(\lambda_s,\lambda_S)$.
An Interactive Framework for Data Cleaning Vijayshankar Raman

Cleaning organizational data of discrepancies in structure and content is important for data warehousing and Enterprise Data Integration. Current commercial solutions for data cleaning involve many iterations of time-consuming “auditing” to find errors, and long-running transformations to fix them. Users need to endure long waits and often write complex transformation programs. We present an interactive framework for data cleaning that tightly integrates transformation and discrepancy detection. Users gradually build transformations by adding or undoing transforms, in a intuitive, graphical manner through a spreadsheet-like interface; the effect of a transform is shown at once on records visible on screen. In the background, the system automatically infers the structure of the data in terms of user-defined domains and applies suitable algorithms to check it for discrepancies, flagging them as they are found. This allows users to gradually construct a transformation as discrepancies are found, and clean the data without writing complex programs or enduring long delays. We choose and adapt a small set of transforms from existing literature and describe methods for their graphical specification and interactive application. We apply the Minimum Description Length principle to automatically extract the structure of data values in terms of user-defined domains. Such structure extraction is also applied in the graphical specification of transforms, to infer transforms from examples. We also describe methods for optimizing the final sequence of transforms for memory allocations and copies. This transformation facility is integrated into a spreadsheet-based data analysis package, allowing flexible analysis of arbitrarily transformed versions of the data.
ROCK-dependent and ROCK-independent Control of Cochlear Outer Hair Cell Electromotility*

Outer hair cell electromotility is crucial for the proper function of the cochlear amplifier, the active process that enhances sensitivity and frequency discrimination of the mammalian ear. Previous work (Kalinec, F., Zhang, M., Urrutia, R., and Kalinec, G. (2000) J. Biol. Chem. 275, 28000–28005) has suggested a role for Rho GTPases in the regulation of outer hair cell electromotility, although the signaling pathways mediated by these enzymes remain to be established. Here we have investigated the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the homeostatic regulation of the electromotile response of guinea pig outer hair cells. Our findings defined a ROCK-mediated signaling cascade that continuously modulates outer hair cell electromotility by selectively targeting the cytoskeleton. A distinct ROCK-independent pathway functions as a fast resetting mechanism for this system. Neither pathway affects the function of prestin, the unique molecular motor of outer hair cells. These results extend our understanding of a basic mechanism of both normal human hearing and deafness, revealing the key role of the cytoskeleton in the regulation of outer hair cell electromotility and suggesting ROCK as a molecular target for modulating the function of the cochlear amplifier.
The route of priming influences the ability of respiratory virus–specific memory CD8+ T cells to be activated by residual antigen

After respiratory virus infections, memory CD8+ T cells are maintained in the lung airways by a process of continual recruitment. Previous studies have suggested that this process is controlled, at least in the initial weeks after virus clearance, by residual antigen in the lung-draining mediastinal lymph nodes (MLNs). We used mouse models of influenza and parainfluenza virus infection to show that intranasally (i.n.) primed memory CD8+ T cells possess a unique ability to be reactivated by residual antigen in the MLN compared with intraperitoneally (i.p.) primed CD8+ T cells, resulting in the preferential recruitment of i.n. -primed memory CD8+ T cells to the lung airways. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the inability of i.p.-primed memory CD8+ T cells to access residual antigen can be corrected by a subsequent i.n. virus infection. Thus, two independent factors, initial CD8+ T cell priming in the MLN and prolonged presentation of residual antigen in the MLN, are required to maintain large numbers of antigen-specific memory CD8+ T cells in the lung airways.
Antiinflammatory effect of topically applied propolis extract in carrageenan‐induced rat hind paw edema

The antiinflammatory effect of an ointment containing propolis extract (3%–7%) was examined using carrageenan‐induced hind paw edema in rats. Treatment with the ointment inhibited the edema moderately, and the inhibition was significant at 5% and 7%. Additionally, the effect of the ointment on chemotaxis of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) was investigated using the agarose plate method. Migration of PMNs toward zymosan‐treated serum was inhibited in the presence of 5% propolis ointment. These results demonstrate that topical application of propolis extract is effective in inhibiting carrageenan‐induced rat hind paw edema, and its inhibitory effect on the chemotaxis of PMNs may also contribute to the antiinflammatory effect. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Study on Behavioral Preference and Utility Coordination Evaluation in Supply Chains

Behavioral issues become one of the main concerns of research on supply chain coordination. Within the frame-work of Behavioral Decision Theory, the impact of reference point and gains risk aversion/losses risk seeking effects is respectively investigated on supply chain performance under Pareto optimality criterion. It indicates that for the former the relative risk of losses in supply chains is still shared among those agents with the least loss aversion while the optimal order quantity decreases; for the later the influence depends on parameters and aversion coefficients. Furthermore, an original coordination evaluation criterion combining group utility function with Pareto optimality principle is presented to incorporate heterogeneous utility structures. Then the procedure is developed and a numerical example is also included.
Model and laboratory study of dispersion in flows with submerged vegetation

Vegetation is ubiquitous in rivers, estuaries, and wetlands, strongly influencing water conveyance and mass transport. The plant canopy affects mean and turbulent flow structure, and thus both advection and dispersion. Accurate prediction for the transport of nutrients, microbes, dissolved oxygen and other scalars depends on our ability to quantify the impact of vegetation. In this paper, we focus on longitudinal dispersion, which traditionally has been modeled in vegetated channels by drawing analogy to rough boundary layers. This approach is inappropriate in many cases, as the vegetation provides a significant dead zone, which may trap scalars and augment dispersion. The dead zone process is not captured in the rough boundary model. This paper describes a new model for longitudinal dispersion in channels with submerged vegetation, and it validates the model with experimental observations.