Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Spatial Pattern and City Size Distribution

Many large cities are found at locations with certain geographic and historical advantages, or the first nature advantages. Yet those exogenous locational features may not be the most potent forces governing the spatial pattern and the size variation of cities. In particular, population size, spacing, and industrial composition of cities exhibit simple, persistent, and monotonic relationships that are often approximated by power laws. The extant theories of economic agglomeration explain some aspects of this regularity as a consequence of interactions between endogenous agglomeration and dispersion forces, or the second nature advantages. To obtain results about explicit spatial patterns of cities, a model needs to depart from the most popular two-region and systems-of-cities frameworks in urban and regional economics in which the variation in interregional distance is assumed away in order to secure analytical tractability of the models. This is one of the major reasons that only few formal models have been proposed in this literature. To draw implications about the spatial patterns and sizes of cities from the extant theories, the behavior of the many-region extension of the existing two-region models is discussed in depth. The mechanisms that link the spatial pattern of cities and the diversity in size as well as the diversity in industrial composition among cities are also discussed in detail, thought the relevant theories are much less available. For each aspect of the interdependence among spatial patterns, size distribution and industrial composition of cities, the concrete facts are drawn from Japanese data to guide the discussion.
How the Individual Alpha Peak Frequency Helps Unravel the Neurophysiologic Underpinnings of Behavioral Functioning in Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with an elevated resting-state theta/beta power ratio and elevated theta power. However, the potential confounding effect of a low individual alpha peak frequency (IAPF) on the theta-power estimate has often been disregarded when studying the relationship between ADHD and the theta/beta power ratio or theta power alone. The aim of the present study was to assess whether the theta/beta power ratio and relative theta power are correlated with behavioral functioning in children with ADHD, as expected from previous studies. Subsequently, the influence of IAPF and the amount of supposed overlap between the individually determined alpha-band and the fixed theta-band were studied. For 38 children (aged 8-15 years), electroencephalographic (EEG) and investigator-scored ADHD Rating Scale IV data were available. Additional neurocognitive data were available for 32 children. As expected, the theta/beta power ratio and theta were positively related to the ADHD core symptoms. This relationship strengthened when controlling for IAPF, although correlations did not significantly differ from one another. Eight of 38 children (21%) showed a supposed overlap between their individually determined alpha band and the theta band. Neurocognitive performance did not show any relationship with the theta/beta power ratio or theta. The results of this study confirm that the theta/beta power ratio and theta power are indeed correlated with behavioral symptoms in children with ADHD and underscore the relevance of taking the IAPF into account.
Contribution of craniofacial risk factors in increasing apneic activity among obese and nonobese habitual snorers.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine the role of craniofacial risk factors in increasing apneic activity between nonobese and obese habitual snorers. DESIGN Cross-sectional. SETTING Care-seeking volunteers identified through advertisements, and referral-based volunteers from two sleep centers serving the greater Cleveland area. PATIENTS The study included 142 habitual snorers (mean +/- SD, 45.5 +/- 10.6 years, 68% men; 20% African-Americans) MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS Apneic activity was determined using unattended home sleep monitoring to assess the respiratory disturbance index (RDI). Independent variables included body mass index, cranial index, facial index, and 13 anatomic variables (lateral and frontal cephalometric radiographs were used to characterize craniofacial hard and soft tissues). A linear regression model explained approximately 54% and 53% of the variation in RDI (log transformed) scores for the nonobese and obese groups, respectively. The largest predictor of RDI in the nonobese group was tongue length, followed by alignment of the middle cranial fossa, and age. In the obese group, the largest predictor of RDI was hyoid to mandibular plane, followed by tongue length. CONCLUSIONS Measurements of soft tissues of the oropharynx (especially the tongue) are more closely associated with increased apneic activity. In addition, the hard tissue anatomic limits of the oropharynx may place nonobese individuals in the at-risk group. Therefore, anatomic relationships that are temporally stable may be useful to predict apneic activity in later years.
Efficient Algorithms for Sampling and Clustering of Large Nonuniform Networks

We propose efficient algorithms for two key tasks in the analy sis of large nonuniform networks: uniform node sampling and cluster detection. Our sampling technique is based on augmenting a simple, but slowly mixing uniform MCMC sampler with a regular random walk in order to speed up its convergence; however the combined MCMC chain is then only sampled when it is in its “uniform sampling” mode. Our clustering algorithm determines the relevant neighbourhood of a given node u in the network by first estimating the Fiedler vector of a Dirichlet matrix wit h u fixed at zero potential, and then finding the neighbourhood of u that yields a minimal weighted Cheeger ratio, where the edge weights are determined by differences in the estimated node potentials. Both of our algorithms are based on local computations, i.e. operations on the full adjacenc y matrix of the network are not used. The algorithms are evaluated experimentally using three types of nonuniform networks: Dorogovtsev-Goltsev-Mendes “pseudofractal graphs”, scientific collaboration networks, and r andomised “caveman graphs”.
Regularity and Lyapunov Stabilization of Weak Entropy Solutions to Scalar Conservation Laws

We consider the problem of Lyapunov boundary stabilization of the weak entropy solution to a scalar conservation law with strictly convex flux in one dimension of space, around a uniform equilibrium. We show that for a specific class of boundary conditions, the solution to the initial-boundary value problem for an initial condition with bounded variations can be approximated arbitrarily closely in the $L^{1}$ norm by a piecewise smooth solution with finitely many discontinuities. The constructive method we present designs explicit boundary conditions in this class, which guarantee Lyapunov stability of the weak entropy solution to the initial-boundary value problem. We show how the greedy control, obtained by maximizing the decrease of the natural Lyapunov function, may fail to asymptotically stabilize and a brute force control generates unbounded variation of traces. We then design a stabilizing control, which avoid oscillations, and propose a nonlocal technique (depending on time and the whole initial datum) which optimizes the convergence time. Controllers performance is illustrated on numerical benchmarks using the Godunov scheme.
Sleep duration, subjective sleep disturbances and associated factors among university students in Korea.

Objective of this study was to look into sleep patterns of university students in association with their lifestyle, specifically to examine mean sleep duration, prevalence of sleep disturbances and their correlates. This study also aimed to examine a possible association of sleep patterns of young adults with new media like computers and videos, which were supposed to have a great influence on their lifestyle. Self-reported sleep data were derived from questionnaires administered to a total of 1,414 students of one university located in Chullabuk-do, Korea. Statistical methods such as t-test, analyses of variance, chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were used for analysis. The mean sleep duration of the respondents was 6.7+/-1.3 hr. Of the respondents, 30.2% reported having insufficient sleep. About one third of them pointed to visual media including computers as the primary reason. The proportion of those having some types of sleep disturbances was 36.2%. The risk of subjective sleep disturbances was significantly lower among those perceiving themselves healthy than among those perceiving themselves unhealthy (OR=0.44; 95% CI: 0.34-0.57).
HAIRY‐CELL LEUKAEMIA

If recognition in the form of an international meeting can be taken as indicating that a subject has come of age, then hairy-cell leukaemia (HCL) recently reached this milestone at the approximate age of 2 5. The first International Workshop on HCL was held in October 198 3 at the University of Chicago, not very far from Columbus, Ohio, where the disease was first’ definitively recognized in 19 5 8 under the name of leukaemic reticuloendotheliosis (Bouroncle et al, 19 5 8 ) . The Workshop involved the presentation of papers by some 2 5 participants from throughout the world, all with a particular and often long-standing interest in different aspects of HCL. As a result, most aspects of the disease were considered and discussed and the proceedings have just appeared as two handsome issues of Seminars in Oncology (December 1984). Dr Harvey Golomb (University of Chicago) and his organizing committee are to be congratulated on making the meeting possible. It therefore seems timely to use this Annotation briefly to review the disease, particularly emphasizing points that have emerged since the disease was last comprehensively reviewed in 1980 (Cawley et al, 1980a).
Assessment of seven CMIP5 model precipitation extremes over Iran based on a satellite‐based climate data set

The ability of the seven CMIP5 models to simulate extreme precipitation events over Iran was evaluated using the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks–Climate Data Record (PERSIANN‐CDR) data set. The criterion used to select the CMIP5 models was the availability of historical daily precipitation data (PERSIANN‐CDR) for the retrospective period 1983–2005, as well as future projections for the three representative concentration pathways emission scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5) and spatial resolution higher than 2 × 2°. This is the first study to focus on extreme precipitation climate model simulations over Iran that includes high topography and different climates. The results show that CCSM4 has the highest correlation coefficients (CC = 0.85) and lowest root‐mean‐square error (RMSE = 73.6 mm) compared to PERSIANN‐CDR for the mean annual precipitation. However, HadGEM2‐ES shows the best (highest CCs between 0.67–0.79 and almost the lowest root‐mean‐square errors [RMSEs] compared to PERSIANN‐CDR) performance for intensity indices; MIROC5 ranked seventh (least CCs and almost the highest RMSEs) among the selected models. The results show that BCC‐CSM1‐1‐M captures maximum consecutive dry days (CDD) better than the other models. The probability matching method (PMM) is used to bias‐correct daily precipitation events from CMIP5 models with respect to the PERSIANN‐CDR estimations. All the model performances designed to capture the mean annual precipitation, as well as extreme intensity indices, improved after correction. The ensemble, constructed from the bias‐corrected model simulations using multiple linear regression (MLR), has the best performance for simulating the mean annual precipitation and extreme indices (CCs between 0.82 for consecutive wet days [CWD] and 0.93 for the mean annual precipitation) compared to the PERSIANN‐CDR estimations. Among the seven selected models, CCSM4 has the highest ranking (CCs between 0.70 for CWD to 0.91 for mean annual precipitation) after bias correction.
An FPGA architecture with enhanced datapath functionality

Although FPGAs are a cost-efficient alternative for both ASICs and general purpose processors, they still result in designs which are more than an order of magnitude more costly and slower than their equivalents implemented in dedicated logic. This efficiency gap makes FPGAs less suitable for high-volume cost-sensitive applications (e.g. embedded systems). We show that the intrinsic cost of traditional general-purpose FPGAs can be reduced if they are designed to target an application domain or a class of applications only. We propose a method of the application-domain characterization and apply it to characterize DSP. A novel FPGA logic block architecture derived based on such an analysis, and which exploits properties of target applications, is presented. Its key feature is the 'mixed-level granularity' being a trade-off between fine and coarse granularity required for the implementation of datapath and random logic functions, respectively. This leads to a factor of four improvement in the LUT memory size compared to commercial FPGAs, and, assuming a standard-cell implementation, a 1.6-2.8 lower datapath mapping cost. A modified mixed-grain architecture with the ALU-like functionality reduces the LUT memory size by a factor of 16 compared to commercial FPGAs, and mapped onto standard cells has a 1.9-3.3 times higher datapath mapping efficiency. For these reasons, the proposed FPGA architectures may be an interesting alternative to the traditional general-purpose FPGA devices, especially if characteristics of a target application domain are known a priority.
Design and coordination of partial petri net controllers for a maximally permissive supervisory control

In a previous work, we proposed a general approach for synthesizing a maximally permissive Petri net controller as a set of control places to connect to a given plant Petri net model. The resulting net has the maximum behavior w.r. t. forbidden state specifications. However, Petri net controller does not always exist. Such situations are geometrically caracterized and a solution is proposed in this paper for forbidden state problems for which no Petri net controller exists. It is shown that a maximally permissive control policy may be achieved by accounting of the actions of several partial Petri net controllers. Each of them prevents the reachability of at least one forbidden state transition and allows any marking in the desired behavior. The design procedure of partial PN controllers detailed here is based on the approach we previously proposed. It is applied to an example.
Involvement of SOX-9 and FGF-23 in RUNX-2 regulation in osteoarthritic chondrocytes

Chondrocytes’ hypertrophy includes metabolic changes, matrix remodelling, proliferation and apoptosis, characteristics associated with the progression of osteoarthritis. We investigated a possible association among Runt‐related transcription factor 2 (RUNX‐2), SOX‐9 and fibroblast growth factor (FGF)‐23 mRNA expressions in articular chondrocytes in order to elucidate their contribution in the osteoarthritic hypertrophic cartilage. SOX‐9, FGF‐23, RUNX‐2 and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)‐13 mRNA expressions were evaluated in osteoarthritic and normal chondrocytes by real‐time PCR whereas MMP‐13 protein expression by immunofluorescense. RUNX‐2, FGF‐23 and SOX‐9 were down‐regulated using small interfering RNA technology and transfection with liposomes. The effect of human recombinant FGF‐23 (hrFGF‐23) on SOX‐9 and RUNX‐2 expression was tested in normal chondrocytes. We found higher expression of RUNX‐2 and FGF‐23 and a decreased expression of SOX‐9 mRNA in osteoarthritic chondrocytes compared to normal (P < 0.0001). RUNX‐2 down‐regulation resulted in reduced MMP‐13 expression in osteoarthritic chondrocytes and inhibition of SOX‐9 in increased RUNX‐2 and MMP‐13 mRNA expression in normal chondrocytes, whereas inhibition of FGF‐23 resulted in reduced RUNX‐2 mRNA expression in osteoarthritic chondrocytes (all P < 0.0001). Silencing of RUNX‐2 or FGF‐23 did not affect SOX‐9 mRNA levels in osteoarthritic chondrocytes. Moreover simultaneous down‐regulation of SOX‐9 and up‐regulation of FGF‐23 mRNA expressions in normal chondrocytes resulted in additive up‐regulation of RUNX‐2 mRNA expression. Treatment of normal chondrocytes with hrFGF‐23 resulted in increased RUNX‐2 mRNA expression, whereas it had no effect on SOX‐9 mRNA expression. We demonstrated convincing associations among RUNX‐2, SOX‐9 and FGF‐23 in relation to MMP‐13 expression in osteoarthritic chondrocytes, contributing to a better understanding of the abnormal gene expression and cartilage degeneration processes associated with osteoarthritis.
Threshold Setting for Adaptive Matched Filter and Adaptive Coherence Estimator

It is known that the probabilities of false alarm (PFAs) of several celebrated adaptive detectors including the adaptive matched filter (AMF) and the adaptive coherence estimator (ACE) can be expressed as integral forms. Nevertheless, it is inconvenient to set the detection thresholds by using these integral expressions. Here, we propose two computationally efficient schemes to calculate the thresholds of the AMF and ACE. In the first method, approximate expressions, in forms of elementary functions, for the PFAs of the AMF and ACE are derived. The thresholds of the AMF and ACE can be numerically computed by using these elementary expressions instead of the integrals, for reducing computational complexity. In the second approach, further approximations are employed to lead to highly simple expressions for the thresholds of the AMF and ACE, which enable us to directly compute the thresholds for a given PFA. Compared to the first one, the second scheme is more computationally efficient, but at the cost of a slight loss in accuracy. Numerical results verify the effectiveness of the two proposed schemes.
Eight Problems for the Mirror Neuron Theory of Action Understanding in Monkeys and Humans

The discovery of mirror neurons in macaque frontal cortex has sparked a resurgence of interest in motor/embodied theories of cognition. This critical review examines the evidence in support of one of these theories, namely, that mirror neurons provide the basis of action understanding. It is argued that there is no evidence from monkey data that directly tests this theory, and evidence from humans makes a strong case against the position.
Through the looking glass of immaterial labor

Immaterial labor, which is a philosophical concept established by Maurizio Lazzarato and others for understanding the post-Fordism industry, refers to the process of producing the informational and cultural contents of a commodity. Through examining software development and software-intensive society with the lens of immaterial labor, this paper aims to make a first step of establishing a new theoretical framework to understand (1) how to evaluate values of software systems, (2) how such values are created, and (3) how software development should be organized to create such values.
A CLOCK-GATED, DOUBLE EDGE-TRIGGERED FLIP-FLOP IMPLEMENTED WITH TRANSMISSION GATES

Frist of all, I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. William H. Robinson, for his continuously supportive, invaluable guidance, and patience. Without his encouragement and inspiration along this research journey, this thesis could not be done as smoothly as what we have. Deep gratitude also goes to Dr. Arthur F. Witulski, who has given me much advices on the thesis draft to improved the quality of this thesis. Besides, to my dear friends and peers, I am so grateful to have companions like you by my side during this trip to pursuit my degree. It is you who let me feel warm all the time to make my life abroad complete and colorful. Most importantly, I want to say thank you to my beloved husband, Zhengyu, my dearest parents, and families. Because of your endless love, selfless help, and solid backup all through these years, I could walk steadily without any fears on this research road.
The significance of amlodipine on autonomic nervous system adjustment (ANSA method): a new approach in the treatment of hypertension.

INTRODUCTION Cardiovascular autonomic modulation is altered in patients with essential hypertension. OBJECTIVE To evaluate acute and long-term effects of amlodipine on cardiovascular autonomic function and haemodynamic status in patients with mild essential hypertension. METHODS Ninety patients (43 male, mean age 52.12 +/- 10.7) years with mild hypertension were tested before, 30 minutes after the first 5 mg oral dose of amlodipine and three weeks after monotherapy with amlodipine. A comprehensive study protocol was done including finger blood pressure variability (BPV) and heart rate variability (HRV) beat-to-beat analysis with impedance cardiography, ECG with software short-term HRV and nonlinear analysis, 24-hour Holter ECG monitoring with QT and HRV analysis, 24-hour blood pressure (BP) monitoring with systolic and diastolic BPV analysis, cardiovascular autonomic reflex tests, cold pressure test, mental stress test. The patients were also divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic groups, depending on predominance in short time spectral analysis of sympathovagal balance according to low frequency and high frequency values. RESULTS We confirmed a significant systolic and diastolic BP reduction, and a reduction of pulse pressure during day, night and early morning hours. The reduction of supraventricular and ventricular ectopic beats during the night was also achieved with therapy, but without statistical significance. The increment of sympathetic activity in early phase of amlodipine therapy was without statistical significance and persistence of sympathetic predominance after a few weeks of therapy detected based on the results of short-term spectral HRV analysis. All time domain parameters of long-term HRV analysis were decreased and low frequency amongst spectral parameters. Amlodipne reduced baroreflex sensitivity after three weeks of therapy, but increased it immediately after the administration of the first dose. CONCLUSION The results of the study showed that amlodipine affected autonomic modulation as a shift to sympathetic hyperactivity, but without statistical significance. In the selected group of patients with vagal predominance in sympathovagal balance, amlodipine increased sympathetic and decreases vagal activity. Therefore we conclude that amlodipine mostly exerts impact on autonomic function modulation in patients with vagal predominance in resting state.
Predicting User Satisfaction in Spoken Dialog System Evaluation With Collaborative Filtering

We propose a collaborative filtering (CF) model to predict user satisfaction in SDS evaluation. Inspired by the use of CF in recommendation systems, where a user's preference for a new item is assume to resemble that for similar items rated previously, we adapt the idea to predict user evaluations of unrated dialogs based on the ratings received by similar dialogs. Ratings of dialogs are gathered by crowdsourcing through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A reference baseline is provided by a linear regression model (LRM) based on the PARADISE framework. We present two versions of the CF model. First, the item-based collaborative filtering model (ICFM) clusters rated dialogs and builds an LRM for each cluster. The rating of an unseen dialog is predicted by the LRM of its most similar cluster. Second, the extended ICFM (EICFM) separates dialog features into user-related and system-related groups, to build LRMs for these separately. Experimental results on dialogs from the Let's Go! system show both ICFM and EICFM can significantly improve the proportion of variability explained by the LRM. We also demonstrate the generalizability of the CF model to a new dialog corpus from the systems in the Spoken Dialog Challenge (SDC) 2010.