Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lmx1b Is Required for Maintenance of Central Serotonergic Neurons and Mice Lacking Central Serotonergic System Exhibit Normal Locomotor Activity

Central serotonergic neurons have been implicated in numerous animal behaviors and psychiatric disorders, but the molecular mechanisms underlying their development are not well understood. Here we generated Lmx1b (LIM homeobox transcription factor 1 β) conditional knock-out mice (Lmx1bf/f/p) in which Lmx1b was only deleted in Pet1 (pheochromocytoma 12 ETS factor-1)-expressing 5-HT neurons. In Lmx1bf/f/p mice, the initial generation of central 5-HT neurons appeared normal. However, the expression of both 5-HT-specific and non-5-HT-specific markers was lost in these neurons at later stages of development. The loss of gene expression is concomitant with downregulation of Lmx1b expression, with the exception of serotonin transporter Sert and tryptophan hydroxylase TPH2, whose expression appears to be most sensitive to Lmx1b. Interestingly, the expression of Pet1 is tightly coupled with expression of Lmx1b during later stages of embryonic development, indicating that Lmx1b maintains Pet1 expression. In Lmx1bf/f/p mice, almost all central 5-HT neurons failed to survive. Surprisingly, Lmx1bf/f/p mice survived to adulthood and exhibited normal locomotor activity. These data reveal a critical role of Lmx1b in maintaining the differentiated status of 5-HT neurons. Lmx1bf/f/p mice with normal locomotor function should provide a unique animal model for examining the roles of central 5-HT in a variety of animal behaviors.
Enhanced ANTSEC framework with cluster based cooperative caching in mobile ad hoc networks

In a mobile ad hoc network (MANET), communication between mobile nodes occurs without centralized control. In this environment the mobility of a node is unpredictable; this is considered as a characteristic of wireless networks. Because of faulty or malicious nodes, the network is vulnerable to routing misbehavior. The resource constrained characteristics of MANETs leads to increased query delay at the time of data access. In this paper, AntHocNet+Security (ANTSEC) framework is proposed that includes an enhanced cooperative caching scheme embedded with artificial immune system. This framework improves security by injecting immunity into the data packets, improves the packet delivery ratio and reduces end-to-end delay using cross layer design. The issues of node failure and node malfunction are addressed in the cache management.
Duality and Strings, Space and Time

Duality symmetries in M--theory and string theory are reviewed, with particular emphasis on the way in which string winding modes and brane wrapping modes can lead to new spatial dimensions. Brane world-volumes wrapping around Lorentzian tori can give rise to extra time dimensions and in this way dualities can change the number of time dimensions as well as the number of space dimensions. This suggests that brane wrapping modes and spacetime momenta should be on an equal footing and M--theory should not be formulated in a spacetime of definite dimension or signature.
Closed-Form Bounds to the Rice and Incomplete Toronto Functions and Incomplete Lipschitz-Hankel Integrals

This article provides novel analytical results for the Rice function, the incomplete Toronto function and the incomplete Lipschitz-Hankel Integrals. Firstly, upper and lower bounds are derived for the Rice function, $Ie(k,x)$. Secondly, explicit expressions are derived for the incomplete Toronto function, $T_{B}(m,n,r)$, and the incomplete Lipschitz-Hankel Integrals of the modified Bessel function of the first kind, $Ie_{\mu,n}(a,z)$, for the case that $n$ is an odd multiple of 0.5 and $m \geq n$. By exploiting these expressions, tight upper and lower bounds are subsequently proposed for both $T_{B}(m,n,r)$ function and $Ie_{\mu,n}(a,z)$ integrals. Importantly, all new representations are expressed in closed-form whilst the proposed bounds are shown to be rather tight. Based on these features, it is evident that the offered results can be utilized effectively in analytical studies related to wireless communications. Indicative applications include, among others, the performance evaluation of digital communications over fading channels and the information-theoretic analysis of multiple-input multiple-output systems.
Deblurring in fundus images

New method for blur detection in retinal images has been sug- gested. The procedure includes original algorithm of edge width estimation. A method of image deblurring with ringing control is proposed. Automatic quality analysis of medical images has become an im- portant research direction. However, the automatic blur detection in fundus images has not received enough attention. Fundus im- ages are acquired at different sites, using different cameras oper- ated by people with varying levels of experience. This results in a variety of images with different quality, and in some of them pathologies cannot be clearly detected or are artificially intro- duced. These low quality images should be specially examined by an ophthalmologist and reacquired if needed. Current approaches for retinal image quality determination are based on global image intensity histogram analysis (1) or on the analysis of the global edge histogram combined with localized image intensity histograms (2). In both these approaches a small set of excellent quality images was used to construct a mean his- togram. The difference between the mean histogram and a his- togram of a given image then indicated the image quality. Nev- ertheless these methods cannot be used as general fundus image quality classifiers because images of poor quality that match the method's characteristics of acceptable quality can be easily pre- sented. In (3) a correlation between image blurring and visibility of the vessels was pointed out. By running a vessel segmentation algo- rithm and measuring the area of detected vessels over the entire image, the authors estimate if the image is good enough to be used for screening. The main drawback is that the classification between good and poor quality needs a thresholding. In (4) a quality class classification of the images is proposed. Vasculature is analyzed in a circular area around the macula. The presence of small vessels in this area is used as an indicator of image quality. The presented results are good, but the method requires a good quality segmentation of the vasculature and other major anatomical structures to find the region of interest around the fovea. This paper presents a novel approach for blur detection in fundus images based on estimation of blur level of automatically seg- mented vasculature. The method does not require the segmenta- tion of optic disk or macula, and only a rough segmentation of blood vessels is necessary. This allows us to perform the pro- cedure of vasculature segmentation using downsampled images and significantly decrease computational time. The method can be also applied to noisy images or images with non-uniform lu- minosity.
Current Trends in Middleware Benchmarking

The paper provides a brief overview of the state of the art in middleware benchmarking. The overview is used to highlight some of the outstanding issues in the area, specifically the issues related to implementing, running and evaluating regression benchmarks. The issues are analysed in depth and the course of our work towards resolving them is presented.
Feature Selection "Tomography" - Illustrating that Optimal Feature Filtering is Hopelessly Ungeneralizable

Feature filtering methods are often used in text classification and other high-dimensional domains to quickly score each feature independently and pass only the best to the learning algorithm. The panoply of available methods grows over the years, with frequent research publications touting new functions that seem to yield superior learning: variants on Information Gain, Chi Squared, Mutual Information, and others. This slow generate-and-test search in the literature is usually counted as progress towards finding superior filter methods. But this is illusory. We provide a new empirical method to reveal the feature preference surface for a given dataset and classifier: crossvalidating with an additional feature whose noise characteristics are controlled. By evaluating for every sensitivity and specificity level—though computationally expensive—we determine the expected benefit of adding a feature with a given characteristic. We desire features with high expected gain. Ideally this preference surface would be easily generalizable across many datasets and depend on just a few parameters. However, by visualizing the preference surface under different conditions while holding other factors constant, we demonstrate graphically that it depends on more factors than are ever considered in feature selection papers: training set size and class distribution, classifier model and parameters, and—even holding all of these constant—the individual target concept itself. Thus, the ongoing sequence of published papers in this area will not yield an optimal feature selection function of significant generality.
ADRB3 Polymorphism Associated with BMI Gain in Japanese Men

Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the Trp64Arg polymorphism in the beta3-adrenergic receptor gene (ADRB3: rs4994) and BMI and serological and anthropometric data in healthy Japanese. Methods. Healthy Japanese recruited in a large-scale integrated manufacturing facility in Japan (N = 1355; age: 37.25 ± 9.43; BMI: 22.86 ± 3.46) were eligible for analysis. The anthropometric data and serological data were measured during a comprehensive health check, and a self-reporting questionnaire was used to assess lifestyle habits (current exercise, smoking status, alcohol intake, and working style) and weight at age 20. Genotyping for the ADRB3 polymorphism was performed by PCR-RFLP method. Results. Among 1355 participants, the genotype frequencies of the Trp/Trp, Trp/Arg, and Arg/Arg variants were 920 (67.9%), 394 (29.1%), and 41 (3.05%), respectively. In the multivariate analysis, a multiple linear regression model in men for the adjustment of age, drinking habits, smoking habits, exercise habits, working status and serological measurements statistically showed an overall weak significance between annual BMI gain from age 20 and age, LDL or ADRB3 polymorphism. Conclusions. The level of LDL, age, and ADRB3 polymorphism (Arg/Arg genotype) were statistically associated with annual BMI gain in Japanese men.
A diffusion model for packet travel time in a random multihop medium

We consider a wireless network in which packets are forwarded opportunistically from the source towards the destination, without accurate knowledge of the direction that they should take. A Brownian motion model that includes the effect of packet losses, and subsequent retransmission after a time-out, is used to compute the average travel time of the packet. The results indicate that the average travel time is always finite provided that a time-out is used, and that there is an element of randomness in the manner in which successive nodes are being chosen. We show that the average packet travel time can be minimized by a judicious choice of the time-out, and its optimum value in turn depends on other system parameters such as packet-loss probabilities. We present simulations that illustrate the analytical results.
Who Would Buy an Annuity? An Empirical Investigation

The debate around annuity compulsion and proposed pension reforms provides an appropriate context for exploring consumer attitudes to annuitisation. A substantial sample of those approaching or just into retirement were polled as to willingness to annuitise and preferred timing. Questions allowed choices between lump sums and annuities which increased with age of inception. Results were analysed according to the characteristics of respondents. A majority emerged against annuitisation and among those that were willing to annuitise, there were more preferences for doing so at younger ages. Those with poorer education, incomes or health were more likely to be opposed to annuitisation. Some policy issues and areas for future research were identified.
Assessing Modularity of Feature Concern

In this paper, we put forth five observations regarding the implementation of feature concern using contemporary modularity mechanisms. Based on these observations, we propose a concern-centric approach for the assessment of feature modularity that uses syntactic and semantic reduction functions that separate the feature concern from variants containing it. We propose how the modularity of separated feature concern may be assessed using such functions.
Low Voltage Fault Attacks on the RSA Cryptosystem

Fault injection attacks are a powerful tool to exploit implementative weaknesses of robust cryptographic algorithms. The faults induced during the computation of the cryptographic primitives allow to extract pieces of information about the secret parameters stored into the device using the erroneous results. Various fault induction techniques have been researched, both to make practical several theoretical fault models proposed in open literature and to outline new kinds of vulnerabilities. In this paper we describe a non-invasive fault model based on the effects of underfeeding the power supply of an ARM general purpose CPU. We describe the methodology followed to characterize the fault model on an ARM9 microprocessor and propose and mount attacks on implementations of the RSA primitives.
Low complexity multidimensional CDF 5/3 DWT architecture

This paper introduces an efficient low complexity multidimensional DWT architecture. The proposed architecture is based on a lifting-scheme for the Cohen-Daubechies-Feauveau (CDF) 5/3 DWT filter. It consists of low complexity identical computation and control units which can be used easily to implement 2-D and 3-D DWT architectures. The synthesis results show that the output latency is 2N+2 clock cycles, with N2+2N+2 clock cycles required for the first level 2-D CDF 5/3 DWT computation. The architecture is parameterized to tackle various images and wordlength sizes. Furthermore, the proposed architecture is implemented using a Virtex 6 Xilinx FPGA platform. The implementation results reveal that the proposed architecture can operate at up to 198 MHz operating frequency. This reduces the time for first level DWT decomposition of a 512×512-pixel image to less than 1.3 m sec.
A single rail DC voltage-to-current-converter

This paper describes the design of a DC voltage-to-current converter (V-I) which is unique in that, operating from a single positive supply rail, it produces an output current linearly related to an input voltage down to an input voltage of zero. Simulation results, presented for operation over a DC input range from zero to 100mV, are in very close agreement with those predicted by the theory presented.
Responsiveness to suggestions following waking and imagination instructions and following induction of hypnosis.

2 experiments are reported to test the increase of responsiveness to suggestion tests following hypnotic induction over responsiveness to such tests in waking and imagination conditions, an increase that has been doubted as a result of experiments by Barber and Calverley (1962, 1963). In the 1st experiment, 60 Ss were divided into groups of 20 Ss each serving under 1 of 3 conditions in a 1st session (waking, imagination, hypnosis). All received a standard hypnotic induction in a 2nd session. While the treatment effects did not yield significant differences on the 1st day, there were significant gains in responsiveness to suggestions by the waking and imagination groups in the 2nd session. In the 2nd experiment, with some methodological improvements, 90 Ss served in 6 groups of IS Ss each, in imagination without expectation of hypnosis, imagination with expectation of hypnosis, and hypnotic induction, in various combinations. Significant gains were found with hypnotic induction throughout. State reports (subjective responses of drifting into hypnosis) showed that those Ss within both imagination and hypnotic induction conditions who reported themselves as becoming hypnotized were the ones who yielded the highest suggestibility scores. The difficulty of obtaining significant treatment effects is noted unless Ss serve as their own controls.
Maternal low birth weight and adverse perinatal outcomes: the 1982 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study, Brazil.

OBJECTIVE To explore the association between maternal low birth weight (LBW) and adverse perinatal outcomes and to discriminate between confounders and mediating factors of these associations in a population-based birth cohort of Southern Brazil. METHODS Data from 794 female members of the 1982 Pelotas Birth Cohort Study known to have delivered a live-born singleton offspring up to December 2004 were analyzed. Maternal birth weights were recorded in 1982. The associations between maternal and offspring characteristics were estimated by Poisson regression. Confounding was tested for socioeconomic, demographic, and psychosocial factors. Maternal anthropometric characteristics and hypertensive diseases during pregnancy were considered mediating factors. RESULTS An increase of 100 grams (g) in mothers' birth weight predicted a gain of 21 g in their infants' birth weight (95% confidence interval (CI) 13.0-29.0 g, P < 0.001). Maternal LBW was associated with offspring LBW (prevalence ratio (PR) 2.28 (95% CI 1.34-3.89), P = 0.002), preterm birth (PR 1.78 (95% CI 1.12-2.81), P = 0.01), and small for gestational age (SGA) (PR 1.93 (95% CI 1.14-3.26), P = 0.01). A causal chain linking maternal LBW and offspring SGA was mediated by maternal prepregnancy weight. CONCLUSION Offspring of young women born with LBW are more likely to be LBW, preterm, and SGA. Public health strategies aimed at decreasing the frequency of LBW are necessary to reduce the perpetuation of adverse perinatal outcomes in later generations. The intermediate role of prepregnancy weight among LBW women opens a promising window to decreasing the prevalence of SGA in similar populations.
Automatical Emotion Recognition Based on Daily Gait

In this chapter, a kind of emotion recognition method based on gait using a customized smart bracelet with a built-in acceleration sensor was introduced in detail. The results showed that the classification accuracies of angry-neutral, happy-neutral, angry-happy, and angry-happy-neutral using the acceleration data of wrist are 91.3%, 88.5%, 88.5%, and 81.2%, respectively. Besides, the wearable devices and motion-sensing technology application in psychology research have been further discussed, and non-contact emotion identification and mental health monitoring based on offline behaviors were reviewed summarily.
Run-time power gating in hybrid ARM-FPGA devices

Energy proportional computing (EPC) enables the allocation of energy to tasks depending on computational demands. Computing at full speed and then dynamically turning off modules when they are not required for a period of time can be used to obtain EPC and it is an alternative to voltage scaling techniques in which the computation is slowed down. This paper investigates the viability of physical power gating FPGA devices that incorporate a hardened processor in a different power domain. The run-time power gating approach is applied to Xilinx ZYNQ devices that incorporate a hardened Cortex A9 multi-processor. The paper demonstrates that power down followed by a full reconfiguration can be controlled by the embedded processor autonomously. The results show that the minimum time that the FPGA fabric must remain in power-off state for the technique to be energy efficient is in the order of milliseconds and up to 96% power reduction occurs when the fabric voltage is lowered below critical level. These results take into account the overheads of controlling the programmable voltage regulators interfaced to the FPGA and the overhead of the reconfiguration needed when the device must be returned to the active state.
450K Epigenome-Wide Scan Identifies Differential DNA Methylation in Newborns Related to Maternal Smoking during Pregnancy

Background: Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, due to in utero exposures may play a critical role in early programming for childhood and adult illness. Maternal smoking is a major risk factor for multiple adverse health outcomes in children, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Objective: We investigated epigenome-wide methylation in cord blood of newborns in relation to maternal smoking during pregnancy. Methods: We examined maternal plasma cotinine (an objective biomarker of smoking) measured during pregnancy in relation to DNA methylation at 473,844 CpG sites (CpGs) in 1,062 newborn cord blood samples from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip (450K). Results: We found differential DNA methylation at epigenome-wide statistical significance (p-value < 1.06 × 10–7) for 26 CpGs mapped to 10 genes. We replicated findings for CpGs in AHRR, CYP1A1, and GFI1 at strict Bonferroni-corrected statistical significance in a U.S. birth cohort. AHRR and CYP1A1 play a key role in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling pathway, which mediates the detoxification of the components of tobacco smoke. GFI1 is involved in diverse developmental processes but has not previously been implicated in responses to tobacco smoke. Conclusions: We identified a set of genes with methylation changes present at birth in children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy. This is the first study of differential methylation across the genome in relation to maternal smoking during pregnancy using the 450K platform. Our findings implicate epigenetic mechanisms in the pathogenesis of the adverse health outcomes associated with this important in utero exposure.
Write Once, Get 50% Free: Saving SSD Erase Costs Using WOM Codes

NAND flash, used in modern SSDs, is a write-once medium, where each memory cell must be erased prior to writing. The lifetime of an SSD is limited by the number of erasures allowed on each cell. Thus, minimizing erasures is a key objective in SSD design. A promising approach to eliminate erasures and extend SSD lifetime is to use write-once memory (WOM) codes, designed to accommodate additional writes on write-once media. However, these codes inflate the physically stored data by at least 29%, and require an extra read operation before each additional write. This reduces the available capacity and I/O performance of the storage device, so far preventing the adoption of these codes in SSD design. We present Reusable SSD, in which invalid pages are reused for additional writes, without modifying the drive's exported storage capacity or page size. Only data written as a second write is inflated, and the required additional storage is provided by the SSD's inherent overprovisioning space. By prefetching invalid data and parallelizing second writes between planes, our design achieves latency equivalent to a regular write. We reduce the number of erasures by 33% in most cases, resulting in a 15% lifetime extension and an overall reduction of up to 35% in I/O response time, on a wide range of synthetic and production workloads and flash chip architectures.
0 Recent Progress in Development of Language Model for Slovak Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition

Speech technologies have a potentiality to simplify the human-machine interaction as well as the communication between people. The use of speech technology applications has nowadays continuously growing trend. Each speech recognition system, which stands in the heart of every speech application, besides an algorithmic complexity, is strongly language dependent. Therefore, one of the challenging tasks by the development of the Slovak large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) system is a creation of an efficient language model (LM).