Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Compressive data aggregation on mobile wireless sensor networks for sensing in bike races

This paper presents an efficient approach for collecting data in mobile wireless sensor networks which is specifically designed to gather real-time information of bikers in a bike race. The approach employs the recent HIKOB sensors for tracking the GPS position of each bike and the problem herein addressed is to transmit this information to a collector for visualization or other processing. Our approach exploits the inherent correlation between biker motions and aggregates GPS data at sensors using compressive sensing (CS) techniques. We enforce, instead of the standard signal sparsity, a spatial sparsity prior on biker motion because of the grouping behavior (peloton) in bike races. The spatial sparsity is modeled by a graphical model and the CS-based data aggregation problem is solved using linear programming. Our approach, integrated in a multi-round opportunistic routing protocol, is validated on data generated by a bike race simulator using trajectories of motorbikes obtained from a real race, the Paris-Tours 2013.
Abnormal regulation of aortic NOS2 and NOS3 activity and expression from portal vein‐stenosed rats after lipopolysaccharide administration

Hyporeactivity to vasoconstrictors in aortae from portal vein‐stenosed rats is associated with an increased activity of endothelial NO synthase (NOS3). In contrast, during sepsis, which is common in cirrhosis, vascular hyporeactivity is associated with an induction of inducible NOS2. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro reactivity to phenylephrine and the regulation of NOS2 and NOS3 in aortae from portal vein‐stenosed rats after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration. Aortic vascular reactivity for phenylephrine, aortic NOS activity, and NOS2 and NOS3 protein expression were determined 5 hours after intravenous LPS or saline administration. Moreover, aortic NOS activity was measured after 5‐hour in vitro incubation in LPS. LPS induced a significantly smaller decrease in aortic tension in portal vein‐stenosed than in sham‐operated rats. Under baseline conditions, aortic NOS activity and NOS3 protein expression were higher in portal vein‐stenosed than in sham‐operated rats, and NOS2 protein expression was not detected in aortae from either group. After LPS administration, NOS activity and NOS2 protein expression increased significantly less in portal vein‐stenosed than in sham‐operated rat aortae. Similar results were obtained after in vitro incubation with LPS. Endothelium removal or NOS3 inhibition with the calmodulin inhibitor, W7, increased NOS activity in the aortae of portal vein‐stenosed rats after LPS incubation. In conclusion, in aortae of portal vein‐stenosed rats exposed to LPS, no further decrease in aortic reactivity to phenylephrine was observed, and the induction of NOS2 was down‐regulated. Endothelium removal or calmodulin inhibition inhibits NOS3 overactivity and leads to normalized NOS2 activation after LPS in aortae from portal vein‐stenosed rats.
Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-I levels are strongly associated with insulin sensitivity and obesity in early pubertal children.

In conditions associated with insulin resistance, insulin-like growth factor binding protein-I (IGFBP-I) levels have been shown to correlate inversely with insulin levels. Puberty is associated with insulin resistance and thus provides a model for comparing the relationship of IGFBP-I to both insulin levels and measures of insulin sensitivity. Our study population consisted of 104 healthy pubertal children, age 9.8-14.6 yr. Each subject had his/her insulin sensitivity (Si) assessed by the modified minimal model of Bergman, which employs a frequently sampled i.v. glucose tolerance test. Results showed that IGFBP-I levels were significantly higher in boys than in pubertally matched girls (P < 0.01). There was a strong positive correlation between IGFBP-I levels and Si (r = 0.65, P < 0.0001) and a weaker negative correlation with fasting insulin levels (r = -0.38, P < 0.0001). An inverse relationship was also found between IGFBP-I levels and body mass index (r = -0.46, P < 0.0001) and with IGF-I levels (girls only, r = -0.41, P < 0.003). Consequently, insulin sensitivity, obesity, and IGF-I are important predictors of IGFBP-I levels in pubertal children. It is possible that insulin-mediated suppression of IGFBP-I in obese children may increase free IGF-I levels and thus contribute to somatic growth. The same mechanism may operate in pubertal children, where insulin resistance and growth acceleration occur simultaneously.
Comparison of ozone inactivation, in flowing water, of hepatitis A virus, poliovirus 1, and indicator organisms

In steadily flowing water at 20 degrees C and pH 7, five organisms had the following order of resistance to ozone (at constant levels of ozone): poliovirus 1 (PV1) less than Escherichia coli less than hepatitis A virus (HAV) less than Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 less than Bacillus subtilis spores. The tests were repeated at 10 degrees C with HAV, PV1, and E. coli. Ozone inactivation of HAV and E. coli was faster at 10 degrees C than at 20 degrees C. At 20 degrees C, 0.25 to 0.38 mg of O3 per liter was required for complete inactivation of HAV but only 0.13 mg of O3 per liter was required for complete inactivation of PV1.
Resisting Rationalisation in the Natural and Academic Life-world: Critical Tourism Research or Hermeneutic Charity?

This paper encourages and challenges tourism researchers struggling in the liminal zones between traditional modernist and critical or postmodernist (non-traditional) research. Using natural area destinations and concepts from critical theory (e.g. Habermas, 1978), it is argued that paralleling the instrumental use and rationalisation of natural areas and everyday life is the rationalisation of the academic research world by (post)positivistic paradigms. These rationalisations are resisted by critical and 'postmodern' paradigms that, ironically, can also contribute to placing the life-world of natural destinations 'under erasure'. So a more diversified and reflexive research praxis is called for, particularly, (1) critical approaches to complement functionalist research orientations, (2) understanding one's own ontological and epistemological assumptions regarding the natural world, and (3) hermeneutic charity that softens the emancipatory gaze of the critical researcher. Yellowstone National Park is used as an example to show how a critical narrative interprets these natural spaces as cultural, political and economic texts mediated by a number of scientific, promotional and symbolic tools serving a diverse range of interests.
HIV replication: a game of hide and sense

Purpose of reviewThe goal of this review is to summarize recent progress in our understanding of innate sensing of HIV. Furthermore, we present the mechanisms that HIV has evolved to attenuate innate immune responses and discuss open questions. Recent findingsToll-like receptors (TLRs) and various cytosolic sensors induce an antiviral interferon response upon detection of genomic HIV RNA or intermediates of reverse transcription. HIV limits activation of these sensing pathways by interfering with TLR signaling and by cloaking viral nucleic acids in the cytoplasm, before proviral dsDNA translocates into the nucleus. Furthermore, the viral accessory protein Vpu mitigates antiviral gene expression by inhibiting canonical nuclear factor kappa B (NF-&kgr;B) signaling. These evasion mechanisms, however, are imperfect and HIV infection almost inevitably triggers the activation of IRF3, NF-&kgr;B and other key transcription factors of antiviral immunity. Notably, the interplay of these processes plays a critical role in the induction of chronic inflammation that drives progression to AIDS. SummaryHIV has evolved sophisticated but imperfect mechanisms to evade and counteract innate sensing. Whether virus-induced immune activation represents merely a suboptimal adaptation of HIV to its human host or even facilitates HIV replication, for example by increasing the number of viral target cells, remains to be clarified.
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SELF-EFFICACY, COPING AND STUDENT RETENTION

Relationships between self-efficacy, coping and retention among first-year undergraduate students were investigated. Qualitative methods were used to develop a self-efficacy measure assessing confidence to achieve those competencies required to successfully complete the first year of an undergraduate degree. One hundred and thirty-one first-year students completed a 40-item self-efficacy questionnaire and the MCOPE (Crocker and Graham, 1995) at the start of the academic year. Factor analysis indicated a coherent 5-factor model that described self-efficacy to manage time, use learning resources, work in groups, work well in lectures, and communicate. Results indicated that the coping strategies of planning and seeking social support for instrumental purposes significantly related to more than one self-efficacy factor and that self-efficacy scores taken at the start of the course could correctly classify 81.3% of students who subsequently withdrew. Findings lend insight into the association between strategies used to cope with environmental and interpersonal demands, and self-efficacy to cope with the demands of an undergraduate degree.
A Low Power Transmitter for Phase-Shift Keying Modulation Schemes

This paper presents a novel continuous-phase phase-shift-keying (CP-PSK) modulation scheme and a low-power quadrature modulation architecture. In the proposed modulation scheme, phase-shift occurs in a smooth, continuous manner so that it can be implemented using an indirectly modulated frequency synthesizer. In the proposed transmitter architecture, low-power and low-complexity are achieved by employing two indirectly modulated synthesizers for the I and Q paths, thereby eliminating the need for mixers and digital-to-analog converters (DACs). Simulation results show that the bit error rate (BER) and the spectral efficiency of the proposed methods are close to those of ideal PSK modulation schemes
Counselling children and young people: A review of the evidence for its effectiveness

Abstract This paper summarises and presents the results of a BACP commissioned systematic scoping review on the research evidence on counselling children and young people. The methodology was based on a structured, hierarchical, systematic approach to searching and reviewing the research literature. Inclusion criteria defined the scope of the review in relation to a range of issues in counselling children and young people: behavioural problems and conduct disorders; emotional problems including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress; medical illness; school-related issues; self-harming practices and sexual abuse. Four groups of counselling approaches were examined: cognitive-behavioural; psychoanalytic; humanistic; and creative therapies. The findings indicate that the four therapeutic approaches are effective to a greater or lesser degree in relation to the range of issues. Although the findings show that there is little or no evidence for the effectiveness of some therapies for particular issues,.
The Pigeon and the Spectrum and other Perplexities

Recent developments in the study of stimulus generalization by means of operant conditioning methods require a re-examination of the problem of stimulus generalization and a review of the role of this concept in description and analysis of behavior. No final view of the outlines of learning theory can be achieved until more complete and fundamental information about generalization has been obtained. It has been established that in the pigeon orderly and reproducible bidirectional gradients can be obtained for individual Ss along the light-wavelength continuum. A dilemma is posed by the finding that these gradients are orderly on a physical scale; but not on an equal-discriminability scale. The form of the generalization function raises questions as the interpretation and meaning of the just-noticeable-difference concept. The problem of multidimensional stimulus generalization is discussed. The understanding of stimulus relationships in the generalization phenomenon is proposed as an issue of greater significance and difficulty than that of the control of generalization by such conventionally more prominent variables as drive and reinforcement.
Inhibitory synaptic plasticity: spike timing-dependence and putative network function

While the plasticity of excitatory synaptic connections in the brain has been widely studied, the plasticity of inhibitory connections is much less understood. Here, we present recent experimental and theoretical findings concerning the rules of spike timing-dependent inhibitory plasticity and their putative network function. This is a summary of a workshop at the COSYNE conference 2012.
Inflation Targeting Under Imperfect Knowledge

A central tenet of inflation targeting is that establishing and maintaining well-anchored inflation expectations are essential. In this paper, we reexamine the role of key elements of the inflation targeting framework towards this end, in the context of an economy where economic agents have an imperfect understanding of the macroeconomic landscape within which the public forms expectations and policymakers must formulate and implement monetary policy. Using an estimated model of the U.S. economy, we show that monetary policy rules that would perform well under the assumption of rational expectations can perform very poorly when we introduce imperfect knowledge. We then examine the performance of an easily implemented policy rule that incorporates three key characteristics of inflation targeting: transparency, commitment to maintaining price stability, and close monitoring of inflation expectations, and find that all three play an important role in assuring its success. Our analysis suggests that simple difference rules in the spirit of Knut Wicksell excel at tethering inflation expectations to the central bank's goal and in so doing achieve superior stabilization of inflation and economic activity in an environment of imperfect knowledge.
Eyes-On Training and Radiological Expertise

Objective: Our aim was to examine the specificity of the effects of acquiring expertise on visual working memory (VWM) and the degree to which higher levels of experience within the domain of expertise are associated with more efficient use of VWM. Background: Previous research is inconsistent on whether expertise effects are specific to the area of expertise or generalize to other tasks that also involve the same cognitive processes. It is also unclear whether more training and/or experience will lead to continued improvement on domain-relevant tasks or whether a plateau could be reached. Method: In Experiment 1, veterinary medicine students completed a one-shot visual change detection task. In Experiment 2, veterinarians completed a flicker change detection task. Both experiments involved stimuli specific to the domain of radiology and general stimuli. Results: In Experiment 1, veterinary medicine students who had completed an “eyes-on” radiological training demonstrated a domain-specific effect in which performance was better on the domain-specific stimuli than on the domain-general stimuli. In Experiment 2, veterinarians again showed a domain-specific effect, but performance was unrelated to the amount of experience veterinarians had accumulated. Conclusion: The effect of experience is domain specific and occurs during the first few years of training, after which a plateau is reached. Application: VWM training in one domain may not lead to improved performance on other VWM tasks. In acquiring expertise, eyes-on training is important initially, but continued experience may not be associated with further improvements in the efficiency of VWM.
Comparing Memory-Efficient Genome Assemblers on Stand-Alone and Cloud Infrastructures

A fundamental problem in bioinformatics is genome assembly. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies produce large volumes of fragmented genome reads, which require large amounts of memory to assemble the complete genome efficiently. With recent improvements in DNA sequencing technologies, it is expected that the memory footprint required for the assembly process will increase dramatically and will emerge as a limiting factor in processing widely available NGS-generated reads. In this report, we compare current memory-efficient techniques for genome assembly with respect to quality, memory consumption and execution time. Our experiments prove that it is possible to generate draft assemblies of reasonable quality on conventional multi-purpose computers with very limited available memory by choosing suitable assembly methods. Our study reveals the minimum memory requirements for different assembly programs even when data volume exceeds memory capacity by orders of magnitude. By combining existing methodologies, we propose two general assembly strategies that can improve short-read assembly approaches and result in reduction of the memory footprint. Finally, we discuss the possibility of utilizing cloud infrastructures for genome assembly and we comment on some findings regarding suitable computational resources for assembly.
Understanding householder responses to natural hazards: flooding and sea‐level rise comparisons

Starting from a general understanding that experience of hazards is important in motivating protective response, this paper reports a novel study to understand the relationship between householder experience, understanding and response to two natural hazards – flooding and sea‐level rise – in three contrasting high‐risk areas of England. It presents a generic Individual Understanding and Response Framework (IURF) as a simple but potentially valuable means of comparing hazards and expressing the dynamic processes that appear to heighten or attenuate understanding and drive or constrain responses to specific natural hazards. The IURFs confirm the complexity of factors underlying householder understanding and response. Even in high‐risk areas a lack of recent direct personal experience of flood events serves to attenuate understanding and to constrain motivation to take personal action. For sea‐level rise, as yet a largely ‘unknown’ hazard in the local context, perceived responsibility to act is transferred to others. Social networks are confirmed as important local sources of information often more important than the official. People evaluate potential protection or mitigation measures in terms of their efficacy, cost and implementation barriers. The paper concludes with discussion of the communication and engagement implications for communities at risk from natural hazards.
Map matching of mobile probes based on handover location technology

With the rapid development of wireless location technologies, mobile terminals as probes have been regarded as a feasible and low cost method for real-time and wide-area city traffic information collection. If mobile probes deployed in the suburban areas, it will be a feasible supplementary way of real-time traffic information collection in China. This paper tries to investigate map matching problem of mobile probes for further traffic information extraction in the suburban areas. In this paper, handover location technology was firstly used to collect location information for a test mobile probe in field runs on a stretch of highway in the inner suburban area in Beijing. GPS data were also collected in field tests. A map matching process is proposed to find the most matched path for the test mobile probe, including two map matching algorithms, the first one of which is used for determining the matched link for each handover in a sequence of handover and the second one of which is used for determining the matched path for the whole sequence of handover. In the first map matching algorithm, frequency of handover on a candidate link, distance between the matched position and starting node of a candidate link, and geographic topological relation were combined by D-S evidence theory to determine the matched link for each handover. In the second map matching algorithm, historical matching results, real time traveling time information, drivers' route selection behavior were combined together to find the matched path for the test mobile probe. Finally, map matching performance was verified and discussed by field data collected from test runs.
The Prepared Patient: Information Seeking of Online Support Group Members Before Their Medical Appointments

The authors examined online support group members' reliance on their Internet community and other online and offline health resources as they prepare for a scheduled medical appointment. Adult members of an online support group (N = 505) with an upcoming medical appointment completed an online questionnaire that included measures of illness perceptions, control preference, trust in the physician, and eHealth literacy; a checklist of actions one could take to acquire health information; and demographic questions. A factor analysis identified 4 types of information seeking: reliance on the online support group, use of other online health resources, use of offline health resources, and personal network contacts. Previsit information seeking on the Internet was extensive and typically augmented with offline information. Use of online health resources was highest among those who believed they had control over their illness, who attributed many symptoms and negative emotions to it, and who were more eHealth literate. Reliance on the online support group was highest among those who believed they had personal control over their illness, expected their condition to persist, and attributed negative emotions to it. Trust in the physician and preferences for involvement in decision making were unrelated to online information seeking. Most respondents intended to ask their physician questions and request clinical resources based on online information.
The Systemic-immune-inflammation Index Independently Predicts Survival and Recurrence in Resectable Pancreatic Cancer and its Prognostic Value Depends on Bilirubin Levels: A Retrospective Multicenter Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE Our aim was to determine the prognostic significance of the systemic-immune-inflammation index (SIII) in patients with resectable pancreatic cancer, using cancer-specific survival as the primary outcome. BACKGROUND Pancreatic cancer is associated with a dysfunctional immune system and poor prognosis. We examined the prognostic significance of the SIII in patients with resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and the effects of bilirubin on this index. METHODS We retrospectively assessed all pancreatic resections performed between 2004 and 2015 at 4 tertiary referral centers to identify pathologically confirmed PDAC patients. Baseline clinicopathologic characteristics, preoperative laboratory values such as absolute neutrophil, lymphocyte, and platelet counts, C-reactive protein, albumin, bilirubin, and CA19-9 levels, and also follow-up information, were collected. The associations of the calculated inflammatory indices with outcome were both internally and externally validated. RESULTS In all, 590 patients with resectable PDAC were included. The discovery and validation cohort included 170 and 420 patients, respectively. SIII >900 [hazard ratio (HR) 2.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.55-3.48], lymph node ratio (HR 3.75, 95% CI 2.08-6.76), and CA19.9 >200 kU/L (HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.07-2.46) were identified as independent predictors of cancer-specific survival. Separate model analysis confirmed that preoperative SIII contributed significantly to prognostication. However, SIII appeared to lose its prognostic significance in patients with bilirubin levels above 200 μmol/L. CONCLUSIONS SIII is an independent predictor of cancer-specific survival and recurrence in patients with resectable PDAC. SIII may lose its prognostic significance in patients with high bilirubin levels. Properly designed prospective studies are needed to further confirm this hypothesis.