Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is B1422+231 a “Golden Lens”?

The object B1422+231 is a quadruply imaged QSO with an exceptionally large lensing contribution from group galaxies other than main lensing galaxy. We have detected diffuse X-rays from the galaxy group in archival Chandra observations; the inferred temperature is consistent with the published velocity dispersion. We explore the range of possible mass maps that would be consistent with the observed image positions, radio fluxes, and ellipticities. Under plausible but not very restrictive assumptions about the lensing galaxy, predicted time delays involving the faint fourth image are fairly well constrained around 7 h-1 days.
Energetic trust management services over unattended wireless sensor networks

Unattended Wireless Sensor Networks (UWSNs) are portrayed by long stretches of separated operation and altered or unpredictable interims between sink visits. The nonappearance of a trusted outsider suggests that current WSN trust administration plans are not appropriate to UWSNs. In this approach, we propose a trust administration plan for UWSNs to give effective and vigorous trust information stockpiling and trust era. For trust information stockpiling, we utilize a geographic hash table to distinguish stockpiling hubs and to altogether lessening stockpiling cost. We utilize subjective rationale based agreement strategies to moderate trust variances brought about by ecological variables. We abuse an arrangement of trust similitude capacities to identify trust exceptions and to support trust contamination assaults. We illustrate, through broad investigations and reproductions, that the proposed plan is effective, powerful and versatile. In this Project we have to form a Wireless Sensor Network with different set of nodes in it. Each node has a capacity to travel from one place to another, if any node wants to make a communication with another node, it has to make a request to the recipient node to identify whether that node is able to receive or not, once the recipient acknowledges for the request connection is established between source and destination. In between it also checks if any of the nodes are unattended in the scenario which means that it acts like a malicious node and that should be eliminated while transactions. For all the above demonstrations we have to follow the classification algorithm called Bayesian and maintain the Hash table logic to provide successful data transmission between source and destination.
New bounds and algorithms for on-line scheduling: two identical processors, known sum and upper bound on the tasks

In this paper we study a semi on-line version of the classical multiprocessor scheduling problem on two identical processors. We assume that the sum of the tasks and an upper bound gamma on the size of each task are known. Each task has to be assigned upon arrival and the assignment cannot be changed later. The objective is the minimization of the maximum completion time on the processors. In this paper we propose new algorithms and improve known lower and upper bounds on the competitive ratio. Algorithms and bounds depend on the value of gamma. An optimal algorithm is obtained for gamma in the interval [ 1/n,2(n+1)/n(2n+1) ] and gamma = (2n-1)/2n(n-1), where n is any integer value larger or equal 2.
The Impact of Local Tax Referenda on School District Administration and Student Achievement *

Many public school districts rely on revenue from local taxes approved via popular referendum. The dynamics of these referendum elections therefore could have a significant impact on school district administration and student learning. We estimated these effects using data on more than 4,200 referenda held in Ohio districts between 2003 and 2013. The results indicate that referendum failure (instead of passage) had a negative impact on district expenditures and student achievement in the years immediately following the election. The negative achievement effects correspond to approximately 0.05-0.10 standard deviations in district educational quality. However, these initial impacts generally dissipate after 4-6 years, as districts eventually secure voter approval for tax levies and revenues rebound. The analysis employs multiple identification strategies and examines potential mechanisms to support the causal interpretation of these results, providing insights about district responses to fiscal stress and the transaction costs associated with using direct democracy to raise local revenues. [Word count: 152] JEL codes: H20, H52, H71, H75, I20, I22, I28
Weekly patterns of México City's surface concentrations of CO, NO x , PM 10 and O 3 during 1986–2007

Surface pollutant concentrations in M´ exico City show a distinct pattern of weekly variations similar to that observed in many other cities of the world. Measurements of the concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen ox- ides (NOx=NO+NO2), particulate matter smaller than 10 µm (PM10), and ozone (O3) collected hourly over 22 years (1986-2007) at 39 urban monitoring locations were ana- lyzed. Morning concentrations of CO, NOx, and PM10 are lower on Saturdays and even more so on Sundays, compared to workdays (Monday-Friday), while afternoon O3 concen- trations change minimally and are occasionally even higher. This weekend effect is empirical evidence that photochem- ical O3 production is NOx-inhibited, and to the extent that emissions of CO are proportional to those of reactive volatile organic compounds (VOCs), it is VOC-limited, at least in the urban areas for which the monitoring stations are represen- tative. The VOC-limitation has increased in the past decade, due to decreases in the concentrations of CO (and presum- ably VOCs) and consequent decreases in the CO/NOx and VOC/NOx ratios. Enhancements of photolysis frequencies resulting from smaller weekend aerosol burdens are not neg- ligible, but fall short of being an alternate explanation for the observed weekend effect. The strength of the weekend effect indicates that local radical termination occurs primar- ily via formation of nitric acid and other NOx-related com- pounds, some of which (e.g. peroxy acyl nitrates) can con- tribute to the regional NOx budget. While VOC emission reductions would be most effective in reducing local O3 pro- duction, NOx emission reduction may be more important for controlling regional oxidants.
Measurements of serum müllerian inhibiting substance in the evaluation of children with nonpalpable gonads.

BACKGROUND Müllerian inhibiting substance, produced constitutively by the prepubertal testes, promotes involution of the müllerian ducts during normal male sexual differentiation. In children with virilization and nonpalpable gonads, only those with testicular tissue should have detectable serum concentrations of müllerian inhibiting substance. METHODS We measured serum mullerian inhibiting substance in 65 children with virilization at birth and nonpalpable gonads (age at diagnosis, 2 days to 11 years) and serum testosterone in 54 of them either after the administration of human chorionic gonadotropin or during the physiologic rise in testosterone that occurs in normal infants. RESULTS The mean (+/-SD) serum mullerian inhibiting substance concentration in the 17 children with no testicular tissue was 0.7+/-0.5 ng per milliliter, as compared with 37.5+/-39.6 ng per milliliter in the 48 children with testes (P<0.001). In the latter group, the mean values in the 14 children with abnormal testes and the 34 with normal testes were 11.5+/-11.8 and 48.2+/-42.1 ng per milliliter, respectively (P< 0.001). The sensitivity and specificity of the serum müllerian inhibiting substance assay for detecting the absence of testicular tissue were 92 percent and 98 percent, respectively, as compared with 69 percent and 83 percent for the measurement of serum testosterone. Furthermore, measurement of serum mullerian inhibiting substance was more sensitive than serum testosterone measurement for the identification of children with abnormal testes (67 percent vs. 25 percent), whereas the specificity of the two tests was similar. CONCLUSIONS Measurements of serum mullerian inhibiting substance can be used to determine testicular status in prepubertal children with nonpalpable gonads, thus differentiating anorchia from undescended testes in boys with bilateral cryptorchidism and serving as a measure of testicular integrity in children with intersexual anomalies.
Making Code Structural Quality Metrics More Relevant and Useful in a Project Context

Several experimental studies have shown that code structural complexity metrics have a high influence on the quality of software. Generally, code structural metrics for software are measured at each applicable unit level (method, class etc) by static analysis tools. Some tools also aggregate them in various ways to get a system level indicator for that metric. There is also an attempt to show a single health indicator for a piece of software combining multiple metrics in different dimensions by certain tools. Our research attempt has been to establish a comprehensive structural analysis methodology to assess a piece of software from structural perspective in multiple dimensions which we believe is not much prevalent in industry. The objective of this paper is to bring out inadequacies of existing approaches and limitations of tools which we discovered during this journey. Further we also share a new comprehensive approach which was found to be more meaningful and useful in the project context. This approach has been validated by applying it in 40+ real-life projects covering 15 million lines of code in Java and C++ technologies.
Fatty Acid Metabolites in Rapidly Proliferating Breast Cancer

Purpose Breast cancers that over-express a lipoxygenase or cyclooxygenase are associated with poor survival possibly because they overproduce metabolites that alter the cancer’s malignant behaviors. However, these metabolites and behaviors have not been identified. We here identify which metabolites among those that stimulate breast cancer cell proliferation in vitro are associated with rapidly proliferating breast cancer. Experimental Design We used selective ion monitoring-mass spectrometry to quantify in the cancer and normal breast tissue of 27 patients metabolites that stimulate (15-, 12-, 5-hydroxy-, and 5-oxo-eicosatetraenoate, 13-hydroxy-octadecaenoate [HODE]) or inhibit (prostaglandin [PG]E2 and D2) breast cancer cell proliferation. We then related their levels to each cancer’s proliferation rate as defined by its Mib1 score. Results 13-HODE was the only metabolite strongly, significantly, and positively associated with Mib1 scores. It was similarly associated with aggressive grade and a key component of grade, mitosis, and also trended to be associated with lymph node metastasis. PGE2 and PGD2 trended to be negatively associated with these markers. No other metabolite in cancer and no metabolite in normal tissue had this profile of associations. Conclusions Our data fit a model wherein the overproduction of 13-HODE by 15-lipoxygenase-1 shortens breast cancer survival by stimulating its cells to proliferate and possibly metastasize; no other oxygenase-metabolite pathway, including cyclooxygenase-PGE2/D2 pathways, uses this specific mechanism to shorten survival.
Results from a Tactile Array on the Fingertip

Data from a 100-contactor tactile array on the fingertip (1 mm × 1 mm matrix) suggest that it may be possible to target different receptor populations in the skin by using different frequencies of vibratory stimulation (40 Hz and 320 Hz). Results from perception of a moving target within a uniform "background" vibration indicate that there is greater spatial acuity for perception at 320 Hz than at 40 Hz. In the absence of a background vibration, discrimination between moving-bar stimuli presented at resolutions of 1 mm, 2 mm and 3 mm is difficult, particularly at 40 Hz, suggesting that a 100-contactor tactile array may offer little advantage over a 25contactor array (2 mm × 2 mm matrix) in some contexts.
Motor Adaptation as a Process of Reoptimization

Adaptation is sometimes viewed as a process in which the nervous system learns to predict and cancel effects of a novel environment, returning movements to near baseline (unperturbed) conditions. An alternate view is that cancellation is not the goal of adaptation. Rather, the goal is to maximize performance in that environment. If performance criteria are well defined, theory allows one to predict the reoptimized trajectory. For example, if velocity-dependent forces perturb the hand perpendicular to the direction of a reaching movement, the best reach plan is not a straight line but a curved path that appears to overcompensate for the forces. If this environment is stochastic (changing from trial to trial), the reoptimized plan should take into account this uncertainty, removing the overcompensation. If the stochastic environment is zero-mean, peak velocities should increase to allow for more time to approach the target. Finally, if one is reaching through a via-point, the optimum plan in a zero-mean deterministic environment is a smooth movement but in a zero-mean stochastic environment is a segmented movement. We observed all of these tendencies in how people adapt to novel environments. Therefore, motor control in a novel environment is not a process of perturbation cancellation. Rather, the process resembles reoptimization: through practice in the novel environment, we learn internal models that predict sensory consequences of motor commands. Through reward-based optimization, we use the internal model to search for a better movement plan to minimize implicit motor costs and maximize rewards.
DOAS 2007 project Looking-at-people: intelligent surveillance systems

A poppet type valve assembly comprising a body having an axial bore extending therethrough and defining a fluid flow passage and an internal, generally cylindrical valve chamber. Seat means are carried in the bore adjacent a first end of the valve chamber to define a valve seat coaxial with the bore. A poppet valve member is mounted in the chamber for movement axially thereof toward and away from the seat. Extending axially of the chamber is a coil spring for maintaining the poppet valve member under a continual bias toward the seat. Valve stop means are provided for limiting movement of the poppet valve member in a direction away from the valve seat. The valve stop means including a central body portion having a plurality of legs which extend radially between a shoulder and the coil spring. A central body portion of the stop extends axially into the coil spring toward the poppet valve member a distance such that movement of the poppet valve away from the seat is stopped before the coil spring is fully compressed.
Do not ask whether they have a cognitive map , but how they find their way about

The publication of "The hippocampus as a cognitive map" (O'Keefe & Nadel, 1978) has had a remarkable impact, stimulating a huge amount of both behavioural and neurobiological research on spatial learning and memory, involving both laboratory and field studies, and employing a variety of novel techniques. The reviews of this general area of research provided by the previous contributors to this special issue attest to the progress that has been made since 1978. No one would now doubt that the hippocampus is implicated in the use of configurations of landmarks to locate a goal in both mammals and birds, although the precise nature of that implication remains a matter of much speculation and debate. On balance, however, the behavioural evidence does not seem to have supported O'Keefe and Nadel's original hypothesis that true spatial or locale learning is quite distinct from simple associative learning and depends on the establishment of a cognitive map of the environment.
Computer Simulation for Cerebellar Learning Using Climbing Fiber Spikes as the Error Signal

Cerebellar motor learning, including an acquisition of ocular following response (OFR), can be reproduced using mean firing rates (MFRs) as the error signal of climbing fibers (CFs). But real neurons transmit the signal by spikes, which are discrete events. It is not obvious whether learning is possible with discrete spike trains. To address this issue we performed a computer simulation of cerebellar learning using CF spikes - instead of MFR as the error signal for Purkinje cells (PCs). To generate the spikes we used four spike generation models. And we found that in an OFR task with a constant visual velocity, learning was successful with stochastic models, but not in the deterministic models
1 Vocabulary Assessment

This study explores the use of task that can be applied in a uniform fashion across different languages to compare levels of vocabulary development in foreign language learning. Experiment 1 tested native speakers of Russian and German and demonstrated the basic comparability of subjects' judgments for both words and nonwords. The results for Russian showed an influence of word length which can be understood in terms of the Orthographical Depth Hypothesis. Experiment 2 applied the same task to learners of Russian and German and found that learners of Russian had achieved a lower level of vocabulary control than learners of German at comparable language exposure levels. This disadvantage for Russian can be attributed to the novelty of the Cyrillic graphemic system which restricts the accessibility of written language input at early stages. There was a nonlinear increase over time in word sensitivity that can be attributed to the increasing contribution of lexical plausibility factors at later stages of learning. Also, the lexical decision task appeared to be sensitive to inhibitory effects of concurrently studied languages, as well as decay due to lack of regular exposure. Together, these results indicate that the lexical decision task can be a useful tool for the assessment and crosslinguistic comparison of lexical development in foreign language learning. Language teachers have long understood that some languages are more difficult than others. To properly assign students to languages at both universities and large language teaching institutes, it is important to understand the exact nature of differing challenges that languages present to the student (MacWhinney, in press). In order to better understand these issues, researchers interested in foreign language acquisition (FLA) need to perform crosslinguistic comparisons. However, these comparisons can only make sense if we can compare groups that are at equal levels of language exposure. For example, we might want to know whether second-year learners of German have learned more German than second-year learners of Russian have learned Russian, given comparable levels of exposure? More specifically, we might want to know whether second-year learners of German have acquired a larger vocabulary or have more accurate pronunciation than second-year learners of Russian, given comparable levels of exposure.
Controlling Inbound Traffic

This work considers the problem of prioritizing the inbound TCP traffic of an organization network. The objective is to allocate dynamically a specific share of the incoming link bandwidth to a high priority inbound TCP traffic. However, if the high priority TCP traffic does not fully use its dedicated share, the low priority TCP traffic may take advantage of the unused bandwidth. Up to today, a network administrator has no control over the inbound traffic if the Internet Service Provider does not offer some QoS mechanism. Three different techniques are proposed and evaluated: a proxy flow controller (PFC), a fake ECN flow controller (FECN), and a fake bottleneck (FBK). These techniques allow a network administrator to prioritize the inbound traffic and allocate dynamically the bandwidth without any external cooperation or deployment of any special infrastructure. No change in the TCP code is required. No infrastructure such as Diffserv or MPLS is required. The ns-2 simulator is used to evaluate the three techniques. The three techniques succeed to secure a target fraction of bandwidth to the high priority traffic under most conditions. The proxy flow controller performs best.
Ets-1 Stimulates Platelet-Derived Growth Factor A-Chain Gene Transcription and Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Growth via Cooperative Interactions With Sp1

The platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) family of ligands (composed of A-, B-, C-, and D-chains), potent mitogens, and chemoattractants for cells of mesenchymal origin has been implicated in numerous vascular pathologies involving smooth muscle cell (SMC) hyperplasia. Understanding the molecular mechanisms mediating PDGF transcription would provide new insights into strategies to control PDGF-dependent pathophysiologic processes. We demonstrated previously that PDGF-A expression is under the positive regulatory influence of Sp1, Sp3, and Egr-1 and is negatively controlled by GCF2, NF-1(X), and WT-1. In this article, we demonstrate that Ets-1 induces PDGF-A expression in primary rat aortic SMCs at the level of transcription and mRNA expression. Electrophoretic mobility shift, supershift, and mutational analyses revealed a functional role for the −555TTCC−552 motif in the PDGF-A promoter that binds endogenous Ets-1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed the interaction of endogenous and exogenous Ets-1 or glutathione S-transferase-tagged Ets-1, bearing only the DNA-binding domain with the authentic PDGF-A promoter. Conversely, dominant-negative mutant of Ets-1 blocked the promoter interaction of endogenous Ets-1. Overexpression of Ets-1 but not the mutant form of Ets-1 activates the PDGF-A promoter cooperatively with Sp1. Sp1, which interacts with Ets-1, failed to induce PDGF-A promoter-dependent expression if the promoter contained a site-specific mutation in this novel Ets-binding site. Small interfering RNA to Ets-1 and Sp1 blocked PDGF-BB- and serum-inducible PDGF-A expression. SMC growth was stimulated by Ets-1 and Sp1 separately and further increased by both factors together. Ets-1–inducible mitogenesis is blocked by antibodies neutralizing PDGF-A and involves activation of the PDGF &agr;-receptor, which binds PDGF-A. These findings identify a functional cis-acting element for Ets-1 in the PDGF-A promoter and demonstrate that Sp1 and Ets-1 cooperatively activate PDGF-A transcription in vascular SMCs.
CD1-Restricted T Cells at the Crossroad of Innate and Adaptive Immunity

Lipid-specific T cells comprise a group of T cells that recognize lipids bound to the MHC class I-like CD1 molecules. There are four isoforms of CD1 that are expressed at the surface of antigen presenting cells and therefore capable of presenting lipid antigens: CD1a, CD1b, CD1c, and CD1d. Each one of these isoforms has distinct structural features and cellular localizations, which promotes binding to a broad range of different types of lipids. Lipid antigens originate from either self-tissues or foreign sources, such as bacteria, fungus, or plants and their recognition by CD1-restricted T cells has important implications in infection but also in cancer and autoimmunity. In this review, we describe the characteristics of CD1 molecules and CD1-restricted lipid-specific T cells, highlighting the innate-like and adaptive-like features of different CD1-restricted T cell subtypes.