Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On A Class of Limited Memory Preconditioners For Large Scale Linear Systems With Multiple Right-Hand Sides

This work studies a class of limited memory preconditioners (LMPs) for solving linear (positive-definite) systems of equations with multiple right-hand sides. We propose a class of (LMPs), whose construction requires a small number of linearly independent vectors. After exploring the theoretical properties of the preconditioners, we focus on three particular members: spectral-LMP, quasi-Newton-LMP, and Ritz-LMP. We show that the first two are well known, while the third is new. Numerical tests indicate that the Ritz-LMP is efficient on a real-life nonlinear optimization problem arising in a data assimilation system for oceanography.
M2 Macrophages Phagocytose Rituximab-Opsonized Leukemic Targets More Efficiently than M1 Cells In Vitro1

Because macrophages have been implicated as major players in the mechanism of action of rituximab, we have investigated the factors that modulate their tumor cell killing potential. Human macrophages, differentiated in vitro from peripheral blood monocytes, were used in binding and phagocytosis assays using B-chronic lymphocytic leukemia or lymphoma target cells opsonized with rituximab. Phagocytosis was maximal at 0.1 μg/ml rituximab and was not significantly affected by CD20 expression levels or by CD16A polymorphism at position 158 (Val/Phe). The role of FcγRs was demonstrated by complete inhibition of phagocytosis by excess human Igs. Because macrophages can be differentiated to M1- or M2-type cells with either GM-CSF or M-CSF, respectively, and can be classically activated by proinflammatory stimuli (IFN-γ/LPS) or undergo alternative activation with cytokines such as IL-4 or IL-10, we have analyzed the effect of these different polarization programs on the phagocytosis mediated by rituximab. Macrophages differentiated in presence of M-CSF showed a 2- to 3-fold greater phagocytic capacity compared with GM-CSF-induced cells. Furthermore, addition of IL-10 significantly increased, whereas IL-4 decreased phagocytosis by both M-CSF- and GM-CSF-differentiated macrophages. LPS/IFN-γ had little effect. Expression of CD16, CD32, and CD64 in different macrophage populations correlated with phagocytic activity. Interestingly, several B lymphoma cell lines were observed to secrete 400-1300 pg/ml IL-10 in vitro, and coculture of human macrophages with lymphoma conditioned medium increased significantly their phagocytic capacity. Our data suggest that cytokines secreted by lymphoma cells can favor alternate activation of macrophages with a high phagocytic capacity toward rituximab-opsonized targets.
La Identificación Del Conocimiento Y Actitudes Del Profesorado Hacia Inclusión De Los Alumnos Con Necesidades Educativas Especiales

This article describes the development and evaluation of a tool to assess knowledge and attitudes of teachers towards inclusion of students with special educational needs (SEN). A questionnaire on attitudes of teachers towards these students was designed paying attention to three different levels: knowledge and attitude towards disability, organization of the educational response created to help students with SEN, and professional skills to adequately respond to the SEN students. The suitability of the instrument was assessed takng into account its content validity, reliability and underlying structure. Six different key dimensions, related to the investigations that have been carried out so far, were analyzed. These dimensions justified, from their theoretical point of view, their value.
Popularity and Social Preference in Chinese Adolescents: Associations with Social and Behavioral Adjustment

This study examined the characteristics associated with popularity and social preference in 769 14-year-old adolescents (54 percent boys) from mainland China. Consistent with findings from other countries, popularity and social preference were moderately correlated and overt aggression was positively correlated with popularity but negatively correlated with social preference. Prosocial behavior, athletic skill, dating, academic achievement, and mutual friends were positively associated with both popularity and social preference, with the effects for prosocial behavior, athletic skill, and dating greater for popularity than for social preference. The strong correlations between popularity and prosocial behavior are consistent with Confucian ideas of moral leadership and the obligations of high status individuals toward others. Cultural values are also reflected in the association of popularity with academic achievement. The inconsistent findings from China regarding the relation between aggression and popularity may stem from multiple factors including the absence of a suitable Chinese translation for popularity.
University of Birmingham Design of filtering microstrip antenna array with reduced sidelobe level

—For the requirements of efficient integration and simple fabrication, a new co-design approach for a microstrip filter with an antenna array with reduced sidelobe level is introduced in this paper. The microstrip patch antennas and the stub-loaded resonators are used to illustrate the synthesis of a bandpass filtering antenna array. By controlling the coupling strength between the resonators, a uniform or non-uniform power divider network can be obtained. A non-uniform power division is used to reduce the sidelobe level. The equivalent lumped circuit model is developed and analyzed in detail. Two types of eight-element filtering antenna array with uniform and tapered power-distribution among the elements have been designed. Simulated and measured results provide a good verification for the theoretical concepts.
Functional and faulty behavior analysis: some experiments and lessons learnt

The design of dependable systems requires that the assessment of fault tolerance solutions be carried out as early as possible. This paper addresses this issue by studying a framework aimed at analyzing the behavior of these systems in the presence of faults. The proposed approach combines functional and behavioral modeling, fault injection and simulation. The paper reports on the investigation of such an approach on four practical architectures derived from real-world industrial systems. In the experiments we used two design tools, namely: Statemate(TM) and RDD-100(TM). Finally, main results and lessons learnt are discussed, and subsequent directions to further exploit these results are proposed.
Audio in place: media, mobility & HCI - creating meaning in space

Audio-based content, location and mobile technologies can offer a multitude of interactional possibilities when combined in innovative and creative ways. It is important not to underestimate impact of the interplay between location, place and sound. Even if intangible and ephemeral, sounds impact upon the way in which we experience the built as well as the natural world. As technology offer us the opportunity to augment and access the world, mobile technologies offer us the opportunity to interact while moving though the world. They are technologies that can mediate, provide and locate experience in the world. Vision, and to some extent the tactile senses have been dominant modalities discussed in experiential terms within HCI. This workshop suggests that there is a need to better understand how sound can be used for shaping and augmenting the experiential qualities of places through mobile computing.
Modular Equivalence in General

The notion of modular equivalence was recently introduced in the context of a module architecture proposed for logic programs under answer set semantics [12, 6, 13]. In this paper, the module architecture is abstracted for arbitrary knowledge bases, KB-functions for short, giving rise to a universal notion of modular equivalence. A further objective of this paper is to study modular equivalence in the contexts of SAT-functions, i.e., propositional theories with a module interface, and their logic programming counterpart, known as LP-functions [6]. As regards SAT-functions, we establish the full compositionality of classical semantics. This proves modular equivalence a proper congruence relation for SAT-functions. Moreover, we address the interoperability of SAT-functions and LP-functions in terms of strongly faithful transformations in both directions. These considerations justify the proposed design of KB-functions in general and pave the way for hybrid KB-functions.
Molecular characterization of a defense-related AMP-binding protein gene, OsBIABP1, from rice

We cloned and characterized a rice gene OsBIABP1 encoding an AMP-binding protein. The full-length cDNA of OsBIABP1 is 1912-bp long and is predicted to encode a 558-aa protein. OsBIABP1 contains a typical AMP-binding signature motif and shows high similarity to members of AMP-binding protein family. OsBIABP1 is expressed in stems, leaves and flowers of rice plants, but is not expressed, or expressed at a very low level, in rice roots. The expression of OsBIABP1 was induced by some defense-related signal molecules, e.g., salicylic acid (SA), benzothiadiazole, jasmonic acid (JA), and 1-amino cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, which mediate SA- and JA/ethylene (ET)-dependent defense signaling pathways, respectively. Furthermore, the expression of OsBIABP1 is activated by the infection of Magnaporthe oryzae, and the induced expression is quicker and stronger during early stages of pathogenesis in incompatible interaction than that in compatible interaction between rice and M. oryzae. Our results suggest that OsBIABP1 may be a defense-related AMP-binding protein that is involved in the regulation of defense response through SA and/or JA/ET signaling pathways.
Editorial: Exploring Lipid-related Treatment Options for the Treatment of NASH.

The liver plays a major role in lipid metabolism, importing free fatty acids (FFA) and manufacturing, storing and exporting lipids: derangements in any of these processes can lead to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) [1]. NAFLD can be seen as the result of an imbalance between lipid availability and lipid disposal resulting in hepatic steatosis [2]. NAFLD is considered by many as the hepatic manifestation of insulin resistance (IR) and is strongly associated with the metabolic syndrome [3]. The rapid increase in obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM) during the last decade is associated with an increase in the prevalence of NAFLD, making it the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the Western countries with up to 30% of the population affected [4]. Histological evaluation is the gold standard for precisely estimating the degree of liver damage caused by simple steatosis or by non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
Comparative study of two sparse multinomial logistic regression models in decoding visual stimuli from brain activity of fMRI

Recently, sparse algorithms, such as Sparse Multinomial Logistic Regression (SMLR), have been successfully applied in decoding visual information from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, where the contrast of visual stimuli was predicted by a classifier. The contrast classifier combined brain activities of voxels with sparse weights. For sparse algorithms, the goal is to learn a classifier whose weights distributed as sparse as possible by introducing some prior belief about the weights. There are two ways to introduce a sparse prior constraints for weights: the Automatic Relevance Determination (ARD-SMLR) and Laplace prior (LAP-SMLR). In this paper, we presented comparison results between the ARD-SMLR and LAP-SMLR models in computational time, classification accuracy and voxel selection. Results showed that, for fMRI data, no significant difference was found in classification accuracy between these two methods when voxels in V1 were chosen as input features (totally 1017 voxels). As for computation time, LAP-SMLR was superior to ARD-SMLR; the survived voxels for ARD-SMLR was less than LAP-SMLR. Using simulation data, we confirmed the classification performance for the two SMLR models was sensitive to the sparsity of the initial features, when the ratio of relevant features to the initial features was larger than 0.01, ARD-SMLR outperformed LAP-SMLR; otherwise, LAP-SMLR outperformed LAP-SMLR. Simulation data showed ARD-SMLR was more efficient in selecting relevant features.
Patterns of Macrolide Resistance Determinants among S. pyogenes and S. pneumoniae Isolates in Saudi Arabia

In the study we characterized the macrolide sensitivity of recent clinical isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes and S. pneumoniae collected from major Saudi Arabian hospitals. Susceptibility testing was performed using standard National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards methodology on 335 S. pyogenes and 350 S. pneumoniae isolates. Macrolide resistance mechanism phenotypes were identified using double-disk diffusion. All S. pyogenes were penicillin sensitive, while 6.3% were macrolide resistant, the main mechanism of which was of M phenotype (96%). Approximately 51% of S. pneumoniae were penicillin non-susceptible. Macrolide resistance in S. pneumoniae accounted for 18.8%, the majority of which were M phenotype (91%). Low-level resistance mediated by mef-bearing strains predominated. Newer macrolides, including azithromycin, are still considered drugs of choice for empirical treatment of respiratory infection in such circumstances.
On a Modal -calculus for S4 ?

We present ! 2 , a concise formulation of a proof term calculus for the intuitionistic modal logic S4 that is well-suited for practical applications. We show that, with respect to provability, it is equivalent to other formulations in the literature, sketch a simple type checking algorithm, and prove subject reduction and the existence of canonical forms for well-typed terms. Applications include a new formulation of natural deduction for intuitionistic linear logic, modal logical frameworks, and a logical analysis of staged computation and binding-time analysis for functional languages 6].
Alterations in Lung Macrophage Antimicrobial Activity Associated with Viral Pneumonia

Secondary bacterial infections are a common sequelae of viral pneumonias. To study 2 functions of the phagocytic defenses of the lung, macrophages were obtained by lung lavage from parainfluenza 1 virus-infected and noninfected mice. The phagocytic capacities (binding, ingestion, and killing) of these cells were assessed in vitro against viable Candida krusei. Viral pneumonia resulted in a progressive suppression (through day 7 of the infection) of the ability of macrophages to bind candida to their surfaces by nonimmunological or complement receptors; ingestion and intracellular killing of candida were also decreased. After day 7, all these functions returned and, in fact, cells with enhanced activities were present on day 17. After introduction of virus into the lungs, the lung macrophage population increased significantly between days 3 and 7 of infection. This resulted in an increase in the phagocytic potential of the lung, despite the virus-associated suppression of the phagocytic activity in a portion of the macrophages. However, the ability of the macrophages to kill ingested microorganisms was also reduced, resulting in an overall deficiency in the lung macrophage defenses. It was concluded that viral pneumonia was associated with at least two suppressive effects on the lung macrophage—decreased receptor activity and microbicidal activity—resulting in a deficiency in the lung phagocytic defenses represented by these cells. These effects were maximal 1 week after infection and could account for the increased susceptibility of these lungs to secondary bacterial pneumonias. In contrast, during the period of convalescence, the lung macrophage antimicrobial activities were increased and reflected in enhanced resistance of the lungs to infections.
Decoding Pedophilia: Increased Anterior Insula Response to Infant Animal Pictures

Previous research found increased brain responses of men with sexual interest in children (i.e., pedophiles) not only to pictures of naked children but also to pictures of child faces. This opens the possibly that pedophilia is linked (in addition to or instead of an aberrant sexual system) to an over-active nurturing system. To test this hypothesis we exposed pedophiles and healthy controls to pictures of infant and adult animals during functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. By using pictures of infant animals (instead of human infants), we aimed to elicit nurturing processing without triggering sexual processing. We hypothesized that elevated brain responses to nurturing stimuli will be found – in addition to other brain areas – in the anterior insula of pedophiles because this area was repeatedly found to be activated when adults see pictures of babies. Behavioral ratings confirmed that pictures of infant or adult animals were not perceived as sexually arousing neither by the pedophilic participants nor by the heathy controls. Statistical analysis was applied to the whole brain as well as to the anterior insula as region of interest. Only in pedophiles did infants relative to adult animals increase brain activity in the anterior insula, supplementary motor cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal areas. Within-group analysis revealed an increased brain response to infant animals in the left anterior insular cortex of the pedophilic participants. Currently, pedophilia is considered the consequence of disturbed sexual or executive brain processing, but details are far from known. The present findings raise the question whether there is also an over-responsive nurturing system in pedophilia.
Placental transfer of the hypolipidemic drug, clofibrate, induces CYP4A expression in 18.5-day fetal rats.

Rats at day 15.5 of gestation were dosed intraperitoneally with 300 mg.kg-1 of clofibrate for three consecutive days at 24-hr intervals and were culled 24 hr after the final injection. This regime produced maximal induction of the cytochrome P4504A (CYP4A) mRNAs in the maternal liver and kidney and in 18.5-day fetal tissues. The maternal hepatic and renal CYP4A mRNA levels had risen 12- and 2-fold, respectively, above the constitutive levels seen in untreated pregnant rats at an equivalent stage of gestation. Clofibrate was capable of traversing the placenta and modulating the fetal CYP4A mRNA expression as demonstrated by a 3-fold elevation in the mRNA levels in those fetuses explanted from drug-induced mothers, compared with those fetuses removed from untreated mothers. The CYP4A mRNAs were demonstrated in the fetal liver via dot-blot and Northern blot analyses. In addition, low levels of CYP4A mRNA expression were detected in the induced placenta via Northern blot analysis. Western blot analysis revealed that the CYP4A protein levels increased in the maternal liver and in the kidney and fetal livers after exposure to clofibrate. Peroxisome proliferation, a phenomenon associated with induction of CYP4A1 expression in rodents, was demonstrated in both maternal and fetal livers, with the use of light and electron microscopy.
Wideband MIMO Radar Waveform Design for Multiple Target Imaging

This paper focuses on the design of wideband multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar waveform and its application to multi-target imaging. In a multiple targets scenario, the imaging performances are affected by the transmit beampattern and the power spectral density (PSD) illuminating on targets. Taking into account these factors, we have established an unconstrained optimization model based on jointly minimizing the matching errors of the beampattern and PSDs. To solve the large-scale optimization problem, a conjugate gradient-based wideband MIMO waveform design method is proposed. For the purpose of improving the computational efficiency, the Chirp-Z transform is employed in evaluating the discrete frequency spectrum. Numerical results show that the proposed method can approximately realize the desired multibeam and PSDs. By utilizing a sparse representation method, the designed waveform with randomly distributed PSDs can be applied to multi-target imaging.
Highly porous chitosan beads embedded with silver-graphene oxide nanocomposites for antibacterial application

Incorporation of silver nanomaterial into polymer matrix can further accomplished their potential usage in real life applications. In our previous study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and silver-graphene oxide nanocomposites (AgGO) were prepared via a rapid microwave-assisted method. Hereby, the as-synthesized AgNPs or AgGO was dispersed in a chitosan solution. Subsequently, the resultant mixture solution was further coagulated in a coagulation bath containing sodium hydroxide via a neutralization process. This resulted in the formation of spherical-shaped chitosan beads. The structure of the beads showed that the chitosan beads embedded with AgGO exhibited a more porous structure as compared to the plain chitosan beads. Furthermore, the chitosan beads containing AgNPs or AgGO were tested for their antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The antibacterial results indicated that the silver nanomaterial contained chitosan beads could effectively inhibit the growth of both E. coli and S. aureus as compared to the bare chitosan beads. The produced chitosan nanocomposite envisioned that can be potentially employed for water disinfection purpose.
Audio based surveillance forcognitive assistance using a CMT microphone within socially assistive technology

This work proposes a system for Acoustic Event Detection and Classification (AEDC) using enhanced audio signal provided by a CMT (Coincidence Microphone Technology) microphone. The CMT microphone through signal processing algorithm provides an enhanced signal in several azimuths with a step of 15°. The AEC module exploits this technology to increase classification performance. The automatic detection system based on DWT uses an adaptive threshold for a different energy level and sampling rate quality. The classification system is based on an unsupervised order estimation of Gaussian mixture model adapted to the variability of sound event acoustic information and the representation cost.
Two Complementary Methods for Parasitic Coupling Reduction within MMIC's

This paper teaches the way to reduce parasitic couplings by using special device architecture together with optimized routing. Two main options are proposed in order to tackle parasitic coupling related issues: a low stray field monolithic inductor implementation and conformal Faraday cage shielding used for on chip interconnect lines. Both examples have been implemented on silicon and on-wafer two ports S-parameters measurements have been carried-out against frequency up to 50 GHz. It is shown that these structures can decrease parasitic coupling from 20 to 30 dB without any impact on application footprint. In case of interconnect lines, the proposed approach also allows saving area and optimizing routing. A compact modeling is proposed for the device inductor while a BBS (Broad Band Spice) extraction is performed for the micro coaxial lines. Both modeling approach are corroborated to measurements. Based on the available data, correlation is found satisfactory between measurements and electrical modeling. On the other side, we show experimentally that both proposed approaches allow reducing inductive crosstalk by at least 100 times or 20 dB