Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neural network based on-chip thermal simulator

With increasing power densities, runtime thermal management is becoming a necessity in today's systems, especially so for highly integrated Multi-Processor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs). In this paper, we propose a neural network (NN) based approach to implement an on-chip thermal simulator to aid such runtime management for MPSoCs. The proposed method combines the advantage of approximating the thermal properties of the chip as a linear system with the ease of fully parallel analog implementation of NNs. We perform a case study with the Niagara UltraSPARC Tl MPSoC for real-life applications, benchmarking our results with an accurate higher order Runge-Kutta (RK4) solver, that is employed in tools such as HotSpot. Within a few gate delays, the proposed NN design can simulate temperatures of the MPSoC 500 ms into the future — corresponding to thousands of iterations of the RK4 solver, with a maximum error of 1–2 K.
Independent and Overlapping Effects of Corticosterone and Testosterone on Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone and Arginine Vasopressin mRNA Expression in the Paraventricular Nucleus of the Hypothalamus and Stress-Induced Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Release

Adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) release is regulated by both glucocorticoids and androgens; however, the precise interactions are unclear. We have controlled circulating corticosterone (B) and testosterone (T) by adrenalectomy (ADX) ± B replacement and gonadectomy (GDX) ± T replacement, comparing these to sham-operated groups. We hoped to reveal how and where these neuroendocrine systems interact to affect resting and stress-induced ACTH secretion. ADX responses. In gonadal-intact rats, ADX increased corticotropin-releasing factor (CRH) and vasopressin (AVP) mRNA in hypothalamic parvocellular paraventricular nuclei (PVN) and ACTH in pituitary and plasma. B restored these toward normal. GDX blocked the increase in AVP but not CRH mRNA and reduced plasma, but not pituitary ACTH in ADX rats. GDX+T restored increased AVP mRNA in ADX rats, although plasma ACTH remained decreased. Stress responses. Restraint-induced ACTH responses were elevated in ADX gonadally intact rats, and B reduced these toward normal. GDX in adrenal-intact and ADX+B rats increased ACTH responses. Without B, T did not affect ACTH; together with B, T restored ACTH responses to normal. The magnitude of ACTH responses to stress was paralleled by similar effects on the number of c-fos staining neurons in the hypophysiotropic PVN. We conclude that gonadal regulation of ACTH responses to ADX is determined by T dependent effects on AVP biosynthesis, whereas CRH biosynthesis is B-dependent. Stress-induced ACTH release is not explained by B and T interactions at the PVN, but is determined by B- and T-dependent changes in drive to PVN motorneurons.
Quaternary megafaunal extinctions and implications for the Collateral mammal diversity loss associated with late service Email alerting

Using data from two palaeontological databases, MIOMAP and FAUNMAP (now linked as NEOMAP), we explore how late Quaternary species loss compared in large and small mammals by determining palaeospecies-area relationships (PSARs) at 19 temporal intervals ranging from c. 30 million to 500 years ago in 10 different biogeographical provinces in the USA. We found that mammalian diversity of both large and small mammals remained relatively stable from 30 million years ago up until both crashed near the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. The diversity crash had two components: the well-known megafaunal extinction that amounted to c. 21% of the pre-crash species, and collateral biodiversity loss due to biogeographical range reductions. Collateral loss resulted in large mammal diversity regionally falling an additional 6–31% above extinction loss, and small mammal diversity falling 16–51%, even though very few small mammals suffered extinction. These results imply that collateral losses due to biogeographical range adjustments may effectively double the regional diversity loss during an extinction event, substantially magnifying the ecological ramifications of the extinctions themselves. This is of interest in forecasting future ecological impacts of mammal extinctions, given that c. 8% of USA mammal species, and 22% of mammal species worldwide, are now considered ‘Threatened’ by
Challenges in the neuropsychological assessment of illiterate older adults

ABSTRACT Illiterate individuals are over-represented among the elderly in many countries. Discrepancies in neuropsychological test performance between literate and illiterate groups raise questions regarding their appropriateness for the latter due to the potential for over-diagnosis. Additionally, performance of illiterate individuals often resembles that of literate individuals with dementia. Indeed, studies of illiteracy have demonstrated structural and functional brain changes through literacy attainment. Factors leading to suboptimal performance among illiterate individuals include lack of metalinguistic training, visuosymbolic representation, and familiarity with testing procedures (automatisation), and limited early life opportunities. Methods of improving diagnostic assessment of elderly illiterate individuals include adaptation or development of tests with construct validity and normative data for this group, circumventing the effect of illiteracy through the use of functional and/or structural brain indices of degeneration, and pre-assessment training of illiterate individuals. Future research may further elucidate the optimal methods for improving diagnostic assessment of illiterate elderly individuals.
Efficient collision detection within deforming spherical sliding contact

Handling the evolving permanent contact of deformable objects leads to a collision detection problem of high computing cost. Situations in which this type of contact happens are becoming more and more present with the increasing complexity of virtual human models, especially for the emerging medical applications. In this context, we propose a novel collision detection approach to deal with situations in which soft structures are in constant but dynamic contact, which is typical of 3D biological elements. Our method proceeds in two stages: First, in a preprocessing stage, a mesh is chosen under certain conditions as a reference mesh and is spherically sampled. In the collision detection stage, the resulting table is exploited for each vertex of the other mesh to obtain, in constant time, its signed distance to the fixed mesh. The two working hypotheses for this approach to succeed are typical of the deforming anatomical systems we target: First, the two meshes retain a layered configuration with respect to a central point and, second, the fixed mesh tangential deformation is bounded by the spherical sampling resolution. Within this context, the proposed approach can handle large relative displacements, reorientations, and deformations of the mobile mesh. We illustrate our method in comparison with other techniques on a biomechanical model of the human hip joint.
Synthesis and Pharmacological in Vitro and in Vivo Profile of 3-Oxo-1,1-diphenyl-tetrahydro-oxazolo[3,4-a]pyrazine-7-carboxylic Acid 4-Fluoro-benzylamide (SHA 68), a Selective Antagonist of the Neuropeptide S Receptor

Neuropeptide S (NPS) has been shown to modulate arousal, sleep wakefulness, anxiety-like behavior, and feeding after central administration of the peptide agonist to mice or rats. We report here the chemical synthesis and pharmacological characterization of SHA 66 (3-oxo-1,1-diphenyl-tetrahydro-oxazolo[3,4-a]pyrazine-7-carboxylic acid benzylamide) and SHA 68 (3-oxo-1,1-diphenyl-tetrahydro-oxazolo[3,4-a]pyrazine-7-carboxylic acid 4-fluoro-benzylamide), two closely related bicyclic piperazines with antagonistic properties at the NPS receptor (NPSR). The compounds block NPS-induced Ca2+ mobilization, and SHA 68 shows displaceable binding to NPSR in the nanomolar range. The antagonistic activity of SHA 68 seems to be specific because it does not affect signaling at 14 unrelated G protein-coupled receptors. Analysis of pharmacokinetic parameters of SHA 68 demonstrates that the compound reaches pharmacologically relevant levels in plasma and brain after i.p. administration. Furthermore, peripheral administration of SHA 68 in mice (50 mg/kg i.p.) is able to antagonize NPS-induced horizontal and vertical activity as well as stereotypic behavior. Therefore, SHA 68 could be a useful tool to characterize physiological functions and pharmacological parameters of the NPS system in vitro and in vivo.
Low complexity iterative method of signal detection in OFDM doubly selective channels

Time selectivity of the channel causes inter-carrier interference (ICI) in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), thereby degrading the system performance significantly and increasing the computational complexity of the receiver. On the other hand, time selectivity introduces temporal diversity that can be exploited to improve the performance of the receiver. In this work, a new method is presented to compensate for the effects of time selectivity of the channel that exploits the sparsity present in the channel convolution matrix (CCM). Here, working with time and frequency domain samples, a low complexity iterative algorithm is proposed. Simulation results show the superior performance over the standard linear minimum mean square error (L-MMSE) equalizer with the advantage of computational saving and temporal diversity gain.
The oral sensation of carbonated water: cross-desensitization by capsaicin and potentiation by amiloride.

The oral sensation elicited by carbonated water is reduced by capsaicin and by blockers of carbonic anhydrase. We have investigated the temporal profile of this sensation and its cross-desensitization by capsaicin. We additionally tested if the sensation is influenced by amiloride. Following pretreatment of half of the dorsal tongue with 33 p.p.m. capsaicin, carbonated water was flowed over the tongue bilaterally for 5, 15 or 60 s. Subjects then performed a two-alternative forced choice test by indicating which side of the tongue had a stronger sensation and separately rated the sensory intensity on each side. Capsaicin significantly reduced the intensity of sensation elicited by carbonated water, consistent with cross-desensitization. This effect was weaker at 60 s because of a significant decline (desensitization) in ratings of the intensity of carbonated water on both sides of the tongue. Pretreatment with amiloride resulted in a small but significant increase in the intensity of the sensation elicited by the 15 s carbonated water stimulus, suggesting an amiloride-sensitive transduction mechanism.
Neural Network Synthesis Beamforming Model For Adaptive Antenna Arrays

Abstarct: This work proposes a neural adaptive synthesis system combines feedforward (FF) artificial neural network (ANN) with a backpropagation (BP) learning algorithm and linear antenna arrays. The proposed neural network allows the beamforming synthesis of array antenna steered beam with low side level and the creation of null in prescripted direction of interfering signals by controlling the amplitude and the phase excitation of each element.
Optimization MRI Cylindrical Coils Using Discretized Stream Function With High Order Smoothness

The design of coil for magnetic resonance image (MRI) application is an optimization problem, in which a specified distribution of the magnetic field inside a region of interest is generated by choosing the optimal distribution of current density on a specified non-intersecting design surface. This paper proposes an iterative optimization method for designing MRI coils on a cylindrical surface by using a piecewise discretized scalar stream function as design variable. The surface current density is accurately calculated using piecewise interpolation with smoothness based on the developable property for a cylindrical surface. MRI coils are designed by choosing bi-objective functions and pseudo-Newton sensitivity analysis. The smoothness of the coil are maintained by adjusting the value of derivative degrees of freedom of design variables which are used to interpolate the stream function. Pareto points provide more flexible choices between the two complementary objectives.
Context independent continuous authentication using behavioural biometrics

In this research, we focus on context independent continuous authentication that reacts on every separate action performed by a user. The experimental data was collected in a complete uncontrolled condition from 53 users by using our data collection software. In our analysis, we considered both keystroke and mouse usage behaviour patterns to prevent a situation where an attacker avoids detection by restricting to one input device because the continuous authentication system only checks the other input device. The best result obtained from this research is that for 47 bio-metric subjects we have on average 275 actions required to detect an imposter where these biometric subjects are never locked out from the system.
Segmenting modulated line textures with S-Gabor filters

This paper describes a novel technique for segmenting frequency modulated line-textures. Textures of this sort abound in nature and are typified by growth patterns in which the deposition rate varies over time. The basic idea underpinning the technique is to use the S-Gabor kernel as a frequency modulated channel response function. According to this channel model, the central frequency changes exponentially with distance from the centre of the kernel. In order to segment the resulting texture response, we use fuzzy clustering to locate peaks in the Fourier power spectrum. In this way we estimate both the centre-frequency and the modulation parameters of the filter bank. We illustrate the effectiveness of our technique on the segmentation of growth patterns on fish scales.
A non-interfering cognitive radio system for spectrum sharing

We present a cognitive radio beamformer for spectrum sharing with primary users. The proposed method generates orthogonal multiple beams for cognitive users using orthogonal subspaces and opportunistic beamforming methods to increase the sum-rate of cognitive radio systems. Simulations demonstrate that the proposed scheme does not cause interference for the primary users and provides a sum-rate capacity of 2.72bps/Hz for up to 20 cognitive users with two transmit antennas.
Cytosolic Prion Protein in Neurons

Localizing the cellular prion protein (PrPC) in the brain is necessary for understanding the pathogenesis of prion diseases. However, the precise ultrastructural localization of PrPC still remains enigmatic. We performed the first quantitative study of the ultrastructural localization of PrPC in the mouse hippocampus using high-resolution cryoimmunogold electron microscopy. PrPC follows the standard biosynthetic trafficking pathway with a preferential localization in late endosomal compartments and on the plasma membrane of neurons and neuronal processes. PrPC is found with the same frequency within the synaptic specialization and perisynaptically, but is almost completely excluded from synaptic vesicles. Unexpectedly, PrP is also found in the cytosol in subpopulations of neurons in the hippocampus, neocortex, and thalamus but not the cerebellum. Cytosolic PrP may have altered susceptibility to aggregation, suggesting that these neurons might play a significant role in the pathogenesis of prion diseases, in particular those mammals harboring mutant PrP genes.
An Improved Error Concealment Algorithm for Intra-frames of H.264/AVC

In this paper, we propose a novel error concealment algorithm for intra frames of h.264/AVC. By using the high correlation of adjacent frames sequence, the proposed algorithm performs quadratic interpolation to the error pixel value of the concealed intra frame from the corresponding pixels of the previously decoded frame and the adjacent blocks received correctly while remaining the least distortion. The algorithm for intra frames was tested over 3GPP mobile IP networks. Simulation results demonstrate that our method outperforms the other methods by up to 4dB.
Developing a non-intrusive biometric environment

The development of large scale biometric systems requires experiments to be performed on large amounts of data. Existing capture systems are designed for fixed experiments and are not easily scalable. In this scenario even the addition of extra data is difficult. We developed a prototype biometric tunnel for the capture of non-contact biometrics. It is self contained and autonomous. Such a configuration is ideal for building access or deployment in secure environments. The tunnel captures cropped images of the subject's face and performs a 3D reconstruction of the person's motion which is used to extract gait information. Interaction between the various parts of the system is performed via the use of an agent framework. The design of this system is a trade-off between parallel and serial processing due to various hardware bottlenecks. When tested on a small population the extracted features have been shown to be potent for recognition. We currently achieve a moderate throughput of approximate 15 subjects an hour and hope to improve this in the future as the prototype becomes more complete
Potential intrinsic error of noninvasive coronary angiography.

PURPOSE With current noninvasive techniques compromises have to be accepted for coronary imaging, e.g., partial coverage of the coronary artery tree. The aim of the study was to estimate the potential intrinsic error of partial coverage from a database of invasive angiograms. METHODS AND RESULTS The localization and severity of coronary artery stenoses and, if percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed, the balloon and stent size were extracted from a large database of 21,335 selective coronary angiograms. Of stenoses with >50% diameter reduction, 31.4% were located in distal segments and minor side branches, constituting 28.8% of interventional treatment. In 5% of patients undergoing their first invasive angiogram, the most proximal relevant stenosis was found in a distal segment or minor side branch. Most interventions (83.5%) were performed in main coronary artery segments. CONCLUSION Coronary artery stenoses were found and interventional treatment performed in all coronary segments. Therefore, noninvasive coronary imaging of only proximal and medial segments and major side branches is an inadequate strategy for complete diagnosis or as a guide to therapeutic decisions. However, the currently available noninvasive techniques allow the detection of relevant stenoses in 95% of patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) to prepare for further invasive diagnostic and therapeutic planning.
Title Gene transfer of GLT-1 , a glial glutamate transporter , into the spinal cord by recombinant adenovirus attenuates inflammatory and neuropathic pain in rats

Background: The glial glutamate transporter GLT-1 is abundantly expressed in astrocytes and is crucial for glutamate removal from the synaptic cleft. Decreases in glutamate uptake activity and expression of spinal glutamate transporters are reported in animal models of pathological pain. However, the lack of available specific inhibitors and/or activators for GLT-1 makes it difficult to determine the roles of spinal GLT-1 in inflammatory and neuropathic pain. In this study, we examined the effect of gene transfer of GLT-1 into the spinal cord with recombinant adenoviruses on the inflammatory and neuropathic pain in rats. Results: Intraspinal infusion of adenoviral vectors expressing the GLT-1 gene increased GLT-1 expression in the spinal cord 2–21 days after the infusion. Transgene expression was primarily localized to astrocytes. The spinal GLT-1 gene transfer had no effect on acute mechanical and thermal nociceptive responses in naive rats, whereas it significantly reduced the inflammatory mechanical hyperalgesia induced by hindlimb intraplantar injection of carrageenan/kaolin. Spinal GLT-1 gene transfer 7 days before partial sciatic nerve ligation recovered the extent of the spinal GLT-1 expression in the membrane fraction that was decreased following the nerve ligation, and prevented the induction of tactile allodynia. However, the partial sciatic nerve ligation-induced allodynia was not reversed when the adenoviruses were infused 7 or 14 days after the nerve ligation. Conclusion: These results suggest that overexpression of GLT-1 on astrocytes in the spinal cord by recombinant adenoviruses attenuates the induction, but not maintenance, of inflammatory and neuropathic pain, probably by preventing the induction of central sensitization, without affecting acute pain sensation. Upregulation or functional enhancement of spinal GLT-1 could be a novel strategy for the prevention of pathological pain. Published: 24 December 2008 Molecular Pain 2008, 4:65 doi:10.1186/1744-8069-4-65 Received: 19 September 2008 Accepted: 24 December 2008 This article is available from: http://www.molecularpain. com/content/4/1/65 © 2008 Maeda et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Molecular Pain 2008, 4:65 http://www.molecularpain. com/content/4/1/65
Fam83h null mice support a neomorphic mechanism for human ADHCAI

Truncation mutations in FAM83H (family with sequence similarity 83, member H) cause autosomal dominant hypocalcified amelogenesis imperfecta (ADHCAI), but little is known about FAM83H function and the pathogenesis of ADHCAI. We recruited three ADHCAI families and identified two novel (p.Gln457*; p.Lys639*) and one previously documented (p.Q452*) disease‐causing FAM83H mutations. We generated and characterized Fam83h‐knockout/lacZ‐knockin mice. Surprisingly, enamel thickness, density, Knoop hardness, morphology, and prism patterns were similar in Fam83h+/+, Fam83h+/−, and Fam83h−/− mice. The histology of ameloblasts in all stages of development, in both molars and incisors, was virtually identical in all three genotypes and showed no signs of pathology, although the Fam83h−/− mice usually died after 2 weeks and rarely survived to 7 weeks. LacZ expression in the knockin mice was used to report Fam83h expression in the epithelial tissues of many organs, notably in skin and hair follicles, which manifested a disease phenotype. Pull‐down studies determined that FAM83H dimerizes through its N‐terminal phospholipase D‐like (PLD‐like) domain and identified potential FAM83H interacting proteins. Casein kinase 1 (CK1) interacts with the FAM83H PLD‐like domain via an F270‐X‐X‐X‐F274‐X‐X‐X‐F278 motif. CK1 can phosphorylate FAM83H in vitro, and many phosphorylation sites were identified in the FAM83H C‐terminus. Truncation of FAM83H alters its subcellular localization and that of CK1. Our results support the conclusion that FAM83H is not necessary for proper dental enamel formation in mice, but may act as a scaffold protein that localizes CK1. ADHCAI is likely caused by gain‐of‐function effects mediated by truncated FAM83H, which potentially mislocalizes CK1 as part of its pathological mechanism.
NGC7027:discovery of a Raman line in a planetary nebula ?

We report on the discovery of the He ii Raman line 485.1 nm in the spectrum of the planetary nebula NGC 7027. This line is direct evidence for the presence of atomic hy- drogen in the nebula. It is shown that this Raman line can provide reliable pieces of information concerning both the velocity eld of the He 2+ region and the expansion velocity of the surrounding H 0 shell.