Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Serum concentrations of oestradiol and progesterone, and sexual behaviour during the normal oestrous cycle in the leopard (Panthera pardus).

Three mature nulliparous female leopards were studied for 5 years. During three separate 6-month periods serum oestradiol and progesterone concentrations were measured at weekly intervals. Oestradiol was elevated over 21 pg/ml for 54 weeks during these 3 periods, and 36 oestradiol peaks (65.8 +/- 6.3 pg/ml (mean +/- s.e.m.), range 21-172 pg/ml) were identified. Daily frequency of feline reproductive behaviours averaged over each week increased from 1.9 +/- 0.2 (n = 93) during weeks with low serum oestradiol concentrations (less than 21 pg/ml) to 5.3 +/- 0.6 (n = 54) during weeks when serum oestradiol concentrations (greater than 21 pg/ml) were high. Increased serum progesterone concentrations (13-98 n/gml) were observed on 5 occasions in 2 leopards housed together. These presumptive luteal phases lasted from 1 to 5 weeks. Baseline progesterone values were 1.6 +/- 0.4 ng/ml (n = 131). No progesterone increments were observed in isolated animals, and serum concentrations remained at baseline levels. These limited observations suggest that female leopards do not require intromission to induce ovulation and luteal function. The average interval between oestradiol peaks for cycles with no progesterone increment was 3.4 weeks (range 1-6 weeks). The interval for the 3 complete cycles associated with elevated progesterone concentrations was 7.3 weeks. Analysis of sexual behaviours over the 5-year study period revealed no evidence of seasonality in these captive leopards.
Comparative neuroethology of feeding control in molluscs.

Over the last 30 years, many laboratories have examined, in parallel, the feeding behaviour of gastropod molluscs and the properties of the nervous system that give rise to this behaviour. Equal attention to both behavioural and neurobiological issues has provided deep insight into the functioning of the nervous system in generating and controlling behaviour. The conclusions derived from studies on gastropod feeding are generally consistent with those from other systems, but often provide more detailed information on the behavioural function of a particular property of the nervous system. A review of the literature on gastropod feeding illustrates a number of important messages. (i) Many of the herbivorous gastropods display similarities in behaviour that are reflected in corresponding similarities in neural anatomy, pharmacology and physiology. By contrast, the same aspects of the behaviour of different carnivorous species are quite variable, possibly because of their specialised prey-capture techniques. Nonetheless, some aspects of the neural control of feeding are preserved. (ii) Feeding in all species is flexible, with the behaviour and the physiology adapting to changes in the current environment and internal state and as a result of past experience. Flexibility arises via processes that may take place at many neural sites, and much of the modulation underlying behavioural flexibility is understood at a systems and at a cellular level. (iii) Neurones seem to have specific functions that are consistent with their endogenous properties and their synaptic connections, suggesting that individual neurones code specific pieces of information (i.e. they are 'grandmother cells'). However, the properties of a neurone can be extremely complex and can be understood only in the context of the complete neural circuit and the behaviour that it controls. In systems that are orders of magnitude more complex, it would be impossible to understand the functional properties of an individual neurone, even if it also coded specific information. (iv) Systems such as gastropod feeding may provide a model for understanding the functional properties of more complex systems.
Can relaxation exercises improve learning?

Students use both domain-dependent strategies (such as seeking specific domain help) and domain-independent strategies (such as relaxation exercises) to help regulate their affective states when learning. This paper reports a study that compared students' performance in learning data-structures across two systems. While both systems supported domain-dependent strategies, one additionally supported domain-independent strategies (relaxation exercises). The results provide some evidence that students working with both domain-dependent and domain-independent strategies performed better than those working with domain-dependent strategies only.
Multi-view point cloud fusion for LiDAR based cooperative environment detection

Abstract. A key component for automated driving is 360° environment detection. The recognition capabilities of modern sensors are always limited to their direct field of view. In urban areas a lot of objects occlude important areas of interest. The information captured by another sensor from another perspective could solve such occluded situations. Furthermore, the capabilities to detect and classify various objects in the surrounding can be improved by taking multiple views into account. In order to combine the data of two sensors into one coordinate system, a rigid transformation matrix has to be derived. The accuracy of modern e.g. satellite based relative pose estimation systems is not sufficient to guarantee a suitable alignment. Therefore, a registration based approach is used in this work which aligns the captured environment data of two sensors from different positions. Thus their relative pose estimation obtained by traditional methods is improved and the data can be fused. To support this we present an approach which utilizes the uncertainty information of modern tracking systems to determine the possible field of view of the other sensor. Furthermore, it is estimated which parts of the captured data is directly visible to both, taking occlusion and shadowing effects into account. Afterwards a registration method, based on the iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm, is applied to that data in order to get an accurate alignment. The contribution of the presented approch to the achievable accuracy is shown with the help of ground truth data from a LiDAR simulation within a 3-D crossroad model. Results show that a two dimensional position and heading estimation is sufficient to initialize a successful 3-D registration process. Furthermore it is shown which initial spatial alignment is necessary to obtain suitable registration results.
PRODUCTION OF GLUTAMYL POLYPEPTIDE BY BACILLUS SUBTILIS

Certain strains of Bacillus ubtilis and BaciUus mesentericus produce glutamyl polypeptide similar to that produced by Bacilus anthracis (IvAnovics and Erdos, 1937; Bovarnick, 1942). The peptide of the latter organism is contained largely in a capsule and is released into the medium upon autoclaving or upon aging and autolysis of the cells, whereas most, if not all, of that produced by B. subtilis occurs free in the medium. Some of the factors influencing peptide production and capsule formation by B. anthracis have been reported in earlier publications from these laboratories (Thorne et al., 1952, 1953). A similar study has been made with B. subtilis, and now it is possible to compare glutamyl polypeptide production by the two organisms as well as to compare the compositions of peptides from the two sources. Under the conditions reported here yields of peptide in excess of 15 mg per ml were obtained. This represents an approximate 10-fold increase over yields previously reported (Bovarnick, 1942), and the time required for maximum yields was reduced from 7 days to 3 or 4 days.
NEPSY : bilan neuropsychologique de l'enfant : manuel

"La batterie comprend un large eventail de subtests permettant d'evaluer le developpement neuropsychologique dans cinq domaines: (a) Attention et fonctions executives ; (b) Langage ; (c) Fonctions sensorimotrices ; (d) Traitements visuospatiaux ; (e) Memoire et apprentissage. " Bibliogr. : p. 371-391.
A stopping criterion for the Newton-Raphson method in implicit multistep integration algorithms for nonlinear systems of ordinary differential equations

In the numerical solution of ordinary differential equations, certain implicit linear multistep formulas, i.e. formulas of type ∑<supscrpt><italic>k</italic></supscrpt><subscrpt><italic>j</italic>=0</subscrpt> <italic>α<subscrpt>j</subscrpt></italic>x<subscrpt><italic>n</italic>+<italic>j</italic></subscrpt> - <italic>h</italic> ∑<supscrpt><italic>k</italic></supscrpt><subscrpt><italic>j</italic>=0</subscrpt> <italic>β<subscrpt>j</subscrpt></italic>x<subscrpt><italic>n</italic>+<italic>j</italic></subscrpt> = 0, (1) with <italic>β<subscrpt>k</subscrpt></italic>> ≠ 0, have long been favored because they exhibit strong (fixed-<italic>h</italic>) stability. Lately, it has been observed [1-3] that some special methods of this type are unconditionally fixed-<italic>h</italic> stable with respect to the step size. This property is of great importance for the efficient solution of stiff [4] systems of differential equations, i.e. systems with widely separated time constants. Such special methods make it possible to integrate stiff systems using a step size which is large relative to the rate of change of the fast-varying components of the solution.
The Chinese Adolescent Materialism Scale: psychometric properties and normative profiles

Abstract Although a preoccupation with material possessions is a growing concern in Chinese adolescents, there is a lack of validated measures of adolescent materialism in different Chinese contexts. Based on a thorough literature review, the Chinese Adolescent Materialism Scale (CAMS) was developed and administered in 1658 Chinese secondary school students. Results showed that the CAMS was internally consistent. Factor analyses showed that three factors were intrinsic to the scale. Consistent with expectations, the CAMS scores were significantly related to measures of morality, egocentrism, spirituality, and empathy. Analyses of responses to the CAMS items revealed that a significant proportion of respondents displayed materialistic beliefs.
Morphological effects and tegumental alterations induced by mefloquine on schistosomula and adult flukes of Schistosoma mansoni

SUMMARY There is a pressing need to develop novel anti-schistosomal drugs, as current treatment relies largely on praziquantel (PZQ). To further strengthen current evidence of the anti-schistosomal properties of mefloquine (MQ), we studied the temporal effect of this compound in vitro and in vivo, and examined alterations on the tegumental surface of schistosomula and adults of S. mansoni by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Schistosomula and adults were each incubated in vitro using MQ over a wide concentration range (1–100 μg/ml). In addition, mice infected with adult S. mansoni were treated with a single oral dose of 400 mg/kg MQ, and worms were recovered 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 h following treatment. MQ showed a rapid onset of action on schistosomula in vitro; 100 and 75 μg/ml of MQ killed schistosomula immediately; the minimal lethal and effective concentrations of MQ on schistosomula after 1 h were 25 and 5 μg/ml, respectively. Adult worms incubated with 100 and 10 μg/ml of MQ were dead after 1 h and 24 h of incubation, respectively. A hepatic shift of adult schistosomes was observed in mice already 24 h after treatment, and 120 h following treatment >98% of all worms had translocated to the liver. SEM observations revealed extensive tegumental destruction, including blebbing, shrinking and sloughing, particularly following in vitro incubation and on the tegument of female worms.
brane model phenomenology

We explore the phenomenology of the recently proposed ``+-+'' brane model which has a characteristic anomalously light first Kaluza-Klein mode. We consider the processes e+e−→μ+μ− and the Kaluza-Klein production e+e−→γKK giving missing visible energy. These in combination with the latest Cavendish experiments place severe bounds on the parameter space of the model. We also discuss how forthcoming experiments can test the model for ``natural'' range of the parameters.
Protecting Hidden Transmission of Biometrics Using Authentication Watermarking

Compared with traditional personal identification techniques such as passwords and PIN codes, automated biometrics authentication provides a convenient and reliable method in diverse applications, but their validity must be guaranteed. Watermarking technique may be a solution to ensure the validity of biometrics. In this paper, a novel scheme of protecting hidden transmission of biometrics using authentication watermarking is proposed. Five watermark bits generated from each DCT block are split into two parts: authentication bits and hidden bits. The four authentication bits are utilized to verify the integrity of each image block; the hidden bit is used as a hidden channel to transmit the biometrics data. At the receiver, the integrity of each block is verified using authentication watermarking. The biometrics data is extracted from the block which has been marked as innocent. Redundancy embedding and voting scheme are used as enhancing the rightness of extracted biometrics data. Theoretical analysis and experimental results show that the proposed scheme protects hidden transmission of biometrics and can efficiently recover the biometrics when the watermarked-images suffer from malicious tamper.
Myofilament Calcium Sensitivity: Role in Regulation of In vivo Cardiac Contraction and Relaxation

Myofilament calcium sensitivity is an often-used indicator of cardiac muscle function, often assessed in disease states such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). While assessment of calcium sensitivity provides important insights into the mechanical force-generating capability of a muscle at steady-state, the dynamic behavior of the muscle cannot be sufficiently assessed with a force-pCa curve alone. The equilibrium dissociation constant (Kd) of the force-pCa curve depends on the ratio of the apparent calcium association rate constant (kon) and apparent calcium dissociation rate constant (koff) of calcium on TnC and as a stand-alone parameter cannot provide an accurate description of the dynamic contraction and relaxation behavior without the additional quantification of kon or koff, or actually measuring dynamic twitch kinetic parameters in an intact muscle. In this review, we examine the effect of length, frequency, and beta-adrenergic stimulation on myofilament calcium sensitivity and dynamic contraction in the myocardium, the effect of membrane permeabilization/mechanical- or chemical skinning on calcium sensitivity, and the dynamic consequences of various myofilament protein mutations with potential implications in contractile and relaxation behavior.
The Development and Rapid Evaluation of the Knowledge Model of ADVOKATE: an Advisory System to Assess the Credibility of Eyewitness Testimony

ADVOKATE, a web-enabled knowledge base application operating in the forensic and legal domain, offers assistance to police and legal counsel in their task of assessing the credibility of potential witnesses. The knowledge model of ADVOKATE is presented in two parts. Directed graph techniques are used to model rule based knowledge and discretionary decisions and argumentation are modeled using a tech- nique derived from Toulmin argumentation. The knowledge was acquired from legal cases, published legal and psychological research and interviews with domain experts. The model was formatively and rapidly evaluated by using it as the basis for a prototype web deployed application built using the expert system shell, WebShell. ADVOKATE, implemented as a browser accessible application, was made available to forensic experts, lawyers and police who provided feedback to the designers. The knowledge model was iteratively refined and enhanced and is available at http://advokate.bromby. vze.com/. The paper concludes with a discussion of some knowledge modeling issues demon- strated in the ADVOKATE project and the benefits provided by using a prototyping methodology to conduct a formatively biased rapid evaluation of a knowledge model in projects with limited resources.
Design and analysis of Bayesian adaptive crossover trials for evaluating contact lens safety and efficacy

A crossover study, also referred to as a crossover trial, is a form of longitudinal study. Subjects are randomly assigned to different arms of the study and receive different treatments sequentially. While there are many frequentist methods to analyze data from a crossover study, random effects models for longitudinal data are perhaps most naturally modeled within a Bayesian framework. In this article, we introduce a Bayesian adaptive approach to crossover studies for both efficacy and safety endpoints using Gibbs sampling. Using simulation, we find our approach can detect a true difference between two treatments with a specific false-positive rate that we can readily control via the standard equal-tail posterior credible interval. We then illustrate our Bayesian approaches using real data from Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc. contact lens studies. We then design a variety of Bayesian adaptive predictive probability crossover studies for single and multiple continuous efficacy endpoints, indicate their extension to binary safety endpoints, and investigate their frequentist operating characteristics via simulation. The Bayesian adaptive approach emerges as a crossover trials tool that is useful yet surprisingly overlooked to date, particularly in contact lens development.
An Efficient Queuing Model for Resource Sharing in Cloud Computing

----------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT-----------------------------------------------As cloud computing is gaining more recognition as a public utility which gives the client room to focus on his work without focusing on installation and maintenance of other important devices, as they are installed and maintained by the cloud service providers. Cloud computing is meant to be scalable, and enhance the quality of service (QoS), cost effective and also simplified user interface so that the customer can appreciate the idea behind cloud computing. In dealing with resource allocation, the client’s request has to be execute through various stages, in case there are queue of requests waiting to be served in each stage. Therefore, queuing methods are required to solve this kind of situation. In this paper, we focused on mathematical formulation using queuing system technique to show how throughput and time delay of a system may varies between a single server system and a multiple server system in a cloud-computing environment.
SMCSolver and Q-MAM: tools for matrix-analytic methods

Matrix-analytic methods have advanced considerably since the pioneering work of Marcel Neuts [6, 5] on Quasi-Birth-Death (QBD), GI/M/1- and M/G/1- type Markov chains (MCs). Especially the algorithms involved to (iteratively) solve these structured Markov chains have matured a lot, which has resulted in more efficient, but also more complex algorithms [4, 1]. While the first algorithms were straightforward to implement---as they were based on simple functional iterations---more advanced algorithms/features like cyclic-reduction, the Newton iteration or the shift technique (to accelerate convergence), require more effort; in particular for GI/M/1- and M/G/1-type Markov chains. This has motivated us to develop the Structured Markov Chain Solver (SMCSolver) tool [2], which implements a large number of basic and more advanced algorithms for solving QBD, GI/M/1- and M/G/1-type MCs1 (as well as the more general Non-Skip-Free M/G/1-type MCs). The MATLAB version of the tool consists of a collection of MATLAB functions, while the Fortran version is accompanied by a graphical user-interface (GUI). Apart from making these more advanced algorithms accessible to non-specialists, the tool is also useful as a platform for the development and study of new algorithms and acceleration techniques. Since its initial release in 2006, various extensions have been made. In [3] different transformation techniques and shift strategies are incorporated in order to speed up and optimize the algorithms, while even more recently an efficient Newton iteration for GI/M/1- and M/G/1-type Markov chains was included [8]. Matrix-analytic methods have also been very effective in the analysis of many queueing systems in both discrete- and continuous-time. The Q-MAM tool [7] is a collection of MATLAB functions that allows one to compute the queue length, waiting time and delay distribution of various queueing systems of infinite size. It includes amongst others implementations of the PH/PH/1, MAP/MAP/1, MAP/M/c, MAP/D/c, RAP/RAP/1, MMAP[K]/PH[K]/1, MMAP[K]/SM[K]/1, SM[K]/PH[K]/1 (many in both discrete- and continuous-time), where state-of-the-art solution techniques are used to solve these models efficiently. The Matlab version of the SMCSolver and Q-MAM tool is available at http://win.ua. ac.be/? vanhoudt/ while the Fortran 90 version of the SMCSolver tool with the GUI can be downloaded from http://bezout.dm. unipi.it/SMCSolver.
Socioeconomic and Academic Factors Influencing College Achievement of Economics and Business Majors

1. The greater the education of the parents, the higher the student's grade average (used as a proxy for scholastic achievement). This is based on the hypothesis that more highly educated parents will have provided a scholarly home environment, e.g., more books and a standard for academic achievement to serve as a model for their growing child. 2. The harder the student studies, measured as hours per week studied outside of class time, the greater the scholastic achievement. 3. Students who earn some income might be expected to have greater ambition, and therefore would be expected to work for higher grades. 4. Students whose families moved a great deal during the student's childhood might be expected to have lower grade averages assuming that moving is unsettling. 5. Students from smaller families would be assumed to have received more individual attention and praise, and hence be expected to strive harder for good grades. 6. Higher college board verbal aptitude scores would predict high college grades.
Supporting software evolution with intentional software views

Maintaining and evolving large software systems is hard. One underlying cause is that existing modularisation mechanisms are inadequate to handle crosscutting concerns. We propose intentional software views as an intuitive and lightweight means of modelling such concerns. They increase our ability to understand, modularise and browse the implementation by grouping together source-code entities that address a same concern. Alternative descriptions of the same intentional view can be provided and checked for consistency. In addition, the model supports the declaration, verification and enforcement of relations among intentional views. This facilitates software evolution by providing the ability to detect invalidation of important intentional relationships among concerns when the software is modified.