Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nocturnal elevation of intraocular pressure in young adults.

PURPOSE To distinguish 24-hour (circadian) and postural effects on intraocular pressure (IOP) in healthy young adults. METHODS Thirty-three volunteers were housed in a sleep laboratory for 1 day under a strictly controlled 16-hour light and 8-hour dark environment. Sleep was encouraged in the dark period. Intraocular pressure was measured in each eye every 2 hours using a pneumatonometer. Researchers used night-vision goggles to perform IOP measurements in the dark, while the subject's light exposure was minimized. In the first group of 12 subjects, measurements were taken with subjects in the sitting position during the light-wake period and supine during the dark period. In the second group of 21 subjects, all IOP measurements were taken with the subjects supine. RESULTS Average IOP was significantly higher in the dark period than in the light-wake period in both groups. The lowest IOP occurred in the last light-wake measurement, and the peak IOP occurred in the last dark measurement. The trough-peak difference in IOP was 8.2+/-1.4 mm Hg (mean +/- SEM) in the first group. Intraocular pressure changed sharply at the transitions between light and dark. In the second group, the trough-peak IOP difference was 3.8+/-0.9 mm Hg. Intraocular pressure changed gradually throughout the 24-hour period. In comparison with the sitting IOP in the first group, the supine IOP in the second group was significantly higher during the light-wake period. CONCLUSIONS Circadian rhythms of IOP were shown in young adults, with the peaks occurring in the late dark period. A nocturnal IOP elevation can appear independent of body position change, but change of posture from upright to recumbent may contribute to the relative nocturnal IOP elevation.
Tracking and localisation of moving vehicle license plate via signature analysis

In this paper, a new algorithm for dynamic vehicle license plate localisation is proposed on the basis of signature analysis and connected component analysis. Most existing techniques use low level features such as detection of colour and edges, these methods may have issues with reliability. The proposed algorithm however, aims to manipulate more accurate perceptual motion information. The camera is set to record the moving vehicle, while the angle of view and the distance from the moving vehicle is changed according to the observational setup. Image differencing is used to detect the motion, and noise is filtered out to obtain a binary image that can stand out from the motion of the moving vehicle. The algorithm was tested using moving vehicles with different backgrounds, under illumination change and varying poses and angle.
Genetic background affects integration frequency of ecotropic proviral sequences into the mouse germ line

Germ line acquisition of ecotropic proviruses occurs at a high frequency in the progeny of SWR/J-RF/J hybrid mice carrying two genetically linked RF/J ecotropic proviral loci, Emv-16 and Emv-17 (N. A. Jenkins and N. G. Copeland, Cell 43:811-819, 1985). To determine if genetic background affects proviral integration frequency, I analyzed a series of crosses in which the two RF/J proviral loci were transferred onto different provirus-negative background strains. Unlike SWR/J-RF/J hybrid progeny, few CBA/CaJ-RF/J hybrid mice were identified that carried new germ line proviral loci. These results indicate that genetic factors other than the linked RF/J proviral loci contribute to the increased frequency of germ line provirus integration seen in the SWR/J-RF/J hybrids. The frequency of proviral acquisition appeared to increase when females carrying Emv-16, Emv-17, and at least one new proviral locus were further backcrossed, suggesting that integration frequency can be increased by genetic manipulation. The breeding data are consistent with the hypothesis that virus from the mother infects the egg or the early embryo. Analysis of the transmission frequency and cosegregation patterns of new proviral loci indicated that viral integration occurs after the first round of DNA replication and before the germ line is set aside during embryogenesis, with a majority of viral integrations occurring at the two-cell stage of development, and independent viral integrations can occur in the same or in different cells of the embryo.
Determination of the initial condition for stable gait cycle of biped robot

Researches are under way based on the concept of passive dynamic walking to improve the efficiency and to realize more natural gait of controlled biped robot. In this research, we investigated the energy based method to find the initial condition for stable one-period gait cycle. The energy balance method, we proposed here, is easier way than the conventional approaches in finding the proper initial condition. We derived the energy relationship during stable one-gait cycle and simulated with MATLAB based on the simplest passive walking model. This concept will be applied to the more complex models.
Deconstructing the High-Mass Star-Forming Region IRAS 23033+5951

We report interferometric observations of the high-mass star-forming object IRAS 23033+5951. Our observations reveal two massive molecular cloud cores, designated IRAS 23033+5951-MMS1 and IRAS 23033+5951-MMS2. MMS1 has already formed a massive protostar and MMS2 appears to be on the verge of doing so. The latter core may be an example of a massive analog to a Class 0 star-forming object. The more evolved core shows some evidence of N2H+ destruction near the protostar, consistent with similar findings in low-mass star-forming objects. In addition to the already-known prominent HCO+ outflow, our SiO 2-1 and CH3OH 2-1 maps show evidence for two more candidate outflows, both presumably less powerful than the main one. Both cores are embedded in an elongated feature whose major axis is oriented almost exactly perpendicular to the axis of the most prominent outflow in the region. Although it has many of the characteristics of a disk, the 87,000 AU (0.42 pc) diameter of this structure suggests that it is more likely to be the flattened, rotating remnant of the natal molecular cloud fragment from which the star-forming cores condensed. We conclude that IRAS 23033+5951 is an excellent example of massive star formation proceeding in relative isolation, perhaps by the method of monolithic collapse and disk accretion.
Filterfresh: Hot Replication of Java RMI Server Objects

This paper presents the design and implementation of a Java package called Filterfresh for building replicated fault-tolerant servers. Maintaining the correctness and integrity of replicated servers is supported by a GroupManager object instantiated with each replica to form a logical group. The Group Managers use a Group Membership algorithm to maintain a consistent group view and a Reliable Multicast mechanism to communicate with other Group Managers. We then demonstrate how Filterfresh can be integrated into the Java RMI facilities. First we use the GroupManager class to construct a fault-tolerant RMI registry called FT Registry-a group of replicated RMI registry servers. Second, we describe our implementation of the FT Unicast-a client-side mechanism that tolerates and masks server failures below the stub layer, transparent to the client. We also present initial performance results, and discuss how general purpose RMI servers can be made highly available using the Filterfresh package.
The effect of defocus blur on a spatial OFDM optical wireless communication system

Imperfect focusing of the receiver can be an important impairment in MIMO optical wireless systems using imaging receivers. This paper investigates the effect of defocus blur on an optical wireless system using spatial orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). It is shown that when defocus blur is the only impairment, and when transmitter and receiver are perfectly aligned, the defocus blur causes the received constellation points to be attenuated. Simulation results show that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) penalty caused by defocus blur is less for a system using spatial asymmetrically clipped optical OFDM than for one using spatial DC biased optical OFDM.
Why Do Future Generations Need Protection? 1

The aim of the paper is to set out some of the basic contours of the debate for an interdisciplinary, and policy-or iented audience. It claims first that our basic position with respect to the further future can be characterized by the problem of "intergenerational buck-passing". This problem implies that our temporal position allows us to visit costs on future people that they ought not to bear, and to deprive them of benefits that they ought to have. The problem is manifest in the case of two serious intergenerational issues: climate change and nuclear protection. Then, it is suggested that the problem is exacerbated by a further problem of theoretical inadequacy: at present, we lack the basic conceptual tools with which to deal with issues involving the further future. This problem is illustrated through a discussion of the dominant theoretical approach in public policy, cost benefit analysis. Mots cles : Justice intergenerationnelle, Changement climatique, Securite nucleaire, Analyse couts-avantages
Cytokine Responses to Fungal Pathogens in Kupffer Cells are Toll‐like Receptor 4 Independent and Mediated by Tyrosine Kinases

Disseminated fungal infections are increasing. However, the interactions between the body's largest population of tissue macrophages, the Kupffer cells and the fungal pathogens are scarcely understood. The aim of this study was to examine the involvement of Toll‐like receptor 4 (TLR4) signalling in cytokine production, using primary cultures of rat and murine Kupffer cells exposed to Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans hyphae and conidia. All fungal components induced the release of tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), but with delayed kinetics compared with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Candida albicans was the most potent inducer of TNF‐α protein and mRNA and the only inducer of interleukin‐10 (IL‐10) in rat Kupffer cells. All fungal components induced enhanced mRNA levels of macrophage inhibitory protein‐2 (MIP‐2) in the cells, similar to LPS. Inhibitors of Src tyrosine kinases added to cells prior to stimulation led to attenuation in the release of both TNF‐α (60%, P < 0.05) and IL‐10 (70%, P < 0.05) induced by C. albicans conidia but did not influence the LPS‐mediated cytokine release. Murine Kupffer cells (C57BL/10J) also released TNF‐α as well as the chemokines keratinocyte‐derived chemokine (KC) and MIP‐2 in response to fungal component. Surprisingly, Kupffer cells from TLR4‐deficient C57BL/ScCr mice exhibited significantly enhanced production of KC and MIP‐2 upon stimulation by fungal components compared with control littermates (P < 0.05). Our study demonstrates that Aspergillus and Candida components induce cytokine production in rat Kupffer cells and that the response to C. albicans conidia involves Src tyrosine kinases. The experiments with TLR4‐deficient Kupffer cells suggest that the cytokine response in these cells to fungal component is not mediated by TLR4.
MR Head Response From Arrays Of Lithographically Patterned Perpendicular Nickel Columns

We report, for the first time, the MR head response from lithographically patterned perpendicular nickel columns. Electron-beam lithography is used to fabricate arrays of Ni columns, 400 nm tall and 150 nm in diameter spaced 2.1 /spl mu/m apart, embedded in SiO/sub 2/. The sample surface is planarized with a chemical mechanical polish. The technique of Scanning Magnetoresistance Microscopy (SMRM), in which a magnetoresistive (MR) head is raster-scanned in contact with a sample, is used to investigate the MR head response from the Ni columns. Single columns can be "read" with a 0-peak MR voltage of 60-70 /spl mu/V. Unexpectedly, we find that the magnetic field due to the bias current in the MR head is enough to switch the columns during scanning, which results in a "dibit-like" MR response, By scanning in the presence of a small (/spl sim/21 Oe) external magnetic bias field, the columns can be imaged in either their "up" or "down" magnetic states.
Analytical Energy Models for MPI Communications on a Sandy-Bridge Architecture

Complexity in parallel computation for current HPC systems has being modeled in order to estimate time and energy consumption, which have been conduced to evaluate real costs. Communication analytical models for time and energy comsumption are an attractive issue as part of this cost analysis in parallel computation. In this paper, we present time and energy analytical models for MPI communications using OSU micro benchmarks under Sandy Bridge-EP computer architecture. RAPL (Running Average Power Limit) interface has been setup to provide mechanisms to enforce real energy consumption measurements for OSU micro benchmarks on this architecture. Our applied methodology defines an experimental framework based on several core configurations and different transmission rates. The RAPL interface allows us to obtain different energy values for the OSU benchmark executions. The measures obtained are used to obtain time and energy consumption parameters of our models, establishing average errors below 1% for almost all configurations in real executions under this computer architecture for an ad-hoc model. Alternative and simpler time and energy models are also proposed with errors up to 3.1% for the worst case.
Conditions for apprentices’ learning activities at work

The aim of this study was to investigate how apprentices’ learning activities at work can be fostered. This is a crucial issue as learning at work enhances apprentices’ competence development and prepares them for professional development on the job. Therefore, we conducted a study with 70 apprentices in the German dual system and examined the role of school–work alignment and work characteristics as facilitators of apprentices’ work-based learning activities. Outcomes of path modelling showed that apprentices’ engagement in enquiring was facilitated by their perception of work orientation at school. Likewise, if apprentices perceived work as complex and providing autonomy and needs support, they more strongly reflected individually on work-related challenges. Finally, as a consequence of perceiving their work as complex, they sought reflective interactions with others. The study, thus, highlights the importance of challenging, empowering and supportive work environments and of alignment between school and work as facilitators of apprentices’ learning activities at work.
Transcriptome Analysis of Capsicum Chlorosis Virus-Induced Hypersensitive Resistance Response in Bell Capsicum

Background Capsicum chlorosis virus (CaCV) is an emerging pathogen of capsicum, tomato and peanut crops in Australia and South-East Asia. Commercial capsicum cultivars with CaCV resistance are not yet available, but CaCV resistance identified in Capsicum chinense is being introgressed into commercial Bell capsicum. However, our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms leading to the resistance response to CaCV infection is limited. Therefore, transcriptome and expression profiling data provide an important resource to better understand CaCV resistance mechanisms. Methodology/Principal Findings We assembled capsicum transcriptomes and analysed gene expression using Illumina HiSeq platform combined with a tag-based digital gene expression system. Total RNA extracted from CaCV/mock inoculated CaCV resistant (R) and susceptible (S) capsicum at the time point when R line showed a strong hypersensitive response to CaCV infection was used in transcriptome assembly. Gene expression profiles of R and S capsicum in CaCV- and buffer-inoculated conditions were compared. None of the genes were differentially expressed (DE) between R and S cultivars when mock-inoculated, while 2484 genes were DE when inoculated with CaCV. Functional classification revealed that the most highly up-regulated DE genes in R capsicum included pathogenesis-related genes, cell death-associated genes, genes associated with hormone-mediated signalling pathways and genes encoding enzymes involved in synthesis of defense-related secondary metabolites. We selected 15 genes to confirm DE expression levels by real-time quantitative PCR. Conclusion/Significance DE transcript profiling data provided comprehensive gene expression information to gain an understanding of the underlying CaCV resistance mechanisms. Further, we identified candidate CaCV resistance genes in the CaCV-resistant C. annuum x C. chinense breeding line. This knowledge will be useful in future for fine mapping of the CaCV resistance locus and potential genetic engineering of resistance into CaCV-susceptible crops.
Combined delivery of Nogo-A antibody, neurotrophin-3 and the NMDA-NR2d subunit establishes a functional ‘detour’ in the hemisected spinal cord

To encourage re‐establishment of functional innervation of ipsilateral lumbar motoneurons by descending fibers after an intervening lateral thoracic (T10) hemisection (Hx), we treated adult rats with the following agents: (i) anti‐Nogo‐A antibodies to neutralize the growth‐inhibitor Nogo‐A; (ii) neurotrophin‐3 (NT‐3) via engineered fibroblasts to promote neuron survival and plasticity; and (iii) the NMDA‐receptor 2d (NR2d) subunit via an HSV‐1 amplicon vector to elevate NMDA receptor function by reversing the Mg2+ block, thereby enhancing synaptic plasticity and promoting the effects of NT‐3. Synaptic responses evoked by stimulation of the ventrolateral funiculus ipsilateral and rostral to the Hx were recorded intracellularly from ipsilateral lumbar motoneurons. In uninjured adult rats short‐latency (1.7‐ms) monosynaptic responses were observed. After Hx these monosynaptic responses were abolished. In the Nogo‐Ab + NT‐3 + NR2d group, long‐latency (approximately 10 ms), probably polysynaptic, responses were recorded and these were not abolished by re‐transection of the spinal cord through the Hx area. This suggests that these novel responses resulted from new connections established around the Hx. Anterograde anatomical tracing from the cervical grey matter ipsilateral to the Hx revealed increased numbers of axons re‐crossing the midline below the lesion in the Nogo‐Ab + NT‐3 + NR2d group. The combined treatment resulted in slightly better motor function in the absence of adverse effects (e.g. pain). Together, these results suggest that the combination treatment with Nogo‐Ab + NT‐3 + NR2d can produce a functional ‘detour’ around the lesion in a laterally hemisected spinal cord. This novel combination treatment may help to improve function of the damaged spinal cord.
Uncovering Hierarchical and Overlapping Communities with a Local-First Approach

Community discovery in complex networks is the task of organizing a network’s structure by grouping together nodes related to each other. Traditional approaches are based on the assumption that there is a global-level organization in the network. However, in many scenarios, each node is the bearer of complex information and cannot be classified in disjoint clusters. The top-down global view of the partition approach is not designed for this. Here, we represent this complex information as multiple latent labels, and we postulate that edges in the networks are created among nodes carrying similar labels. The latent labels are the communities a node belongs to and we discover them with a simple local-first approach to community discovery. This is achieved by democratically letting each node vote for the communities it sees surrounding it in its limited view of the global system, its ego neighborhood, using a label propagation algorithm, assuming that each node is aware of the label it shares with each of its connections. The local communities are merged hierarchically, unveiling the modular organization of the network at the global level and identifying overlapping groups and groups of groups. We tested this intuition against the state-of-the-art overlapping community discovery and found that our new method advances in the chosen scenarios in the quality of the obtained communities. We perform a test on benchmark and on real-world networks, evaluating the quality of the community coverage by using the extracted communities to predict the metadata attached to the nodes, which we consider external information about the latent labels. We also provide an explanation about why real-world networks contain overlapping communities and how our logic is able to capture them. Finally, we show how our method is deterministic, is incremental, and has a limited time complexity, so that it can be used on real-world scale networks.
Incremental on-line adaptation of POMDP-based dialogue managers to extended domains

Copyright © 2014 ISCA. An important property of open domain spoken dialogue systems is their ability to deal with a set of new, previously unseen, concepts introduced in the conversation. The dialogue manager must then quickly learn how to talk about the new concepts using its knowledge of the existing concepts. It has previously been shown that a single new concept could be accommodated by mapping the kernel function of a Gaussian process to incorporate an additional concept into the domain of a statistical dialogue manager. Here we present an incremental scheme which enables the domain of a dialogue manager to be repeatedly extended by recursively specifying priors in Gaussian processes. We show that it is possible to effectively double the number of concepts understood by a system providing restaurant information using only 1000 adaptation dialogues with real users.
Peri‐operative endocrine effects of etomidate

This study investigated the effects of etomidate on endocrine responses to anaesthesia and surgery. Patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy received standard anaesthetics of either etomidate for induction with etomidate infusion, or thiopentone and halo thane. Etomidate suppressed the secretion of cortisol and aldosterone for between 8 and 22 hours after the end of the etomidate infusion; 11‐deoxycortisol secretion was not suppressed during the etomidate infusion, but rose postoperatively; 17α‐hydroxyprogesterone suppression also lasted only as long as the etomidate infiion. There were no effects on plasma oestradiol, A CTH, or prolactin, but growth hormone concentrations were elevated in the etomidate group. Etomidate was concluded to have influenced adrenocortical function only, where it probably inhibits 11 β‐hydroxylation, 17 α‐hydroxylation and other intramitochondrial hydroxylation reactions. There were no clinical sequelae attributable to adrenocortical suppression. The relationship of chemical structure of etomidate and other phenylated imidazoles to inhibition of steroidogenesis is discussed.
Voice Transformation: A survey

Voice transformation refers to the various modifications one may apply to the sound produced by a person, speaking or singing. Voice Transformation is usually seen as an add-on or an external system in speech synthesis systems since it may create virtual voices in a simple and flexible way. In this paper we review the state-of-the-art Voice Transformation methodology showing its limitations in producing good speech quality and its current challenges. Addressing quality issues of current voice transformation algorithms in conjunction with properties of the speech production and speech perception systems we try to pave the way for more natural Voice Transformation algorithms in the future. Facing the challenges, will allow Voice Transformation systems to be applied in important and versatile areas of speech technology; applications that are far beyond speech synthesis.