Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Perturbation Scheme for Passivity Verification and Enforcement of Parameterized Macromodels

This paper presents an algorithm for checking and enforcing passivity of behavioral reduced-order macromodels of linear time-invariant systems, whose frequency-domain (scattering) responses depend on external parameters. Such models, which are typically extracted from sampled input–output responses obtained from numerical solution of first-principle physical models, usually expressed as partial differential equations, prove extremely useful in design flows since they allow optimization, what-if or sensitivity analyses, and design centering. Starting from an implicit parameterization of both poles and residues of the model, as resulting from well-known model identification schemes based on the generalized Sanathanan–Koerner iteration, we construct a parameter-dependent skew-Hamiltonian/Hamiltonian matrix pencil. The iterative extraction of purely imaginary eigenvalues of the pencil, combined with an adaptive sampling scheme in the parameter space, is able to identify all regions in the frequency-parameter plane where local passivity violations occur. Then, a singular value perturbation scheme is set up to iteratively correct the model coefficients, until all local passivity violations are eliminated. The final result is a corrected model, which is uniformly passive throughout the parameter range. Several numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Anaesthesia in Transrectal Prostate Biopsy: Which Is the Most Effective Technique?

Background: Prostate biopsy (PBx) techniques have changed significantly since the original Hodge’s scheme, with an increase in the number and location of cores. These improvements have been realized in part because of the introduction of different local anaesthesia techniques. We critically analysed the literature discussing the role of anaesthesia techniques for use during PBx to find which technique provides the best pain relief for the patient and safety for the urologist. Methods: We performed a literature review by searching the Medline database for articles published between January 2000 and March 2010. Electronic searches were limited to the keywords ‘transrectal prostate biopsy’ and ‘anaesthesia’. Results: Pain and discomfort perceived during PBx are the result of different anatomic factors: the introduction to and movement of the transrectal ultrasound probe in the rectum and the needle piercing the rectum and the prostate capsule. The anaesthesia techniques currently available can be divided into two groups: local (i.e. intrarectal lubricant agents, periprostatic nerve blocks, caudal blocks, pudendal nerve blocks, and their different combinations) and systemic (i.e. oral/intravenous drug administration and sedoanalgesia). Conclusions: The most effective anaesthesia technique for transrectal PBx performed in outpatient settings is the periprostatic nerve blocks with 1 or 2% lidocaine 10 ml, which is associated with intrarectal lubricant agents, especially in younger people. Nevertheless, the current choice of the anaesthesia technique still depends both on patient characteristics (age, prostate size, number and location of cores, anxious personality, need for re-biopsy) and, above all, the urologist’s experience and habits.
The essential structure of practising evidence based practice : a phenomenological description of the experiences of physiotherapists

Evidence based practice (EBP) is an educational paradigm that espouses that clinical decision making should be made through the judicious and conscientious use of best evidence. EBP is predicated on a fundamental principle that therapeutic knowledge is appraised and applied into practice with the ethical imperative to use such knowledge for the good of patient care. Despite the ubiquitous nature of EBP in health care little is known about how physiotherapists use this clinical decision making process and it is not clear as to which theoretical frameworks of practice and knowledge paradigms underpin physiotherapists application of EBP. Phenomenology seeks to uncover the internal consciousness of phenomena by describing and exploring the lived experience and explores the relationship between what exists in one’s consciousness and what exists in the objective world. Descriptive phenomenology was used in this thesis to gain an in depth understanding of how twelve physiotherapists applied EBP in the real and complex world of clinical practice with the objective to explore their experiences and to understand the essence of its practice. The findings in this study revealed a complex picture comprising of three separate but interrelated themes. Physiotherapists had developed a personal theory of EBP (Theme 1) that guided their behaviour and comprised of an ontological, epistemological and methodological structure. This theoretical and practice framework was uniquely individual and required a complex set of cognitive processes that included knowledge identification, transformation, translation and implementation in specific client situations and practice contexts (Theme 2: translation into practice). To add to this complexity this framework took place within intrapersonal, social and cultural milieus which influenced behaviour (Theme 3). The study concludes by conceptualising the findings and experiences of physiotherapists into models that could be used to assist educationalists, practitioners and researchers to promote evidence based practice in a pragmatic way.
Formal analysis and functional analysis of verbal behavior: Notes on the debate between Chomsky and Skinner

Mehler's affirmation (Mehler, 1969, p. 3) is doubtless based essentially on the famous critique made ten years earlier by N. Chomsky (Chomsky, 1959) of b.F. Skinner's work, Verbal Behavior (Skinner, 1957). It also appears in a collection of articles (Mehler, 1969) among which is found the French translation of this manifesto like text by the master of transformational linguistics. If one considers the actual vitality of the behaviorist movement, especially that of Skinnerian inspiration ? a vitality marked by the fecundity of its methods, the extent of the behavioral domains submitted to its variety of experimental analysis, the multitude of its applications, not to mention the repercussions of its philosophical extensions (see especially Skinner, 1971 ), one can only be astonished at such a declaration, which we have elsewhere attributed to "wishful thinking" (Richelle, 1971, p. 48), but which its author unhesitatingly presents, not as an opinion, but as a statement of fact. This gives an indication of the influence of Chomsky's review on certain trends in modern psychology and psycholinguistics. While giving his critique an unaccustomed breadth and intensity, Chomsky undertook to explicate the various concepts of the analysis of behavior adopted by Skinner. If not informed firsthand, the reader might believe himself duly edified after reading Chomsky's presen tation, and would rally without hesitation to the critiques made therein. Consequently, he
Field Tests for Evaluating the Aerobic Work Capacity of Firefighters

Working as a firefighter is physically strenuous, and a high level of physical fitness increases a firefighter’s ability to cope with the physical stress of their profession. Direct measurements of aerobic capacity, however, are often complicated, time consuming, and expensive. The first aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlations between direct (laboratory) and indirect (field) aerobic capacity tests with common and physically demanding firefighting tasks. The second aim was to give recommendations as to which field tests may be the most useful for evaluating firefighters’ aerobic work capacity. A total of 38 subjects (26 men and 12 women) were included. Two aerobic capacity tests, six field tests, and seven firefighting tasks were performed. Lactate threshold and onset of blood lactate accumulation were found to be correlated to the performance of one work task (rs = −0.65 and −0.63, p<0.01, respectively). Absolute (mL·min−1) and relative (mL·kg−1·min−1) maximal aerobic capacity was correlated to all but one of the work tasks (rs = −0.79 to 0.55 and −0.74 to 0.47, p<0.01, respectively). Aerobic capacity is important for firefighters’ work performance, and we have concluded that the time to row 500 m, the time to run 3000 m relative to body weight (s·kg−1), and the percent of maximal heart rate achieved during treadmill walking are the most valid field tests for evaluating a firefighter’s aerobic work capacity.
Finding curvature-constrained paths that avoid polygonal obstacles

We describe an algorithm to find a unit-curvature path between specified configurations in an arbitrary polygonal domain. Whenever such a path exists, the algorithm returns an explicit description of one such path in time that is polynomial in n (the number of features of the domain), m (the precision of the input) and k (the number of segments on the simplest obstacle-free Dubins path connecting the specified configurations). Our algorithm is based on a new normal form for unit-curvature paths and a dynamic path filtering argument that exploits a separation bound for distinct paths in this normal form.The best result known for the feasibility of bounded-curvature motion in the presence of arbitrary polygonal obstacles involves a reduction to the first-order theory of the reals. It just determines if a feasible path exists (it does not return a path) and requires exponential time and space.
Temperature Coupling in the Vocal Communication System of the Gray Tree Frog, Hyla versicolor

The gray tree frog mates over a temperature range of at least 9�C. Gravid females, tested at two different temperatures, preferred synthetic mating calls with temperature-dependent temporal properties similar to those produced by a male at about the same temperature as their own. Thus, the vocalization system and the temporal pattern recognition system are affected by temperature in a qualitatively similar fashion.
Going interactive: How to increase the utility of psychometric measures

between ability and job performance is altered by a person’s level of motivation, such that an increase in motivation will increase the positive impact of ability on performance. This is an example of an interaction between two individual differences variables that, when statistically significant, can provide an inexpensive way of extracting extra predictive variance from ordinary psychometric measures. The aim of this article is to draw the attention of SDR readers to the potential utility of measuring interactions between individual differences variables and to illustrate a straightforward way in which they may be calculated.
Time course assessment of methylmercury effects on C6 glioma cells: submicromolar concentrations induce oxidative DNA damage and apoptosis

Organic mercury is a well‐known neurotoxicant although its mechanism of action has not been fully clarified. In addition to a direct effect on neurons, much experimental evidence supports an involvement of the glial component. We assessed methylmercury hydroxide (MeHgOH) toxicity in a glial model, C6 glioma cells, exposed in the 10−5–10−8 M range. The time course of the effects was studied by time‐lapse confocal microscopy and supplemented with biochemical data. We have monitored cell viability and proliferation rate, reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial transmembrane potential, DNA oxidation, energetic metabolism and modalities of cell death. The earliest effect was a measurable ROS generation followed by oxidative DNA damage paralleled by a partial mitochondrial depolarization. The effect on cell viability was dose dependent. TUNEL, caspase activity and real‐time morphological observation of calcein‐loaded cells showed that apoptosis was the only detectable mode of cell death within this concentration range. N‐acetyl‐cysteine (NAC) or reduced glutathione (GSH) completely prevent the apoptotic effect of MeHgOH. The lowest effective MeHgOH concentration was 10−7 M for ROS and DNA OH‐adducts generation. The effect of submicromolar concentrations of MeHgOH on C6 cells could be relevant in the developmental neurotoxicity caused by low dose, long‐term exposures, such as those of food origin. In addition, we have shown that the same concentrations are effective in the induction of DNA oxidative damage, with further potential pathogenetic implications. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A fully integrated 2.4-GHz CMOS RF transceiver for IEEE 802.15.4

A fully integrated 2.4 GHz CMOS transceiver IC for the low power wireless personal area network (WPAN) is reported. This is based on a dual-conversion architecture receiver and transmitter which are suitable for silicon integration. The frequency synthesizer offering 1.92 GHz and 480 MHz quadrature LO signals are also integrated on the radio chip. In the proposed transceiver, linearity is improved by using current mirror amplifier based mixer. The optimization between dynamic range and current consumption has been achieved by the interleaved analog filter-amplifier chain. The fully integrated transceiver is fabricated in 0.18 mum CMOS technology and the die area of the single-chip IC is 3.7 mm times 3.6 mm. It consumes only 31 mW in the receiver mode and 42 mW in the transmitter mode with 1.8-V supply
System Design, Investigation and Countermeasure of Phishing Attacks using Data Mining Classification Methods and its Analysis

The phishing is a kind of e-commerce lure which is intended to steal the confidential information of the internet user by making identical website of legitimate one in which the contents and images most likely remains similar to the legitimate website. The other way of phishing website is to do minor changes in the URL or in the domain of the website. In this paper, an anti-phishing system is proposed which is based on the development of the Add-on tool for the web browser. The performance of the proposed system is studied with four different data mining classification algorithms which are Class Imbalance Problem (CIP), Rule based Classifier (Sequential Covering Algorithm (SCA)), Nearest Neighbour Classification (NNC), Bayesian Classifier (BC). To evaluate the performance of the proposed anti-phishing system for the detection of phishing websites, we have collected 7690 legitimate websites and 2280 phishing websites from the authorised sources like APWG database and PhishTank. After the analysis of the anti-phishing system, more than 90 percentage successful results achieved at different time periods.
Constraints on Primordial Non-Gaussianity from 800 000 Photometric Quasars.

We derive robust constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) using the clustering of 800 000 photometric quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the redshift range 0.5<z<3.5. These measurements rely on the novel technique of extended mode projection to control the impact of spatially varying systematics in a robust fashion, making use of blind analysis techniques. This allows the accurate measurement of quasar halo bias at the largest scales, while discarding as little as possible of the data. The standard local-type PNG parameters f_{NL} and g_{NL} both imprint a k^{-2} scale-dependent effect in the bias. Constraining these individually, we obtain -49<f_{NL}<31 and -2.7×10^{5}<g_{NL}<1.9×10^{5}, while their joint constraints lead to -105<f_{NL}<72 and -4.0×10^{5}<g_{NL}<4.9×10^{5} (all at 95% C.L.). Introducing a running parameter n_{f_{NL}} to constrain b(k)∝k^{-2+n_{f_{NL}}} and a generalized PNG amplitude f[over ˜]_{NL}, we obtain -45.5 exp(3.7n_{f_{NL}})<f[over ˜]_{NL}<34.4 exp(3.3n_{f_{NL}}) at 95% C.L. These results incorporate uncertainties in the cosmological parameters, redshift distributions, shot noise, and the bias prescription used to relate the quasar clustering to the underlying dark matter. These are the strongest constraints obtained to date on PNG using a single population of large-scale structure tracers, and are already at the level of pre-Planck constraints from the cosmic microwave background. A conservative forecast for a Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)-like survey incorporating mode projection yields σ(f_{NL})∼5-competitive with the Planck result-highlighting the power of upcoming large scale structure surveys to probe the initial conditions of the Universe.
OF THE BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY

The plasma-iron method previously published (Ramsay, 1953) suffers from the defect that it cannot be applied to perceptibly haemolysed specimens. It is also a potential source of error that the procedure involves filtration, and batches of Whatman no. 42 paper have been encountered which contain up to 0 5 pg. Fe/disk. While papers can be freed from iron by soaking in acetate buffer with dipyridyl and reducing agent, followed by washing with water and ethanol, it is an advantage that the modified technique, which eliminates the haemolysis error at least up to 800 jug. haem Fe/ 100 ml. plasma, permits filtration to be replaced by centrifugation except when very lipaemic specimens are encounteied. The modifications consist inthe use of sulphite instead of hydroxylamine as reducing agent, and in the use of a smaller quantity of buffer at a lower pH than before. 2 ml. plasma or serum is treated with 1 ml. acetate buffer, 0-5M, pH 4 0, containing 2:2'-dipyridyl, 0-5%, and 1 ml. sodium sulphite, 0'1 M. The volume is made up to 7-5 ml. and the tube heated 5-10 min. in a boiling water bath. The precipitate should be broken up with a glass rod about 1 min. before the tube is removed from the bath. After cooling, the mixture is either filtered through an iron-free paper or centrifuged. The optical measurement is conducted as before. Figures are presented to show that the new technique gives results identical with the old one in unhaemolysed specimens, and that the addition of haemolysed cells introduces no error. It is worth noting that 'saccharated oxide of iron' (Slack & Wilkinson, 1949) is not quantitatively determined by either the sulphite or the hydroxylamine technique unless the heating period is extended to 1-1l hr. This work was supported by a grant from the Agricultural Research Council.
FORMATION OF C3a AND C5a ANAPHYLATOXINS IN WHOLE HUMAN SERUM AFTER INHIBITION OF THE ANAPHYLATOXIN INACTIVATOR

Two biologically and chemically distinct anaphylatoxins (ATs) could be generated in whole human serum after removal of the AT inactivator (AI) by immune-absorption or after inhibition of AI with 1 M epsilon-aminocaproic acid (EACA). Both human ATs could be generated by treatment of serum with antigen-antibody complexes, which activate the classical complement pathway, and with inulin or yeast, both of which trigger the alternate pathway. The ATs were isolated from serum in active form and characterized as C3a and C5a. Although human C3a had been characterized previously, C5a had not. The molecular weight of human C5a AT was 17,500; its electrophoretic mobility at pH 8.5 was –1.7 x 10–5 cm2 V–1 s–1. The minimal effective concentration in vitro was 7.5 x 10–10 M. The minimal effective doses of human C5a in producing a wheal and erythema in the human skin was 1 x 10–15 mol. The results strongly suggest a biological function for both ATs and indicate that the expression of their activity is controlled by the AI of normal blood plasma.
A contextual approach to ontology reuse: methodology, methods and tools for the Semantic Web

Title Page and Table of Contents Abstract Zusammenfassung Acknowledgements Erklarung Acronyms 1\. Introduction 2\. Ontologies and Ontology Engineering 3\. Ontology Reuse Feasibility Study 4\. Ontology Reuse Methodology 5\. Ontology Reuse Metadata Model 6\. Methods Supporting Ontology Reuse 7\. Tools Supporting Ontology Reuse 8\. Evaluation 9\. Conclusions and Perspectives Appendices Bibliography
Estimation of Premorbid Intelligence in Spanish People with the Word Accentuation Test and Its Application to the Diagnosis of Dementia

The Word Accentuation Test assesses the accentuation of 30 infrequent Spanish words written without the accentuation mark and is an easy-to-use tool for estimating premorbid intelligence of Spanish-speaking people. Its intraobserver (0.97) and interobserver (0.93) reliabilities and its correlation with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (.837) and Raven's Progressive Matrices (.655) are high, offering a good prediction of general intelligence. It is resistant to mental deterioration; 20 demented and 40 controls matched by sex, age, and education obtained similar scores. The discrepancies between current and predicted scores in Raven's scale can diagnose mild-moderate dementia with 0.79 accuracy (sensitivity, 0.78; specificity, 0.82).
Adiabatic Persistent Contrastive Divergence learning

This paper studies the problem of parameter learning in graphical models having latent variables, where the standard approach is the expectation maximization algorithm alternating expectation (E) and maximization (M) steps. However, both E and M steps are computationally intractable for high dimensional data, while the substitution of one step to a faster surrogate for combating against intractability can often cause failure in convergence. To tackle the issue, the Contrastive Divergence (CD) learning scheme has been popularly used in the deep learning community, where it runs the mean-field approximation in E step and a few cycles of Markov Chains (MC) in M step. In this paper, we analyze a variant of CD, called Adiabatic Persistent Contrastive Divergence (APCD), which runs a few cycles of MCs in both E and M steps. Using multi-time-scale stochastic approximation theory, we prove that APCD converges to a correct optimum, where the standard CD is impossible to have such a guarantee due to the mean-field approximation gap in E step. Despite of such stronger theoretical guarantee of APCD, its possible drawback is on slow mixing on E step for practical purposes. To address the issue, we also design a hybrid approach applying both mean-field and MC approximations in E step, where it outperforms the standard mean-field-based CD in our experiments on real-world datasets.
Mapping WordNet Instances to Wikipedia

Lexical resource differ from encyclopaedic resources and represent two distinct types of resource covering general language and named entities respectively. However, many lexical resources, including Princeton WordNet, contain many proper nouns, referring to named entities in the world yet it is not possible or desirable for a lexical resource to cover all named entities that may reasonably occur in a text. In this paper, we propose that instead of including synsets for instance concepts PWN should instead provide links to Wikipedia articles describing the concept. In order to enable this we have created a gold-quality mapping between all of the 7,742 instances in PWN and Wikipedia (where such a mapping is possible). As such, this resource aims to provide a gold standard for link discovery, while also allowing PWN to distinguish itself from other resources such as DBpedia or BabelNet. Moreover, this linking connects PWN to the Linguistic Linked Open Data cloud, thus creating a richer, more usable resource for natural language processing.
Identification of Sternbin and Naringenin as Detoxified Metabolites from the Rice Flavanone Phytoalexin Sakuranetin by Pyricularia oryzae

Sakuranetin (1) is a flavanone phytoalexin that has been reported to play an important role in disease resistance in rice plants. The rice blast fungus Pyricularia oryzae (syn. Magnaporthe oryzae) has been reported to metabolize 1 to lower its antifungal activity. Here, two flavanones, sternbin (2) and naringenin (3), were identified as metabolites of 1 in P. oryzae suspension culture by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). The inhibition of 1, 2, and 3 on P. oryzae mycelial growth were 45%, 19%, and 19%, respectively, at a concentration of 100 μm. Thus, 2 and 3 are detoxified metabolites of 1 by P. oryzae.