Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fast H 2-optimal model order reduction

The computer-based modeling of dynamical systems often results in a large number of ordinary differential equations. The behavior of such systems can be described—at least locally— through linear state-space models. Numerical simulations, optimizations and control design based on such models usually represent major challenges on the storage and computational power, motivating the need or reduced order models that represent a good approximation of the dynamic behavior while preserving fundamental properties. For linear time-invariant systems, several model reduction approaches have been effectively developed since the 60’s. Amongst these, Krylov subspace methods (also known as interpolatory) stand out due to their flexibility and low computational cost, making them a predestined candidate in the reduction of truly large-scale systems [1, 2]. However, the inherent flexibility of the method can lead to very bad results as well, attaching an even higher importance to the appropriate choice of free design parameters. Recent advances demonstrate ways to find reduction parameters that locally minimize the H2-norm of the error system [3, 4, 5]. Unfortunately, the search for optimal parameters often requires several iterations, leading to computational expenses that can exceed those of classical methods such as balanced truncation. In this contribution, we address this issue by first analyzing the computational complexity of the methods [6] and then propose a new reduction framework that uses model functions— i.e. local approximations of the original model—to speed-up the search for H2-optimal parameters. We will proove that optimality of the results is retained and will discuss under which conditions this strategy effectively reduces the overall computational complexity of the reduction.
Understanding Online Health Groups for Depression: Social Network and Linguistic Perspectives

Background Mental health problems have become increasingly prevalent in the past decade. With the advance of Web 2.0 technologies, social media present a novel platform for Web users to form online health groups. Members of online health groups discuss health-related issues and mutually help one another by anonymously revealing their mental conditions, sharing personal experiences, exchanging health information, and providing suggestions and support. The conversations in online health groups contain valuable information to facilitate the understanding of their mutual help behaviors and their mental health problems. Objective We aimed to characterize the conversations in a major online health group for major depressive disorder (MDD) patients in a popular Chinese social media platform. In particular, we intended to explain how Web users discuss depression-related issues from the perspective of the social networks and linguistic patterns revealed by the members’ conversations. Methods Social network analysis and linguistic analysis were employed to characterize the social structure and linguistic patterns, respectively. Furthermore, we integrated both perspectives to exploit the hidden relations between them. Results We found an intensive use of self-focus words and negative affect words. In general, group members used a higher proportion of negative affect words than positive affect words. The social network of the MDD group for depression possessed small-world and scale-free properties, with a much higher reciprocity ratio and clustering coefficient value as compared to the networks of other social media platforms and classic network models. We observed a number of interesting relationships, either strong correlations or convergent trends, between the topological properties and linguistic properties of the MDD group members. Conclusions (1) The MDD group members have the characteristics of self-preoccupation and negative thought content, according to Beck’s cognitive theory of depression; (2) the social structure of the MDD group is much stickier than those of other social media groups, indicating the tendency of mutual communications and efficient spread of information in the MDD group; and (3) the linguistic patterns of MDD members are associated with their topological positions in the social network.
UNDERSTANDING PAY-FOR-PERFORMANCE INSTATE GOVERNMENTS: A Diffusion Theory Approach

Since the New Public Management is emphasized, the practices of the business sector have been introduced to the public sector without careful assessment. One of the examples is the adoption of pay-for-performance across state governments. Although theories of pay-for-performance may be compelling, scholars have found failures of payfor-performance in the public sector. This study applies a diffusion theory to understand why state governments have adopted pay-for-performance although its effectiveness was not confirmed. Findings show that state governments tend to adopt pay-for-performance as their neighboring states have previously adopted it, but the marginal probability of adoption decreases as more neighbors have adopted pay-for-performance.
High Mobility Ambipolar Diketopyrrolopyrrole‐Based Conjugated Polymer Synthesized Via Direct Arylation Polycondensation

A diketopyrrolopyrrole-based conjugated polymer, PDPP-4FTVT, which exhibits ambipolar transport behavior in air with hole and electron mobilities up to 3.40 and 5.86 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), respectively, is synthesized via direct arylation polycondensation. Incorporation of F-atoms in β-positions of thiophene rings dramatically improves the efficiency of direct arylation polycondensation.
TaFe1.14Te3, A New Low-Dimensional Ternary Tantalum Telluride

TaFe1.14Te3 is obtained from the elements in sealed quartz ampoules at 600°C. It crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/m with a = 7.4262(8), b = 3.6374(5), c = 9.9925(5) Å, and β = 109.166(8)°. The structure is built up from TaFeTe3 layers. Fe atoms with fractional occupancy are situated at the Te surfaces of the TaFeTe3 slabs giving rise to a 3 D connectivity of the TaFeTe3 layers in space. TaFe1.14Te3 exhibits metallic properties and shows an antiferromagnetic ordering at 215 K. Tight-binding band structure calculations show that Fe–Fe and Ta–Fe interactions are important for the electronic stability of TaFe1.14Te3; replacing Fe by more electron-rich transition metals such as Co or Ni may lead to compounds of composition TaM2Te3. A possible structure is derived from that of TaFe1.14Te3 by filling tetrahedral voids within the TaMTe3 layers with additional 3d metal atoms.
Whole-Genome Sequence of a European Clone II and OXA-72-Producing Acinetobacter baumannii Strain from Serbia

ABSTRACT We report here the draft genome sequence of a carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strain isolated from a patient, a strain which previously stayed in Serbia. This isolate possessed the blaOXA-72 carbapenemase gene. The draft genome sequence consists of a total length of 3.91 Mbp, with an average G+C content of 38.8%.
Decision support in fighter aircraft: from expert systems to cognitive modelling

This paper reviews two major programmes for support of pilot decision making in a fighter aircraft: the US Pilot's Associate and the French Copilote Electronique. In addressing the problem of decision support in a highly complex and time-pressurised environment, both programmes migrated from a traditional expert systems approach to one based on cognitive modelling. This, however, is where most commonality ends. The paper shows how the differences between the programmes can be explained in terms of their assumptions of what constitutes pilot expertise. These views explain the method for analysis of pilot activities, the model of the pilot, what phase of the pilot's problem solving the programmes attempt to support, and the support philosophy. The paper concludes with a discussion on computer-based decision support in complex, dynamic domains, and how cognitive modelling may contribute.
Development of CCRP algorithm based on departure time to support disaster evacuation scheduling

Research in this paper is focused on handling the issue of accumulation of vehicles at the intersection of evacuation routes. Solution of these problems is the development of CCRP∗∗ algorithms that integrates scheduling departure of vehicles on the evacuation route. The algorithm was developed by adding a variable start time of departure and an additional minute for the interval of departure. The algorithm starts from defining individual routes with travel time and capacity. Next determine the number of evacuee could pass through each route based on the smallest capacity on the route. Scheduling is done with dispatch displaced by the longest route in advance up to the total of evacuee already dispatched. Departure time each route adapted to give extra minutes between departures. To test the performance of CCRP∗∗ algorithm, conducted the development of applications for simulation scheduling evacuation. Applications developed by utilizing the API of GoogleMap to get the input of the evacuation route. By using the application, can be simulated by entering an early departure time, vehicle speed, and an interval of departure from which to avoid the accumulation of vehicles at intersections. The results show that with the departure schedule setting optimal vehicle, CCRP∗∗ algorithm can avoid conflict at intersection nodes.
Functional Analysis of Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor in Pigment Cell-specific Transcription of the Human Tyrosinase Family Genes*

Tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1), and TRP-2 are the enzymes involved in melanin biosynthesis and are preferentially expressed in pigment cells. Their human gene promoters share the 11-base pair M box containing a CATGTG motif, which was shown here to be bound in vitro by microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF). Transient cotransfection analysis showed that MITF overexpression increased the expression of a reporter gene under the control of the human tyrosinase or TRP-1 gene promoter but not the TRP-2 promoter. The promoter activation caused by MITF is dependent on each CATGTG motif of the distal enhancer element, the M box, and the initiator E box of the tyrosinase gene and the TRP-1 M box. Furthermore, a truncated MITF lacking the carboxyl-terminal 125 amino acid residues transactivated the tyrosinase promoter less efficiently than did MITF, suggesting that MITF's carboxyl terminus contains a transcriptional activation domain, but unexpectedly such a truncated MITF remarkably transactivated the TRP-2 gene promoter. These results suggest that MITF is sufficient to direct pigment cell-specific transcription of the tyrosinase and TRP-1 genes but not the TRP-2 gene.
Learning behavior in an experimental matching pennies game

Two groups containing 10 pairs of players each playing a finitely repeated matching pennies game were varied in terms of the information available to any player about past choices and payoffs of its opponent. The data reveals that presentation of such information does have a significant effect on the nature of play. For subjects without information about opponents′ moves, there is evidence in favor of the hypothesis that past experience with different choices in the past affect current strategy. For fully informed subjects, on the other hand, choices are considerably closer to i.i. d. play. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C72, C92.
Re‐forming the state? Kleptocracy & the political transition in Kenya

Kenya's general election of December 1997 saw the return of President Daniel Arap Moi and the Kenya African National Union (KANU) but has inaugurated a period of intense political fluidity. On the one hand, the ruling party won the election, but its sense of vulnerability has been reinforced by widespread recognition that a less divided opposition could have displaced it. On the other, apparent acceptance by the President of a 1992 constitutional amendment which dictates that his re‐election would signal his last term of office has precipitated a struggle around the succession. In turn, the uncertainty has been compounded by the fact that, prior to the election, the government was forced to concede a political reform package which not only partially corrected the imbalance in the electoral rules which systematically favoured the ruling party, but which also conceded that these changes would lead on to an open‐ended review of the constitution starting in the new year (Southall, 1998). The immediate outcome.
Easy Production of a Glycolipid Analogue Using Animal Cells in Culture

A glycolipid analogue, GM4‐type ganglioside, was obtained by a combination of chemical synthesis and biosynthetic processes in animal cells with dodecyl β‐D‐galactoside (Gal C12) as primer. The primer was conveniently prepared in two steps: glycosylation, followed by deacetylation. The primer was introduced to mouse melanoma B16 cells to serve as substrate for cellular, enzyme‐catalyzed glycosylation. Incubation of the cells in the presence of the primer resulted in sialylation of the galactose residue to afford a GM4 analogue that was released from the cells to the culture medium. The strategy of preparation of the GM4 analogue described in this study is a viable alternative to the existing methods. The saccharide‐primer method is fast, convenient, not requiring expensive enzymes and glycosyl donors, and highly stereoselective.
Equal ≠ The Same: Sex Differences in the Human Brain

Editor’s Note: While advances in brain imaging confirm that men and women think in their own way and that their brains are different, the biomedical community mainly uses male animals as testing subjects with the assumption that sex differences in the brain hardly matter. This month’s Cerebrum highlights some of the thinking and research that invalidates that assumption.
The impact of extension services on farming households in Western Kenya: A propensity score approach

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of the adoption of technological packages in agriculture Kenya on the farming households, as promoted by the National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme (NALEP), a program run by the Government of Kenya. To this end, we collected data on beneficiaries through a survey of 1000 households in the district of Lugari, in Western Kenya. We use propensity score matching to compute the average treatment effect on the treated. We find evidence that: I) program beneficiaries changed their crop rotation practices; II) treated households increased their fertilizer dosage by 23.8%; IV) productivity per acre is not affected by the treatment; V) treated households also were less likely to store their surplus maize.
A low-distortion ΣΔ capacitive microaccelerometer with self-test circuit

A low-distortion ΣΔ interface with self-test circuit is proposed for a closed-loop capacitive microaccelerometer. A fully feedforward architecture is used to reduce integrator output swing and decrease distortions of the ΣΔ interface circuit, resulting in a reduction of power dissipation. A selftest circuit is proposed to measure the distortions of the microaccelerometer without using a vibration table. A fourth-order closed-loop capacitive microaccelerometer is proposed to verify the effectiveness of the technique. The interface circuit is designed and the chip is fabricated using a standard 0.35 μm CMOS process. The capacitive microaccelerometer consumes 10mW from a 5V supply with a sampling frequency of 250 kHz. It achieves a noise floor of 9 μg/Hz1/2, and the self-test measurement results show that the resulting HD2 and HD3 of the microaccelerometerare −92.28 dB and −99.27 dB, respectively.
Convergence of AMR and SPH simulations – I. Hydrodynamical resolution and convergence tests

We compare the results for a set of hydrodynamical tests performed with the adaptive mesh refinement finite volume code, MG, and the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) code, SEREN. The test suite includes shock tube tests, with and without cooling, the non-linear thin-shell instability and the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. The main conclusions are the following. (i) The two methods converge in the limit of high resolution and accuracy in most cases. All tests show good agreement when numerical effects (e.g. discontinuities in SPH) are properly treated. (ii) Both methods can capture adiabatic shocks and well-resolved cooling shocks perfectly well with standard prescriptions. However, they both have problems when dealing with under-resolved cooling shocks, or strictly isothermal shocks, at high Mach numbers. The finite volume code only works well at first order and even then requires some additional artificial viscosity. SPH requires either a larger value of the artificial viscosity parameter, αAV, or a modified form of the standard artificial viscosity term using the harmonic mean of the density, rather than the arithmetic mean. (iii) Some SPH simulations require larger kernels to increase neighbour number and reduce particle noise in order to achieve agreement with finite volume simulations (e.g. the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability). However, this is partly due to the need to reduce noise that can corrupt the growth of small-scale perturbations (e.g. the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability). In contrast, instabilities seeded from large-scale perturbations (e.g. the non-linear thin shell instability) do not require more neighbours and hence work well with standard SPH formulations and converge with the finite volume simulations. (iv) For purely hydrodynamical problems, SPH simulations take an order of magnitude longer to run than finite volume simulations when running at equivalent resolutions, i.e. when they both resolve the underlying physics to the same degree. This requires about two to three times as many particles as the number of cells.
The Timeliness of Income Recognition by European Companies: An Analysis of Institutional and Market Complexity

This study examines international differences in the asymmetric timeliness of accounting earnings by modelling international exposure to different jurisdictions as a firm-specific effect, using an index of regulatory complexity that relates to conditions in each of the capital markets in which the firm's equity is listed. The companies investigated are those with shares cross-listed on European stock exchanges, some of which are also listed in New York. Variation across jurisdictions and markets with respect to earnings timeliness and conservatism can be explained in part as an interaction of market effects and regulatory effects, with some evidence of opposition between the two, and the sensitivity of earnings to stock price changes shows a common, converging trend towards greater accounting conservatism in Europe.
Enzymesby Differential Expression of Pancreatic Tolerogenic Dendritic Cells That Are Marked Generation of Immunogenic versus Antigen Choice Determines Vaccine-Induced

Dendritic cells (DC) elicit immunity to pathogens and tumors while simultaneously preserving tolerance to self. Efﬁcacious cancer vaccines have been a challenge because they are based on tumor Ags, some of which are self-Ags and thus subject to self-tolerance. One such Ag is the tumor-associated mucin MUC1. Preclinical testing of MUC1 vaccines revealed existence of peripheral tolerance to MUC1 that compromises their efﬁcacy. To identify mechanisms that act early postvaccination and might predict vaccine outcome, we immunized human MUC1 transgenic mice (MUC1.Tg) i.v. with a MUC1 peptide vaccine against which they generate weak immunity and wild-type (WT) mice that respond strongly to the same peptide. We analyzed differences in splenic DC phenotype and function between the two mouse strains at 24 and 72 h postvaccination and also performed unbiased total gene expression analysis of the spleen. Compared to WT, MUC1.Tg spleens had signiﬁcantly fewer DC, and they exhibited signiﬁcantly lower expression of costimulatory molecules, decreased motility, and preferential priming of Ag-speciﬁc Foxp3 + regulatory T cells. This tolerogenic DC phenotype and function was marked by a new putative biomarker revealed by the microarray: a cohort of pancreatic enzymes (trypsin, carboxypeptidase, elastase, and others) not previously reported in DC. These enzymes were strongly upregulated in the splenic DC from vaccinated WT mice and suppressed in the splenic DC of vaccinated MUC1.Tg mice. Suppression of the enzymes was dependent on regulatory T cells and on signaling through the IL-10R and correlated with global downregulation of DC immunostimulatory phenotype and function. The Journal of Immunology , 2013, 190: 000–000.
Development of a model to support professional development of primary mathematics teachers in Mauritius.

This study reflects the phenomenological and empirical description of the researcher's experience as a secondary school teacher, teacher educator and researcher at a teacher training institute. The study was prompted by low performance and high drop outs of children in the primary schools of Mauritius. In the course of the investigations, a variety of collateral and related issues spawned from the study of the main theme. These focused on three main educational issues being at the heart of the reform process undertaken in Mauritius: undergraduate teacher preparation programs, continuing professional development of teachers, and curriculum restructuring. The first issue addresses the problem of pre-service teacher preparation programs and its impact on efficiency, effectiveness and efficacy of teachers. The second concerns the provision of professional development opportunities to teachers and its impact on the performance of students and overall school improvement. The third focuses on the need for curriculum restructuring in a context where, with the advent of the information society, the educational landscape is changing to accommodate computer technology as a cognitive tool. The thesis also focuses on the impact of teachers' development on school performance and makes recommendations for improving schools' overall performance through teacher development, computer technology, and curriculum restructuring. The phenomenological dimension of the study relates to the search for a pedagogical-andragogical-technological solution to the problem of continuing professional development of teachers. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the educational system in Mauritius within focus on the role of teachers from a modernist perspective. The chapter also provides the rationale for change from a postmodern perspe4ctive. Chapter 2 provides a review of literature on teacher development, preparation programs for trainee teachers, and the problematics of elementary school mathematics from a constructivist perspective. Chapter 3 deals with problems of investigating research paradigms and the search for methodological stances for the investigations. Chapter 4 deals with the analysis of the research data. Chapter 5 describes the findings and provides the bases for formulating the proposals and recommendations. The study is based on a diversity of research methods that in fact transcend the narrow standards of traditional empirical research. The researcher had recourse to a range of methods, based on an eclectic approach that drew from developmental research and a combination of ethnographic and