Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Numerical simulations on the relative importance of starbursts and AGN in ultraluminous infrared galaxies

We investigate the relative importance of starbursts and active galactic nuclei (AGN) in nuclear activities of ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) based on chemodynamical simulations combined with spectrophotometric synthesis codes. We numerically investigate both the gas accretion rates (Ars; m acc ) on to supermassive black holes (SMBHs) and the star formation rates (SFRs; m sf ) in ULIRGs formed by gas-rich galaxy mergers and thereby discuss what powers . ULIRGs. Our principal results, which can be tested against observations, are as follows. (1) ULIRGs powered by AGN can be formed by major merging between luminous, gas-rich disc galaxies with prominent bulges containing SMBHs, owing to the efficient gas fuelling (m acc > 1 M ⊙ yr -1 ) of the SMBHs. AGN in these ULIRGs can be surrounded by compact poststarburst stellar populations (e.g. A-type stars). (2) ULIRGs powered by starbursts with m sf ∼ 100 M ⊙ yr -1 can be formed by merging between gas-rich disc galaxies with small bulges having the bulge-to-disc ratio (f b ) as small as 0.1. (3) The relative importance of starbursts and AGN can depend on physical properties of merger progenitor discs, such as f b , gas mass fraction, and total masses. For example, more massive galaxy mergers are more likely to become AGN-dominated ULIRGs. (4) For most models, major mergers can become ULIRGs, powered either by starbursts or by AGN, only when the two bulges finally merge. Interacting disc galaxies can become ULIRGs with well-separated two cores (>20kpc) at their pericentre when they are very massive and have small bulges. (5) Irrespective of the choice of model, interacting/merging galaxies show the highest ARs on to the central SMBHs, and the resultant rapid growth of the SMBHs occur when their SFRs are very high. Based on these results, we discuss an evolutionary link between ULIRGs, QSOs with poststarburst populations, and 'E+A' galaxies. We also discuss spectroscopic properties (e.g. Hβ luminosities and line ratio of [0 III]/Hβ) in galaxy mergers with starbursts and AGN.
Student Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness: An assessment of student perception and motivation

Over the past century, student ratings have steadily continued to take precedence in faculty evaluation systems in North America and Australia, are increasingly reported in Asia and Europe and are attracting considerable attention in the Far East. Since student ratings are the most, if not the only, influential measure of teaching effectiveness, active participation by and meaningful input from students can be critical in the success of such teaching evaluation systems. Nevertheless, very few studies have looked into students' perception of the teaching evaluation system and their motivation to participate. This study employs expectancy theory to evaluate some key factors that motivate students to participate in the teaching evaluation process. The results show that students generally consider an improvement in teaching to be the most attractive outcome of a teaching evaluation system. The second most attractive outcome was using teaching evaluations to improve course content and format. Using teaching evaluations for a professor's tenure, promotion and salary rise decisions and making the results of evaluations available for students' decisions on course and instructor selection were less important from the students' standpoint. Students' motivation to participate in teaching evaluations is also impacted significantly by their expectation that they will be able to provide meaningful feedback. Since quality student input is an essential antecedent of meaningful student evaluations of teaching effectiveness, the results of this study should be considered thoughtfully as the evaluation system is designed, implemented and operated.
Single-channel noise reduction in the STFT domain from the fullband output SNR perspective

This paper develops a single-channel noise reduction algorithm in the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) domain, which attempts to optimize the fullband output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We show that the conventional Wiener filter, the maximum SNR filter, and the ideal binary mask based method are particular cases of the developed algorithm. Simulations are presented to illustrate the properties of this algorithm.
Inflammatory features of nasal mucosa in smokers with and without COPD

Background: To investigate whether nasal and bronchial inflammation coexists in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), nasal and bronchial biopsy specimens from seven control subjects, seven smokers without COPD, and 14 smokers with COPD were studied. Methods: Nasal and bronchial biopsy specimens were taken from the same patients during bronchoscopy and squamous cell metaplasia and the thickness of the epithelium and basement membrane were measured. The numbers of eosinophils (EG2), neutrophils (elastase), macrophages (CD68), and CD8 T lymphocytes (CD8/144B) were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Results: Smokers with and without COPD had squamous metaplasia in the nasal and bronchial epithelium. In all groups the thickness of the nasal epithelium was greater than that of the bronchial epithelium. The thickness of the basement membrane was similar in nasal and bronchial biopsy specimens from smokers with and without COPD, but was greater in the bronchi than in the nasal epithelium of controls. Eosinophil number was higher in the nasal and bronchial mucosa of smokers without COPD than in smokers with COPD or controls. Neutrophil number was higher in the nasal and bronchial mucosa of smokers with COPD than in smokers without COPD or controls. CD8 T lymphocyte numbers were similar in smokers with and without COPD and higher than in controls. There were fewer macrophages in nasal and bronchial biopsy specimens from smokers without COPD than in those with COPD. Conclusion: Nasal and bronchial inflammation coexists in smokers and is characterised by infiltration of CD8 T lymphocytes. In smokers without COPD this feature is associated with an increased number of eosinophils, while in those with COPD it is linked to an increased number of neutrophils in both nasal and bronchial biopsy specimens.
Multimodality Molecular Imaging of Stem Cells Therapy for Stroke

Stem cells have been proposed as a promising therapy for treating stroke. While several studies have demonstrated the therapeutic benefits of stem cells, the exact mechanism remains elusive. Molecular imaging provides the possibility of the visual representation of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level. In order to facilitate research efforts to understand the stem cells therapeutic mechanisms, we need to further develop means of monitoring these cells noninvasively, longitudinally and repeatedly. Because of tissue depth and the blood-brain barrier (BBB), in vivo imaging of stem cells therapy for stroke has unique challenges. In this review, we describe existing methods of tracking transplanted stem cells in vivo, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine imaging, and optical imaging (OI). Each of the imaging techniques has advantages and drawbacks. Finally, we describe multimodality imaging strategies as a more comprehensive and potential method to monitor transplanted stem cells for stroke.
Achieving load balancing in heterogeneous peer-to-peer netjworks by allocating and reallocating process

P2P networks are generally used for file sharing applications. In this paper, we argue that existing methods of building heterogeneous unstructured peer-to-peer (P2P) networks has joining process and the rebuilding process which does not make effective load balancing. Since the joining process is to use random walk to assist new incoming peers, but it does not decide whether the new peer can be used for processing the workload. Similarly the rebuilding process specifies how the nodes should react when they lose links, that is it leaves the network safely without affecting the existing performance, but the peer machine that is leaving the network does not allocate its work to the remaining peers. So we have proposed a simple protocol for building heterogeneous unstructured peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. Our new protocol consists of two parts - the allocating process and the reallocating process. The basic idea for the allocating process is to use random walk to assist new incoming peers in selecting their suitable neighbors in terms of capacity and connectivity to achieve load-balancing and also to decide whether that peer can be used for processing the workload of the network based on its capacity. The reallocating process specifies how the node allocates its work to the remaining peers when they leave the network. Our protocol provides a guideline to optimize a P2P network by achieving effective load balancing.
Robust Models of Object Geometry

Precise and accurate models of the world are critical to autonomous robot operation. Just as robot navigation typically requires an accurate map of the world, robot manipulation typically requires accurate models of the objects to be gras ped. However, the statistical inference tools that enable robot mapping have not yet had the same impact in geometric object modellin g. We describe an inference algorithm for learning statistical models of objects from image data. We describe a representation tha t allows us to compute a distribution over the complete geomet ry of different objects, and describe how a library of object geometry models can be learned. Finally, we describe how learned obje ct models can both be used to recognize new instances of objects and to infer the geometry of occluded parts of objects.
Identification of 5-Iodotubercidin as a Genotoxic Drug with Anti-Cancer Potential

Tumor suppressor p53, which is activated by various stress and oncogene activation, is a target for anti-cancer drug development. In this study, by screening panels of protein kinase inhibitors and protein phosphatase inhibitors, we identified 5-Iodotubercidin as a strong p53 activator. 5-Iodotubercidin is purine derivative and is used as an inhibitor for various kinases including adenosine kinase. We found that 5-Iodotubercidin could cause DNA damage, verified by induction of DNA breaks and nuclear foci positive for γH2AX and TopBP1, activation of Atm and Chk2, and S15 phosphorylation and up-regulation of p53. As such, 5-Iodotubercidin induces G2 cell cycle arrest in a p53-dependent manner. Itu also induces cell death in p53-dependent and -independent manners. DNA breaks were likely generated by incorporation of 5-Iodotubercidin metabolite into DNA. Moreover, 5-Iodotubercidin showed anti-tumor activity as it could reduce the tumor size in carcinoma xenograft mouse models in p53-dependent and -independent manners. These findings reveal 5-Iodotubercidin as a novel genotoxic drug that has chemotherapeutic potential.
Biophysical Characterization of the Dimer and Tetramer Interface Interactions of the Human Cytosolic Malic Enzyme

The cytosolic NADP+-dependent malic enzyme (c-NADP-ME) has a dimer-dimer quaternary structure in which the dimer interface associates more tightly than the tetramer interface. In this study, the urea-induced unfolding process of the c-NADP-ME interface mutants was monitored using fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy, analytical ultracentrifugation and enzyme activities. Here, we demonstrate the differential protein stability between dimer and tetramer interface interactions of human c-NADP-ME. Our data clearly demonstrate that the protein stability of c-NADP-ME is affected predominantly by disruptions at the dimer interface rather than at the tetramer interface. First, during thermal stability experiments, the melting temperatures of the wild-type and tetramer interface mutants are 8–10°C higher than those of the dimer interface mutants. Second, during urea denaturation experiments, the thermodynamic parameters of the wild-type and tetramer interface mutants are almost identical. However, for the dimer interface mutants, the first transition of the urea unfolding curves shift towards a lower urea concentration, and the unfolding intermediate exist at a lower urea concentration. Third, for tetrameric WT c-NADP-ME, the enzyme is first dissociated from a tetramer to dimers before the 2 M urea treatment, and the dimers then dissociated into monomers before the 2.5 M urea treatment. With a dimeric tetramer interface mutant (H142A/D568A), the dimer completely dissociated into monomers after a 2.5 M urea treatment, while for a dimeric dimer interface mutant (H51A/D90A), the dimer completely dissociated into monomers after a 1.5 M urea treatment, indicating that the interactions of c-NADP-ME at the dimer interface are truly stronger than at the tetramer interface. Thus, this study provides a reasonable explanation for why malic enzymes need to assemble as a dimer of dimers.
On the Optimal Deployment of Direction Finders

The military uses direction finders to locate enemy forces by detecting the positions of transmitters that emit radio frequencies. This paper studies the deployment of direction finders with the objective of maximizing the effectiveness with which transmitter positions can be estimated in an area of interest. We present three methods to prescribe deployment. The first method uses Stansfield's probability density function to compute objective function coefficients numerically. The second and the third employ surrogate measures of effectiveness as objective functions. The second method, like the first, involves complete enumeration; the third formulates the problem as an integer program and solves it with an efficient network-based label-setting algorithm. We perform computational tests to evaluate the relative speed and position-estimation effectiveness of each method. Note to Practitioners-The problem that motivated this paper is that of triangulating the position of a radio transmitter on a battlefield. It is important to determine enemy positions, perhaps from the emissions of a communication device, to plan offensive, and perhaps defensive actions. Triangulation is also important to rescue operations, for example, locating downed aircraft and stranded ships. We employ several methodologies in this study, including simulation, numerical integration, and complete enumeration but synthesize our primary methodology using a surrogate measure of detection effectiveness and dynamic programming to solve a specially structured, constrained shortest path problem. Our method is well suited for battlefield application and our research continues to enhance our model, taking into consideration obstructions that might interfere with radio transmissions as well as uncertainty.
How number-space relationships are assessed before formal schooling: A taxonomy proposal

The last years of research on numerical development have provided evidence that spatial-numerical associations (SNA) can be formed independent of formal school training. However, most of these studies used various experimental paradigms that referred to slightly different aspects of number and space processing. This poses a question of whether all SNAs described in the developmental literature can be interpreted as a unitary construct, or whether they are rather examples of different, but related phenomena. Our review aims to provide a starting point for a systematic classification of SNA measures used from infancy to late preschool years, and their underlying representations. We propose to distinguish among four basic SNA categories: (i) cross-dimensional magnitude processing, (ii) associations between spatial and numerical intervals, (iii) associations between cardinalities and spatial directions, (iv) associations between ordinalities and spatial directions. Such systematization allows for identifying similarities and differences between processes and representations that underlie the described measures, and also for assessing the adequacy of using different SNA tasks at different developmental stages.
A Critical Review of Citizens' Juries: How Useful are they in Facilitating Public Participation in the EU Water Framework Directive?

Citizens' juries (CJs) are recommended as one approach that might be used to encourage the active involvement of interested parties in the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). In this light the paper critically reviews the citizens' jury method in the context of water resource management. It examines three strategic challenges of representation, accountability and the role of experts, and issues of scale related to geography, institutions and time. Innovative adaptations of the CJ approach and other deliberative methods are explored as means to address these challenges. The review concludes by arguing that CJs will only be suitable for use in implementation of the WFD if such adaptations are further developed and used to tailor the CJ approach to the particular needs of water resource management in different circumstances.
General Phase-Noise Analysis From the Variance of the Phase Deviation

For an accurate calculation of close-to-carrier phase noise, the nonlinearity of the perturbed oscillator with respect to the common phase deviation must be taken into account. Existing analysis methods are based on the decoupling of this variable from the perturbed oscillator system and the resulting spectrum can only exhibit slopes of - 30 or - 20 dB per decade at sufficiently large frequency offset from the carrier. However, other forms of variations are often observed in the measurement, due to the influence of close-in poles of the perturbed-oscillator system. These poles are mathematically eliminated in the decoupled analysis of the phase process. Here, a new analysis method is presented for a general calculation of phase noise, taking into account the nonlinearity in the phase deviation and enabling an accurate prediction of the phase-noise spectrum as the offset frequency increases. It considers the influence of the amplitude modulation on the variance of the phase deviation and, in this manner, can predict the effect on the phase-noise spectrum of close-in poles. The method is initially applied to a semi-analytical formulation, based on a reduced-order Jacobian matrix, which enables good insight into the possible effect of the close-in poles. Then, it is generalized to a perturbation analysis of the full harmonic-balance system. The method has been successfully applied to a bipolar-based oscillator at 1 GHz and to a finite-element-transistor-based oscillator at 5 GHz.
The timing of surgery influences mortality and morbidity in adults with severe complicated infective endocarditis: a propensity analysis.

AIMS To determine whether the timing of surgery could influence mortality and morbidity in adults with complicated infective endocarditis (IE). METHODS AND RESULTS In 291 consecutive adults with definite IE who underwent surgery during the active phase, we compared those operated on within the first week of antimicrobial therapy (n=95) to those operated on later (n=191). The impact of the timing of surgery on 6-month mortality, relapses, and postoperative valvular dysfunctions (PVD) was analysed using propensity score (PS) analyses. After stratification of the cohort into quintiles based on the PS, ≤1st week surgery was associated with a trend of decrease in 6-month mortality in the quintile of patients with the most likelihood of undergoing this early surgical management [quintile 5: 11% vs. 33%, odds ratio (OR)=0.18, 95% CI (confidence interval) 0.04-0.83, P=0.03]. Patients of this subgroup were younger, were more likely to have Staphylococcus aureus infections, congestive heart failure, and larger vegetations. Besides, ≤1st week surgery was associated with an increased number of relapses or PVD (16% vs. 4%, adjusted OR=2.9, 95% CI 0.99-8.40, P=0.05). CONCLUSION Surgery performed very early may improve survival in patients with the most severe complicated IE. However, a greater risk of relapses and PVD should be expected when surgery is performed very early.
Familial hemiplegic migraine - an experimental genetic headache model

Abbreviations FHM-1 Familial hemiplegic migraine of type 1 FHM-2 Familial hemiplegic migraine of type 2 FHM-3 Familial hemiplegic migraine of type 3 NO Nitric oxide GTN Glyceryl trinitrate CGRP Calcitonin gene related peptide MA Migraine with aura MO Migraine without aura CSD Cortical spreading depression cAMP Cyclic adenosine monophosphate cGMP Cyclic guanosine monophosphate PDE Phosphodiesterase MCA Middle cerebral artery STA Superficial temporal artery CBF Cerebral blood flow AUC Area under the curve VEP Visual evoked potentials IDAP Intensity dependence of the auditory evoked potential nBR Nociceptive blink reflex HV Healthy volunteer VRS Verbal rating scale EA2 Episodic ataxia type 2 SCA6 Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 CADASIL Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy MELAS Myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes SHM Sporadic hemiplegic migraine
Wireless Sensor Node: monitoring low-rate phenomena using a low-power RF-enabled microcontroller

A low-power wireless enabled sensor module built from commercial off-the-shelf components (COTS) is presented. This sensor/transmitter module is the basic component of a low cost telemetry system that can monitor low time-constant phenomena, such as temperature and humidity in our implementation, in which energy preservation is a target specification. The heart of the module is an RFPIC microcontroller (MCU) with a RF-UHF transmitter from Microchip. The module is normally kept in sleep mode to decrease energy consumption; in this condition, it uses 1.5 muW (Isleep<0.5 muA @ 3 V). The module is woken up by a low frequency (125 kHz) magnetic field pulse that is sensed by a tuned LC tank in the module that drives a low power comparator (MAX919) whose output wakes the MCU up from sleep. When it is woken up, the module takes the intended measurements, uses a current of ION =450 muA for tens of ms, and then it transmits the results to a central receiver using a common-use RF ISM band (434 MHz) and then goes back to sleep. Each burst of transmission lasts =30 ms and uses a current of ITX=5 mA in this condition, which depends on the output power configuration.