Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stationary echo canceling in velocity estimation by time-domain cross-correlation

The application of stationary echo canceling to ultrasonic estimation of blood velocities using time-domain cross-correlation is investigated. Expressions are derived that show the influence from the echo canceler on the signals that enter the cross-correlation estimator. It is demonstrated that the filtration results in a velocity-dependent degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio. An analytic expression is given for the degradation for a realistic pulse. The probability of correct detection at low signal-to-noise ratios is influenced by signal-to-noise ratio, transducer bandwidth, center frequency, number of samples in the range gate, and number of A-lines employed in the estimation. Quantitative results calculated by a simple simulation program are given for the variation in probability from these parameters. An index reflecting the reliability of the estimate at hand can be calculated from the actual cross-correlation estimate by a simple formula and used in rejecting poor estimates or in displaying the reliability of the velocity estimated.
Autofluorescence spectroscopy for multimodal tissues characterization in colitis-associated cancer murine model

The purpose of this research project is to assess mice colon wall, using three optical modalities (conventional endoscopy, confocal endomicroscopy and optical spectroscopy) and endoluminal MRI. The study is done in the context of inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer that represent 13% of new cases of cancer, every year in western countries. An optical spectroscopic bench (autofluorescence and reflectance) was developed with a flexible fiber probe. This latter has been combined with a mini multi-purpose rigid endoscope and a confocal endomicroscope. The optical modalities were first used in vivo on SWISS mice. Then, a specific optical a phantom (containing two layers of distinct fluorophores) was developed in order to evaluate our two-channel spectroscopic probe as a basic depth-sensitive measurement tool. The preliminary results show the feasibility to combine such modalities in the same in vivo protocol. Conventional endoscopy is useful to depict inflammation along colon wall. Confocal endomicroscopy provides high-contrasted images of microvascularization. Measured optical spectra both depend on biochemical tissue content and layered structure of the medium. The light collected from one channel is not similar to the other, in terms of intensity and spectroscopic profile as the interaction with the medium observed volume is different. A comparative analysis of the spectra based on our in vitro model exhibits a strong correlation between simple index extracted from spectral data and two main phantom characteristics (fluorophore concentrations and superficial layer thickness). This work suggests that this technique could contribute to assess tissues alterations through autofluorescence spectroscopic measurement under endoscopy.
A new bus coding technique to minimize crosstalk in VLSI bus

In DSM technology, minimizing the propagation delay and power consumption on buses is the most important design objective in system-on-chip design. In particular, the coupling effects between wires on the bus that can cause serious problems such as crosstalk delay, noise and power consumption. This paper proposes a technique which reduces power consumption data buses which are fed to a DSP/Communication device. The proposed coding technique reduces the transition activity in the input signals and will consequently result in the reduction of power consumption. A new bus coding technique has been proposed to achieve less power reduction in transmission. SPICE simulations are carried out for interconnect lines of different dimensions at various technology nodes (180, 130, 90 and 65 nm). The proposed model reduces the power consumption by upto 35%.
SYNTHESIS OF ALTERNATE EVALUATION MEASURES OF PUBLIC EDUCATION CAMPAIGNS

Public education campaigns such as that described by Lu et al (2001) consist of delivering small packets of information in a largely uncontrolled manner over a large area for an extended period of time. The purpose of such campaigns is to change the knowledge, thinking, and behavior of the population. Such campaigns pose some special problems for evaluation, particularly when the campaign is national in scope and evaluation efforts are commenced after the campaign launch. A national scope precludes the possibility of using control areas in evaluation, and a post-launch evaluation commencement precludes the use of before and after designs. The only remaining options are to study dose-response relationships and to monitor for continuing temporal change as the campaign continues.
Race/ethnicity and all-cause mortality in US adults: revisiting the Hispanic paradox.

OBJECTIVES We examined the association between race/ethnicity and all-cause mortality risk in US adults and whether this association differs by nativity status. METHODS We used Cox proportional hazards regression to estimate all-cause mortality rates in 1997 through 2004 National Health Interview Survey respondents, relating the risk for Hispanic subgroup, non-Hispanic Black, and other non-Hispanic to non-Hispanic White adults before and after controlling for selected characteristics stratified by age and gender. RESULTS We observed a Hispanic mortality advantage over non-Hispanic Whites among women that depended on nativity status: US-born Mexican Americans aged 25 to 44 years had a 90% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.03, 0.31) lower death rate; island- or foreign-born Cubans and other Hispanics aged 45 to 64 years were more than two times less likely to die than were their non-Hispanic White counterparts. Island- or foreign-born Puerto Rican and US-born Mexican American women aged 65 years and older exhibited at least a 25% lower rate of dying than did their non-Hispanics White counterparts. CONCLUSIONS The "Hispanic paradox" may not be a static process and may change with this population growth and its increasing diversity over time.
Assembly of vaccinia virus: effects of rifampin on the intracellular distribution of viral protein p65

The cytoplasmic assembly of vaccinia virus is reversibly blocked by the antibiotic rifampin, leading to the accumulation of partially membrane-delineated rifampin bodies in infected cells. Rifampin-resistant vaccinia virus mutants have point mutations in the D13L gene, which is controlled by a late promoter and expresses a 65-kDa protein, designated p65. To further characterize the mechanism of rifampin inhibition and the function of p65 in virus assembly, we raised antibodies to this protein. Immunoreactive p65 was expressed at late times of infection, and neither its expression nor its turnover was affected by rifampin. Virus-associated p65 could be extracted only with denaturing detergents from purified virions, suggesting that it is an integral viral component. Immunofluorescence studies showed that p65 is localized to the sites of virus assembly. Also, immunoelectron microscopy showed p65 to be associated with viral crescents as well as spherical, immature virions, in both cases predominantly on the inner or concave surface. In the presence of rifampin, p65 was found in large, cytoplasmic inclusion bodies that were distinct from rifampin bodies. The rifampin bodies themselves were labeled with p65 antibodies only after reversal of the rifampin block, predominantly on the viral crescents which rapidly formed following removal of the drug. We propose that p65 functions as an internal scaffold in the formation of viral crescents and immature virions, analogously to the matrix proteins of other viruses.
MAPC: Memory access pattern based controller

Traditionally, system designers have attempted to improve system performance by scheduling the processing cores and by exploring different memory system configurations and there is comparatively less work done scheduling the accesses at the memory system level and exploring data accesses on the memory systems. In this paper, we propose a memory access pattern based controller (MAPC). MAPC organizes data accesses in descriptors, prioritizes them with respect to the number and size of transfer requests. When compared to the baseline multicore system, the MAPC based system achieves between 2.41× to 5.34× of speedup for different applications, consumes 28% less hardware resources and 13% less dynamic power.
Brain Natriuretic Peptide Predicts Functional Outcome in Ischemic Stroke

Background and Purpose— Elevated serum levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) have been associated with cardioembolic stroke and increased poststroke mortality. We sought to determine whether BNP levels were associated with functional outcome after ischemic stroke. Methods— We measured BNP in consecutive patients aged ≥18 years admitted to our stroke unit between 2002 to 2005. BNP quintiles were used for analysis. Stroke subtypes were assigned using Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment criteria. Outcomes were measured as 6-month modified Rankin Scale score (“good outcome”=0–2 versus “poor”) as well as mortality. Multivariate logistic regression was used to assess association between the quintiles of BNP and outcomes. Predictive performance of BNP as compared with clinical model alone was assessed by comparing receiver operating characteristic curves. Results— Of 569 patients with ischemic stroke, 46% were female; mean age was 67.9±15 years. In age- and gender-adjusted analysis, elevated BNP was associated with lower ejection fraction (P<0.0001) and left atrial dilatation (P<0.001). In multivariate analysis, elevated BNP decreased the odds of good functional outcome (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.41–0.98) and increased the odds of death (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.36–2.24) in these patients. Addition of BNP to multivariate models increased their predictive performance for functional outcome (P=0.013) and mortality (P<0.03) after cardioembolic stroke. Conclusions— Serum BNP levels are strongly associated with cardioembolic stroke and functional outcome at 6 months after ischemic stroke. Inclusion of BNP improved prediction of mortality in patients with cardioembolic stroke.
Similarities and differences between on-scalp and conventional in-helmet magnetoencephalography recordings

The development of new magnetic sensor technologies that promise sensitivities approaching that of conventional MEG technology while operating at far lower operating temperatures has catalysed the growing field of on-scalp MEG. The feasibility of on-scalp MEG has been demonstrated via benchmarking of new sensor technologies performing neuromagnetic recordings in close proximity to the head surface against state-of-the-art in-helmet MEG sensor technology. However, earlier work has provided little information about how these two approaches compare, or about the reliability of observed differences. Herein, we present such a comparison, based on recordings of the N20m component of the somatosensory evoked field as elicited by electric median nerve stimulation. As expected from the proximity differences between the on-scalp and in-helmet sensors, the magnitude of the N20m activation as recorded with the on-scalp sensor was higher than that of the in-helmet sensors. The dipole pattern of the on-scalp recordings was also more spatially confined than that of the conventional recordings. Our results furthermore revealed unexpected temporal differences in the peak of the N20m component. An analysis protocol was therefore developed for assessing the reliability of this observed difference. We used this protocol to examine our findings in terms of differences in sensor sensitivity between the two types of MEG recordings. The measurements and subsequent analysis raised attention to the fact that great care has to be taken in measuring the field close to the zero-line crossing of the dipolar field, since it is heavily dependent on the orientation of sensors. Taken together, our findings provide reliable evidence that on-scalp and in-helmet sensors measure neural sources in mostly similar ways.
The Role of Trading Frictions in Real Asset Markets

This paper investigates how trading frictions vary with the thickness of the asset market by examining patterns of asset allocations and prices in commercial aircraft markets. The empirical analysis indicates that assets with a thinner market are less liquid -- i.e., more difficult to sell. Thus, firms hold on longer to them amid profitability shocks. Hence, when markets for assets are thin, firms' average productivity and capacity utilization are lower, and the dispersions of productivity and of capacity utilization are higher. In turn, prices of assets with a thin market are lower and have a higher dispersion. (JEL A12, L11, L93)
Ballet as a movement-based contemplative practice? Implications for neuroscientific studies

There is a rising scientific interest in the neuroscience behind contemplative practices (see e.g., Vago and Silbersweig, 2012 for a review), including movement-based practices such as yoga and tai chi. Given that, it becomes important to ask how such contemplative practices differ from Western movement practices such as dance. In both dance training and contemplative movement, one learns to control the body very precisely, and this requires an assortment of mental skills as well. As a practitioner of both classical ballet and contemplation, and as a neuroscientist who studies contemplation, I will examine how the neural and mental causes and consequences of movement training differ between dance and contemplation. Ballet, rather than modern dance, serves as a good contrast for contemplative practice, because modern dance itself has been influenced substantially by contemplative practice (Hay, 2000). I will compare classical ballet and movement-based contemplative practice on the dimensions of (i) cultivation of attention, (ii) development of interoception, (iii) cultivation of meta-cognition, and (iv) emotion regulation. To date, there are limited studies of movement-based practices, for the obvious reason that movement tends to create artifacts in neuroimaging and EEG measures (e.g., Gwin et al., 2010). I will point out important gaps in our neuroscientific understanding of these phenomena. The results have implications for how we conduct studies of contemplative practitioners and dancers.
Reducing Visual Discomfort with HMDs Using Dynamic Depth of Field

Although head-mounted displays (HMDs) are ideal devices for personal viewing of immersive stereoscopic content, exposure to VR applications on them results in significant discomfort for the majority of people, with symptoms including eye fatigue, headaches, nausea, and sweating. A conflict between accommodation and vergence depth cues on stereoscopic displays is a significant cause of visual discomfort. This article describes the results of an evaluation used to judge the effectiveness of dynamic depth-of-field (DoF) blur in an effort to reduce discomfort caused by exposure to stereoscopic content on HMDs. Using a commercial game engine implementation, study participants report a reduction of visual discomfort on a simulator sickness questionnaire when DoF blurring is enabled. The study participants reported a decrease in symptom severity caused by HMD exposure, indicating that dynamic DoF can effectively reduce visual discomfort.
Agent-based modelling in synthetic biology

Biological systems exhibit complex behaviours that emerge at many different levels of organization. These span the regulation of gene expression within single cells to the use of quorum sensing to co-ordinate the action of entire bacterial colonies. Synthetic biology aims to make the engineering of biology easier, offering an opportunity to control natural systems and develop new synthetic systems with useful prescribed behaviours. However, in many cases, it is not understood how individual cells should be programmed to ensure the emergence of a required collective behaviour. Agent-based modelling aims to tackle this problem, offering a framework in which to simulate such systems and explore cellular design rules. In this article, I review the use of agent-based models in synthetic biology, outline the available computational tools, and provide details on recently engineered biological systems that are amenable to this approach. I further highlight the challenges facing this methodology and some of the potential future directions.
Nanomaterials: an introduction to synthesis, properties and applications

‘Nanomaterials’, the textbook recently published by Dieter Vollath, was much anticipated by students and engineers as it gives quite an elementary introduction into this new fi eld of materials sciences. Abandoning theoretical explanations in depth, this book elucidates all the important properties making nanomaterials so unique. The content of this book is well balanced between the explanation of the properties and technical application. Whenever possible; appropriate examples explain the route to technical application. In the introduction, the importance of surface phenomena is stressed and explained in detail. The discussion of the size dependence of the physical (magnetic, optical, electrical, .) and mechanical properties gives a series of new insights to the reader. As many readers may have problems in recalling the elementary mechanisms of these properties, each chapter starts with a few pages explaining the basic phenomena. Special chapters are devoted to nanofl uids, nanotubes, and nanoplates. Some important aspects of characterisation of the materials are explained in great detail. Specifi cally, the determination of the specifi c surface area, X-ray and electron diffraction methods, and modern methods of electron microscopy including the new analytical possibilities are treated. With respect to synthesis, the discussion of a broad variety of gas phase and fl ame processes is important for the reader. A few words on the synthesis of nanorods and nanotubes increase the understanding of these structures. Using understandable language, the book is clearly structured. It is important to mention the huge number of graphs and fi gures, most of them printed in colour, which clarify the text and support understanding of the phenomena. In total, the reader profi ts from the broad scientifi c and teaching experience of the author. Therefore, this book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to step in into the new and fascinating fi eld of nanomaterials. It may in future become the standard reference material for courses on nanomaterials.
A direct approach to control-flow sensitive region-based memory management

Region-based memory management can be used to control dynamic memory allocations and deallocations safely and efficiently. Existing (direct-style) region systems that statically guarantee region safety---no dereferencing of dangling pointers---are based on refinements of Tofte and Talpin's seminal work on region inference for managing heap memory in stacks of regions.We present a unified Floyd-Hoare Logic inspired region type system for reasoning about and inferring region-based memory management, using a sublanguage of imperative region commands. Our system expresses and performs control-sensitive region management without requiring a stack discipline for allocating and deallocating regions. Furthermore, it captures storage mode analysis and late allocation/early deallocation analysis in a single, expressive, unified logical framework. Explicit region aliasing in combination with reference-counted regions provides flexible, context-sensitive early memory deallocation and simultaneously dispenses with the need for an integrated region alias analysis.In this paper we present the design of our region type system, illustrate its practical expressiveness, compare it to existing region analyses, demonstrate how this eliminates the need for previously required source code rewritings for good memory performance, and describe automatic inference of region commands that give consistently better (or at least equally good) memory performance as existing inference techniques.
Neural Structures Mediating Expression and Extinction of Platform-Mediated Avoidance

Individuals use both passive and active defensive responses to environmental threats. Much is known about the neural circuits of passive defensive responses (e.g., freezing), but less is known about the substrates of active defensive responses (e.g., avoidance). We developed an active avoidance task in which rats learn to avoid a tone-signaled footshock by stepping onto a nearby platform. An advantage of this task is that freezing, which can interfere with avoidance, is reduced, thereby facilitating comparison of the effects of manipulations on avoidance versus freezing. After 10 d of avoidance training, rats were infused with muscimol to pharmacologically inactivate the prelimbic cortex (PL), infralimbic cortex (IL), ventral striatum (VS), or basolateral amygdala (BLA). Inactivating PL, VS, or BLA all impaired avoidance expression, but these areas differed with respect to freezing. Inactivating BLA decreased freezing consistent with loss of the tone–shock association, whereas inactivation of VS increased freezing consistent with loss of avoidance memory. Inactivation of PL had no effect on freezing. Inactivation of IL did not impair avoidance expression but did impair avoidance extinction. Our findings suggest that active avoidance is mediated by prefrontal–striatal circuits, which may be overactive in individuals suffering from trauma-related disorders.
Filtering Outliers in Bayesian Optimization

We propose a Bayesian optimization algorithm to autonomously manage situations where outlier data may be encountered. These outliers can pollute the surrogate model, reducing the efficiency of the optimization. Our algorithm uses robust regression (a Gaussian process with Student-t likelihood) to classify data points as outliers and diminish their effect by excluding them from consideration. We present an empirical evaluation of optimization methods showing that our method is able to overcome the presence of outliers. Furthermore, we also show that our method compares favorably to Bayesian optimization with robust surrogate models on optimization benchmarks and machine learning hyperparameter tuning problems.
Critical Assessment 2: Hydrogen induced fracture in austenitic, high-manganese TWIP steel

Abstract Austenitic steels containing large manganese concentrations, that deform by mechanical twinning and dislocation slip, have attractive mechanical properties. They are often known as TWIP steels because the work hardening rate is enhanced by twinning, thus permitting large elongations before the onset of plastic instabilities. However, some such steels suffer from hydrogen-induced fracture. This susceptibility can be relieved by adding aluminium, although the mechanism by which aluminium acts remains a matter of discussion. The various proposed mechanisms and data from the literature are critically assessed, and some indications given on fruitful paths for progress.