Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transgender Transitioning and Change of Self-Reported Sexual Orientation

Objective Sexual orientation is usually considered to be determined in early life and stable in the course of adulthood. In contrast, some transgender individuals report a change in sexual orientation. A common reason for this phenomenon is not known. Methods We included 115 transsexual persons (70 male-to-female “MtF” and 45 female-to-male “FtM”) patients from our endocrine outpatient clinic, who completed a questionnaire, retrospectively evaluating the history of their gender transition phase. The questionnaire focused on sexual orientation and recalled time points of changes in sexual orientation in the context of transition. Participants were further asked to provide a personal concept for a potential change in sexual orientation. Results In total, 32.9% (n = 23) MtF reported a change in sexual orientation in contrast to 22.2% (n = 10) FtM transsexual persons (p = 0.132). Out of these patients, 39.1% (MtF) and 60% (FtM) reported a change in sexual orientation before having undergone any sex reassignment surgery. FtM that had initially been sexually oriented towards males ( = androphilic), were significantly more likely to report on a change in sexual orientation than gynephilic, analloerotic or bisexual FtM (p = 0.012). Similarly, gynephilic MtF reported a change in sexual orientation more frequently than androphilic, analloerotic or bisexual MtF transsexual persons (p = 0.05). Conclusion In line with earlier reports, we reveal that a change in self-reported sexual orientation is frequent and does not solely occur in the context of particular transition events. Transsexual persons that are attracted by individuals of the opposite biological sex are more likely to change sexual orientation. Qualitative reports suggest that the individual's biography, autogynephilic and autoandrophilic sexual arousal, confusion before and after transitioning, social and self-acceptance, as well as concept of sexual orientation itself may explain this phenomenon.
ON THE CONVERGENCE OF GENERALIZED POLYNOMIAL CHAOS EXPANSIONS

A number of approaches for discretizing partial differential equations with random data are based on generalized polynomial chaos expansions of random variables. These constitute generalizations of the polynomial chaos expansions introduced by Norbert Wiener to expansions in polynomials orthogonal with respect to non-Gaussian probability measures. We present conditions on such measures which imply mean-square convergence of generalized polynomial chaos expansions to the correct limit and complement these with illustrative examples.
Development and Future Issues of High Voltage Systems for FCV

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, has delivered the New X-TRAIL FCV 2005 Year Model to customers in April 2006 in Japan, in which a newly developed in-house fuel cell stack and 70-MPa high-pressure hydrogen storage system are installed. For fuel cell vehicles, not only the fuel cell system and the hydrogen storage system but also the high-voltage system is very important, such as a traction motor to propel the vehicle, motors that drive some devices for the fuel cell system, a second battery that stores braking energy and assists the acceleration, inverters which supply alternating current to the prescribed motors, and converters which change voltage generated by the fuel cell stack to the specific level for each subsystems to operate. X-TRAIL FCV 2005MY has increased the performance of driving range and acceleration compared to 2003MY. We have practiced using new technologies to reduce the size reduction of the high-voltage system to achieve these performance improvements, but it still needs many improvements to make fuel cell vehicles popular to the market
Short Defective Interfering RNAs of Tombusviruses Are Not Targeted but Trigger Post-Transcriptional Gene Silencing against Their Helper Virus Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.010366.

Post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) is a sequence-specific degradation mechanism that operates in almost all eukaryotic cells. In plants, double-stranded RNA triggers PTGS, generating 21- to 25-nucleotide guide RNAs responsible for specific degradation of cognate mRNA. The double stranded RNA intermediates of replicating plant viruses often induce PTGS, leading to symptom attenuation. Here we demonstrate the role of PTGS in defective interfering (DI) RNA–mediated symptom attenuation in plants infected with Cymbidium ringspot tombusvirus (CymRSV). Analysis of 21- to 25-nucleotide RNAs in Nicotiana benthamiana infected with CymRSV indicated that PTGS was not spread homogeneously along the viral genome. The 21- to 25-nucleotide RNAs derived mainly from plus-stranded RNA and likely arose from local basepaired structures. In contrast to helper viral RNA, short DI RNAs were not accessible to helper virus–induced RNA degradation guided by the 21- to 25-nucleotide RNAs. Our results suggest a model in which PTGS plays an important role in the selective accumulation and symptom attenuation mediated by DI RNAs. Because PTGS operates in a wide variety of different organisms, this model is applicable to DI RNA generation and accumulation in both plant and animal cells.
Autonomous Inter-Task Transfer in Reinforcement Learning Domains

Reinforcement learning (RL) methods have become popular in recent years because of their ability to solve complex tasks with minimal feedback. While these methods have had experimental successes and have been shown to exhibit some desirable properties in theory, the basic learning algorithms have often been found slow in practice. Therefore, much of the current RL research focuses on speeding up learning by taking advantage of domain knowledge, or by better utilizing agents' experience. The ambitious goal of transfer learning, when applied to RL tasks, is to accelerate learning on some target task after training on a different, but related, source task. This dissertation demonstrates that transfer learning methods can successfully improve learning in RL tasks via experience from previously learned tasks. Transfer learning can increase RL's applicability to difficult tasks by allowing agents to generalize their experience across learning problems. This dissertation presents inter-task mappings, the first transfer mechanism in this area to successfully enable transfer between tasks with different state variables and actions. Inter-task mappings have subsequently been used by a number of transfer researchers. A set of six transfer learning algorithms are then introduced. While these transfer methods differ in terms of what base RL algorithms they are compatible with, what type of knowledge they transfer, and what their strengths are, all utilize the same inter-task mapping mechanism. These transfer methods can all successfully use mappings constructed by a human from domain knowledge, but there may be situations in which domain knowledge is unavailable, or insufficient, to describe how two given tasks are related. We therefore also study how inter-task mappings can be learned autonomously by leveraging existing machine learning algorithms. Our methods use classification and regression techniques to successfully discover similarities between data gathered in pairs of tasks, culminating in what is currently one of the most robust mapping-learning algorithms for RL transfer. Combining transfer methods with these similarity-learning algorithms allows us to empirically demonstrate the plausibility of autonomous transfer. We fully implement these methods in four domains (each with different salient characteristics), show that transfer can significantly improve an agent's ability to learn in each domain, and explore the limits of transfer's applicability.
An analytical approach for maximum power point calculation for photovoltaic system

The power generated by photovoltaic (PV) systems is highly dependent on operating and environmental conditions. In order to increase the efficiency of PV systems, several methods have been developed to track the maximum power point (MPP). This paper proposes an analytical method that introduces a new expression for the extraction of the value of voltage and current at MPP based on the five parameters single-diode model. The method is able to provide the MPP accurately and quickly, thus ensuring that the operating point of the system is always the one that guarantees the maximum efficiency. The accuracy of the proposed method has been evaluated by numerical test, but also verified with the Elgar PV Simulator ET600X. Lastly, the implementation in prototype circuit board EK-TM4C1294XL from Texas Instruments testifies its capabilities for real-time tracking of MPPT.
Cross-sector Service Provision in Health and Social Care: An Umbrella Review

Introduction: Meeting the complex health needs of people often requires interaction among numerous different sectors. No one service can adequately respond to the diverse care needs of consumers. Providers working more effectively together is frequently touted as the solution. Cross-sector service provision is defined as independent, yet interconnected sectors working together to better meet the needs of consumers and improve the quality and effectiveness of service provision. Cross-sector service provision is expected, yet much remains unknown about how it is conceptualised or its impact on health status. This umbrella review aims to clarify the critical attributes that shape cross-sector service provision by presenting the current state of the literature and building on the findings of the 2004 review by Sloper. Methods: Literature related to cross-sector service provision is immense, which poses a challenge for decision makers wishing to make evidence-informed decisions. An umbrella review was conducted to articulate the overall state of cross-sector service provision literature and examine the evidence to allow for the discovery of consistencies and discrepancies across the published knowledge base. Findings: Sixteen reviews met the inclusion criteria. Seven themes emerged: Focusing on the consumer, developing a shared vision of care, leadership involvement, service provision across the boundaries, adequately resourcing the arrangement, developing novel arrangements or aligning with existing relationships, and strengthening connections between sectors. Future research from a cross-organisational, rather than individual provider, perspective is needed to better understand what shapes cross-sector service provision at the boundaries. Conclusion: Findings aligned closely with the work done by Sloper and raise red flags related to reinventing what is already known. Future researchers should look to explore novel areas rather than looking into areas that have been explored at length. Evaluations of out-comes related to cross-sector service provision are still needed before any claims about effectiveness can be made.
A new approach to haptic augmentation of the GUI

Most users do not experience the same level of fluency in their interactions with computers that they do with physical objects in their daily life. We believe that much of this results from the limitations of unimodal interaction. Previous efforts in the haptics literature to remedy those limitations have been creative and numerous, but have failed to produce substantial improvements in human performance. This paper presents a new approach, whereby haptic interaction techniques are designed from scratch, in explicit consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of the haptic and motor systems. We introduce a haptic alternative to the tool palette, called Pokespace, which follows this approach. Two studies (6 and 12 participants) conducted with Pokespace found no performance improvement over a traditional interface, but showed that participants learned to use the interface proficiently after about 10 minutes, and could do so without visual attention. The studies also suggested several improvements to our design.
Los Turbales de la Patagonia. Bases para su inventario y la conservación de su biodiversidad

Esta publicacion puede citarse como sigue / this publication should be cited as follows: Blanco, D. E. y V. M. de la Balze (eds.). 2004. Los Turbales de la Patagonia: Bases para su inventario y la conservacion de su biodiversidad. Publicacion No. 19. Wetlands International. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A genetic-algorithm-based neighbor-selection strategy for hybrid peer-to-peer networks

BitTorrent is a popular, open-source, hybrid peer-to-peer content distribution system that is conducive for distribution of large-volume contents. In this paper, we propose a genetic-algorithm-based neighbor-selection strategy for hybrid peer-to-peer networks, which enhances the decision process performed at the tracker for transfer coordination. We also investigate how the strategy affects system throughput and distribution efficiency as well as peer contributions. We show through computer simulations that by increasing content availability to the clients from their immediate neighbors, it can significantly improve the system performance without trading off users' satisfaction. The proposed strategy can significantly improve the efficiency of distribution, especially for low-connectivity peers, and it is suitable to deploy for online decisions
Nuclear Outsourcing of RNA Interference Components to Human Mitochondria

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that associate with Argonaute proteins to regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in the cytoplasm. However, recent studies have reported that some miRNAs localize to and function in other cellular compartments. Mitochondria harbour their own genetic system that may be a potential site for miRNA mediated post-transcriptional regulation. We aimed at investigating whether nuclear-encoded miRNAs can localize to and function in human mitochondria. To enable identification of mitochondrial-enriched miRNAs, we profiled the mitochondrial and cytosolic RNA fractions from the same HeLa cells by miRNA microarray analysis. Mitochondria were purified using a combination of cell fractionation and immunoisolation, and assessed for the lack of protein and RNA contaminants. We found 57 miRNAs differentially expressed in HeLa mitochondria and cytosol. Of these 57, a signature of 13 nuclear-encoded miRNAs was reproducibly enriched in mitochondrial RNA and validated by RT-PCR for hsa-miR-494, hsa-miR-1275 and hsa-miR-1974. The significance of their mitochondrial localization was investigated by characterizing their genomic context, cross-species conservation and instrinsic features such as their size and thermodynamic parameters. Interestingly, the specificities of mitochondrial versus cytosolic miRNAs were underlined by significantly different structural and thermodynamic parameters. Computational targeting analysis of most mitochondrial miRNAs revealed not only nuclear but also mitochondrial-encoded targets. The functional relevance of miRNAs in mitochondria was supported by the finding of Argonaute 2 localization to mitochondria revealed by immunoblotting and confocal microscopy, and further validated by the co-immunoprecipitation of the mitochondrial transcript COX3. This study provides the first comprehensive view of the localization of RNA interference components to the mitochondria. Our data outline the molecular bases for a novel layer of crosstalk between nucleus and mitochondria through a specific subset of human miRNAs that we termed ‘mitomiRs’.
Performance evaluation of finite normal mixture model-based image segmentation techniques

Finite Normal Mixture (FNM) model-based image segmentation techniques adopt the following detection-estimation-classification paradigm: 1) detect the number of image regions by using theoretical information criteria; 2) estimate model parameters by using expectation-maximization (EM)/classification-maximization (CM) algorithms; and 3) classify pixels into regions by using various classifiers. This paper presents a theoretical framework to evaluate the performance of this class of image segmentation techniques. For the detection performance, probabilities of over-detection and under-detection of the number of image regions are defined, and the associated formulae in terms of model parameters and image quality are derived. For the estimation performance, both EM and CM algorithms are showed to produce asymptotically unbiased ML estimates of model parameters in the case of no-overlap. Cramer-Rao bounds of variances of these estimates are derived. For the classification performance, misclassification probability for the Bayesian classifier is defined, and a simple formula based on parameter estimates and classified data is derived to evaluate segmentation errors. This evaluation method provides both theoretically approachable accuracy limits of the techniques and practically achievable performance of the given images. Theoretical and experimental results are in good agreement and indicate that, for images of moderate quality, the detection operation is robust, the parameter estimates are accurate, and the segmentation errors are small.
The Exact Rational Univariate Representation and Its Application

Detecting degenerate object configurations is an important part of a robust boundary evaluation system. The most efficient current methods for exact boundary evaluation rely on a general position assumption, and fail in the presence of degeneracies. To address this problem, we describe here a method, based on the rational univariate reduction (RUR), for computing roots of systems of multivariate polynomials with rational coefficients. Our method enables exact algebraic computations with the root coordinates and works even if the underlying set of roots is positive dimensional. We describe several applications, with special emphasis on geometric modeling. In particular, we describe a new implementation that has been used successfully on certain degenerate boundary evaluation problems.
Establishing robust cognitive dimensions for characterization and differentiation of patients with Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, frontotemporal dementia and depression

The diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia requires detailed neuropsychological examinations. These examinations typically yield a large number of outcome variables, which may complicate the interpretation and communication of results. The purposes of this study were the following: (i) to reduce a large data set of interrelated neuropsychological variables to a smaller number of cognitive dimensions; (ii) to create a common metric for these dimensions (z‐scores); and (iii) to study the ability of the cognitive dimensions to distinguish between groups of patients with different types of cognitive impairment.
Altered Retrobulbar Hemodynamics in Patients Who Have Transient Monocular Blindness Without Carotid Stenosis

Background and Purpose— This study was to evaluate the retrobulbar hemodynamics in patients who have transient monocular blindness (TMB) without carotid stenosis. Methods— Fifty-nine patients who have TMB without carotid stenosis were studied along with 59 age- and sex-matched controls. Color Doppler–imaging was used to study the retrobulbar hemodynamic by measuring the flow velocities (peak-systolic velocity, and end-diastolic velocity), vascular resistance indices (pulsatility index, and resistance index) in central retinal arteries, short posterior ciliary arteries, and ophthalmic arteries. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to the attack frequency: group 1 (occasional TMB, 2 or fewer attacks, 26 patients) and group 2 (frequent TMB, 3 or more attacks, 33 patients). Results— The risk factors for atherosclerosis were similar between the cases and controls. The means of end-diastolic velocity were significantly lower in central retinal arteries and ophthalmic arteries, and the pulsatility index and resistance index were significantly higher in all the 3 retrobulbar vessels in TMB patients than for the controls. The differences between patients and controls were greater for the group-2 patients. Conclusion— Patients who have TMB without carotid stenosis had altered retrobulbar hemodynamics with a generalized increase in vascular resistance in the retrobulbar arteries. The role of venous hypertension as an etiology needs further study.
Dense quantum coding and a lower bound for 1-way quantum automata

We consider the possibility of encoding m classical bits into much fewer n quantum bits so that an arbitrary bit from the original m bits can be recovered with a good probability, and we show that nontrivial quantum encodings exist that have no classical counterparts. On the other hand, we show that quantum encodings cannot be much more succint as compared to classical encodings, and we provide a lower bound on such quantum encodings. Finally, using this lower bound, we prove an exponential lower bound on the size of 1-way quantum finite automata for a family of languages accepted by linear sized deterministic finite automata.
Locally Correctable and Testable Codes Approaching the Singleton Bound

Locally-correctable codes (LCCs) and locally-testable codes (LTCs) are codes that admit local algorithms for decoding and testing respectively. The local algorithms are randomized algorithms that make only a small number of queries to their input. LCCs and LTCs are both interesting in their own right, and have important applications in complexity theory. It is a well-known question what are the best rate and distance that such LCCs and LTCs can achieve. When discussing LCCs and LTCs that use a constant number of queries (which is the most common setting), it is known that LCCs can not achieve a constant rate, and it is believed that the same is true for LTCs. However, it has recently been discovered that the situation is radically different when using n queries (β > 0): it turns out that there are both LCCs and LTCs that achieve any constant rate, while using n queries. In this work, we observe that in fact, LCCs and LTCs with n queries can, for any rate, approach the best possible relative distance. More specifically, recall that, by the Singleton bound, an error-correcting code of rate r can have relative distance of at most 1 − r. We construct LCCs and LTCs that, for every r > 0 and e > 0, have rate r and relative distance 1−r−e, where the alphabet size is a constant that depends on e. By applying concatenation to those codes, we obtain binary LCCs and LTCs with n queries that achieve the Zyablov bound, which constitutes the best known parameters for (explicit) binary codes.
Measuring Thermal Profile of Reptiles in Laboratory and Field

Studying and measuring thermo-regulatory behavior of reptiles is central to understanding many aspects of their life history including but not limited to their growth rates [1, 2], physiological performance [3], reproductive patterns [4, 5, 6]. Monitoring thermal profiles and thermo-regulatory behavior of reptiles is becoming crucial for understanding impact of climate change on various species of reptiles and also for predicting whether they will adapt to local warming trends or not. Recently Sinervo et al. [7] reported reduction of lizard biodiversity due to local warming trends and altered thermal niches. The study also proposed a mathematical model to predict local extinctions of lizard populations. Data on thermal profiles of lizards is a crucial parameter for validating such models [7]. We have developed a simple, yet comprehensive approach to measure thermal profile of lizards in laboratory as well as in field. This protocol allows us to continuously monitor thermal profiles of lizards for extended periods of time for getting picture of their thermal microhabitats and thermo-regulatory behavior in unprecedented details.