Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Blood Based Genetic Biomarkers of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a disabling, chronic, and severe brain disorder with collective symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior, impaired cognitive ability etc. Although multiple factors are responsible for the disease phenotypes, the precise cause of disease pathogenesis is debatable. But, genetic susceptibility and environmental influences play a vital role in pathophysiology. Additionally, derangements to the central nervous system also influence the gene expression and metabolism in the peripheral blood via several factors viz. neurotransmitters, hormones, cytokines, immune-related alterations. Therefore, identification of blood-based biomarkers is reliable and feasible option to examine heterogeneous diseasecausing factors such as nucleic acids, metabolites, epigenetic features, gene expressions etc.; however, examining brain related markers are not yet wellestablished. Substantial research work suggests deregulation of several genes in the disease condition and reported to be increased risk for schizophrenia appeared to be affecting memory-related signaling cascades, RNA processing, DNA replication, signal transduction, cytokine signaling etc. It is interesting
Challenges To Recent Theories Of Crosslinguistic Variation In Parsing: Evidence From Dutch

This chapter examines an aspect of parsing in which widely accepted generalizations have turned out to be inaccurate or incomplete and in which languages other than English appear to operate according to principles previously unexplored in mainstream research. It outlines evidence showing how the characteristics of site selection vary from language to language, and reviews a variety of theoretical proposals that have been put forward in attempts to explain these differences. The chapter then proceeds to examine these proposals and discusses their status in the light of recent psycholinguistic work. The chapter outlines a number of new studies in Dutch and spells out the theoretical implications of these data. The work on languages other than English has made it abundantly clear that any viable theory of syntactic analysis has to postulate something over and above a proximity or recency principle to account for RC-attachment findings in most languages. Keywords: Dutch; psycholinguistic work; RC attachment findings; syntactic analysis; theoretical proposals
Mechanical Properties and Differentiation Assessments of Neural Stem Cells with Pneumatic Micropipette Aspiration

The change in chemical and biological properties of neural stem cells (NSCs) before and after differentiating into neurons and glial cells has been well studied. However, there is lack of knowledge on the relationship between cell differentiation and alteration of cell mechanical features. Mechanical properties can reflect specific changes that occur with biochemical and cytological changes. Here, we present a robotic micromanipulation system for measuring the mechanical properties of single cells. This system consists of a suction micropipette, a robotic micromanipulator and an inverted microscope. A pneumatic micropipette aspiration method is utilized to measure the elastic properties of the cells. We found that the mechanical properties of NSCs belong to the solid state, however, neurons and glial cells are close to the liquid state. Further, NSCs are harder than neurons and glial cells.
Making Words Count : Coalition Agreements & Cabinet Management

The Cabinet is a central actor in policy making in parliamentary systems. Yet, relatively little is known about how coalition cabinets operate. The delegation of decision making authority to ministers invites policy drift, which threatens the cohesiveness of the cabinet’s policy program. Cabinets employ a variety of methods to contain policy drift. The writing of coalition agreements is among the major tools, but there are others, including limiting ministerial autonomy and the use of junior ministers to shadow ministers. The present study demonstrates that coalition agreements are written to contain policy drift and that it is directly related to the degree of hierarchy in the cabinet. We study the factors which affect the likelihood of a coalition agreement being written and how extensive they are, if written. Among these are ideological diversity in the cabinet, the use of alternative methods for controlling ministers, and the complexity of the bargaining situation in the coalition.1
Snakes and ladders and loaded dice: Poverty dynamics and inequality in South Africa, 2008–2017

Longitudinal surveys can give insight into economic mobility, which allows us to understand how markers of (dis)advantage are consequential in determining material conditions in the present, and how these markers structure economic opportunity over time. In this paper we show that this dynamic element? the risk of falling into (deeper) poverty and the chances of moving up? looms large in the economic lives of both the poor and the non-poor in South Africa.
Relative Efficacy of a Nutritional Intervention on Cognitive Performance Across the Adult Lifespan and During Early Cognitive Decline

A nutritional supplement has maintained or improved cognitive performance for healthy adults and individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Performance varied between 93 healthy adults aged 18–73 years versus 43 aged 75–85 years and among individuals with MCI. Healthy adult performance was stratified by age and for MCI as “intact” or “impaired” (Dementia Rating Scale guidelines). Some older individuals performed as well as younger individuals. All intact individuals with MCI maintained baseline performance; only impaired individuals receiving the supplement maintained baseline performance. Variation among elderly individuals can preclude observation of efficacy. Supplementation may maintain rather than improve performance for some individuals.
Jacobians and Hypergeometric Functions in Complex Multivariate Analysis∗

In this paper, the Jacobians for complex matrix transformations are derived by means of the exterior product. The transformations are Cholesky factorization, eigendecomposition and orthonormal-triangular factorization, which frequently occur in complex multivariate analysis. As an example, using these Jacobians we derive the volume of Stiefel manifold and the complex noncentral Wishart density. Moreover, the multivariate densities are often represented by complex hypergeometric functions of matrix arguments, which can be expressed in terms of complex zonal polynomials. We give a method to compute these complex hypergeometric functions. Finally, applications of these random matrix theories to information theory and numerical analysis are mentioned. To appear the Canadian Applied Mathematics Quarterly
Restore the Power of the Food System: The ‘Right’ Foods Should Be C.A.T

To feed the increasing world population, farming methods have changed accordingly. Quantity and food security are increasingly important. In the second half of the 20th century farmers have for instance moved from traditional sources of nitrogen, like crop rotation to synthetic sources. Yields have risen by using synthetic fertilizers and all kinds of crop protection. The extensive use of industrial chemicals has been linked to numerous environmental hazards including global warming, groundwater contamination, and the loss of biodiversity. Furthermore, the production of fertilizers is especially highly energy intensive, which implies that agriculture has become increasingly dependent on the use of fossil fuels and varietals that fit within this particular food production system (Crews & Peoples, 2004). The world faces serious challenges and many of those involve current food behaviour. People have been seduced into liking food and drinks that are neither healthy nor good for the environment. Clearly, the WHO is right: the world needs bold and innovative solutions. We need a robust food system that is able to feed the world in a healthy and sustainable way. But how? This paper stresses the importance of a systems approach. There are no easy answers in restoring the power of food, but we will present a formula: the ‘right’ food needs to be C.A. T. : Convenient, Affordable, and Tasty.
Software Download Framework Based on Trust Measurement

According to the fact that there are some secure faults in software download schemes due to the lack of trust measurement in software download for mobile equipments,making use of trust mechanism of identity management and secure characteristics such as integrity verification,protect storage,domain isolation,access control and remote platform verifying trusted computing possess,software download service model based on trust measurement of trusted identity management architecture has been put forward,software download service process has been designed,software download service protocol has been studied,the security performance of the protocol has been analyzed,the security performance comparison between several software download schemes has been made,the result shows that the scheme improve security performance of software download effectively.
Supplementary Material for Learning to Select for a Predefined Ranking

where "a" means concatenation. That is, permutation of two neighboring items in a list changes its relevance accordingly to the order of relevances of these items. R2. If Q(X a Y ) < Q(X a Y F ) for some lists X,Y and selection algorithm F , then Q(X ′ a Y ) < Q(X ′ a Y F ) for any selection algorithm F ′. That is, the fewer items are located above a given tail of a list, the more useful applying a given selection algorithm to this tail is. In the most practical case of an additive measure Q(d1, . . . , dn) = ∑n i=1 wiri, wi > 0, it is equivalent to non-strict logarithmic convexity of wi as a function of the position i, i.e., wi/wi+1 ≥ wi+1/wi+2 ∀i ∈ N, and covers cases of DCG and RBP with wi = 1 log2(i+1) and wi = (1− p)pi−1 respectively.
Mice in Aberrant Light / Dark Cycles : A model of Major Depressive Disorder

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the most prevalent type of mental illness, and is characterized by the presence of such symptoms as depressive mood, diminished interest or pleasure, insomnia, fatigue and diminished ability to think or to concentrate. Patients with MDD are at high risk for suicide, and are among the most common cases of hospitalization in advanced countries. MDD is a complex disease, in which multiple genetic factors are involved in the disease predisposition, and environmental factors cause the onset. Elaborate studies have been conducted to uncover the pathogenesis of MDD. However, lack of knowledge on the physiology and molecular basis of human depression have prevented the understanding of this disease. Establishing animal model of MDD has been highly challenging because of the difficulty to define the common endophenotypes in mice and humans that underlie the depression in humans. We have been studying the effects of aberrant light/dark cycles on the behavioral phenotypes of laboratory mice. Laboratory mice maintained under normal light/ dark cycles show a daily rhythm of activity that is precisely synchronized to the environmental light/dark cycles. When maintained in aberrant light/dark cycles, they show a lengthened rhythm of activity that is governed by the intrinsic circadian timing system, and they lose the ability to adjust to the environmental light/ dark cycles. These mice showed an impaired saccharine preference, which is a phenotype associated with anhedonia, one of the diagnostic symptoms of MDD. Mouse under aberrant light/dark cycles will serve as a useful model of MDD and will contribute to the understanding and treatments of MDD.
Sequence-Based Receding Horizon Control over Networks With Delays and Data Losses

In this paper, we are concerned with sequence-based receding horizon control over networks. We address the most general case where acknowledgments are provided but are also subject to delays and losses. This is in contrast to the majority of the related work in literature, where they are either delivered instantaneously and without losses or not issued at all. As in the case where acknowledgments are not issued, the separation principle does not hold in the considered setup, rendering the optimal control law generally nonlinear. Based on previous results, we present an iterative algorithm for the computation of the parameters of a linear receding horizon controller that does not assume separation a priori, taking the dual effect into account. The resulting controller is optimal in the sense that it minimizes an upper bound of the underlying quadratic cost function with respect to the control sequences. Its performance is demonstrated in a numerical example.
Možnosti aplikace metodologie switch opcí při ocenění podniků a projektů

Reálnými opcemi se rozumí pružný (flexibilní) přístup při finančním rozhodování o reálných aktivech (aktiva, dluh, vlastní kapitál, investice, půda, komodity, náklady výzkumu, technologie, proces, produkce) při strategickém rozhodování nefinančních firem. Oproti tradičním přístupům založeným na pasivních strategiích se uvažuje s aktivními zásahy v budoucnosti při řízení reálných projektů. Například se jedná o opuštění, dočasné zastavení, rozšíření, odložení, změnu parametrů projektu, prodej, koupi, změnu technologie, procesu nebo struktury produkce apod. Metodologie reálných opcí je založena na metodice finančních opcí s tím, že je aplikována na reálná aktiva. V úvahu jsou brány další možnosti rozhodování v budoucnu a tudíž jsou reflektovány další možnosti při stanovení hodnoty reálných aktiv a projektů ve srovnání s pasivním přístupem. Charakteristickým rysem je, že aplikace reálných opcí má převážně charakter amerických opcí a lze je oceňovat na bázi stochastického dynamického programování založeném na Bellmanově dynamickém principu optimality. Dalším rysem je to, že aplikované modely reálných opcí jsou vzhledem k typu ekonomických procesů a složitosti náhodných procesů a rozhodovacích funkcí převážně opce amerického typu, zpravidla řešeny jako diskrétní modely binomického nebo multinomického typu, s vícenásobnou možností volby (switch opce). Přitom základní přístup k oceňování vychází z replikační strategie na bázi rizikově neutrálního přístupu. Obecně se pak jedná o aplikaci principu martingale při oceňování. Problematika reálných opcí je ve středu pozornosti akademické i manažerské komunity a za základní zdroje zpracovávající tuto problematiku lze považovat zejména: Trigeorgis (1998), Sick (1995), Dixit&Pindyck (1994), Brennan&Trigeorgis (1999). Cílem příspěvku je odvodit, popsat a aplikovat metodologii reálných opcí při oceňování firem a hodnocení investičních projektů. Přitom bude popsán, vysvětlen, aplikován a ověřen zobecněný model reálných switch opcí s vícenásobnou volbou. Aplikovaný stochastický dynamický model bude založen na Bellmanově principu optimality a optimalizačním kritériu současné hodnoty střední hodnoty. Přístup k ocenění vychází z uplatnění replikační strategie
Lessons from Nigeria on preventing violence towards women and girls through social norm change

The DFID-funded Voices for Change (V4C) programme in Nigeria set out to strengthen the enabling environment for gender equality and to empower young women and men (aged 16-25) by changing social norms around three key behaviours, women in leadership, women’s role in decision-making and violence against women and girls (VAWG) across four states (Enugu, Kaduna, Kano and Lagos). Working at the levels of the self, society and institutions, programmatic efforts around VAWG were integrated across all programme outputs, rather than forming a standalone component of the intervention.
Reading Intervention in Day Care and Home for Children From Low-Income Families

The effects of an interactive book reading program were assessed with children from low-income families who attended subsidized day-care centers in New York. The children entered the program with language development in standard English vocabulary and expression that was about 10 months behind chronological age on standardized tests. Children were pretested and assigned randomly within classrooms to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) a school plus home condition in which the children were read to by their teachers and their parents, (b) a school condition in which children were read to only by teachers, and (c) a control condition in which children engaged in play activities under the supervision of their teachers. Training of adult readers was based on a self-instructional video. The intervention lasted for 6 weeks, at which point children were posttested on several standardized measures oflanguage ability that had been used as pretests. These assessments were repeated at a 6month follow-up. Educationally and statistically significant effects of the reading intervention were obtained at posttest and follow-up on measures of expressive vocabulary.
Risk Guarantees for End-to-End Prediction and Optimization Processes

Prediction methods are often employed to estimate parameters of optimization models. Although the goal in an end-to-end framework is to achieve good performance on the subsequent optimization model, a formal understanding of the ways in which prediction methods can affect optimization performance is notably lacking. This paper identifies conditions on prediction methods that can guarantee good optimization performance. We provide two types of results: asymptotic guarantees under a well-known Fisher consistency criterion and nonasymptotic performance bounds under a more stringent criterion. We use these results to analyze optimization performance for several existing prediction methods and show that in certain settings, methods tailored to the optimization problem can fail to guarantee good performance. Conversely, optimization-agnostic methods can sometimes, surprisingly, have good guarantees. In a computational study on portfolio optimization, fractional knapsack, and multiclass classification problems, we compare the optimization performance of several prediction methods. We demonstrate that lack of Fisher consistency of the prediction method can indeed have a detrimental effect on performance. This paper was accepted by Chung Piaw Teo, optimization.
Supplementary Material of Paper : Text Guided Person Image Synthesis

The supplementary material includes additional discussions on the details about pose inference (§A), the implementation details (§B), the network architecture (§C), the model generalization (§D), and the visualization of multiscale attention (§E), respectively. We also show more examples of the pose and attribute transferred person image generation, the interactive editing, and the synthesis images (§F). Our project page is https://xingranzh.github. io/text_ guided_synthesis/.
Deep Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of IC 1613. II. The Star Formation History

We have taken deep images of an outlying field in the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy IC 1613 with the WFPC2 aboard the Hubble Space Telescope in the standard broadband F555W (V, 8 orbits) and F814W (I, 16 orbits) filters. The photometry reaches to V = 27.7 (MV = +3.4) and I = 27.1 (MI = +2.8) at the 50% completeness level, the deepest to date for an isolated dwarf irregular galaxy. We analyze the resulting color-magnitude diagram (CMD) and compare it with CMDs created from theoretical stellar models using three different methods to derive a star formation history (SFH) as well as constrain the chemical evolution for IC 1613. All three methods find an enhanced star formation rate (SFR), at roughly the same magnitude (factor of 3), over roughly the same period (from 3 to 6 Gyr ago). Additionally, all three methods were driven to similar age-metallicity relationships (AMR) that show an increase from [Fe/H] ≈ -1.3 at earliest times to [Fe/H] ≈ -0.7 at present. Good agreement is found between the AMR which is derived from the CMD analysis and that which can be inferred from the derived SFH at all but the earliest ages. The agreement between the three models and the self-consistency of the derived chemical enrichment history support the reality of the derived SFH of IC 1613 and, more generally, are supportive of the practice of constructing galaxy SFHs from CMDs. A comparison of the newly observed outer field with an earlier studied central field of IC 1613 shows that the SFR in the outer field has been significantly depressed during the last Gyr. This implies that the optical scale length of the galaxy has been decreasing with time and that comparison of galaxies at intermediate redshift with present-day galaxies should take this effect into account. Comparing the CMD of the outer field of IC 1613 with CMDs of Milky Way dSph companions, we find strong similarities between IC 1613 and the more distant dSph companions (Carina, Fornax, Leo I, and Leo II) in that all are dominated by star formation at intermediate ages. In particular, the SFH and AMR for IC 1613 and Leo I are indistinguishable. This implies that dIrr galaxies cannot be distinguished from dSphs by their intermediate-age stellar populations. This type of a SFH may also be evidence for slower or suppressed early star formation in dwarf galaxies due to photoionization after the reionization of the universe by background radiation. Assuming that IC 1613 is typical of a dIrr evolving in isolation, since most of the star formation occurs at intermediate ages, these dwarf systems cannot be responsible for the fast chemical enrichment of the intergalactic medium that is seen at high redshift. There is no evidence for any large-amplitude bursts of star formation in IC 1613, and we find it highly unlikely that analogs of IC 1613 have contributed to the excess of faint blue galaxies in existing galaxy redshift surveys.
On line tracking of moving objects from moving platforms

It is desired to position the end point of a conveyor belt, which carries material removed by a moving pavement trimmer, above the bed of a moving dump truck. The present report describes the analytical design and practical control o f a tracking system for positioning the conveyor. Initial tests were conducted on a Unimation PUMA robot. The original pavement profiler has been modified to allow automatic computer control of both the soil removal and distribution systems. The distribution is performed by a two degrees o f freedom moveable boom with a conveyor system. Two methods for noncontact target position detection were evaluated: machine vision and ultrasound. An ultrasound based target system was selected and implemented on a PUMA robot. Control software for on-line target acquisition and tracking was developed and tested. A set of ultrasound sensors and a boom rotation sensor were installed on the pavement profiler. All sensors are currently operational.