Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
WALD TESTS FOR DETECTING MULTIPLE STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN PERSISTENCE

This paper considers the problem of testing for multiple structural changes in the persistence of a univariate time series. We propose sup-Wald tests of the null hypothesis that the process has an autoregressive unit root throughout the sample against the alternative hypothesis that the process alternates between stationary and unit root regimes. We derive the limit distributions of the tests under the null and establish their consistency under the relevant alternatives. We further show that the tests are inconsistent when directed against the incorrect alternative, thereby enabling identification of the nature of persistence in the initial regime. We also propose hybrid testing procedures that allow ruling out of stable stationary processes or ones that are subject to only stationary changes under the null, thereby aiding the researcher in interpreting a rejection as emanating from a switch between a unit root and stationary regime. The computation of the test statistics as well as asymptotic critical values is facilitated by the dynamic programming algorithm proposed in Perron and Qu (2006, Journal of Econometrics134, 373–399) which allows imposing within- and cross-regime restrictions on the parameters. Finally, we present Monte Carlo evidence to show that the proposed procedures perform well in finite samples relative to those available in the literature.
The National Children's Study: A 21-Year Prospective Study of 100 000 American Children

Prospective, multiyear epidemiologic studies have proven to be highly effective in discovering preventable risk factors for chronic disease. Investigations such as the Framingham Heart Study have produced blueprints for disease prevention and saved millions of lives and billions of dollars. To discover preventable environmental risk factors for disease in children, the US Congress directed the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, through the Children's Health Act of 2000, to conduct the National Children's Study. The National Children's Study is hypothesis-driven and will seek information on environmental risks and individual susceptibility factors for asthma, birth defects, dyslexia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism, schizophrenia, and obesity, as well as for adverse birth outcomes. It will be conducted in a nationally representative, prospective cohort of 100000 US-born children. Children will be followed from conception to 21 years of age. Environmental exposures (chemical, physical, biological, and psychosocial) will be assessed repeatedly during pregnancy and throughout childhood in children's homes, schools, and communities. Chemical assays will be performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and banks of biological and environmental samples will be established for future analyses. Genetic material will be collected on each mother and child and banked to permit study of gene-environment interactions. Recruitment is scheduled to begin in 2007 at 7 Vanguard Sites and will extend to 105 sites across the United States. The National Children's Study will generate multiple satellite studies that explore methodologic issues, etiologic questions, and potential interventions. It will provide training for the next generation of researchers and practitioners in environmental pediatrics and will link to planned and ongoing prospective birth cohort studies in other nations. Data from the National Children's Study will guide development of a comprehensive blueprint for disease prevention in children.
Analyses fonctionnelles de mutations du gène SCN5A impliquées dans le syndrome de Brugada

Le syndrome de Brugada (SBr) est une arythmie cardiaque hereditaire a penetrance partielle. Cette pathologie est caracterisee par une elevation du segment ST dans les derivations precordiales droites (V1 a V3) sur l’ECG et un risque important de mort subite et de syncope par fibrillation ventriculaire. Les mutations dans le gene SCN5A, qui code le canal sodique cardiaque Nav1. 5, sont mises en cause dans 20% des cas. Le canal sodique cardiaque est responsable de l’initiation et de la propagation du potentiel d’action dans le myocarde. Ainsi, la perte de fonction de ce canal joue un role important dans le SBr. Ce travail permet de mieux comprendre les consequences des mutations de la region N-terminale tres conservee au cours de l’evolution, dans le SBr et le role de cette derniere dans la fonction du canal Nav1. 5. Nous avons montre que certaine mutation de la region la region N-terminale mene a la retention du canal mutant dans le reticulum endoplasmique precedant sa degradation par le proteasome. En consequence ces mutations semblent bien etre responsables du SBr. Par ailleurs, cette region joue un role important dans la capacite d’ouverture du canal sodique cardiaque. Nous avons mis en evidence que la presence de canaux mutants peut alterer le transport a la membrane du canal sauvage menant a un effet dominant negatif. Mais aussi la capacite du canal non fonctionnel R878C-Nav1. 5, qui est capable d’atteindre la membrane plasmique, a restaurer partiellement le courant sodique de mutants retenus dans des compartiments intracellulaires. Ce phenomene de transcomplementation montre que les canaux sodiques sont capables de cooperer.
Effect of biomolecules adsorption on oxide layers developed on metallic materials used in cooling water systems

This thesis was carried out in the frame of the BIOCOR ITN European project. Metallic materials commonly used in cooling systems of power plants may be affected by biocorrosion. The objective of this work was to study the influence of biomolecules adsorption on the electrochemical behaviour and the surface chemical composition of 70Cu-30Ni alloy, 304L stainless steel and titanium in seawater environments. The interactions between a model protein, the bovine serum albumin (BSA), and the surface of these materials were investigated. After, the influence of tightly bound (TB) and loosely bound (LB) extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on the oxide layers was evaluated. For that purpose, electrochemical measurements (Ecorr vs time, polarization curves and EIS) were combined to surface analysis (XPS and ToF-SIMS). Comparing to the 70Cu-30Ni alloy in static artificial seawater (ASW) without biomolecules, for which a thick duplex oxide layer is shown, the presence of BSA, TB EPS and LB EPS leads to a mixed oxide layer with a lower thickness. A model is proposed to analyse impedance data obtained at Ecorr. The results show a slow-down of the anodic reaction in the presence of biomolecules with a corrosion inhibition effect by LB EPS, to a lesser extent by BSA and no detrimental effect with TB EPS. On the other hand, the effect of TB EPS and BSA on the passivation behaviour of Ti in ASW and of 304L stainless steel in chloride-free solution was studied. From EIS data, resistivity profiles within oxide films can be plotted. For both materials, oxide layers are more protective with BSA and less protective with TB EPS.
A unified semantic approach for the vectorization and parallelization of generalized reductions

Generalized reductions include some of the most well known programming idioms, for instance loop invariant variables, induction variables and reduction operations. We propose a unified framework that allows the detection of these paradigms and thus the efficient parallel implementation of programs that use these otherwise parallel-inhibiting constructs. Moreover, using a semantic-based symbolic evaluator, this technique is able to detect parallelizable constructs inside standard benchmarks that no other vectorizer or parallelizer can currently handle. An interesting by-product of our approach is that correctness proofs can be based on the sound and powerful abstract interpretation theory. This method has been implemented in the Velour vectorizer under current development at the Bull Research Center.
The illustrated atlas of Jewish civilization : 4,000 years of Jewish history

Behold the beauty, majesty, and accuracy of revolutionary new world atlases published by Macmillan and produced from the $20 million Bertelsmann/RV Verlag world digital cartographic database. Peerless in design, quality, and practicality, these new atlases are published in print and CD-ROM formats and feature unique, distinctive benefits: -- Special coloration shows what the Earth really looks like from space-- Uniform scale across all continents provides true one-to-one comparisons-- Transportation routes and POIs are highlighted so map can be used for travel as well as home and office reference-- Up-to-date research and clean, modern type ensure readers are getting the most current and clear informationAnd these are just the opening titles in the Macmillan Atlas Geographic Reference category. Look for innovative new titles in Historic Reference such as The Atlas of the Civil War and Popular Reference such as The Atlas of War & Peace: Bosnia Herzegovina.
Creating Lakes from Open Pit Mines: Processes and Considerations, Emphasis on Northern Environments

Gammons, C. H. , Harris, L.N. , Castro J.M. , Cott, P.A. , and Hanna, B.W. 2009. Creating lakes from open pit mines: processes and considerations with emphasis on northern environments. Can. Tech. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2826: ix + 106 p. This document summarizes the literature of mining pit lakes (through 2007), with a particular focus on issues that are likely to be of special relevance to the creation and management of pit lakes in northern climates. Pit lakes are simply waterbodies formed by filling the open pit left upon the completion of mining operations with water. Like natural lakes, mining pit lakes display a huge diversity in each of these subject areas. However, pit lakes are young and therefore are typically in a non-equilibrium state with respect to their rate of filling, water quality, and biology. Separate sections deal with different aspects of pit lakes, including their morphometry, geology, hydrogeology, geochemistry, and biology. Depending on the type and location of the mine, there may be opportunities to enhance the recreational or ecological benefits of a given pit lake, for example, by re-landscaping and re-vegetating the shoreline, by adding engineered habitat for aquatic life, and maintaining water quality. The creation of a pit lake may be a regulatory requirement to mitigate environmental impacts from mining operations, and/or be included as part of a closure and reclamation plan. Based on published case studies of pit lakes, large-scale bio-engineering projects have had mixed success. A common consensus is that manipulation of pit lake chemistry is difficult, expensive, and takes many years to achieve remediation goals. For this reason, it is prudent to take steps throughout mine operation to reduce the likelihood of future water quality problems upon closure. Also, it makes sense to engineer the lake in such a way that it will achieve its maximal end-use potential, whether it be permanent and safe storage of mine waste, habitat for aquatic life, recreation, or water supply.
The role of digital libraries in learning about environmental identity through solving geographical problems

Environmental identity or how we orient ourselves to the natural world, leads us to personalize abstract global issues and take action (or not) according to our sense of who we are. Indeed, the often emotional nature of environmental conflicts can be associated with our sense of personal and social identity. Are we willing to give up our SUV for a more fuel-efficient car albeit our knowledge about the enhanced greenhouse effect? (Clayton and Opotow, 2003). In an era where web-based student-centred inquiry is gaining popularity as a mode of teaching and learning about environmental issues and potentially developing students’ environmental identities, the role of digital libraries as delivery trucks (terminology by Clark, 1983) needs to be understood better. An obvious affordance of such a digital library is that it organizes information around themes for problems to be solved. A developmental project to build a first digital library for Geographical assets was undertaken. This digital library (G-Portal) serves an active role in a collaborative learning activity in which the students conduct a field study of an environmental problem, within a geospatial context – in this case, beach erosion and sea level rise. G-Portal not only functions as a digital library of information resources, it also provides manipulation and analytical tools that can be used on the information provided. The concept of personal project space allows individuals to work in their personalized environment with a mix of private and public data and at the same time share part of the data with their team members. This allows students to explore the information, process the information, solve the problem posed and perhaps even form new understandings and reflections of their role in the natural environment.
Internet of Things in Healthcare

: Internet of things (IOT) has gained a lot of attention in recent years for its use in various sectors like healthcare, agriculture, automobile, Retail, Finance, Transportation and many more. IOT redesigning the modern healthcare sector in terms of economic, social and technological prospects. Use of IoT changing the healthcare industry. Both providers and patients getting benefits from IoT . some uses wearables IoT devices or IoT based mobile application to get health-related data. Hospitals and medical facilities use IoT for assets tracking, monitoring patients or to control the climate of laboratories. This paper surveys use of IoT in healthcare industry and reviews network topology architecture of IoT based healthcare and their healthcare trends. This paper also analyses the challenges and benefits of IoT in healthcare.
Microbial Ecology of the Surface Exploration of Mars with Human-Operated Vehicles (AAS 03-322)

Robotic and piloted spacecraft are launched from Earth with finite levels of microbial contamination that are composed of species similar to the cleanroom environments within which the vehicles are assembled. After entering the harsh environment of interplanetary space, the microorganisms on the exterior surfaces of spacecraft are subjected to biocidal factors that immediately begin to reduce the viable biomass and species diversity of the launched bioload. The harsh conditions found on the surface of Mars are only slightly more conducive to the survival of terrestrial microorganisms than are found in interplanetary space. Even the launched bioload found within a pressurized human habitat in an Earth-Mars transit vehicle will be exposed to conditions that likely will reduce the species diversity of microorganisms within the life support system. The reductions in biomass and species diversity of the launched bioloads on and within spacecraft are likely to simplify the forward contamination issues related to human expeditions on Mars by limiting the numbers of viable cells that might be dislodged from spacecraft surfaces and disperse onto the Martian terrain.
Prediction of individualized therapeutic vulnerabilities in cancer from genomic profiles

Motivation: Somatic homozygous deletions of chromosomal regions in cancer, while not necessarily oncogenic, may lead to therapeutic vulnerabilities specific to cancer cells compared with normal cells. A recently reported example is the loss of one of the two isoenzymes in glioblastoma cancer cells such that the use of a specific inhibitor selectively inhibited growth of the cancer cells, which had become fully dependent on the second isoenzyme. We have now made use of the unprecedented conjunction of large-scale cancer genomics profiling of tumor samples in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and of tumor-derived cell lines in the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia, as well as the availability of integrated pathway information systems, such as Pathway Commons, to systematically search for a comprehensive set of such epistatic vulnerabilities. Results: Based on homozygous deletions affecting metabolic enzymes in 16 TCGA cancer studies and 972 cancer cell lines, we identified 4104 candidate metabolic vulnerabilities present in 1019 tumor samples and 482 cell lines. Up to 44% of these vulnerabilities can be targeted with at least one Food and Drug Administration-approved drug. We suggest focused experiments to test these vulnerabilities and clinical trials based on personalized genomic profiles of those that pass preclinical filters. We conclude that genomic profiling will in the future provide a promising basis for network pharmacology of epistatic vulnerabilities as a promising therapeutic strategy. Availability and implementation: A web-based tool for exploring all vulnerabilities and their details is available at http://cbio.mskcc. org/cancergenomics/statius/ along with supplemental data files. Contact: statius@cbio.mskcc. org Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Induction of α-synuclein aggregate formation by CSF exosomes from patients with Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies

Stuendl et al. show that CSF exosomes of patients with Parkinson’s disease or dementia with Lewy bodies contain α-synuclein and induce α-synuclein aggregation in a reporter cell line. Thus, exosomes may support inter-neuronal transmission of α-synuclein pathology. CSF exosomal α-synuclein may serve as a biomarker in α-synuclein-related neurodegeneration.
The spatial epidemilogy of podoconiosis in northern Ethiopia

The presence of environmental variables associated with the occurrence of podoconiosis was indicated in studies by Price in the 1970s. Observation of red clay soil of volcanic origin and barefoot people in podoconiosis-endemic areas were starting points for investigating these factors. Recently, demonstration of genetic susceptibility to the disease has shown the added value of understanding individual level variations and the presence of gene-environment interactions in the development of podoconiosis. Deeper understanding of which environmental and individual variables determine the development of podoconiosis, and at what spatial scale these variables act, will assist intervention at national and local levels. The present study aims to investigate individual and environmental level variables related to podoconiosis at local scale.
Inventaire et caractérisation des tourbillons marins observés dans le golfe d'Amundsen au cours des programmes CASES et CFL.

Ce memoire presente le resultat de l'analyse de l'ensemble des series temporelles de profils de salinite et de temperature obtenues a l'interieur du golfe d'Amundsen au cours des campagnes de terrain des programmes CASES et CFL. Les profils utilises proviennent essentiellement du navire NGCC Amundsen present dans la region au cours de ces periodes de meme que de mouillages deployes pendant CFL a l'embouchure du golfe d'Amundsen dans le cadre de la campagne oceanographique du reseau d'excellence ArcticNet. Cette analyse des profils permit en un premier temps d'atteindre le premier objectif du memoire qui etait d'identifier l'ensemble des structures coherentes observees obtenus au cours des annees 2003-2004 et 2007-2008. Ainsi, 18 structures coherentes ayant des caracteristiques typiques du passage d'un tourbillon marin furent retenues. Le second objectif consistait a etablir une classification des structures en se basant sur leurs proprietes physicochimique de maniere mettre en evidence les differences et similitudes observees. Ainsi, quatre classes de structures furent etablies. Par la suite, considerant les proprietes internes de chacune des classes de structures de meme qu'en comparant ces observations a d'autres observations effectuees auparavant a proximite de la region d'etude, il fut alors possible d'emettre certaines hypotheses quant a l'origine de ces differentes classes de structure, ce qui correspond au troisieme et dernier objectif du memoire. Les structures de Classe 1 et 3 sont presentes a l'interieur de la couche halocline superieure et correspondent a des tourbillons anticycloniques. Ces structures semblent etre intimement reliees au « Beaufort Shelfbreak Current » present au-dessus du talus continental de la mer de Beaufort et qui semble se prolonger jusqu'a la region du plateau Mackenzie. Les structures de Classe 2 sont quant a elles presentes a une faible profondeur et sont caracterisees par une temperature interne pres du point de congelation et par la presence de matiere en suspension a l'interieur. En se basant sur ces caracteristiques, il est suggere que ces structures soient associees aux processus de convection pres de la surface due a la formation de glace. Finalement, les structures de Classe 4 sont presentes a l'interieur de la couche halocline superieure et sont de type cyclonique. Somme tout, l'analyse des proprietes de l'ensemble des structures coherentes observees suggere que celles-ci soient intimement reliees aux regions des plateaux continentaux. Les resultats presentes dans ce memoire constituent une premiere description exhaustive de tourbillons marins a l'est de la mer de Beaufort de meme qu'a l'interieur du golfe d'Amundsen. Ce travail ouvre la porte a d'autres travaux futurs en lien a la presence de ces structures a l'interieur du golfe d'Amundsen. Il suggere par la meme occasion une etude plus approfondie de la region du talus continental du plateau Mackenzie ou semble etre present le « Beaufort Shelfbreak Current ».
A New Gradient Based Algorithm for Kernel Machine Classifier

A new greedy algorithm is introduced using basic matching pursuit based on minimization of the mean square error (MSE) criterion. Comparing with its previous counterparts i.e. support vector machine (SVM) and relevance vector machine (RVM), in our proposed approach, the kernel mean is not restricted to the training input data. However, in this paper, the kernel mean is chosen in an adaptive manner based on the so-called gradient descent algorithm. The experimental results reveal that the proposed gradient kernel construction outperforms other previous algorithms in terms of scarcity and generalization.
The Relationship between Technological Competencies and Attitudes of Pre-service Teachers towards Technology

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between technology competencies and the attitudes of pre-service teachers towards technology. In this study, survey model was used and sample of the study was composed of 642 pre-service teachers. Instruments for gathering data; “Basic Technology Competencies Scale for Educators Inventory” and “Scale of Attitudes towards Technology” were used. According to the findings of the study, pre-service teachers are at middle level in terms of technology competency and they exhibit positive attitude towards technology. Besides, mean about technology competency and attitude towards technology were compared in terms of different variables and significant differences were observed. It was concluded that there is a positive and middle-leveled relationship between technological competence and attitude towards technology.
Lightweight authentication scheme with inverse operation on passive RFID tags

ABSTRACT As a technology for identifying objects, radio frequency identification (RFID) has been used in many applications widely. However, security and privacy problems have hindered the deployment of RFID system in many scenarios. RFID mutual authentication is the most important security method to resist malicious attacks and protect privacy of the tag’s owners. To enhance security and improve efficiency, we propose a lightweight authentication scheme with inverse operation on passive RFID tags. In view of the limitation of passive RFID tags, our lightweight authentication scheme only employs three simple bitwise operations on tags. Moreover, the analysis shows that our scheme possesses excellent privacy properties and can resist many typical malicious attacks.