Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship between blood levels of heavy metals and lung function based on the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV–V

Background Heavy metal exposure may contribute to inflammation in the lungs via increased oxidative stress, resulting in tissue destruction and obstructive lung function (OLF). In this study, we evaluated the relationship between lead and cadmium levels in blood, and lung function in the Korean population. Methods Pooled cross-sectional data from 5,972 subjects who participated in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008–2012 were used for this study. OLF was defined as forced expiratory volume in 1 second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) <0.7. Graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry was used to measure levels of lead and cadmium in blood. Results Adjusted means for age, sex, body mass index, and smoking status in blood lead and cadmium levels were increased with age and were higher in men and current smokers. The FEV1/FVC ratio was lower in the highest quartile group of lead (78.4% vs 79.0%; P=0.025) and cadmium (78.3% vs 79.2%; P<0.001) concentrations, compared with those in the lowest quartile groups. Multiple linear regression demonstrated an inverse relationship between the FEV1/FVC ratio and concentrations of lead (estimated −0.002; P=0.007) and cadmium (estimated −0.005; P=0.001). Of the 5,972 subjects, 674 (11.3%) were classified into the OLF group. Among current smokers, the risk of OLF was higher in subjects in the highest quartile group of cadmium concentration than in those in the lowest quartile group (odds ratio 1.94; 95% confidence interval 1.06–3.57). Conclusion We demonstrated a significant association between the FEV1/FVC ratio and blood concentrations of lead and cadmium in the Korean population. The risk for OLF was elevated with increasing concentrations of cadmium among current smokers.
Intrinsic Motivation of Teachers and the Challenge of Mainstreaming

The study investigated attitudes of 202 elementary school teachers, from 18 schools, towards integrating exceptional children into a regular education classrooms. Although most of these teachers concurred with several commonly raised concerns, such as the negative effect of mainstreaming on students' achievement and the teachers' work load, many were also aware of positive aspects of mainstreaming, particularly the personal challenge presented by the endeavor.
Non-contact ultrasonic assessment of the properties of vacuum-packaged dry-cured ham

Ultrasound pulses are transmitted through samples of vacuum-packaged dry-cured ham of different thicknesses. These measurements permitted us to get simultaneously both velocity of ultrasounds and thickness of the package. These results are compared with those obtained using a classical ultrasonic direct-contact technique and a conventional thickness gage. Deviation of velocity and thickness measured with air-coupled ultrasounds respect to the standard techniques is 1.86% and 2.98%, respectively. This confirms the possibility to use air-coupled ultrasound to assess the properties of dry-cured ham. This technique presents the advantages of being completely non-contact, clean, rapid, and requires no independent thickness measurement.
Notice of RetractionEmpirical study on the relationship between the growth of regional industry and its energy consumption in China

This paper select the data of 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on industry growth and its energy consumption from 1995 to 2007 in east, central and west China respectively, conduct Panel Unit Root Test and cointegration test, on this basis, establish the long-run equilibrium model, and then conduct Granger causality test, discuss the relationship between the industry growth and its energy consumption in the east, central and west China respectively. At last, this study will provide a strong empirical basis for formulating corresponding policies and regulations.
Metaphors of free labor: a typology of unpaid work in the media sector

Over the last decade, free labor has emerged as a key analytical tool for understanding new or semi-new forms of labor in the contemporary digital economy. This article critiques and develops this concept, with specific reference to work in the media industries, by presenting a historically grounded typology of free labor that also highlights some of the analytical problems with the current use of the concept. Our typology presents seven metaphors of free labor based on historical instances of roles people have taken on when performing unpaid labor: those of The Slave, The Carer, The Apprentice, The Prospector, The Hobbyist, The Volunteer, and The Patsy. A key conclusion is that free labor is performed by different actors at either end of increasingly complex and temporally stretched out value chains. This necessitates a more fine-grained and historicized use of the concept of free labor.
Translation with Source Constituency and Dependency Trees

We present a novel translation model, which simultaneously exploits the constituency and dependency trees on the source side, to combine the advantages of two types of trees. We take head-dependents relations of dependency trees as backbone and incorporate phrasal nodes of constituency trees as the source side of our translation rules, and the target side as strings. Our rules hold the property of long distance reorderings and the compatibility with phrases. Large-scale experimental results show that our model achieves significantly improvements over the constituency-to-string (+2.45 BLEU on average) and dependencyto-string (+0.91 BLEU on average) models, which only employ single type of trees, and significantly outperforms the state-of-theart hierarchical phrase-based model (+1.12 BLEU on average), on three Chinese-English NIST test sets.
Shattered lives.

Only for you today! Discover your favourite shattered lives book right here by downloading and getting the soft file of the book. This is not your time to traditionally go to the book stores to buy a book. Here, varieties of book collections are available to download. One of them is this shattered lives as your preferred book. Getting this book b on-line in this site can be realized now by visiting the link page to download. It will be easy. Why should be here?
Cognitive assessment for clinicians

Symptoms in cognitive disorders follow location and not pathology. Thus, for example, in Alzheimer’s disease, patients may present with a focal language syndrome, instead of the more commonly appreciated autobiographical memory disturbance, despite identical pathology. In contrast, large parts of the brain have limited eloquence, and may present in a similar fashion, despite notably different pathological processes. In our approach to the cognitive assessment, we maintain a symptom oriented approach. This in turn lends itself to localisation of pathology, and subsequently clinical diagnosis, which may be supplemented by associated neurological signs, imaging or other investigations. In its broadest sense, the purpose of the cognitive examination is to separate out those patients in whom a firm clinical diagnosis can be made, from those who require further and more detailed investigation. The history forms part of the examination, and the ability to respond to conversational cues is as much part of the examination as any formal assessment. In addition, the perspective of a reliable informant is essential, as memory disturbance and impaired insight are common. In any busy clinic, time is always an issue. Full cognitive assessment, including performance of various cognitive rating scales, generally takes an hour. Whatever the time available, a clear focus is needed early in the consultation. This directs attention to the relevant cognitive domains which need specific and more detailed examination. ### General We start by establishing a picture of pre-morbid functioning (for example, education, employment, significant relationships). Learning a little about the patient’s interests or hobbies allows one to tailor questions in the cognitive examination more precisely. The onset, and time course of the deterioration, is as important as the cluster of deficits, be they memory, language, visual function, behaviour, or indeed psychiatric. Often, the first noted deficit has diagnostic relevance. We try to interview both the patient …
A Study of Homicidal Deaths in Delhi

A meticulous post-mortem review was undertaken in the department of forensic medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) to find out trends in homicides during the period 1992-1996. Standard procedures for autopsies and a review of the inquest papers were carried out. Out of 3,886 medico-legal autopsies performed in the department during the said period, only 232 cases (5.9%) were homicidal deaths. The commonest age group of the victims was 21-30 years (38%). Males were victimized three times more often than females. The incidence of crime was slightly more at night than in the daytime, though evenly distributed during the winter and summer seasons. In our series, sharp weapon injuries were the most common type (34.9%) followed by blunt force injuries (15.9%). Defence wounds were present in 35 cases (15%). Violent rage/quarrel was the motive in 61 cases (29%).
Protective Properties of Radio-Chemoresistant Glioblastoma Stem Cell Clones Are Associated with Metabolic Adaptation to Reduced Glucose Dependence

Glioblastoma stem cells (GSC) are a significant cell model for explaining brain tumor recurrence. However, mechanisms underlying their radiochemoresistance remain obscure. Here we show that most clonogenic cells in GSC cultures are sensitive to radiation treatment (RT) with or without temozolomide (TMZ). Only a few single cells survive treatment and regain their self-repopulating capacity. Cells re-populated from treatment-resistant GSC clones contain more clonogenic cells compared to those grown from treatment-sensitive GSC clones, and repeated treatment cycles rapidly enriched clonogenic survival. When compared to sensitive clones, resistant clones exhibited slower tumor development in animals. Upregulated genes identified in resistant clones via comparative expression microarray analysis characterized cells under metabolic stress, including blocked glucose uptake, impaired insulin/Akt signaling, enhanced lipid catabolism and oxidative stress, and suppressed growth and inflammation. Moreover, many upregulated genes highlighted maintenance and repair activities, including detoxifying lipid peroxidation products, activating lysosomal autophagy/ubiquitin-proteasome pathways, and enhancing telomere maintenance and DNA repair, closely resembling the anti-aging effects of caloric/glucose restriction (CR/GR), a nutritional intervention that is known to increase lifespan and stress resistance in model organisms. Although treatment–introduced genetic mutations were detected in resistant clones, all resistant and sensitive clones were subclassified to either proneural (PN) or mesenchymal (MES) glioblastoma subtype based on their expression profiles. Functional assays demonstrated the association of treatment resistance with energy stress, including reduced glucose uptake, fatty acid oxidation (FAO)-dependent ATP maintenance, elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and autophagic activity, and increased AMPK activity and NAD+ levels accompanied by upregulated mRNA levels of SIRT1/PGC-1α axis and DNA repair genes. These data support the view that treatment resistance may arise from quiescent GSC exhibiting a GR-like phenotype, and suggest that targeting stress response pathways of resistant GSC may provide a novel strategy in combination with standard treatment for glioblastoma.
The horizon effect of stock return predictability and model uncertainty on portfolio choice: UK evidence

We study how stock return's predictability and model uncertainty affect a rational buy-and-hold investor's decision to allocate her wealth for different lengths of investment horizons in the UK market. We consider the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) All-Share Index as the risky asset, and the UK Treasury bill as the risk free asset in forming the investor's portfolio. We identify the most powerful predictors of the stock return by accounting for model uncertainty. We find that though stock return predictability is weak, it can still affect the investor's optimal portfolio decision over different investment horizons.
Intrauterine growth restriction in monochorionic-diamniotic twins.

OBJECTIVE to evaluate neonatal morbidity and mortality in monochorionic-diamniotic (MCDA) twin pregnancies complicated by selective intrauterine growth restriction (sIUGR) and non-selective intrauterine growth resctriction (nsIUGR). METHODS neonatal morbidity parameters and mortality were analyzed in 34 twins with IUGR (< 10th percentile on twins' growth charts): 18 with sIUGR and 16 with nsIUGR. The sIUGR group was made up of 18 pregnancies in which growth was restricted in only one fetus (n = 18). The nsIUGR group was composed of 8 pregnancies in which both fetuses presented restricted growth (n = 16). Cases of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and fetal malformation were not included in the study. RESULTS the MCDA twin pregnancies with sIUGR had a higher rate of orotracheal intubation (p = 0.001) and mechanical ventilation (p = 0.0006), as well as longer than average fasting time (p = 0.014) compared to those in which the fetuses had nsIUGR. A higher incidence was also observed of types II and III umbilical artery Doppler velocimetry patterns in the sIUGR cases (p = 0.002). There was no significant difference between the two groups as to mortality during pregnancy and the neonatal period (p = 0.09). CONCLUSION in MCDA twin pregnancies, sIUGR presents more severe umbilical artery Doppler velocimetry abnormalities and worse morbidity than nsIUGR.
Activation of Brainstem Neurons by Underwater Diving in the Rat

The mammalian diving response is a powerful autonomic adjustment to underwater submersion greatly affecting heart rate, arterial blood pressure, and ventilation. The bradycardia is mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system, arterial blood pressure is mediated via the sympathetic system and still other circuits mediate the respiratory changes. In the present study we investigate the cardiorespiratory responses and the brainstem neurons activated by voluntary diving of trained rats, and, compare them to control and swimming animals which did not dive. We show that the bradycardia and increase in arterial blood pressure induced by diving were significantly different than that induced by swimming. Neuronal activation was calculated after immunohistochemical processing of brainstem sections for Fos protein. Labeled neurons were counted in the caudal pressor area, the medullary dorsal horn, subnuclei of the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS), the nucleus raphe pallidus (RPa), the rostroventrolateral medulla, the A5 area, the nucleus locus coeruleus, the Kölliker–Fuse area, and the external lateral and superior lateral subnuclei of the parabrachial nucleus. All these areas showed significant increases in Fos labeling when data from voluntary diving rats were compared to control rats and all but the commissural subnucleus of the NTS, A5 area, and RPa were significantly different from swimming rats. These data provide a substrate for more precise experiments to determine the role of these nuclei in the reflex circuits driving the diving response.
Adaptability, Cognitive Flexibility, Personal Need for Structure, and Rigidity ∗

IA (individual adaptability), COFL (cognitive flexibility), PNS (personal need for structure), and rigidity of attitudes, all have an aim in common to evaluate the person’s self-perceived capacity to manifest a flexible or inflexible behavior in a given situation. However, these seemingly related concepts have rarely been investigated jointly. The goal of the present research is twofold: (1) to explore elements of discriminate and convergent validity of IA by relating it to COFL, PNS, and rigidity; and (2) to examine individual differences regarding gender, educational attainment, and labor force status in regards to the previously mentioned concepts. The results suggest that these concepts are related but remain distinct constructs, and that they differ in their capacity to differentiate between individuals based on gender, education, and labor force status.
Wayfinding Choremes 2 . 0 – Conceptual Primitives as a Basis for Translating Natural into Formal Language

Continuous spatial and temporal information is cognitively segmented into meaningful units that we refer to here as conceptual primitives; since we are focusing on routes in street networks, we define these primitives more specifically as wayfinding choremes. For the case of movement patterns in constraining environments such as driving around in street networks the wayfinding choremes are coupled with decision points that can offer alternative path choices or structure and/ or confirm a specific part of the route. To be able to analyze these choremes we have conducted a series of experiments in the past that focused on how a movement pattern can be characterized linguistically. Here, we apply the insights we gained to analyze and interpret linguistically characterized movement patterns to questions of automatically identifying movement patterns in text. That means we are analyzing verbal route directions and identify wayfinding choremes to infer the underlying movement patterns. To support our long term goal of automatic extraction of wayfinding choremes from text documents, we formally specify a taxonomy of wayfinding choremes as a first step for an ontological analysis. We will present the theoretical underpinning, tools, first results, and our perspectives on the linguistic analysis of movement patterns in this contribution.
Compressed Sensing Performance of Random Bernoulli Matrices with High Compression Ratio

This letter studies the sensing performance of random Bernoulli matrices with column size n much larger than row size m. It is observed that as the compression ratio n/m increases, this kind of matrices tends to present a performance floor regarding the guaranteed signal sparsity. The performance floor is effectively estimated with the formula 1/2(√{πm/2} + 1). To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time in compressed sensing, a theoretical estimation is successfully proposed to reflect the real performance.
The Chinese Heart in a Cognitive Perspective: Culture, Body, and Language

This book is a cognitive semantic study of the Chinese conceptualization of the heart, traditionally seen as the central faculty of cognition. The Chinese word xin, which primarily denotes the heart organ, covers the meanings of both "heart" and "mind" as understood in English, which upholds a heart-head dichotomy. In contrast to the Western dualist view, Chinese takes on a more holistic view that sees the heart as the center of both emotions and thought. The contrast characterizes two cultural traditions that have developed different conceptualizations of person, self, and agent of cognition. The concept of "heart" lies at the core of Chinese thought and medicine, and its importance to Chinese culture is extensively manifested in the Chinese language. Diachronically, this book traces the roots of its conception in ancient Chinese philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine. Along the synchronic dimension, it not only makes a systematic analysis of conventionalized expressions that reflect the underlying cultural models and conceptualizations, as well as underlying conceptual metaphors and metonymies, but also attempts a textual analysis of an essay and a number of poems for their metaphoric and metonymic images and imports contributing to the cultural models and conceptualizations. It also takes up a comparative perspective that sheds light on similarities and differences between Western and Chinese cultures in the understanding of the heart, brain, body, mind, self, and person. The book contributes to the understanding of the embodied nature of human cognition situated in its cultural context, and the relationship between language, culture, and cognition.
Activation of Notch Signaling During Ex Vivo Expansion Maintains Donor Muscle Cell Engraftment, ,

Transplantation of myogenic stem cells possesses great potential for long‐term repair of dystrophic muscle. However, a single donor muscle biopsy is unlikely to provide enough cells to effectively transplant the muscle mass of a patient affected by muscular dystrophy. Expansion of cells ex vivo using traditional culture techniques significantly reduces engraftment potential. We hypothesized that activation of Notch signaling during ex vivo expansion would maintain donor cell engraftment potential. In this study, we expanded freshly isolated canine muscle‐derived cells on tissue culture plates coated with Delta‐1ext‐IgG to activate Notch signaling or with human IgG as a control. A model of canine‐to‐murine xenotransplantation was used to quantitatively compare canine muscle cell engraftment and determine whether engrafted donor cells could function as satellite cells in vivo. We show that Delta‐1ext‐IgG inhibited differentiation of canine muscle‐derived cells and increased the level of genes normally expressed in myogenic precursors. Moreover, cells expanded on Delta‐1ext‐IgG resulted in a significant increase in the number of donor‐derived fibers, as compared to cells expanded on human IgG, reaching engraftment levels similar to freshly isolated cells. Importantly, cells expanded on Delta‐1ext‐IgG engrafted to the recipient satellite cell niche and contributed to further regeneration. A similar strategy of expanding human muscle‐derived cells on Notch ligand might facilitate engraftment and muscle regeneration for patients affected with muscular dystrophy. STEM Cells2012;30:2212–2220
Real-Time Scheduling via Reinforcement Learning

Cyber-physical systems, such as mobile robots, must respond adaptively to dynamic operating conditions. Effective operation of these systems requires that sensing and actuation tasks are performed in a timely manner. Additionally, execution of mission specific tasks such as imaging a room must be balanced against the need to perform more general tasks such as obstacle avoidance. This problem has been addressed by maintaining relative utilization of shared resources among tasks near a user-specified target level. Producing optimal scheduling strategies requires complete prior knowledge of task behavior, which is unlikely to be available in practice. Instead, suitable scheduling strategies must be learned online through interaction with the system. We consider the sample complexity of reinforcement learning in this domain, and demonstrate that while the problem state space is countably infinite, we may leverage the problem's structure to guarantee efficient learning.