Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trend Motif: A Graph Mining Approach for Analysis of Dynamic Complex Networks

Complex networks have been used successfully in scientific disciplines ranging from sociology to microbiology to describe systems of interacting units. Until recently, studies of complex networks have mainly focused on their network topology. However, in many real world applications, the edges and vertices have associated attributes that are frequently represented as vertex or edge weights. Furthermore, these weights are often not static, instead changing with time and forming a time series. Hence, to fully understand the dynamics of the complex network, we have to consider both network topology and related time series data. In this work, we propose a motif mining approach to identify trend motifs for such purposes. Simply stated, a trend motif describes a recurring subgraph where each of its vertices or edges displays similar dynamics over a user- defined period. Given this, each trend motif occurrence can help reveal significant events in a complex system; frequent trend motifs may aid in uncovering dynamic rules of change for the system, and the distribution of trend motifs may characterize the global dynamics of the system. Here, we have developed efficient mining algorithms to extract trend motifs. Our experimental validation using three disparate empirical datasets, ranging from the stock market, world trade, to a protein interaction network, has demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of our approach.
The social consequences of insulin-treated diabetes mellitus in patients 20-50 years of age. An epidemiological case-control study

In order to investigate the social consequencies of diabetes we sent a questionnaire to all diabetic patients aged 20-50 years and 1.125 matched non-diabetic controls living in the county of Västerbotten in Northern Sweden. The response rate was 87% and 72%, respectively. Patients more often lived alone (18 vs 13% p < 0,05) and had no children (39 vs 31% p < 0,01). They were more often the only child of their parents (14 vs 8%, p < 0,01). Thirty-seven percent of the patients and 22% of the controls (p < 0,001) had been absent from work because of illness more than one month continuously during the last 3 years and had more often than controls prematurely retired from work (8 vs 2% p < 0,001). Patients more often had hobbies (86 vs 76%, p < 0,001) and were participating in social activities (52 vs 41%, p < 0,001), but were less satisfied with their leisure time (71 vs 80%, p < 0,001). Forty percent of the patients vs 31% of the controls (p < 0,01) did not visit neighbours. Fifty-one percent of the patients vs 44% of the controls (p < 0,05) never spent leisure time with their work mates. No significant differences were found in education, socioeconomic class, dwelling or household economy. The study shows that there are social differences between diabetic patients and non-diabetic people even though they are not overwhelming.
The Testicular Antiviral Defense System: Localization, Expression, and Regulation of 2′5′ Oligoadenylate Synthetase, Double-Stranded RNA-activated Protein Kinase, and Mx Proteins in the Rat Seminiferous Tubule

Although the involvement of viruses in alterations of testicular function and in sexually transmitted diseases is well known, paradoxically, the testicular antiviral defense system has virtually not been studied. The well known antiviral activity of interferons (IFNs) occurs via the action of several IFN-induced proteins, among which the 2′5′ oligoadenylate synthetase (2′5′ A synthetase), the double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR), and the Mx proteins are the best known. To explore the antiviral capacity of the testis and to study the testicular action of IFNs, we looked for the presence and regulation of these three proteins in isolated seminiferous tubule cells, cultured in the presence or in the absence of IFN α, IFN γ, or Sendai virus. In all conditions tested, the meiotic pachytene spermatocytes and the post-meiotic early spermatids lacked 2′5′ A synthetase, PKR, and Mx mRNAs and proteins. In contrast, Sertoli cells constitutively expressed these mRNAs and proteins, and their levels were greatly increased after IFN α or Sendai virus exposure. While peritubular cells were also able to markedly express 2′5′ A synthetase, PKR, and Mx mRNA and proteins after IFN α or viral exposure, only PKR was constitutively present in these cells. Interestingly, IFN γ had no effect on peritubular cells' 2′5′ A synthetase and Mx production but it enhanced Mx proteins in Sertoli cells. In conclusion, this study reveals that the seminiferous tubules are particularly well equipped to react to a virus attack. The fact that the two key tubular elements of the blood–testis barrier, namely, Sertoli and peritubular cells, were found to assume this protection allows the extension of the concept of blood–testis barrier to the testicular antiviral defense.
The effect of crosslinking on the mechanical properties of polylactic acid/polycaprolactone blends

The improvement of the brittle behavior of Polylactic acid (PLA) resin was studied by blending it with Polycaprolactone (PCL) resin. These materials were fabricated into the compressed films and injection moldings. The values of tensile modulus and strength were appropriate, judging from the rule of mixtures. However, the ultimate tensile strain was very small. Dicumyl peroxide (DCP) was added to this blend system to improve its ultimate tensile strain. It was found that the value of ultimate tensile strain peaked at low DCP concentration. The samples at low DCP contents show yield point and ductile behavior under tensile test. The impact strength of the optimum composition was 2.5 times superior to neat PLA, and ductile behavior such as plastic deformation was observed at its fracture surface. It was found that the carbonyl groups of the blend material with DCP were altered by using FTIR spectroscopy. Dynamic mechanical analysis data revealed the dual phase nature of PLA/PCL blend albeit with good interfacial adhesion, and the DCP enhanced the viscous property in PCL phase, which agreed with tensile ductility and impact strength. The mechanical properties of this blend are comparable to those of general purpose HIPS and ABS. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 1816–1825, 2006
Trade, Finance, Specialization, and Synchronization

I investigate the determinants of business cycle synchronization across regions. The linkages between trade in goods, financial openness, specialization, and business cycle synchronization are evaluated in the context of a system of simultaneous equations. The main results are as follows. (i) Specialization patterns have a sizable effect on business cycles. Most of this effect is independent of trade or financial policy, but directly reflects differences in GDP per capita. (ii) A variety of measures of financial integration suggest that economic regions with strong financial links are significantly more synchronized, even though they also tend to be more specialized. (iii) The estimated role of trade is closer to that implied by existing models once intra-industry trade is held constant. The results obtain in a variety of data sets, measurement strategies, and specifications. They relate to a recent strand of international business cycle models with incomplete markets and transport costs and, on the empirical side, point to an important omission in the list of criteria defining an optimal currency area, namely, specialization patterns.
Cognitive Impairment and Risk of Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies

Background and Purpose— Cognitive impairment is linked to vascular risk factors and brain vascular pathologies. Several studies have tested whether subjects with cognitive impairment have higher risk for stroke. The aim of this study was to systematically review available evidence on the association between cognitive impairment and risk of stroke to obtain precise effect estimates of the association and to identify which cognitive domains associate most with incident stroke. Methods— PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science were searched from January 1, 1980, to October 1, 2013, without language restriction. Only prospective cohort studies were included. From each study, data on the association between cognitive impairment and stroke estimated with hazard ratios or relative risks with 95% confidence interval (CI) were extracted. For each study, risk of stroke per SD lower performance in various cognitive tests was calculated. Results— Twelve studies were included, comprising 82 899 participants of whom 3043 had an incident stroke. The pooled relative risk per SD lower global cognitive performance was 1.19 (95% CI, 1.12–1.27). Each SD lower score in executive function or attention was associated with 1.14-fold (95% CI, 1.06–1.24) higher risk of stroke. Lower scores in memory were associated with 1.07-fold (95% CI, 1.02–1.12) higher risk of stroke, and lower scores in language were associated with 1.08-fold (95% CI, 1.02–1.16) higher risk of stroke. Conclusions— Cognitive impairment is associated with higher risk of stroke. The associations were not significantly different for executive function, memory, and language.
Microfluidic Mixing: A Review

The aim of microfluidic mixing is to achieve a thorough and rapid mixing of multiple samples in microscale devices. In such devices, sample mixing is essentially achieved by enhancing the diffusion effect between the different species flows. Broadly speaking, microfluidic mixing schemes can be categorized as either “active”, where an external energy force is applied to perturb the sample species, or “passive”, where the contact area and contact time of the species samples are increased through specially-designed microchannel configurations. Many mixers have been proposed to facilitate this task over the past 10 years. Accordingly, this paper commences by providing a high level overview of the field of microfluidic mixing devices before describing some of the more significant proposals for active and passive mixers.
Multilocus Sequence Typing System for Group B Streptococcus

ABSTRACT A multilocus sequence typing (MLST) system was developed for group B streptococcus (GBS). The system was used to characterize a collection (n = 152) of globally and ecologically diverse human strains of GBS that included representatives of capsular serotypes Ia, Ib, II, III, V, VI, and VIII. Fragments (459 to 519 bp) of seven housekeeping genes were amplified by PCR for each strain and sequenced. The combination of alleles at the seven loci provided an allelic profile or sequence type (ST) for each strain. A subset of the strains were characterized by restriction digest patterning, and these results were highly congruent with those obtained with MLST. There were 29 STs, but 66% of isolates were assigned to four major STs. ST-1 and ST-19 were significantly associated with asymptomatic carriage, whereas ST-23 included both carried and invasive strains. All 44 isolates of ST-17 were serotype III clones, and this ST appeared to define a homogeneous clone that was strongly associated with neonatal invasive infections. The finding that isolates with different capsular serotypes had the same ST suggests that recombination occurs at the capsular locus. A web site for GBS MLST was set up and can be accessed at http://sagalactiae.mlst. net. The GBS MLST system offers investigators a valuable typing tool that will promote further investigation of the population biology of this organism.
Optimal Sensing Disruption for a Cognitive Radio Adversary

Spectrum sensing vulnerabilities in cognitive radio (CR) networks are being actively investigated, where most research focuses on mechanisms that deal with possible attacks without examining optimal sensing disruption strategies. This paper addresses the optimal design and analysis of a power-limited intelligent adversary to a CR network. The adversary targets unused bands and puts energy into them so that the number of unused bands appears reduced to secondary users. This is called sensing disruption. The optimal disruption strategy is obtained by maximizing the average number of false detections under the adversary's power constraint. It is shown that, for a CR network where energy detection is utilized by secondary users, the optimal sensing disruption strategy for noise spoofing for a CR adversary is equal-power partial-band spoofing. Numerical results and analyses of the optimal sensing disruption are provided.
Discrete Bids and Empirical Inference in Divisible Good Auctions

I examine a model of a uniform price auction of a perfectly divisible good with private information in which the bidders submit discrete bidpoints rather than continuous downward sloping demand functions. I characterize necessary conditions for equilibrium bidding. The characterization reveals a close relationship between bidding in multiunit auctions and oligopolistic behaviour. I demonstrate that a recently proposed indirect approach to the revenue comparisons of discriminatory and uniform price auctions is not valid if bid functions have steps. In particular, bidders may bid above their marginal valuation in a uniform price auction. In order to demonstrate that discrete bidding can have important consequences for empirical analysis I use my model to examine a data set consisting of individual bids in uniform price treasury auctions of the Czech government. I propose an alternative method for evaluating the performance of the employed mechanism. My results suggest that the uniform price auction performs well, both in terms of efficiency of the allocation and in terms of revenue maximization. I estimate that the employed mechanism failed to extract at most 3 basis points in terms of the annual yield of T-bills worth of expected surplus while implementing an allocation resulting in almost all the efficient surplus. Failing to account for discreteness of bids would in my application result in overestimating the unextracted revenue by more than 50%. Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.
Enhancement of Tensile and Impact Properties of Thermoplastic Lignocellulose Composites by Incorporation of Chemically Treated Alcell Lignin as Compatibilizer

This study focused on the effects of chemical treatment of Alcell lignin using glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and allyl glycidyl ether (AGE) on the properties of thermoplastic-lignocellulosic composites. In the first stage, Alcell lignin was treated with GMA and AGE in different ratios (1:1, 1:2 and 1:3, based on equivalent weight). The level of treatment was monitored by (i) weight percentage gain (WPG), (ii) Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR) analysis and (iii) iodine number determination (Hanus method). In the second stage, treated lignin was used as compatibilizer at different percentages (1%, 3% and 5%, based on filler weight) in the preparation of lignocellulosic-thermoplastic composites. The results indicated that GMA and AGE had successfully attached to the lignin and enhanced the mechanical properties of lignocellulosic-thermoplastic composites. By comparison, the GMA treated lignin exhibited greater enhancement in mechanical properties as compared to AGE treated lignin.
Nonlinear q-Generalizations of Quantum Equations: Homogeneous and Nonhomogeneous Cases - An Overview

Recent developments on the generalizations of two important equations of quantum physics, namely the Schroedinger and Klein–Gordon equations, are reviewed. These generalizations present nonlinear terms, characterized by exponents depending on an index q, in such a way that the standard linear equations are recovered in the limit q → 1 . Interestingly, these equations present a common, soliton-like, traveling solution, which is written in terms of the q-exponential function that naturally emerges within nonextensive statistical mechanics. In both cases, the corresponding well-known Einstein energy-momentum relations, as well as the Planck and the de Broglie ones, are preserved for arbitrary values of q. In order to deal appropriately with the continuity equation, a classical field theory has been developed, where besides the usual Ψ ( x → , t ) , a new field Φ ( x → , t ) must be introduced; this latter field becomes Ψ * ( x → , t ) only when q → 1 . A class of linear nonhomogeneous Schroedinger equations, characterized by position-dependent masses, for which the extra field Φ ( x → , t ) becomes necessary, is also investigated. In this case, an appropriate transformation connecting Ψ ( x → , t ) and Φ ( x → , t ) is proposed, opening the possibility for finding a connection between these fields in the nonlinear cases. The solutions presented herein are potential candidates for applications to nonlinear excitations in plasma physics, nonlinear optics, in structures, such as those of graphene, as well as in shallow and deep water waves.
Natural and sexual selection in a monogamous historical human population

Whether and how human populations exposed to the agricultural revolution are still affected by Darwinian selection remains controversial among social scientists, biologists, and the general public. Although methods of studying selection in natural populations are well established, our understanding of selection in humans has been limited by the availability of suitable datasets. Here, we present a study comparing the maximum strengths of natural and sexual selection in humans that includes the effects of sex and wealth on different episodes of selection. Our dataset was compiled from church records of preindustrial Finnish populations characterized by socially imposed monogamy, and it contains a complete distribution of survival, mating, and reproductive success for 5,923 individuals born 1760–1849. Individual differences in early survival and fertility (natural selection) were responsible for most variation in fitness, even among wealthier individuals. Variance in mating success explained most of the higher variance in reproductive success in males compared with females, but mating success also influenced reproductive success in females, allowing for sexual selection to operate in both sexes. The detected opportunity for selection is in line with measurements for other species but higher than most previous reports for human samples. This disparity results from biological, demographic, economic, and social differences across populations as well as from failures by most previous studies to account for variation in fitness introduced by nonreproductive individuals. Our results emphasize that the demographic, cultural, and technological changes of the last 10,000 y did not preclude the potential for natural and sexual selection in our species.
European Union Land Markets and the Common Agricultural Policy

This paper analyses the income and structural effects of the Single Payment Scheme (SPS). In particular, we analyze how the income distributional effects and farm restructuring are impacted by the SPS by accounting for entitlement tradability, cross-compliance and CAP 'greening' requirements, different SPS implementation models, and the entitlement stock. Our results suggest that the SPS implication details are highly important: farmers’ benefits can range from 100% of the SPS value to a negative policy incidence, and farm structural change may be hindered by the SPS.
J ul 2 00 4 Social Structure and Opinion Formation

We present a dynamical theory of opinion formation that takes explicitly into account the structure of the social network in which individuals are embedded. The theory predicts the evolution of a set of opinions through the social network and establishes the existence of a martingale property, i.e. that the expected weighted fraction of the population that holds a given opinion is constant in time. Most importantly, this weighted fraction is not either zero or one, but corresponds to a non-trivial distribution of opinions in the long time limit. This coexistence of opinions within a social network is in agreement with the often observed locality effect, in which an opinion or a fad is localized to given groups without infecting the whole society. We verified these predictions, as well as those concerning the fragility of opinions and the importance of highly connected individuals in opinion formation, by performing computer experiments on a number of social networks. Applied Physics Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 HP Labs, Palo Alto, CA 94304
Pregnant Teenager Involvement in Sexual Activity and the Social Context

Pregnancy during adolescence represents a challenge to society as a whole. Its incidence is increasing and brings about social and medical consequences to both the teen mothers and their children. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pregnant teenager involvement in sexual activity and the social context. The group studied comprised 152 pregnant teenagers attending the Department of Pediatrics, Santa Casa de Sao Paulo (SCSP) General Hospital. All information was analyzed. The age at first intercourse was 14.2 years and the average period between first intercourse and pregnancy was 1.4 years. Most pregnancies (75%) were neither planned nor wanted, however, most teen mothers (64.3%) did not use any contraceptive method. Of the pregnant teenagers, 68.1% came from unstructured families where in 71% of the teen pregnancy cases, there was a role model (mother, sister, or cousin who already experienced teen pregnancy). The average number of school years attended by the analyzed pregnant teenagers was 8.1 years, however, there was a high dropout rate of 40.1%. The age at first intercourse was low and concurs with the high incidence of unstructured families. The average number of school years attended was high, which would theoretically reflect a greater knowledge with regard to human reproduction, pointing to the multicausality of teen pregnancy and the role played by the family. Conclusions: We confirmed that teen pregnancy presents multicausal etiology; sexual initiation of pregnant teenagers was quite early with high dropout rates, which indicated that prevention methodology should be based on early detection of risk factors for elaboration of appropriate prevention proposals.
Repository of Human Blood Derivative Biospecimens in Biobank: Technical Implications

Human biorepositories are collection of biological samples and health information from a large number of participants generally in the cohort studies. The main purpose of established biobanks is organization of biomedical research for upgrading the knowledge of human disorders from cancer to infectious and rare disease. The studies of generation relationships and understanding the preclinical stages of ageing are also from the solution of bitobank. This review overview the significance and storage condition of biospecimens including whole blood, red blood cells (RBC), buffy coat, plasma, serum, DNA and RNA that derived from blood in human biobanks. These biological samples provide valuable information on the prevalence of germline mutations, epigenetic modifications or interaction between genes and proteins in associated with the development of certain types of disease. The quality of biospecimen in biobanks is a powerful tool for valid identification of biomarkers. Therefore optimum qualities of human biological samples in long time storage that have been assessed in several studies also indicate in this review.