Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urban Meiosis

A simple model of a dynamic rental housing market is developed where a given population may move both within and between jurisdictions, each di¤erentiated by the level of collectively nanced local public goods and average commuting cost. In this environment, jurisdictions, run by local governments, compete with private land developers at the urban fringe for residents. Income growth, combined with a xed distribution of land available and competing demands for space, implies an increasing demand for land development and the creation of new jurisdictions over time. Conditions under which urban decentralization, de ned as the movement of an existing population from urban centers to suburban areas, are derived. In this environment, once the process of decentralization begins, further migration of residents from existing urban areas into new suburban developments is accelerated by the reduced property values and lower tax base of the existing development which lead to a lower level of services for remaining residents. The model identi es factors inuencing the speed and structural density of suburban development in addition to potential tools for policy makers.
Wheezing, asthma, and atopy in premature infants at 2 years of age.

BACKGROUND/AIM We aimed to evaluate wheezing, bronchial asthma (BA), and atopy in premature infants at 2 years of age via a cross-sectional study. MATERIALS AND METHODS Premature infants at <37 weeks of gestational age (GA) were assessed for atopy by skin-prick test and serum immunoglobulin E level at 2 years of age. The family's and infant's histories of allergy, BA, atopy, and wheezing were obtained by questionnaire and from hospital records. RESULTS There were 98 infants, with mean birth weight (BW) 1517.4 ± 486.5 g and GA 30.8 ± 2.9 weeks. The frequencies of wheezing, asthma, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) were 32.7%, 16.3%, and 14.3%, respectively. Skin-prick tests were positive for 11 subjects, with allergy to cereals for 7 infants, egg for 3, and peanut for 1. Wheezing was related to GA, BW, respiratory distress syndrome, mechanical ventilation, sepsis, asphyxia, smoking, antenatal steroid, BA, palivizumab prophylaxis, number of people in the household, and duration of hospitalization (P < 0.05). Wheezing was negatively correlated to GA. Family history of BA, smoking, and number of people in the household were linked to BA (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Wheezing was related to degree of premature birth, but BA was linked to BA in the family and smoking. Increased gestation should improve the infant's respiratory health up to 2 years of age.
Argonaute 2 Complexes Selectively Protect the Circulating MicroRNAs in Cell-Secreted Microvesicles

Cell-secreted miRNAs are highly stable and can serve as biomarkers for various diseases and signaling molecules in intercellular communication. The mechanism underlying the stability of circulating miRNAs, however, remains incompletely understood. Here we show that Argonaute 2 (Ago2) complexes and microvesicles (MVs) provide specific and non-specific protection for miRNA in cell-secreted MVs, respectively. First, the resistance of MV-encapsulated miRNAs to RNaseA was both depended on intact vesicular structure of MVs and protease-sensitive. Second, an immunoprecipitation assay using a probe complementary to human miR-16, a miRNA primarily located in the MVs and showed a strong, protease-sensitive resistance to RNaseA, identified Ago2 as a major miR-16-associated protein. Compared with protein-free miR-16, Ago2-associated miR-16 was resistant to RNaseA in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. Third, when the miR-16/Ago2 complex was disrupted by trypaflavine, the resistance of miR-16 to RNaseA was decreased. In contrast, when the association of miR-16 with the Ago2 complexes was increased during cell apoptosis, although the total amount of miR-16 and Ago2 remained unchanged, the resistance of miR-16 to RNaseA in the MVs was enhanced. A similar correlation between the increase of miR-223/Ago2 association and the resistance of miR-223 against RNaseA was observed during all trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced cell differentiation of promyelocytic HL60 cells. In conclusion, the association of miRNAs with Ago2 complexes, an event that is linked to cell functional status, plays a critical role in stabilizing the circulating miRNAs in cell-secreted MVs.
In-situ characterization of moisture absorption-desorption and hygroscopic swelling behavior of an underfill material

Moisture absorption and hygroscopic swelling behavior of an underfill material were measured in-situ using the sorption TGA and the DMA-RH techniques, respectively. Results showed that moisture diffusion can be well described by Fick's law when the relative humidity (RH) is 60% or less, and the diffusivity exhibits an Arrhenius temperature dependence with an activation energy of ∼ 0.56 eV. At 85% RH, non-Fickian diffusion behavior becomes apparent in the latter stage of the diffusion process. Increase in the saturated moisture content (Csat) at 60%RH was observed after exposure at 85°C 85%RH, which is attributed to hygrothermal ageing induced damage in the material. In-situ DMA-RH results showed that hygroscopic swelling strain is significant comparing with the thermal expansion of the material, and the swelling strain at 60°C 60%RH is equivalent to the thermal strain over a ΔT of 100°C for T < Tg. The coefficient of hygroscopic swelling (CHS) was calculated and the results showed that CHS is temperature dependent, and it increases with the increasing temperature. At higher humidity condition (85%RH or higher), the swelling strain deviates from its linear dependence on Csat and it increases faster than linear when Csat increases, which may also be attributed to hygrothermal ageing induced damage in the underfill material.
The Distance between Perception and Reality in the Social Domains of Life

The distance between perception and reality with respect to the social domains of life is often striking. Using survey data collected on Latin American countries, this paper provides an overview of the main empirical findings on the gaps between perception and reality in four social domains--health, employment, the perception of security, and social ranking. The overview emphasizes the psychological biases that may explain the gaps. Biases associated with cultural values are very relevant with respect to health and job satisfaction. Cultural differences across countries are pronounced in perceptions of health, while cultural differences across socioeconomic groups are more apparent with respect to job satisfaction. Affect and availability heuristics are the dominant sources of bias in the case of perceptions of security. The formation of subjective social rankings appears to be less culturally dependent but more dependent on the socioeconomic development in the country. The gaps between objective and subjective indicators in the social domains of life are a rich source of data to help understand how perceptions are formed, identify important aspects of people's lives that do not appear in official indicators, inform public debate on social policy, and shed light on public attitudes on key social issues.
A criterion for global asymptotic stability of Cohen-Grossberg neural networks with delays

In this paper, the Cohen-Grossberg neural network models with time delays are considered. By constructing an appropriate Lyapunov functional, sufficient criteria for global asymptotic stability of the network are derived. These criteria independent of the magnitudes of the delays are applicable for other Cohen-Grossberg neural network models. Our results are less conservative and restrictive than previously known results and can be easily verified. And the result has overcome the obvious drawback that previous works neglect the signs of the connecting weights, and thus, do not distinguish the differences between excitatory and inhibitory connections. It is believed that our results are significant and useful for the design and applications of the Cohen-Grossberg model.
Fourier-Bessel error performance analysis and evaluation of M-ary QAM schemes in an impulsive noise environment

The authors derive closed-form expressions for the BER (bit error rate) performance of coherent M-ary quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) system in the presence of an additive combination of Gaussian and highly impulsive noise by using a Fourier-Bessel series expansion method. The model used for the impulse noise, which closely models atmospheric and/or ignition noise, consists of a stream of Poisson impulses with areas distributed according to a bilateral Rayleigh probability distribution function. Although the methodology is general enough to accommodate any M-ary QAM scheme, they present analytical as well as some computer simulated results for 16-, 64-, and 256-QAM systems. An almost insignificant increase of the truncation error with the increase of the modulation levels verifies that the proposed method of analysis can be a useful tool in evaluating the performance of very large-alphabet M-ary QAM systems, e.g. M>or=256. <<ETX>>
Reconstructing subclonal composition and evolution from whole genome sequencing of tumors

Tumors often contain multiple, genetically distinct subpopulations of cancerous cells. These so-called subclonal populations are defined by distinct somatic mutations that include point mutations such as single nucleotide variants and small indels - collectively called simple somatic mutations (SSMs) - as well as larger structural changes that result in copy number variations (CNVs). In some cases, the genotype and prevalence of these subpopulations can be reconstructed based on high-throughput, short-read sequencing of DNA in one or more tumor samples. To date, no automated SSM-based subclonal reconstructions have been attempted on WGS data; and CNV-based reconstructions are limited to tumors with two or fewer cancerous subclonal populations and with a small number of CNVs. We describe a new automated method, PhyloWGS, that can be applied to WGS data from one or more tumor samples to perform subclonal reconstruction based on both CNVs and SSMs. PhyloWGS successfully recovers the composition of mixtures of a highly rearranged TGCA cell line when a CNV-based method fails. On WGS data with average read depth of 40 from five time-series chronic lymphocytic leukemia samples, PhyloWGS recovers the same tumor phylogeny previously reconstructed using deep targeted resequencing. To further explore the limits of WGS-based subclonal reconstruction, we ran PhyloWGS on simulated data: PhyloWGS can reliably reconstruct as many as three cancerous subpopulations based on 30-50x coverage WGS data from a single tumor sample with 10’s to 1000’s of SSMs per subpopulation. At least five cancerous subpopulations can be reconstructed if provided with read depths of 200 or more. PhyloWGS is the first automated method that can be applied to WGS tumor data that accurately reconstructs the frequency, genotype and phylogeny of the subclonal populations based on both SSMs and CNVs. It also provides a principled, automated approach to combining overlapping SSM and CNV data. By demonstrating the utility of PhyloWGS on medium depth WGS data, including from examples with highly rearranged chromosomes, we have greatly expanded the range of tumors for which subclonal reconstruction is possible.
Phytoextraction of lead , zinc and cadmium from soil by selected plants

The Pb, Zn and Cd phytoextraction potential of 14 different plants was assessed in a chelate induced phytoextraction experiment. In the used soil heavy metals mainly reside in carbonate, organic matter, and residual soil fractions. The addition of a chelate, 5 mmol/kg ethylenediamine-tetracetic acid (EDTA), increased the proportion of phytoavailable Pb, Zn and Cd in the soil (dissolved in soil solution and exchangeable from soil colloids), and also their uptake by tested plants up to 48 times (Sinapis alba), 4.6 times (Raphanus sativus oleiformis), and 3.3 times (Amaranthus spp.), respectively, compared to the control. The biodegradable chelate ethylenediamine-disuccinic acid (EDDS) was generally less effective (tested on a selection of 4 plant species), except for Cannabis sativa. In a treatment with 10 mmol/kg EDDS, Pb, Zn and Cd concentrations of 1053 ± 125, 211 ± 16 and 5.4 ± 0.8 mg/kg, respectively, were measured in the biomass of Cannabis sativa and were 105, 2.3 and 31.7 times higher, respectively, than in the control treatment. The calculated Pb phytoextraction potential of Cannabis sativa amounted to 26.3 kg/ha.
Error-Bounded and Feature Preserving Surface Remeshing with Minimal Angle Improvement

Surface remeshing is a key component in many geometry processing applications. The typical goal consists in finding a mesh that is (1) geometrically faithful to the original geometry, (2) as coarse as possible to obtain a low-complexity representation and (3) free of bad elements that would hamper the desired application (e.g., the minimum interior angle is above an application-dependent threshold). Our algorithm is designed to address all three optimization goals simultaneously by targeting prescribed bounds on approximation error <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\delta$</tex-math><alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="hu-ieq1-2632720.gif"/> </alternatives></inline-formula>, minimal interior angle <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\theta$</tex-math> <alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="hu-ieq2-2632720.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and maximum mesh complexity <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$N$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="hu-ieq3-2632720.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> (number of vertices). The approximation error bound <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\delta$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="hu-ieq4-2632720.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> is a hard constraint, while the other two criteria are modeled as optimization goals to guarantee feasibility. Our optimization framework applies carefully prioritized local operators in order to greedily search for the coarsest mesh with minimal interior angle above <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\theta$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="hu-ieq5-2632720.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> and approximation error bounded by <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\delta$</tex-math><alternatives> <inline-graphic xlink:href="hu-ieq6-2632720.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula>. Fast runtime is enabled by a local approximation error estimation, while implicit feature preservation is obtained by specifically designed vertex relocation operators. Experiments show that for reasonable angle bounds (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> $\theta \leq 35^\circ$</tex-math><alternatives><inline-graphic xlink:href="hu-ieq7-2632720.gif"/></alternatives> </inline-formula>) our approach delivers high-quality meshes with implicitly preserved features (no tagging required) and better balances between geometric fidelity, mesh complexity and element quality than the state-of-the-art.
Expression Pattern of Smad4/GATA3 as a Predictor of Survival in Invasive Ductal Carcinoma of the Breast

Background: Smad4 and GATA3 proteins are known prognostic markers in various cancers. Smad4 is a mediator linked to both tumour suppression and progression. GATA3 is a regulator of development and morphogenesis of the mammary gland. We assessed and compared the predictive performance of Smad4 and GATA3 for clinical outcomes in patients with breast cancer. Methods: The combined expression pattern based on Smad4+/- and GATA3+/- was evaluated by immunostaining using breast cancer tissue microarray, and the relationships between protein expression and clinicopathological variables were analysed. Results: Smad4 expression was only associated with an ill-defined tumour border, whereas GATA3 was associated with several good prognostic factors. On analysis of combined markers, there was a significant difference in the expression of fascin (an important factor for cancer invasiveness) between the Smad4+/GATA3- and Smad4-/GATA3+ groups. Smad4+/GATA3- was correlated with worse clinicopathological parameters, relapse-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS), compared to Smad4-/GATA3+. Conclusion: Combined markers of Smad4/GATA3 showed a superior performance compared to single markers for predicting RFS and OS in patients with breast cancer.
Proteasomal Degradation of Mcl-1 by Maritoclax Induces Apoptosis and Enhances the Efficacy of ABT-737 in Melanoma Cells

Background and purpose Metastatic melanoma remains one of the most invasive and highly drug resistant cancers. The over expression of anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1 has been associated with inferior survival, poor prognosis and chemoresistance of malignant melanoma. A BH3 mimetic, ABT-737, has demonstrated efficacy in several forms of cancers. However, the efficacy of ABT-737 depends on Mcl-1. Because the over expression of Mcl-1 is frequently observed in melanoma, specifically targeting of Mcl-1 may overcome the resistance of ABT-737. In this study, we investigated the effects of Maritoclax, a novel Mcl-1-selective inhibitor, alone and in combination with ABT-737, on the survival of human melanoma cells. Experimental approach For cell viability assessment we performed MTT assay. Apoptosis was determined using western blot and flow cytometric analysis. Key results The treatment of Maritoclax reduced the cell viability of melanoma cells with an IC50 of between 2.2–5.0 µM. Further, treatment of melanoma cells with Maritoclax showed significant decrease in Mcl-1 expression. We found that Maritoclax was able to induce apoptosis in melanoma cells in a caspase-dependent manner. Moreover, Maritoclax induced Mcl-1 degradation via the proteasome system, which was associated with its pro-apoptotic activity. We also found that Maritoclax treatment increased mitochondrial translocation of Bim and Bmf. Importantly, Maritoclax markedly enhanced the efficacy of ABT-737 against melanoma cells in both two- and three-dimensional spheroids. Conclusions and implications Taken together, these results suggest that targeting of Mcl-1 by Maritoclax may represent a new therapeutic strategy for melanoma treatment that warrants further investigation as a single therapy or in combination with other agents such as Bcl-2 inhibitors.
Automatic Allocation of Redundant Operators in Arithmetic Data path Optimization

Redundant operators such as adders and multipliers increase performance (timing and area) of high computational digital circuits. Mixing redundant operators with classical ones is nevertheless complex for circuit designers who might not have necessarily the required arithmetic knowledge. In this context, Computer Aided Design tools considering redundant arithmetic are of interest. In this paper, several algorithms based on graph theory are described. They replace some classical operators of a design with redundant ones to minimize the overall timing. Several real life experiments are presented.
Effect of Intrusion Detection and Response on Reliability of Cyber Physical Systems

In this paper we analyze the effect of intrusion detection and response on the reliability of a cyber physical system (CPS) comprising sensors, actuators, control units, and physical objects for controlling and protecting a physical infrastructure. We develop a probability model based on stochastic Petri nets to describe the behavior of the CPS in the presence of both malicious nodes exhibiting a range of attacker behaviors, and an intrusion detection and response system (IDRS) for detecting and responding to malicious events at runtime. Our results indicate that adjusting detection and response strength in response to attacker strength and behavior detected can significantly improve the reliability of the CPS. We report numerical data for a CPS subject to persistent, random and insidious attacks with physical interpretations given.
Effect of Acupressure on Fatigue in Women With Multiple Sclerosis

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of progressive neurological disability. The prevalence of MS is much more common in women than men. The women are exposed to a variety of symptoms including fatigue. Acupressure is a noninvasive procedure that can be used to control symptoms including fatigue. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of acupressure on fatigue in women with multiple sclerosis. Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted on 100 women with MS at Tehran MS Association. The subjects were equally allocated to experimental group and a placebo group (50 women per group) by blocking randomization method. The experimental group were received acupressure, at the true points (ST36, SP6, LI4) and the placebo group, were received touching at the same points. Fatigue was measured by a Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) in the groups at immediately prior to, two and four weeks after the beginning of the intervention. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics by SPSS version 17. Results: The findings indicated no differences in demographic characteristics and the severity of fatigue at the baseline in two groups (p=0.54). But there were significant reductions of the mean score of fatigue in the experimental group compared to the placebo group immediately, two and four weeks after the intervention respectively (p=0.03, p≤0/001, p=0.04). Conclusion: According to the findings, the study provided an alternative method for health care providers including nurses to train acupressure to the clients with MS to managing their fatigue.
Abciximab therapy is associated with increased platelet activation and decreased heparin dosage in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Summary The inhibition of the glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor for reducing periprocedural ischemic events in patients undergoing coronary intervention is known to influence platelet reactivity. Suboptimal doses of GP IIb/IIIa antagonists have been suggested to be prothrombotic and proinflammatory. This study was performed to observe platelet activation markers, whole blood aggregation and the dosage of unfractionated heparin (UFH) in the presence or absence of the GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor abciximab. Patients with acute myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention were treated with (n=15) or without (n=15) abciximab. Platelet activation markers were flow cytometrically measured before and after PCI. Whole blood platelet aggregation was tested by a platelet function assay. The patients with abciximab showed a significant increase in platelet activation markers (P-selectin: 7.12 ± 0.36 AU vs 11.05 ± 0.79 AU) and a lower requirement of UFH to prolong aPTT > 60 sec during the infusion. 12 hours after infusion P-selectin level decreased (7.20 ± 0.58 AU), whereas whole blood aggregation was increasing again. After stopping abciximab, requirement of UFH to prolong aPTT increased in the treated group to a greater extent to a level similar to the untreated group even when most of the platelets were still inhibited. The increased platelet activation found at the end of abciximab treatment points to a procoaguable condition that should be carefully monitored and treated by adapting anticoagulation and antiplatelet drugs.
The role of habitual snoring and obesity in the development of diabetes: a 10‐year follow‐up study in a male population

Abstract. Elmasry A, Janson C, Lindberg E, Gislason T, Tageldin MA, Boman G (Uppsala University, Akademiska Sjukhuset, Uppsala, Sweden; Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; and Viffilsstadir Hospital, Gardabær, Iceland). The role of habitual snoring and obesity in the development of diabetes: a 10‐year follow‐up study in a male population. J Intern Med 2000; 248: 13–20.