Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Women with diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome show an increased pressure response to 35% carbon dioxide stress challenge

The responses to inhalation of 35% carbon dioxide (CO2) as a stressor were compared in female irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients and healthy controls to assess potential differences in cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and behavioural responses to stress. A total of 22 women (12 patients with ROME II defined diarrhoea-predominant IBS and 10 aged-matched controls) were challenged with a single vital capacity breath of 35% CO2 (with 65% oxygen). Beat-to-beat blood pressure and heart rate were recorded prior to, during and after the inhalation. Serum cortisol concentration and behavioural ratings were measured pre- and post-inhalation. A typical pattern of responses to CO2 was observed, characterised by a reduction in heart rate and increases in serum cortisol and anxiogenic symptoms; however, these responses did not differ between groups. Both groups also demonstrated an increase in systolic blood pressure; however, this response was significantly enhanced in IBS patients compared to healthy controls (P < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that females with diarrhoea-predominant IBS have an exaggerated pressor response to 35% CO2 stress challenge, suggesting a more stress-responsive sympathetic nervous system.
Nonlinear Reflection of Internal Waves at a Density Discontinuityat the Base of the Mixed Layer

Abstract Internal waves propagating with an upward component of group velocity toward the ocean surface are reflected at the base of the mixed layer. A simple model is constructed to examine nonlinear aspects of the reflection. It consists of a uniform layer of depth h, representing the mixed layer, bounded above by a rigid surface and below by an interface, across which there is a density discontinuity Δρ and beneath which fluid is stably stratified with buoyancy frequency, N = const. Attention is given to the case in which an internal wave in the stratified layer, incident from below on the density interface, has frequency σ < N/2. In addition to a first-order wave of frequency σ that is reflected downward from the density discontinuity, a second-order wave is then generated with frequency 2σ and with horizontal wavenumber twice that of the incident wave, which also propagates downward away from the interface. The shape of the waves generated at the interface is investigated and a measure of their nonli.
Separation and information hiding

We investigate proof rules for information hiding, using the recent formalism of separation logic. In essence, we use the separating conjunction to partition the internal resources of a module from those accessed by the module's clients. The use of a logical connective gives rise to a form of dynamic partitioning, where we track the transfer of ownership of portions of heap storage between program components. It also enables us to enforce separation in the presence of mutable data structures with embedded addresses that may be aliased.
Kallikrein Gene Transfer Protects Against Ischemic Stroke by Promoting Glial Cell Migration and Inhibiting Apoptosis

Abstract—Kallikrein/kinin has been shown to protect against ischemia/reperfusion-induced myocardial infarction and apoptosis. In the present study, we examined the potential neuroprotective action of kallikrein gene transfer in cerebral ischemia. Adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a 1-hour occlusion of the middle cerebral artery followed by intracerebroventricular injection of adenovirus harboring either the human tissue kallikrein gene or the luciferase gene. Kallikrein gene transfer significantly reduced ischemia-induced locomotor deficit scores and cerebral infarction after cerebral ischemia injury. Expression of recombinant human tissue kallikrein was identified and localized in monocytes/macrophages of rat ischemic brain by double immunostaining. Morphological analyses showed that kallikrein gene transfer enhanced the survival and migration of glial cells into the ischemic penumbra and core, as identified by immunostaining with glial fibrillary acidic protein. Cerebral ischemia markedly increased apoptotic cells, and kallikrein gene delivery reduced apoptosis to near-normal levels as seen in sham control rats. In primary cultured glial cells, kinin stimulated cell migration but inhibited hypoxia/reoxygenation-induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. The effects of kinin on both migration and apoptosis were abolished by icatibant, a bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist. Enhanced cell survival after kallikrein gene transfer occurred in conjunction with markedly increased cerebral nitric oxide levels and phospho-Akt and Bcl-2 levels but reduced caspase-3 activation, NAD(P)H oxidase activity, and superoxide production. These results indicate that kallikrein gene transfer provides neuroprotection against cerebral ischemia injury by enhancing glial cell survival and migration and inhibiting apoptosis through suppression of oxidative stress and activation of the Akt–Bcl-2 signaling pathway.
Molecular analysis of phylogenetic relationships among Myrmecophytic macaranga species (Euphorbiaceae).

Many species of the paleotropical pioneer tree genus Macaranga Thou. (Euphorbiaceae) live in association with ants. Various types of mutualistic interactions exist, ranging from the attraction of unspecific ant visitors to obligate myrmecophytism. In the latter, nesting space and food bodies are exchanged for protection by highly specific ant partners (mainly species of the myrmicine genus Crematogaster). As a first step toward elucidating the coevolution of ant-plant interactions in the Macaranga-Crematogaster system, we have initiated a molecular investigation of the plant partners' phylogeny. Nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences were analyzed for 73 accessions from 47 Macaranga species, representing 17 sections or informally described species groups. Three accessions from the putative sister taxon Mallotus Lour, were included as outgroups. Cladograms of the ITS data revealed Macaranga to be nested within Mallotus. ITS sequences are highly similar within section Pachystemon s.str. , suggesting a relatively recent and rapid radiation of obligate myrmecophytes within this section. Forty-three accessions, mainly of ant-inhabited species, were additionally investigated by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and microsatellite-primed PCR (MP-PCR) techniques. Phenetic analysis of RAPD and MP-PCR banding profiles generally confirmed the ITS results. Best resolutions for individual clades were obtained when ITS and RAPD/MP-PCR data were combined into a single matrix and analyzed phenetically. The combined analysis suggests multiple (four) rather than a single evolutionary origin of myrmecophytism, at least one reversal from obligate myrmecophytism to nonmyrmecophytism, and one loss of mutualistic specifity.
Constant-time operation transformation and integration for collaborative editing

Operational transformation (OT) is the concurrency control mechanism for collaborative editors, due to its high responsiveness to local editing operations. However, collaborative editing is still not widely practiced. One of the reasons is that operation transformation and integration are computation intensive and time consuming. The state-of-the-art time complexity is currently O(|H|), where |H} is the length of operation histories, which can be large and grow indefinitely. Moreover, most of the published work is limited with character operations, leading to long operation histories and impractically large number of small messages over the network. This paper presents an approach that supports string operations and constant-time operation transformation and integration. The approach is based on admissibility preservation, a correctness criterion with which the correctness of the approach can be formally proven.
Issues in aerosol measurement for optics assessments

Size-resolved composition, water content, and mixing characteristics of fine (<2μm) particles were measured during intensive field studies in Los Angeles (Southern California Air Quality Study (SCAQS)(1987)) and at the Grand Canyon (winter 1990, summer 1992). Aerosol optical properties were calculated from these measurements using Mie theory. Calculated scattering coefficients are in reasonable agreement with directly measured values for internal and external mixing models as well as for a hybrid model based on measured mixing characteristics. Calculated dry sulfate mass scattering efficiencies cover the range reported in previous studies based on multiple linear regression analysis (MLR) (∼3 to 7 m2/g) but increase systematically with size and are sensitive to assumptions regarding the chemical mechanism of secondary aerosol formation. Calculated organic carbon (1.4*mass of carbon associated with particulate organics) scattering efficiencies (∼3 to 7 m2/g ) show no systematic dependence on median size but are somewhat higher than previously published estimates based largely on MLR. Organic carbon and sulfates were the dominant contributors to fine particle scattering in both Grand Canyon studies (50 and 38% during the 1990 Navajo Generating Station (NGS) study, respectively, and 48 and 40% at Meadview). However, large discrepancies are found for organic carbon concentrations measured with different samplers, especially in the desert Southwest where concentrations are low. These observations underline the need for improved sampling and characterizing methodologies for carbon-containing particulate species.
Solving Queueing Network Models in Cloud Provisioning Contexts

In recent years the research community and most of cloud users are trying to propose flexible and general mechanisms to determine how much virtual resources need to be allocated to each tier of the applications executed on cloud infrastructures. The objective of this virtual provisioning is twofold: minimizing resources consumption and meeting the service level agreement (SLA). Most of the current cloud provisioning and scaling solutions are based on analytical models of applications, trying to automate the provisioning decisions making "what-if" response time predictions. Queueing network (QN) models have demonstrated to be a good choice in this kind of contexts. In this work we compare, performing an exhaustive set of experiments on a real cloud architecture with a new provisioning mechanism, exact solutions with approximate solutions estimated from bounding techniques in order to obtain conclusions about the most efficient way of solving these models when making cloud provisioning decisions.
Variation in global tropospheric temperature after adjustment for the El Nino influence, 1958-89

Data from a 63-station radiosonde network are used to estimate the variation in global tropospheric (850-300 mb) temperature between 1958 and 1989. The annual temperature was a maximum in 1988, 0.42C above the 1958-88 mean. However, the 1989 value is indicated to be only 0.12C above this mean. During 1958-88, there has been a correlation of 0.76 (significant at the 0.1% level) between annual values of global tropospheric-temperature deviation and annual values of sea-surface temperature (SST) deviation in eastern equatorial Pacific two seasons earlier. The associated linear-regression line indicates that an annual SST deviation of 1C in the region 12{degree}S-2{degree}N, 180{degree}-90{degree}W has been related on average to an annual global tropospheric-temperature deviation of 0.36C. The annual values of global tropospheric temperature have been adjusted based on this regression. With this adjustment, the year-to-year variability in global tropospheric temperature is halved, the increase in decadal-mean temperature between the 1960's and 1980's is reduced from 0.33C to 0.24C, the annual temperature is a maximum in 1989 (0.39C above the 31-year mean) rather than in 1988, and there is much more convincing evidence that the eruptions of Agung in 1963 and El Chichon in 1982 decreased global tropospheric temperatures by 0.2-0.3C for aboutmore » 3 years. « less
Projecting U.S. freshwater withdrawals

As past attempts to forecast water use have shown, predicting the future is fraught with difficulty. Yet a lesser objective, to extend past trends into the future, can offer a useful look at what may lie ahead. Relying on U.S. Geological Survey water use data for the period 1960–1995, this paper projects U.S. water use based on trends in basic water use factors. Those trends are largely encouraging. Over the past 35 years, withdrawals in industry and at thermoelectric plants have steadily dropped per unit of output, withdrawals per acre have dropped in some irrigated regions, and per capita domestic withdrawals, after rising steadily from 1960 to 1990, dropped in 1995. If these trends continue, aggregate withdrawals in the United States over the next 40 years will stay within 10% of the 1995 level, despite economic growth and an expected 41% increase in population. This projection is in contrast to most previous projections of U.S. water use, which did not adequately account for future improvements in water use efficiency. Important qualifications to these projections are that some regions of the United States, especially the southeast, will experience above average increases and that the projections are for the average year and thus underestimate demands during dry years.
FusionNet: A Deep Fully Residual Convolutional Neural Network for Image Segmentation in Connectomics

Cellular-resolution connectomics is an ambitious research direction with the goal of generating comprehensive brain connectivity maps using high-throughput, nano-scale electron microscopy. One of the main challenges in connectomics research is developing scalable image analysis algorithms that require minimal user intervention. Deep learning has provided exceptional performance in image classification tasks in computer vision, leading to a recent explosion in popularity. Similarly, its application to connectomic analyses holds great promise. Here, we introduce a deep neural network architecture, FusionNet, with a focus on its application to accomplish automatic segmentation of neuronal structures in connectomics data. FusionNet combines recent advances in machine learning, such as semantic segmentation and residual neural networks, with summation-based skip connections. This results in a much deeper network architecture and improves segmentation accuracy. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed method by comparing it with several other popular electron microscopy segmentation methods. We further illustrate its flexibility through segmentation results for two different tasks: cell membrane segmentation and cell nucleus segmentation.
Utility of the drs for predicting problems in day-to-day functioning

Predicting the consequences of cognitive impairment relative to day-to-day functioning is challenging, especially when impairment is mild. This study examined the ability of the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) to predict Record of Independent Living (ROIL) performances in 2469 individuals with varying levels of cognitive ability, and describes specific activities of daily life that are likely impacted given specific DRS scores. Lower DRS scores were associated with greater difficulty in activities of daily living (ADLs), and effects of age, education, and gender were negligible. From a DRS total score, a corresponding ROIL score range and its specific associated impairments were determined. Functional impairments were noted even at mild levels of cognitive impairment. The DRS is helpful for determining the level of assistance that is likely needed in daily care and planning future care needs.
Measuring the effect of water stress on wheat evapotranspiration

[Introduction]: The focus of irrigated agriculture has traditionally been to irrigate crops to meet crop water requirements during the entire growing season, aiming at maximising crop yield. As water becomes scarce in many areas, full irrigation of crops to meet their water requirements is not a viable option for many growers. Therefore, they have to allow some level of crop water stress, accepting reduced yield (Payero et al., 2008; Payero et al., 2009). The challenge is to know how much and when to stress crops to minimise the impact on yield and profits. This isa difficult question for growers to answer, especially when the stochastic nature of rainfall is considered. Crop growth and irrigation scheduling models can provide some assistance if relationships between water stress and crop evapotranspiration (ETc) (and its relationship to yield) are known for specific crops. The FAO-56 model (Allen et al., 1998), perhaps the most popular approach used in irrigation scheduling, uses a generic relationship to explain the impact of stress on Etc. This approach does not reduce Etc when soil water depletion is less than a maximum allowable value at which the crop is presumed to have no stress, and when this depletion value is exceeded, ETc is linearly decreased until the soil water reaches the permanent wilting point level in soil . The objective of this study was to test the FAO-56 model under a controlled environment for wheat. This information is critical for developing reliable models to predict the impact of water stress on crop development and yield.
Capacity-Achieving Distributions for the Discrete-Time Poisson Channel—Part I: General Properties and Numerical Techniques

Despite being an accepted model for a wide variety of optical channels, few general results on optimal signalling for discrete-time Poisson (DTP) channels are known. Among the most significant is that under simultaneous peak and average constraints, the capacity-achieving distributions are discrete with a finite number of mass points. In this paper, several fundamental properties of capacity-achieving distributions for DTP channels are established. In particular, we demonstrate that all capacity-achieving distributions of the DTP channel have zero as a mass point. In the case of only a peak constraint, it is further shown that the optimal distribution always has a mass point at the maximum amplitude. Finally, under solely an average power constraint, it is shown that a finite number of mass points are insufficient to achieve the capacity. In addition to these analytical results, a numerical algorithm based on deterministic annealing is presented which can efficiently compute both the channel capacity and the associated optimal input distribution under peak and average power constraints. Numerical lower bounds based on the envelope of information rates induced by the maxentropic distributions are also shown to be extremely close to the capacity, especially in the low power regime.
Sensorless Operation Capability of Surface-Mounted Permanent-Magnet Machine Based on High-Frequency Signal Injection Methods

This paper analyzes the sensorless operation capability of a surface-mounted permanent-magnet (PM) (SPM) machine based on high-frequency (HF) voltage injection techniques. To investigate the machine saliency, the magnetic saturation-induced rotor saliency by PM is experimentally measured and analyzed under various load conditions. Moreover, the influence of cross-saturation and the magnetic polarity identification are also examined. Furthermore, the investigation has considered the resistance-based saliency due to HF eddy-current loss. In order to highlight the effectiveness of the sensorless operation capability, the tests are carried out under different operating conditions.
Perception and Recognition of Normal and Negative Faces: The Role of Shape from Shading and Pigmentation Cues

A face is surprisingly difficult to recognise when presented in photographic negative, and negation has also been shown to affect simple perceptual judgments about a face. Two possible explanations for this effect are examined. In the shape-from-shading explanation it is argued that negating an image results in an impossible pattern of shading, and that this disrupts the formation of a three-dimensional representation of the surface geometry of the face. In an alternative account for this effect it is suggested that identification errors occur as a consequence of changes to the apparent pigmentation of the face caused by negating the image. Three experiments are reported which are designed to test these explanations by using novel colour-image transformations in which the hue and luminance components of images are independently manipulated. The results of these studies suggest that although changes to the apparent pigmentation of a face might result in identification errors in some situations, the loss of shape-from-shading cues is a more important cause of the negation effect. The role of these two sources of information in the recognition of normal faces is also discussed.
The Marine Cretaceous in the Western Part of the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang and Its Depositional Environments

The western part of the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang is one of the main areas in China where the marine Cretaceous is well developed. The Upper Cretaceous Yingjisha Group represented mainly by sediments of littoral, near-shore neritic and estuarine facies is divided in ascending order into the Kukebai Formation, the Oytak Formation, the Ygezya Formation and the Tuylouk Formation. For about thirty years, the basal beds of the Kukebai Formation had been considered to be the lowermost marine horizon of the Cretaceous in the western part of the Tarim Basin, which represents the earliest transgression of the Cretaceous Sea into this region. Recently, marine trace fossils, Ophiomorpha nodosa, O. tuberosa and Thalassinoides? spp. were found in abundance and fine preservation from the upper subcycle and upper part of the lower subcycle of the Kezlesu Group underlying the Kukebai Formation. The fact indicates that the marine transgression there took place earlier than the Kukebaian. Process of transgression and regression and change of environment in the West Tarim Basin during the period from the late Early Cretaceous to the end of the Cretaceous is also discussed in this paper.
Recovery dynamics of benthic marine communities from the Lower Triassic Werfen Formation, northern Italy

Hofmann, R. , Hautmann, M. & Bucher, H. 2014: Recovery dynamics of benthic marine communities from the Lower Triassic Werfen Formation, northern Italy. Lethaia, DOI: 10.1111/let.12121. The Lower Triassic Werfen Formation of northern Italy represents an important archive for Early Triassic ecosystems. Based on quantitative community analysis using species level identifications, we reconstruct the recovery of benthic ecosystems after the end-Permian mass extinction throughout this unit. The analysis of benthic macrofossil communities shows that incipient recovery has taken place during the Griesbachian and the GriesbachiannDienerian transition. A probable deterioration in environmental conditions is observed towards the end of the Dienerian. The Smithian part of the Werfen Formation is characterized by high siliciclastic input, which ceases around the Smithian-Spathian boundary. The Spathian marks the definitive phase of recovery in the Werfen Formation. The comparison of this pattern with other palaoegeographical regions suggests that both the Griesbachian recovery and the Dienerian decline were of inter-regional if not global extent, whereas the Smithian diversity low in the Werfen Formation is a local signal. In contrast to the recovery dynamics of ammonoids and conodonts, the SmithiannSpathian boundary interval was no caesura for benthic ecosystems. The Spathian recovery pulse is possibly also an inter-regional event, at least in the palaeotropics. These results are in contrast with the previously proposed scenario of persistent hostile conditions during the Griesbachian time interval and highlight an initial recovery phase restricted to Griesbachian times. Instead, the apparently sluggish recovery of benthic ecosystems was at least partly shaped by set-backs due to short-term environmental perturbations during the Dienerian. □ Diversity, early Triassic, palaeoecology, recovery, Werfen Formation.