Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On stability of linear systems with time-varying delay

This paper is concerned with the stability analysis of linear systems with time-varying delay in a given range. We construct different Lyapunov functionals when the time-varying delay belongs to different intervals. Combined with the piece-wise analysis method and the convexity properties of matrix inequality, some new criteria are derived in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Some numerical examples show the effectiveness of the derived criteria.
Promoter hypermethylation of CDH13 is a common, early event in human esophageal adenocarcinogenesis and correlates with clinical risk factors

Although the CDH13 gene has been shown to undergo epigenetic silencing by promoter methylation in many types of tumors, hypermethylation of this gene in Barrett's‐associated esophageal adenocarcinogenesis has not been studied. Two hundred fifty‐nine human esophageal tissues were therefore examined for CDH13 promoter hypermethylation by real‐time methylation‐specific PCR. CDH13 hypermethylation showed discriminative receiver‐operator characteristic curve profiles, sharply demarcating esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) from esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and normal esophagus (NE) (p < 0.0001). CDH13 normalized methylation values (NMV) were significantly higher in Barrett's esophagus (BE), dysplastic BE (D) and EAC than in NE (p < 0.0000001). CDH13 hypermethylation frequency was 0% in NE but increased early during neoplastic progression, rising to 70% in BE, 77.5% in D and 76.1% in EAC. Both CDH13 hypermethylation frequency and its mean NMV were significantly higher in BE with than without accompanying EAC. In contrast, only 5 (19.2%) of 26 ESCCs exhibited CDH13 hypermethylation. Furthermore, both CDH13 hypermethylation frequency and its mean NMV were significantly higher in EAC than in ESCC, as well as in BE or D vs. ESCC. Interestingly, mean CDH13 NMV was significantly lower in short‐segment than in long‐segment BE, a known clinical risk factor for neoplastic progression. Similarly, BE segment length was significantly lower in specimens with unmethylated than with methylated CDH13 promoters. 5‐aza‐2′‐deoxycytidine treatment of OE33 EAC and KYSE220 ESCC cells reduced CDH13 methylation and increased CDH13 mRNA expression. These findings suggest that hypermethylation of CDH13 is a common, tissue‐specific event in human EAC, occurs early during BE‐associated neoplastic progression, and correlates with known clinical neoplastic progression risk factors. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Large- and Small-Scale Structures of Dust in the Star-forming Perseus Molecular Cloud

We present an analysis of ~3.5 deg2 of submillimeter continuum and extinction data of the Perseus molecular cloud. We identify 58 clumps in the submillimeter map, and we identify 39 structures ("cores") and 11 associations of structures ("super cores") in the extinction map. The cumulative mass distributions of the submillimeter clumps and extinction cores have steep slopes (α ~ 2 and 1.5-2, respectively), steeper than the Salpeter initial mass function (IMF; α = 1.35), while the distribution of extinction super cores has a shallow slope (α ~ 1). Most of the submillimeter clumps are well fit by stable Bonnor-Ebert spheres with 10 K < T < 19 K and 5.5 <(Pext/k) < 6.0. The clumps are found only in the highest column density regions (AV > 5-7 mag), although Bonnor-Ebert models suggest that we should have been able to detect them at lower column densities if they exist. These observations provide a stronger case for an extinction threshold than that found in analysis of less sensitive observations of the Ophiuchus molecular cloud (Johnstone et al.). The relationship between submillimeter clumps and their parent extinction core has been analyzed. The submillimeter clumps tend to lie offset from the larger extinction peaks, suggesting that the clumps formed via an external triggering event, consistent with previous observations.
How do Social Networks Influence Learning Outcomes? A Case Study in an Industrial Setting

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to shed light on the impact of implicit social networks to the learning outcome of e‐learning participants in an industrial setting.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a theoretical framework that allows the authors to measure correlation coefficients between the different affiliations that exist in an organization and the final learning outcome. The correlation between learning outcome and the communication intensity in the implicit social network of the e‐learning participants is also observed. For the quantification of the communication intensity and affiliation network position of e‐learning participants, the methods from the graph theory are applied.Findings – The values of the correlation coefficients between communication intensity and learning outcome show the significance which motivates the authors for further research on engineering of the social networks in the e‐learning environment.Research limitations/implications – This case study is p.
Comparing national cancer registries: The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) and the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) program

SANJAY MOHANTY, MD AND KARL Y. BILIMORIA, MD, MS* Surgical Outcomes and Quality Improvement Center, Department of Surgery and Center for Healthcare Studies, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University and Northwestern, Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Illinois Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care, American College of Surgeons, Chicago, Illinois Department of Surgery, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan
Exploring the Dimensions of Self-Efficacy in Virtual World Learning: Environment, Task, and Content

This study explores the dimensionality of college students' self-efficacy related to their academic activities in the open-ended virtual world of Second Life (SL). To do this, relevant dimensions of self-efficacy were theoretically derived, and items to measure these dimensions were developed and then assessed using a survey methodology. Using data from 486 students enrolled in an introductory accounting course supplemented by the use of SL, the results of this study confirm the distinction of three dimensions of self-efficacy: Virtual World-Environment Self-Efficacy (VWE-SE), Learning Domain Self-Efficacy (LD-SE), and Virtual World-Learning Domain SelfEfficacy (VWLD-SE). Additionally, this study found that both VWE-SE and VWLD-SE were correlated with course learning. Implications for research and course design are discussed.
Do Infants Represent the Face in a Viewpoint-Invariant Manner? Neural Adaptation Study as Measured by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Recent adult functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies reported that face-sensitive cortical areas showed attenuated responses to the repeated presentation of an identical facial image compared to the presentation of different facial images (fMRI-adaptation effects: e.g., Andrews and Ewbank, 2004). Building upon this finding, the current study, employing the adaptation paradigm, used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to explore the neural basis of face processing in infants. In Experiment 1, we compared hemodynamic responses in the bilateral temporal regions during the repeated presentation of the same face (the same-face condition) and the sequential presentation of different faces (the different-face condition). We found that (1) hemodynamic responses in the channels around the T5 and T6 regions increased during the presentation of different faces compared to those during the presentation of different objects; and that (2) these channels showed significantly lower response in the same-face condition than in the different-face condition, demonstrating the neural adaptation effect in 5- to 8-month-olds as measured by NIRS. In Experiment 2, when faces in both the same-face and different-face conditions were changed in viewpoint, lower hemodynamic responses in the same-face condition were found in 7- to 8-month-olds but not in 5- to 6-month-olds. Our results suggest that faces are represented in a viewpoint-invariant manner in 7- and 8-month-old infants.
Both innate and adaptive immunity mediate protective immunity against hepatitis C virus infection in chimpanzees

Understanding the immunological correlates associated with protective immunity following hepatitis C virus (HCV) reexposure is a prerequisite for the design of effective HCV vaccines and immunotherapeutics. In this study we performed a comprehensive analysis of innate and adaptive immunity following HCV reexposure of two chimpanzees that had previously recovered from HCV‐JFH1 infection. One of the chimpanzees, CH10274, became protected from active viremia by repeated challenges with homologous HCV‐JFH1 and developed neutralizing antibodies, but was later infected with high‐level viremia by a heterologous challenge with the HCV H77 virus that persisted for more than 1 year. The other chimpanzee, CH10273, was protected from a similar, heterologous H77 challenge without any evidence of neutralizing antibodies. Peripheral HCV‐specific T‐cell responses were present in both chimpanzees after challenges and, interestingly, the overall magnitude of response was lower in uninfected CH10273, which, however, exhibited a more robust CD8+ T‐cell response. CH10273 showed higher hepatic expression of CD8 and CD56 (natural killer) markers than CH10274 did shortly after inoculation with H77. The heightened T‐cell response was associated with an enhanced hepatic production of interferons (both type I and II) and interferon‐stimulated genes (ISGs) in CH10273. Therefore, protection or clearance of HCV reinfection upon heterologous rechallenge depends on the activation of both intrahepatic innate and cellular immune responses. Furthermore, our results suggest that serum neutralizing antibodies may contribute to early control of viral replication and spread after homologous HCV rechallenges but may not be sufficient for a long‐term protective immunity. Conclusion: Our study shows that protective immunity against HCV reinfection is orchestrated by a complex network of innate and adaptive immune responses. (HEPATOLOGY 2011;)
Automated semantic annotation and retrieval based on sharable ontology and case-based learning techniques

Effective information retrieval (IR) using domain knowledge and semantics is one of the major challenges in IR. We propose a framework that can facilitate image retrieval based on a sharable domain ontology and thesaurus. In particular, case-based learning (CBL) using a natural language phrase parser is proposed to convert a natural language query into resource description framework (RDF) format, a semantic-web standard of metadata description that supports machine readable semantic representation. This same parser also is extended to perform semantic annotation on the descriptive metadata of images and convert metadata automatically into the same RDF representation. The retrieval of images then can be conducted by matching the semantic and structural descriptions of the user query with those of the annotated descriptive metadata of images. We tested in our problem domain by retrieving the historical and cultural images taken from Dr. Ching-chih Chen's "First Emperor of China" CD-ROM (1991) as part of our productive international digital library collaboration. We have constructed and implemented the domain ontology, a Mandarin Chinese thesaurus, as well as the similarity match and retrieval algorithms in order to test our proposed framework. Our experiments have shown the feasibility and usability of these approaches.
The correlation between the sagittal lumbopelvic alignments in standing position and the risk factors influencing low back pain

Low back pain (LBP) is the most common health problem. Many factors have been demonstrated to be fundamental risk factors of LBP such as body mass index (BMI), age and sex. However, so far there have been few studies demonstrating the association between lumbo-pelvic alignment (LPA) and these factors. This present study was aimed to clarify the correlation between the LPA and the risk factors contributing to LBP. Standing lateral X-rays were taken from 100 healthy volunteers (70 males and 30 females) with no history of low back pain before their participation. Average age of subjects was 33.3±6.8 years (rang 21–50). Mean body weight was 59.1±7.9kg (range 40–82), mean body height was 163.6±7.2 cm (range 145–178) and mean BMI was 22.1±2.4 kg/m2 (range 18.0–29.3). The LPA was classified into 3 types according to the recently proposed pelvic orientation guidelines. No direct correlation was found between the pelvic orientation and age or BMI. Each LPA type was associated with sex but not BMI and age (P=0.00, 0.71, and 0.36, respectively). The results from this study demonstrated the differences in LPA between male and female, and also confirmed that the sagittal orientation of the pelvis remained constant in adults. The high prevalence of LPA type 1 in males may reduce the occurrence of LBP in obese male individuals.
α‐Skeletal Muscle Actin mRNA's Accumulate in Hypertrophied Adult Rat Hearts

Cardiac hypertrophy due to a chronic hemodynamic overload is accompanied by isoformic changes of two proteins of the thick filament of the sarcomere, myosin, and creatine phosphoklnase. We have looked for isoactin changes, using deoxyribonucleic acid probes complementary to α-skeletal and α-cardiac actin messenger ribonucleic acids. Three groups of rats were studied at various days after application of a pressure overload (2–4 days, n = 13, 8–15 days, n = 5, and 30–40 days, n = 7) and were compared to control animals (n = 11). Whereas α-skeletal actin messenger ribonucleic acids were hardly detectable in the normal hearts (0.6 ± 0.16%), they accumulated significantly in the first 4 days after the aortic stenosis (4.6 ± 3.1%, p < 0.001 vs. controls) and then slowly declined (8–15 days, 3.2 ± 1.7% and 30–40 days, 1.6 ± 0.6%, p < 0.05 and NS vs. controls). This figure is similar to that observed in 8-day-old rats (2.27 ± 0.3%, p < 0.01 vs. controls). We conclude that, in rat myocardium, the expression of messenger ribonucleic acids encoding the sarcomeric actins is altered at the onset of a pressure overload hypertrophy. Although the physiological significance of isoactin changes is unknown, our results show that the thin filament participates as well as the thick filament in the response of cardiac muscle to new functional requirements.
Site-Specific Mutagenesis Analysis of PBP 1A from a Penicillin-Cephalosporin-Resistant Pneumococcal Isolate

ABSTRACT Our mutagenesis study has investigated all amino acid mutations in the penicillin-binding domain of PBP 1A from Hungarian pneumococcal isolate 3191 to determine the importance of every mutation in the development of penicillin and cefotaxime resistance. Our data reveal that mutations at amino acid positions 574 to 577 and position 539 cause penicillin and cefotaxime resistance.
Erosão hídrica e taxa de entrega de sedimentos na bacia hidrográfica semiárida do riacho Exu, PE

A compreensao dos processos envolvidos na producao e transferencia de sedimentos dentro do ciclo hidrossedimentologico em uma bacia hidrografica depende fundamentalmente do entendimento de fatores controladores da taxa de entrega destes sedimentos, ou seja, da producao de sedimentos e das formas de erosao bruta. Desta maneira, o objetivo deste trabalho foi determinar a taxa de entrega de sedimento na bacia hidrografica do riacho Exu no semiarido Pernambucano atraves da producao de sedimento total e das taxas de erosao das formas de erosao bruta. A producao de sedimento foi determinada atraves de campanhas de medicao direta do sedimento em suspensao e de fundo, pelo metodo de Igual Incremento de Largura. As taxas de erosao bruta foram obtidas por testes de erosao entressulcos com chuva simulada e testes de erosao em sulco pre-formado, enquanto as taxas de erosao por vocoroca foram obtidas pelo modelo de Foster & Lane (1983). A bacia do Exu apresentou uma rede de drenagem muito ramificada, com a ocorrencia de canais de diversas formas que vao desde os retilineos ate os tortuosos. As estimativas realizadas para as taxas de erosao e as variaveis hidraulicas da vocoroca na bacia hidrografica do riacho Exu foram adequadas por aproximarem-se bastante da largura final da vocoroca e da profundidade media observada da vocoroca. A producao do sedimento de fundo teve um valor medio de 12,77 t km-2 ano-1. O valor determinado de taxa de entrega de sedimento (SDR) da bacia do Exu com base na producao do sedimento e nas taxas de erosao bruta de 0,0017 foi baixo pelo efeito do periodo de seca, assim, esse valor pode ser maior em um periodo de observacao mais longo.
Dual‐wavelength excitation for fluorescence‐based quantification of zinc protoporphyrin IX and protoporphyrin IX in whole blood

Quantification of erythrocyte zinc protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP) and protoporphyrin IX (PPIX), individually or jointly, is useful for the diagnostic evaluation of iron deficiency, iron‐restricted erythropoiesis, lead exposure, and porphyrias. A method for simultaneous quantification of ZnPP and PPIX in unwashed blood samples is described, using dual‐wavelength excitation to effectively eliminate background fluorescence from other blood constituents. In blood samples from 35 subjects, the results of the dual‐wavelength excitation method and a reference high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay were closely correlated both for ZnPP (rs = 0.943, p < 0.0001; range 37–689 μmol ZnPP/mol heme, 84–1238 nmol/L) and for PPIX (rs = 0.959, p < 0.0001; range 42–4212 μmol PPIX/mol heme, 93–5394 nmol/L). In addition, for ZnPP, the proposed method is compared with conventional single‐wavelength excitation and with commercial front‐face fluorimetry of washed erythrocytes and whole blood. We hypothesize that dual‐wavelength excitation fluorimetry will provide a new approach to the suppression of background fluorescence in blood and tissue measurements of ZnPP and PPIX. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
A MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF GENETIC VARIATION IN THE ADVERTISEMENT CALL OF THE GRAY TREEFROG, HYLA VERSICOLOR

Genetic variation in sexual displays is crucial for an evolutionary response to sexual selection, but can be eroded by strong selection. Identifying the magnitude and sources of additive genetic variance underlying sexually selected traits is thus an important issue in evolutionary biology. We conducted a quantitative genetics experiment with gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) to investigate genetic variances and covariances among features of the male advertisement call. Two energetically expensive traits showed significant genetic variation: call duration, expressed as number of pulses per call, and call rate, represented by its inverse, call period. These two properties also showed significant genetic covariance, consistent with an energetic constraint to call production. Combining the genetic variance–covariance matrix with previous estimates of directional sexual selection imposed by female preferences predicts a limited increase in call duration but no change in call rate despite significant selection on both traits. In addition to constraints imposed by the genetic covariance structure, an evolutionary response to sexual selection may also be limited by high energetic costs of long‐duration calls and by preferences that act most strongly against very short‐duration calls. Meanwhile, the persistence of these preferences could be explained by costs of mating with males with especially unattractive calls.
Vinexin‐β deficiency protects against cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion injury by inhibiting neuronal apoptosis

Vinexin‐β is an adaptor protein that regulates cell adhesion, cytoskeletal organization and signal transduction. Our previous work showed that Vinexin‐β protects against cardiac hypertrophy. However, its function in stroke is largely unknown. In the present study, we observed a significant increase in Vinexin‐β expression in both human intracerebral haemorrhage and mouse cerebral ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury model, indicating that Vinexin‐β is involved in stroke. Next, using Vinexin‐β knockout mice, we further demonstrated that Vinexin‐β deficiency significantly protected against cerebral I/R injury, as demonstrated by a dramatic decrease in the infarct volume and an improvement in neurological function. Additionally, immunofluorescence and western blotting showed that the deletion of Vinexin‐β attenuated neuronal apoptosis. Mechanically, we found that Akt signalling was up‐regulated in the brains of the Vinexin‐β knockout mice compared with those of the WT control mice after ischaemic injury. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the deletion of Vinexin‐β potently protects against ischaemic injury by inhibiting neuronal apoptosis, and this effect may occur via the up‐regulation of Akt signalling. Our findings revealed that Vinexin‐β acts as a novel modulator of ischaemic injury, suggesting that Vinexin‐β may represent an attractive therapeutic target for the prevention of stroke. Vinexin‐β is an adaptor protein that regulates cell adhesion and cytoskeletal organization. We revealed that Vinexin‐β‐deficient mice are potently protected against ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. The protective effect is mediated through inhibiting neuronal apoptosis, which may occur via the up‐regulation of Akt signalling. These findings suggest Vinexin‐β as a novel regulator of I/R injury and attractive therapeutic target for the prevention of stroke.
LIG-CRIStAL System for the WMT17 Automatic Post-Editing Task

This paper presents the LIG-CRIStAL submission to the shared Automatic Post- Editing task of WMT 2017. We propose two neural post-editing models: a monosource model with a task-specific attention mechanism, which performs particularly well in a low-resource scenario; and a chained architecture which makes use of the source sentence to provide extra context. This latter architecture manages to slightly improve our results when more training data is available. We present and discuss our results on two datasets (en-de and de-en) that are made available for the task.
Bronchoalveolar Lavage as a Research Tool

Researchers over the past 40 years have utilized bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) as a tool to help expand our knowledge of pulmonary medicine. Many reports have documented BAL as a safe procedure for research subjects. New technologies, such as flow cytometry, have provided much needed insight into the mechanisms behind several pulmonary diseases. The concept of the lung as an easily accessible mucosal site to monitor local immune responses and treatment effects is evolving. Future BAL research with human subjects, aided by new technology, will undoubtedly yield clinically relevant information regarding biomarkers of disease and new therapeutic targets.