Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Pronounced Inflammatory Activity Characterizes the Early Fracture Healing Phase in Immunologically Restricted Patients

Immunologically restricted patients such as those with autoimmune diseases or malignancies often suffer from delayed or insufficient fracture healing. In human fracture hematomas and the surrounding bone marrow obtained from immunologically restricted patients, we analyzed the initial inflammatory phase on cellular and humoral level via flow cytometry and multiplex suspension array. Compared with controls, we demonstrated higher numbers of immune cells like monocytes/macrophages, natural killer T (NKT) cells, and activated T helper cells within the fracture hematomas and/or the surrounding bone marrow. Also, several pro-inflammatory cytokines such as Interleukin (IL)-6 and Tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), chemokines (e.g., Eotaxin and RANTES), pro-angiogenic factors (e.g., IL-8 and Macrophage migration inhibitory factor: MIF), and regulatory cytokines (e.g., IL-10) were found at higher levels within the fracture hematomas and/or the surrounding bone marrow of immunologically restricted patients when compared to controls. We conclude here that the inflammatory activity on cellular and humoral levels at fracture sites of immunologically restricted patients considerably exceeds that of control patients. The initial inflammatory phase profoundly differs between these patient groups and is probably one of the reasons for prolonged or insufficient fracture healing often occurring within immunologically restricted patients.
Feeling the Beat: Premotor and Striatal Interactions in Musicians and Nonmusicians during Beat Perception

Little is known about the underlying neurobiology of rhythm and beat perception, despite its universal cultural importance. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study rhythm perception in musicians and nonmusicians. Three conditions varied in the degree to which external reinforcement versus internal generation of the beat was required. The “volume” condition strongly externally marked the beat with volume changes, the “duration” condition marked the beat with weaker accents arising from duration changes, and the “unaccented” condition required the beat to be entirely internally generated. In all conditions, beat rhythms compared with nonbeat control rhythms revealed putamen activity. The presence of a beat was also associated with greater connectivity between the putamen and the supplementary motor area (SMA), the premotor cortex (PMC), and auditory cortex. In contrast, the type of accent within the beat conditions modulated the coupling between premotor and auditory cortex, with greater modulation for musicians than nonmusicians. Importantly, the response of the putamen to beat conditions was not attributable to differences in temporal complexity between the three rhythm conditions. We propose that a cortico-subcortical network including the putamen, SMA, and PMC is engaged for the analysis of temporal sequences and prediction or generation of putative beats, especially under conditions that may require internal generation of the beat. The importance of this system for auditory–motor interaction and development of precisely timed movement is suggested here by its facilitation in musicians.
Muscle Side Population Cells from Dystrophic or Injured Muscle Adopt a Fibro-Adipogenic Fate

Muscle side population (SP) cells are rare multipotent stem cells that can participate in myogenesis and muscle regeneration upon transplantation. While they have been primarily studied for the development of cell-based therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, little is known regarding their non-muscle lineage choices or whether the dystrophic muscle environment affects their ability to repair muscle. Unfortunately, the study of muscle SP cells has been challenged by their low abundance and the absence of specific SP cell markers. To address these issues, we developed culture conditions for the propagation and spontaneous multi-lineage differentiation of muscle SP cells. Using this approach, we show that SP cells from wild type muscle robustly differentiate into satellite cells and form myotubes without requiring co-culture with myogenic cells. Furthermore, this myogenic activity is associated with SP cells negative for immune (CD45) and vascular (CD31) markers but positive for Pax7, Sca1, and the mesenchymal progenitor marker PDGFRα. Additionally, our studies revealed that SP cells isolated from dystrophic or cardiotoxin-injured muscle fail to undergo myogenesis. Instead, these SP cells rapidly expand giving rise to fibroblast and adipocyte progenitors (FAPs) and to their differentiated progeny, fibroblasts and adipocytes. Our findings indicate that muscle damage affects the lineage choices of muscle SP cells, promoting their differentiation along fibro-adipogenic lineages while inhibiting myogenesis. These results have implications for a possible role of muscle SP cells in fibrosis and fat deposition in muscular dystrophy. In addition, our studies provide a useful in vitro system to analyze SP cell biology in both normal and pathological conditions.
Stability of Observer-Based Chaotic Communications for a Class of Lur'e Systems

In this paper, the stability of observer-based chaotic communications using Lur'e systems is presented. In this approach, the transmitter contains a chaotic oscillator with an input that is modulate by the information signal. The receiver is composed by a copy of the transmitter driven by a synchronization signal. Some effects of transmission noise on the demodulation procedure are discussed. Numerical simulations on Chua's circuit are provided to illustrate our findings.
Limit at resonances of linearizations of some complex analytic dynamical systems

We consider the behaviour near resonances of linearizations of germs of holomorphic diffeomorphisms of $({\Bbb C},0)$ and of the semi-standard map. We prove that for each resonance there exists a suitable blow-up of the Taylor series of the linearization under which it converges uniformly to an analytic function as the multiplier, or rotation number, tends non-tangentially to the resonance. This limit function is explicitly computed and related to questions of formal classification, both for the case of germs and for the case of the semi-standard map.
Psychometric Evaluation of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale in Adults with Functional Limitations

Enjoyment is an important construct for understanding physical activity participation, and it has not been examined in adults with functional limitations. This secondary analysis reported the reliability and validity of the Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) in a convenience sample of 40 adults with functional limitations. The participants completed the PACES, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the Late Life Function and Disability Instrument (LLFDI) prior to beginning a 12-week feasibility dance intervention study. Results indicated reliability as Cronbach's alpha was . 95 and mean inter-item correlation was . 52. To further support reliability, homogeneity of the instrument was evaluated using item-to-total scale correlations. Homogeneity was supported as all items had corrected item-to-total correlations greater than . 30. For validity, the PACES was significantly related to only the Physical Function component of the LLFDI (r = .38, p = .02), but not the CES-D. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 3-factor structure that accounted for 73.76% of the variance. This feasibility intervention dance study represented the first attempt to examine the psychometric properties of the PACES in adults with functional limitations. The findings demonstrate support for the scale's reliability and validity among adults with functional limitations. Results are informative as further psychometric testing of the PACES is recommended using randomized clinical trials with larger sample sizes. Enjoyment for physical activity is an important construct for understanding physical activity participation in adults with functional limitations.
Do prenatal risk factors cause psychiatric disorder? Be wary of causal claims

Summary Many prenatal risk factors are known to have adverse consequences on fetal development and there is increasing interest in effects on the mental health of offspring. However, associations with prenatal risk factors may arise because of postnatal risk or through confounders, including inherited ones. As a result, caution is required in assuming causation.
Automated Number Plate Recognition Using Hough Lines and Template Matching

— Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) is an image processing technique used to identify the vehicle and its owner by its license plate. This technology is used as a method of electronic toll collection on pay-per-use, by various law enforcing agencies and monitoring traffic activity such as red light adherence in an intersection. This paper presents a robust method of license plate detection and recognition based on Hough lines using Hough transformation and template matching for Islamabad standardized number plates cars. The proposed ANPR technique consists of two main modules: (I) License plate detection module using Canny detector & Hough transformation. (II) License number recognition module using template matching. Experiments have been conducted on 102 samples on Islamabad standardized number plate cars images. These images were taken from different scenes under various illumination conditions.
Azospirillum Genomes Reveal Transition of Bacteria from Aquatic to Terrestrial Environments

Fossil records indicate that life appeared in marine environments ∼3.5 billion years ago (Gyr) and transitioned to terrestrial ecosystems nearly 2.5 Gyr. Sequence analysis suggests that “hydrobacteria” and “terrabacteria” might have diverged as early as 3 Gyr. Bacteria of the genus Azospirillum are associated with roots of terrestrial plants; however, virtually all their close relatives are aquatic. We obtained genome sequences of two Azospirillum species and analyzed their gene origins. While most Azospirillum house-keeping genes have orthologs in its close aquatic relatives, this lineage has obtained nearly half of its genome from terrestrial organisms. The majority of genes encoding functions critical for association with plants are among horizontally transferred genes. Our results show that transition of some aquatic bacteria to terrestrial habitats occurred much later than the suggested initial divergence of hydro- and terrabacterial clades. The birth of the genus Azospirillum approximately coincided with the emergence of vascular plants on land.
Rôle du conseil d'administration et gestion des résultats

Cet article etudie la relation entre le role du conseil d’administration, en tant que mecanisme de controle des dirigeants, et un aspect subtil de la fiabilite des etats financiers, a savoir la gestion des resultats et ce, pour le cas des societes francaises cotees qui se sont engagees dans l’application des normes comptables internationales. Deux aspects du controle du conseil d’administration sont examines, il s’agit de l’independance du conseil et de la presence d’un comite d’audit. La methode des equations structurelles appliquee a un echantillon de 167 entreprises francaises cotees montre qu’une proportion elevee d’administrateurs independants ainsi que la presence d’un comite d’audit dans le conseil contraignent le dirigeant a s’engager dans une gestion des resultats. Ce resultat atteste du role du conseil d’administration dans la reduction des conflits d’interets entre actionnaires et dirigeants en exercant un controle efficace sur les dirigeants dans la mise en place et la verification des etats financiers. Ce controle est susceptible de reduire les pratiques opportunistes des dirigeants.
Analyzing Two-Phase Single-Case Data with Non-overlap and Mean Difference Indices: Illustration, Software Tools, and Alternatives

Two-phase single-case designs, including baseline evaluation followed by an intervention, represent the most clinically straightforward option for combining professional practice and research. However, unless they are part of a multiple-baseline schedule, such designs do not allow demonstrating a causal relation between the intervention and the behavior. Although the statistical options reviewed here cannot help overcoming this methodological limitation, we aim to make practitioners and applied researchers aware of the available appropriate options for extracting maximum information from the data. In the current paper, we suggest that the evaluation of behavioral change should include visual and quantitative analyses, complementing the substantive criteria regarding the practical importance of the behavioral change. Specifically, we emphasize the need to use structured criteria for visual analysis, such as the ones summarized in the What Works Clearinghouse Standards, especially if such criteria are complemented by visual aids, as illustrated here. For quantitative analysis, we focus on the non-overlap of all pairs and the slope and level change procedure, as they offer straightforward information and have shown reasonable performance. An illustration is provided of the use of these three pieces of information: visual, quantitative, and substantive. To make the use of visual and quantitative analysis feasible, open source software is referred to and demonstrated. In order to provide practitioners and applied researchers with a more complete guide, several analytical alternatives are commented on pointing out the situations (aims, data patterns) for which these are potentially useful.
Flavor oscillations from a spatially localized source: A Simple general treatment

A unique description avoiding confusion is presented for all flavor oscillation experiments in which particles of a definite flavor are emitted from a localized source. The probability for finding a particle with the wrong flavor must vanish at the position of the source for all times. This condition requires flavor-time and flavor-energy factorizations which determine uniquely the flavor mixture observed at a detector in the oscillation region, i.e., where the overlaps between the wave packets for different mass eigenstates are almost complete. Oscillation periods calculated for {open_quotes}gedanken{close_quotes} time-measurement experiments are shown to give the correct measured oscillation wavelength in space when multiplied by the group velocity. Examples of neutrino propagation in a weak field and in a gravitational field are given. In these cases the relative phase is modified differently for measurements in space and time. Energy-momentum (frequency-wave number) and space-time descriptions are complementary, equally valid, and give the same results. The two identical phase shifts obtained describe the same physics; adding them together to get a factor of 2 is double counting. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
Wasserstein Distributional Robustness and Regularization in Statistical Learning

A central question in statistical learning is to design algorithms that not only perform well on training data, but also generalize to new and unseen data. In this paper, we tackle this question by formulating a distributionally robust stochastic optimization (DRSO) problem, which seeks a solution that minimizes the worst-case expected loss over a family of distributions that are close to the empirical distribution in Wasserstein distances. We establish a connection between such Wasserstein DRSO and regularization. More precisely, we identify a broad class of loss functions, for which the Wasserstein DRSO is asymptotically equivalent to a regularization problem with a gradient-norm penalty. Such relation provides new interpretations for problems involving regularization, including a great number of statistical learning problems and discrete choice models (e.g. multinomial logit). The connection suggests a principled way to regularize high-dimensional, non-convex problems. This is demonstrated through the training of Wasserstein generative adversarial networks in deep learning.
Study on the Impact of Perceived Network Externalities on Consumers’ New Product Purchase Intention

In the network economy era, the impact of network externalities on consumers’ new product purchase intention is increasingly significant. However, there is little empirical researches to explore the relationship between these two constructs. This research utilizes the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and combines it with perceived risk theory analyzing the relationship between perceived network externalities and new product purchase intention. The results of our empirical study show direct and indirect relationship. The perceived network externalities can influence consumers’ new product purchase intention directly. In addition, they have an indirect impact by influencing the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived risk.
Effect of ${\rm BaZrO}_{3}$ Addition and Film Growth on Superconducting Properties of $({\rm Nd},{\rm Eu},{\rm Gd}){\rm Ba}_{2}{\rm Cu}_{3}{\rm O}_{y}$ Thin Films

We report that (Nd,Eu,Gd)Ba<sub>2</sub>Cu<sub>3</sub>O<sub>y</sub> (NEG) films grown by low temperature growth (LTG) technique exhibit excellent superconducting properties in magnetic fields. In this study, we aim to improve the superconducting properties of NEG films by means of a modified LTG technique (mLTG) in which the surface of a highly <i>c</i> -axis oriented NEG seed layer is decorated by BaZrO<sub>3</sub> (BZO) nanodots and an NEG upper layer on the seed layer is deposited at relatively low substrate temperature by using a BZO doped NEG123 target. From magnetic field and angular dependence of <i>J</i> <sub>c</sub> , even <i>J</i> <sub>c</sub> peak around <i>B</i> //<i>c</i> -axis of an LTG-NEG films including BZO was larger than that of LTG-NEG without BZO. Furthermore, the mLTG-NEG films showed larger <i>J</i> <sub>c</sub> peak than the LTG-NEG films with BZO and the <i>J</i> <sub>c</sub> peak increased with increasing the BZO nanodots density. TEM images clarified that these films included BZO nanorods with a diameter of 5 ~ 10 nm and the number density increased by introducing the BZO nanodots. Therefore, we concluded that the mLTG enabled to improve the superconducting properties due to control the configuration of BZO nanorods in the films.
Limits on the efficiency of one-way permutation-based hash functions

Naor and Yung (1989) show that a one-bit-compressing universal one-way hash function (UOWHF) can be constructed based on a one-way permutation. This construction can be iterated to build a UOWHF which compresses by /spl epsiv/n bits, at the cost of /spl epsiv/n invocations of the one-way permutation. The show that this construction is not far from optimal, in the following sense, there exists an oracle relative to which there exists a one-way permutation with inversion probability 2/sup -p(n)/ (for any p(n)/spl isin//spl omega/(log n)), but any construction of an /spl epsiv/n-bit-compressing UOWHF. Requires /spl Omega/(/spl radic/n/p(n)) invocations of the one-way permutation, on average. (For example, there exists in this relativized world a one-way permutation with inversion probability n/sup -/spl omega/(1)/, but no UOWHF that involves it fewer than /spl Omega/(/spl radic/n/log n) times. ) Thus any proof that a more efficient UOWHF can be derived from a one-way permutation is necessarily non-relativizing; in particular, no provable construction of a more efficient UOWHF can exist based solely on a "black box" one-way permutation. This result can be viewed as a partial justification for the practice of building efficient UOWHFs from stronger primitives (such as collision intractable hash functions), rather than from weaker primitives such as one-way permutations.
Stake Management in Men's Online Cosmetics Testimonials

Although the Internet has opened up new avenues for identity expression, many web-based sources have yet to be examined. Online testimonials as a form word-of-mouth advertising are a relatively new development. The present study examines the construction of masculinities in men's cosmetics adverting testimonials presented on the website of a leading brand. The dataset is examined using discursive psychology and membership categorization analysis methodologies. The findings indicate that when men write facial cosmetics testimonials they still justify the use of these non-typical masculine products even in the absence of others’ responses. The analysis highlights the continued difficulty men report in using typically feminized products, frequently accounting for their cosmetic use as a "corrective" measure rather than for beautification. The implications for the marketing of masculine products are discussed.
QQ-plots for assessing distributions of biomarker measurements and generating defensible summary statistics

One of the main uses of biomarker measurements is to compare different populations to each other and to assess risk in comparison to established parameters. This is most often done using summary statistics such as central tendency, variance components, confidence intervals, exceedance levels and percentiles. Such comparisons are only valid if the underlying assumptions of distribution are correct. This article discusses methodology for interpreting and evaluating data distributions using quartile-quartile plots (QQ-plots) and making decisions as to how to treat outliers, interpreting effects of mixed distributions, and identifying left-censored data. The QQ-plot graph is shown to be a simple and elegant tool for visual inspection of complex data and deciding if summary statistics should be performed after log-transformation.
Social identity and emotional climate in a rural community of Peru: an empirical study

The aim of this paper is to describe how the social identity and the emotional climate relate to each other in a rural community, assuming that both constructs are psychological indicators of a healthy collective functioning and that they are somehow affected by the social and political situation of the in-group. For this purpose, a research was undertaken in a rural community of 200 households, where 80 villagers were surveyed. The results suggest that a climate of confidence plays a central role in the constitution of collective identification. They also show that, the greater the perception of this climate is, the more a positive collective self-stereotype, and a greater valuation of belonging to the community, predominate. On the other hand, a climate of low confidence weakens the identification with the community to the extent that it is associated to a lesser valuation and negative self-stereotypical beliefs regarding the community members.
Epistemological failures: everyday terrorism in the West

This article attempts to problematise the disparate levels of attention paid to similar violences globally, whereby violence against women in the developing world is seen as a security concern to the West, and yet violence against women in the West is minimised or ignored. It will do this, first, by demonstrating that everyday violences, better known as everyday terrorism, in the West are subjugated knowledges within Terrorism Studies. To demonstrate this, Half the Sky, Sex and World Peace and The Better Angels of Our Nature serve as exemplar texts that reflect Western exceptionalism and non-Western savagery, particularly within Muslim societies, and deflect from everyday terrorism within the West. This reifies the West as an exceptional saviour and the non-West as a problematic savage. This article looks to flip that reification on its head by recognising that everyday terrorism happens everywhere and is not bound to non-Western identities.