Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Obvious optic disc swelling in a patient with cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome

Cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome (CAPS) is a group of rare hereditary autoinflammatory diseases caused by mutations of the NLRP3 gene, and leads to excessive production of the proinflammatory cytokine, interleukin-lβ. A 35-year-old male presented with recurrent symptoms of urticarial-like rash, periodic fever, arthralgia, headache, and eye redness. His best-corrected visual acuity was 1.0 OD and 0.9 OS. Slit-lamp examination showed conjunctival and episcleral injection in both eyes. Ophthalmoscopy revealed obvious bilateral optic disc swelling and retinal vascular sheathing around the optic discs. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography also showed obvious optic disc swelling. Steroid and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs did not improve these symptoms. Genetic testing detected a heterozygous mutation of c.907G>A. Thus, the patient was genetically confirmed with CAPS. Visual acuity did not decrease for 3 years, although the optic discs became white in color. CAPS should therefore be distinguished from other disorders when examining optic disc swelling and/or uveitis patients with urticarial-like rash and periodic fever.
mpact of associative word learning on phonotactic processing in-month-old infants : A combined EEG and fNIRS study

During early language development native phonotactics are acquired in a ‘bottom-up’ fashion, relying on exquisite auditory differentiation skills operational from birth. Since basic lexico-semantic abilities have been demonstrated from 6 months onwards, ‘top-down’ influences on phonotactic learning may complement the extraction of transitional probabilities in phonotactic learning. Such a bidirectional acquisition strategy predicts, that familiarization with (proto)words should affect processing of untrained word-forms of similar phonological structure. We investigated 6-month-old infants undergoing an associative training to establish a pseudoword-pseudoobject link. Comparison between preand post-training responses to trained and untrained items allowed investigating training effects. Additionally phonotactic status (50% legal, 50% illegal with regard to German) allowed investigating influences of previous language experience. EEG and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) provided measures of electrophysiological and hemodynamic responses. We find evidence for a robust effect of associative training on pseudoword processing when presented in isolation. This transferred to untrained items. Previous linguistic experience showed a much weaker effect. Taken together the results suggest that sensitivity to phonotactic contrasts is present at 6 months, but that acceptance as lexical candidates is rapidly modulated when word forms following non-native phonotactics become potentially meaningful due to repeated exposure in a semantic context. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
A New Version of α-Tight Closure

Abstract Hara and Yoshida introduced a notion of α-tight closure in 2003, and they proved that the test ideals given by this operation correspond to multiplier ideals. However, their operation is not a true closure. The alternative operation introduced here is a true closure. Moreover, we define a joint Hilbert-Kunz multiplicity that can be used to test for membership in this closure. We study the connections between the Hara-Yoshida operation and the one introduced here, primarily from the point of view of test ideals. We also consider variants with positive real exponents.
Spectroscopy of twelve Type Ia supernovae at intermediate redshift

We present spectra of twelve Type Ia supernovae obtained in 1999 at the William Herschel Telescope and the Nordic Optical Telescope during a search for Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) at intermediate redshift. The spectra range from z=0.178 to z=0.493, including five high signal-to-noise ratio SN Ia spectra in the still largely unexplored range 0.15 < z < 0.3. Most of the spectra were obtained before or around restframe B-band maximum light. None of them shows the peculiar spectral features found in low-redshift over- or under-luminous SN Ia. Expansion velocities of characteristic spectral absorption features such as SiII at 6355 angs. , SII at 5640 angs. and CaII at 3945 angs. are found consistent with their low-z SN Ia counterparts.
Corporate Governance in Transition: Ten Empirical Findings on Shareholder Value and Industrial Relations in Germany

Within the context of debates over national “varieties” of capitalism, this paper discusses the shareholder value orientation of the 40 largest listed German companies. Three dimensions of shareholder value are distinguished: the communicative dimension, the operative dimension and the dimension of managerial compensation. A shareholder value index compiling data on accounting, investor relations, variable top-management compensation and the implementation of profitability goals makes it possible to compare the shareholder orientations of the companies. The shareholder value phenomenon is explained first by the exposure to markets – the international product market, capital market pressures and the market for corporate control – and, secondly, by internal developments – changing management careers, increasing management compensation and reduced monitoring by banks and corporate networks – which cause external impulses to increase shareholder value to fall on fertile ground. Conflicts over shareholder orientation result in changing coalitions between shareholders, management, and employees. Shareholder value does not make companies opt out of central collective agreements or endanger the existence of employees’ codetermination, but it does lead to more market-driven industrial relations.
Analysis module : reflection on action and reflection for action

In July 2001, disappointing student results (no As and very few Bs) as well as the realisation that many learners had been solely reliant on the teaching material and textbook for their information prompted the five Strategic Business Analysis (IBO2002) module tutors to alter their delivery format so as to facilitate a more active, independent but also collaborative approach to learning, making extensive use of the campus-wide Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Learnwise. In March-April 2002, we conducted a study of the correlation between (1) IBO2002 students' learning approaches, (2) their level of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) confidence and (3) their attitudes to (a) 'VLe-novation' and (b) the recently revised module, with a view to making student-informed decisions for 2002-2003. Our findings suggest that, as a correlation emerged between student level of ICT confidence and student attitude to the VLE but as none emerged between deep learning and attitudes to the VLE, careful consideration should be given to all the factors contributing to " VLe-ffectiveness " .
Signalling Management to Reduce Roaming Effects over Streaming Services

Multimedia streaming services performance depends on network conditions. To actively adapt streaming flow consumptions, streaming clients and servers estimate the available bandwidth. In recent years, intense research activity has been carried out on the effects of wireless LAN over streaming services. In this paper, the analysis is focused on the effective periods of time during which streaming clients fail to receive data while roaming. The main conclusion is that wireless LAN handoff management produces temporary periods of high packet loss which affect bandwidth estimations. These under estimations reduce service performance during longer periods of time than those caused by the usual handover process. Also, mobile users can produce negative effects on static clients. Based on off-the-shelf WiFi hardware and unmodified commercial streaming clients and servers, a solution to mitigate all these negative effects, based on the pro-active management of signalling control messages between clients and server, is proposed
EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON THE LEVEL OF IMMUNOGLOBULIN A IN SALIVA

The aim of this paper is to describe the structure, production and function of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) as well as changes of its concentration caused by exercise of various intensity and duration. Immunoglobulin A is the main class of antibodies present in the body secreted fluids such as saliva, tears or mucus from the intestines. It is generally recognized that IgA, due to its dominance in the immune system of mucous membranes, is the first line of defence against harmful environmental factors. The secretion and composition of saliva depends on the activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. Physical activity, stimulating the autonomous nervous system, may reduce the amount of saliva and/or inhibit its secretion. The relationship between physical activity and the suppression of the immune system is not fully understood, but it is known that moderate intensity exercise can improve immune defences, while extreme effort can reduce them by creating an increased risk of upper respiratory tract inflammation (URTI). In athletes, the lowest risk of upper tract infection was connected with the case of moderate intensity exercise. It is now believed that the relationship between exercise volume and the risk of URTI has the shape of the letter “J”. This means that both too little and too much physical activity may increase the risk of upper respiratory tract infection. Training optimization and correct balance between exercise and rest periods may reduce the risk of adverse changes in the immune system and decrease the frequency of URTI.
Effects of Oral Creatine Supplementation on Power Output during Repeated Treadmill Sprinting

The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of creatine (Cr) supplementation on power output during repeated sprints on a non-motorized treadmill. Sixteen recreationally active males volunteered for this study (age 25.5 ± 4.8 y, height 179 ± 5 cm, body mass 74.8 ± 6.8 kg). All participants received placebo supplementation (75 mg of glucose·kg−1·day−1) for 5 days and then performed a baseline repeated sprints test (6 × 10 s sprints on a non-motorised treadmill). Thereafter, they were randomly assigned into a Cr (75 mg of Cr monohydrate·kg−1·day−1) or placebo supplementation, as above, and the repeated sprints test was repeated. After Cr supplementation, body mass was increased by 0.99 ± 0.83 kg (p = 0.007), peak power output and peak running speed remained unchanged throughout the test in both groups, while the mean power output and mean running speed during the last 5 s of the sprints increased by 4.5% (p = 0.005) and 4.2% to 7.0%, respectively, during the last three sprints (p = 0.005 to 0.001). The reduction in speed within each sprint was also blunted by 16.2% (p = 0.003) following Cr supplementation. Plasma ammonia decreased by 20.1% (p = 0.037) after Cr supplementation, despite the increase in performance. VO2 and blood lactate during the repeated sprints test remained unchanged after supplementation, suggesting no alteration of aerobic or glycolytic contribution to adenosine triphosphate production. In conclusion, Cr supplementation improved the mean power and speed in the second half of a repeated sprint running protocol, despite the increased body mass. This improvement was due to the higher power output and running speed in the last 5 s of each 10 s sprint.
The anisotropic distribution of satellite galaxies

We identify satellites of isolated galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and examine their angular distribution. Using mock catalogues generated from cosmological N-body simulations, we demonstrate that the selection criteria used to select isolated galaxies and their satellites in large galaxy redshift surveys must be very strict in order to correctly identify systems in which the primary galaxy dominates its environment. We demonstrate that the criteria used in many previous studies instead select predominantly group members. We refine a set of selection criteria for which the group contamination is estimated to be less than 7 per cent and present a catalogue of the resulting sample. The angular distribution of satellites about their host is biased towards the major axes for spheroidal galaxies and probably also for red disc galaxies (the ‘intermediate’ class of Bailin & Harris), but is isotropic for blue disc galaxies, i.e. it is the colour of the host that determines the distribution of its satellites rather than its morphology. The similar anisotropy measured in this study to studies that were dominated by groups implies that group-specific processes are not responsible for the angular distribution. Satellites that are most likely to have been recently accreted, late-type galaxies at large projected radii, show a tendency to lie along the same axis as the surrounding large-scale structure. The orientations of isolated early- and intermediate-type galaxies also align with the surrounding large-scale structures. We discuss the origin of the anisotropic satellite distribution and consider the implications of our results, critically assessing the respective roles played by the orientation of the visible galaxy within its dark matter halo, anisotropic accretion of satellites from the larger scale environment, and the biased nature of satellites as tracers of the underlying dark matter subhalo population.
Exploiting grammatical dependencies for fine-grained opinion mining

In any sentence, words are arranged in a proper sequence to communicate information. The complete meaning of a sentence is not only determined by the meaning of words, but also by the pattern in which words are arranged. Essentially each word in a sentence possesses grammatical corporations with other words for correct utterance of meaning, such corporations between words is called binary grammatical relation or dependency (BGD). We believe that the analysis of a sentence on the basis of grammatical dependencies among the words is very useful for application such as opinion mining (OM) from a domain specific free format product reviews. Such free format reviews are largely available on Web due to presence of many e-commerce sites. Because of unavailability of universal resources (e.g. opinion word lexicon and feature corpus) for all application domains, OM becomes a very challenging job. OM from free format product reviews mainly deals with extraction of domain specific features, identification of opinion words corresponding to each features and determination of semantic orientation (SO) of opinion of words (e.g. large, small, loud, etc), which does not belong to set prior polarity opinion words (e.g. beautiful, excellent, good, etc.). In this paper, we discuss the role of BGDs among the words of a sentence for opinion mining and explore many BGDs that can directly facilitate the OM.
Murine Cutaneous Mastocytosis and Epidermal Melanocytosis Induced by Keratinocyte Expression of Transgenic Stem Cell Factor

The growth and differentiation of mast cells and melanocytes require stem cell factor (SCF), the ligand for the kit receptor tyrosine kinase. SCF may exist as a membrane-bound or soluble molecule. Abnormalities of the SCF-kit signaling pathway, with increased local concentrations of soluble SCF, have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the human disease cutaneous mastocytosis, but have not yet been shown to play a causal role. To investigate both the potential of SCF to cause mastocytosis and its role in epidermal melanocyte homeostasis, we targeted the expression of SCF to epidermal keratinocytes in mice with two different transgenes controlled by the human keratin 14 promoter. The transgenes contained cDNAs that either produced SCF, which can exist in both membrane-bound and soluble forms, or SCF, which remains essentially membrane bound. Murine epidermal keratinocyte expression of membrane-bound/ soluble SCF reproduced the phenotype of human cutaneous mastocytosis, with dermal mast cell infiltrates and epidermal hyperpigmentation, and caused the maintenance of a population of melanocytes in the interadnexal epidermis, an area where melanocytes and melanin are found in human skin but where they are not typically found in murine skin. Expression of membrane-bound SCF alone resulted in epidermal melanocytosis and melanin production, but did not by itself cause mastocytosis. We conclude, first, that a phenotype matching that of human mastocytosis can be produced in mice by keratinocyte overproduction of soluble SCF, suggesting a potential cause of this disease. Second, we conclude that keratinocyte expression of membrane-bound SCF results in the postnatal maintenance of epidermal melanocytes in mice. Since the resulting animals have skin that more closely approximates human skin than do normal mice, their study may be more relevant to human melanocyte biology than the study of skin of normal mice.
ON TOTAL STOPPING TIMES UNDER 3x + 1 ITERATION

Let N denote the nonnegative integers, and let P denote the positive integers. Define T: 2N +1 -» 2N +1 by T(x) = ^ , where 2 13x +1 and 2 \ 3x +1. The famous 3x +1 Conjecture asserts that, for any x e2N+l , there exists I : G N satisfying T(x) = 1. Define the least whole number k for which T(x) = 1 as the total stopping time a(x) of x, and call the sequence of iterates (x, T(x)9 T(x\.) the trajectory of x. Note that a(x) = oo if the trajectory of x diverges, and that cr(l) = 0. Furthermore, if k e P is fixed, and x is the smallest positive odd integer satisfying T{x) = 1, we say that x is minimal of level k. In this paper, we employ a specific partition of the positive odd integers to show that if x is minimal of level k > 3, then a(x) = a(2x +1). In addition, a set of positive integers satisfying <r(x) = cr(2x +1) is characterized. Using a related partition, we then show that the arithmetic progression (1 mod 16) is a "sufficient set," in other words, to prove the 3x + l Conjecture, it suffices to prove it for all x = 1 mod 16. In [4], Korec and Znam proved that the arithmetic progressions (a mod p\ where 2 is a primitive root (mod p) and (a, p) = 1, are sufficient sets; however, this result does not apply when/? is a power of 2. A thorough summary of some known results on the 3x + l Conjecture is given in Lagarias [5] and Wirschlng [6]. It is important to observe that our formulation of the function T(x) differs from that in [3], in which T: P -> P is given by T(x) ~\ if x is even and T(x) = •^ is x is odd. As a consequence, our total stopping times are different. For example, (j(27) = 41 under our formulation, whereas a(27) = 70 in [3]. It is the authors hope that the results of this paper, or perhaps the techniques used in proving the results, will be useful in computing na(x), which counts the number of positive integers y < x such that T(y) = a for some nonnegative integer k. The strongest known results along this line are given in Applegate and Lagarias [1].
AN INTRODUCTION TO METEOSAT SECOND GENERATION (MSG)

Abstract This paper introduces the new generation of European geostationary meteorological satellites, Meteosat Second Generation (MSG), scheduled for launch in summer 2002. MSG is spin stabilized, as is the current Meteosat series, however, with greatly enhanced capabilities. The 12-channel imager, called the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraredImager (SEVIRI), observes the full disk of the earth with an unprecedented repeat cycle of 15 min. SEVIRI has eight channels in the thermal infrared (IR) at 3.9, 6.2, 7.3, 8.7, 9.7, 10.8, 12.0, and 13.4 µm; three channels in the solar spectrum at 0.6, 0.8, and 1.6 µm; and a broadband high-resolution visible channel. The high-resolution visible channel has a spatial resolution of 1.67 km at nadir; pixels are oversampled with a factor of 1.67 corresponding to a samplingdistance of 1 km at nadir. The corresponding values for the eight thermal IR and the other three solar channels are 4.8-km spatial resolution at nadir and an oversampling factor of 1.6, which corres.
The Yabu Cohort Study: Design and Profile of Participants at Baseline

Background Further evidence into the effects of social relationships on health (including those at both the individual and community levels) is needed in Japan. The Yabu Cohort Study was launched in 2012 to identify the associations between social relationships and health among community-dwelling older Japanese people and to evaluate population approaches for preventive long-term care in the community. This report describes the study design and the profile of the participants at baseline. Methods The Yabu Cohort Study is a prospective study of community-dwelling individuals aged 65 years and older in Yabu, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The baseline survey, using a mailed self-administered questionnaire, was conducted from July through August 2012. It included information on socioeconomic status, general and psychological health, and social relationships (social network, social support, and social capital). Survival time, long-term care insurance certification, and medical and long-term care costs after the baseline survey will be followed. Results Of 7271 questionnaires distributed, a total of 6652 were returned (91.5% response rate), and 6241 were included in the analysis. Mean age was 71.9 ± 5.2 years, 43.2% were men, and 83.8% had lived in their neighborhood for more than 40 years. Approximately 45.2% expressed general trust. About 82.4%, 49.9%, and 55.5% have participated in neighborhood association activities, municipal seminars for preventive long-term care, and salon activities in the community, respectively. Conclusions The study is expected to provide valuable evidence on the effects of social relationships on health and to suggest the usefulness of population approaches for preventive long-term care in Japanese communities.
Bistatic SAR image formation

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) allows all-weather, day-and-night surface surveillance and has the ability to detect, classify and geolocate objects at long stand-off ranges. Bistatic SAR, in which the transmitter and the receiver are on separate platforms, is seen as a potential means of countering the vulnerability of conventional monostatic SAR to electronic countermeasures, particularly directional jamming and avoiding physical attack of the imaging platform. As the receiving platform can be totally passive, it does not advertise its position by RF emissions. The transmitter is not susceptible to jamming and can, for example, operate at long stand-off ranges to reduce its vulnerability to physical attack. This paper presents part of the work undertaken at QinetiQ examining the techniques and additional complications involved in producing high-resolution bistatic SAR imagery. The work presented here focuses on a fully airborne, synchronised bistatic SAR demonstration using QinetiQ's enhanced surveillance radar and the Thales/QinetiQ airborne data acquisition system, which took place in September 2002. Some of the bistatic imagery from the trial are presented here and compared and contrasted with the monostatic imagery collected at the same time.