Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MIXED ALLOGENEIC CHIMERISM AS A RELIABLE MODEL FOR COMPOSITE TISSUE ALLOGRAFT TOLERANCE INDUCTION ACROSS MAJOR AND MINOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY BARRIERS1

Background. Although prolonged composite tissue allograft (CTA) survival is achievable in animals using immunosuppressive drugs, long-term immunosuppression of CTAs in the clinical setting may be unacceptable for most patients. The purpose of this study was to develop a model for reliable CTA tolerance induction in the adult rat across a major MHC mismatch without the need for long-term immunosuppression. Methods. Mixed allogeneic chimeras were prepared by using rat strains with strong MHC incompatibility [WF (RT1Au), ACI (RT1Aa)] WF + ACI→WF, n=23. The bone marrow (BM) of recipient animals was pretreated with low-dose irradiation (500–700 cGy), followed by reconstitution with a mixture of T cell-depleted syngeneic (WF) and allogeneic (ACI) cells. Additionally, the recipient animals received a single dose of anti-lymphocyte serum (10 mg) 5 days before bone marrow transplantation (BMT) and tacrolimus (1 mg/kg/day) from the day before BMT to 10 days post-BMT. Hindlimb transplants were performed 12 months after BMT. Five animals received a limb allograft irradiated (1000 cGy) just before transplantation. Rat chimeras were characterized (percentage of donor cells present within the bloodstream) by flow cytometry at 3 and 12 months after BM reconstitution and after hindlimb transplantation. Results. Peripheral blood lymphocyte chimerism (WF/ACI) remained stable >12 months after BM reconstitution in 18/23 animals. Multi-lineage chimerism of both lymphoid and myeloid lineages was present, suggesting that engraftment of the pluripotent rat stem cell had occurred. In animals with donor chimerism >60% (n=18) no sign of limb rejection was present for the duration of the study. All animals with chimerism <20% (n=5) developed moderate signs of rejection clinically and histologically. Gross motor and sensory reinnervation (weight bearing, toe spread) developed at >60 days in 14/21 rats. Postoperative flow cytometry studies demonstrated stable chimerism in all animals studied (n=10). Five out of five animals with irradiated limb transplants showed no sign of GVHD at >100 days. Conclusions. Stable mixed allogeneic chimerism can be achieved in a rat hindlimb model of composite tissue allotransplantation. Hindlimb allografts to mixed allogeneic chimeras exhibit prolonged, rejection-free survival. Partial functional return should be expected. The BM transplanted as part of the hindlimb allograft plays a role in the etiology of GVHD. Manipulating that BM before transplantation may influence the incidence of GVHD. This represents the first reliable rat hindlimb model demonstrating rejection-free CTA survival in an adult animal across a major MHC mismatch without the long-term need for immunosuppressive agents.
Unsupervised language model adaptation for Mandarin broadcast conversation transcription

This paper investigates unsupervised language model adaptation on a new task of Mandarin broadcast conversation transcription. It was found that N-gram adaptation yields 1.1% absolute character error rate gain and continuous space language model adaptation done with PLSA and LDA brings 1.3% absolute gain. Moreover, using broadcast news language model alone trained on large data under-performs a model that includes additional small amount of broadcast conversations by 1.8% absolute character error rate. Although, broadcast news and broadcast conversation tasks are re-lated, this result shows their large mismatch. In addition, it was found that it is possible to do a reliable detection of broadcast news and broadcast conversation data with the N-gram adaptation.
Temporal Features of the Differentiation between Self-Name and Religious Leader Name among Christians: An ERP Study

Existing neuroimaging studies have shown that religion, as a subjective culture, can influence self-referential processing. However, the time course of this impact remains unclear. The present study examined how Christians process their own names, the name of their religious leader (i.e., Jesus), and a famous person’s name (i.e., Yao Ming). Behavioral and EEG data were recorded while the participants performed a name-color judgment task for these three names. The behavioral data showed no significant differences in reaction time or accuracy among the names. However, the ERP data showed that the P200 and P300 amplitudes elicited by the self-name and religious leader name were larger than those elicited by the famous name. Furthermore, the self-name also elicited a larger P300 amplitude than the religious leader name did. These results suggested that both the self-name and the religious leader name were processed preferentially due to their important social value for the self as compared to a generally famous name. Importantly, the dissociation between the self-name and the religious leader name was observed at a high-order cognitive stage, which might be attributed to their different roles in one’s self-concept.
Functional Decomposition in Engineering: A Survey

Functional reasoning is regarded as an important asset to the engineering designers’ conceptual toolkit. Yet despite the value of functional reasoning for engineering design, a consensus view is lacking and several distinct proposals have been formulated. In this paper some of the main models for functional reasoning that are currently in use or discussed in engineering are surveyed and some of their differences clarified. The models included the Functional Basis approach by Stone and Wood [1], the Function Behavior State approach by Umeda et al. [2, 3, 4], and the Functional Reasoning approach of Chakrabarti and Bligh [5, 6]. This paper explicates differences between these approaches relating to: (1) representations of function and how they are influenced by design aims and form solutions, and (2) functional decomposition strategies, taken as the reasoning from overall artifact functions to sub-functions, and how these decomposition strategies are influenced by the use of existing engineering design knowledge bases.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Fécondité, reproduction et remplacement. I-Les mesures longitudinales du remplacement

espanolEl concepto de umbral de reemplazo se usa ampliamente en la actualidad. No obstante, numerosas medidas del nivel de reemplazo, incluyendo las tasas netas y brutas de reproduccion, ignoran el efecto de las migraciones internacionales y sus tendencias. En este sentido, las tasas netas de reemplazo, que tienen en cuenta la mortalidad y las migraciones, son prefenbles a las tasas netas de reproduccion, que unicamente tienen en cuenta la mortalidad, y especialmente a las tasas brutas de reproduccion. Despues de definir los distintos indices, describir sus limitaciones y dar una serie de sugerencias para mejorarlos, estos articulos presentan sus valores en la Francia de la posguerra y descomponen las tasas de reproduccion en sus componentes principales (mortalidad y migraciones de las mujeres y de sus hijas). El primer articulo se centra en el analisis longitudinal y el segundo en el analisis transversal. francaisLe seuil de remplacement est une notion largement utilisee pour apprecier le niveau de la fecondite d'une population, mais il existe de multiples mesures du niveau de remplacement, les divers taux bruts et nets de reproduction, qui negligent totalement l'effet des migrations interna tionales et de ses variations au fil du temps. C'est pourquoi le recours aux taux nets de remplace menqtu,i tiennent compte a la fois de la mortalite et des migrations, est preferable a celui des taux nets de reproduction, qui ne prennent en compte que la mortalite, et plus encore a celui des taux bruts de reproduction. Apres avoir, dans un premier temps, rappele la definition et les limites des divers indices existants et propose diverses ameliorations, ces articles presentent les valeurs enregistrees par ces indices dans la France de l'apres-guerre et decomposent les taux de reproduction entre leurs dif ferents elements composants (mortalite et migrations des femmes et des fille s). Le premier article est consacre a l'approche longitudinale, le second a l'approche transversale. Trente ans apparait etre l'âge optimum pour le calcul du remplacement, car proche de l'âge moyen a la maternite. Dans les composantes du remplacement, hors fecondite, les effets propres aux filles sont toujours plus eleves que ceux propres aux femmes, tant en termes de mortalite que de migrations, meme si ces effets sont de sens contraire. Avec le recul de la mortalite, c'est la migration, des filles en particulier, qui joue depuis quelques decennies le role le plus important, parce qu'elle releve constamment le niveau du remplacement, mais d'une quantite d'autant plus faible que l'âge auquel il est mesure est plus bas. La prise en compte, dans la mesure du remplacement, des migrations internationales, tout comme le choix de l'âge auquel on compare les effectifs de femmes et de filles, peut donc conduire a reconsiderer le diagnostic porte sur l'avenir de la population a plus ou moins long terme, dia gnostic qui doit se fonder sur les taux de remplacement transversaux et non sur les taux de reproduction longitudinaux.
The Heart Is Unknown Country: Love in the Changing Economy of Northeast Brazil

This is a study of love, specifically of men's and women's emotional roles vis-a-vis one another in Northeast Brazil; of how people form conjugal relationships in this region; and of the impact of rapid socioeconomic change on courtship, marriage, cohabitation, and infidelity. Rapid urbanization and expansion of the cash economy have transformed the region in a few decades. Among the transformations are shifts in how people conduct courtship, form marriages, view the proprieties of sexual behavior, and assess the proper social and economic roles of men and women. These changes have altered the relative importance of physical, economic, and emotional intimacy in conjugal relationships, transforming the nature of marriage-once defined as a largely economic relationship-into a largely emotional relationship, as ideas of romance once associated with infidelity, concubinage, and courtship are increasingly attached to marriage. The book is largely based on interviews with men and women who talked about their often complicated love lives with wit and passion, and the book is rich in personal stories and quotations. Women were asked to discuss the nature of men and women, and men were asked to talk about women. Both sexes were questioned about their views on prostitution, concubinage, and promiscuity, as well as their definitions of love. Parents were asked for their views about marriage and child rearing (especially differences in raising boys and girls), their relations with their own parents, lovers, spouses, and friends, and their views on virginity and sexual propriety. The bluntness and articulateness of the informants about their motivations and experiences not only demonstrated that men and women viewed conjugal relationships very differently but enabled the author to specify and explore these differences in unusually interesting ways.
Effect of the material and geometry parameters on the cut-off characteristics of the circular waveguide with an Azimuthally magnetized ferrite cylinder and a dielectric toroid for the normal TE0n modes

A circular waveguide with a ferrite cylinder of azimuthal magnetization and a dielectric toroid, propagating normal TE<inf>0n</inf> modes, is considered. An original authors' method, elaborated previously for computation of the positive purely imaginary roots of its characteristic equation, derived by complex Kummer confluent hypergeometric and real Bessel and Neumann functions, is employed. A numerical analysis is performed of the impact of the modulus of off-diagonal ferrite permeability tensor element |α|, of the filling factor ρ of the configuration with anisotropic load and of the relative permittivities ε<inf>r</inf> and ε<inf>d</inf> of the inner and outer layers on those of the roots which correspond to a zero imaginary part of the complex first parameter of the Kummer functions. The discussion is confined to the first of them only — to the TE<inf>01</inf> mode. It is assumed as well that ε<inf>d</inf> = 2ε<inf>r</inf>. Based on this study, the cut-off characteristics of the transmission line (the distribution of the normalized towards frequency and ferrite relative permittivity critical guide radius of the same vs. ρ with |α| as parameter and to |α| with ρ as parameter) for the wave mentioned are (is) counted up and presented in a graphical form. A juxtaposition of the results is made with the ones, relevant to the case ε<inf>d</inf> = ε<inf>r</inf>, discussed earlier.
Three Truth Values for the SAT and MAX-SAT Problems

The aim of this paper is to propose a new resolution framework for the SAT and MAX-SAT problems which introduces a third truth value undefined in order to improve the resolution efficiency. Using this framework, we have adapted the classic algorithms Tabu Search andWalksat. Promising results are obtained and show the interest of our approach.
Pharmacological treatment of frontotemporal lobar degeneration: systematic review.

OBJECTIVE To identify the therapeutic options available for treatment of cognitive and behavioral symptoms in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. METHOD Systematic review using the descriptors "frontotemporal lobar degeneration" OR "frontotemporal dementia" OR "fronto-temporal dementia" OR "fronto-temporal degeneration" OR "Pick's disease" OR "Pick's atrophy" OR "semantic dementia" OR "progressive aphasia" AND "pharmacotherapy" OR "treatment" OR "efficacy" OR "effects" OR "management" was performed in the Medline and Lilacs databases. SELECTION CRITERIA Quality A - randomized clinical trials. Quality B - open studies or reports of six or more cases. Quality C - reports of five or fewer cases. Two reviewers independently assessed the clinical studies. Information collected included diagnostic criteria used, sample size, duration, efficacy and tolerability measures used and results obtained. RESULTS From the 532 studies found, 29 complied with the inclusion criteria. All studies worked with a small sample, had short duration of treatment and used non-uniform measures in evaluating efficacy and tolerability. Studies showed disparate results with respect to behavior and cognition. CONCLUSION There is still little, and poor, evidence available for treatment of frontotemporal lobar degeneration and studies with better methodological background are needed.
Using chronic pain to predict depressive morbidity in the general population.

BACKGROUND Pain syndrome is thought to play a role in depression. This study assesses the prevalence of chronic (>or= 6 months' duration) painful physical conditions (CPPCs) (joint/articular, limb, or back pain, headaches, or gastrointestinal diseases) and their relationship with major depressive disorder. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional telephone survey of a random sample of 18 980 subjects from 15 to 100 years old representative of the general populations of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Answers provided during telephone interviews using the Sleep-EVAL system were the main outcome measure. Interviews included questions about mental disorders and medical conditions. Data on painful physical conditions were obtained through questions about medical treatment, consultations, and/or hospitalizations for medical conditions and a list of 42 diseases. RESULTS Of all subjects interviewed, 17.1% reported having at least 1 CPPC (95% confidence interval [CI], 16.5%-17.6%). At least 1 depressive symptom (sadness, depression, hopelessness, loss of interest, or lack of pleasure) was present in 16.5% of subjects (95% CI, 16.0%-17.1%); 27.6% of these subjects had at least 1 CPPC. Major depressive disorder was diagnosed in 4.0% of subjects; 43.4% of these subjects had at least 1 CPPC, which was 4 times more often than in subjects without major depressive disorder (odds ratio [OR], 4.0; 95% CI, 3.5-4.7). In a logistic regression model, CPPC was strongly associated with major depressive disorder (OR: CPPC alone, 3.6; CPPC + nonpainful medical condition, 5.2); 24-hour presence of pain made an independent contribution to major depressive disorder diagnosis (OR, 1.6). CONCLUSIONS The presence of CPPCs increases the duration of depressive mood. Patients seeking consultation for a CPPC should be systematically evaluated for depression.
Design of a Piezoelectric-Actuated Microgripper With a Three-Stage Flexure-Based Amplification

This paper presents a novel microgripper mechanism for micromanipulation and assembly. The microgripper is driven by a piezoelectric actuator, and a three-stage flexure-based amplification has been designed to achieve large jaw displacements. The kinematic, static and dynamic models of the microgripper have been established and optimized considering the crucial parameters that determine the characteristics of the microgripper. Finite element analysis was conducted to evaluate the characteristics of the microgripper, and wire electro discharge machining technique was utilized to fabricate the monolithic structure of the microgripper mechanism. Experimental tests were carried out to investigate the performance of the microgripper and the results show that the microgripper can grasp microobjects with the maximum jaw motion stroke of 190 μm corresponding to the 100-V applied voltage. It has an amplification ratio of 22.8 and working mode frequency of 953 Hz.
Perceptual training of English /r/ and /l/ for Japanese adults, adolescents and children

Although phoneme perception and production in second-language (L2) learners has been the focus of much research over the past few decades, the learning mechanisms and the factors that influence them are still far from understood. The purpose of this PhD research is to cast some light on the mechanisms underlying the learning of L2 phonemes and the effects of age. Japanese speakers who have problems in perception and production of the English /r/-/l/ contrast participated in three perceptual training studies. The first study examined whether Japanese adults can improve their perception and production with identification and discrimination training. The results demonstrated that both identification and discrimination training methods improved their perception and production of the English /r/-/l/ contrast, but the combination of two different training methods did not have additive effects. The second study investigated how age affects the learning of the English /r/-/l/ contrast at phonetic and phonological levels of perception. The results demonstrated that Japanese adults are disadvantaged in improving their phonetic perception of the English /r/-/l/ contrast due to their relatively fossilised brain plasticity and their developed L1 phonetic units. On the other hand, younger learners are able to improve both phonetic and phonological perception of the contrast. This may be attributed to their greater brain plasticity and less interference from undeveloped L1 phonetic categories. Finally, the third study examined how Japanese speakers improve production of English /r/ and /l/ through perceptual training, and found that perceptual training transferred to production ability in both identifiability and acoustic realisations. The improvement in production seemed to be attributable to perceptual learning. There may be a common underlying ability for perception and production, although the acoustic dimensions which link the two may be different between individuals. The theoretical implications for understanding learning mechanisms and age effects are discussed.
The Use of Chromatic Information for Motion Segmentation: Differences between Psychophysical and Eye-Movement Measures

Previous psychophysical studies have shown that chromatic (red/green) information can be used as a segmentation cue for motion integration. We investigated the mechanisms mediating this phenomenon by comparing chromatic effects (and, for comparison, luminance effects) on motion integration between two measures: (i) directional eye movements with the notion that these responses are mediated mainly by low-level motion mechanisms, and (ii) psychophysical reports, with the notion that subjects' reports should employ higher-level (attention-based) mechanisms if available. To quantify chromatic (and luminance) effects on motion integration, coherent motion thresholds were obtained for two conditions, one in which the signal and noise dots were the same ‘red’ or ‘green’ chromaticity (or the same ‘bright’ or ‘dark’ luminance), referred to as homogeneous, and the other in which the signal and noise dots were of different chromaticities (or luminances), referred to as heterogeneous. ‘Benefit ratios’ (θHOM/θHET) were then computed, with values significantly greater than 1.0 indicating that chromatic (or luminance) information serves as a segmentation cue for motion integration. The results revealed a high and significant chromatic benefit ratio when the measure was based on psychophysical report, but not when it was based on an eye-movement measure. By contrast, luminance benefit ratios were roughly the same (and significant) for both measures. For comparison to adults, eye-movement data were also obtained from 3-month-old infants. Infants showed marginally significant benefit ratios in the luminance, but not in the chromatic, condition. In total, these results suggest that the use of chromatic information as a segmentation cue for motion integration relies on higher-level mechanisms, whereas luminance information works mainly through low-level motion mechanisms.
Burst and Tonic Spinal Cord Stimulation Differentially Activate GABAergic Mechanisms to Attenuate Pain in a Rat Model of Cervical Radiculopathy

Objective: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is widely used to treat neuropathic pain. Burst SCS, an alternative mode of stimulation, reduces neuropathic pain without paresthesia. However, the effects and mechanisms of burst SCS have not been compared to conventional tonic SCS in controlled investigations. This study compares the attenuation of spinal neuronal activity and tactile allodynia, and the role of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) signaling during burst or tonic SCS in a rat model of cervical radiculopathy. Methods: The effects of burst and tonic SCS were compared by recording neuronal firing before and after each mode of stimulation at day 7 following a painful cervical nerve root compression. Neuronal firing was also recorded before and after burst and tonic SCS in the presence of the GABAB receptor antagonist, CGP35348. Results: Burst and tonic SCS both reduce neuronal firing. The effect of tonic SCS, but not burst SCS, is blocked by CGP35348. In a separate study, spinal cord stimulators were implanted to deliver burst or tonic SCS beginning on day 4 after painful nerve root compression; allodynia and serum GABA concentration were measured through day 14. Burst and tonic SCS both reduce allodynia. Tonic SCS attenuates injury-induced decreases in serum GABA, but GABA remains decreased from baseline during burst SCS. Conclusion and Significance: Together, these studies suggest that burst SCS does not act via spinal GABAergic mechanisms, despite its attenuation of spinal hyperexcitability and allodynia similar to that of tonic SCS; understanding other potential spinal inhibitory mechanisms may lead to enhanced analgesia during burst stimulation.