Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Surface-Specific Training on 20-m Sprint Performance on Sand and Grass Surfaces

Abstract Binnie, MJ, Peeling, P, Pinnington, H, Landers, G, and Dawson, B. Effect of surface-specific training on 20-m sprint performance on sand and grass surfaces. J Strength Cond Res 27(12): 3515–3520, 2013—This study compared the effect of an 8-week preseason conditioning program conducted on a sand (SAND) or grass (GRASS) surface on 20-m sprint performance. Twelve team-sport athletes were required to attend three 1-hour training sessions per week, including 2 surface-specific sessions (SAND, n = 6 or GRASS, n = 6) and 1 group session (conducted on grass). Throughout the training period, 20-m sprint times of all athletes were recorded on both sand and grass surfaces at the end of weeks 1, 4, and 8. Results showed a significant improvement in 20-m sand time in the SAND group only (p < 0.05), whereas 20-m grass time improved equally in both training subgroups (p < 0.05). These results suggest that surface-specificity is essential for 20-m speed improvements on sand and also that there is no detriment to grass speed gains when incorporating sand surfaces into a preseason program.
Voices from the shadows : women with disabilities speak out

Reading is a hobby to open the knowledge windows. Besides, it can provide the inspiration and spirit to face this life. By this way, concomitant with the technology development, many companies serve the e-book or book in soft file. The system of this book of course will be much easier. No worry to forget bringing the voices from the shadows women with disabilities speak out book. You can open the device and get the book by on-line.
On the decidability and complexity of query answering over inconsistent and incomplete databases

In databases with integrity constraints, data may not satisfy the constraints. In this paper, we address the problem of obtaining consistent answers in such a setting, when key and inclusion dependencies are expressed on the database schema. We establish decidability and complexity results for query answering under different assumptions on data (soundness and/or completeness). In particular, after showing that the problem is in general undecidable, we identify the maximal class of inclusion dependencies under which query answering is decidable in the presence of key dependencies. Although obtained in a single database context, such results are directly applicable to data integration, where multiple information sources may provide data that are inconsistent with respect to the global view of the sources.
Eccentric Ergometer Training Promotes Locomotor Muscle Strength but Not Mitochondrial Adaptation in Patients with Severe Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Eccentric ergometer training (EET) is increasingly being proposed as a therapeutic strategy to improve skeletal muscle strength in various cardiorespiratory diseases, due to the principle that lengthening muscle actions lead to high force-generating capacity at low cardiopulmonary load. One clinical population that may particularly benefit from this strategy is chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), as ventilatory constraints and locomotor muscle dysfunction often limit efficacy of conventional exercise rehabilitation in patients with severe disease. While the feasibility of EET for COPD has been established, the nature and extent of adaptation within COPD muscle is unknown. The aim of this study was therefore to characterize the locomotor muscle adaptations to EET in patients with severe COPD, and compare them with adaptations gained through conventional concentric ergometer training (CET). Male patients were randomized to either EET (n = 8) or CET (n = 7) for 10 weeks and matched for heart rate intensity. EET patients trained on average at a workload that was three times that of CET, at a lower perception of leg fatigue and dyspnea. EET led to increases in isometric peak strength and relative thigh mass (p < 0.01) whereas CET had no such effect. However, EET did not result in fiber hypertrophy, as morphometric analysis of muscle biopsies showed no increase in mean fiber cross-sectional area (p = 0.82), with variability in the direction and magnitude of fiber-type responses (20% increase in Type 1, p = 0.18; 4% decrease in Type 2a, p = 0.37) compared to CET (26% increase in Type 1, p = 0.04; 15% increase in Type 2a, p = 0.09). EET had no impact on mitochondrial adaptation, as revealed by lack of change in markers of mitochondrial biogenesis, content and respiration, which contrasted to improvements (p < 0.05) within CET muscle. While future study is needed to more definitively determine the effects of EET on fiber hypertrophy and associated underlying molecular signaling pathways in COPD locomotor muscle, our findings promote the implementation of this strategy to improve muscle strength. Furthermore, contrasting mitochondrial adaptations suggest evaluation of a sequential paradigm of eccentric followed by concentric cycling as a means of augmenting the training response and attenuating skeletal muscle dysfunction in patients with advanced COPD.
Rede ning Chinese citizenship

This paper addresses shifts in governance and the re-framing of citizenship discourse in the People’s Republic of China during the 1990s. Drawing upon a Sinicized Marxist-Leninism, public intellectuals and propagandists have sought to represent citizens’ rights primarily as socio-economic bene ts of China’s reform agenda delivered by the Communist Party. This materialist articulation of citizens’ rights diminishes the prospect of citizenship functioning as a mechanism for political claims against the State. However, the proclamation of rights as social bene ts is in keeping with a traditional Chinese relationship between State and society whereby the former is responsible for the general welfare of the population. The citizen is thus divested of its Western political connotations and becomes a blueprint for ethical refashioning based on state goals of economic development.
MIGRATORY PATTERN OF OPISTHORCHIS VIVERRINI IN HAMSTERS

The migratory pattern of Opisthorchis viverrini was studied by feeding each of 55 hamsters orally with 50 metacercariae collected from cyprinoid fish. The route of migration was followed from the gastrointestinal (GI) to biliary tracts for 3 months after infection at 11 durations: 1, 3, 6, and 12 hours, 1, 3, 7, and 14 days, 1, 2, and 3 months. After sacrifice, the stomach, small intestine, common bile duct, gallbladder, and 3 equal portions of each lobe (right, left, median, and caudal) of the liver were examined and counted for worm burden. The newly excysted worms of O. viverrini migrated from the duodenum into the common bile duct, gallbladder and proximal bile duct of the right lobe as early as 1 hour after infection. The farthest migratory distance, the distal bile ducts of all lobes, occurred with worms aged 14 days. After reaching maturity, the number of worms remaining in the extrahepatic bile ducts was lower than the intrahepatic bile ducts. The worm recovery rates in the right and left lobes were not significantly different, while those in the median and caudal lobes were significantly lower. Less than 5% of juvenile worms could migrate far to the distal part of the bile ducts, but these decreased when the worms became adult. This finding revealed the migratory pattern of O. viverrini in hamsters from the GI to the biliary system in detail, which should be useful for better understanding the host-parasite relationships along these routes of migration.
Generation of “Virtual” Control Groups for Single Arm Prostate Cancer Adjuvant Trials

It is difficult to construct a control group for trials of adjuvant therapy (Rx) of prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy (RP) due to ethical issues and patient acceptance. We utilized 8 curve-fitting models to estimate the time to 60%, 65%, … 95% chance of progression free survival (PFS) based on the data derived from Kattan post-RP nomogram. The 8 models were systematically applied to a training set of 153 post-RP cases without adjuvant Rx to develop 8 subsets of cases (reference case sets) whose observed PFS times were most accurately predicted by each model. To prepare a virtual control group for a single-arm adjuvant Rx trial, we first select the optimal model for the trial cases based on the minimum weighted Euclidean distance between the trial case set and the reference case set in terms of clinical features, and then compare the virtual PFS times calculated by the optimum model with the observed PFSs of the trial cases by the logrank test. The method was validated using an independent dataset of 155 post-RP patients without adjuvant Rx. We then applied the method to patients on a Phase II trial of adjuvant chemo-hormonal Rx post RP, which indicated that the adjuvant Rx is highly effective in prolonging PFS after RP in patients at high risk for prostate cancer recurrence. The method can accurately generate control groups for single-arm, post-RP adjuvant Rx trials for prostate cancer, facilitating development of new therapeutic strategies.
Essays in search theory

I investigate search models in which firms wish to employ multiple workers. I first focus on efficiency. One important approach to modeling frictional labor markets is competitive search equilibrium, in which workers direct their search towards wages that firms commit to pay them upon hire. If each firm wishes to hire precisely one worker, the competitive search equilibrium is efficient (Moen, 1997; Shimer, 1996). I show that if firms wish to employ multiple workers, then hiring will not generally be efficient if firms post only a single wage. Efficiency requires that firms commit to hire a fixed number of workers at the posted wage, to pay all applicants, or to make wages contingent on the number of applicants. I show that if firms post only a wage, the amount of inefficiency is highest at intermediate levels of labor market tightness. Efficiency under wage posting is restored in a dynamic model if the duration for which firms commit to posted contracts becomes small. I next calibrate a continuous-time version of the model to US data. Under the benchmark parametrization and in response to plausible business-cycle shocks to productivity, the model does not produce fluctuations in unemployment that match the amplitude of such fluctuations in US data. It appears that the existence of firms that wish to employ multiple workers is not per se a source of much amplification. Finally, Daron Acemoglu and I present a generalization of the Diamond-MortensenPissarides (DMP) search model of unemployment which incorporates both intensive and extensive margins of employment creation. Firms possess a production technology with diminishing returns to labor, and recruit workers by posting vacancies. Entry by new firms corresponds to the extensive margin of employment creation, while job creation by existing firms captures the intensive margin. As in the baseline DMP model and theories of the firm developed by Stole and Zwiebel (1996a,b) and Wolinsky (2000), wages are determined by continuous bargaining between the firm and its employees. We characterize the steady-state equilibrium in this class of models and discuss the implications of various different types of shocks on the equilibrium unemployment rate. Thesis Supervisor: K. Daron Acemoglu Title: Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics Thesis Supervisor: Ivan Werning Title: Assistant Professor of Economics
On Multi-Domain Training and Adaptation of End-to-End RNN Acoustic Models for Distant Speech Recognition

Recognition of distant (far-field) speech is a challenge for ASR due to mismatch in recording conditions resulting from room reverberation and environment noise. Given the remarkable learning capacity of deep neural networks, there is increasing interest to address this problem by using a large corpus of reverberant far-field speech to train robust models. In this study, we explore how an end-to-end RNN acoustic model trained on speech from different rooms and acoustic conditions (different domains) achieves robustness to environmental variations. It is shown that the first hidden layer acts as a domain separator, projecting the data from different domains into different subspaces. The subsequent layers then use this encoded domain knowledge to map these features to final representations that are invariant to domain change. This mechanism is closely related to noise-aware or room-aware approaches which append manually-extracted domain signatures to the input features. Additionaly, we demonstrate how this understanding of the learning procedure provides useful guidance for model adaptation to new acoustic conditions. We present results based on AMI corpus to demonstrate the propagation of domain information in a deep RNN, and perform recognition experiments which indicate the role of encoded domain knowledge on training and adaptation of RNN acoustic models.
Swan Neck Presternal Peritoneal Dialysis Catheter

We hypothesized that a swan neck catheter for peritoneal dialysis with the exit in the presternal area will be less likely to develop an exit-site infection than currently used peritoneal dialysis catheters with the exit located on the abdomen. The chest is a sturdy structure with minimal wall motions; the catheter exit located on the chest wall is subjected to minimal movements decreasing the chances for trauma and contamination. Also, in patients with abdominal ostomies and in children with diapers, a chest exit location will decrease chances of contamination. The presternal peritoneal dialysis catheter is composed of two flexible (silicone rubber) tubes joined through a titanium connector at the time of implantation. Four such catheters were implanted in four patients: two in extremely obese patients, one in a patient with a suprapubic catheter, and one in a patient with a chronic exit infection with a previous catheter. Tensile strength tests showed that the two parts of the catheter practically cannot separate spontaneously in the tunnel. Flow rates were adequate in the supine and sitting positions. All catheters functioned and healed well, and the exits have not become infected during the whole observation period up to 11 months. These preliminary experiences support the rationale of catheter design.
Proteomic changes associated with expression of a gene (ipt) controlling cytokinin synthesis for improving heat tolerance in a perennial grass species

Cytokinins (CKs) are known to regulate leaf senescence and affect heat tolerance, but mechanisms underlying CK regulation of heat tolerance are not well understood. A comprehensive proteomic study was conducted to identify proteins altered by the expression of the adenine isopentenyl transferase (ipt) gene controlling CK synthesis and associated with heat tolerance in transgenic plants for a C3 perennial grass species, Agrostis stolonifera. Transgenic plants with two different inducible promoters (SAG12 and HSP18) and a null transformant (NT) containing the vector without ipt were exposed to 20 °C (control) or 35 °C (heat stress) in growth chambers. Two-dimensional electrophoresis and mass spectrometry analysis were performed to identify protein changes in leaves and roots in response to ipt expression under heat stress. Transformation with ipt resulted in protein changes in leaves and roots involved in multiple functions, particularly in energy metabolism, protein destination and storage, and stress defence. The abundance levels of six leaf proteins (enolase, oxygen-evolving enhancer protein 2, putative oxygen-evolving complex, Rubisco small subunit, Hsp90, and glycolate oxidase) and nine root proteins (Fd-GOGAT, nucleotide-sugar dehydratase, NAD-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase, ferredoxin-NADP reductase precursor, putative heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2, ascorbate peroxidase, dDTP-glucose 4–6-dehydratases-like protein, and two unknown proteins) were maintained or increased in at least one ipt transgenic line under heat stress. The diversity of proteins altered in transgenic plants in response to heat stress suggests a regulatory role for CKs in various metabolic pathways associated with heat tolerance in C3 perennial grass species.
EFFECT OF NICOTINE AND MUSCLE PERFORMANCE USING A WINGATE ANAEROBIC TEST ON COLLEGIATE FOOTBALL PLAYERS

of Thesis Joel N. Meier EFFECT OF NICOTINE AND MUSCLE PERFORMANCE USING A WINGATE ANAEROBIC TEST ON COLLEGIATE FOOTBALL PLAYERS June 12, 2006 Dr. Steven J. Albrechtsen, Thesis Chair The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Students' Intentions to Use Wikis in Higher Education

Although wikis have gained considerable attention in higher educa- tion, students are often reluctant to use wikis in formal learning processes. Unlike company employees, students are not often rewarded for their participa- tion in wiki-based assignments. Therefore, students seem to be opportunistic and decide to adopt wikis if they fit their current situation and preferences. This paper adapts the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour to examine the situation in higher education classrooms. To better understand students' deci- sion to use wikis, we introduced an intrinsic and extrinsic motivation construct. A survey was conducted with 133 first semester students to test the proposed model. The results provide support for the importance of an intrinsic and extrin- sic motivation construct to explain influence on students' wiki use.
Rethinking the Economic Contribution of Tourism

The article introduces an integrated market-segmentation and tourism yield estimation framework for inbound tourism. Conventional approaches to yield estimation based on country of origin segmentation and total expenditure comparisons do not provide sufficient detail, especially for mature destinations dominated by large single-country source markets. By employing different segmentation approaches along with Tourism Satellite Accounts and various yield estimates, this article estimates direct economic contribution for subsegments of the UK market on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Overall expenditure across segments varies greatly, as do the spending ratios in different categories. In the case of Cyprus, the most potential for improving economic contribution currently lies in increasing spending on “food and beverages” and “culture and recreation. ” Mass tourism therefore appears to offer the best return per monetary unit spent. Conducting similar studies in other destinations could identify priority spending sectors and enable different segments to be targeted appropriately.
Host Chemokine and Cytokine Response in the Endocervix within the First Developmental Cycle of Chlamydia muridarum

ABSTRACT The initial host response in a primary chlamydial infection is the onset of acute inflammation. However, we still know very little about the early temporal events in the induction of the acute inflammatory response and how these events relate to the initial chlamydial developmental cycle in an actual genital infection. Because it was critical to initiate a synchronous infection in the endocervix in the first 24 h to evaluate the sequential expression of the host response, we developed the surgical methodology of depositing Chlamydia muridarum directly on the endocervix. Cervical tissue was collected at 3, 12, and 24 h after inoculation and the expression array of chemokines, cytokines, and receptors was assessed to characterize the response during the initial developmental cycle. Polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) infiltration was first observed at 12 h after inoculation, and a few PMNs could be seen in the epithelium at 24 h. Electron microscopic analysis at 24 h showed that virtually all inclusions were at the same stage of development, indicating a synchronous infection. Several chemokine and cytokine genes were expressed as early as 3 h after infection, but by 12 h, 41 genes were expressed. Thus, activation of the host response occurs both with the introduction of elementary bodies into the host and early replication of reticulate bodies. No significant response was observed when UV-inactivated organisms were inoculated into the cervix at any time interval. This model provides an ideal opportunity to investigate the mechanisms by which the early inflammatory response is induced in vivo.
Receptors for Insulin and Insulin-Like Molecules

An increasing body of evidence supports the regulation of hormone action by changes in receptor concentration and affinity. Down and up regulation of insulin and somatomedin receptors by changes in hormone concentration explains the alterations in receptor numbers in obesity or diabetes. However, the changes in receptor affinity that have been described have no known mechanism. In most cases, they occur in vivo, but changes can be produced in vitro by ketone bodies and calcium ions. Calcium ions have also been implicated in insulin action, thus strengthening this relationship. Evaluation of the control of receptor affinity must take into account the effects of metabolites such as glucose and minerals, as well as multiple other factors. The relationship between binding and the biological effect of insulin has to be resolved before the full understanding of insulin action can be reached: The controversial areas of insulin receptor research are becoming clearer, but much more information is required before these questions can be resolved.
Induced gamma-band activity during the delay of a visual short-term memory task in humans.

It has been hypothesized that visual objects could be represented in the brain by a distributed cell assembly synchronized on an oscillatory mode in the gamma-band (20-80 Hz). If this hypothesis is correct, then oscillatory gamma-band activity should appear in any task requiring the activation of an object representation, and in particular when an object representation is held active in short-term memory: sustained gamma-band activity is thus expected during the delay of a delayed-matching-to-sample task. EEG was recorded while subjects performed such a task. Induced (e.g., appearing with a jitter in latency from one trial to the next) gamma-band activity was observed during the delay. In a control task, in which no memorization was required, this activity disappeared. Furthermore, this gamma-band activity during the rehearsal of the first stimulus representation in short-term memory peaked at both occipitotemporal and frontal electrodes. This topography fits with the idea of a synchronized cortical network centered on prefrontal and ventral visual areas. Activities in the alpha band, in the 15-20 Hz band, and in the averaged evoked potential were also analyzed. The gamma-band activity during the delay can be distinguished from all of these other components of the response, on the basis of either its variations or its topography. It thus seems to be a specific functional component of the response that could correspond to the rehearsal of an object representation in short-term memory.