Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Discrimination of the Healthy and Sick Cardiac Autonomic Nervous System by a New Wavelet Analysis of Heartbeat Intervals

We demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish with a complete certainty between healthy subjects and patients with various dysfunctions of the cardiac nervous system by way of multiresolutional wavelet transform of RR intervals. We repeated the study of Thurner et al. on different ensemble of subjects. We show that reconstructed series using a filter which discards wavelet coefficient related with higher scales enables one to classify individuals for which the method otherwise is inconclusive. We suggest a delimiting diagnostic value of the standard deviation of the filtered, reconstructed RR interval time series in the range of ~ 0.035 (for the above mentioned filter), below which individuals are at risk.
Alternating signs of quiver coefficients

We prove K-theoretic generalizations of the component formulas of Knutson, Miller, and Shimozono, and deduce that K-theoretic quiver coefficients have alternating signs. We also prove new variants of the factor sequences conjecture, and a conjecture of Knutson, Miller, and Shimozono stating that the double ratio formula agrees with the original quiver formulas. For completeness we include a short proof of the ratio formula for quiver varieties.
Altered MicroRNA Expression in Bovine Subcutaneous and Visceral Adipose Tissues from Cattle under Different Diet

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of molecular regulators found to participate in numerous biological processes, including adipogenesis in mammals. This study aimed to evaluate the differences of miRNA expression between bovine subcutaneous (backfat) and visceral fat depots (perirenal fat) and the dietary effect on miRNA expression in these fat tissues. Methodology/Principal Findings Fat tissues were collected from 16 Hereford×Aberdeen Angus cross bred steers (15.5 month old) fed a high-fat diet (5.85% fat, n = 8) or control diet (1.95% fat, n = 8). Total RNA from each animal was subjected to miRNA microarray analysis using a customized Agilent miRNA microarray containing 672 bovine miRNA probes. Expression of miRNAs was not equal between fat depots as well as diets: 207 miRNAs were detected in both fat depots, while 37 of these were found to be tissue specific; and 169 miRNAs were commonly expressed under two diets while 75 were diet specific. The number of miRNAs detected per animal fed the high fat diet was higher than those fed control diet (p = 0.037 in subcutaneous fat and p = 0.002 visceral fat). Further qRT-PCR analysis confirmed that the expression of some miRNAs was highly influenced by diet (miR-19a, -92a, -92b, -101, -103, -106, -142–5p, and 296) or fat depot (miR-196a and -2454). Conclusions/Significance Our results revealed that the miRNA may differ among adipose depots and level of fat in the diet, suggesting that miRNAs may play a role in the regulation of bovine adipogenesis.
Bandwidth allocation for virtual paths (BAVP): investigation of performance of classical constrained and genetic algorithm based optimisation techniques

We investigate the performance of a classical constrained optimisation (CCO) algorithm and a constrained optimisation genetic algorithm (GA) for solving the bandwidth allocation for virtual paths (BAVP) problem. We compare throughput, fairness and time complexity of GA-BAVP and CCO-BAVP for several node topologies. The results on maximising the throughput obtained with GA-BAVP and CCO-BAVP are in close agreement, however when considering fairness GA-BAVP outperforms CCO-BAVP, especially for more complex topologies, like the 7-node network, without abundant link capacity. Convergence of the two algorithms appears similar, with GA-BAVP outperforming CCO-BAVP in initial stages, and vice-versa for longer time scales. However as the problem complexity increases the solution time for the genetic algorithm does not increase as fast as the classical constrained optimisation algorithm. A hybrid scheme is also introduced, combining the benefits of both algorithms. It exhibited better overall convergence rate but the same solution as CCO-BAVP.
Identification of Novel Compounds Inhibiting Chikungunya Virus-Induced Cell Death by High Throughput Screening of a Kinase Inhibitor Library

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-borne arthrogenic alphavirus that causes acute febrile illness in humans accompanied by joint pains and in many cases, persistent arthralgia lasting weeks to years. The re-emergence of CHIKV has resulted in numerous outbreaks in the eastern hemisphere, and threatens to expand in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, no effective treatment is currently available. The present study reports the use of resazurin in a cell-based high-throughput assay, and an image-based high-content assay to identify and characterize inhibitors of CHIKV-infection in vitro. CHIKV is a highly cytopathic virus that rapidly kills infected cells. Thus, cell viability of HuH-7 cells infected with CHIKV in the presence of compounds was determined by measuring metabolic reduction of resazurin to identify inhibitors of CHIKV-associated cell death. A kinase inhibitor library of 4,000 compounds was screened against CHIKV infection of HuH-7 cells using the resazurin reduction assay, and the cell toxicity was also measured in non-infected cells. Seventy-two compounds showing ≥50% inhibition property against CHIKV at 10 µM were selected as primary hits. Four compounds having a benzofuran core scaffold (CND0335, CND0364, CND0366 and CND0415), one pyrrolopyridine (CND0545) and one thiazol-carboxamide (CND3514) inhibited CHIKV-associated cell death in a dose-dependent manner, with EC50 values between 2.2 µM and 7.1 µM. Based on image analysis, these 6 hit compounds did not inhibit CHIKV replication in the host cell. However, CHIKV-infected cells manifested less prominent apoptotic blebs typical of CHIKV cytopathic effect compared with the control infection. Moreover, treatment with these compounds reduced viral titers in the medium of CHIKV-infected cells by up to 100-fold. In conclusion, this cell-based high-throughput screening assay using resazurin, combined with the image-based high content assay approach identified compounds against CHIKV having a novel antiviral activity - inhibition of virus-induced CPE - likely by targeting kinases involved in apoptosis.
Designing a Medical Tourism Website: A Qualitative Study

Background: Informing plays a prominent role in attracting medical tourists. The enjoyment of proper medical information systems is one of the most important tools for the attraction of medical tourists. Iran’s ability in designing and implementing information networks has remained largely unknown. The current study aimed to explore information needs for designing a medical tourism website. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in 2015 for designing Hospital Medical-Tourism Website (HMTW). A purposive sampling method was used and data were gathered using a semi-structured questionnaire. Totally, 12 faculty members and experts in the field of medical tourism were interviewed. Data were analyzed using the MAXQDA10 software. Results: Totally 41 sub-themes and 10 themes were identified. The themes included the introduction of hospital, general guide for patients, tourism information, information related to physicians in hospital, costs, treatment follow-up, online hospital appointment scheduling in website, statistics and news of hospital medical tourism, photo gallery and contacts. Among the themes, the participants highly emphasized four themes including costs (100%), tourism information (91.6%), information related to physicians in hospital, (83.3%) and treatment follow-up (83.3%). Conclusion: This profitable industry can be developed through considering information requirements for hospital medical tourism website.
Continuous Subgraph Pattern Search over Certain and Uncertain Graph Streams

Search over graph databases has attracted much attention recently due to its usefulness in many fields, such as the analysis of chemical compounds, intrusion detection in network traffic data, and pattern matching over users' visiting logs. However, most of the existing works focus on search over static graph databases, while in many real applications, graphs are changing over time. In this paper, we investigate a new problem on continuous subgraph pattern search under the situation where multiple target graphs are constantly changing in a stream style, namely, the subgraph pattern search over graph streams. Obviously, the proposed problem is a continuous join between query patterns and graph streams where the join predicate is the existence of subgraph isomorphism. Due to the NP-completeness of subgraph isomorphism checking, to achieve the real-time monitoring of the existence of certain subgraph patterns, we would like to avoid using subgraph isomorphism verification to find the exact query-stream subgraph isomorphic pairs but to offer an approximate answer that could report all probable pairs without missing any actual answer pairs. Therefore, we propose a lightweight yet effective feature structure called Node-Neighbor Tree to filter out false candidate query-stream pairs. To reduce the computational cost, we propose a novel idea, projecting the feature structures into a numerical vector space and conducting dominant relationship checking in the projected space. We design two methods to efficiently verify dominant relationships, and thus, answer the subgraph search over graph streams efficiently. In addition to answering queries over certain graph streams, we propose a novel problem, detecting the appearance of subgraph patterns over uncertain graph streams with high probability (i.e., larger than the probability threshold specified by users). To address this problem, we not only extend the proposed solutions for certain graphs streams, but also propose a new pruning technique by utilizing the probability threshold. We substantiate our methods with extensive experiments on both certain and uncertain graph streams.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MULTINATIONAL SUBSIDIARIES: THE EFFECTS OF CORPORATE AND LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXTS 2 ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN MULTINATIONAL SUBSIDIARIES: THE EFFECTS OF CORPORATE AND LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXTS

Mounting evidence suggests that the entreprenurial activities of subsidiaries play a key role in determining the success of their parent multinational corporations (MNCs). However, little research has examined the factors that determine subsidiary entrepreneurship. This study presents a model of entrepreneurship, focusing on the corporate and local environmental contexts of subsidiaries. We hypothesize that the corporate context comprising global subsidiary mandates and control systems is an important determinant of subsidiary entrepreneurship. We also propose that the local environmental context comprising dynamism, hostility, and complexity influences a subsidiary's future entrepreneurship. We test the hypotheses using data collected at two points in time from 227 US-based foreign manufacturing subsidiaries of MNCs headquartered in Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, and the UK. The analyses suggest that both corporate and local environmental contexts are positively associated with subsidiary entrepreneurship.
The Impact of Feeding Diets of High or Low Energy Concentration on Carcass Measurements and the Weight of Primal and Subprimal Lean Cuts

Pigs from four sire lines were allocated to a series of low energy (LE, 3.15 to 3.21 Mcal ME/kg) corn-soybean meal-based diets with 16% wheat midds or high energy diets (HE, 3.41 to 3.45 Mcal ME/kg) with 4.5 to 4.95% choice white grease. All diets contained 6% DDGS. The HE and LE diets of each of the four phases were formulated to have equal lysine:Mcal ME ratios. Barrows (N = 2,178) and gilts (N = 2,274) were fed either high energy (HE) or low energy (LE) diets from 27 kg BW to target BWs of 118, 127, 131.5 and 140.6 kg. Carcass primal and subprimal cut weights were collected. The cut weights and carcass measurements were fitted to allometric functions (Y = A CWB) of carcass weight. The significance of diet, sex or sire line with A and B was evaluated by linearizing the equations by log to log transformation. The effect of diet on A and B did not interact with sex or sire line. Thus, the final model was B) where Diet = −0.5 for the LE and 0.5 for HE diets and A and B are sire line-sex specific parameters. cut weight = (1+bD(Diet)) A(CW Diet had no affect on loin, Boston butt, picnic, baby back rib, or sparerib weights (p>0.10, bD = −0.003, −0.0029, 0.0002, 0.0047, −0.0025, respectively). Diet affected ham weight (bD = −0.0046, p = 0.01), belly weight (bD = 0.0188, p = 0.001) three-muscle ham weight (bD = −0.014, p = 0.001), boneless loin weight (bD = −0.010, p = 0.001), tenderloin weight (bD = −0.023, p = 0.001), sirloin weight (bD = −0.009, p = 0.034), and fat-free lean mass (bD = −0.0145, p = 0.001). Overall, feeding the LE diets had little impact on primal cut weight except to decrease belly weight. Feeding LE diets increased the weight of lean trimmed cuts by 1 to 2 percent at the same carcass weight.
EXPLORING WHY SOME BILINGUAL STUDENTS HAVE LOW ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE WHILE OTHERS SUCCEED AFTER TRANSITIONING INTO ALL-ENGLISH INSTRUCTIONAL SETTINGS AT AN INNER CITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

The steady influx of English Language Learners (ELLs) into today’s public school system has led to a myriad of issues concerning bilingual students’ academic performance. Investigating academic performance disparities should examine the reasons why some bilingual students, who are academically successful while they are in a bilingual program, do not perform as well after transitioning into all-English instructional settings when the majority of their peers do. Two research questions addressed the following: (1) determining reasons why students perform well academically while enrolled in bilingual programs but experience performance dips after transitioning into an all-English classroom, and (2) how elementary bilingual and/or ESL teachers' practices, attitudes, knowledge and beliefs regarding English Language Learners relate to their students’ later success in all-English settings. Data were collected through a mix-methods approach. Quantitative data were obtained through a 43-item Likert-scale survey instrument previously developed and validated, supplemented with qualitative, structured, open-ended interviews. The research questions were analyzed using statistical analyses of the survey data using SPSS 17.00 software and qualitative data analysis of the focus groups. Data analysis for survey items was conducted using three separate t-tests to examine differences between two groups of
A double-blind placebo-controlled trial comparing fluvoxamine and imipramine in the treatment of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia.

This study compared the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of fluvoxamine, imipramine, and placebo in the treatment of panic disorder with or without agoraphobia. Fifty-four outpatients participated in the randomized, double-blind trial as part of a multicenter trial. After meeting inclusion criteria and completing screening requirements (e.g., laboratory testing, electrocardiogram, physical examination), patients were entered in a single-blind placebo washout phase. They were then randomized to either fluvoxamine, imipramine, or placebo. Measurements completed at each visit included the number and severity of panic attacks per week, the Sheehan Panic and Anticipatory Anxiety Scale, and the Clinical Global Impressions, and others. Results show that fluvoxamine is more effective than placebo and as effective as imipramine in reducing spontaneous panic attacks in moderate to severe panic disorder. However, starting doses of fluvoxamine and imipramine should be low to minimize untoward side effects (such as insomnia and agitation) and maintain compliance.
The Effect of Spinal Cord Stimulation on Seizure Susceptibility in Rats

Objectives: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) activates the thalamus, which may be involved in generation of seizures. SCS may therefore influence seizure susceptibility. We investigated the effect of SCS on seizure susceptibility when performed at low frequency (4 Hz) and a frequency in the typical range of SCS treatment (54 Hz).
Early markers of language delay in children with and without family risk for dyslexia

This study examined the extent to which receptive and productive vocabulary between ages 12 and 18 months predicted language skills at age 24 months in children born with family risk for dyslexia (FR) and a control group born without that risk. The aim was to identify possible markers of early language delay. The authors monitored vocabulary growth in 32 FR children and 21 control children longitudinally by using the Norwegian adaption of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories. The results show different patterns in the two groups: the study found a stronger interdependence of early receptive and productive vocabulary and a stronger stability in vocabulary growth in the second year of life in FR children than in controls. The combination of poor receptive vocabulary at 12 months and poor productive vocabulary at 18 months appeared to be important markers of later language delay in the FR group.
A Comparative Study of Depression, Anxiety and Stress in Australian and Chinese Business Students

This study reports the results of a survey of 167 undergraduate business students at a major Australian university. Using the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS), it was found that Chinese international students displayed significantly higher levels of stress and anxiety than local, Australian students, both of which fell within the “moderately severe” category. Levels of depression were normal in both groups with no significant differences between them. Qualitative analysis of an open-ended item suggested that the main stressors for Chinese students included academic, life balance and family stressors. Implications for student wellbeing are discussed and organisational initiatives for addressing these complaints are suggested.
Changes in Subcutaneous Fat Cell Volume and Insulin Sensitivity After Weight Loss

OBJECTIVE Large subcutaneous fat cells associate with insulin resistance and high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. We investigated if changes in fat cell volume and fat mass correlate with improvements in the metabolic risk profile after bariatric surgery in obese patients. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Fat cell volume and number were measured in abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue in 62 obese women before and 2 years after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Regional body fat mass by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; insulin sensitivity by hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp; and plasma glucose, insulin, and lipid profile were assessed. RESULTS RYGB decreased body weight by 33%, which was accompanied by decreased adipocyte volume but not number. Fat mass in the measured regions decreased and all metabolic parameters were improved after RYGB (P < 0.0001). Whereas reduced subcutaneous fat cell size correlated strongly with improved insulin sensitivity (P = 0.0057), regional changes in fat mass did not, except for a weak correlation between changes in visceral fat mass and insulin sensitivity and triglycerides. The curve-linear relationship between fat cell size and fat mass was altered after weight loss (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS After bariatric surgery in obese women, a reduction in subcutaneous fat cell volume associates more strongly with improvement of insulin sensitivity than fat mass reduction per se. An altered relationship between adipocyte size and fat mass may be important for improving insulin sensitivity after weight loss. Fat cell size reduction could constitute a target to improve insulin sensitivity.
In vitro effects of angiotensin II on glomerular function.

Effects of incubation with angiotensin II (ANG II) on isolated rat glomeruli were studied to test the hypothesis that ANG II exerts a direct effect on glomerular ultrafiltration coefficient (Kf) or hydraulic conductivity (Lp). Glomeruli of adult Munich-Wistar rats were isolated in isotonic medium and incubated at 37 degrees C in control medium or in medium containing ANG II (5.3 X 10(-9) to 5.3 X 10(-6) M) for 20 min. Glomerular volume decreased after incubation with ANG II. Relative volume decrement of unselected cortical glomeruli averaged 6 +/- 3% in 5.3 X 10(-9) or 10(-8) M ANG II and 13 +/- 3% in 5.3 X 10(-6) M ANG II; volume of superficial cortical glomeruli and deep cortical glomeruli diminished by 9 +/- 2 and 5 +/- 0.5%, respectively, after incubation with ANG II 5.3 X 10(-6) M. Glomerular oncometric response after equilibration with media of differing protein concentrations was not altered by ANG II incubation. Kf and Lp assessed in samples of glomeruli following ANG II incubation averaged 4.5 +/- 0.5 nl X mm-1 X mmHg and 2.7 +/- 0.5 microliter X mm-1 X mmHg X cm2, respectively, and were not significantly different from control values (3.8 +/- 0.3 nl X mm-1 X mmHg and 2.4 +/- 0.3 microliter X mm-1 X mmHg X cm2, respectively. In replicate studies of individual glomeruli prior to and after ANG II incubation, Kf was also not significantly altered (control Kf, 6.1 +/- 1.1; Kf after ANG II, 4.4 +/- 0.9 nl X min-1 X mmHg). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
1∕f noise in single-walled carbon nanotube devices

We report the scaling behavior of 1∕f noise in single-walled carbon nanotube devices. In this study we use two-dimensional carbon nanotube networks to explore the geometric scaling of 1∕f noise and find that for devices of a given resistance the noise scales inversely with device size. We have established an empirical formula that describes this behavior over a wide range of device parameters that can be used to assess the noise characteristics of carbon nanotube-based electronic devices and sensors.
UV Irradiation and Desiccation Modulate the Three-dimensional Extracellular Matrix of Nostoc commune (Cyanobacteria)*

Cyanobacterium Nostoc commune can tolerate the simultaneous stresses of desiccation, UV irradiation, and oxidation. Acidic WspA, of ∼33.6 kDa, is secreted to the three-dimensional extracellular matrix and accounts for greater than 70% of the total soluble protein. The wspA gene of N. commune strain DRH1 was cloned and found in a single genomic copy, in a monocistronic operon. Transcription of wspA and sodF (superoxide dismutase), and synthesis and secretion of WspA, were induced upon desiccation or UV-A/B irradiation of cells. Recombinant WspA binds the UV-A/B absorbing pigment scytonemin through non-covalent interactions. WspA peptide polymorphism, and heterogeneity of multiple wspA sequences within cells of a single colony, account for distinct WspA isoforms. WspA has no similarity to entries in the sequence databases and wspA, a possible xenolog, is restricted to a subset of strains in the “form species” N. commune characterized through group I intron phylogeny. We hypothesize that WspA plays a central role in the global stress response of N. commune through modulation of the structure and function of the three-dimensional extracellular matrix, particularly the transport, distribution, and/or macromolecular architecture of mycosporine and scytonemin UV-A/B absorbing pigment complexes.