Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dense packings of polyhedra: Platonic and Archimedean solids.

Understanding the nature of dense particle packings is a subject of intense research in the physical, mathematical, and biological sciences. The preponderance of previous work has focused on spherical particles and very little is known about dense polyhedral packings. We formulate the problem of generating dense packings of nonoverlapping, nontiling polyhedra within an adaptive fundamental cell subject to periodic boundary conditions as an optimization problem, which we call the adaptive shrinking cell (ASC) scheme. This optimization problem is solved here (using a variety of multiparticle initial configurations) to find the dense packings of each of the Platonic solids in three-dimensional Euclidean space R3 , except for the cube, which is the only Platonic solid that tiles space. We find the densest known packings of tetrahedra, icosahedra, dodecahedra, and octahedra with densities 0.823. , 0.836. , 0.904. , and 0.947. , respectively. It is noteworthy that the densest tetrahedral packing possesses no long-range order. Unlike the densest tetrahedral packing, which must not be a Bravais lattice packing, the densest packings of the other nontiling Platonic solids that we obtain are their previously known optimal (Bravais) lattice packings. We also derive a simple upper bound on the maximal density of packings of congruent nonspherical particles and apply it to Platonic solids, Archimedean solids, superballs, and ellipsoids. Provided that what we term the "asphericity" (ratio of the circumradius to inradius) is sufficiently small, the upper bounds are relatively tight and thus close to the corresponding densities of the optimal lattice packings of the centrally symmetric Platonic and Archimedean solids. Our simulation results, rigorous upper bounds, and other theoretical arguments lead us to the conjecture that the densest packings of Platonic and Archimedean solids with central symmetry are given by their corresponding densest lattice packings. This can be regarded to be the analog of Kepler's sphere conjecture for these solids.The truncated tetrahedron is the only nonchiral Archimedean solid that is not centrally symmetric [corrected], the densest known packing of which is a non-lattice packing with density at least as high as 23/24=0.958 333. We discuss the validity of our conjecture to packings of superballs, prisms, and antiprisms as well as to high-dimensional analogs of the Platonic solids. In addition, we conjecture that the optimal packing of any convex, congruent polyhedron without central symmetry generally is not a lattice packing. Finally, we discuss the possible applications and generalizations of the ASC scheme in predicting the crystal structures of polyhedral nanoparticles and the study of random packings of hard polyhedra.
Targeting Angiogenesis in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)

The management of NSCLC has undergone a paradigm shift in the last 5 years with the survival advantage demonstrated by the addition of bevacizumab to standard frontline platinum-based doublet specifically, paclitaxel and carboplatin. The increased toxicity observed in patients with squamous histology and in elderly patients treated with angiogenesis-targeting agents has led to even greater scrutiny of other subpopulations of patients. Although recently, several anti- angiogenetic agents have been developed and tested in clinical trials, bevacizumab remains the only vascular- targeted agents to show overall survival benefit when combined with a cytotoxic agent in the frontline setting. The realization of the potential promise of personalized medicine requires that the appropriate treatment be given to the most appropriate group of patients. Given the modest benefit and the significant toxicity associated with the use of anti- angiogenesis agents in NSCLC patients, it is highly desirable that predictive markers of response and or toxicity be established to assist in the optimal selection of patients. Although a number of plasma-, tissue- and genomic-based markers have been explored, none of these has been robust or sensitive enough to reproducibly discriminate responding from non-responding patients. The presence of squamous differentiation on histologic evaluation remains the only established marker that predicts for increased risk of hemorrhagic complications. In this review, we discuss data establishing the role of angiogenesis-targeting agents and the clinical value of putative markers of angiogenesis.
Do speech features for detecting cognitive load depend on specific languages?

Speech-based cognitive load modeling recently proposed in English have enabled objective, quantitative and unobtrusive evaluation of cognitive load without extra equipment. However, no evidence indicates that these techniques could be applied to speech data in other languages without modification. In this study, a modified Stroop Test and a Reading Span Task were conducted to collect speech data in English and Chinese respectively, from which twenty non-linguistic features were extracted to investigate whether they were language dependent. Some discriminating speech features were observed language dependent, which serves as an evidence that there is a necessity to adapt speech-based cognitive load detection techniques to diverse language contexts for a higher performance.
Cerebro- and Cardio-vascular Responses to Energy Drink in Young Adults: Is there a Gender Effect?

Background and Purpose: Energy drinks (EDs) are suspected to induce potential adverse cardiovascular effects and have recently been shown to reduce cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) in young, healthy subjects. Gender differences in CBFV in response to EDs have not previously been investigated, despite the fact that women are more prone to cardiovascular disturbances such as neurocardiogenic syncope than men. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore gender differences in cerebrovascular and cardiovascular responses to EDs. Methods: We included 45 subjects in a retrospective analysis of pooled data from two previous randomized trials carried out in our laboratory with similar protocols. Beat-to-beat blood pressure, impedance cardiography, transcranial Doppler, and end-tidal carbon dioxide (etCO2) measurements were made for at least 20 min baseline and for 80 min following the ingestion of 355 mL of a sugar-sweetened ED. Gender and time differences in cerebrovascular and cardiovascular parameters were investigated. Results: CBFV was significantly reduced in response to ED, with the greatest reduction observed in women compared with men (−12.3 ± 0.8 vs. −9.7 ± 0.8%, P < 0.05). Analysis of variance indicated significant time (P < 0.01) and gender × time (P < 0.01) effects. The percentage change in CBFV in response to ED was independent of body weight and etCO2. No significant gender difference in major cardiovascular parameters in response to ED was observed. Conclusions: ED ingestion reduced CBFV over time, with a greater reduction observed in women compared with men. Our results have potential implications for women ED consumers, as well as high-risk individuals.
Nursing Diagnosis Risk for falls: prevalence and clinical profile of hospitalized patients1

Objectives to identify the prevalence of the Nursing Diagnosis (ND) Risk for falls in the hospitalizations of adult patients in clinical and surgical units, to characterize the clinical profile and to identify the risk factors of the patients with this ND. Method a cross-sectional study with 174 patients. The data was collected from the computerized nursing care prescriptions system and on-line hospital records, and analyzed statistically. Results the prevalence of the ND Risk for falls was 4%. The patients' profile indicated older adults, males (57%), those hospitalized in the clinical units (63.2%), with a median length of hospitalization of 20 (10-24) days, with neurological illnesses (26%), cardio-vascular illnesses (74.1%) and various co-morbidities (3±1.8). The prevalent risk factors were neurological alterations (43.1%), impaired mobility (35.6%) and extremes of age (10.3%). Conclusion the findings contributed to evidencing the profile of the patients with a risk of falling hospitalized in clinical and surgical wards, which favors the planning of interventions for preventing this adverse event.
An Anisotropic Diffusion Filtering Implementation to Execute in Parallel Distributed Systems

In this paper, we present a parallelization of a filtering algorithm related to non-linear anisotropic diffusion, used to enhance the performance of an application in a parallel distributed system. The anisotropic diffusion is a well-established technique for image enhancement by means of diffusivity functions, which act as border attenuators. However, it requires a high computational cost when a large amount of data is used. The proposed implementation was parallelized considering both point-to-point and collective communications, adopting the MPI paradigm. Results from both approaches indicate that the proposed algorithm has reached interesting levels of performance (81% and 93% of efficiency, respectively) when compared to the execution of one process in a single computer node. In addition, our results indicate an enhancement of around 21% utilizing the collective communication strategy when compared to point-to-point communication.
Alf1p, a CLIP-170 Domain-containing Protein, Is Functionally and Physically Associated with α-Tubulin

Tubulin is a heterodimer of α- and β-tubulin polypeptides. Assembly of the tubulin heterodimer in vitro requires the CCT chaperonin complex, and a set of five proteins referred to as the tubulin cofactors (Tian, F., Y. Huang, H. Rommelaere, J. Vandekerckhove, C. Ampe, and N.J. Cowan. 1996. Cell. 86:287–296; Tian, G., S.A. Lewis, B. Feierbach, T. Stearns, H. Rommelaere, C. Ampe, and N.J. Cowan. 1997. J. Cell Biol. 138:821–832). We report the characterization of Alf1p, the yeast ortholog of mammalian cofactor B. Alf1p interacts with α-tubulin in both two-hybrid and immunoprecipitation assays. Alf1p and cofactor B contain a single CLIP-170 domain, which is found in several microtubule-associated proteins. Mutation of the CLIP-170 domain in Alf1p disrupts the interaction with α-tubulin. Mutations in α-tubulin that disrupt the interaction with Alf1p map to a domain on the cytoplasmic face of α-tubulin; this domain is distinct from the region of interaction between α-tubulin and β-tubulin. Alf1p-green fluorescent protein (GFP) is able to associate with microtubules in vivo, and this localization is abolished either by mutation of the CLIP-170 domain in Alf1p, or by mutation of the Alf1p-binding domain in α-tubulin. Analysis of double mutants constructed between null alleles of ALF1 and PAC2, which encodes the other yeast α-tubulin cofactor, suggests that Alf1p and Pac2p act in the same pathway leading to functional α-tubulin. The phenotype of overexpression of ALF1 suggests that Alf1p can act to sequester α-tubulin from interaction with β-tubulin, raising the possibility that it plays a regulatory role in the formation of the tubulin heterodimer.
Occult HBV infection among a cohort of Nigerian adults.

OBJECTIVE To determine markers of HBV infection and detect the presence of its occult infection in serum of a cohort of adult Nigerians. METHODOLOGY The study involved 28 adult Nigerians with viral hepatitis (Group 1) and 28 apparently healthy adult Nigerians as controls (Group 2). Their sera were assayed for HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-HBe, anti-HBc, anti-HBs, and anti-HCV, while HBV DNA was determined in 15 patients with chronic hepatitis. Significance of differences between the patients and control subjects was assessed using Chi-square test at a 95% confidence level. RESULTS Sero-detection of HBsAg, HBeAg, anti-HBe and anti-HBc was higher among the patients compared to the controls. HBV infection was diagnosed by HBsAg (89%) and a duo of HBsAg and anti-HBc (100%) among the patients. Similarly, eleven and four types of different patterns of HBV markers were observed among the respective groups. Anti-HBe (9.5%), anti-HBc (14.3%), and anti-HBs (9.5%) were detected among all the subjects who were sero-negative for HBsAg. HBV DNA was also detected in 86.7% of the 15 patients with chronic hepatitis, while occult HBV infection was observed in 7.2% of the patients and none (0%) of the controls, p < 0.05. Furthermore, HCV infection occurred among subjects with all the different patterns of HBV markers, except those with occult HBV infection and natural immunity to HBV. CONCLUSION This study shows that occult HBV infection is present among Nigerian adults and determination of HBsAg, anti-HBc, anti-HBe, and HBV DNA will assist in its detection.
Practice Patterns and Trends in the Use of Medical Therapy in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Ontario

Background Clinical guidelines emphasize medical therapy as the initial approach to the management of patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the extent to which medical therapy is applied before and after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in contemporary clinical practice is uncertain. We evaluated medication use for patients with stable CAD undergoing PCI, and assessed whether the COURAGE study altered medication use in the Canadian healthcare system. Methods and Results A population‐based cohort of 23 680 older patients >65 years old) with stable CAD undergoing PCI in Ontario between 2003 and 2010 was assembled. Optimal medical therapy (OMT) was defined as prescription for a β‐blocker, statin, and either angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker in the 90 days before PCI, and the same medications plus thienopyridine 90 days following PCI. Prior to PCI, 8023 (33.9%) patients were receiving OMT, 11 891 (50.2%) were on suboptimal therapy, and 3766 (15.9%) were not prescribed any medications of interest. There was significant improvement in medical therapy following PCI (OMT: 11 149 [47.1%], suboptimal therapy: 11 591 [48.9%], and none: 940 [4.0%], P<0.001). Utilization rate of OMT reduced significantly after the publication of COURAGE (34.9% before versus 32.8% after, P<0.001). Similarly, the rate of OMT following PCI was lower in the period after publication of COURAGE (47.3% before versus 46.9% after, P<0.001). Conclusions OMT was prescribed in about 1 in 3 patients prior to PCI and less than half after PCI. In contrast to the anticipated impact of COURAGE, we found lower rates of medication use in PCI patients after its publication.
Do Financial Analysts Restrain Insiders' Informational Advantage?

By collecting and disseminating price-sensitive information, financial analysts should reduce firm insidersâ€™ informational advantage with a consequent impact on trading dynamics and market quality. We empirically examine the impact of complete analystsâ€™ coverage termination on stocksâ€™ liquidity, price discovery, and insider trading profitability. Termination leads to deteriorating liquidity and price efficiency, more informed trading, and higher profitability of insider trades. The magnitude of these effects depends on the strength of insidersâ€™ ownership and on managementâ€™s decision whether to improve the firmâ€™s information environment after coverage termination. Institutional investors alleviate, but do not eliminate, the negative effects of termination.
Living Within Blurry Boundaries: The Value of Distinguishing Between Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Recently, a debate has arisen around what can be called the “indistinguishability thesis,” that is, the claim that it is impossible to distinguish between qualitative and quantitative research. In contrast, this article argues that the inability to define simple, sharp boundaries around qualitative and quantitative research does not eliminate the value of this distinction; instead, this difference can be understood in terms of “family resemblances. ” Furthermore, it is important to recognize that the separation between qualitative and quantitative research underlies the different strengths of different methods, which is a central principle in mixed methods research design. Ultimately, we must learn to tolerate the blurry boundaries between qualitative and quantitative research, while appreciating the value this distinction has for mixed methods research.
Verb Phrase Pronominalization in Danish : Deep or Surface Anaphora ? *

In their seminal (1976) paper Hankamer and Sag show that anaphora comes in two basic types. Deep anaphors, like the it in Jasper ate a durian but Maria couldn’t do it, are syntactically atomic. They receive their interpretation from rules of semantic interpretation that make reference to objects in a discourse or other semantic model (Sag and Hankamer 1984). Surface anaphors on the other hand possess a fully articulated syntactic structure whose surface representation is rendered opaque by phonological operations such as deletion. Verb Phrase Ellipsis (VPE), for example, results from the nonpronunciation of a full-fledged verb phrase: Rupert likes horse races but Holly doesn’t [like horse races]. Crucially for Hankamer and Sag, whether an anaphor is deep or surface is independent of whether it has an overt phonological realization or not. For the most part, later research has backed up this claim. Do it anaphora (Kehler and Ward 2004) and Null Complement Anaphora (Depiante 2000) are instances of overt deep and nonovert deep anaphora respectively, while VPE and Sluicing are nonovert surface anaphors (Merchant 2001; Goldberg 2005). The exception is the overt surface category. Hankamer and Sag’s only example is anaphoric so, e.g. Adrian played chess and Roxanne did so too, but this classification has since been called into question (Kehler and Ward 1999, 2004). In this paper, we present data from a little-studied type of verb phrase anaphora in Danish and argue that it instantiates the controversial overt surface anaphora category of Hankamer and Sag. The phenomenon, which we call Verb Phrase Pronominalization (henceforth VPP), is illustrated in (1)-(2).
Meaning creation and communication in a community of agents

The emergence of communication is studied in a scenario where agents endowed with distinct object-meaning mappings learn from scratch signal-meaning associations (i.e., communication codes) that allow them to identify the objects in their environment. Meanings are created through the Modeling Field Theory categorization mechanism, and learning is based on two variants of the obverter procedure, in which the agents may or may not receive feedback about the success of the communication episodes. We show that in the unsupervised learning scheme the agents fail to develop ideal communication codes, whereas success is guaranteed in the supervised scheme provided the size of the repertoire of signals is sufficiently large, though only a few signal are actually used in the code. Thus the mere ability to produce and observe different signals bears on the quality of the evolved communication codes.
An exploration of the roles of trauma and dissociation in mystical experiences and near-death experiences

ABSTRACT The study aimed to corroborate the notion that mystical experiences and near-death experiences (NDE) are associated with trauma and dissociation and to test whether the prevalence of NDE is congruent across cultures. Among 100 university students who completed a 99-item questionnaire, 20 scored 7 or above on the NDE Scale. Furthermore, group comparisons showed that participants with either mystical experiences or NDE scored significantly higher than those without such experiences on all dissociative measures, but not on the trauma-related measures and absorption. The results support earlier findings implying that dissociation is a common feature in NDE and mystical experiences.
The gon-1 gene is required for gonadal morphogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans.

In wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans, the gonad is a complex epithelial tube that consists of long arms composed predominantly of germline tissue as well as somatic structures specialized for particular reproductive functions. In gon-1 mutants, the adult gonad is severely disorganized with essentially no arm extension and no recognizable somatic structure. The developmental defects in gon-1 mutants are limited to the gonad; other cells, tissues, and organs appear to develop normally. Previous work defined the regulatory "leader" cells as crucial for extension of the gonadal arms (J. E. Kimble and J. G. White, 1981, Dev. Biol. 81, 208-219). In gon-1 mutants, the leader cells are specified correctly, but they fail to migrate and gonadal arms are not generated. In addition, gon-1 is required for morphogenesis of the gonadal somatic structures. This second role appears to be independent of that required for leader migration. Parallel studies have shown that gon-1 encodes a secreted metalloprotease (R. Blelloch and J. Kimble, 1999, Nature 399, 586-590). We discuss how a metalloprotease may control two aspects of gonadal morphogenesis.
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Working Paper Series the Frequency of Price Adjustment Viewed through the Lens of Aggregate Data the Frequency of Price Adjustment Viewed through the Lens of Aggregate Data

The views in this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Abstract The Calvo pricing model that lies at the heart of many New Keynesian business cycle models has been roundly criticized for being inconsistent both with time series data on in ‡ation and with micro-data on the frequency of price changes. In this paper I develop a new pricing model whose structure can be interpreted in terms of menu costs and information gathering/processing costs, that usefully recognizes both criticisms. The resulting Phillips curve encompasses the partial-indexation model, the full-indexation model, and the Calvo model, and can speak to micro-data in ways that these models cannot. Taking the Phillips curve to the data, I …nd that the share of …rms that change prices each quarter is about 60 percent and, perhaps re ‡ecting the importance of information gather-ing/processing costs, that price indexation is important for in ‡ation dynamics.
The Role of Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potentials, Electronystagmography and Transcranial Doppler in Evaluation of Patients with Vertigo

Background: vertigo may be a warning sign of impending vertebrobasilar stroke. Objective: To investigate the role of brain stem auditory evoked potential (BAEP), electronystagmography (ENG) studies and results of transcranial Doppler (TCD) in patients with vertigo of vertebrobasilar origin and patients with vertigo of non -vertebrobasilar origin. Methods: Twenty five patients with vertigo aged 40-65 and 10 controls with no history of vertigo were studied. The patients were subjected to clinical neuropsychiatric evaluation, basic audiological evaluation, BAEP, ENG and TCD. Patients were divided into 2 groups depending on history, neurological examination and laboratory investigations. Group I includes 11 patients with vertebrobasilar insufficiency (VBI), group II includes 14 patients with no manifestation of vertebrobasilar insufficiency (non-VBI). Results: In VBI group ENG was abnormal in 81.8%. TCD 72.7%, BAEP 63.6% the three tests were abnormal in 63%. In non VBI group, ENG was abnormal i n 64.2%, TCD 21.4% BAEP 14.2%. Positive correlation was found between delayed latencies of wave III & V of ABR response and pulsatility index of vertebrobasilar arteries. Conclusion: TCD combined with BAEP and ENG can lead to early recognitions of patients at risk of vertebrobasilar stroke. Hence appropriate investigations and treatment could be done to prevent this outcome. [Egypt J Neurol Psychiat Neurosurg. 2010; 47(3): 511-518]