Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rates, patterns, and impacts ofPhragmites australis expansion and effects of experimentalPhragmites control on vegetation, macroinvertebrates, and fish within tidelands of the lower Connecticut River

Phragmites expansion rates (linear at 1–3% yr−1) and impacts of this expansion on high marsh macroinvertebrates, aboveground production, and litter decomposition fromPhragmites and other marsh graminoids were studied along a polyhaline to oligohaline gradient. These parameters, and fish use of creeks and high marsh, were also studied inPhragmites control sites (herbicide, mowing, and combined herbicide/mow treatments). Phragmites clones established without obvious site preferences on oligohaline marshes, expanding radially. At higher salinities,Phragmites preferentially colonized creekbank levees and disturbed upland borders, then expanded into the central marsh. Hydroperiods, but not salinities or water table, distinguishedPhragmites-dominated transects. Pooled samples ofPhragmites leaves, stems, and flowers decompose more slowly than other marsh angiosperms;Phragmites leaves alone decompose as or more rapidly than those of cattail. AbovegroundPhragmites production was 1,300 to 2,400 g m−2 (about 23% of this as leaves), versus 600–800 g m−2 for polyhaline to mesohaline meadow and 1,300 g m−2 for oligohaline cattail-sedge marsh. Macroinvertebrates appear largely unaffected byPhragmites expansion or control efforts; distribution and densities are unrelated to elevation or hydroperiod, but densities are positively related to litter cover. Dominant fish captured leaving flooded marsh wereFundulus heteroclitus andAnguilla rostrata; both preyed heavily on marsh macroinvertebrates.A. rostrata andMorone americana tended to be more common inPhragmites, but otherwise there were no major differences in use patterns betweenPhragmites and brackish meadow vegetation. SAV and macroalgal cover were markedly lower within aPhragmites-dominated creek versus one withSpartina-dominated banks. The same fish species assemblage was trapped in both plus a third within the herbicide/mow treatment. Fish biomass was greatest from theSpartina creek and lowest from thePhragmites creek, reflecting abundances ofF. heteroclitus. Mowing depressedPhragmites aboveground production and increased stem density, but was ineffective for control.Phragmites, Spartina patens, andJuncus gerardii frequencies after herbicide-only treatment were 0.53-0.21; total live cover was <8% with a heavy litter and dense standing dead stems. After two growing seasonsAgrostis stolonifera/S. patens/J. gerardii brackish meadow characterized most of the herbicide/mow treatment area;Phragmites frequency here was 0.53, contributing 3% cover. Both values more than doubled after four years; a single treatment is ineffective for long-termPhragmites control.
T-S Fuzzy Control for Uncertain Nonlinear Systems Using Adaptive Fuzzy Approach

This paper proposes on-line modeling via Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy models and robust adaptive control for a class of unknown nonlinear dynamic systems with external disturbances. The T-S fuzzy model is established to approximate an unknown nonlinear dynamic system in a linearized way. Fuzzy B-spline membership functions (BMFs) which possesses a fixed number of control points are developed for on-line tuning. In this paper, the closed-loop system which is controlled by the proposed controller can be stabilized and the tracking error will converge to zero. An example is simulated in order to confirm the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed methods in this paper.
Gait Authentication and Identification Using Wearable Accelerometer Sensor

This paper describes gait recognition using a body worn sensor. An accelerometer sensor (placed in the trousers pocket) is used for collecting gait features. From the acceleration signal of the person, cycles have been detected and analysed for recognition. We have applied four different methods (absolute distance, correlation, histogram, and higher order moments) to evaluate performance of the system both in authentication and identification modes. Our data set consists of 300 gait sequences collected from 50 subjects. Absolute distance metric has shown the best performance in terms of EER, which is equal to 7.3% (recognition rate is 86.3%). Furthermore, we have also analysed recognition performance when subjects were carrying a backpack.
Analysis of the Rail Shear Test-Applications and Limitations

A detailed theoretical and experimental analysis of the rail shear test is presented. A Fourier series solution is obtained for the stresses in an idealized rail shear specimen. The theoretical results are quali tatively verified on fiber reinforced rubber composites. Rail shear data on the modulus and strength of current high-modulus rein forced composites is compared to predicted values obtained from lamination theory. Results show that, despite definite limitations, the rail shear test can be useful in the determination of the in-plane shear properties of a laminated composite.
Genetic Diversity of Namibian Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. BR. (Pearl Millet) Landraces Analyzed by SSR and Morphological Markers

Current Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. BR. cultivars in Namibia have overall poor performance posing a threat to the nation's food security because this crop is staple for over 70% of the Namibian population. The crop suffers from undesirable production traits such as susceptibility to diseases, low yield, and prolonged reproductive cycle. This study aimed to understand the genetic diversity of the crop in Namibia by simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and morphology analysis. A total of 1441 genotypes were collected from the National Gene Bank representing all the Namibian landraces. A sample of 96 genotypes was further analyzed by SSR using Shannon-Wiener diversity index and revealed a value of 0.45 indicating low genetic diversity. Ordination using Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) on SSR data confirmed clusters generated by UPGMA for the 96 P. glaucum accessions. UPGMA phenograms of 29 morphological characterized genotypes were generated for SSR and morphology data and the two trees revealed 78% resemblance. Lodging susceptibility, tillering attitude, spike density, fodder yield potential, early vigour, and spike shape were the phenotypic characters upon which some clusters were based in both datasets. It is recommended that efforts should be made to widen the current gene pool in Namibia.
Review article: safety of infliximab in clinical trials

Infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody to tumour necrosis factor‐alpha, contains murine protein elements and targets the immune system, raising concerns about the potential for immune sensitization and immuno‐suppressive sequelae. However, long‐standing inflammatory disease with high activity and chronic immunosuppressant therapy can also predispose patients to immunosuppressive sequelae. Patients with Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and other indications received single or multiple doses of infliximab and their condition was followed for up to 3 years. Adverse events, most frequently headache, nausea, and upper respiratory tract infection, were generally mild and occurred in 76% of infliximab‐treated patients vs. 57% of placebo‐treated recipients. Human antichimeric antibodies developed in 13% of patients, increasing the potential for subsequent infusion reactions. Antibodies to double‐stranded DNA developed in a small percentage of patients. Other antinuclear antibodies characteristic of serum lupus erythematosus were not found; no patient developed a true lupus syndrome and no other autoimmune disorders were reported. Infliximab is not associated with typical immunosuppressive sequelae, such as infections and malignancy, or with autoimmune disorders. Infliximab therapy was well tolerated, serious adverse events were infrequent, successfully managed with medication and without sequelae, and overall mortality was within the expected incidence for this patient population.
Chronic Social Stress Time-Dependently Affects Neuropathic Pain-Related Cold Allodynia and Leads to Altered Expression of Spinal Biochemical Mediators

Clinical data have shown that chronic exposure to stress may be accompanied by an enhancement of inflammation-related pain sensitivity. In this context, little is however known on the impact of stress on neuropathic pain. In the present study we addressed this issue by combining the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model with an ongoing social stress (OSS) paradigm. Cold plate and von Frey tests were performed in 48 rats divided into four groups: OSS exposed to OSS, CCI subjected to chronic nerve constriction, OSS+CCI with a combination of neuropathy and stress and CON, a control group lacking any manipulation. While we did not observe any stress-related differences in mechanical sensitivity throughout the observation period, CCI rats were more sensitive to cold stimulation than OSS+CCI in the initial phase of neuropathy. A switch was observed at a later stage, leading to a hypersensitivity of the OSS+CCI compared to the CCI rats. At this time point we investigated the spinal mRNA expression of neuron and glia related molecules potentially involved in neuropathic pain and stress. The combination of psychosocial stress and neuropathic pain seemed to enhance glial cell activation, pro-inflammatory cytokine and neurotrophic factor mRNA levels, rather than glutamatergic transmission. Our data show that long lasting social stress may lead to time-dependent alteration of neuropathy-related cold pain sensitivity while mechanically-induced pain remains unchanged.
Lithium induces autophagy by inhibiting inositol monophosphatase

Macroautophagy is a key pathway for the clearance of aggregate-prone cytosolic proteins. Currently, the only suitable pharmacologic strategy for up-regulating autophagy in mammalian cells is to use rapamycin, which inhibits the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a negative regulator of autophagy. Here we describe a novel mTOR-independent pathway that regulates autophagy. We show that lithium induces autophagy, and thereby, enhances the clearance of autophagy substrates, like mutant huntingtin and α-synucleins. This effect is not mediated by glycogen synthase kinase 3β inhibition. The autophagy-enhancing properties of lithium were mediated by inhibition of inositol monophosphatase and led to free inositol depletion. This, in turn, decreased myo-inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) levels. Our data suggest that the autophagy effect is mediated at the level of (or downstream of) lowered IP3, because it was abrogated by pharmacologic treatments that increased IP3. This novel pharmacologic strategy for autophagy induction is independent of mTOR, and may help treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, like Huntington's disease, where the toxic protein is an autophagy substrate.
Atropine for Critical Care Intubation in a Cohort of 264 Children and Reduced Mortality Unrelated to Effects on Bradycardia

BACKGROUND Atropine has is currently recommended to facilitate haemodynamic stability during critical care intubation. Our objective was to determine whether atropine use at induction influences ICU mortality. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A 2-year prospective, observational study of all first non-planned intubations, September 2007-9 in PICU and Intensive Care Transport team of Hôpital Robert Debré, Paris, 4 other PICUs and 5 NICUs in the Paris Region, France. Follow-up was from intubation to ICU discharge. A propensity score was used to adjust for patient specific characteristics influencing atropine prescription. 264/333 (79%) intubations were included. The unadjusted ICU mortality was 7.2% (9/124) for those who received atropine compared to 15.7% (22/140) for those who did not (OR 0.42, 95%CI 0.19-0.95, p=0.04). One child died during intubation (1/264, 0.4%). Two age sub-groups of neonates (≤28 days) and older children (>28 days, <8 years) were examined. This difference in mortality arose from the higher mortality in children aged over one month when atropine was not used (propensity score adjusted OR 0.22, 95%CI 0.06-0.85, p=0.028). No effect was seen in neonates (propensity score adjusted OR 1.3, 95%CI 0.31-5.1 p=0.74). Using the propensity score, atropine maintained the mean heart rate 45.9 bpm above that observed when no atropine was used in neonates (95%CI 34.3-57.5, p<0.001) and 43.5 bpm for older children (95%CI 25.5-61.5 bpm, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Atropine use during induction was associated with a reduction in ICU mortality in children over one month. This effect is independent of atropine's capacity to attenuate bradycardia during intubation which occurred similarly in neonates and older children. This result needs to be confirmed in a study using randomised methodology.
An efficient evolutionary algorithm applied to the design of two-dimensional IIR filters

This paper presents an efficient technique of designing two-dimensional IIR digital filters using a new algorithm involving the tightly coupled synergism of particle swarm optimization and differential evolution. The design task is reformulated as a constrained minimization problem and is solved by our newly developed PSO-DV (Particle Swarm Optimizer with Differentially perturbed Velocity) algorithm. Numerical results are presented. The paper also demonstrates the superiority of the proposed design method by comparing it with two recently published filter design methods.
Associations between Dietary Intake of Fruits and Vegetables in relation to Urinary Estrogen DNA Adduct Ratio.

BACKGROUND Estrogen exposure plays a role in breast cancer (BC) development. A novel estrogen biomarker, the estrogen DNA adduct (EDA) ratio, was shown to be elevated in women at high-risk of BC and among BC cases. Modifiable factors may impact the EDA ratio, with studies demonstrating that resveratrol reduces EDA ratio in vitro. We sought to examine the hypothesis that dietary intake of fruits and vegetables is inversely associated with EDA ratio. METHODS This analysis was conducted in 53 pre-menopausal, healthy women aged 40-45 years from a cross-sectional study in which participants provided first-void urine samples and 3-day food records. Urine samples were analyzed using ultraperformance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. The EDA ratio was calculated as the estrogen-DNA adducts divided by estrogen metabolites and conjugates. A trend test was used to assess associations between tertiles of dietary intake using linear regression. RESULTS After adjustment for age, total energy, percent adiposity, serum estradiol and estrone-sulfate, we observed inverse associations of EDA ratio with carbohydrate consumption (P=0.01) and vegetable intake (P =0.01). EDA ratio was inversely associated with 5 botanical groups (Chenopodiaceae: P=0.02; Umbelliferae: P=0.03; Compositae: P=0.01; Ericaceae: P=0.01; Musaceae: P=0.03) but not fruit intake overall. CONCLUSION Although these data require replication before conclusions are drawn, this report suggests an inverse association between vegetable and carbohydrate consumption and EDA ratio. IMPACT While more information is still needed, these findings suggest a link between dietary intake and a biomarker that is both associated with high-risk BC status and associated with modifiable factors.
High Number of Circulating Tumor Cells Predicts Poor Survival of Cutaneous Melanoma Patients in China

Background Melanoma is an aggressive cancer with complex etiology and poor prognosis. Surgical resection is still the primary treatment of melanoma, but shows limited efficacy in late-stage patients. Additionally, reliable prognostic markers of skin melanoma patients are still lacking. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have shown promise in predicting prognosis of multiple cancers. Evaluating the prognostic value of CTC number in melanoma patients. Material/Methods CTCs were isolated by immunomagnetic capture from 7.5-mL samples of blood from 100 patients with cutaneous melanoma. Baseline CTC number (pre-treatment) and post-treatment CTC number were measured. Baseline CTC number and CTC number alteration were correlated with clinicopathological features and survival. Results Forty-three (43%) patients had more than 6 CTCs, whereas 57 (57%) had 6 cells or less. High baseline CTC count was associated with deep local invasion, lymph node metastasis, and distance metastasis, with P value of 0.003, 0.047, and 0.034, respectively. High baseline CTC count was also correlated with short overall survival time and was considered as an independent prognostic factor (P value=0.012, hazard ratio=2.262). CTC cell alteration was associated with progression-free survival and disease-specific survival (with P values of 0.012 and 0.009, respectively). Conclusions Baseline CTC count was correlated with adverse pathological features and was predictive of survival in melanoma patients. Alteration of CTC count before and after treatment was an indicator of therapy response and prognosis. Measuring the baseline and post-treatment CTC counts is a powerful tool in monitoring melanoma progression, drug response, and survival.
[Epidemiology of facial trauma].

OBJECTIVES This study aims to determine the incidence, etiology, severity of facial trauma and associated injuries enabling a greater understanding of its range and magnitude METHODS A hundred and sixty four patients were selected with some degree of facial trauma regardless of gender, age and skin color. Data were analyzed by the Pearson chi2 statistical method. RESULTS A male predominance was observed (78%) and its peak age was between 20 and 39 years. The major cause was interpersonal violence (48.1%), followed by fall (26.2%), run overs 6.4%), sports (5.4%), car accidents (4.2%), motorcycle accidents (3.1%), non-fall impacts (2.4%), occupational injuries (1.8%), gunshot wounds (1.2%), unspecific (1.2%). Contusion is the most common injury (23.8%), followed by fractures of the mandible (21.9%), Le Fort/pan facial/complex (17.8%), nasal bones (11.6%), zygoma (10.3%), tooth (9.1%), orbit (4.9%) and maxilla (0.6%). Associated injuries occurred mostly in run overs, but also because of car accident, fall and interpersonal violence. CONCLUSIONS The causes of facial trauma are directly related to the age and type of lesion. No evidence was found that the causes were related to gender or severity of the lesion.
In-vitro susceptibility of Aspergillus spp. isolates to amphotericin B and itraconazole.

The MICs of amphotericin B and itraconazole for 230 isolates of Aspergillus spp. , comprising 156 Aspergillus fumigatus, 20 Aspergillus terreus, 22 Aspergillus flavus, 17 Aspergillus nidulans and 15 Aspergillus niger, were determined by a broth microdilution method with RPMI 1640 medium. No isolate was detected with an MIC of amphotericin B >2 mg/L. Itraconazole MICs >16 mg/L were detected for four Aspergillus fumigatus and one Aspergillus nidulans isolates.
Relative Entropy Rate Based Multiple Hidden Markov Model Approximation

This paper proposes a novel relative entropy rate (RER) based approach for multiple HMM (MHMM) approximation of a class of discrete-time uncertain processes. Under different uncertainty assumptions, the model design problem is posed either as a min-max optimisation problem or stochastic minimization problem on the RER between joint laws describing the state and output processes (rather than the more usual RER between output processes). A suitable filter is proposed for which performance results are established which bound conditional mean estimation performance and show that estimation performance improves as the RER is reduced. These filter consistency and convergence bounds are the first results characterizing multiple HMM approximation performance and suggest that joint RER concepts provide a useful model selection criteria. The proposed model design process and MHMM filter are demonstrated on an important image processing dim-target detection problem.
The stock market

On May 17, 1792, a group of commodity brokers met and signed the now famous Buttonwood Tree Agreement, thereby establishing the forerunner of what soon became the New York Stock Exchange. Today, the NYSE is the world's largest and best known stock exchange. In 1998, the NYSE transacted more than $7 trillion in stock trades representing over 150 billion shares. Established in 1971, and less well known, Nasdaq executes trades for a similar number of stock shares. Together, the NYSE and Nasdaq account for the majority of stock trading in the United States. With this chapter, we begin in earnest our study of stock markets. This chapter presents a " big picture " overview of who owns stocks, how a stock exchange works, and how to read and understand stock market information reported in the financial press. A good place to start out is by looking at stock ownership. If you invest in common stock, you will find yourself in generally good company. More than one in every three adult Americans owns stock shares directly, or owns them indirectly through a defined contribution pension fund or stock mutual fund. Interestingly, only about 38 percent of all stockholders in 1992 had brokerage accounts, attesting to the importance of mutual funds and defined contribution pension funds. Stock ownership has become increasingly democratic in recent decades.
Pathways to extinction: beyond the error threshold

Since the introduction of the quasispecies and the error catastrophe concepts for molecular evolution by Eigen and their subsequent application to viral populations, increased mutagenesis has become a common strategy to cause the extinction of viral infectivity. Nevertheless, the high complexity of virus populations has shown that viral extinction can occur through several other pathways apart from crossing an error threshold. Increases in the mutation rate enhance the appearance of defective forms and promote the selection of mechanisms that are able to counteract the accelerated appearance of mutations. Current models of viral evolution take into account more realistic scenarios that consider compensatory and lethal mutations, a highly redundant genotype-to-phenotype map, rough fitness landscapes relating phenotype and fitness, and where phenotype is described as a set of interdependent traits. Further, viral populations cannot be understood without specifying the characteristics of the environment where they evolve and adapt. Altogether, it turns out that the pathways through which viral quasispecies go extinct are multiple and diverse.
Genre classification of music by tonal harmony

In this paper we present a genre classification framework for audio music based on a symbolic classification system. Audio signals are transformed into a symbolic representation of harmony using a chord transcription algorithm, based on the computation of harmonic pitch class profiles. Then, language models built from a ground truth of chord progressions for each genre are used to perform classification. We show that chord progressions are a suitable feature to represent musical genre, as they capture the harmonic rules relevant in each musical period or style. Finally, results using both pure symbolic information and chords transcribed from audio-from-MIDI are compared, in order to evaluate the effects of the transcription process in this task.
Synthetic fingerprint-database generation

This work complements our previous efforts in generating realistic fingerprint images for test purposes. The main variability which characterizes the acquisition of a fingerprint through an on-line sensor is modeled and a sequence of steps is defined to derive a series of impressions from the same master-fingerprint. This allows large fingerprint databases to be randomly generated according to some given parameters. The experimental results validate our technique and prove that it can be very useful for performance evaluation, learning and testing in fingerprint-based systems.