Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Generalized Levitin-Polyak Well-Posedness of Vector Equilibrium Problems

We study generalized Levitin-Polyak well-posedness of vector equilibrium problems with functional constraints as well as an abstract set constraint. We will introduce several types of generalized Levitin-Polyak well-posedness of vector equilibrium problems and give various criteria and characterizations for these types of generalized Levitin-Polyak well-posedness.
SDSP: A novel saliency detection method by combining simple priors

Salient regions detection from images is an important and fundamental research problem in neuroscience and psychology and it serves as an indispensible step for numerous machine vision tasks. In this paper, we propose a novel conceptually simple salient region detection method, namely SDSP, by combining three simple priors. At first, the behavior that the human visual system detects salient objects in a visual scene can be well modeled by band-pass filtering. Secondly, people are more likely to pay their attention on the center of an image. Thirdly, warm colors are more attractive to people than cold colors are. Extensive experiments conducted on the benchmark dataset indicate that SDSP could outperform the other state-of-the-art algorithms by yielding higher saliency prediction accuracy. Moreover, SDSP has a quite low computational complexity, rendering it an outstanding candidate for time critical applications. The Matlab source code of SDSP and the evaluation results have been made online available at http://sse.tongji. edu.cn/linzhang/va/SDSP/SDSP.htm.
A systematic review of commercial serological antibody detection tests for the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis

Conventional diagnostic tests for tuberculosis have several limitations and are often unhelpful in establishing the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Although commercial serological antibody based tests are available, their usefulness in the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis is unknown. A systematic review was conducted to assess the accuracy of commercial serological antibody detection tests for the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. In a comprehensive search, 21 studies that reported data on sensitivity and specificity for extrapulmonary tuberculosis were identified. These studies evaluated seven different commercial tests, with Anda-TB IgG accounting for 48% of the studies. The results showed that (1) all commercial tests provided highly variable estimates of sensitivity (range 0.00–1.00) and specificity (range 0.59–1.00) for all extrapulmonary sites combined; (2) the Anda-TB IgG kit showed highly variable sensitivity (range 0.26–1.00) and specificity (range 0.59–1.00) for all extrapulmonary sites combined; (3) for all tests combined, sensitivity estimates for both lymph node tuberculosis (range 0.23–1.00) and pleural tuberculosis (range 0.26–0.59) were poor and inconsistent; and (4) there were no data to determine the accuracy of the tests in children or in patients with HIV infection, the two groups for which the test would be most useful. At present, commercial antibody detection tests for extrapulmonary tuberculosis have no role in clinical care or case detection.
Diagnostic Procedures to Detect Chlamydia trachomatis Infections

The intracellular life style of chlamydia and the ability to cause persistent infections with low-grade replication requires tests with high analytical sensitivity to directly detect C. trachomatis (CT) in medical samples. Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) are the most sensitive assays with a specificity similar to cell culture and are considered the method of choice for CT detection. In addition, NAATs can be performed on various clinical specimens that do not depend on specific transport and storage conditions, since NAATs do not require infectious bacteria. In the case of lower genital tract infections, first void urine and vaginal swabs are the recommended specimens for testing males and females, respectively. Infections of anorectal, oropharyngeal and ocular epithelia should also be tested by NAAT analysis of corresponding mucosal swabs. In particular, anorectal infections of men who have sex with men (MSM) should include evaluation of lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) by identification of genotypes L1, L2 or L3. Detection of CT antigens by enzyme immunoassay (EIAs) or rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) are unsuitable due to insufficient sensitivity and specificity. Recent PCR-based RDTs, however, are non-inferior to standard NAATs, and might be used at the point-of-care. Serology finds application in the diagnostic work-up of suspected chronic CT infection but is inappropriate to diagnose acute infections.
X-ray properties of two transient ULX candidates in galaxy NGC 7090

We report the X-ray data analysis of two transient ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs; hereafter X1 and X2) located in the nearby galaxy NGC 7090. While they were not detected in the 2004 XMM–Newton and 2005 Chandra observations, their 0.3–10 keV X-ray luminosities reached >3 × 1039 erg s−1in later XMM–Newton or Swift observations, showing increases in flux by a factor of >80 and >300 for X1 and X2, respectively. X1 showed indications of spectral variability: at the highest luminosity, its X-ray spectra can be fitted with a power law (Γ = 1.55 ± 0.15), or a multicolour disc model with $T_{\mathrm{in}}=2.07^{+0.30}_{-0.23}$ keV; the X-ray spectrum became softer ($\Gamma =2.67^{+0.69}_{-0.64}$), or cooler ($T_\mathrm{in}=0.64^{+0.28}_{-0.17}$ keV) at lower luminosity. No strong evidence for spectral variability was found for X2. Its X-ray spectra can be fitted with a simple power-law model ($\Gamma =1.61^{+0.55}_{-0.50}$), or a multicolour disc model ($1.69^{+1.17}_{-0.48}$ keV). A possible optical counterpart for X1 is revealed in HST imaging. No optical variability is found, indicating that the optical radiation may be dominated by the companion star. Future X-ray and optical observations are necessary to determine the true nature of the compact object.
Intrinsic and extrinsic determinants of mountain pine beetle population growth

1 Mountain pine beetle Dendroctonus ponderosae populations have large, economically significant outbreaks. Density dependence and environmental variability are expected to have important effects on their dynamics. We analysed time series data from an outbreak in the 1930s to determine the relative importance of population density and environmental variability on local population growth rates.
Enhanced immune responsiveness to a thymus‐independent antigen early after adult thymectomy: Evidence for short‐lived inhibitory thymus‐derived cells

Mice thymectomized as adults and injected with polyvinylpyrrolidone, a thymus‐independent antigen, demonstrated significantly enhanced antibody responses compared to sham‐thymectomized controls when immunized as early as three weeks after thymectomy. Increasing the interval between thymectomy and immunization, even up to seven months, did not significantly increase the extent of this enhancement, suggesting the effect may be caused by the removal of a short‐lived subpopulation of “inhibitory” thymus‐derived cells.
Extracellular Secretion of Overexpressed Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-Linked Cell Wall Protein Utr2/Crh2p as a Novel Protein Quality Control Mechanism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT Eukaryotic cells employ a variety of mechanisms to maintain protein quality control and homeostasis. Here we provide evidence that one such mechanism in Saccharomyces cerevisiae involves the regulated release of excess or misfolded proteins to the extracellular space. The overexpression of an epitope-tagged allele of the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-linked cell wall protein Utr2/Crh2p (Utr2/Crh2-green fluorescent protein [GFP] or -hemagglutinin [HA]) causes endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the secretion of Crh2-GFP/HA into the extracellular space. Secretion is dependent on two GPI-linked aspartyl proteases (Yps1p/2p) and components of the unfolded protein response (Ire1p and Hac1p) but is independent of ER-associated degradation (ERAD) components such as Hrd1p and Doa10p. Supporting the idea that this process represents a mechanism for protein quality control, the level of Crh2-HA is increased in strains lacking Bst1p, a protein required for the proteasomal degradation of GPI-linked proteins. Furthermore, secretion is dependent on Sec18p, indicating that it requires ER-to-Golgi trafficking, and accordingly, Crh2-HA accumulates in the ER in ire1Δ and bst1Δ mutants by cycloheximide chase experiments. Since a fraction of Utr2/Crh2-GFP properly localizes to the cell wall in an ire1Δ mutant, extracellular secretion appears to occur through a pathway that is distinct from the normal GPI protein-trafficking pathway. Taken together, these data support a model in which the unfolded protein response (UPR)/yapsin-mediated extracellular release of overexpressed Utr2/Crh2-HA or -GFP is an alternative pathway for the removal of excess or misfolded secretory proteins functioning in parallel with proteasome-mediated degradation in S. cerevisiae. This model provides an explanation for the deleterious effects of Yps1/2p on the industrial production of some recombinant proteins in S. cerevisiae.
Attenuated Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhi and Shigella flexneri 2a Strains Mucosally Deliver DNA Vaccines Encoding Measles Virus Hemagglutinin, Inducing Specific Immune Responses and Protection in Cotton Rats

ABSTRACT Measles remains a leading cause of child mortality in developing countries. Residual maternal measles antibodies and immunologic immaturity dampen immunogenicity of the current vaccine in young infants. Because cotton rat respiratory tract is susceptible to measles virus (MV) replication after intranasal (i.n.) challenge, this model can be used to assess the efficacy of MV vaccines. Pursuing a new measles vaccine strategy that might be effective in young infants, we used attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi CVD 908-htrA and Shigella flexneri 2a CVD 1208 vaccines to deliver mucosally to cotton rats eukaryotic expression plasmid pGA3-mH and Sindbis virus-based DNA replicon pMSIN-H encoding MV hemagglutinin (H). The initial i.n. dose-response with bacterial vectors alone identified a well-tolerated dosage (1 × 109 to 7 × 109 CFU) and a volume (20 μl) that elicited strong antivector immune responses. Animals immunized i.n. on days 0, 28, and 76 with bacterial vectors carrying DNA plasmids encoding MV H or immunized parenterally with these naked DNA vaccine plasmids developed MV plaque reduction neutralizing antibodies and proliferative responses against MV antigens. In a subsequent experiment of identical design, cotton rats were challenged with wild-type MV 1 month after the third dose of vaccine or placebo. MV titers were significantly reduced in lung tissue of animals immunized with MV DNA vaccines delivered either via bacterial live vectors or parenterally. Since attenuated serovar Typhi and S. flexneri can deliver measles DNA vaccines mucosally in cotton rats, inducing measles immune responses (including neutralizing antibodies) and protection, boosting strategies can now be evaluated in animals primed with MV DNA vaccines.
Analysis of perceived risk among construction workers: a cross-cultural study and reflection on the Hofstede model

This article presents a cross-cultural study on perceived risk in the construction industry. Worker samples from three different countries were studied: Spain, Peru and Nicaragua. The main goal was to explain how construction workers perceive their occupational hazard and to analyze how this is related to their national culture. The model used to measure perceived risk was the psychometric paradigm. The results show three very similar profiles, indicating that risk perception is independent of nationality. A cultural analysis was conducted using the Hofstede model. The results of this analysis and the relation to perceived risk showed that risk perception in construction is independent of national culture. Finally, a multiple lineal regression analysis was conducted to determine what qualitative attributes could predict the global quantitative size of risk perception. All of the findings have important implications regarding the management of safety in the workplace.
Needs of adult family members of intensive care unit patients.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The purpose of this research was to examine current perceptions of adult family members' needs of intensive care unit patients in the Midwest, USA. Examining family needs may help determine effectiveness of guideline implementation. BACKGROUND Family needs of intensive care unit patients is a topic widely researched, but to date, the application of that research to the clinical practice guidelines is limited. Family members' of intensive care unit patients often experience stress and anxiety because of the high mortality rate of patients in intensive care. Family members are often involved with the patient's care especially as many units have open visitation policies. DESIGN Survey. METHOD The Critical Care Family Needs Inventory was distributed to a convenience sample of 50 family members from a Central Illinois, not-for-profit, 22-bed intensive care unit in the USA. RESULTS Forty-five adult family members returned completed questionnaires. The majority of the sample was female (66·7%), 40% were 49-64 years old. The majority of the sample of family members was spouses (36%) or adult children (36%). Eighty per cent of these family members reported they had previously visited a patient in the intensive care unit. Results of the survey revealed family members perceived assurance as the highest needs categories and support as the least important need. CONCLUSIONS Findings were consistent with earlier studies identifying assurance as a very important need. After publication of clinical practice guidelines for support of the family in the patient-centred intensive care unit, families continue to report the need for assurance. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Nurses need to give increased attention to effectively implementing clinical practice guidelines in an effort to meet family members' needs, especially those related to assurance. Assurance may be expressed differently by various cultures.
Mechanical correlates of dyspnea in bronchial asthma

We hypothesized that dyspnea and its descriptors, that is, chest tightness, inspiratory effort, unrewarded inspiration, and expiratory difficulty in asthma reflect different mechanisms of airflow obstruction and their perception varies with the severity of bronchoconstriction. Eighty‐three asthmatics were studied before and after inhalation of methacholine doses decreasing the 1‐sec forced expiratory volume by ~15% (mild bronchoconstriction) and ~25% (moderate bronchoconstriction). Symptoms were examined as a function of changes in lung mechanics. Dyspnea increased with the severity of obstruction, mostly because of inspiratory effort and chest tightness. At mild bronchoconstriction, multivariate analysis showed that dyspnea was related to the increase in inspiratory resistance at 5 Hz (R5) (r2 = 0.10, P = 0.004), chest tightness to the decrease in maximal flow at 40% of control forced vital capacity, and the increase in R5 at full lung inflation (r2 = 0.15, P = 0.006), inspiratory effort to the temporal variability in R5‐19 (r2 = 0.13, P = 0.003), and unrewarded inspiration to the recovery of R5 after deep breath (r2 = 0.07, P = 0.01). At moderate bronchoconstriction, multivariate analysis showed that dyspnea and inspiratory effort were related to the increase in temporal variability in inspiratory reactance at 5 Hz (X5) (r2 = 0.12, P = 0.04 and r2 = 0.18, P < 0.001, respectively), and unrewarded inspiration to the decrease in X5 at maximum lung inflation (r2 = 0.07, P = 0.04). We conclude that symptom perception is partly explained by indexes of airway narrowing and loss of bronchodilatation with deep breath at low levels of bronchoconstriction, but by markers of ventilation heterogeneity and lung volume recruitment when bronchoconstriction becomes more severe.
Analysis of Electrophysiological State Patterns and Changes During Hypnosis Induction

Abstract Hypnosis can be seen as a guided induction of various states of consciousness. This article details a time-series analysis that visualized the electrophysiological state changes during a session as a correlate to the instructions. Sixty-four channels of EEG and peripheral physiological measures were recorded in 1 highly susceptible subject. Significant state changes occurred synchronously with specific induction instructions. Some patterns could be physiologically explained, such as sensorimotor desynchronization over the right hemispheric hand area during left arm levitation. There was a highly significant increase in broadband activity during the stepwise trance induction that may point to a deep hypnotic state. This study provides illustrated proof for the detectability of physiological state changes as correlates to different states of awareness, consciousness, or cognition during hypnosis.
Impact of homozygosity for an amyloidogenic transthyretin mutation on phenotype and long term outcome

Although amyloidogenic transthyretin (ATTR) mutations are common in several populations, such as black Americans, the small number of diagnosed patients homozygous for TTR amyloid and the short follow up in most studies has until now prevented an analysis of their phenotype. In Sweden, nine homozygous patients from eight families carrying the ATTR mutation Val30Met, which gives rise to fatal neuropathic amyloidosis (FAP), have been identified and have now been followed for up to 15 years. This has enabled an analysis of the phenotype of homozygous patients. Genetic testing and detection of amyloid deposits in the vitreous body or in intestinal or skin biopsies confirmed the diagnosis in all patients. The patients’ symptoms were obtained from medical records. For comparison, we used a group of 35 heterozygous non-transplanted patients with FAP (18 men and 17 women), who had been evaluated at the Department of Medicine, Umeå University Hospital before their deaths. Vitreous amyloidosis was the most prevalent symptom in the homozygous group, and in two patients it was the only manifestation of the disease during their lifetime. The age at onset was not different from that of heterozygous patients, and their survival tended not to be shorter but actually longer than for heterozygotes. Homozygosity for the mutation associated with FAP, ATTR Val30Met, does not implicate a more severe phenotype for Swedish patients. The most common symptom was vitreous opacity, which may be the only manifestation of the disease. These findings point to the possibilities of different pathways for amyloid formation, or the presence of hitherto unknown genes operating in amyloid formation.
EQUIVALENCE IN FREE GROUPS

Motivated by the work of Leininger on hyperbolic equivalence of homotopy classes of closed curves on surfaces, we investigate a similar phenomenon for free groups. Namely, we study the situation when two elements g, h in a free group F have the property that for every free isometric action of F on an R-tree X the translation lengths of g and h on X are equal.
Lagrangian study of the Panama Bight and surrounding regions

Near-surface circulation of the Panama Bight and surrounding regions [0-9°N; 73°W-90°W] was studied using satellite-tracked drifter trajectories from 1979-2004. This region encompasses three major currents showing typical velocities of ∼30 cm s−1: (1) the eastward North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC), (2) the near-circular Panama Bight Cyclonic Gyre (PBCG), and (3) the westward South Equatorial Current (SEC). We do not observe significant modification of the mean surface circulation during El Nino Southern Oscillation events, even if the SEC is slightly reinforced during relatively warm El Nino periods. At seasonal scales, the circulation is strongly controlled by the activity of the Panama wind-jet: in boreal winter, the currents are stronger and an anticyclonic cell is present west of the PBCG. This dipole leads to a strong ∼200 km wide southward current which then disappears during the rest of the year. In summer, the three major currents have reduced intensity by 30%-40%. Large-scale current vorticity shows that the upwelling associated with the PBCG is also 3-4 times stronger in winter than during summer months. The kinetic energy is largely dominated by eddy activity and its intensity is double in winter than during summer. Ageostrophic motions and eddy activity appear to have a substantial impact on the energy spatial distribution. In the NECC and SEC regions, Lagrangian scales are anisotropic and zonally enhanced in the direction of the mean currents. The typical integral time and length scales of these regions are 2.5 days and 50-60 km in the zonal direction and 1.5 days and 25-30 km in the meridional direction. Lateral eddy diffusivity coefficients are on the order of 11-14 107 cm2 s−1 zonally and 5-6 107 cm2 s−1 meridionally. In contrast, in the PBCG region, the Lagrangian characteristics are isotropic with typical timescales of 1.7 days, space scales of 30 km and eddy diffusivity coefficients of 6 107 cm2 s−1 in both directions.
A Bayesian technique for terrain mapping using multi-frequency ground based interferometric SAR systems

In this paper we present some preliminary results of the application on real data of a statistical method to solve the height estimation problem in Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). The method is based on maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation and Markov Random Fields (MRF) image modeling, and makes use of multifrequency/baseline SAR raw data. The real data set is acquired by a Ground-Based SAR (GB-SAR) interferometer based on the LiSA technology
Lidocaine Attenuates Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Acute Lung Injury through Inhibiting NF-κB Activation

Background and Objectives: Lidocaine has been reported to attenuate the inflammatory response in addition to its anesthetic activity, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. The objective of this study is to determine if lidocaine prior to endotoxemia diminishes pulmonary dysfunction by blocking the NF-ĸB activation. Methods: Rats were assigned to: (1) control (0.9% sodium chloride); (2) lipopolysaccharides (LPS); (3) LPS + lidocaine 1 mg/kg; (4) LPS + lidocaine 2 mg/kg, and (5) LPS + lidocaine 4 mg/kg. The LPS and LPS + lidocaine 4 mg/kg groups were subjected to 1-, 3-, 6- and 12-hour time points. To investigate the activation of NF-ĸB, the expression of NF-ĸB in the nuclear and IĸBα in the cytosol extracts were analyzed by Western blot. The concentration of TNF-α and IL-6 in serum was detected by ELISA. The pathologic changes of the lung were observed using HE staining. Results: After i.p. injection of LPS, the expression of NF-ĸB in the nuclear extracts was significantly increased and IĸBα in the cytosol extracts was markedly decreased. The concentration of TNF-α and IL-6 in serum was increased. Pathological examination showed that the normal structure of the lung was destroyed badly. However, lidocaine reversed the above results. Conclusion: Lidocaine attenuates LPS-induced lung injury via mechanisms involving inhibiting NF-ĸB activation and cytokine release, which implies that lidocaine may be a potential anti-inflammatory agent in endotoxemia.
The new views on demographic transition: a reassessment of Malthus's and Marx's approach to population

The purpose of this paper is to examine the divergence of views of Marx and Malthus regarding the family and the labour market. The paper analyses the divergences between them, as well as their common features. The main divergence is the way in which the two see the interaction between man and nature. We show that their divergence of views, and the specific difference in perception of the two thinkers regarding the place of children in the family over time, is related to the alternate ways of modelling demographic transition today. We analyse the debate between these two lines of reasoning by means of a formal model that differentiate between the two views.