Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Euclidean Orienteering Problem Revisited

We consider the rooted orienteering problem: Given a set $P$ of $n$ points in the plane, a starting point $r \in P$, and a length constraint $B$, one needs to find a path starting from $r$ that visits as many points of $P$ as possible and of length not exceeding $B$. We present a $(1-\varepsilon)$-approximation algorithm for this problem that runs in $n^{O(1/\varepsilon)}$ time; the computed path visits at least $ (1-\varepsilon)k_{\mathrm{opt}}$ points of $P$, where $k_{\mathrm{opt}}$ is the number of points visited by an optimal solution. This is the first polynomial time approximation scheme for this problem. The algorithm also works in higher dimensions.
A multimedia patient simulation for teaching and assessing endodontic diagnosis.

Teaching and assessing diagnostic skills are difficult due to relatively small numbers of total clinical experiences and a shortage of clinical faculty. Patient simulations could help teach and assess diagnosis by displaying a well-defined diagnostic task, then providing informative feedback and opportunities for repetition and correction of errors. This report describes the development and initial evaluation of SimEndo I, a multimedia patient simulation program that could be used for teaching or assessing endodontic diagnosis. Students interact with a graphical interface that has four pull-down menus and related submenus. In response to student requests, the program presents patient information. Scoring is based on diagnosis of each case by endodontists. Pilot testing with seventy-four junior dental students identified numerous needed improvements to the user interface program. A multi-school field test of the interface program using three patient cases addressed three research questions: 1) How did the field test students evaluate SimEndo I? Overall mean evaluation was 8.1 on a 0 to 10 scale; 2) How many cases are needed to generate a reproducible diagnostic proficiency score for an individual student using the Rimoldi scoring procedure? Mean diagnostic proficiency scores by case ranged from . 27 to . 40 on a 0 to 1 scale; five cases would produce a score with a 0.80 reliability coefficient; and 3) Did students accurately diagnose each case? Mean correct diagnosis scores by case ranged from . 54 to . 78 on a 0 to 1 scale. We conclude that multimedia patient simulations offer a promising alternative for teaching and assessing student diagnostic skills.
Physical Activity across Frailty Phenotypes in Females with Parkinson's Disease

Females with Parkinson's disease (PD) are vulnerable to frailty. PD eventually leads to decreased physical activity, an indicator of frailty. We speculate PD results in frailty through reduced physical activity. Objective. Determine the contribution of physical activity on frailty in PD (n = 15, 65 ± 9 years) and non-PD (n = 15, 73 ± 14 years) females. Methods. Frailty phenotype (nonfrail/prefrail/frail) was categorized and 8 hours of physical activity was measured using accelerometer, global positioning system, and self-report. Two-way ANCOVA (age as covariate) was used to compare physical activity between disease and frailty phenotypes. Spearman correlation assessed relationships, and linear regression determined associations with frailty. Results. Nonfrail recorded more physical activity (intensity, counts, self-report) compared with frail. Self-reported physical activity was greater in PD than non-PD. In non-PD, step counts, light physical activity time, sedentary time, and self-reported physical activity were related to frailty (R = 0.91). In PD, only carbidopa-levodopa dose was related to frailty (r = 0.61). Conclusion. Physical activity influences frailty in females without PD. In PD females, disease management may be a better indicator of frailty than physical activity. Further investigation into how PD associated factors contribute to frailty is warranted.
Facilitating or foiling flow: the role of momentary perceptions of feedback

ABSTRACT When presented with opportunities for action that are optimally challenging in relation to one’s skills combined with clearly defined goals, and feedback regarding how well one is doing, an individual is able to completely focus attention on the present moment. Although these preconditions have been identified as being necessary for flow to occur questions remain as to how they interact to promote this sought after, yet elusive state. Study 1examined the role perceptions of feedback (POF) played in either facilitating or foiling flow for a sample of amateur and professional billiard players. Positive POF were found to facilitate flow, whereas negative POF prevented flow from occurring. Mind wandering and mindfulness were also assessed in relation to flow and POF. Exploratory analyses showed strong significant relationships in the expected directions between flow, POF, mindfulness, and mind wandering. Study 2 replicated the findings in study 1.
Slow conduction in mixed cultured strands of primary ventricular cells and stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes

Modern concepts for the treatment of myocardial diseases focus on novel cell therapeutic strategies involving stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (SCMs). However, functional integration of SCMs requires similar electrophysiological properties as primary cardiomyocytes (PCMs) and the ability to establish intercellular connections with host myocytes in order to contribute to the electrical and mechanical activity of the heart. The aim of this project was to investigate the properties of cardiac conduction in a co-culture approach using SCMs and PCMs in cultured cell strands. Murine embryonic SCMs were pooled with fetal ventricular cells and seeded in predefined proportions on microelectrode arrays to form patterned strands of mixed cells. Conduction velocity (CV) was measured during steady state pacing. SCM excitability was estimated from action potentials measured in single cells using the patch clamp technique. Experiments were complemented with computer simulations of conduction using a detailed model of cellular architecture in mixed cell strands. CV was significantly lower in strands composed purely of SCMs (5.5 ± 1.5 cm/s, n = 11) as compared to PCMs (34.9 ± 2.9 cm/s, n = 21) at similar refractoriness (100% SCMs: 122 ± 25 ms, n = 9; 100% PCMs: 139 ± 67 ms, n = 14). In mixed strands combining both cell types, CV was higher than in pure SCMs strands, but always lower than in 100% PCM strands. Computer simulations demonstrated that both intercellular coupling and electrical excitability limit CV. These data provide evidence that in cultures of murine ventricular cardiomyocytes, SCMs cannot restore CV to control levels resulting in slow conduction, which may lead to reentry circuits and arrhythmias.
VLBI Imaging of Water Maser Emission from the Nuclear Torus of NGC 1068

We have made the first VLBI synthesis images of the H2O maser emission associated with the central engine of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068. Emission extends about ±300 km s-1 from the systemic velocity. Images with sub-milliarcsecond angular resolution show that the redshifted emission lies along an arc to the northwest of the systemic emission. (The blueshifted emission has not yet been imaged with VLBI.) Based on the maser velocities and the relative orientation of the known radio jet, we propose that the maser emission arises on the surface of a nearly edge-on torus, where physical conditions are conducive to maser action. The visible part of the torus is axially thick, with comparable height and radius. The velocity field indicates sub-Keplerian differential rotation around a central mass of ~1 × 107 M☉ that lies within a cylindrical radius of about 0.65 pc. The estimated luminosity of the central engine is about 0.5 of the Eddington limit. There is no detectable compact radio continuum emission near the proposed center of the torus (TB < 5 × 106 K on size scales of ~0.1 pc), so that the observed flat-spectrum core cannot be direct self-absorbed synchrotron radiation.
Event-Related Theta Power during Lexical-Semantic Retrieval and Decision Conflict is Modulated by Alcohol Intoxication: Anatomically Constrained MEG

Language processing is commonly characterized by an event-related increase in theta power (4–7 Hz) in scalp EEG. Oscillatory brain dynamics underlying alcohol’s effects on language are poorly understood despite impairments on verbal tasks. To investigate how moderate alcohol intoxication modulates event-related theta activity during visual word processing, healthy social drinkers (N = 22, 11 females) participated in both alcohol (0.6 g/kg ethanol for men, 0.55 g/kg for women) and placebo conditions in a counterbalanced design. They performed a double-duty lexical decision task as they detected real words among non-words. An additional requirement to respond to all real words that also referred to animals induced response conflict. High density whole-head MEG signals and midline scalp EEG data were decomposed for each trial with Morlet wavelets. Each person’s reconstructed cortical surface was used to constrain noise-normalized distributed minimum norm inverse solutions for theta frequencies. Alcohol intoxication increased reaction time and marginally affected accuracy. The overall spatio-temporal pattern is consistent with the left-lateralized fronto-temporal activation observed in language studies applying time-domain analysis. Event-related theta power was sensitive to the two functions manipulated by the task. First, theta estimated to the left-lateralized fronto-temporal areas reflected lexical-semantic retrieval, indicating that this measure is well suited for investigating the neural basis of language functions. While alcohol attenuated theta power overall, it was particularly deleterious to semantic retrieval since it reduced theta to real words but not pseudowords. Second, a highly overlapping prefrontal network comprising lateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortex was sensitive to decision conflict and was also affected by intoxication, in agreement with previous studies indicating that executive functions are especially vulnerable to alcohol intoxication.
A novel time-frequency receiver for unknown fast fading channels

A new approach for data detection in fast fading channels is proposed. By using a combination of Rake receiver and sequential detection for fast fading channels, it is shown that system performance can be improved without prior knowledge of the channel. As will be shown in this paper, by combining spread spectrum signaling and sequential detection it is possible to exploit the time-frequency diversity of fast fading channels in a novel way. It is shown by simulation that combination of sequential detection and Rake receiver can effectively improve system performance, compared with equal gain combining.
Reduction and reconstruction of the dynamics of nonholonomic systems

The reduction and reconstruction of the dynamics of nonholonomic mechanical systems with symmetry are investigated. We have considered a more general framework of constrained Hamiltonian systems since they appear in the reduction procedure. A reduction scheme in terms of the nonholonomic momentum mapping is developed. The reduction of the nonholonomic brackets is also discussed. The theory is illustrated with several examples.
Integrating the Study of Transgender Spectrum and Cisgender Experiences of Self-Categorization from a Personality Perspective

We advocate for the integration of transgender spectrum experiences alongside cisgender experiences (i.e., having the same current gender identity label as one's birth-assigned gender category) to provide hitherto unrealized insights within the psychology of gender identity development. Specifically, we propose using personality theory to understand gender self-categorization for both profiles of experience because this perspective allows the structure and stability of self-categorization to be explored in a single, extant framework. Moreover, the dominant model of gender identity development in psychology and qualitative studies within sociology and related fields both suggest that self-categorization may in fact be similar between the 2 profiles. The integration also dispels 2 persistent myths about gender self-categorization: (a) that it is binary and (b) that it is an active psychological process for transgender spectrum, but not cisgender, individuals. Finally, we translate these new theoretical insights into testable research hypotheses within the mainstream of personality research.
Effects of CXCR3 signaling on development of fatal encephalitis and corneal and periocular skin disease in HSV-infected mice are mouse-strain dependent.

PURPOSE The host inflammatory response to ocular infection with herpes simplex virus (HSV) can be either protective, with disease-free survival, or it can promote diseases such as HSV corneal disease (or herpes stromal keratitis [HSK] in humans) and encephalitis (HSE), depending on mouse strain. The role of CXCR3 chemokine signaling in HSV-induced central nervous system (CNS) inflammation and corneal disease was evaluated, and responses in genetically susceptible and resistant strains of mice were contrasted. METHODS Resistant C57BL/6J (B6) and susceptible 129S6 (129) mice were given monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to neutralize the CXCR3 ligands monokine induced by interferon-gamma (MIG, CXCL9) and interferon inducible protein-10 (IP-10, CXCL10) during HSV infection. In addition, the development of HSV disease was monitored in CXCR3-null mutant mice derived from resistant (B6) and susceptible (BALB/c) strains. Inflammatory cells infiltrating the cornea and brain stem were isolated and stained for flow cytometric analysis. RESULTS MIG and IP-10 were induced in nervous system tissue after HSV inoculation by the corneal route. HSV-infected 129 mice treated with MIG- or IP-10-neutralizing mAbs showed significantly enhanced survival compared with mice treated with control isotype antibody, whereas survival of the B6 mice was unaltered. Similarly, greater survival was observed for BALB.CXCR3(-/-) mice compared with control BALB/c mice. Reduced CNS inflammation was documented that extended to the cornea, such that HSV corneal disease severity was reduced in susceptible BALB.CXCR3(-/-). In contrast, although survival of B6 and B6.CXCR3(-/-) mice was indistinguishable, B6.CXCR3(-/-) mice developed more severe corneal and periocular skin disease. CONCLUSIONS The effects of CXCR3 signaling in HSV infection are strongly dependent on mouse strain.
Powerful knowledge and the significance of teaching geography for in-service upper secondary teachers – a case study from Northern Finland

Abstract The aim of this research is to ask what kind of geography is taught in Finnish upper secondary schools and whether this knowledge is powerful knowledge. This is achieved by analysing 11 in-service geography teachers’ concept maps and in-depth interviews with qualitative data analysis. The results indicate the dominance of three terms: spatiality, phenomena and a holistic approach running through the teachers’ conceptions of geographical knowledge, skills and assessment. Geography is described by the teachers as a science which studies extensive spatial phenomena with the help of concepts and a holistic approach and in which values and students’ own lived experiences play a major role. We conclude that the in-service Finnish upper secondary teachers’ perceptions of geography are a form of powerful knowledge because they: (1) urge students to form new geographical thinking about the world, (2) give possibilities for students to study geographical phenomena and (3) evaluate their own knowledge, (4) encourage students to follow topical debates in different scales, (5) open up the students’ world views and (6) support the general objectives of Finnish upper secondary schools by applying four of the six cross-curricular themes to a great extent in teaching geography, particularly sustainable development.
Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for Identification of Five Human Plasmodium Species in Malaysia

The lack of rapid, affordable, and accurate diagnostic tests represents the primary hurdle affecting malaria surveillance in resource- and expertise-limited areas. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a sensitive, rapid, and cheap diagnostic method. Five species-specific LAMP assays were developed based on 18S rRNA gene. Sensitivity and specificity of LAMP results were calculated as compared with microscopic examination and nested polymerase chain reaction. LAMP reactions were highly sensitive with the detection limit of one copy for Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium falciparum, and Plasmodium malariae and 10 copies for Plasmodium knowlesi and Plasmodium ovale. LAMP positively detected all human malaria species in all positive samples (N = 134; sensitivity = 100%) within 35 minutes. All negative samples were not amplified by LAMP (N = 67; specificity = 100%). LAMP successfully detected two samples with very low parasitemia. LAMP may offer a rapid, simple, and reliable test for the diagnosis of malaria in areas where malaria is prevalent.
Characterizing the two-dimensional thermal conductivity distribution in a sand and gravel aquifer

Both hydrologic and thermal transport properties play a significant role in the movement of heat through permeable sedimentary material; however, the thermal conductivity is rarely characterized in detailed spatial resolution. As part of a study of the movement of thermal plumes through a sand and gravel aquifer, we have constructed a two-dimensional profile of thermal conductivity. This work consisted of: (i) measuring the thermal conductivity of the soil solids, λ s , for the main stratigraphic units using the steady-state divided-bar apparatus and estimating conductivity from mineral composition; (ii) measuring the volumetric water content and porosity using crosshole ground-penetrating radar; (iii) evaluating four models used to predict the apparent thermal conductivity, X, of variably saturated soils and selecting the best model using the information-theoretic approach, (iv) calculating the λ field on a 0.25-m square cell grid using measured data and the selected model, and (v) simulating thermal transport within the two-dimensional domain using a finite element numerical model. The apparent thermal conductivity in the saturated aquifer ranges from 2.14 to 2.69 W m -1 K -1 with a mean of 2.42 W m -1 K -1 . Numerical simulations show that the heterogeneous thermal conductivity field results in increased thermal dispersion that is most pronounced at the plume front. Our values for λ and λ s may be used for glacial soils with similar mineralogy and texture. Our methods may also be used at other sites to construct the thermal conductivity distribution.
The effects of rivastigmine plus selegiline on brain acetylcholinesterase, (Na+, K+)-, Mg2+-ATPase activities, antioxidant status, and learning performance of aged rats

We investigated the effects of rivastigmine (a cholinesterase inhibitor) and selegiline ((-)deprenyl, an irreversible inhibitor of monoamineoxidase-B), alone and in combination, on brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE), (Na+, K+)-, Mg2+-ATPase activities, total antioxidant status (TAS), and learning performance, after long-term drug administration in aged male rats. The possible relationship between the biochemical and behavioral parameters was evaluated. Methods Aged rats were treated (for 36 days) with rivastigmine (0.3 mg/kg rat/day ip), selegiline (0.25 mg/kg rat/day im), rivastigmine plus selegiline in the same doses and way of administration as separately. Aged and adult control groups received NaCl 0.9% 0.5 ml ip. Results TAS was lower in aged than in adult rats, rivastigmine alone does not affect TAS, decreases AChE activity, increases (Na+, K+)-ATPase and Mg2+-ATPase activity of aged rat brain and improves cognitive performance. Selegiline alone decreases free radical production and increases AChE activity and (Na+, K+)-ATPase activity, improving cognitive performance as well. In the combination: rivastigmine seems to cancel selegiline action on TAS and AChE activity, while it has additive effect on (Na+, K+)-ATPase activity. In the case of Mg2+-ATPase selegiline appears to attenuate rivastigmine activity. No statistically significant difference was observed in the cognitive performance. Conclusion Reduced TAS, AChE activity and learning performance was observed in old rats. Both rivastigmine and selesiline alone improved performance, although they influenced the biochemical parameters in a different way. The combination of the two drugs did not affect learning performance.
Size and shape: the developmental regulation of static allometry in insects

Among all organisms, the size of each body part or organ scales with overall body size, a phenomenon called allometry. The study of shape and form has attracted enormous interest from biologists, but the genetic, developmental and physiological mechanisms that control allometry and the proportional growth of parts have remained elusive. Recent progress in our understanding of body‐size regulation provides a new synthetic framework for thinking about the mechanisms and the evolution of allometric scaling. In particular, insulin/IGF signaling, which plays major roles in longevity, diabetes and the regulation of cell, organ and body size, might also be centrally involved in regulating organismal shape. Here we review recent advances in the fields of growth regulation and endocrinology and use them to construct a developmental model of static allometry expression in insects. This model serves as the foundation for a research program that will result in a deeper understanding of the relationship between growth and form, a question that has fascinated biologists for centuries. BioEssays 29:536–548, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
etric – topological interaction model of collective behavior

Many simulations of collective behavior have been presented in recent years. Recently, a pioneering study by Ballerini et al. (2008a,b) suggested that the interactions of birds in a flock should be modeled using the topological distance rather than the metric distance. The concept of topological distance is deemed important for explaining collective behavior. However, few studies have discussed the distinctions between the metric and topological distances. In this paper, we clarify the difference between
α-MSH Stimulates Glucose Uptake in Mouse Muscle and Phosphorylates Rab-GTPase-Activating Protein TBC1D1 Independently of AMPK

The melanocortin system includes five G-protein coupled receptors (family A) defined as MC1R-MC5R, which are stimulated by endogenous agonists derived from proopiomelanocortin (POMC). The melanocortin system has been intensely studied for its central actions in body weight and energy expenditure regulation, which are mainly mediated by MC4R. The pituitary gland is the source of various POMC-derived hormones released to the circulation, which raises the possibility that there may be actions of the melanocortins on peripheral energy homeostasis. In this study, we examined the molecular signaling pathway involved in α-MSH-stimulated glucose uptake in differentiated L6 myotubes and mouse muscle explants. In order to examine the involvement of AMPK, we investigate α-MSH stimulation in both wild type and AMPK deficient mice. We found that α-MSH significantly induces phosphorylation of TBC1 domain (TBC1D) family member 1 (S237 and T596), which is independent of upstream PKA and AMPK. We find no evidence to support that α-MSH-stimulated glucose uptake involves TBC1D4 phosphorylation (T642 and S704) or GLUT4 translocation.