Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of exercise mode and duration on 24-h IGF-I system recovery responses.

INTRODUCTION This study hypothesized that insulin-like growth factor-binding protein (IGFBP), rather than insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) itself, would be more responsive to acute exercise stress in a dose-dependent fashion. METHODS Eight men (24 +/- 5 yr, 87 +/- 9 kg, 182 +/- 6 cm, 21 +/- 5% body fat) had blood drawn every 4 h after exercise for 24 h and assayed for IGF-I, IGFBP-1, -3, -6, the acid labile subunit (ALS), insulin, glucose, and nonesterified free fatty acids on five occasions: no exercise (control, C), moderate-duration resistance exercise (MDRE; 25, 5-10 repetition maximum (RM) sets), long-duration resistance exercise (LDRE; 50, 5-10 RM sets), moderate-duration aerobic exercise (MDAE; three 15-min cycling bouts at approximately 70% (.)VO2peak), and long-duration aerobic exercise (LDAE; six 15-min cycling bouts at approximately 70% (.)VO2peak). Energy requirements were determined from resting metabolic rate, age, and a physical activity factor. Dietary control was implemented by providing all meals during the experimental trials. A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures (P < 0.05) was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS Significant exercise effects were observed for IGFBP-1 (C: 14.0 +/- 2.7 < MDRE: 35.9 +/- 8.6 = LDRE: 45.2 +/- 10.6 = MDAE: 34.2 +/- 7.4 = LDAE: 47.0 +/- 11.8 ng x mL(-1) and insulin (C: 26.0 +/- 9 < LDRE: 13.2 +/- 6 ng x mL). In addition, a dose-response relationship was observed for the IGFBP-1 response (long-duration exercise (46 +/- 10 ng x mL(-1)) > moderate-duration exercise (35 +/- 7 ng x mL(-1)). There were no exercise effects for total IGF-I, IGFBP-3, and ALS. Effects of time of day were observed for all variables except ALS. CONCLUSIONS For the circulating IGF-I system components measured, only IGFBP-1 seems to be a sensitive biomarker capable of assessing the physiological strain of acute physical exercise.
An Efficient Near Blind Carrier Frequency Offset Estimation Scheme for MIMO-OFDM Systems

A novel technique for the estimation of carrier frequency offset (CFO) in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based multiple input multiple output (MIMO) communication systems is proposed in this paper. While the conventional null subcarrier based methods estimate the CFO through a single global line search, the proposed method employs a two step procedure. Firstly the integer frequency offset is estimated by means of a cost function minimization over the trial integer offset values. Then the fractional frequency offset is estimated through a fine search over one subcarrier spacing on either side centered on zero offset reference after correcting the integer offset. We also propose a novel null subcarrier allocation scheme based on Fibonacci series, which ensures a CFO estimation range equal to the OFDM bandwidth. Furthermore, performance of the proposed frequency offset estimator is mathematically analyzed by deriving the Cramer-Rao lower bound and compared it with the mean square estimation error to demonstrate its efficiency. Our algorithm is shown to outperform a popular method reported in literature in terms of BER performance and estimation complexity.
Molecular Mutations and Their Cooccurrences in Cytogenetically Normal Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) clinically is a disparate disease that requires intensive treatments ranging from chemotherapy alone to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). Historically, cytogenetic analysis has been a useful prognostic tool to classify patients into favorable, intermediate, and unfavorable prognostic risk groups. However, the intermediate-risk group, consisting predominantly of cytogenetically normal AML (CN-AML), itself exhibits diverse clinical outcomes and requires further characterization to allow for more optimal treatment decision-making. The recent advances in clinical genomics have led to the recategorization of CN-AML into favorable or unfavorable subgroups. The relapsing nature of AML is thought to be due to clonal heterogeneity that includes founder or driver mutations present in the leukemic stem cell population. In this article, we summarize the clinical outcomes of relevant molecular mutations and their cooccurrences in CN-AML, including NPM1, FLT3ITD, DNMT3A, NRAS, TET2, RUNX1, MLLPTD, ASXL1, BCOR, PHF6, CEBPAbiallelic, IDH1, IDH2R140, and IDH2R170, with an emphasis on their relevance to the leukemic stem cell compartment. We have reviewed the available literature and TCGA AML databases (2013) to highlight the potential role of stem cell regulating factor mutations on outcome within newly defined AML molecular subgroups.
#WhoAmI in 160 Characters? Classifying Social Identities Based on Twitter Profile Descriptions

We combine social theory and NLP methods to classify English-speaking Twitter users’ online social identity in profile descriptions. We conduct two text classification experiments. In Experiment 1 we use a 5-category online social identity classification based on identity and self-categorization theories. While we are able to automatically classify two identity categories (Relational and Occupational), automatic classification of the other three identities (Political, Ethnic/religious and Stigmatized) is challenging. In Experiment 2 we test a merger of such identities based on theoretical arguments. We find that by combining these identities we can improve the predictive performance of the classifiers in the experiment. Our study shows how social theory can be used to guide NLP methods, and how such methods provide input to revisit traditional social theory that is strongly consolidated in offline settings.
Characterization of Receptor Binding Profiles of Influenza A Viruses Using An Ellipsometry-Based Label-Free Glycan Microarray Assay Platform

A key step leading to influenza viral infection is the highly specific binding of a viral spike protein, hemagglutinin (HA), with an extracellular glycan receptor of a host cell. Detailed and timely characterization of virus-receptor binding profiles may be used to evaluate and track the pandemic potential of an influenza virus strain. We demonstrate a label-free glycan microarray assay platform for acquiring influenza virus binding profiles against a wide variety of glycan receptors. By immobilizing biotinylated receptors on a streptavidin-functionalized solid surface, we measured binding curves of five influenza A virus strains with 24 glycans of diverse structures and used the apparent equilibrium dissociation constants (avidity constants, 10–100 pM) as characterizing parameters of viral receptor profiles. Furthermore by measuring binding kinetic constants of solution-phase glycans to immobilized viruses, we confirmed that the glycan-HA affinity constant is in the range of 10 mM and the reaction is enthalpy-driven.
PPAK Integral Field Spectroscopy survey of the Orion Nebula: Data Release

Aims. We present a low-resolution spectroscopic survey of the Ori on nebula. The data are released for public use. We show the po ssible applications of this dataset analyzing some of the mai n properties of the nebula. Methods. We perform an integral field spectroscopy mosaic of an area of ∼5×6 centered on the Trapezium region of the nebula, including the ionization front to the south-east. Analysis of the line fluxes and line ratios of both the individual and in tegrated spectra allowed us to determine the main characteristics of the ioni zation throughtout the nebula. Results. The final dataset comprises 8182 individual spectra, sample d in a circular area of ∼2.7 diameter. The data can be downloaded as a single row-stacked spectra fitsfile plus a positio n table or as an interpolated datacube with a final sampling of 1.5/pixel. The integrated spectrum across the field-of-view was used to obtain the main integrated properties of the nebula, includ ing the electron density and temperature, the dust extinction, the H α integrated flux (after correcting for dust reddening), and t he main diagnostic line ratios. The individual spectra were used to obtain line int nsity maps of the di fferent detected lines. These maps were used to study the distribution of the ionized hydrogen, the dust ext inction, the electron density and temperature, and the heli um and oxygen abundance. All of them show a considerable degree of structu re as already shown in previous studies. In particular, ther e is a tight relation between the helium and oxygen abundances and the io nization structure that cannot be explained by case B recomb ination theory. Simple arguments like partial ionization and dust m ixed with the emitting gas may explain these relations. Howe ver a more detailed modeling is required, for which we provide the data se .
Human Performance Consequences of Automated Decision Aids in States of Sleep Loss

Objective: The authors investigated how human performance consequences of automated decision aids are affected by the degree of automation and the operator’s functional state. Background: As research has shown, decision aids may not only improve performance but also lead to new sorts of risks. Whereas knowledge exists about the impact of system characteristics (e.g., reliability) on human performance, little is known about how these performance consequences are moderated by the functional state of operators. Method: Participants performed a simulated supervisory process control task with one of two decision aids providing support for fault identification and management. One session took place during the day, and another one took place during the night after a prolonged waking phase of more than 20 hr. Results: Results showed that decision aids can support humans effectively in maintaining high levels of performance, even in states of sleep loss, with more highly automated aids being more effective than less automated ones. Furthermore, participants suffering from sleep loss were found to be more careful in interaction with the aids, that is, less prone to effects of complacency and automation bias. However, cost effects arose that included a decline in secondary-task performance and an increased risk of return-to-manual performance decrements. Conclusion: Automation support can help protect performance after a period of extended wakefulness. In addition, operators suffering from sleep loss seem to compensate for their impaired functional state by reallocating resources and showing a more attentive behavior toward possible automation failures. Application: Results of this research can inform the design of automation, especially decision aids.
Antioxidant activity of taxifolin: an activity–structure relationship

Abstract Taxifolin is a kind of flavanonol, whose biological ability. The objectives of this study were to investigate the antioxidants and antiradical activities of taxifolin by using different in vitro bioanalytical antioxidant methods including DMPD√+, ABTS√+, , and DPPH√-scavenging effects, the total antioxidant influence, reducing capabilities, and Fe2+-chelating activities. Taxifolin demonstrated 81.02% inhibition of linoleic acid emulsion peroxidation at 30 µg/mL concentration. At the same concentration, standard antioxidants including trolox, α-tocopherol, BHT, and BHA exhibited inhibitions of linoleic acid emulsion as 88.57, 73.88, 94.29, and 90.12%, respectively. Also, taxifolin exhibited effective DMPD√+, ABTS√+, , and DPPH√-scavenging effects, reducing capabilities, and Fe2+-chelating effects. The results obtained from this study clearly showed that taxifolin had marked antioxidant, reducing ability, radical scavenging and metal-chelating activities. Also, this study exhibits a scientific shore for the significant antioxidant activity of taxifolin and its structure-activity insight.
The Evolution of Expander Graphs

Acknowledgements First and foremost I'd like to thank my advisor Prof. Salil Vadhan for many fruitful discussions and for his support and guidance. Many thanks to Prof. Michael Rabin and Minh-Huyen Nguyen for their encouragement and help in the editing process. And my deepest gratitude to my parents for giving me the opportunity to reach this point. All that I've accomplished is because of you.
Total Fluoride Intake by Children from a Tropical Brazilian City

The main sources of fluoride intake by children are fluoridated water and toothpaste. Little has been studied regarding fluoride intake from these sources in regions with tropical climates and high temperatures throughout the year. This study aimed to determine the amount of fluoride ingested from diet and tooth brushing by children who live in a city with a tropical climate. Sixty-seven children from Teresina, Piauí, Brazil, took part in this study. The city's water supply was optimally fluoridated. The duplicate-diet method was used to determine the fluoride intake from diet. The intake of fluoride from dentifrice was determined by subtracting the amount of fluoride placed on the toothbrush and that recovered after brushing. The concentration of fluoride was measured using an ion-specific electrode and is expressed as milligrams/kilogram of body weight/day. The mean (±SD) total amount was 0.071 ± 0.036 mg F/kg body weight/day, and the relative contributions of diet and toothpaste were 0.025 ± 0.010 and 0.046 ± 0.035, respectively. The factors associated with fluoride intake from toothpaste were: use of children's toothpaste (p = 0.003), use of large amounts of toothpaste (p < 0.001), and a high frequency of tooth brushing (p = 0.003). Sixty-four percent of children had an intake of less than 0.07 mg F/kg body weight/day, which is considered the upper limit for an aesthetically tolerable fluorosis risk. The results suggest that the amount of fluoride ingested by most children who live in a Brazilian city with a tropical climate is considered safe in terms of the risk of dental fluorosis.
A study on the factors affecting customer satisfaction in online airline services

With the growing importance of the internet in business, the quality of online services is playing an increasingly important role in determining customer satisfaction. One of the problems of many airline industries is how to measure customer satisfaction regarding their experience of using online services. This study seeks to determine factors affecting customer satisfaction with online airline services. The study adapts SERVQUAL and Nusair and Kandampully's model to determine factors that affect online airline service customers. Five service quality factors were selected: tangibility, information quality, responsiveness, trust and personalisation. Data collected through a web-based survey of 213 online airline service users suggest that three service quality factors - tangibility, trust and personalisation - have significant influences on customer satisfaction. This study provides a contribution to both theory and practice.
Robust, Almost Constant Time Shortest-Path Queries in Road Networks

When you drive to somewhere ‘far away’, you will leave your current location via one of only a few ‘important’ traffic junctions. Recently, other research groups and we have largely independently developed this informal observation into transit node routing, a technique for reducing quickest-path queries in road networks to a small number of table lookups. The contribution of our paper is twofold. First, we present a generic framework for transit node routing that allows almost constant time routing for both global and local queries. Second, we develop a highly tuned implementation using highway hierarchies. For the road maps of Western Europe and the United States, our best query times improve over the best previously published figures by two orders of magnitude. This is more than one million times faster than the best known algorithm for general networks. We also explain how to compute complete descriptions of shortest paths (and not only their lengths) very efficiently.
Voicing the unspoken: Breaking through the barriers of mainstream institutionalized deafness to Pacific therapeutic practices

The principles of cross-cultural research The publication of Derek Freeman’s Margaret Mead and Samoa (1983) and Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing methodologies (1999) problematised the involvement of European researchers in analyzing the cultural dynamics and value systems of indigenous people in the Pacific. These and similar works drew attention to the ways that power can be misused in research and interpretation, the misconstrual of unfamiliar worlds, and the tendency of European researchers to colonize indigenous peoples by stealing their intellectual property and cultural treasures for use, and misuse, in the European academy. Pacific peoples can become decolonized only by “reclaiming indigenous perspectives, knowledge, and wisdom that have been devalued or suppressed because they were or are not considered important or worthwhile” (Helu Thaman, 2003, p. 2). Pacific peoples have endured decades of disempowering research, with little social or economic improvement in their health and education (Vaioleti, 2006, p. 22).
The Intersection between Home and School: Developing a Scale to Measure Parental Perceptions of Childhood School Stress

Parents in the home and educators in the schools are key adults in the most important contexts in the daily lives of school-age children. In the demanding, achievement, and accountability oriented culture of today, it is expected that children experience normal everyday stressors as they move between these two environments. The impact of stress related to daily hassles has been reported to have both cognitive and physical effects on the present and future well-being of children. This study represented an attempt to advance the understanding of childhood stress in the intersection between school and home by investigating the perceptions of parents related to stress experienced by their children in the school context specifically related to academics. The construct of parental perceptions of childhood school related stress was conceptually explained and the need seek a way to measure it was justified. A pool of 30 items for a parentreport instrument were developed and analyzed for dimensionality and reliability. Six directional hypotheses were proposed as a beginning step in establishing construct validity. Parents of public school children in the 3 rd to 5 th grades completed an online or paper version of the survey (N = 89). Results of the reliability and item analysis of the Parental Perceptions of School Stress (PPSS) scale supported a unidimensional scale and indicated strong internal consistency among scale items. The regression analysis of the model indicated a moderate amount of the variance could be explained. Univariate results supported two statistically significant independent variables which included the presence of one or two parents in the household (a moderate to large effect on PPSS) and the amount of time the child invested in homework (a large effect on PPSS) providing preliminary evidence of construct validity for the scale with this sample.
Jackknifed variance estimators for simulation output analysis

We develop new point estimators for the variance parameter of a steady-state simulation process. The estimators are based on jackknifed versions of nonoverlapping batch means, overlapping batch means, and standardized time series variance estimators. The new estimators have reduced bias-and can be manipulated to reduce their variance and mean-squared error-compared with their predecessors, facts which we demonstrate analytically and empirically.
Visualizing and improving scattering networks

Scattering Transforms (or ScatterNets) introduced by Mallat in [1] are a promising start into creating a well-defined feature extractor to use for pattern recognition and image classification tasks. They are of particular interest due to their architectural similarity to Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), while requiring no parameter learning and still performing very well (particularly in constrained classification tasks). In this paper we visualize what the deeper layers of a ScatterNet are sensitive to using a ‘DeScatterNet’. We show that the higher orders of ScatterNets are sensitive to complex, edge-like patterns (checker-boards and rippled edges). These complex patterns may be useful for texture classification, but are quite dissimilar from the patterns visualized in second and third layers of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) — the current state of the art Image Classifiers. We propose that this may be the source of the current gaps in performance between ScatterNets and CNNs (83% vs 93% on CIFAR-10 for ScatterNet+SVM vs ResNet). We then use these visualization tools to propose possible enhancements to the ScatterNet design, which show they have the power to extract features more closely resembling CNNs, while still being well-defined and having the invariance properties fundamental to ScatterNets.
Improved minimax bounds on the test and training distortion of empirically designed vector quantizers

It has been shown by earlier results that the minimax expected (test) distortion redundancy of empirical vector quantizers with three or more levels designed from n independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) data points is at least Omega(1/radicn) for the class of distributions on a bounded set. In this correspondence, a much simpler construction and proof for this are given with much better constants. There are similar bounds for the training distortion of the empirically optimal vector quantizer with three or more levels. These rates, however, do not hold for a one-level quantizer. Here, the two-level quantizer case is clarified, showing that it already shares the behavior of the general case. Given that the minimax bounds are proved using a construction that involves discrete distributions, one suspects that for the class of distributions with uniformly bounded continuous densities, the expected distortion redundancy might decrease as o(1/radicn) uniformly. It is shown as well that this is not so, proving that the lower bound for the expected test distortion remains true for these subclasses
High Girth Column-Weight-Two LDPC Codes Based on Distance Graphs

LDPC codes of column weight of two are constructed from minimal distance graphs or cages. Distance graphs are used to represent LDPC code matrices such that graph vertices that represent rows and edges are columns. The conversion of a distance graph into matrix form produces an adjacency matrix with column weight of two and girth double that of the graph. The number of 1's in each row (row weight) is equal to the degree of the corresponding vertex. By constructing graphs with different vertex degrees, we can vary the rate of corresponding LDPC code matrices. Cage graphs are used as examples of distance graphs to design codes with different girths and rates. Performance of obtained codes depends on girth and structure of the corresponding distance graphs.
Image mosaicing for tele-reality applications

This paper presents some techniques for automatically deriving realistic 2-D scenes and 3-D geometric models from video sequences. These techniques can be used to build environments and 3-D models for virtual reality application based on recreating a true scene, i.e., tele-reality applications. The fundamental technique used in this paper is image mosaicing, i.e., the automatic alignment of multiple images into larger aggregates which are then used to represent portions of a 3-D scene. The paper first examines the easiest problems, those of flat scene and panoramic scene mosaicing. It then progresses to more complicated scenes with depth, and concludes with full 3-D models. The paper also discusses a number of novel applications based on tele-reality technology. <<ETX>>