Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predicting cholesterol, progesterone, and days to ovulation using postpartum metabolic and endocrine measures.

The objective of this study was to examine relationships among metabolic and endocrine factors that may influence ovarian activity during early lactation. Holstein cows (n = 19) were bled twice each week to determine plasma concentrations of insulin (INS), glucose, cholesterol, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-I), and progesterone (P4). Feed intake and milk production were recorded daily while body weights and milk composition were recorded weekly. Relationships among plasma cholesterol and P4, and days to first and second postpartum ovulation were modeled with energy balance (EB), dry matter intake, milk yield and composition, plasma metabolites, and hormones using the backward elimination technique of multivariate regression analysis. Variables that contributed the most to predicting plasma cholesterol concentrations were dry matter intake x SNF using model 1 (production variables) and the square of glucose (i.e., glucose2) using model 3 (plasma hormones and metabolites). For plasma P4 concentrations, EB (model 2, production variables) and IGF-I (model 3, plasma hormones and metabolites) were the major predictors. The production variables EB and percentage of milk lactose were the greatest contributors to the models predicting days to first and second postpartum ovulations, respectively. Of the plasma hormones and metabolites evaluated, IGF-I2 was the most significant predictor of days to first postpartum ovulation, whereas glucose2 and INS were the significant predictors of days to second postpartum ovulation. Plasma IGF-I, glucose, and INS have been implicated in ovarian functions and their significant contributions to these models are consistent with possible important roles in postpartum return to ovarian competence.
Absence or presence? Complexities in the donor narratives of single mothers using sperm donation

STUDY QUESTION How do single mothers who have conceived a child via anonymous or identity-release sperm donation represent the donor? SUMMARY ANSWER While the majority of mothers described their anonymous and identity-release donors as symbolically significant to their families, others were more likely to emphasize that their lack of information limited their thoughts about him. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY There is limited understanding of the factors that impact upon how single mothers represent the donor, and whether or not they are determined by specific donor programmes (anonymous or identity-release). STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION Qualitative interviews were conducted with 46 women who had treatment at a UK licensed fertility clinic during the years 2003–2009. Twenty mothers (43%) had used an anonymous donor, and 26 (57%) had used an identity-release donor. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Among the 46 mothers interviewed, all had at least one child conceived via donor insemination who was between the ages of 4 and 9 years. Mothers were heterosexual and were currently without a live-in and/or long-term partner. Interview data were analysed qualitatively according to the principles of thematic analysis. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE Findings indicated marked diversity in single mothers' representations of the donor. Most (n = 27) mothers talked about the donor as symbolically significant to family life and were likely to describe the donor as (i) a gift-giver, (ii) a gene-giver and (iii) a potential partner. Others (n = 16) talked about the donor as (i) unknown, (ii) part of a process and (iii) out of sight and out of mind. There were mothers with anonymous and identity-release donors in each group. Several mothers explained that their feelings about the donor had changed over time. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION All mothers conceived at a licensed fertility clinic in the UK. Findings are limited to individuals willing and able to take part in research on donor conception. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The study offers greater insight into the factors influencing the donor narratives produced in single-mother families. It has implications for the counselling and treatment of single women seeking fertility treatment with donor gametes in both anonymous and identity-release programmes. Given that the number of clinics offering identity-release programmes worldwide seems to be increasing, the finding that single women may have varying preferences with regard to donor type, and varying interest levels with regard to donor information, is important. It is recommended that clinicians and other fertility clinic staff guard against making assumptions about such preferences and any thoughts and feelings about the donor or donor information on the basis of marital status. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) This study was funded by the Wellcome Trust [097857/Z/11/Z]. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
RhoA/ROCK Signaling Regulates Chondrogenesis in a Context-dependent Manner*

The development of the cartilage template that precedes endochondral bone formation requires the condensation of mesenchymal cells and their subsequent differentiation to the chondrocytic lineage. We have previously shown that inhibition of the RhoA/ROCK signaling pathway or actin dynamics enhances Sox9 mRNA expression, increases glycosaminoglycan production, and transforms cell shape to a spherical, chondrocyte-like morphology. However, we demonstrate here that in three-dimensional micromass cultures of mesenchymal cells, increased expression of Sox9 in response to these manipulations is not sufficient to induce the expression of established Sox9 target genes. This is illustrated by a decrease in the transcript levels of collagen II and aggrecan as well as reduced activity of a Sox9-responsive reporter gene in response to ROCK inhibition and cytochalasin D. We also demonstrate a decrease in mRNA levels of the transcriptional co-activators L-Sox5 and Sox6 upon ROCK inhibition and cytochalasin D. The decrease in Sox9 activity is likely partially due to reduced L-Sox5 and Sox6 levels but also to a delay in Sox9 phosphorylation following ROCK inhibition. In contrast, inhibition of the RhoA/ROCK pathway and cytochalasin D treatment in monolayer culture results in the enhancement of a number of markers of chondrogenesis such as Sox9 activity and collagen II and aggrecan transcripts levels. These data demonstrate that the effects of RhoA/ROCK signaling and actin polymerization inhibitors on chondrogenic gene expression are dependent on the cellular context.
Block Preconditioning of Stochastic Galerkin Problems: New Two-sided Guaranteed Spectral Bounds

The paper focuses on numerical solution of parametrized diffusion equations with scalar parameter-dependent coefficient function by the stochastic (spectral) Galerkin method. We study preconditioning of the related discretized problems using preconditioners obtained by modifying the stochastic part of the partial differential equation. We present a simple but general approach for obtaining two-sided bounds to the spectrum of the resulting matrices, based on a particular splitting of the discretized operator. Using this tool and considering the stochastic approximation space formed by classical orthogonal polynomials, we obtain new spectral bounds depending solely on the properties of the coefficient function and the type of the approximation polynomials for several classes of block-diagonal preconditioners. These bounds are guaranteed and applicable to various distributions of parameters. Moreover, the conditions on the parameter-dependent coefficient function are only local, and therefore less restrictive than those usually assumed in the literature.
A cognitive robotics approach to the human reaching process: simulating goal-directed reaching and choice-reaching tasks with a closed-loop model

In this thesis a robotics-based model for simulating reaching experiments is presented. First, I will focus on simulating visual attention in choice-reaching tasks where participants are asked to make rapid reach movements towards a target that is presented with distractors. These studies found that distracters can alter the movement trajectory substantially (e.g. Song & Nakayama, 2008). In order to understand the complex behaviour in such tasks I will follow a robotics based approach and simulate numerous choice-reaching tasks. The second part of this thesis deals with phenomena of goal-directed reaching such as the speed-accuracy trade-off of Fitts' law (Fitts, 1954). In the simulations I will demonstrate the human-like goal-directed reaching behaviour of my model. Moreover, due to its feedback-based architecture my model offers an alternative explanation of the goal-directed reaching process. My model utilises a real-world LEGO robot and required the implementation of multiple underlying processes and the handling of noise. To link the model with the control of the robot I applied the neurological plausible framework of the dynamic field theory of Erlhagen and Schoener (2002). The successful simulations demonstrated that my model can give further insight in the nature of goal-directed reaching and the choice-reaching tasks.
Similarity Analysis in Scaling a Gas Hydrates Reservoir

A complete set of scaling criteria for gas hydrate reservoir of five-spot well system case is derived from the 3D governing equations, involving the mass balance equation, the energy balance equation, the kinetic model, the endothermic model and the phase equilibrium model. In the scaling criteria, the key parameters of the experiment are the water/gas production rates, the water injection rate, and the production time. By using the scaling criteria, the experimental results can be enlarged to a field scale. Therefore, the experimental results and the scaling criteria could be used to evaluate the hydrate dissociation strategies and the gas production potential of the hydrate reservoir.
Acoustic-Resonance-Free High-Frequency Electronic Ballast for Metal Halide Lamps

To avoid the acoustic resonance on operating metal halide lamps, an autofrequency-searching method is implemented on the high-frequency electronic ballast. The proposed method allows the use of a high-frequency electronic ballast, making the ballast able to adjust the operating frequency automatically as soon as the acoustic resonance is detected and, consequently, to locate it at a stable frequency. The electronic ballast achieves a high efficiency and a high power density through the employment of a high-frequency resonant inverter with an embedded buck-boost converter for power-factor correction and lamp power regulation. The control strategy is realized by a microprocessor along with the acoustic-resonance detection circuit. The operation of autofrequency searching is illustrated by the experiments on an electronic ballast designed for 70-W metal halide lamps.
Complexity of Control by Partition of Voters and of Voter Groups in Veto and Other Scoring Protocols

In order to model maliciously resizing election districts (a.k.a. gerrymandering), Bartholdi et al. [2] introduced control by partition of voters, which means that an election chair can influence the outcome of an election to her advantage by partitioning the voters such that two first-round subelections are created whose winners will take part in a final run-off. Control by partition of voter groups, due to Erdelyi et al. [10], refers to the same model with the additional constraint that a partition of voters into groups is given beforehand, which the chair's control action must respect: either all voters of a group take part in one of the two first-round subelections, or none of them does. Maushagen and Rothe [25] recently classified some problems of control by partition of either voters or candidates for veto elections in terms of their computational complexity, leaving some other problems open. We solve all these remaining cases. In addition, we generalize a result of Erdelyi et al. [10] for constructive control by partition of voter groups from plurality elections to all nontrivial pure scoring protocols by showing NP-hardness, and we also obtain the analogous result for its destructive variant.
A quantitative study of spinothalamic neurons in laminae I, III, and IV in lumbar and cervical segments of the rat spinal cord

The major ascending outputs from superficial spinal dorsal horn consist of projection neurons in lamina I, together with neurons in laminae III–IV that express the neurokinin 1 receptor (NK1r) and have dendrites that enter the superficial laminae. Some neurons in each of these populations belong to the spinothalamic tract, which conveys nociceptive information via the thalamus to cortical areas involved in pain. A projection from the cervical superficial dorsal horn to the posterior triangular nucleus (PoT) has recently been identified. PoT is at the caudal end of the thalamus and was not included in injection sites in many previous retrograde tracing studies. We have injected various tracers (cholera toxin B subunit, Fluoro‐Gold, and fluorescent latex microspheres) into the thalamus to estimate the number of spinothalamic neurons in each of these two populations, and to investigate their projection targets. Most lamina I and lamina III/IV NK1r‐immunoreactive spinothalamic neurons in cervical and lumbar segments could be labeled from injections centered on PoT. Our results suggest that there are 90 lamina I spinothalamic neurons per side in C7 and 15 in L4 and that some of those in C7 only project to PoT. We found that 85% of the lamina III/IV NK1r‐immunoreactive neurons in C6 and 17% of those in L5 belong to the spinothalamic tract, and these apparently project exclusively to the caudal thalamus, including PoT. Because PoT projects to second somatosensory and insular cortices, our results suggest that these are major targets for information conveyed by both these populations of spinothalamic neurons. J. Comp. Neurol. 511:1–18, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Detecting Changes in 3D Structure of a Scene from Multi-view Images Captured by a Vehicle-Mounted Camera

This paper proposes a method for detecting temporal changes of the three-dimensional structure of an outdoor scene from its multi-view images captured at two separate times. For the images, we consider those captured by a camera mounted on a vehicle running in a city street. The method estimates scene structures probabilistically, not deterministically, and based on their estimates, it evaluates the probability of structural changes in the scene, where the inputs are the similarity of the local image patches among the multi-view images. The aim of the probabilistic treatment is to maximize the accuracy of change detection, behind which there is our conjecture that although it is difficult to estimate the scene structures deterministically, it should be easier to detect their changes. The proposed method is compared with the methods that use multi-view stereo (MVS) to reconstruct the scene structures of the two time points and then differentiate them to detect changes. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms such MVS-based methods.
Does selection on horn length of males and females differ in protected and hunted populations of a weakly dimorphic ungulate?

Abstract Weaponry in ungulates may be costly to grow and maintain, and different selective pressures in males and females may lead to sex‐biased natural survival. Sexual differences in the relationship between weapon growth and survival may increase under anthropogenic selection through culling, for example because of trophy hunting. Selection on weaponry growth under different scenarios has been largely investigated in males of highly dimorphic ungulates, for which survival costs (either natural or hunting related) are thought to be greatest. Little is known, however, about the survival costs of weaponry in males and females of weakly dimorphic species. We collected information on horn length and age at death/shooting of 407 chamois Rupicapra rupicapra in a protected population and in two hunted populations with different hunting regimes, to explore sexual differences in the selection on early horn growth under contrasting selective pressures. We also investigated the variation of horn growth and body mass in yearling males (n = 688) and females (n = 539) culled in one of the hunted populations over 14 years. The relationship between horn growth and survival showed remarkable sexual differences under different evolutionary scenarios. Within the protected population, under natural selection, we found no significant trade‐off in either males or females. Under anthropogenic pressure, selection on early horn growth of culled individuals showed diametrically opposed sex‐biased patterns, depending on the culling regime and hunters’ preferences. Despite the selective bias between males and females in one of the hunted populations, we did not detect significant sex‐specific differences in the long‐term pattern of early growth. The relationship between early horn growth and natural survival in either sex might suggest stabilizing selection on horn size in chamois. Selection through culling can be strongly sex‐biased also in weakly dimorphic species, depending on hunters’ preferences and hunting regulations, and long‐term data are needed to reveal potential undesirable evolutionary consequences.
Joint Data Detection and Phase Noise Mitigation for Light Field Video Transmission in MIMO-OFDM Systems

Previous studies in the literature for video transmission over wireless communication systems focused on combating the effects of additive channel noise and fading channels without taking the impairments in the physical layer such as phase noise (PHN) into account. Oscillator phase noise impairs the performance of multi-input multi-output- orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) systems in providing high data rates for video applications and may lead to decoding failure. In this paper, we propose a light field (LF) video transmission system in wireless channels, and analyze joint data detection and phase mitigation in MIMO-OFDM systems for LF video transmission. The signal model and rate-distortion (RD) model for LF video transmission in the presence of multiple PHNs are discussed. Moreover, we propose an iterative algorithm based on the extended Kalman filter for joint data detection and PHN tracking. Numerical results show that the proposed detector can significantly improve the average bit-error rate (BER) and peak-to-noise ratio (PSNR) performance for LF video transmission compared to existing algorithms. Moreover, the BER and PSNR performance of the proposed system is closer to that of the ideal case of perfect PHN estimation. Finally, it is demonstrated that the proposed system model and algorithm are well suited for LF video transmission in wireless channels.
Regulatory Inspections, Informal Pressure and Water Pollution a Survey of Industrial Plants in India

We thank Ken Chomitz and Zmarak Shalizi for valuable comments; David Wheeler for generous access to the plant data used for this paper; and Adriana Castro for excellent research assistance. _____________________________________________ The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. The paper should not be cited without the permission of the authors. Abstract This paper uses survey data from industrial plants to examine regulatory inspections and water pollution emissions in India, and to check whether the monitoring and enforcement efforts of provincial pollution control authorities are affected by local community characteristics that act as proxies for political power. At the same time, the paper tests for evidence of informal pressure on plants that would result in negotiated lower emissions. Two stage least squares estimation methods are used to take account of endogeneity in a model of simultaneous determination of inspections and emissions. The paper finds that high levels of pollution do elicit a formal regulatory response in the form of inspections in India. However, there appears to be little or no impact of inspections on emissions, underlining the institutional failures that Indian academics have been concerned about.
A new image flux conduction model and its application to selective image smoothing

A discrete image flux conduction equation which is completely new in this field is proposed. The new approach starts with formulating a discrete image flux conduction equation based on the concept of heat conduction theory. Based on this discrete equation, the status change at a time point can be directly computed from its spatial neighborhood. To more accurately estimate an image flux, we have used an orthogonal wavelet basis to approximate the gradient of the intensity at each point. Since the proposed approach is discrete by nature, it is not necessary to formulate a continuous PDE to fit the discrete image data set. Furthermore, introduction of different numerical methods to solve the PDE can also be avoided. Since the proposed approach does not require that a PDE be solved, it is therefore more efficient and accurate than the conventional methods. Experimental results obtained using both synthetic signals and real images have demonstrated that the proposed model could effectively handle the selective image smoothing problem.
Socio-economic status and aspirations of Third World medical entrants: a Sri Lankan study.

In a country with a GNP per capita income of US $340, 84% of the entrants were from families earning less than US $1090 per year. Parents were sole providers for 90% of the entrants. Satisfaction from caring for the sick and attraction of medicine as a science were prime determinants for choice of career in medicine. Forty-five per cent (45%) of the students were from rural districts. On entry to medical schools 73% wished to serve in their home district on graduation. Only 2% were to seek employment overseas. Sixty per cent (60%) of the entrants considered a monthly wage of US $109–181 as adequate on graduation.Medical schools in the Third World should take care to guide entrants who may be suitably motivated to serve the needs of their country. Students with economic constraints and language difficulties adapting to an urban environment will benefit by counselling and advice from medical teachers who are made aware of problems of medical entrants.
Generalized Naive Bayes Classifiers

This paper presents a generalization of the Naive Bayes Classifier. The method is specifically designed for binary classification problems commonly found in credit scoring and marketing applications. The Generalized Naive Bayes Classifier turns out to be a powerful tool for both exploratory and predictive analysis. It can generate accurate predictions through a flexible, non-parametric fitting procedure, while being able to uncover hidden patterns in the data. In this paper, the Generalized Naive Bayes Classifier and the original Bayes Classifier will be demonstrated. Also, important ties to logistic regression, the Generalized Additive Model (GAM), and Weight Of Evidence will be discussed.