Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Infrared Side of Galaxy Formation. I. The Local Universe in the Semianalytical Framework

We present a new evolutionary model for predicting the far-UV-to-submillimeter properties of the galaxy population. This combines a semianalytic galaxy formation model based on hierarchical clustering (GALFORM) with a spectrophotometric code that includes dust reprocessing (GRASIL). The former provides the star formation and metal enrichment histories, together with the gas mass and various geometrical parameters, for a representative sample of galaxies formed in different density environments. These quantities, together with a few other assumptions concerning the spatial distribution of dust and its optical properties, allow us to model the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of galaxies, taking into account stellar emission and also dust extinction (absorption plus scattering) and reemission. In the spectrophotometric code, dust is considered only in the disk, but the general radiation field is contributed by both the disk and the bulge components with their own distinct age and metallicity distributions. Two phases are considered for the dust: molecular cloud complexes, where stars are assumed to be born, and the diffuse interstellar medium. The model includes both galaxies forming stars quiescently in disks and starbursts triggered by galaxy mergers. We test our models against the observed spectrophotometric properties of galaxies in the local universe, assuming a cold dark matter cosmology with Ω0 = 0.3 and Λ0 = 0.7. The models reproduce fairly well the SEDs of normal spirals and starbursts from the far-UV to the submillimeter and their internal extinction properties. The starbursts follow the observed relationship between the far-IR-to-UV luminosity ratio and the slope of the UV continuum. They also reproduce the observed starburst attenuation law. This result is remarkable because we use a dust mixture that reproduces the Milky Way extinction law. It suggests that the observed attenuation law is closely related to the geometry of the stars and dust. We compute galaxy luminosity functions over a wide range of wavelengths, which turn out to be in good agreement with observational data in the UV (2000 Å), in the B and K bands, and in the IR (12-100 μm). Finally, we investigate the reliability of some star formation indicators that are based on the properties of the continuum SEDs of galaxies. The UV continuum turns out to be a poor star formation indicator for our models, while the infrared luminosity is much more reliable.
Blutopia: Stackable storage for cluster management

The complexity of todaypsilas computer systems poses a challenge to system administrators. Current systems comprise a multitude of inter-related software components running on different servers. In this paper, we propose the use of the stackable storage mechanism as the foundation of centralized systems management. At the management level, we show how this mechanism can be used to implement an infrastructure that allows administrators to perform typical tasks fast and effortlessly. In particular, we find that our prototype could have avoided 40% of the human mistakes observed experimentally by previous research. At the storage level, we identify three key characteristics of stackable storage that allow the definition of different policies with distinct performance and scalability behaviors. We quantitatively compare five storage policies under different workloads and conclude that stackable storage is a viable approach.
Sport Fan Evaluations of a Major League Baseball Season: Key Predictors and Influence on Future Evaluations and Consumption Behaviors

ABSTRACT The current study examined fan evaluations of Major League Baseball team performance for a previous season as well as predictions of, and consumption expectations for, an upcoming season. With respect to evaluations of the recently completed season, appraisals were positively predicted by team identification, actual wins, and the number of playoff series played; evaluations were negatively predicted by simply making the playoffs. As for expectations for the next season, evaluations of the previous season, team identification, and actual wins were key predictors as those with more positive evaluations, higher levels of identification, and rooting for teams with fewer wins expected better performances from their team. Regarding consumption, team identification and expectations for the upcoming year were frequent predictors of a variety of consumption forms (e.g. attendance at home games, television viewing).
Enhanced interleukin 8 secretion in circulation of patients with Behçet's disease.

OBJECTIVE The pathogenesis of Behçet's disease (BD) has not yet been determined. Several hypotheses have been postulated and cytokines that control growth proliferation and hematopoiesis of progenitor cells play a role in relation to immune response and inflammatory dysfunction. We investigated whether cytokines play a role in pathogenesis of BD. METHODS We employed the quantitative sandwich enzyme immunoassay technique, in which antibody is already coated on the microtiter plate standard and samples are pipetted into the wells. Antigen present is bound by immobilized antibody. After incubation and washing steps, conjugate, which is enzyme linked polyclonal antibody specific for the antigen is added to the wells. Following a wash to remove any unbound antibody enzyme reagent, a substrate solution is added to the wells, and color develops in proportion to the antigen bound in the initial steps, which can be read in terms of optical density present in the standards and in the samples. RESULTS Of a total of 53 samples with BD, 33 (64%) had detectable levels of interleukin 8 (IL-8). Levels of IL-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha and interferon-gamma were not significantly elevated in patients with BD. CONCLUSION We found that IL-8 levels are higher in patients with active BD, and since IL-8 has a potent effect on the neutrophil, this cytokine most likely participates in the inflammatory response of this disease.
Poststroke Hemiparesis Impairs the Rate but not Magnitude of Adaptation of Spatial and Temporal Locomotor Features

Background. Persons with stroke and hemiparesis walk with a characteristic pattern of spatial and temporal asymmetry that is resistant to most traditional interventions. It was recently shown in nondisabled persons that the degree of walking symmetry can be readily altered via locomotor adaptation. However, it is unclear whether stroke-related brain damage affects the ability to adapt spatial or temporal gait symmetry. Objective. Determine whether locomotor adaptation to a novel swing phase perturbation is impaired in persons with chronic stroke and hemiparesis. Methods. Participants with ischemic stroke (14) and nondisabled controls (12) walked on a treadmill before, during, and after adaptation to a unilateral perturbing weight that resisted forward leg movement. Leg kinematics were measured bilaterally, including step length and single-limb support (SLS) time symmetry, limb angle center of oscillation, and interlimb phasing, and magnitude of “initial” and “late” locomotor adaptation rates were determined. Results. All participants had similar magnitudes of adaptation and similar initial adaptation rates both spatially and temporally. All 14 participants with stroke and baseline asymmetry temporarily walked with improved SLS time symmetry after adaptation. However, late adaptation rates poststroke were decreased (took more strides to achieve adaptation) compared with controls. Conclusions. Mild to moderate hemiparesis does not interfere with the initial acquisition of novel symmetrical gait patterns in both the spatial and temporal domains, though it does disrupt the rate at which “late” adaptive changes are produced. Impairment of the late, slow phase of learning may be an important rehabilitation consideration in this patient population.
Second Trimester Abortion by Extra‐Amniotic PGF2 alpha Infusion: Experience of 178 Cases

EDITORIAL COMMENT: The need for second trimester termination of pregnancy is a reality in modern obstetric practice. However, in spite of the increasing advocacy of routine 17–18 week ultrasonography to identify major fetal malformations, and the increasing use of genetic counselling amniocentesis when indicated, the majority of second trimester terminations are performed for ‘psychosocial’ indications ‐ in 102 of 178 case in Peat's series and 87 of 101 cases in the preceding article by Bennett and colleagues. These 2 papers are complementary and both conclude, after reporting different methods, that surgical evacuation after cervical dilatation with a vaginally inserted prostaglandin pessary is a more satisfactory technique than that using extraamniotic infusion of prostaglandin F2 alpha. It is a well known and important fact that the operation of dilatation and piecemeal evacuation of the fetus and placenta is abhorrent to both the operator and all members of the nursing staff in attendance. The performance of the procedure under ultrasound control as described in the previous paper seems a major improvement in terms of avoiding damage to the uterus, and problems due to incomplete removal of the conceptus. Hopefully this is not the last word, and further refinement of technique will allow spontaneous expulsion in second trimester abortion ‐ the use of an orally administered antiprogesterone in addition to vaginal Cervagem pessaries (Rodger and Baird, 11), may, by shortening the induction‐abortion interval, result in a regimen more acceptable than surgical evacuation.
ProbReach: A Tool for Guaranteed Reachability Analysis of Stochastic Hybrid Systems

In this paper we present a summary of our work on probability reachability in stochastic hybrid systems (SHS). In particular, we give an overview of ProbReach, a tool for computing probabilistic reachability in SHS which we introduced in [18]. We also present and an overview of our recent theoretical extensions and modification of the tool.
A Pilot Climate Sensitivity Study Using the CEN Coupled Adjoint Model (CESAM)

AbstractA pilot coupled climate sensitivity study is being presented based on the newly developed adjoint CESAM coupled climate model. To this end the ingredients of the coupled forward model are summarized and the generation of the adjoint code out of the model forward code through the application of the TAF adjoint compiler is being discussed. It is shown that simulations of the intermediate complexity CESAM model are comparable in quality to CMIP type coupled climate models, justifying the usage of the model to compute adjoint sensitivities of the northern Europe near-surface temperature to anomalies in surface temperature, sea surface salinity and sea ice over the North Atlantic and the Arctic on time scales of up to one month. Results confirm that on time scale of up to a few days surface temperatures over northern Europe are influenced by Atlantic temperature anomalies just upstream of the target location. With increasingly longer time laps, however, it is the influence of SSTs over the central and .
Strenuous resistive breathing induces proinflammatory cytokines and stimulates the HPA axis in humans.

Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), powerful stimulants of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, increase in response to whole body exercise. Strenuous inspiratory resistive breathing (IRB), a form of clinically relevant "exercise" for the respiratory muscles, produces β-endorphin through a largely unknown mechanism. We investigated (in 11 healthy humans) whether strenuous IRB produces proinflammatory cytokines and β-endorphin in parallel with stimulation of the HPA axis, assessed by concurrent measurement of ACTH. Subjects underwent either severe [at 75% of maximal inspiratory pressure (Pmmax)] or moderate (at 35% of Pmmax) IRB. Plasma cytokines, β-endorphin, and ACTH were measured at rest ( point R), at the point at which the resistive load could not be sustained ( point F), and at exhaustion [15 min later ( point E)]. During severe IRB, IL-1β increased from 0.83 ± 0.12 pg/ml at point R to 1.88 ± 0.53 and 4.06 ± 1.27 pg/ml at points F and E, respectively ( P < 0.01). IL-6 increased from 5.30 ± 1.02 to 10.33 ± 2.14 and 11.66 ± 2.29 pg/ml at points F and E, respectively ( P = 0.02). ACTH and β-endorphin fluctuated from 20.87 ± 5.49 and 25.03 ± 3.97 pg/ml at point R to 22.97 ± 4.41 and 26.32 ± 3.93 pg/ml, respectively, at point F and increased to 46.96 ± 8.55 and 40.32 ± 5.94 pg/ml, respectively, at point E ( P< 0.01, point E vs. point F). There was a positive correlation between the IL-6 at point F and the ACTH and β-endorphin at point E ( r= 0.88 and 0.94, respectively; P < 0.01) as well as between the increase in IL-6 (between points R and F) and the increases in ACTH and β-endorphin (between points F and E, r= 0.91 and 0.92, respectively; P < 0.01). Moderate IRB did not produce any change. We conclude that severe IRB produces proinflammatory cytokines and stimulates the HPA axis in humans secondary to the production of cytokines (especially IL-6).
Sampling binary contingency tables with a greedy start

We study the problem of counting and randomly sampling binary contingency tables. For given row and column sums, we are interested in approximately counting (or sampling) 0/1 n × m matrices with the specified row/column sums. We present a simulated annealing algorithm with running time O((nm)2D3dmax log 5(n + m)) for any row/column sums, where D is the number of nonzero entries and dmax is the maximum row/column sum. In the worst case, the running time of the algorithm is O(n11 log 5n) for an n × n matrix. This is the first algorithm to directly solve binary contingency tables for all row/column sums. Previous work reduced the problem to the permanent, or restricted attention to row/column sums that are close to regular. The interesting aspect of our simulated annealing algorithm is that it starts at a nontrivial instance, whose solution relies on the existence of short alternating paths in the graph constructed by a particular Greedy algorithm. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg. , 2007
On the Risk of Life Insurance Liabilities: Debunking Some Common Pitfalls

The objective of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the driving forces of a life insurance company. More specifically, the issues of the duration and convexity of insurance liabilities and equity are addressed. These issues deserve a careful rethinking given the recent trends that have affected the insurance landscape. A correct assessment of these risk measures is critical as they constitute the primary ingredients of any sound asset-liability management approach. In addition, the effort toward a more detailed and more accurate risk picture of life insurance operations enables one to debunk some pitfalls that are commonly encountered in the insurance industry. This paper was presented at the Financial Institutions Center's May 1996 conference on "
Role of 18 F-FDG PET-CT in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

The role of PET-CT imaging in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma during pre-treatment staging, radiotherapy planning, treatment response assessment and post-therapy follow-up is reviewed with focus on current evidence, controversial issues and future clinical applications. in staging, the role of F-FDg PET-CT is well recognized for detecting cervical nodal involvement as well as for exclusion of distant metastases and synchronous primary tumours. in the evaluation of treatment response, the high negative predictive value of F-FDg PET-CT performed at least 8 weeks from the end of radio-chemotherapy allows prevention of unnecessary diagnostic invasive procedures and neck dissection in many patients, with a significant impact on clinical outcome. on the other hand, in this setting, the low positive predictive value due to possible post-radiation inflammation findings requires special care before making a clinical decision. Controversial data are currently available on the role of PET imaging during the course of radio-chemotherapy. The prognostic role of F-FDg PET-CT imaging in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is recently emerging, in addition to the utility of this technique in evaluation of the tumour volume for planning radiation therapy. Additionally, new PET radiopharmaceuticals could provide considerable information on specific tumour characteristics, thus overcoming the limitations of F-FDg.
Supply of wood as environmental enrichment material to post-weaning piglets

Slatted flooring is a common system used for post-weaning of piglets. In this condition of breeding, it is very hard to provide materials for environmental enrichment to enable proper investigation and manipulation activities to improve animal welfare. The research aimed to identify an alternative way to provide natural environmental enrichment during post-weaning on slatted flooring using wood. Core of veneer poplar logs and wood sawdust pressed briquettes were selected among other types of wood thanks to their wide availability and low cost. Moreover, these kinds of wood can be used without compromising the health of the animals, neither by contact nor by ingestion. The most important step of the research was to design systems to make the wood more attractive for piglets. The developed devices consisted of a fixed structural component to be installed inside the pen to which wood materials could be added and replaced quite effortlessly. Three devices were developed: a) horizontal system, b) vertical system, c) pendulum system. They were tested in three different pens, each one with 24 post-weaning piglets. The results confirmed the assumption that there is a relation between the level of activity of the animals and the interaction with the wood proposed in the shape of small logs and briquettes. In particular the device a) can generate a valuable level of interaction of the animals reared inside the pen, especially in the first 10 days post-weaning, which is the most sensitive period for piglets after mixing.
Correlation between Lamina Cribrosa Tilt Angles, Myopia and Glaucoma Using OCT with a Wide Bandwidth Femtosecond Mode-Locked Laser

Purpose To measure horizontal and vertical lamina cribrosa (LC) tilt angles and investigate associated factors using prototype optical coherence tomography (OCT) with a broad wavelength laser light source. Design Cross sectional study. Methods Twenty-eight no glaucoma eyes (from 15 subjects) and 25 glaucoma eyes (from 14 patients) were enrolled. A total of 300 optic nerve head B-scans were obtained in 10 µm steps and the inner edge of Bruch's membrane opening (BMO) was identified as the reference plane. The vertical and horizontal angles between BMO line and approximate the best-fitting line for the surface of the LC were measured and potential associated factors were estimated with univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results The median (interquartile range) horizontal and vertical tilt angles were 7.10 (2.43–11.45) degrees and 4.15 (2.60–6.85) degrees in eyes without glaucoma and 8.50 (4.40–14.10) degrees and 9.30 (6.90–14.15) degrees in glaucoma eyes, respectively. The refractive errors had a statistically significant association with horizontal LC tilt angles (coefficients, −1.53 per diopter) and glaucoma had a significant correlation with vertical tilt angles (coefficients, 6.56) using multiple logistic regression analysis (p<0.001). Conclusions OCT allowed evaluation of the internal tilting of the LC compared with the BMO. The horizontal internal LC tilt angle was correlated with refractive errors, corresponding to myopic physiological changes, and vertical internal LC tilt was correlated with glaucoma, corresponding to glaucomatous pathological changes. These parameters have important implications for investigation of the correlation between myopia, glaucoma and LC morphological features.
On the K-theory of nilpotent endomorphisms

where A is a smooth algebra over a perfect field k of positive characteristic. This extends the calculation in [3], where the basic case A = k was considered. Our motivation to consider the more general case is that it also leads to a calculation of the groups Nil∗(Λ). The results are stated in terms of the (big) de Rham-Witt complex of Deligne-Illusie. When A is a polynomial algebra, the structure of these groups is completely known. Let A be a smooth k-algebra. The (p-typical) de Rham-Witt complex WsΩ ∗ A of Deligne-Illusie is a lift of the de Rham complex ΩA to a differential graded algebra over Ws(k) with zeroth term the p-typical Witt ring Ws(A). In a similar way, the big de Rham-Witt complex WmΩ ∗ A is a lift of Ω ∗ A to a differential graded algebra over Ws(k) with zeroth term Wm(A). The Verschiebung Vn : Wm(A)→Wmn(A) extends to an additive map of complexes Vn : WmΩ ∗ A →WmnΩ ∗ A. We note, however, that in positive degrees this map is usually not injective.
Localization of Acetylcholine-Related Molecules in the Retina: Implication of the Communication from Photoreceptor to Retinal Pigment Epithelium

It has been long speculated that specific signals are transmitted from photoreceptors to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). However, such signals have not been identified. In this study, we examined the retinal expression and localization of acetylcholine-related molecules as putative candidates for these signals. Previous reports revealed that α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are present in the microvilli of RPE cells that envelope the tips of photoreceptor outer segments (OS). Secreted mammalian leukocyte antigen 6/urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor-related protein-1 (SLURP-1) is a positive allosteric modulator of the α7 nAChR. Therefore, we first focused on the expression of SLURP-1. SLURP-1 mRNA was expressed in the outer nuclear layer, which is comprised of photoreceptor cell bodies. SLURP-1 immunoreactivity co-localized with rhodopsin and S-opsin in photoreceptor OS, while choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and high affinity choline transporter (CHT-1) were also expressed in photoreceptor OS. Immunoelectron microscopy identified that the majority of SLURP-1 was localized to the plasma membranes of photoreceptor OS. These results provide evidence that SLURP-1 is synthesized in photoreceptor cell bodies and transported to photoreceptor OS, where SLURP-1 may also be secreted. Our findings suggest that photoreceptor OS communicate via neurotransmitters such as ACh and SLURP-1, while RPE cells might receive these signals through α7 nAChRs in their microvilli.
Urban vehicle platoon using monocular vision: Scale factor estimation

Environment, sustainable development as well as new transportation service emergence in urban areas are major concerns. Consequently, studies are currently intended to automate electric vehicles designed for applications in free access. An additional functionality that appears very attractive is vehicle platooning. In order to avoid oscillations within the fleet when completing this task, a global control strategy, supported by inter-vehicle communications, is investigated. Vehicle absolute localization is then needed and is here derived from monocular vision. These data are however expressed in a virtual vision world, slightly distorted with respect to the actual metric one. It has previously been shown that such a distortion can accurately be corrected on-line in different ways, considering telemetric or odometric data. These strategies have here been refined in order to provide optimal corrections. A comparative study, supported by simulations and full-scale experiments, is reported to exhibit benefits and performances of proposed approaches.