Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integration on Hp × H and arithmetic applications

This article describes a conjectural p-adic analytic construction of global points on (modular) elliptic curves, points which are defined over the ring class fields of real quadratic fields. The resulting conjectures suggest that the classical Heegner point construction, and the theory of complex multiplication on which it is based, should extend to a variety of contexts in which the underlying field is not a CM field.
Asbestos–Related Pleuropulmonary Diseases: Benign and Malignant

Abstract Asbestos is known for its desirable properties of thermal and heat resistance along with excellent strength and durability. It was widely used in many industries since the late 19th century, until its adverse effects on health were recognized. The occurrence of pleuropulmonary changes from exposure to asbestos often has a latency period of 20 to 30 years. The use of asbestos has been banned, regulated, and minimized in many countries, but in several developing countries, the use of asbestos in industries is still a common practice. In this article, the benign and malignant clinical manifestations of asbestos exposure are discussed.
Remineralization ability of sodium fluoride on the microhardness of enamel, dentin, and dentinoenamel junction: An in vitro study

Aim: Dental tissues such as enamel, dentinoenamel junction (DEJ), dentin, and root dentin can react differently to demineralization and remineralization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the remineralization ability of sodium fluoride on the microhardness of enamel, dentin, and dentinoenamel junction. Materials and Methods: Ten extracted third molar teeth were sectioned mesiodistally to form control and test groups. For the test group, initial demineralization was done with acetic acid for 24 h followed by remineralization for 28 days by application of sodium fluoride (226 ppm) for 2 min twice a day. Vickers microhardness test was done to control and test groups at different sites after initial demineralization and on the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 14th, and 28th day of remineralization. Statistical Analysis Used: Data were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance and post hoc test with a significance level of P < 0.001 with SPSS (21) software. Results: Microhardness values in the demineralization group were significantly lower than controls (P < 0.001). Evaluation of remineralization samples showed that microhardness similar to control values were achieved at the 3rd day in root predentin and on the 5th day in coronal dentin and coronal predentin. On the 7th day, remineralization coronal predentin was significantly higher than the control (P < 0.001). On the 14th day, DEJ axial zone and root dentin were similar to control and coronal dentin was significantly higher than the control (P < 0.001). Enamel was similar to control on the 28th day. Microhardness of DEJ-cusp tip and DEJ-center of the fissure was significantly lower than control even at the 28th day (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Long-term repeated application of sodium fluoride (226 ppm) can improve the microhardness of demineralized dental tissues on enamel, dentin, and DEJ-axial zone, except in the DEJ-cusp tip and DEJ-center of fissure.
Selective Effects of Sport Expertise on the Stages of Mental Rotation Tasks With Object-Based and Egocentric Transformations

It is well established that motor expertise is linked to superior mental rotation ability, but few studies have attempted to explain the factors that influence the stages of mental rotation in sport experts. Some authors have argued that athletes are faster in the perceptual and decision stages but not in the rotation stages of object-based transformations; however, stimuli related to sport have not been used to test mental rotation with egocentric transformations. Therefore, 24 adolescent elite divers and 23 adolescent nonathletes completed mental rotation tasks with object-based and egocentric transformations. The results showed faster reaction times (RTs) for the motor experts in tasks with both types of transformations (object-based cube, object-based body, and egocentric body). Additionally, the differences in favour of motor experts in the perceptual and decision stages were confirmed. Interestingly, motor experts also outperformed nonathletes in the rotation stages in the egocentric transformations. These findings are discussed against the background of the effects of sport expertise on mental rotation.
Network coding-aware rate control and scheduling in wireless networks

In this paper, we study rate control and scheduling over wireless networks with intersession network coding, as a utility maximization problem. We demonstrate that making rate control and scheduling aware of the underlying network coding increases throughput. The key intuition is that network coding introduces new network coded flows and eventually new conflicts between nodes, which should be taken into account both in rate control and in scheduling. We compare the network coding-aware to the network coding-unaware schemes in two cases: (i) optimal control and (ii) practical, suboptimal control. Our main goal is to make the case for network coding-aware rate control and scheduling, via simulation of representative examples. Along the way, we also propose a practical scheme that approximates the optimal control.
Generation of 10,154 expressed sequence tags from a leafy gametophyte of a marine red alga, Porphyra yezoensis.

A total of 10,154 5'-end expressed sequence tags (EST) were established from the normalized and size-selected cDNA libraries of a marine red alga, Porphyra yezoensis. Among the ESTs, 2140 were unique species, and the remaining 8014 were grouped into 1127 species. Database search of the 3267 non-redundant ESTs by BLAST algorithm showed that the sequences of 1080 species (33.1%) have similarity to those of registered genes from various organisms including higher plants, mammals, yeasts, and cyanobacteria, while 2187 (66.9%) are novel. Codon usage analysis in the coding regions of 101 non-redundant EST groups showing significant similarity to known genes indicated the higher GC contents at the third position of codons (79.4%) than the first (62.2%) and the second position (45.0%), suggesting that the genome has been exposed to high GC pressure during evolution. The sequence data of individual ESTs are available at the web site http://www.kazusa. or.jp/en/plant/porphyra/EST/.
A Bayesian analysis of the primordial power spectrum

We present a Bayesian analysis of large-scale structure (LSS) and cosmic microwave background data to constrain the form of the primordial power spectrum. We have extended the usual presumption of a scale-invariant spectrum to include (i) a running spectral index; (ii) a broken spectrum arising perhaps from an interruption of the potential driving inflation; (iii) a large-scale cut-off in power as the first year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) results appear to indicate; (iv) a reconstruction of the spectrum in eight bins in wavenumber; and (v) a spectrum resulting from a cosmological model proposed by Lasenby & Doran, which naturally exhibits an exponential drop in power on very large scales. The result of our complete Bayesian analysis includes not only the posterior probability distribution from which parameter estimates are inferred but also the Bayesian evidence. This evidence value is greater for a model with fewer parameters unless a more complicated model provides a significantly better fit to the data, thus allowing a powerful method of model selection. We find that those models exhibiting any form of cut-off in power on large scales consistently produce higher evidences than either the Harrison-Zel'dovich or single spectral index spectra. In particular, within the best-fitting concordance cosmology, we find the Lasenby & Doran spectrum to show significantly larger evidence as compared to the other models.
Performance analysis of forward-backward matched-filterbank spectral estimators

The problem of complex spectral estimation is of great interest in many applications. This paper studies the general class of the forward-backward matched-filterbank (MAFI) spectral estimators including the widely used Capon as well as the more recently introduced amplitude and phase estimation of a sinusoid (APES) methods. In particular, we show by means of a higher order expansion technique that the one-dimensional (1-D) Capon estimator underestimates the true spectrum, whereas the 1-D APES method is unbiased; we also show that the bias of the forward-backward Capon is half that of the forward-only Capon (to within a second-order approximation). Furthermore. We show that these results can be extended to the two-dimensional (2-D) Capon and APES estimators. Numerical examples are also presented to demonstrate quantitatively the properties of and the relation between these MAFI estimators.
The WOPR Domain Protein OsaA Orchestrates Development in Aspergillus nidulans

Orchestration of cellular growth and development occurs during the life cycle of Aspergillus nidulans. A multi-copy genetic screen intended to unveil novel regulators of development identified the AN6578 locus predicted to encode a protein with the WOPR domain, which is a broadly present fungi-specific DNA-binding motif. Multi-copy of AN6578 disrupted the normal life cycle of the fungus leading to enhanced proliferation of vegetative cells, whereas the deletion resulted in hyper-active sexual fruiting with reduced asexual development (conidiation), thus named as osaA (Orchestrator of Sex and Asex). Further genetic studies indicate that OsaA balances development mainly by repressing sexual development downstream of the velvet regulator VeA. The absence of osaA is sufficient to suppress the veA1 allele leading to the sporulation levels comparable to veA + wild type (WT). Genome-wide transcriptomic analyses of WT, veA1, and ΔosaA veA1 strains by RNA-Seq further corroborate that OsaA functions in repressing sexual development downstream of VeA. However, OsaA also plays additional roles in controlling development, as the ΔosaA veA1 mutant exhibits precocious and enhanced formation of Hülle cells compared to WT. The OsaA orthologue of Aspergillus flavus is able to complement the osaA null phenotype in A. nidulans, suggesting a conserved role of this group of WOPR domain proteins. In summary, OsaA is an upstream orchestrator of morphological and chemical development in Aspergillus that functions downstream of VeA.
GENETIC STUDY: H2 haplotype at chromosome 17q21.31 protects against childhood sexual abuse‐associated risk for alcohol consumption and dependence

Animal research supports a central role for corticotropin‐releasing factor (CRF) in actions of ethanol on brain function. An examination of alcohol consumption in adolescents reported a significant genotype × environment (G × E) interaction involving rs1876831, a corticotropin‐releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRHR1) polymorphism, and negative events. CRHR1 and at least four other genes are located at 17q21.31 in an extremely large block of high linkage disequilibrium resulting from a local chromosomal inversion; the minor allele of rs1876831 is contained within the H2 haplotype. Here, we examine whether G × E interactions involving this haplotype and childhood sexual abuse (CSA) are associated with risk for alcohol consumption and dependence in Australian participants (n = 1128 respondents from 476 families) of the Nicotine Addiction Genetics project. Telephone interviews provided data on DSM‐IV alcohol dependence diagnosis and CSA and enabled calculation of lifetime alcohol consumption factor score (ACFS) from four indices of alcohol consumption. Individuals reporting a history of CSA had significantly higher ACFS and increased risk for alcohol dependence. A significant G × E interaction was found for ACFS involving the H2 haplotype and CSA (P < 0.017). A similar G × E interaction was associated with protective effects against alcohol dependence risk (odds ratio 0.42; 95% confidence interval 0.20–0.89). For each outcome, no significant CSA‐associated risk was observed in H2 haplotype carriers. These findings support conducting further investigation of the H2 haplotype to determine the gene(s) responsible. Our results also suggest that severe early trauma may prove to be an important clinical covariate in the treatment of alcohol dependence.
Stimulation of matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression in human fibrosarcoma cells by synthetic matrix metalloproteinase inhibitors.

Enhanced expression and activation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 have been associated with tumor progression, invasion, and metastasis. The use of synthetic MMP inhibitors to block the proteolytic activity of these enzymes recently emerged as a potential therapeutic tool to treat cancer. In this study, we report that GI129471, a synthetic broad-spectrum MMP inhibitor, efficiently reduced the in vitro invasiveness of HT1080 cells through type IV collagen, a major component of basement membranes. This reduced invasion was paralleled by a complete inhibition of pro-MMP-2 activation; however, GI129471 strongly increased the amount of secreted pro-MMP-9, which could be subsequently activated through a plasminogen-dependent mechanism. Quantitative RT-PCR and northern blot analysis revealed that GI129471 specifically increased the MMP-9 mRNA steady-state level. Moreover, transient transfection of HT1080 cells with beta-galactosidase reporter vectors containing different lengths of the 5'-flanking region of the MMP-9 gene revealed an upregulation of the transcriptional activity of the corresponding promoter. Well-known modulators of MMP-9 expression such as Il-1beta and TNF-alpha were not involved in this upregulation. These findings emphasize the complexity of the regulation of MMP expression and the requirement for a detailed characterization of the potential adverse side effects associated with the use of broad-spectrum MMPIs.
Combinatorial auctions with decreasing marginal utilities

In most of microeconomic theory, consumers are assumed to exhibit decreasing marginal utilities. This paper considers combinatorial auctions among such buyers. The valuations of such buyers are placed within a hierarchy of valuations that exhibit no complementarities, a hierarchy that includes also OR and XOR combinations of singleton valuations, and valuations satisfying the gross substitutes property. While we show that the allocation problem among valuations with decreasing marginal utilities is NP-hard, we present an efficient greedy 2-approximation algorithm for this case. No such approximation algorithm exists in a setting allowing for complementarities. Some results about strategic aspects of combinatorial auctions among players with decreasing marginal utilities are also presented.
Time-irreversible Subconductance Gating Associated with Ba2+ Block of Large Conductance Ca2+-activated K+ Channels

Ba2+ block of large conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels was studied in patches of membrane excised from cultures of rat skeletal muscle using the patch clamp technique. Under conditions in which a blocking Ba2+ ion would dissociate to the external solution (150 mM N-methyl-d-glucamine+ o, 500 mM K+ i, 10 μM Ba2+ i, +30 mV, and 100 μM Ca2+ i to fully activate the channel), Ba2+ blocks with a mean duration of ∼2 s occurred, on average, once every ∼100 ms of channel open time. Of these Ba2+ blocks, 78% terminated with a single step in the current to the fully open level and 22% terminated with a transition to a subconductance level at ∼0.26 of the fully open level (preopening) before stepping to the fully open level. Only one apparent preclosing was observed in ∼10,000 Ba2+ blocks. Thus, the preopenings represent Ba2+-induced time-irreversible subconductance gating. The fraction of Ba2+ blocks terminating with a preopening and the duration of preopenings (exponentially distributed, mean = 0.75 ms) appeared independent of changes in [Ba2+]i or membrane potential. The fractional conductance of the preopenings increased from 0.24 at +10 mV to 0.39 at +90 mV. In contrast, the average subconductance level during normal gating in the absence of Ba2+ was independent of membrane potential, suggesting different mechanisms for preopenings and normal subconductance levels. Preopenings were also observed with 10 mM Ba2+ o and no added Ba2+ i. Adding K+, Rb+, or Na+ to the external solution decreased the fraction of Ba2+ blocks with preopenings, with K+ and Rb+ being more effective than Na+. These results are consistent with models in which the blocking Ba2+ ion either induces a preopening gate, and then dissociates to the external solution, or moves to a site located on the external side of the Ba2+ blocking site and acts directly as the preopening gate.
Risk Factors, Outcome, and Treatment in Subtypes of Ischemic Stroke: The German Stroke Data Bank

Background and Purpose— Data on risk factors for etiologic subtypes of ischemic stroke are still scant. The aim of this study was to characterize stroke subtypes regarding risk factor profile, outcome, and current treatment strategies. Methods— We analyzed data from 5017 patients with acute ischemic stroke (42.4% women, aged 65.9±14.1 years) who were enrolled in a large multicenter hospital–based stroke data bank. Standardized data assessment and stroke subtype classification were used by all centers. Results— Sex and age distribution, major risk factors and comorbidities, recurrent stroke, treatment strategies, and outcome were all unevenly distributed among stroke subtypes (P <0.001, respectively). Cardioembolism, the most frequent etiology of stroke (25.6%), was particularly common in the elderly (those aged >70 years) and associated with an adverse outcome, a low rate of early stroke recurrence, and frequent use of thrombolytic therapy and intravenous anticoagulation. Large-artery atherosclerosis (20.9%), the most common cause of stroke in middle-aged patients (those aged 45 to 70 years), showed the highest male preponderance, highest rate of early stroke recurrence, and highest prevalence of previous transient ischemic attack, current smoking, and daily alcohol consumption among all subtypes. The highest prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, and obesity was found in small-vessel disease (20.5%), which, in turn, was associated with the lowest stroke severity and mortality. Conclusions— Our results foster the concept of ischemic stroke as a polyetiologic disease with marked differences between subtypes regarding risk factors and outcome. Therefore, studies involving risk factors of ischemic stroke should differentiate between etiologic stroke subtypes.
Similarity-based online feature selection in content-based image retrieval

Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) has been more and more important in the last decade, and the gap between high-level semantic concepts and low-level visual features hinders further performance improvement. The problem of online feature selection is critical to really bridge this gap. In this paper, we investigate online feature selection in the relevance feedback learning process to improve the retrieval performance of the region-based image retrieval system. Our contributions are mainly in three areas. 1) A novel feature selection criterion is proposed, which is based on the psychological similarity between the positive and negative training sets. 2) An effective online feature selection algorithm is implemented in a boosting manner to select the most representative features for the current query concept and combine classifiers constructed over the selected features to retrieve images. 3) To apply the proposed feature selection method in region-based image retrieval systems, we propose a novel region-based representation to describe images in a uniform feature space with real-valued fuzzy features. Our system is suitable for online relevance feedback learning in CBIR by meeting the three requirements: learning with small size training set, the intrinsic asymmetry property of training samples, and the fast response requirement. Extensive experiments, including comparisons with many state-of-the-arts, show the effectiveness of our algorithm in improving the retrieval performance and saving the processing time.
Flapwise bending vibration analysis of rotary tapered functionally graded nanobeam in thermal environment

ABSTRACT In this article, transverse vibration of rotary functionally graded size-dependent tapered Bernoulli–Euler nanobeam in thermal environment at low temperature has been investigated based on Eringen's nonlocal theory for cantilever and propped cantilever boundary conditions. Material properties of FG nanobeam are supposed to be temperature dependant and vary continuously along the thickness according to the power-law form. The axial force is also included in the model as the true spatial variation due to the rotation. The nonlocal equations of motion are derived through Hamilton's principle and they are solved by the differential quadrature method. Validations are done by comparing available literatures and obtained results, which reveal the accuracy of the applied method. The detailed mathematical derivations are presented and numerical investigations are performed while the emphasis is placed on investigating the effect of the several parameters, such as angular velocity, material distribution profile, different boundary conditions, small-scale parameter and rate of cross-section change on the first three nondimensional natural frequencies of the rotary FG nanobeam in detail. Numerical results are presented to serve as benchmarks for the application and the design of nanoelectronic, nanodrive devices and nanomotor, in which nanobeams act as basic elements. They can also be useful as valuable sources for validating other approaches and approximate methods.The results of this article are suitable in designation of micromachines, such as micromotors and micro-rotors.
Improving equity by removing healthcare fees for children in Burkina Faso

Background This study evaluated the effects on healthcare access inequities of an intervention exempting children under 5 years from user fees in Burkina Faso. Methods The design consisted of two complementary studies. The first was an interrupted time series (56 months before and 12 months after) study of daily curative consultations according to distance (<5, 5–9 and ≥10 km) in a stratified random sample of 18 health centres: 12 with the intervention and 6 without. The second was a household panel survey (n=1214) assessing the evolution of health-seeking behaviours. Multilevel regression was used throughout. Results Attendance doubled under the intervention, after adjusting for Centres de Santé et de Promotion Sociale size, districts, secular trend and seasonal variation. Utilisation increased for all distance ranges and in all of the 12 health centres of the intervention area. The exemption benefited all children (rate ratios (RR)=1.52 (1.23 to 1.88)), whether their health needs were high (RR=1.69 (1.22 to 2.32)) or not (RR=1.46 (1.10 to 1.93)) and whether the children lived near (RR=1.42 (1.09 to 1.85)) or far from a health centre (RR=1.79 (1.31 to 2.43)). The exemption benefited the children of poor families when health need was high and services near (RR=5.23; (1.30 to 20.99)). The amount saved for a child's treatment by the exemption was on average and median 2500 F CFA (≈US$5). Conclusions Exempting children under five from user fees is effective and helps reduce inequities of access. It benefits vulnerable populations, although their service utilisation remains constrained by limitations in geographic accessibility of services.