Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-wave dynamics of an inextensible planar membrane in an electric field

Abstract In this paper the dynamics of an inextensible capacitive elastic membrane under an electric field is investigated in the long-wave (lubrication) leaky dielectric framework, where a sixth-order nonlinear differential equation with an integral constraint is derived. Steady equilibrium profiles for a non-conducting membrane in a direct current (DC) field are found to depend only on the membrane excess area and the volume under the membrane. Linear stability analysis on a tensionless flat membrane in a DC field gives the growth rate in terms of membrane conductance and electric properties in the bulk. Numerical simulations of a capacitive conducting membrane under an alternating current (AC) field elucidate how variation of the membrane tension correlates with the nonlinear membrane dynamics. Different membrane dynamics, such as undulation and flip-flop, are found at different electric field strength and membrane area. In particular a travelling wave on the membrane is found as a response to a periodic AC field in the perpendicular direction.
Testosterone of young husbands rises with children in the home

Evolutionary theory suggests that a man's testosterone (T) decreases after his fathering of children, when his priority shifts from mating to cooperative parenting (Fatherhood: Evolution and Human Parental Behavior, 2010). A variation in this theory has T decreasing for highly educated fathers but increasing for less educated fathers (Evol Hum Behav, 33, 2012, 665). The Vietnam Experience Study of 4462 male army veterans is here used to explore related hypotheses: (i) that T decreases with the presence (or increasing number) of children in the man's home and (ii) that the T rises or falls depending on father's education. These related hypotheses are not supported. To the contrary, among young fathers, ages 30–35 years, T is higher with the presence and number of children in the home, independent of education.
Subspace clustering

Subspace clustering refers to the task of identifying clusters of similar objects or data records (vectors) where the similarity is defined with respect to a subset of the attributes (i.e., a subspace of the data space). The subspace is not necessarily (and actually is usually not) the same for different clusters within one clustering solution. In this article, the problems motivating subspace clustering are sketched, different definitions and usages of subspaces for clustering are described, and exemplary algorithmic solutions are discussed. Finally, we sketch current research directions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Expression Levels of LCORL Are Associated with Body Size in Horses

Body size is an important characteristic for horses of various breeds and essential for the classification of ponies concerning the limit value of 148 cm (58.27 inches) height at the withers. Genome-wide association analyses revealed the highest associated quantitative trait locus for height at the withers on horse chromosome (ECA) 3 upstream of the candidate gene LCORL. Using 214 Hanoverian horses genotyped on the Illumina equine SNP50 BeadChip and 42 different horse breeds across all size ranges, we confirmed the highly associated single nucleotide polymorphism BIEC2-808543 (−log10P = 8.3) and the adjacent gene LCORL as the most promising candidate for body size. We investigated the relative expression levels of LCORL and its two neighbouring genes NCAPG and DCAF16 using quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR). We could demonstrate a significant association of the relative LCORL expression levels with the size of the horses and the BIEC2-808543 genotypes within and across horse breeds. In heterozygous C/T-horses expression levels of LCORL were significantly decreased by 40% and in homozygous C/C-horses by 56% relative to the smaller T/T-horses. Bioinformatic analyses indicated that this SNP T>C mutation is disrupting a putative binding site of the transcription factor TFIID which is important for the transcription process of genes involved in skeletal bone development. Thus, our findings suggest that expression levels of LCORL play a key role for body size within and across horse breeds and regulation of the expression of LCORL is associated with genetic variants of BIEC2-808543. This is the first functional study for a body size regulating polymorphism in horses and a further step to unravel the mechanisms for understanding the genetic regulation of body size in horses.
Low Plasma Arginine: Asymmetric Dimethyl Arginine Ratios Predict Mortality After Intracranial Aneurysm Rupture

Background— Asymmetrical dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthases, predicts mortality in cardiovascular disease and has been linked to cerebral vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). In this prospective study, we assessed whether circulating ADMA, arginine:ADMA ratio, and nitrite/nitrate levels were associated with survival and cerebral vasospasm in SAH patients. Methods— One hundred and eleven patients were observed day 1 to 15 after SAH, with serial measurements of transcranial Doppler flow velocities (VMCA) and plasma biomarkers. Clinical status was assessed by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies grading scale. Results— Overall 30-day mortality was 18%, but differed between patients grouped by low, midrange, and high arginine:ADMA ratio in the first week after SAH. Mortality rates were 14/37, 1/37, and 5/37 in the 3 groups, respectively (P-logrank=0.0003). Cox regression showed that low versus midrange or high arginine:ADMA was associated with a hazard ratio of 4.1 independent of World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies grade (95% confidence interval, 1.5–10.9; P=0.006). ADMA or arginine:ADMA had no association to VMCA, but there was an inverse relationship between VMCA and nitrite/nitrate levels (P<0.0001). The NOS3 894G/G genotype was associated with 15% lower VMCA (P=0.01). ATbG-NOS3 haplotype homozygosity was associated with up to 64% higher nitrite/nitrate levels (P=0.003). Conclusions— This study suggests that plasma arginine:ADMA ratios predict mortality after SAH. Both clinical and physiological measures of changes in cerebral hemodynamics are coupled to the nitric oxide system.
Remarks On Per-flow Differentiation In IEEE 802.11

Service differentiation at the MAC sub-layer is a recent research topic which is getting more attention as wireless Internet is becoming a reality. Our previous work [1] introduced some differentiation mechanisms for IEEE 802.11 and showed the need for per-flow differentiation mechanisms. In this paper we extend the perhost differentiation mechanisms to per-flow differentiation mechanisms, apply them to UDP and TCP flows respectively, and present some simulation results. We show that closed-loop traffic flows such as TCP above differentiated MAC sub-layers reduce the differentiation effect of the proposed mechanisms. In contrast open-loop traffic flows such as UDP tend to have a better behavior. We analyze these issues and draw general conclusions for further differentiation design.
Macroeconomic Conditions, Systematic Risk Factors, and the Time Series Dynamics of Commercial Mortgage Credit Risk

I study the time series dynamics of commercial mortgage credit risk and the unobservable systematic risk factors underlying those dynamics. A first-passage model with equilibrium macroeconomic dynamics is presented, and the default hazard rate is solved. The solutions are then put into a state space form and estimated with real world commercial mortgage performance data using extended Kalman filter. Results show large variations of credit risk over time in the commercial mortgage market, and that these variations are well explained by two mean-reverting latent risk factors. One is the macroeconomic factor and the other is a commercial property market-specific factor. The model and the results will be useful in default risk prediction, hedging and pricing.
Phenotypic Detection of Clonotypic B Cells in Multiple Myeloma by Specific Immunoglobulin Ligands Reveals their Rarity in Multiple Myeloma

In multiple myeloma, circulating “clonotypic” B cells, that express the immunoglobulin rearrangement of the malignant plasma cell clone, can be indirectly detected by PCR. Their role as potential “feeder” cells for the malignant plasma cell pool remains controversial. Here we established for the first time an approach that allows direct tracking of such clonotypic cells by labeling with patient-specific immunoglobulin ligands in 15 patients with myeloma. Fifty percent of patients showed evidence of clonotypic B cells in blood or bone marrow by PCR. Epitope-mimicking peptides from random libraries were selected on each patient's individual immunoglobulin and used as ligands to trace cells expressing the idiotypic immunoglobulin on their surface. We established a flow cytometry and immunofluorescence protocol to track clonotypic B cells and validated it in two independent monoclonal B cell systems. Using this method, we found clonotypic B cells in only one out of 15 myeloma patients. In view of the assay's validated sensitivity level of 10−3, this surprising data suggests that the abundance of such cells has been vastly overestimated in the past and that they apparently represent a very rare population in myeloma. Our novel tracing approach may open perspectives to isolate and analyze clonotypic B cells and determine their role in myeloma pathobiology.
Analysis of Stemming Alternatives and Dependency Pattern Support in Text Classification

In this paper, we study text classification algorithms by utilizing two concepts from Information Extraction discipline; dependency patterns and stemmer analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to fully explore all possible dependency patterns during the formation of the solution vector in the Text Categorization problem. The benchmark of the classical approach in text classification is improved by the proposed method of pattern utilization. The test results show that support of four patterns achieves the highest ranks, namely, participle modifier, adverbal clause modifier, conjunctive and possession modifier. For the stemming process, we benefit from both morphological and syntactic stemming tools, Porter stemmer and Stanford Stemmer, respectively. One of the main contributions of this paper is its approach in stemmer utilization. Stemming is performed not only for the words but also for all the extracted pattern couples in the texts. Porter stemming is observed to be the optimal stemmer for all words while the raw form without stemming slightly outperforms the other approaches in pattern stemming. For the implementation of our algorithm, two formal datasets, Reuters 21578 and National Science Foundation Abstracts, are used.
H∞ optimal design of robust observer against disturbances

This paper considers the robust observer design problem for linear dynamic systems subject to the interference of external disturbances. For such systems, the state estimate from the conventional Luenberger is normally biased with respect to the true system state. To remedy this situation, this paper proposes a new structure for robust observers. With this new structure, the robust observer design problem is skillfully transformed into the well-known disturbance rejection control problem. The H∞ optimal control design technique can then be applied to shape the proposed robust observer in the frequency domain. The proposed robust observer is a joint state and disturbance observer, which simultaneously estimates both the system state and unknown disturbances, and can be applied to non-minimum-phase systems.
Time and Energy Complexity of Distributed Computation of a Class of Functions in Wireless Sensor Networks

We consider a scenario in which a wireless sensor network is formed by randomly deploying n sensors to measure some spatial function over a field, with the objective of computing a function of the measurements and communicating it to an operator station. We restrict ourselves to the class of type-threshold functions (as defined in the work of Giridhar and Kumar, 2005), of which max, min, and indicator functions are important examples: our discussions are couched in terms of the max function. We view the problem as one of message-passing distributed computation over a geometric random graph. The network is assumed to be synchronous, and the sensors synchronously measure values and then collaborate to compute and deliver the function computed with these values to the operator station. Computation algorithms differ in (1) the communication topology assumed and (2) the messages that the nodes need to exchange in order to carry out the computation. The focus of our paper is to establish (in probability) scaling laws for the time and energy complexity of the distributed function computation over random wireless networks, under the assumption of centralized contention-free scheduling of packet transmissions. First, without any constraint on the computation algorithm, we establish scaling laws for the computation time and energy expenditure for one-time maximum computation. We show that for an optimal algorithm, the computation time and energy expenditure scale, respectively, as Theta(radicn/log n) and Theta(n) asymptotically as the number of sensors n rarr infin. Second, we analyze the performance of three specific computation algorithms that may be used in specific practical situations, namely, the tree algorithm, multihop transmission, and the Ripple algorithm (a type of gossip algorithm), and obtain scaling laws for the computation time and energy expenditure as n rarr infin. In particular, we show that the computation time for these algorithms scales as Theta(radicn/log n), Theta(n), and Theta(radicn log n), respectively, whereas the energy expended scales as , Theta(n), Theta(radicn/log n), and Theta(radicn log n), respectively. Finally, simulation results are provided to show that our analysis indeed captures the correct scaling. The simulations also yield estimates of the constant multipliers in the scaling laws. Our analyses throughout assume a centralized optimal scheduler, and hence, our results can be viewed as providing bounds for the performance with practical distributed schedulers.
Ischemic Preconditioning Prevents Apoptotic Cell Death and Necrosis in Early and Intermediate Phases of Liver Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Rats

Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) may be useful in attenuating the hepatic ischemia reperfusion (IR) syndrome by means of improving cell resistance to anoxia and reoxygenation and preventing cell death. Since there are insufficient data available regarding the chronology of preconditioning effects, we investigated the role of IPC, to test the hypothesis that liver protection would occur during the early and intermediate phases of the reperfusion period. Wistar rats (n = 72) were randomly assigned into six experimental groups, 12 animals each. A 40-min ischemia to the left lateral and median liver lobes was induced by selective hepatic pedicle clamping followed by 30 min or 240 min of reperfusion (IR30 and IR240). IPC groups (IPC30 and IPC240) underwent a 10 min of ischemia followed by 10 min of reperfusion preceding the definitive 40-min ischemic period. Sham-operated animals were followed for 30 and 240 min. Hepatic enzymes and histological evaluation were performed after the reperfusion period. Hepatic ischemia–reperfusion (IR30 and IR240) induced marked increases in liver enzymes levels after 30 min and particularly after 240 min. IPC effectively attenuated those enzymatic increases. Microvesicular steatosis was observed after 30 min, but not 240 min, of reperfusion in both IPC and IR livers. Necrosis was detected in 66.7% of IR240 and only in 8.3% of IPC240. Both hepatocyte and sinusoidal apoptosis were markedly attenuated by IPC. We conclude that IPC provided protection against hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury in early and intermediate phases of the reperfusion period, reducing hepatic enzymatic leakage and ameliorating hepatic apoptosis and necrosis.
Could elevated C-reactive protein in patients with obstructive sleep apnea be due to obesity per se?

To the Editor: I read with interest the recent report by Shamsuzzaman et al1 of elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Although the patients and control subjects were matched for body mass index (BMI), 36±4 kg/m2 versus 34±4 kg/m2, all were very obese (upper normal BMI=25 kg/m2). Several recent studies have indicated that CRP levels are elevated in obese patients.2–4 Adiposity, in particular visceral adipose tissue, is a key promoter …
Cost Savings Associated with Prevention of Recurrent Lumbar Disc Herniation with a Novel Annular Closure Device: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract Objective Same-level recurrent disc herniation is a well-defined complication following lumbar discectomy. Reherniation results in increased morbidity and health care costs. Techniques to reduce these consequences may improve outcomes and reduce cost after lumbar discectomy. In a prospective cohort study, we set out to evaluate the cost associated with surgical management of recurrent, same-level lumbar disc herniation following primary discectomy. Methods Forty-six consecutive European patients undergoing lumbar discectomy for a single-level herniated disc at two institutions were prospectively followed with clinical and radiographic evaluations. A second consecutive cohort of 30 patients undergoing 31 lumbar discectomies with implantation of an annular closure device was followed at the same hospitals and same follow-up intervals. Cost estimates for reherniation were modeled on Medicare national allowable payment amounts (direct cost) and patient work-day losses (indirect cost). Results Annular closure and control cohorts were matched at baseline. By 2 years follow-up, symptomatic recurrent same-level disc herniation occurred in three (6.5%) patients in the control cohort versus zero (0%) patients in the annular closure cohort. For patients experiencing recurrent disc herniation, mean estimated direct and indirect cost of management of recurrent disc herniation was $34,242 and $3,778, respectively. Use of an annular closure device potentially results in a cost savings of $222,573 per 100 primary discectomy procedures performed (or $2,226 per discectomy), based solely on the reduction of reoperated reherniations when modeled on U.S. Medicare costs. Conclusions Recurrent disc herniation did not occur in any patients after annular closure within the 12-month follow-up. The reduction in the incidence of reherniation was associated with potentially significant cost savings. Development of novel techniques to prevent recurrent lumbar disc herniation is warranted to decrease the associated morbidity and health care costs associated with this complication.
How classical is the quantum universe

We discuss two topics that are usually considered to be exclusively "quantum": the Schroedinger equation, and the uncertainty principle. We show (or rather recall) that the Schroedinger equation can be derived from Hamilton's equations using the metaplectic representation. We also show that the uncertainty principle, stated in the form of the Robertson-Schroedinger-Heisenberg inequalities can be formulated in perfectly classical terms using the topological notion of symplectic capacity.
Detecting modes of transport from unlabelled positioning sensor data

Global positioning systems (GPS) logs recorded in personal devices contain rich information such as travel patterns, locations of frequent visits and place–event associations. There have been rather successful attempts in detecting the mode of transport from GPS logs such as walking, driving or taking a bus, which has found varied applications. However, the best-known schemes either require tedious manual labelling or pre-training process (or both). We present MoDetect (MD), a unsupervised scheme which eliminates the need of manual labelling and pre-training while attaining equal or greater accuracy compared with the best-known supervised methods. MD can also cater for differences in individual's behaviours, and hence may be more widely applicable than the existing schemes. To achieve this, MD relies on Kolmogorov–Smirnov test which offers a theoretical assurance when computing similarity between segments of records. Our analysis shows that the higher speed modes can be better differentiated through a weighted bootstrapping procedure. We also augment the decisions with reference to the transfer probabilities between different modes at locations identified from the GPS records.
The size of the expressed HIV reservoir predicts timing of viral rebound after treatment interruption

Objectives:Therapies to achieve sustained antiretroviral therapy-free HIV remission will require validation in analytic treatment interruption (ATI) trials. Identifying biomarkers that predict time to viral rebound could accelerate the development of such therapeutics. Design:A pooled analysis of participants from six AIDS Clinical Trials Group ATI studies to identify predictors of viral rebound. Methods:Cell-associated DNA (CA-DNA) and CA-RNA were quantified in pre-ATI peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples, and residual plasma viremia was measured using the single-copy assay. Results:Participants who initiated antiretroviral therapy (ART) during acute/early HIV infection and those on a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-containing regimen had significantly delayed viral rebound. Participants who initiated ART during acute/early infection had lower levels of pre-ATI CA-RNA (acute/early vs. chronic-treated: median <92 vs. 156 HIV-1 RNA copies/106 CD4+ cells, P < 0.01). Higher pre-ATI CA-RNA levels were significantly associated with shorter time to viral rebound (⩽4 vs. 5–8 vs. >8 weeks: median 182 vs. 107 vs. <92 HIV-1 RNA copies/106 CD4+ cells, Kruskal–Wallis P < 0.01). The proportion of participants with detectable plasma residual viremia prior to ATI was significantly higher among those with shorter time to viral rebound. Conclusion:Higher levels of HIV expression while on ART are associated with shorter time to HIV rebound after treatment interruption. Quantification of the active HIV reservoir may provide a biomarker of efficacy for therapies that aim to achieve ART-free HIV remission.
On the modeling of a realistic wireless channel by means of a Hidden Markov Process

In this work we deal with the analysis of different channel models, which aim to replicate the bursty characteristic of real indoor wireless channels within a network simulation framework. In particular, we focus on the performance of Hidden Markov Processes, comparing it with other alternatives, such as the legacy models which the ns-3 network simulator implements by default and another one whose operation is based on the estimation of the received signal strength by means of an auto-regressive filter.