Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute Physiological and Thermoregulatory Responses to Extended Interval Training in Endurance Runners: Influence of Athletic Performance and Age

Abstract This study aimed to describe the acute impact of extended interval training (EIT) on physiological and thermoregulatory levels, as well as to determine the influence of athletic performance and age effect on the aforementioned response in endurance runners. Thirty-one experienced recreational male endurance runners voluntarily participated in this study. Subjects performed EIT on an outdoor running track, which consisted of 12 runs of 400 m. The rate of perceived exertion, physiological response through the peak and recovery heart rate, blood lactate, and thermoregulatory response through tympanic temperature, were controlled. A repeated measures analysis revealed significant differences throughout EIT in examined variables. Cluster analysis grouped according to the average performance in 400 m runs led to distinguish between athletes with a higher and lower sports level. Cluster analysis was also performed according to age, obtaining an older group and a younger group. The one-way analysis of variance between groups revealed no significant differences (p≥0.05) in the response to EIT. The results provide a detailed description of physiological and thermoregulatory responses to EIT in experienced endurance runners. This allows a better understanding of the impact of a common training stimulus on the physiological level inducing greater accuracy in the training prescription. Moreover, despite the differences in athletic performance or age, the acute physiological and thermoregulatory responses in endurance runners were similar, as long as EIT was performed at similar relative intensity.
A REVISED THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE ROLE OF COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

This thesis is about communities of practice [hereafter: CoPs], learning and knowledge sharing within the geographically dispersed organization Komatsu in Chile, which is an emerging economy in Latin America. Chile is characterised by a unique cultural and macroeconomic context and thus particularly suitable to broaden the scope about CoP theory. The research questions revolve around the forms that CoPs take within this context as-well-as their contribution to learning and knowledge sharing. The literature review sheds light on the aspects of learning, knowledge sharing and CoPs in a comprehensive manner. It suggests that it is unsuitable to think of a single CoP that spans across geographically dispersed organizations, but rather to consider multiple interconnected CoPs. The boundary processes constitute the pivotal aspect in fostering learning and knowledge sharing among them. This exploratory case study about shovel maintenance within Komatsu Chile, conducted within the social constructionism paradigm, provides evidence that CoPs are organised within a hierarchically-structured network. Extending beyond the premise that CoPs are bound together by shared practice (Brown & Duguid, 1991, 2001b), the research puts forward the argument that CoP Glue, (meaning a reified abstraction, known and accepted throughout the network of CoPs) constitutes the mechanism that holds them together. As part of the revised theoretical framework, it is advocated that CoP Alterity, along the dimensions of practice, domain and community (Wenger, 2011), is the aspect according to which CoPs can be differentiated. This revised theory opens up an interesting field of future academic enquiry. From a practitioner perspective the research has generated interesting findings and suggestions, which ought to be considered by those wishing to enhance learning and knowledge sharing within geographically dispersed organizations.
Grassmann Averages for Scalable Robust PCA

As the collection of large datasets becomes increasingly automated, the occurrence of outliers will increase -- "big data" implies "big outliers". While principal component analysis (PCA) is often used to reduce the size of data, and scalable solutions exist, it is well-known that outliers can arbitrarily corrupt the results. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art approaches for robust PCA do not scale beyond small-to-medium sized datasets. To address this, we introduce the Grassmann Average (GA), which expresses dimensionality reduction as an average of the subspaces spanned by the data. Because averages can be efficiently computed, we immediately gain scalability. GA is inherently more robust than PCA, but we show that they coincide for Gaussian data. We exploit that averages can be made robust to formulate the Robust Grassmann Average (RGA) as a form of robust PCA. Robustness can be with respect to vectors (subspaces) or elements of vectors, we focus on the latter and use a trimmed average. The resulting Trimmed Grassmann Average (TGA) is particularly appropriate for computer vision because it is robust to pixel outliers. The algorithm has low computational complexity and minimal memory requirements, making it scalable to "big noisy data. " We demonstrate TGA for background modeling, video restoration, and shadow removal. We show scalability by performing robust PCA on the entire Star Wars IV movie.
Effects of Vitamin D on Blood Pressure, Arterial Stiffness, and Cardiac Function in Older People After 1 Year: BEST‐D (Biochemical Efficacy and Safety Trial of Vitamin D)

Background The relevance of vitamin D for prevention of cardiovascular disease is uncertain. The BEST‐D (Biochemical Efficacy and Safety Trial of vitamin D) trial previously reported effects of vitamin D on plasma markers of vitamin D status, and the present report describes the effects on blood pressure, heart rate, arterial stiffness, and cardiac function. Methods and Results This was a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial of 305 older people living in United Kingdom, who were allocated vitamin D 4000 IU (100 μg), vitamin D 2000 IU (50 μg), or placebo daily. Primary outcomes were plasma concentrations of 25‐hydroxy‐vitamin D and secondary outcomes were blood pressure, heart rate, and arterial stiffness in all participants at 6 and 12 months, plasma N‐terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide levels in all participants at 12 months, and echocardiographic measures of cardiac function in a randomly selected subset (n=177) at 12 months. Mean (SE) plasma 25‐hydroxy‐vitamin D concentrations were 50 (SE 2) nmol/L at baseline and increased to 137 (2.4), 102 (2.4), and 53 (2.4) nmol/L after 12 months in those allocated 4000 IU/d, 2000 IU/d of vitamin D, or placebo, respectively. Allocation to vitamin D had no significant effect on mean levels of blood pressure, heart rate, or arterial stiffness at either 6 or 12 months, nor on any echocardiographic measures of cardiac function, or plasma N‐terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide concentration at 12 months. Conclusions The absence of any significant effect of vitamin D on blood pressure, arterial stiffness, or cardiac function suggests that any beneficial effects of vitamin D on cardiovascular disease are unlikely to be mediated through these mechanisms. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrialsregister. eu/ctr-search/search. Unique identifier: EudraCT number: 2011–005763‐24a
Use of Pheromone Timed Insecticide Applications Integrated with Mating Disruption or Mass Trapping Against Ostrinia Furnacalis (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in Sweet Corn

ABSTRACT Mating disruption and mass trapping of Ostrinia furnacalis (Génuéé), often called the Asian corn borer, were incorporated with insecticides to reduce pesticide use. Pesticides alone are often ineffective owing to problems in timing applications before the larvae enter the protection of corn stalks. In addition, overuse of insecticides has caused environmental contamination and concerns about consumer health. In 2010, 15 insecticides were compared with mating disruption or mass trapping at various dispenser (disp.) densities for reducing egg masses, trap captures, and ear damage. Mass trapping with 30 and 40 disp. /ha, mating disruption with 300 disp. /ha, or endosulfan, chlorpyrifos, and monosultap (0.55, 0.35, and 0.55 kg/ha, respectively) gave ≈50% ear protection. In 2011, an insecticide alone, no treatments, pheromone alone, and pheromone + insecticide were examined. The same insecticides in combination with mating disruption or mass trapping at ≧200 or≧20 disp. / ha gave >90% ear protection even when chemical applications were reduced to 1 from 3, and the rates were reduced 50–75%. Pheromone dispensers contained >50% of their initial load 30 d after exposure.
Reduced HGF expression in subcutaneous CT26 tumor genetically modified to secrete NK4 and its possible relation with antitumor effects

Tumor‐stromal interactions, which are regulated by stromal‐derived HGF and tumor‐derived HGF inducers, are essential for tumor cell acquisition of such malignant properties as invasion and metastasis. NK4, a proteolytic cleavage product of HGF, has anti‐tumor activities as both an HGF antagonist and an angiogenesis inhibitor. In this study, we examined the in vitro and in vivo behaviors of mouse colon adenocarcinoma CT26 cells modified by gene transfer to secrete NK4, and investigated the influence of NK4 on expression of HGF and HGF inducers associated with tumor‐stromal interactions. In vitro cell proliferation rates of NK4 transfectant (CT26‐NK4) and mock transfectant (CT26‐NEO) were essentially the same, and scattering and invasion were stimulated by HGF in CT26‐NEO, but not in CT26‐NK4. In syngeneic BALB/c female mice, subcutaneous tumor growth of CT26‐NK4 was potently suppressed, and the survival was prolonged significantly. Immunohistochemistry showed significantly decreased micro vessels and increased apoptotic cells in CT26‐NK4 tumor compared with control. Interestingly, HGF, strongly expressed in CT26‐NEO tumor stroma, was reduced in CT26‐NK4. In vitro, conditioned medium of CT26‐NK4 inhibited fibroblast‐derived HGF production, which was increased by that of CT26‐NEO. Moreover, although similar constitutive expression levels of PDGF and TGF‐α (both HGF inducers) were detected in CT26‐NK4 and CT26‐NEO in semiquantitative RT‐PCR analyses, the expression was up‐regulated by HGF in CT26‐NEO, but not CT26‐NK4. These results suggest that NK4 may exert antitumor activities not only by antagonizing HGF, but also by inhibiting HGF amplification via tumor‐stromal interactions. Continuous, abundant NK4 production induced at a tumor site by gene transfer should show multiple antitumor activities with potential therapeutic benefit.
Assessment of skill and portability in regional marine biogeochemical models : Role of multiple planktonic groups

[1] Application of biogeochemical models to the study of marine ecosystems is pervasive, yet objective quantification of these models’ performance is rare. Here, 12 lower trophic level models of varying complexity are objectively assessed in two distinct regions (equatorial Pacific and Arabian Sea). Each model was run within an identical onedimensional physical framework. A consistent variational adjoint implementation assimilating chlorophyll-a, nitrate, export, and primary productivity was applied and the same metrics were used to assess model skill. Experiments were performed in which data were assimilated from each site individually and from both sites simultaneously. A cross-validation experiment was also conducted whereby data were assimilated from one site and the resulting optimal parameters were used to generate a simulation for the second site. When a single pelagic regime is considered, the simplest models fit the data as well as those with multiple phytoplankton functional groups. However, those with multiple phytoplankton functional groups produced lower misfits when the models are required to simulate both regimes using identical parameter values. The cross-validation experiments revealed that as long as only a few key biogeochemical parameters were optimized, the models with greater phytoplankton complexity were generally more portable. Furthermore, models with multiple zooplankton compartments did not necessarily outperform models with single zooplankton compartments, even when zooplankton biomass data are assimilated. Finally, even when different models produced similar least squares model-data misfits, they often did so via very different element flow pathways, highlighting the need for more comprehensive data sets that uniquely constrain these pathways.
Self‐Report of Cochlear Implant Use and Satisfaction by Prelingually Deafened Adults

Objective: Prelingually deafened adults tend to demonstrate smaller improvements in speech recognition after cochlear implantation than do postlingually deafened adults, which had led some professionals to believe that prelingually deafened adults receive only minimal benefit from a cochlear implant. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate cochlear implant use and satisfaction by prelingually deafened adults. Design: A questionnaire was administered to 12 prelingually deafened adult cochlear implant patients to evaluate cochlear implant efficacy and satisfaction. Questionnaire results were contrasted with performance on speech recognition tasks. Results: Although these patients demonstrated little or no improvements in speech recognition 12 mo postoperatively, most patients reported that they used their device regularly, that they were satisfied with their device, and that using the cochlear implant improved both their expressive and receptive communication skills. Conclusions: Procedures other than traditional speech recognition measures should be used to evaluate cochlear implant benefit, particularly with prelingually deafened adults.
Characterization of the folding degree of proteins

MOTIVATION The characterization of the folding degree of chains is central to the elucidation of structure--function relationships in proteins. Here we present a new index for characterizing the folding degree of a (protein) chain. This index shows a range of features that are desirable for the study of the relation between structure and function in proteins. RESULTS A novel index characterizing the folding degree of (protein) chains is developed based on the spectral moments of a matrix representing the dihedral angles (phi, omega and epsilon) of the protein main chain. The proposed index is normalized to the chain size, is not correlated to the gyration radius of the backbone chain and is able to distinguish between structures for which the sum of the main-chain dihedral angles is identical. The index is well correlated to the percentages of helix and strand in proteins, shows a linear dependence with temperature changes, and is able to differentiate among protein families. AVAILABILITY On request from the author.
Resolving the Antarctic contribution to sea-level rise: a hierarchical modelling framework†

Determining the Antarctic contribution to sea‐level rise from observational data is a complex problem. The number of physical processes involved (such as ice dynamics and surface climate) exceeds the number of observables, some of which have very poor spatial definition. This has led, in general, to solutions that utilise strong prior assumptions or physically based deterministic models to simplify the problem. Here, we present a new approach for estimating the Antarctic contribution, which only incorporates descriptive aspects of the physically based models in the analysis and in a statistical manner. By combining physical insights with modern spatial statistical modelling techniques, we are able to provide probability distributions on all processes deemed to play a role in both the observed data and the contribution to sea‐level rise. Specifically, we use stochastic partial differential equations and their relation to geostatistical fields to capture our physical understanding and employ a Gaussian Markov random field approach for efficient computation. The method, an instantiation of Bayesian hierarchical modelling, naturally incorporates uncertainty in order to reveal credible intervals on all estimated quantities. The estimated sea‐level rise contribution using this approach corroborates those found using a statistically independent method. © 2013 The Authors. Environmetrics Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Latent HIV-1 Infection Occurs in Multiple Subsets of Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells and Is Reversed by NF-κB Activation

ABSTRACT The ability of HIV-1 to establish a latent infection presents a barrier to curing HIV. The best-studied reservoir of latent virus in vivo is resting memory CD4+ T cells, but it has recently been shown that CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) can also become latently infected by HIV-1 in vitro and in vivo. CD34+ cells are not homogenous, however, and it is not yet known which types of CD34+ cells support a latent infection. Furthermore, the mechanisms through which latency is established in this cell type are not yet known. Here we report the development of a primary cell model for latent HIV-1 infection in HPCs. We demonstrate that in this model, latent infection can be established in all subsets of HPCs examined, including HPCs with cell surface markers consistent with immature hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. We further show that the establishment of latent infection in these cells can be reversed by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) through an NF-κB-dependent mechanism. In contrast, we do not find evidence for a role of positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) in the establishment of latent infection in HPCs. Finally, we demonstrate that prostratin and suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), but not hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA) or 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (Aza-CdR), reactivate latent HIV-1 in HPCs. These findings illuminate the mechanisms through which latent infection can be established in HPCs and suggest common pathways through which latent virus could be reactivated in both HPCs and resting memory T cells to eliminate latent reservoirs of HIV-1.
Extreme genome reduction in Buchnera spp.: Toward the minimal genome needed for symbiotic life

Buchnera is a mutualistic intracellular symbiont of aphids. Their association began about 200 million years ago, with host and symbiont lineages evolving in parallel since that time. During this coevolutionary process, Buchnera has experienced a dramatic decrease of genome size, retaining only essential genes for its specialized lifestyle. Previous studies reported that genome size in Buchnera spp. is very uniform, suggesting that genome shrinkage occurred early in evolution, and that modern lineages retain the genome size of a common ancestor. Our physical mapping of Buchnera genomes obtained from five aphid lineages shows that the genome size is not conserved among them, but has been reduced down to 450 kb in some species. Here we show evidence of six species with a genome size smaller than Mycoplasma genitalium, the smallest bacterial genome reported thus far (580 kb). Our findings strongly suggest that the Buchnera genome is still experiencing a reductive process toward a minimum set of genes necessary for its symbiotic lifestyle.
Neopterin derivatives modulate the nitration of tyrosine by peroxynitrite.

The impact of neopterin and 7,8-dihydroneopterin on peroxynitrite-induced nitration of l-tyrosine was studied. Neopterin derivatives and peroxynitrite are formed during immune response. Tyrosine nitration represents one major effect of nitric oxide-mediated cytotoxicity. Peroxynitrite formed in situ was co-incubated with tyrosine and neopterin or 7,8-dihydroneopterin or other pteridine derivatives, respectively. The nitration product, 3-nitro-l-tyrosine, was measured by HPLC via UV absorption at 360 nm. Neopterin (200 microM) increased the nitration rate between pH 4.0 and 5.5 up to +60%. 7,8-Dihydroneopterin inhibited tyrosine nitration over the whole pH range examined. In a series of various pteridine derivatives, neopterin and 7,8-dihydroneopterin achieved the strongest modulating effects on tyrosine nitration. Interactions of peroxynitrite with hydroxypropyl side chains of fully aromatic pterin derivatives may increase nitration, while partially hydrated pyrazino ring structures abate the reactivity of peroxynitrite. The results of this study suggest a potential impact of neopterin derivatives on peroxynitrite-mediated cytotoxicity.
Compression of depth information for 3D rendering

This paper presents a novel strategy for the compression of depth maps. The proposed scheme starts with a segmentation step which identifies and extracts edges and main objects, then it introduces an efficient compression strategy for the segmented regions' shape. In the subsequent step a novel algorithm is used to predict the surface shape from the segmented regions and a set of regularly spaced samples. Finally the few prediction residuals are efficiently compressed using standard image compression techniques. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme not only offers a significant gain over JPEG2000 on various types of depth maps but also produces depth maps without edge artifacts particularly suited to 3D warping and free viewpoint video applications.
Prospection, well-being and memory

Prospection (mental representation of the future) is an aspect of imagination that has recently become a focus of attention for researchers on memory. Evidence from a variety of sources points to episodic memory and future-thinking as being very closely linked and both are connected to well-being and mental health. This article provides an overview of some key findings linking episodic memory, future-thinking and well-being. Similarities and differences between episodic memories for the past and thoughts about the future are reviewed. It is suggested that the uncertainty inherent in future-thinking implies a greater role for semantic memory in how people think about the future compared to how they remember the past. Understanding how semantic and episodic knowledge combine to create representations about the future has the potential to help elucidate ways in which people experiencing psychological distress think about the future.
Is trustworthiness lateralized in the face? Evidence from a trust game

ABSTRACT A turn of the head can be used to convey or conceal emotion, as the left side of the face is more expressive than the right. As the left cheek moves more when smiling, the present study investigated whether perceived trustworthiness is lateralized to the left cheek, using a trust game paradigm. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to share money with male and female “virtual partners. ” Left–left or right–right composite faces were used to represent the partners. There were no differences in the amount shared based on composite face, suggesting trustworthiness is not lateralized in the face. However, there was a robust effect whereby female partners were perceived to be significantly more trustworthy than males. In Experiment 2, the virtual partners presented either the left or the right cheek prominently. As in Experiment 1, the amount shared with the partners did not change depending on the cheek presented. Interestingly, female partners were again sent significantly more money than males. We found no support for lateralized trustworthiness in the face, suggesting that asymmetries in the face are not large enough to influence trustworthiness judgements. Instead, more stable facial features, such as sex-typical characteristics, appear to influence perceived trustworthiness.