Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Re-Evaluation of the Causes of Deformation in 1Cr-1Mo-0.25V Steel for Turbine Rotors and Shafts Based on iso-Thermal Plots of the Wilshire Equation and the Modelling of Batch to Batch Variation

The aims of this paper were to: (a) demonstrate how iso-thermal plots of the Wilshire equation can be used to identify the correct structure of this equation (which in turn enables a meaningful description of the creep mechanism involved in deformation to be made); and (b) show how a generalized specification of batch to batch variation could produce less conservative predictions of the time to failure associated with a given degree of risk. Such predictions were obtained using maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters of a generalised F distribution. It was found that the original Wilshire-Scharning assumption of a constant activation energy for this materials is incorrect. Consequently, their interpretation of deformation being due only to dislocation creep with deteriorating microstructure at long duration test times appears to be ill founded, with the varying activation energy suggesting instead that deformation is due to grain boundary sliding accommodated by either dislocation and diffusional creep with dominance changing from the lattice to the grain boundaries as the temperature changes. Modelling batch to batch variation as a function of stress also resulted in a 50% extended safe life prediction (corresponding to a 1% chance of failure) at 873 K and 47 MPa.
Evaluation of the blood coagulation mechanism and platelet aggregation in individuals with mechanical or biological heart prostheses

Oral anticoagulants have been widely employed to decrease thrombotic risk by reducing the levels of vitamin K-dependent clotting factors. Paradoxically, the use of oral anticoagulants also decreases the levels of natural anticoagulants (protein C and protein S), which favors the hypercoagulability state. Increased platelet activation has been reported in patients undergoing warfarin treatment. These findings have raised questions about the antagonistic effect of oral anticoagulants and their implications for hemostatic balance. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between warfarin dosage and prothrombin time [International Normalized Ratio (INR)], platelet aggregation, vitamin K-dependent clotting factors, and protein C and protein S. Blood samples from 27 patients were analyzed, seven with mechanical prostheses and 20 with biological prostheses, and 27 controls. Multiple regression analysis showed that factor II most significantly determines the INR. Results showed that the INR, clotting factors, and protein C and protein S activity did not correlate with warfarin dosage, highlighting the need for accurate laboratory monitoring of those undergoing anticoagulant therapy.
Preconditioning Reprograms the Response to Ischemic Injury and Primes the Emergence of Unique Endogenous Neuroprotective Phenotypes: A Speculative Synthesis

Ischemic tolerance in the brain, in which sub-threshold insults increase resistance to subsequent injurious ischemia, is a powerful adaptive defense that involves an endogenous program of neuroprotection. Emerging evidence from genomic studies suggests diverse stimuli that trigger preconditioning achieve neuroprotection through a common process which depends on a fundamental reprogramming of the response to injury. Such reprogramming of the genomic response to injury leads to the induction of novel neuroprotective pathways not ordinarily found in the setting of ischemia. Genomic studies also indicate that the nature of the preconditioning stimulus (eg, brief ischemia or endotoxin [lipopolysaccharide]) dictates the phenotype of neuroprotection, a phenotype that parallels protective adaptations also found in certain physiological conditions where the preconditioning stimulus exists at levels that can induce injury. The idea that preconditioning leads to a fundamental reprogramming event that confers neuroprotection is a novel and important concept in the field of ischemic tolerance. Moreover, the view that distinct preconditioning stimuli confer neuroprotection via effectors that differ according to the nature of the preconditioning stimulus offers promise that multiple, nonoverlapping pathways may be discovered as novel neuroprotective therapies.
New Berry-Esseen bounds for non-linear functionals of Poisson random measures

This paper deals with the quantitative normal approximation of non-linear functionals of Poisson random measures, where the quality is measured by the Kolmogorov distance. Combining Stein's method with the Malliavin calculus of variations on the Poisson space, we derive a bound, which is strictly smaller than what is available in the literature. This is applied to sequences of multiple integrals and sequences of Poisson functionals having a finite chaotic expansion. This leads to new Berry-Esseen bounds in a Poissonized version of de Jong's theorem for degenerate U-statistics. Moreover, geometric functionals of intersection processes of Poisson $k$-flats, random graph statistics of the Boolean model and non-linear functionals of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck-Levy processes are considered.
In vivo study of acute hematotoxicity of three nitrosoureas, chlorozotocin (chloro-2-ethyl)-ribofuranosyl-3-nitrosourea, and (chloro-2-ethyl)-1-ribopyranosyl-3-nitrosourea.

The hematological effects of three sugar derivatives of nitrosoureas, chlorozotocin (2-[(chloro-2-ethyl)-3-nitrosoureido]-d-glucopyranose), (chloro-2-ethyl)-1-(ribopyranosyl triacetate-2′,3′,4′)-3-nitrosourea, and (chloro-2-ethyl)-1-ribofuranosylisopropylidene-2′,3′- p -nitrobenzoate-5′)-3-nitrosourea, were studied in the bone marrow, spleen, and peripheral blood of mice. The three compounds were injected i.p., dissolved in sterile olive oil. A single dose, corresponding to the minimal dose showing the maximum therapeutic activity, was administered at Day 0; and erythrocytes, white blood cells, platelets, and hematocrit were counted at Days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7. Spleen weight, bone marrow cellularity, and the hematopoietic precursors, peripheral hematopoietic stem cells (CFU-s) and splenic colony-forming unit committed to granulocyte-macrophage differentiation (CFU-c), were also measured in both organs. (Chloro-2-ethyl)-1-(ribopyranosyl triacetate-2′,3′,4′)-3-nitrosourea showed the maximum hematotoxicity and provoked a significant decrease of white blood cells in the peripheral blood; the spleen weight was reduced at Day 4, and the number of hematopoietic stem cells (CFU-s) in the spleen was decreased by 2 logs with a complete recovery within 2 days, whereas the effect was significantly less on splenic granulocytic precursors (CFU-c). In the bone marrow, (chloro-2-ethyl)-1-(ribopyranosyl triacetate-2′,3′,4′)-3-nitrosourea also decreased the cellularity and the number of CFU-s but did not decrease the number of CFU-c. Chlorozotocin and (chloro-2-ethyl)-1-ribofuranosylisopropylidine-2′,3′- p -nitro-benzoate-5′-3-nitrosourea had no effect on peripheral blood, decreased the number of CFU-s and CFU-c in the spleen to 10% in controls, and reduced bone marrow cellularity and the number of CFU-s to 60% of controls. Chlorozotocin affected mostly bone marrow CFU-c (25% of controls at Day 1) with a progressive return to normal level at Day 4. RFCNU has no toxicity on the bone marrow granulocyte precursors. None of the three compounds produced thrombocytopenia, and all hematological effects were usually rapidly reversible.
Using a Computer Simulation to Improve Psychological Readiness for Job Interviewing in Unemployed Individuals of Pre-Retirement Age

Unemployed individuals of pre-retirement age face significant challenges in finding a new job. This may be partly due to their lack of psychological readiness to go through a job interview. We view psychological readiness as one of the psychological attitude components. It is an active conscious readiness to interact with a certain aspect of reality, based on previously acquired experience. It includes a persons’ special competence to manage their activities and cope with anxiety. We created Job Interview Simulation Training (JIST) – a computer-based simulator, which allowed unemployed job seekers to practice interviewing repeatedly in a stress-free environment. We hypothesized that completion of JIST would be related to increase in pre-retirement job seekers’ psychological readiness for job interviewing in real life. Participants were randomized into control (n = 18) and experimental (n = 21) conditions. Both groups completed pre- and post-intervention job interview role-plays and self-reporting forms of psychological readiness for job interviewing. JIST consisted of 5 sessions of a simulated job interview, and the experimental group found it easy to use and navigate as well as helpful to prepare for interviewing. After finishing JIST-sessions the experimental group had significant decrease in heart rate during the post-intervention role-play and demonstrated significant increase in their self-rated psychological readiness, whereas the control group did not have changes in these variables. Future research may help clarify whether JIST is related to an increase in re-employment of pre-retirement job seekers.
The Kardar-Parisi-Zhang Equation and Universality Class

Brownian motion is a continuum scaling limit for a wide class of random processes, and there has been great success in developing a theory for its properties (such as distribution functions or regularity) and expanding the breadth of its universality class. Over the past twenty five years a new universality class has emerged to describe a host of important physical and probabilistic models (including one dimensional interface growth processes, interacting particle systems and polymers in random environments) which display characteristic, though unusual, scalings and new statistics. This class is called the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class and underlying it is, again, a continuum object – a non-linear stochastic partial differential equation – known as the KPZ equation. The purpose of this survey is to explain the context for, as well as the content of a number of mathematical breakthroughs which have culminated in the derivation of the exact formula for the distribution function of the KPZ equation started with narrow wedge initial data. In particular we emphasize three topics: (1) The approximation of the KPZ equation through the weakly asymmetric simple exclusion process; (2) The derivation of the exact one-point distribution of the solution to the KPZ equation with narrow wedge initial data; (3) Connections with directed polymers in random media. As the purpose of this article is to survey and review, we make precise statements but provide only heuristic arguments with indications of the technical complexities necessary to make such arguments mathematically rigorous.
Systematic analysis of bicistronic reporter assay data

Bicistronic reporter assay systems have become a mainstay of molecular biology. While the assays themselves encompass a broad range of diverse and unrelated experimental protocols, the numerical data garnered from these experiments often have similar statistical properties. In general, a primary dataset measures the paired expression of two internally controlled reporter genes. The expression ratio of these two genes is then normalized to an external control reporter. The end result is a ‘ratio of ratios’ that is inherently sensitive to propagation of the error contributed by each of the respective numerical components. The statistical analysis of this data therefore requires careful handling in order to control for the propagation of error and its potentially misleading effects. A careful survey of the literature found no consistent method for the statistical analysis of data generated from these important and informative assay systems. In this report, we present a detailed statistical framework for the systematic analysis of data obtained from bicistronic reporter assay systems. Specifically, a dual luciferase reporter assay was employed to measure the efficiency of four programmed −1 frameshift signals. These frameshift signals originate from the L-A virus, the SARS-associated Coronavirus and computationally identified frameshift signals from two Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes. Furthermore, these statistical methods were applied to prove that the effects of anisomycin on programmed −1 frameshifting are statistically significant. A set of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, which can be used as templates for data generated by dual reporter assay systems, and an online tutorial are available at our website (http://dinmanlab.umd.edu/statistics). These spreadsheets could be easily adapted to any bicistronic reporter assay system.
Workload demands in professional multi-stage cycling races of varying duration

Objetive: To analyse and compare the workload exerted by professional cyclists in 5-day, 8-day and 21-day stage races (5-SR, 8-SR, 21-SR). Methods: The study subjects were 30 professional cyclists competing in 10 5-SR, 5 8-SR and 5 21-SR. Heart rate (HR) was measured during the races and categorised into three intensity zones: Z1 (below the ventilatory threshold (VT)), Z2 (between VT and the respiratory compensation threshold (RCT)) and Z3 (above RCT). The training impulse (TRIMP) was calculated by multiplying the sum of the time spent in each zone by 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Monotony (average TRIMP/SD) and strain (total TRIMP×monotony) were also calculated for each race type. Results: The average time spent in Z3 during each stage was significantly (p<0.05) higher for 5-SR (∼31 min) and 8-SR (∼28 min) than for 21-SR (∼14 min). Daily TRIMP values in 5-SR (∼400) and 8-SR (∼395) were also higher than in 21-SR (∼370). Monotony was similar across races (∼3) but strain was about three times higher for 21-SR than for 5-SR and 8-SR. Conclusions: The cyclists’ effort by stage was less for 21-SR than for 5-SR and 8-SR. Competition strain and monotony accumulated during longer races influence the choice of strategies adopted by cyclists. It is likely that the intensity of each stage is modulated by total race duration, with longer races averaging the lowest daily workload.
Biliary Atresia: Swiss National Study, 1994–2004

Objectives: To determine the epidemiology of biliary atresia (BA) in Switzerland, the outcome of the children from diagnosis, and the prognostic factors. Patients and Methods: The records of all patients with BA born in Switzerland between January 1994 and December 2004 were analyzed. Survival rates were calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method, and prognostic factors evaluated with the log rank test. Median follow up was 58 months (range, 5–124). Results: BA was diagnosed in 48 children. Incidence was 1 in 17,800 live births (95% confidence interval 1/13,900–1/24,800), without significant regional, annual, or seasonal variation. Forty-three children underwent a Kasai portoenterostomy (PE) in 5 different Swiss pediatric surgery units. Median age at Kasai PE was 68 days (range, 30–126). Four-year survival with native liver after Kasai PE was 37.4%. Liver transplantation (LT) was needed in 31 in 48 children with BA, including 5 patients without previous Kasai PE. Four patients (8%, all born before 2001) died while waiting for LT, and 29 LT were performed in 27 patients (28 in Geneva and 1 in Paris). All of the transplanted patients are alive. Four-year overall BA patient survival was 91.7%. Four-year survival with native liver was 75% in patients who underwent Kasai PE before 46 days, 33% in patients operated on between 46 and 75 days, and 11% in patients operated on after 75 days (P = 0.02). Conclusions: Overall survival of patients with BA in Switzerland compares favorably with current international standards, whereas results of the Kasai operation could be improved to reduce the need for LTs in infancy and early childhood.
A Polynomial-Time Interior-Point Method for Conic Optimization, With Inexact Barrier Evaluations

We consider a primal-dual short-step interior-point method for conic convex optimization problems for which exact evaluation of the gradient and Hessian of the primal and dual barrier functions is either impossible or prohibitively expensive. As our main contribution, we show that if approximate gradients and Hessians of the primal barrier function can be computed, and the relative errors in such quantities are not too large, then the method has polynomial worst-case iteration complexity. (In particular, polynomial iteration complexity ensues when the gradient and Hessian are evaluated exactly.) In addition, the algorithm requires no evaluation—or even approximate evaluation—of quantities related to the barrier function for the dual cone, even for problems in which the underlying cone is not self-dual.
Ageing, plasticity, and cognitive reserve in connectionist networks

Neurocomputational modeling has suggested that a range of mechanisms can lead to reductions in functional plasticity across development (Thomas & Johnson, 2006). In this paper, we consider whether ageing might also produce a reduction in plasticity. Marchman’s (1993) model of damage and recovery in past tense formation was extended to incorporate the two main proposals for implementing effects of ageing: altered neuromodulation and connection loss. Simulations showed that ageing did reduce plasticity (as assessed by the system’s ability to recover from damage) but that effects were modulated by (a) the mechanism used to implement ageing, (b) problem type, and (c) pre-existing levels of cognitive reserve.
Engineering energy-efficient target detection applications in Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper addresses the problem of engineering energy-efficient target detection applications using unattended Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for long-lasting surveillance of areas of interest. As battery energy depletion is an issue in this context, an approach consists of switching on and off sensing and communication modules of wireless sensors according to duty cycles. Making these modules work in an intermittent fashion impacts (i) the latency of notification transmission (depending on the communication duty cycle) and (ii) the probability of missed target detection (depending on the number of deployed nodes and the sensing duty cycle). In order to optimize the system parameters according to performance objectives, we first derive an analytical engineering toolkit which evaluates the probability of missed detection (Pmd), the notification transmission latency (D), and the network lifetime (¿) under the assumption of random node deployment. Then, we show how this toolbox can be used to optimally configure system parameters under realistic performance constraints.
Mapping the Cellular Response to Small Molecules Using Chemogenomic Fitness Signatures

Yeasty HIPHOP In order to identify how chemical compounds target genes and affect the physiology of the cell, tests of the perturbations that occur when treated with a range of pharmacological chemicals are required. By examining the haploinsufficiency profiling (HIP) and homozygous profiling (HOP) chemogenomic platforms, Lee et al. (p. 208) analyzed the response of yeast to thousands of different small molecules, with genetic, proteomic, and bioinformatic analyses. Over 300 compounds were identified that targeted 121 genes within 45 cellular response signature networks. These networks were used to extrapolate the likely effects of related chemicals, their impact upon genetic pathways, and to identify putative gene functions. Guilt by association helps identify the chemogenomic signatures of compounds targeting yeast genes. Genome-wide characterization of the in vivo cellular response to perturbation is fundamental to understanding how cells survive stress. Identifying the proteins and pathways perturbed by small molecules affects biology and medicine by revealing the mechanisms of drug action. We used a yeast chemogenomics platform that quantifies the requirement for each gene for resistance to a compound in vivo to profile 3250 small molecules in a systematic and unbiased manner. We identified 317 compounds that specifically perturb the function of 121 genes and characterized the mechanism of specific compounds. Global analysis revealed that the cellular response to small molecules is limited and described by a network of 45 major chemogenomic signatures. Our results provide a resource for the discovery of functional interactions among genes, chemicals, and biological processes.
Balance and postural skills in normal-weight and overweight prepubertal boys.

OBJECTIVE This study investigated differences in balance and postural skills in normal-weight versus overweight prepubertal boys. METHODS Fifty-seven 8-10-year-old boys were categorized overweight (N = 25) or normal-weight (N = 32) according to the International Obesity Task Force cut-off points for overweight in children. The Balance Master, a computerized pressure plate system, was used to objectively measure six balance skills: sit-to-stand, walk, step up/over, tandem walk (walking on a line), unilateral stance and limits of stability. In addition, three standardized field tests were employed: standing on one leg on a balance beam, walking heel-to-toe along the beam and the multiple sit-to-stand test. RESULTS Overweight boys showed poorer performances on several items assessed on the Balance Master. Overweight boys had slower weight transfer (p < 0.05), lower rising index (p < 0.05) and greater sway velocity (p < 0.001) in the sit-to-stand test, greater step width while walking (p < 0.05) and lower speed when walking on a line (p < 0.01) compared with normal-weight counterparts. Performance on the step up/over test, the unilateral stance and the limits of stability were comparable between both groups. On the balance beam, overweight boys could not hold their balance on one leg as long (p < 0.001) and had fewer correct steps in the heel-to-toe test (p < 0.001) than normal-weight boys. Finally, overweight boys were slower in standing up and sitting down five times in the multiple sit-to-stand task (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION This study demonstrates that when categorised by body mass index (BMI) level, overweight prepubertal boys displayed lower capacity on several static and dynamic balance and postural skills.
Lumpectomy for breast cancer: an update of the NSABP experience. National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project.

The data in this report continue to indicate, as first noted in 1985, that lumpectomy followed by breast irradiation in all patients, and adjuvant chemotherapy in women with positive nodes, is appropriate therapy for negative- or positive-node patients with tumors 4 cm or less in size, provided that the margins of the resected specimens are free of tumor. The value of irradiation in reducing the incidence of tumor in the ipsilateral breast after lumpectomy continues to be significant in all patients regardless of nodal status, age, or tumor size. A multivariate analysis indicates that, in all patients, three covariates, ie, treatment, tumors with poor histologic type, and tumors with a maximum pathologic size greater than or equal to 2 cm, are significant predictors of breast tumor recurrence following lumpectomy. Of particular significance is the continuing observation that the distant disease-free survival (DDFS) and survival (S) of patients in the three treatment groups (total mastectomy, lumpectomy alone, and lumpectomy followed by breast irradiation) demonstrate no significant difference through 9 years of follow-up, despite the fact that the total mastectomy group (by virtue of breast removal) had no breast tumor recurrence, that lumpectomy patients treated with breast irradiation had a 10% ipsilateral tumor recurrence, and that patients treated by lumpectomy alone demonstrated a 40% recurrence of tumor. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)