Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, Sweden, 1968-69 to 1992-93. A 24-year follow-up study with special reference to participation, representativeness, and mortality.

OBJECTIVE To describe the fourth phase of the Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg, Sweden, with special reference to participation and survival. DESIGN Prospective population study. SETTING City of Gothenburg with about 430,000 inhabitants. PARTICIPANTS 1462 participants and 128 refusers aged 38-60 years at the time of the initial study in 1968-69, 282 women who were sampled but not invited to the study in 1968-69, and 266 women participating since 1980-81 and 32 women for the first time in 1992-93. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Participation rate, survival, anthropometric and metabolic characteristics. RESULTS The participation rate throughout the study period was high. The participants were mainly characteristic of women of the same ages in the general population even after 24 years. The mortality after 24 years was higher in non-participants than in participants, while there was no difference in survival between women who were invited and women who were not invited to the study. CONCLUSIONS The initial participants were mainly characteristic of the general population, also after a long follow-up period. The long-term survival was lower in initial refusers than in initial participants.
Nonlinear interglitch dynamics, the braking index of the Vela pulsar and the time to the next glitch

The interglitch timing of the Vela pulsar is characterized by a constant second derivative of the rotation rate. This takes over after the post-glitch exponential relaxation and is completed at about the time of the next glitch. The vortex creep model explains the second derivatives in terms of nonlinear response to the glitch. We present interglitch timing fits to the present sample covering 16 large glitches, taking into account the possibility that in some glitches part of the step in the spin-down rate may involve a ‘persistent shift’, as observed in the Crab pulsar. Modifying the expression for the time between glitches with this hypothesis leads to better agreement with the observed interglitch time intervals. We extrapolate the interglitch model fits to obtain spin-down rates just prior to each glitch and use these to calculate the braking index n = 2.81 ± 0.12. The next glitch should occur around 2017 December 22, ±197 d if no persistent shift is involved, but could occur as early as 2016 July 27, ±152 d if the 2013 glitch gave rise to a typical Vela persistent shift. Note added: Literally while we were submitting the first version of this paper on 2016 December 12, we saw ATel # 9847 announcing a Vela pulsar glitch which has arrived 138 d after our prediction with a persistent shift, within the 1σ uncertainty of 152 d.
Differential distribution of ionotropic glutamate receptor subunits in the rat olfactory bulb

The subcellular localization of ionotropic glutamate receptor (GluR) subunits was examined with light and electron microscopy in the rat olfactory bulb by using antibodies to alpha‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methylisoxazole‐4‐propionic acid (AMPA) receptor subunits: GluR1, GluR2/3, and GluR4; and kainate (KA) receptor subunits: GluR5/6/7. Immunoreactivity to GluR1 was heavy in the glomerular layer, moderate in the external plexiform layer, and localized to periglomerular somata and dendrites, short axon somata and dendrites, mitral cell somata, and mitral/tufted dendrites. GluR2/3 immunoreactivity was heavy in the external plexiform and glomerular layers and localized to periglomerular somata and dendrites, mitral cell somata, mitral/tufted dendrites, granule cell somata, and olfactory nerve‐associated glia. GluR4 immunoreactivity showed heavy staining in the external plexiform and olfactory nerve layers with localization to mitral cells, mitral/tufted dendritic processes, and olfactory nerve glial processes. GluR5/6/7 immunoreactivity was heavy in the external plexiform layer, moderate in the olfactory nerve and glomerular layers, and localized to granule cells, mitral cells, and mitral/tufted dendritic processes. Ultrastructural immunolabeling for all antibodies examined showed immunoreactivity in the postsynaptic membrane and densities, adjacent dendritic cytoplasm, and somatic cytoplasm. These data demonstrate a highly specific laminar, cellular, and subcellular distribution of ionotropic GluR subunits within the primary afferent and local synaptic circuits of the olfactory bulb. The results are consistent with the notion that the different roles subserved by glutamate in the olfactory bulb are actuated, in part, by a differential distribution of GluR subunits. J. Comp. Neurol. 405:233–246, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Video Retargeting Based on Stretchability-Aware Blocks Scaling

This paper proposes an efficient approach to retarget video based on stretch ability-aware block scaling. The static stretch ability of the frame image is first evaluated based on gradient, saliency and color features. Then the dynamic stretch ability of the frame image is determined through the mapping of blocks under the constraint of optical flow vectors. Based on the analysis of frame image dynamic stretch ability measures, the original frame image is partitioned into non-stretchable blocks and stretchable blocks, and their scaling factors are calculated based on their stretch ability measures and the stretched video size, in order to possibly preserve non-stretchable blocks and reasonably resize stretchable blocks. Finally, the stretched video is uniformly scaled to generate the target video. Experimental results on a variety of videos demonstrate that our approach achieves a reasonable retargeting performance compared to the state-of-the-art video retargeting approaches.
Disease effects on reproduction can cause population cycles in seasonal environments

Recent studies of rodent populations have demonstrated that certain parasites can cause juveniles to delay maturation until the next reproductive season. Furthermore, a variety of parasites may share the same host, and evidence is beginning to accumulate showing nonindependent effects of different infections. We investigated the consequences for host population dynamics of a disease-induced period of no reproduction, and a chronic reduction in fecundity following recovery from infection (such as may be induced by secondary infections) using a modified SIR (susceptible, infected, recovered) model. We also included a seasonally varying birth rate as recent studies have demonstrated that seasonally varying parameters can have important effects on long-term host–parasite dynamics. We investigated the model predictions using parameters derived from five different cyclic rodent populations. Delayed and reduced fecundity following recovery from infection have no effect on the ability of the disease to regulate the host population in the model as they have no effect on the basic reproductive rate. However, these factors can influence the long-term dynamics including whether or not they exhibit multiyear cycles. The model predicts disease-induced multiyear cycles for a wide range of realistic parameter values. Host populations that recover relatively slowly following a disease-induced population crash are more likely to show multiyear cycles. Diseases for which the period of infection is brief, but full recovery of reproductive function is relatively slow, could generate large amplitude multiyear cycles of several years in length. Chronically reduced fecundity following recovery can also induce multiyear cycles, in support of previous theoretical studies. When parameterized for cowpox virus in the cyclic field vole populations (Microtus agrestis) of Kielder Forest (northern England), the model predicts that the disease must chronically reduce host fecundity by more than 70%, following recovery from infection, for it to induce multiyear cycles. When the model predicts quasi-periodic multiyear cycles it also predicts that seroprevalence and the effective date of onset of the reproductive season are delayed density-dependent, two phenomena that have been recorded in the field.
Age-Dependent Survival of the Dengue Vector Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Demonstrated by Simultaneous Release–Recapture of Different Age Cohorts

Abstract The assumption that mosquito survival remains constant and that it is independent of age was tested with free-ranging Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) by using a “synthetic cohort” mark–release–recapture method. Mosquito age cohorts (1–2, 3–4, and 19–20 d) were released simultaneously in homes in rural Thai villages during dry and rainy seasons (2002). Significant age-dependent effects were detected during the dry and rainy seasons. More young than older mosquitoes were recaptured (1–4 versus 5–20 d). The best predictive fit for recaptures was obtained using a quadratic function of age. Our results provide the first field-based evidence for age-dependent Ae. aegypti mortality in which the death rate increases with advancing age and highlight the need for research on ecological and epidemiological aspects of this process.
Leveraging decoded HEVC motion for fast, high quality optical flow estimation

We propose a method of improving the quality of decoded HEVC motion fields attached to B-frames, in order to make them more suitable for video analysis and enhancement tasks. We use decoded HEVC motion vectors as a sparse set of motion "seeds", which guide an edge-preserving affine interpolation of coded motion (HEVC-EPIC) in order to obtain a much more physical representation of the scene motion. We further propose HEVC-EPIC-BI, which adds a bidirectional motion completion step that leverages the fact that regions which are occluded in one direction are usually visible in the other. The use of decoded motion allows us to avoid the time-consuming estimation of "seeds". Experiments on a large variety of synthetic sequences show that compared to a state-of-the-art "seed-based" optical flow estimator, the computational complexity can be reduced by 80%, while incurring no increase at in average EPE at higher bit-rates, and a slight increase of 0.09 at low bit-rates.
Power and delay trade-offs in fading channels

Energy is a constrained resource in mobile wireless networks. In such networks, communication takes place over fading channels. By varying the transmission rate and power based on the current fading level, a user in a wireless network can more efficiently utilize the available energy. For a given average transmission rate, information theoretic arguments provide the optimal power allocation. However, such an approach can lead to long delays or buffer overflows. These delays can be reduced but at the expense of higher transmission power. The trade-offs between the required power and various notions of delay are analyzed in this thesis. We consider a user communicating over a fading channel. Arriving data for this user is stored in buffer until it is transmitted. We develop several buffer control problems which fit into a common mathematical framework. In each of these problems, the goal is to both minimize the average transmission power as well as the average “buffer cost”. In two specific examples, this buffer cost corresponds to the probability of buffer overflow or the average buffer delay. These buffer control problems are analyzed using dynamic programming techniques. Several structural characteristics of optimal policies are given. The relationship of this model to the delay-limited capacity and outage capacity of fading channels is discussed. We then analyze the asymptotic performance in two cases – the probability of buffer overflow case and the average delay case. In both cases, we bound the asymptotic performance and provide simple policies which are asymptotically optimal or nearly optimal. Finally we extend this analysis to a model with multiple users communicating over a multiple-access channel to a common receiver. The single user results for the probability of buffer overflow case are generalized to this multiple user situation. Extensions to other multi-user models are also discussed. Thesis Supervisor: Robert G. Gallager Title: Professor of Electrical Engineering For Mom, Dad and Ju Chien
A model for the dynamics of a protozoan parasite within and between successive host populations

SUMMARY Parasite-host systems often include an obligatory environmental stage in the parasite life-cycle, which can be transmitted between successive populations. Complexity even increases if immunity only gradually develops upon re-infection. For a better understanding of such systems we study Eimeria spp. in chickens, a protozoan parasite transmitted through oocysts on the floor. This paper deals with dynamics within and between successive cohorts of chickens by coupling a within-host description of the parasite life-cycle (with immunity) to re-uptake of oocysts from the environment. First the initial environmental oocyst level is related to the maximum infection load within a cohort, as a measure of production damage, from which we conclude that minimum damage levels can be observed with intermediate oocyst levels. Then we relate the initial to the final oocyst level of a cohort, and study the dynamics between cohorts in relation to an oocyst cleaning efficiency after each cohort. The resulting unstable dynamics lead to the conclusion that it will often be impossible to minimize damage by repeatedly cleaning with the same effort: it may be necessary to artificially increase oocyst levels in the shed before each chicken cohort.
Influence of Fly Ash and GGBFS in Laterized Concrete Exposed to Elevated Temperatures

Concrete made with laterite aggregate, a marginal material, is used for fire protection applications. Using mineral admixtures in laterized concrete makes it more sustainable. This paper studies the physical and mechanical properties of laterized concrete with fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) as mineral admixtures after the concrete was exposed to elevated temperatures. Specimens were heated to 200°C, 400°C, and 600°C using an electrical furnace. The rate of increase in the furnace temperature was kept in line with the standard temperature rise—time curve. Specimens were cooled to room temperature through air cooling and water cooling and were tested at ambient temperature. The available equations to predict the compressive and flexural strength of concrete were observed not to apply to laterized concrete, particularly at temperatures higher than 400°C. Hence, lower bound equations were proposed to predict the strength properties of laterized concrete exposed to elevated temperatures. Thus, laterized concrete with mineral admixtures (fly ash and GGBFS) is a promising economical and sustainable material that shows better physical and mechanical properties at elevated temperatures as against conventional concrete and has resistance against the development of thermal cracks up to an exposure temperature of 800°C.
The Role of Hydrogen Peroxide and Nitric Oxide in the Induction of Plant-Encoded RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase 1 in the Basal Defense against Tobacco Mosaic Virus

Plant RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase 1 (RDR1) is an important element of the RNA silencing pathway in the plant defense against viruses. RDR1 expression can be elicited by viral infection and salicylic acid (SA), but the mechanisms of signaling during this process remains undefined. The involvement of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nitric oxide (NO) in RDR1 induction in the compatible interactions between Tobacco mosaic tobamovirus (TMV) and Nicotiana tabacum, Nicotiana benthamiana, and Arabidopsis thaliana was examined. TMV inoculation onto the lower leaves of N. tabacum induced the rapid accumulation of H2O2 and NO followed by the increased accumulation of RDR1 transcripts in the non-inoculated upper leaves. Pretreatment with exogenous H2O2 and NO on upper leaf led to increased RDR1 expression and systemic TMV resistance. Conversely, dimethylthiourea (an H2O2 scavenger) and 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)- 4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (an NO scavenger) partly blocked TMV- and SA-induced RDR1 expression and increased TMV susceptibility, whereas pretreatment with exogenous H2O2 and NO failed to diminish TMV infection in N. benthamiana plants with naturally occurring RDR1 loss-of-function. Furthermore, in N. tabacum and A. thaliana, TMV-induced H2O2 accumulation was NO-dependent, whereas NO generation was not affected by H2O2. These results suggest that, in response to TMV infection, H2O2 acts downstream of NO to mediate induction of RDR1, which plays a critical role in strengthening RNA silencing to restrict systemic viral infection.
Approximation Algorithms for Single-minded Envy-free Profit-maximization Problems with Limited Supply

We present the first polynomial-time approximation algorithms for single-minded envy-free profit-maximization problems (Guruswami et al., 2005) with limited supply. Our algorithms return a pricing scheme and a subset of customers that are designated the winners, which satisfy the envy-freeness constraint, whereas in our analyses, we compare the profit of our solution against the optimal value of the corresponding social-welfare-maximization (SWM) problem of finding a winner-set with maximum total value. Our algorithms take any LP-based alpha-approximation algorithm for the corresponding SWM problem as input and return a solution that achieves profit at least OPT/O (alpha ldr log umax), where OPT is the optimal value of the SWM problem, and umax is the maximum supply of an item. This immediately yields approximation guarantees of O(radicmlog umax) for the general single-minded envy-free problem; and O(log umax) for the tollbooth and highway problems (Guruswami et al., 2005), and the graph-vertex pricing problem (Balcan and Blum, 2006) (alpha = O(1) for all the corresponding SWM problems). Since OPT is an upper bound on the maximum profit achievable by any solution (i.e., irrespective of whether the solution satisfies the envy-freeness constraint), our results directly carry over to the non-envy-free versions of these problems too. Our result also thus (constructively) establishes an upper bound of O(alpha ldr log umax) on the ratio of (i) the optimum value of the profit-maximization problem and OPT; and (ii) the optimum profit achievable with and without the constraint of envy-freeness.
Using a Combination of Micro--Computed Tomography, CAD and 3D Printing Techniques to Reconstruct Incomplete 19th-Century Cantonese Chess Pieces

As scanning technologies improve new approaches to digitizing cultural heritage artefacts emerge. The use of micro--computed tomography (micro-CT) presents an interesting approach as it is capable of high-resolution scans of not just the surface of the artifact but also the intricate internal structures and volumes leading to more complete digitization than is possible with traditional surface laser scanning techniques. In this work, we investigate the potential to digitize heritage artifacts using micro-CT and focus on the methods of interacting with the datasets to create digital restorations of broken and incomplete pieces before printing physical replicas using 3D printing technology. We visualize the virtual models with clear identification of the new portions added by a digital artist with reference to existing pieces and archives.
Generalized Archie's Law for Estimation of Soil Electrical Conductivity

Archie's law, which is an empirical relationship between the electrical conductivity of rocks and their porosity, has been used widely for saturated rocks, while Archie's second law has been developed for unsaturated rocks. Both of these laws assume that the rock matrix is non-conducting and the conduction takes place through the pore-solution only. However, not many efforts have been made by the researchers to check suitability and applicability of Archie's law to the saturated or unsaturated states of the soils. Hence, a generalized Archie's law for soils, by incorporating their physical properties, volumetric moisture content, and bulk and pore-solution conductivities, was attempted in this study utilizing the data available in the literature. Further, to demonstrate the validity of this law, four soils with entirely different properties were used. These soils were characterized by conducting conventional laboratory tests, and their bulk and pore-solution conductivities were determined with the help of an impedance analyzer and a pressure membrane extractor.
On sexual dimorphism in immune function

Sexual dimorphism in immune function is a common pattern in vertebrates and also in a number of invertebrates. Most often, females are more ‘immunocompetent’ than males. The underlying causes are explained by either the role of immunosuppressive substances, such as testosterone, or by fundamental differences in male and female life histories. Here, we investigate some of the main predictions of the immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH) in a comparative framework using mammals. We focus specifically on the prediction that measures of sexual competition across species explain the observed patterns of variation in sex-specific immunocompetence within species. Our results are not consistent with the ICHH, but we do find that female mammals tend to have higher white blood cell counts (WBC), with some further associations between cell counts and longevity in females. We also document positive covariance between sexual dimorphism in immunity, as measured by a subset of WBC, and dimorphism in the duration of effective breeding. This is consistent with the application of ‘Bateman's principle’ to immunity, with females maximizing fitness by lengthening lifespan through greater investment in immune defences. Moreover, we present a meta-analysis of insect immunity, as the lack of testosterone in insects provides a means to investigate Bateman's principle for immunity independently of the ICHH. Here, we also find a systematic female bias in the expression of one of the two components of insect immune function that we investigated (phenoloxidase). From these analyses, we conclude that the mechanistic explanations of the ICHH lack empirical support. Instead, fitness-related differences between the sexes are potentially sufficient to explain many natural patterns in immunocompetence.
Self-Limitation of Th1-Mediated Inflammation by IFN-γ1

IFN-γ is an effector cytokine of cell-mediated immunity that plays an essential role in both innate and adaptive phases of an immune response. Interestingly, in several Th1-dependent autoimmune models, lack of IFN-γ is associated with an acceleration of disease. To distinguish the influence of IFN-γ on the polarization of naive precursors from the influence on effector cells, we used an adoptive transfer model of differentiated Ag-specific Th1 cells. In this study, IFN-γ displayed a dual function in a Th1-dependent immune reaction. In the early phase, IFN-γ accelerated the inflammation, whereas in the late phase it mediated the process of self-limitation. We demonstrated that IFN-γ limits the number of Th1 effector cells after Ag challenge. Studies using IFN-γR−/− mice as recipients showed that IFN-γ acts indirectly via host cells to regulate the pool size of Th1 cells. NO was a downstream effector molecule. Transfer experiments of Th1 cells into IFN-γ−/− mice revealed that Th1 cells control both themselves and the corresponding inflammation by the release of IFN-γ. Thus, the proinflammatory cytokine IFN-γ can act as a negative feedback regulator to control Th1-mediated immune responses.