Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved Stability and Stabilization Criteria of Singular System with Time-delay and Parameter Uncertainties ⋆

The problems of delay-dependent robust stability and stabilization for continuously singular timedelay systems with norm-bounded uncertainties are investigated in this paper. Based on a Lyapunov functional, which includes some non-positive items, the modified delay-dependent LMIs-based conditions are established for the singular time-delay systems to be regular, impulse free, and stable. Then, by solving the obtained LMIs, the state-feedback control law can be obtained. These conditions are also extended to the uncertain case. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate that the proposed results are effective and less conservative than the existing ones.
Systems Engineering: A New Approach to Complex IT-based Technological Systems in Engineering Education

Introduction of the multi-degree linear education system consisting of BSc, MSc and PhD programs in the Hungarian higher education, according to the goals and requirements of the Bologna Process, necessitates reviewing, enhancing and changing the three-level subject-structures consisting of fundamental, foundation enlarging and special subjects. In the course of the last 50 years the quantity of the number of subject areas and the number of engineering branches have been increasing in technological faculties around the world and they have already reached the limits of rationality. Recently there is an increasing demand for integrated and interdisciplinary special branches such as Systems Engineering. After having surveyed the paradigm changes in the progress of engineering sciences, the paper gives a brief summary on the concept, formation and significance of Systems Engineering. The paper also deals with Production Information Engineering as a characteristic field of Systems Engineering, which offers important application possibilities for IT-based system integration.
Rats Cells and Fast-Spiking Interneurons in Young Adult Distinct Local Circuits Between Neocortical Pyramidal

[PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , July 1, 2004; 92 (1): 600-608. J Neurophysiol P. Bartho, H. Hirase, L. Monconduit, M. Zugaro, K. D. Harris and G. Buzsaki and Extracellular Features Characterization of Neocortical Principal Cells and Interneurons by Network Interactions [PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , February 1, 2005; 93 (2): 942-953. J Neurophysiol G. Gonzalez-Burgos, L. S. Krimer, N. V. Povysheva, G. Barrionuevo and D. A. Lewis Pyramidal Cells in Primate Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Functional Properties of Fast Spiking Interneurons and Their Synaptic Connections With [PDF] [Abstract] , August 1, 2005; 11 (4): 334-344. Neuroscientist Y. Zilberter, T. Harkany and C. D. Holmgren Neocortical Networks Dendritic Release of Retrograde Messengers Controls Synaptic Transmission in Local
A Heavy Burden: The Individual Costs of Being Overweight and Obese in the United States

More than 60% of the United States population is overweight or obese, and if the currenttrajectory continues, 50% of the population will be obese by 2030. There is no question thatbeing obese or overweight, is more costly than being of normal weight. Using existing literature,we have detailed the costs incurred due to overweight and obesity that affect working-age adultsat the individual level.In this report, we have provided estimates of annual, incremental costs of overweight and obesityfrom the individual perspective. However, in addition to the individual, employers, and to someextent, the government, bear some of the costs. Among the items discussed in this review,overweight or obese individuals bear the full burden for some costs, such as the value of lost life,lost wages, gasoline costs, and, when applicable, life insurance. Employers and employees sharethe burden for many other costs, including direct medical costs, short-term disability, disabilitypension insurance, absenteeism, and productivity losses. Employers directly pick up the costs formany of these expenditures. However, employees indirectly share part of this burden throughlower wages. In addition, through publicly funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, thegovernment pays a significant portion of direct medical costs for their beneficiaries.
Strong magnetization by antiphase-boundary tubes in a cyclically deformed Fe-35 at.% Al alloy

Strong magnetization was observed in a cyclically deformed Fe-35 at. % Al alloy by introduction of a high density of antiphase-boundary (APB) tubes. In order to introduce a large plastic deformation without changing the specimen dimension, compressive deformation was given repeatedly along mutually orthogonal stress axes under a constraint imposed across the stress axes. Clear evidence was obtained in attributing the major origin of the large magnetization to the production of a high density of APB tubes. The contribution of the APB tubes to the strong magnetization and to the work hardening is discussed on the basis of quantitative analyses of the microstructures introduced by cyclic deformation.
Behavior of Beam-Column Joints made of Sustainable Concrete under Cyclic Loading

This work is part of a wide study related to the structural behavior of concretes prepared by substituting natural aggregates with recycled aggregates from building demolition. In this work, recycled aggregates coming from an industrial crushing plant in which rubble are suitably treated were employed in substitution of ordinary aggregates. In order to evaluate the real-scale behavior of reinforced recycled-aggregate concrete, several beam-column joints were manufactured, then cured in open air at a temperature of approximately 20°C in order to simulate the real conditions of the building site. Subsequently, they were submitted to low-cycle loading, characterized by a load history containing few cycles but having a large range of bond reversal stresses in order to simulate real structures subjected to earthquake or high winds. In this way, the ductility of joints, made of either ordinary or recycled-aggregate reinforced concrete, could be investigated and compared. The results gave experimental evidence of the suitability of recycled-aggregate concrete for structural use, although some measures in the structural design of the joint should be taken.
The BRG1 chromatin remodeling enzyme links cancer cell metabolism and proliferation

Cancer cells reprogram cellular metabolism to meet the demands of growth. Identification of the regulatory machinery that regulates cancer-specific metabolic changes may open new avenues for anti-cancer therapeutics. The epigenetic regulator BRG1 is a catalytic ATPase for some mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling enzymes. BRG1 is a well-characterized tumor suppressor in some human cancers, but is frequently overexpressed without mutation in other cancers, including breast cancer. Here we demonstrate that BRG1 upregulates de novo lipogenesis and that this is crucial for cancer cell proliferation. Knockdown of BRG1 attenuates lipid synthesis by impairing the transcription of enzymes catalyzing fatty acid and lipid synthesis. Remarkably, exogenous addition of palmitate, the key intermediate in fatty acid synthesis, rescued the cancer cell proliferation defect caused by BRG1 knockdown. Our work suggests that targeting BRG1 to reduce lipid metabolism and, thereby, to reduce proliferation, has promise for epigenetic therapy in triple negative breast cancer.
Gradient field descriptor for sketch based retrieval and localization

We present an image retrieval system driven by free-hand sketched queries depicting shape. We introduce Gradient Field HoG (GF-HOG) as a depiction invariant image descriptor, encapsulating local spatial structure in the sketch and facilitating efficient codebook based retrieval. We show improved retrieval accuracy over 3 leading descriptors (Self Similarity, SIFT, HoG) across two datasets (Flickr160, ETHZ extended objects), and explain how GF-HOG can be combined with RANSAC to localize sketched objects within relevant images. We also demonstrate a prototype sketch driven photo montage application based on our system.
Risk of Window Period HIV Infection in High Infectious Risk Donors: Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

The OPTN defines high risk donors (HRDs), colloquially known as ‘CDC high risk donors’, as those thought to carry an increased risk of HIV window period (WP) infection prior to serologic detectability. However, the true risk of such infection remains unknown. To quantify the risk of WP infection in each HRD behavior category, we performed a systematic review and meta‐analysis of studies of HIV prevalence and incidence. Of 3476 abstracts reviewed, 27 eligible studies of HIV infection in HRD populations were identified. Pooled HIV incidence estimates were calculated for each category of HRD behavior and used to calculate the risk of WP HIV infection. Risks ranged from 0.09–12.1 per 10 000 donors based on WP for ELISA and 0.04–4.9 based on nucleic acid testing (NAT), with NAT reducing WP risk by over 50% in each category. Injection drug users had the greatest risk of WP infection (4.9 per 10 000 donors by NAT WP), followed by men who have sex with men (4.2:10 000), commercial sex workers (2.7:10 000), incarcerated donors (0.9:10 000), donors exposed to HIV through blood (0.6:10 000), donors engaging in high‐risk sex (0.3:10 000) and hemophiliacs (0.035:10 000). These estimates can help inform patient and provider decision making regarding HRDs.
Individual Investor Trading and Return Patterns Around Earnings Announcements

This paper documents evidence consistent with informed trading by individual investors around earnings announcements using a unique dataset of NYSE stocks. We show that intense aggregate individual investor buying (selling) predicts large positive (negative) abnormal returns on and after earnings announcement dates. We decompose the abnormal returns into a component that is attributed to risk-averse liquidity provision and a component that is attributed to private information or skill, and show that about half of the abnormal returns in the three months following the event can be attributed to private information. We also examine the behavior of individuals after the earnings announcement and find that they trade in the opposite direction to both pre-event returns (i.e., exhibit "contrarian" behavior) and the earnings surprise (i.e., exhibit "news-contrarian" behavior). The latter behavior, which could be consistent with profit-taking, has the potential to slow down the adjustment of prices to earnings news and contribute to the post-earnings announcement drift.
Visual Judgements and Misjudgements in Cricket, and the Art of Flight

To hit the ball with the centre of percussion of a bat so that the ball goes where he intends it to go, a batsman must estimate visually where the ball will be at a specific future time (when), and coordinate his swing accordingly. A number of visual cues are available to the batsman. Retinal image information provides an accurate indication of time to contact (ie when), even when the trajectory of the ball is inclined to the line of sight, and there is evidence that the human visual system is specifically sensitive to time-to-contact information. But only part of the necessary information about position (ie where) is available to the batsman. If the batsman's head is directly in the line of flight, the velocity ratio of the retinal images in the left and right eyes provides a precise cue to the trajectory of the ball in the horizontal plane. However, humans have only poor visual sensitivities to the absolute distance and to the line-of-sight velocity of a ball. Therefore, a batsman has inadequate retinal image information about the absolute vertical velocity of a ball. It is suggested in this paper that batsmen supplement inadequate retinal image information about where the ball will hit the ground with prior knowledge built up over the preceding few deliveries. Some slow bowlers can induce the batsman to misjudge where the ball will hit the ground. I suggest that these bowlers manipulate the flight of the ball so as to induce the batsman to supplement his inadequate retinal image information with inappropriate prior knowledge, and thus to misinterpret the vertical angular speed of the retinal image of the ball.
Ginkgo biloba extract suppresses hypertrophy and extracellular matrix accumulation in rat mesangial cells

AbstractAim:To observe the effects of Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb) on the hypertrophy of mesangial cells and the accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) in mesangial cells.Methods:Cultured mesangial cells were allotted into 7 groups: normal group, solvent control group, high glucose group, low dose of EGb group, moderate dose of EGb group, high dose of EGb group, and captopril group. Activities of cell antioxidases, S phase percentage and G0/G1 phase percentage, collagen IV and laminin, Smad2/3 and Smad7, TGF-β1 mRNA were measured by different methods.Results:For EGb-treated groups, when compared with high glucose group, the cell percentage of S phase was raised and the percentage of G0/G1 was lowered. The intensity of oxidative stress was weakened. The expression of Smad2/3 was greatly decreased and Smad7 was increased. Collagen IV, laminin and TGF-β1 mRNA were also reduced.Conclusion:EGb can suppress cell hypertrophy and the accumulation of ECM in rat mesangial cells, which means it could play a vital role in the delay of glomerulosclerosis in diabetic nephropathy.
Genome-Wide Microarray Expression Analysis of CD4+ T Cells from Nonobese Diabetic Congenic Mice Identifies Cd55 (Daf1) and Acadl as Candidate Genes for Type 1 Diabetes1

NOD.Idd3/5 congenic mice have insulin-dependent diabetes (Idd) regions on chromosomes 1 (Idd5) and 3 (Idd3) derived from the nondiabetic strains B10 and B6, respectively. NOD.Idd3/5 mice are almost completely protected from type 1 diabetes (T1D) but the genes within Idd3 and Idd5 responsible for the disease-altering phenotype have been only partially characterized. To test the hypothesis that candidate Idd genes can be identified by differential gene expression between activated CD4+ T cells from the diabetes-susceptible NOD strain and the diabetes-resistant NOD.Idd3/5 congenic strain, genome-wide microarray expression analysis was performed using an empirical Bayes method. Remarkably, 16 of the 20 most differentially expressed genes were located in the introgressed regions on chromosomes 1 and 3, validating our initial hypothesis. The two genes with the greatest differential RNA expression on chromosome 1 were those encoding decay-accelerating factor (DAF, also known as CD55) and acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase, long chain, which are located in the Idd5.4 and Idd5.3 regions, respectively. Neither gene has been implicated previously in the pathogenesis of T1D. In the case of DAF, differential expression of mRNA was extended to the protein level; NOD CD4+ T cells expressed higher levels of cell surface DAF compared with NOD.Idd3/5 CD4+ T cells following activation with anti-CD3 and -CD28. DAF up-regulation was IL-4 dependent and blocked under Th1 conditions. These results validate the approach of using congenic mice together with genome-wide analysis of tissue-specific gene expression to identify novel candidate genes in T1D.
Parkin-induced mitophagy in the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease

Knockout of the ubiquitin ligase Parkin, the gene product of the Parkinson associated Park2, leads to loss of mitochondrial integrity and function in Drosophila melanogaster. Although Parkin is primarily cytosolic, we have found that Parkin is selectively recruited to dysfunctional mitochondria with low membrane potential and subsequently promotes their autophagy. Here we report that Parkin recruitment is voltage-dependent and independent of changes in ATP or pH. These findings suggest that Parkin promotes mitophagy of dysfunctional mitochondria following loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and implicate the targeted elimination of mitochondria in the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease.
Understanding cultural heritage experts' information seeking needs

We report on our user study on the information seeking behavior of cultural heritage experts and the sources they use to carry out search tasks. Seventeen experts from nine cultural heritage institutes in the Netherlands were interviewed and asked to answer questionnaires about their daily search activities. The interviews helped us to better understand their search motivations, types, sources and tools. A key finding of our study is that the majority of search tasks involve relatively complex information gathering. This is in contrast to the relatively simple fact-finding oriented support provided by current tools. We describe a number of strategies that experts have developed to overcome the inadequacies of their tools. Finally, based on the analysis, we derive general trends of cultural heritage experts' information seeking needs and discuss our preliminary experiences with potential solutions.
Redesign the Memory Allocator for Non-Volatile Main Memory

The non-volatile memory (NVM) has the merits of byte-addressability, fast speed, persistency and low power consumption, which make it attractive to be used as main memory. Commonly, user process dynamically acquires memory through memory allocators. However, traditional memory allocators designed with in-place data writes are not appropriate for the non-volatile main memory (NVRAM) due to the limited endurance. In this article, first, we quantitatively analyze the wear-oblivious of DRAM-oriented designed allocator—glibc malloc and the inefficiency of wear-conscious allocator NVMalloc. Then, we propose WAlloc, an efficient wear-aware manual memory allocator designed for NVRAM: (1) decouples metadata and data management; (2) distinguishes metadata with volatility; (3) redirects the data writes around to achieve wear-leveling; (4) redesigns an efficient and effective NVM copy mechanism, bypassing the CPU cache partially and prefetching data explicitly. Finally, experimental results show that the wear-leveling of WAlloc outperforms that of NVMalloc about 30% and 60% under random workloads and well-distributed workloads, respectively. Besides, WAlloc reduces the average data memory writes in 64 bytes block by 1.5 times comparing with glibc malloc. With the fulfillment of data persistency, cache bypassing NVM copy is better than cache line flushing NVM copy with performance improvement circa 14%.
A single-center study evaluating the effect of the controlled adverse environment (CAESM) model on tear film stability

Purpose To investigate use of an improved ocular tear film analysis protocol (OPI 2.0) in the Controlled Adverse Environment (CAESM) model of dry eye disease, and to examine the utility of new metrics in the identification of subpopulations of dry eye patients. Methods Thirty-three dry eye subjects completed a single-center, single-visit, pilot CAE study. The primary endpoint was mean break-up area (MBA) as assessed by the OPI 2.0 system. Secondary endpoints included corneal fluorescein staining, tear film break-up time, and OPI 2.0 system measurements. Subjects were also asked to rate their ocular discomfort throughout the CAE. Dry eye endpoints were measured at baseline, immediately following a 90-minute CAE exposure, and again 30 minutes after exposure. Results The post-CAE measurements of MBA showed a statistically significant decrease from the baseline measurements. The decrease was relatively specific to those patients with moderate to severe dry eye, as measured by baseline MBA. Secondary endpoints including palpebral fissure size, corneal staining, and redness, also showed significant changes when pre- and post-CAE measurements were compared. A correlation analysis identified specific associations between MBA, blink rate, and palpebral fissure size. Comparison of MBA responses allowed us to identify subpopulations of subjects who exhibited different compensatory mechanisms in response to CAE challenge. Of note, none of the measures of tear film break-up time showed statistically significant changes or correlations in pre-, versus post-CAE measures. Conclusion This pilot study confirms that the tear film metric MBA can detect changes in the ocular surface induced by a CAE, and that these changes are correlated with other, established measures of dry eye disease. The observed decrease in MBA following CAE exposure demonstrates that compensatory mechanisms are initiated during the CAE exposure, and that this compensation may provide the means to identify and characterize clinically relevant subpopulations of dry eye patients.
Bacteraemia Due to Tribe Proteeae: A Review of 132 Cases During a Decade (1991–2000)

To characterize the clinical features of bacteraemia due to tribe Proteeae, 132 cases among 130 patients from 1991 to 2000 were analysed. The organisms included the Proteus species in 63 cases (P. mirabilis in 41, P. penneri in 2 and P. vulgaris in 20), the Providencia species in 8 (P. rettgeri in 3 and P. stuartii 5) and Morganella morganii in 61. Morganella bacteraemia occurred more frequently in the hospital (70.5%). Biliary and hepatic diseases were predominant in cases with Morganella bacteraemia while cardiovascular, urological and neurological diseases were more common in cases with Proteus bacteraemia. Biliary drainage catheters had more frequently been placed in cases with Morganella bacteraemia (39.3%, p<0.001), and urinary catheters more frequently in cases with Proteus bacteraemia (17.5%). Biliary infection was most common in cases with Morganella bacteraemia (49.2%), while urinary tract infection (UTI) was most common in cases with Proteus bacteraemia (47.6%). Mortality directly related to bacteraemia due to tribe Proteeae was 20.8% (22.6, 50.0 and 15.0% for Proteus, Providencia and Morganella bacteraemia, respectively). In conclusion, Morganella bacteraemia was most frequently associated with biliary infection, while Proteus bacteraemia was most frequently with UTI. Providencia bacteraemia was relatively uncommon and it can be associated with infections other than UTI.
Two meta-heuristics to solve a coordinated air transportation and production scheduling problem with time windows for the due date

Traditional production management approaches have paid less attention to integrate supply chain functions. Two main functions in supply chain management (i.e., production planning and distribution) are mutually dependent and important in today's real world applications. More of the time, they should be used simultaneously in an integrated manner to minimize costs in the whole chain. In this paper, a coordinated air transportation and production scheduling problem is studied to minimize the total cost of a supply chain. Additionally, time windows for the due date are considered; however, the due date for delivery time has been considered in the literature. Since this problem is NP-hard, two well-known meta-heuristics (i.e., genetic algorithm and simulated annealing) are used. Some new procedures and operators are developed in these algorithms. To evaluate the performance of the algorithms, different problem sizes are used and the results are compared. Finally, the impacts of increasing the problem size are studied.