Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimation of the outcome of a standing mental hospital population.

A review of surveys of mental hospital populations in Britain in the 1960s carried out for planning purposes reveals conflicting conclusions about the likely requirement for mental hospital beds over the next 15 to 20 years-the period over which estimates are needed for planning facilities. The estimate on which the Hospital Plan for England and Wales (National Health Service, 1962) was based assumed a fall from over three beds per thousand total population in 1961 to about 1 8 per thousand by 1975 (Tooth and Brooke, 1961). Cross and Yates (1961) reported broadly similar estimates based on the Birmingham region. Criticisms of the estimates in the Hospital Plan emphasized the regional variation in current bed provision and the self-fulfilling character of prophecies of this kind when they are acted upon (Baldwin, 1963; Rehin and Martin, 1963), and the low expectation of separation from hospital by death or discharge of the high proportion of relatively young long-stay patients (Gore and Jones, 1961). Earlier optimism about the possibilities of rehabilitation of long-stay patients and reduction of requirements for long-term beds (Cooper and Early, 1961; Norton, 1961) has been tempered by more recent studies which have expressed doubt as to the likelihood of fulfilment of the original estimates (Hassall and Hellon, 1964; Early and Magnus, 1966). It has also been shown that large differences exist in the behaviour of individual hospitals and of age and sex groups within hospitals, so that a uniform measure of bed needs could be misleading (Hassall, Spencer, and Cross, 1965). The problem of projecting the future size and structure of a mental hospital population on the basis of past and current use is usually subdivided into consideration of two interrelated processes:
The Ursa Major Cluster of Galaxies.I.Cluster Definition and Photometric Data

The Ursa Major Cluster has received remarkably little attention, although it is as near as the Virgo Cluster and contains a comparable number of H I-rich galaxies. In this paper, criteria for group membership are discussed and data are presented for 79 galaxies identified with the group. Of these, all 79 have been imaged at B,R,I bands with CCDs, 70 have been imaged at K' with a HgCdTe array detector, and 70 have been detected in the H I 21 cm line. A complete sample of 62 galaxies brighter than M(B)=-16.5 is identified. Images and gradients in surface brightness and color are presented at a common linear scale. As has been seen previously, the galaxies with the reddest global colors are reddest at the centers and get bluer at large radii. However, curiously, among the galaxies with the bluest global colors there are systems with very blue cores that get redder at large radii. (C) 1996 American Astronomical Society.
Caffeine-Inhibitable Event Control but Caused by the Lack of Caspase-3 and a Ionizing Radiation Is Independent of p 53 and Cell Cycle Apoptosis Resistance of MCF-7 Breast Carcinoma Cells to

We have shown previously that ionizing radiation (IR) induces a persistent G2-M arrest but not cell death in MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells that harbor functional p53 but lack caspase-3. In the present study, we investigated the mechanisms of apoptosis resistance and the roles of p53, caspase-3, and cell cycle arrest in IR-induced apoptosis. The methylxanthine caffeine and the staurosporine analog UCN-01, which can inhibit ATM and Chk kinases, efficiently abrogated the IR-induced G2-M arrest and induced mitochondrial activation as judged by the loss of the mitochondrial membrane potential and the release of cytochrome c and Smac/ Diablo. However, despite these proapoptotic alterations, cell death and activation of the initiator caspase-9 were not induced in MCF-7 cells but were interestingly only observed after reexpression of caspase-3. Sensitization to IR-induced apoptosis by caffeine or UCN-01 was abrogated neither by cycloheximide nor by pifithrin, an inhibitor of the transcriptional activity of p53. Furthermore, suppression of p53 by RNA interference could not prevent caffeineand IR-induced mitochondrial alterations and apoptosis but resulted in an even more pronounced G2-M arrest. Collectively, our results clearly show that the resistance of MCF-7 cells to IR-induced apoptosis is caused by two independent events; one of them is a caffeineor UCN-01–inhibitable event that does not depend on p53 or a release of the G2-M arrest. The second event is the loss of caspase-3 that surprisingly seems essential for a fully functional caspase-9 pathway, even despite the previous release of mitochondrial proapoptotic proteins.
Alteration of Gut Microbiota and Efficacy of Probiotics in Functional Constipation

were significantly less abundant in feces from patients with FC compared with healthy controls. However, no significant differences were observed regarding the proportion of Lactobacillus, Escherichia coli and Clostridium species. These results are partially consistent with previous studies that have analyzed the fecal microbiota in patients with FC. 7,8 Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus have been shown to be significantly less abundant in adult patients with constipation. 8 One study found that patients with constipation predominant-irritable bowel syndrome exhibited significantly less lactate-producing (bifidobacteria and lactobacilli) and lactate-utilizing bacteria in their feces compared with controls; moreover, the abundances of H2-consuming populations, methanogens and reductive acetogens were also significantly lower in these patients compared with controls. 7 In contrast, a study of children with constipation found that the levels of bifidobacteria and clostridia were increased in
First experimental demonstration of Ge CMOS circuits

We report the first experimental demonstration of Ge CMOS circuits, based on a novel recessed channel and S/D technique. Aggressively scaled non-Si CMOS logic devices with channel lengths (Lch) from 500 to 20 nm, channel thicknesses (Tch) of 25 and 15 nm, EOTs of 4.5 and 3 nm and a small width ratio (Wn:Wp=1.2) are realized on a Ge-on-insulator (GeOI) substrate. The CMOS inverters have high voltage gain of up to 36 V/V, which is the best value among all of the non-Si CMOS results by the standard top-down approach. Scalability studies on Ge CMOS inverters down to 20 nm are carried out for the first time. NAND and NOR logic gates are also investigated.
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging of cortical gray and white matter in schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE To apply in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging estimates of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), a neuronal marker, to clarify the relative contribution of neuronal and glial changes to the widespread volume deficit of cortical gray matter seen in patients with schizophrenia with magnetic resonance images. METHODS Ten male veterans meeting criteria of the DSM-IV, for schizophrenia and 9 healthy age-matched men for comparison were scanned using spectroscopic, anatomical, and field-map sequences. Instrument and collection variables were standardized to allow an estimation of comparable values for NAA, choline, and creatine for all subjects. Metabolite values from each voxel on 3 upper cortical slices were regressed against the gray tissue proportion of that voxel to derive estimates of gray and white matter NAA, creatine, and choline concentrations. RESULTS The volume of cortical gray matter was reduced in patients with schizophrenia, but NAA signal intensity from a comparable region was normal. In contrast, the volume of cortical white matter was normal in patients with schizophrenia, but NAA signal intensity from a comparable region was reduced. CONCLUSIONS The lack of reduction in gray matter NAA signal intensity suggests that the cortical gray matter deficit in these patients involved both neuronal and glial compartments rather than a neurodegenerative process in which there is a decrease in the neuronal relative to the glial compartment. Reduced white matter NAA signal intensity without a white matter volume deficit may reflect abnormal axonal connections.
Variable Universe Fuzzy PID Control for Multi-level Gas Tank Pressure

This paper investigates pressure regulation for multi-level gas tank by variable universe fuzzy PID control. Pressure vessel is one of important equipments in process industry. Conventional PID controllers in gas tanks must set initial parameters in advance according to engineers' knowledge, which will be unchanged during regulation. To remove these restrictions, variable universe fuzzy logic is applied to PID controller for parameters self-turning in this paper. By introducing the contraction and expansion factor of variable universe, both fuzzy universes and parameters of PID controller are on-line tuned, which improve the performance of controller. Finally, numerical simulation results showed the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Regulation of Fatty Acid Metabolism by FadR Is Essential for Vibrio vulnificus To Cause Infection of Mice

ABSTRACT The opportunistic bacterial pathogen Vibrio vulnificus causes severe wound infection and fatal septicemia. We used alkaline phosphatase insertion mutagenesis in a clinical isolate of V. vulnificus to find genes necessary for virulence, and we identified fadR, which encodes a regulator of fatty acid metabolism. The fadR::mini-Tn5Km2phoA mutant was highly attenuated in a subcutaneously inoculated iron dextran-treated mouse model of V. vulnificus disease, was hypersensitive to the fatty acid synthase inhibitor cerulenin, showed aberrant expression of fatty acid biosynthetic (fab) genes and fatty acid oxidative (fad) genes, produced smaller colonies on agar media, and grew slower in rich broth than did the wild-type parent. Deletion of fadR essentially recapitulated the phenotypes of the insertion mutant, and the ΔfadR mutation was complemented in trans with the wild-type gene. Further characterization of the ΔfadR mutant showed that it was not generally hypersensitive to envelope stresses but had decreased motility and showed an altered membrane lipid profile compared to that of the wild type. Supplementation of broth with the unsaturated fatty acid oleate restored wild-type growth in vitro, and infection with oleate in the inoculum increased the ability of the ΔfadR mutant to infect mice. We conclude that fadR and regulation of fatty acid metabolism are essential for V. vulnificus to be able to cause disease in mammalian hosts.
Effects of Carbon Nanotube Environmental Dispersion on an Aquatic Invertebrate, Hirudo medicinalis

The recent widespread applications of nanomaterials, because of their properties, opens new scenarios that affect their dispersal in the environment. In particular multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), despite their qualities, seem to be harmful for animals and humans. To evaluate possible toxic effects caused by carbon nanotube environmental dispersion, with regard to aquatic compartment, we proposed as experimental model a freshwater invertebrate: Hirudo medicinalis. In the present study we analyse acute and chronic immune responses over a short (1, 3, 6 and 12 hours) and long time (from 1 to 5 weeks) exposure to MWCNTs by optical, electron and immunohistochemical approaches. In the exposed leeches angiogenesis and fibroplasia accompanied by massive cellular migration occur. Immunocytochemical characterization using specific markers shows that in these inflammatory processes the monocyte-macrophages (CD45+, CD68+) are the most involved cells. These immunocompetent cells are characterized by sequence of events starting from the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (in particular IL-18), and amyloidogenensis. Our combined experimental approaches, basing on high sensitive inflammatory response can highlight adverse effects of nanomaterials on aquatic organisms and could be useful to assess the MWCNTs impact on aquatic, terrestrial animal and human health.
Sentence processing and the clause boundary

An apparatus for determining the peak value of the sinusoidal component of an electrical quantity which may include a non-sinusoidal component by means of comparing the first and second differential magnitudes of the electrical quantity at any time interval of the period of the sinusoidal component whereby the value of any low rate of change component is attenuated, as for example the D.C. offset which is normally present during fault conditions. The apparatus also includes means to determine the phase angles between two sinusoidal components and when such two sinusoidal components represent current and voltage to determine the magnitude of the impedance of the network energized by said sinusoidal quantities.
Evaluation of Chronic Oral Nicotine Treatment in Food Consumption, Body Weight and (125I) Epibatidine Binding in Adult Mice

Despite its abuse potential, nicotine, acting on nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, has possible medicinal uses, in particular in treating neuro degenerative diseases. Therefore, animal models to evaluate exposure need to be characterized. Administration via drinking water is a stressfree route of administration but often results in low blood nicotine levels. Here we evaluated chronic exposure to low, medium and high concentrations of nicotine in drinking water. Three-month-old C57BL/6 male mice were treated for 23 days with 20, 120 or 300 µg/ml nicotine in 2% saccharin water, corresponding to 5, 30 and 55 mg/kg/d, respectively. Food intake and body weight were monitored, blood nicotine and cotinine levels, and 125I-epibatidine-binding sites were determined at day 23.Average blood cotinine levels of 11.7, 151.8 and 192.0 ng/ ml were detected in mice receiving the low, medium and high dose, respectively. In contrast, nicotine was only consistently measured in the group receiving 300 µg/ml, with an average blood level of 6.2 ng/ml and was the only treatment group to exhibit significantly decreased food intake (p=0.005) and body weight (p=0.043), as well as increased I125-epibatidine binding in cortex (p=0.055) and hippocampus (p = 0.019). We evaluated possible effects of chronic nicotine (300µg/ml) exposure on anxiety-like behavior using the open field test. An anxiolytic effect was found compared to controls and there was no evidence for anxiogenic effects of chronic nicotine. Thus, a high concentration of nicotine in drinking water was necessary to achieve consistent blood nicotine levels in mice, which correlated with markers considered hallmarks of chronic nicotine treatment.
Deep Networks with Internal Selective Attention through Feedback Connections

Traditional convolutional neural networks (CNN) are stationary and feedforward. They neither change their parameters during evaluation nor use feedback from higher to lower layers. Real brains, however, do. So does our Deep Attention Selective Network (dasNet) architecture. DasNets feedback structure can dynamically alter its convolutional filter sensitivities during classification. It harnesses the power of sequential processing to improve classification performance, by allowing the network to iteratively focus its internal attention on some of its convolutional filters. Feedback is trained through direct policy search in a huge million-dimensional parameter space, through scalable natural evolution strategies (SNES). On the CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100 datasets, dasNet outperforms the previous state-of-the-art model.
Abnormal Brain Protein Synthesis in Language Areas of Children With Pervasive Developmental Disorder

This study was performed to evaluate the cerebral protein synthesis rate of language brain regions in children with developmental delay with and without pervasive developmental disorder. The authors performed L-[1-11C]-leucine positron emission tomography (PET) on 8 developmental delay children with pervasive developmental disorder (mean age, 76.25 months) and 8 developmental delay children without pervasive developmental disorder (mean age, 77.63 months). They found a higher protein synthesis rate in developmental delay children with pervasive developmental disorder in the left posterior middle temporal region (P = .014). There was a significant correlation of the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale autism index score with the protein synthesis rate of the left posterior middle temporal region (r = .496, P = .05). In addition, significant asymmetric protein synthesis (right > left) was observed in developmental delay children without pervasive developmental disorder in the middle frontal and posterior middle temporal regions (P = .03 and P = .04, respectively). In conclusion, abnormal language area protein synthesis in developmentally delayed children may be related to pervasive symptoms.
Contribution of Microfinance to Financial Sector Development and Growth

Despite global recognition and sufficient history of microfinance there is mixed evidence of its net benefits and very limited empirical work on its contribution to financial intermediation and economic growth. Addressing this gap we aim to reveal whether and how microfinance is transferred to growth. Our conceptual approach is based on a broader finance-and-growth nexus where microfinance is seen as a new pillar capturing informal intermediation and directly contributing to financial sector development. First we define transmission channels for microfinance and second, perform the test on panel of 103 countries for 1995-2008 period using ArellanoBond (1991) instrumental technique thus ensuring the robustness of the results. There is evidence of microfinance to Granger-cause economic growth and it is positive only in less developed countries through lagged values where formal financial intermediation is immature leaving significant space for alternative means such as microfinance. However with further economic development this contribution has risk to be negative as middle income countries already face it through current values. JEL Classifications: G15, G21, O16, O57
Definition of Soybean Genomic Regions That Control Seed Phytoestrogen Amounts

Soybean seeds contain large amounts of isoflavones or phytoestrogens such as genistein, daidzein, and glycitein that display biological effects when ingested by humans and animals. In seeds, the total amount, and amount of each type, of isoflavone varies by 5 fold between cultivars and locations. Isoflavone content and quality are one key to the biological effects of soy foods, dietary supplements, and nutraceuticals. Previously we had identified 6 loci (QTL) controlling isoflavone content using 150 DNA markers. This study aimed to identify and delimit loci underlying heritable variation in isoflavone content with additional DNA markers. We used a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population (n=100) derived from the cross of “Essex” by “Forrest,” two cultivars that contrast for isoflavone content. Seed isoflavone content of each RIL was determined by HPLC and compared against 240 polymorphic microsatellite markers by one-way analysis of variance. Two QTL that underlie seed isoflavone content were newly discovered. The additional markers confirmed and refined the positions of the six QTL already reported. The first new region anchored by the marker BARC_Satt063 was significantly associated with genistein (P=0.009, R2=29.5%) and daidzein (P=0.007 , R2=17.0%). The region is located on linkage group B2 and derived the beneficial allele from Essex. The second new region defined by the marker BARC_Satt129 was significantly associated with total glycitein (P=0.0005 , R2=32.0%). The region is located on linkage group D1a+Q and also derived the beneficial allele from Essex. Jointly the eight loci can explain the heritable variation in isoflavone content. The loci may be used to stabilize seed isoflavone content by selection and to isolate the underlying genes.
Using Hermite Bases in Studying Capacity-Achieving Distributions Over AWGN Channels

This paper studies classes of generic deterministic, discrete time, memoryless, and “nonlinear” additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels. Subject to multiple types of constraints such as the even-moment and compact-support constraints or a mixture, the optimal input is proved to be discrete with finite number of mass points in the vast majority of the cases. Only under the even-moment constraint and for special cases that emulate the average power constrained linear channel, capacity is found to be achieved by an absolutely continuous input. The results are extended to channels where the distortion is generally piecewise nonlinear where the discrete nature of the optimal input is conserved. These results are reached through the development of methodology and tools that are based on standard decompositions in a Hilbert space with the Hermite polynomials as a basis, and it is showcased how these bases are natural candidates for general information-theoretic studies of the capacity of channels affected by AWGN. Intermediately, novel results regarding the output rate of decay of Gaussian channels are derived. Namely, the output probability distribution of any channel subjected to additive Gaussian noise decays necessarily “slower” than the Gaussian itself. Finally, numerical computations are provided for some sample cases, optimal inputs are determined, and capacity curves are drawn. These results put into question the accuracy of adopting the widely used expression 1(1+ SNR) for computing capacities of Gaussian deterministic channels.
Analysis of the interaction site for the self superantigen Mls-1a on T cell receptor V beta

Superantigen bound to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) products have been shown to stimulate T cells in a V beta-specific manner. Mouse T cells bearing V beta 8.1 usually respond to the self superantigen, Mls-1a, whereas T cells bearing V beta 8.2a do not. Previously, using site-directed mutational analysis, we identified the residues of natural variants of T cell receptor (TCR) V beta 8.2 that conferred Mls- 1a reactivity. These residues are predicted to lie on a beta-pleated sheet of the TCR V beta element, well away from the expected binding site for antigen and MHC proteins. This study was undertaken to determine the effect of glycosylation on this beta-pleated sheet on Mls- 1a reactivity and to map the extent of the interaction site on V beta 8.2 for Mls-1a. to Mls-1a, as well as to peptides derived from the conventional protein antigen, chicken ovalbumin. Here we demonstrate that first, N-linked carbohydrate on the lateral surface of V beta blocks the interaction of the TCR V beta with the self superantigen, Mls-1a, but has no effect on the TCR interaction with peptide antigen and MHC, second, that the interaction site for Mls-1a extends over the surface of the solvent-exposed beta-pleated sheet on the side of the TCR, and third, that mutations which affect both superantigen and peptide antigen reactivity lie at the beginning of the first complementarity determining region of V beta, consistent with models of the trimolecular complex of TCR-peptide-MHC.
What do EESD “experts” think sustainability is? Which pedagogy is suitable to learn it?: Results from interviews and Cmaps analysis gathered at EESD 2008

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study how experts on teaching sustainability in engineering education contextualize sustainability; also to evaluate the understanding of sustainability by engineering students. The final aim is to evaluate what pedagogy experts believe provides better opportunities for learning about sustainability in engineering education.Design/methodology/approach – The authors used conceptual maps (cmaps) analysis with two taxonomies of four and ten categories. The first taxonomy clusters the significance of sustainability in environmental, technological, social and institutional aspects and shows the main trends; the second (of ten categories) divides the previous categories into greater detail. To evaluate the experts' cmaps two indices were defined that provide information about what experts think sustainability is most related to and evaluate how complex they see the sustainability concept. In total, 500 students from five European engineering universities were then surve.