Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive refinement for a local error bound based on duality

This paper presents the basis of an adaptive mesh refinement technique aimed at reducing a local error, i.e. the error in a local quantity, which is defined as the integral of a stress or a displacement in a given subregion. Two pairs of dual solutions, one corresponding to the applied load and the other to the virtual action, dual of the local quantity, are used to bound the local error and to provide the element error indicators for the adaptive process. A test case is used to exemplify the behaviour of the technique.
Recharging autonomous underwater vehicles from ambient wave induced motions

In this paper a novel gyroscopic system capable of recharging an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) using wave energy is proposed. The system, which is based on control moment gyroscope (CMG) principles, utilises the gyroscopic response of a gimballed flywheel mounted within an AUV body to generate energy from the wave induced rotational motions of the vehicle. By utilising the wave induced rotational motions of an AUV and the relative motion/torque created by a precessing gimballed flywheel promises to enable AUVs to generate energy in-situ and from a renewable source. This novel approach has several advantages. As the system is housed internally it is not exposed to the harsh underwater environment, is not susceptible to bio-fouling and does not add any hydrodynamic drag. In addition, the system can be positioned anywhere within the AUV body and the technology has the potential to be developed into an integrated energy harvesting, storage and motion control system; whereby the wave induced gyroscopic precession of the flywheel can be used to generate energy, the flywheel kinetic energy (spin) can be utilised for energy storage (similar to Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems or KERS) and motion control can be provided by precession control of the flywheel (providing a stable platform for improved monitoring/recording capabilities). In this paper a theoretical description of the system is provided including a derivation of the governing equations of motion following a momentum (Newton-Euler) approach. A numerical model is also described and simulation results for a pitching 2m AUV system are presented. The results show that the system could be used to periodically recharge an AUV remotely, enabling longer AUV deployments at sea.
Estimation of foetal weight in third trimester using thigh measurements.

BACKGROUND Estimation of foetal weight is essential in daily obstetric practice particularly close to term. It guides clinicians to finalize important obstetrical decisions. Low birth weight and excessive foetal weight at delivery both are associated with an increased risk of neonatal complications during labour and the puerperium. The objectives of this cross sectional study were to estimate the foetal weight using only two thigh parameters and its comparison with birth weight. This study was conducted in Radiology Department PNS Shifa during 1st June, 2007 to 30 Nov, 2007. METHODS All pregnant females coming to Radiology Department for Ultrasound examinations in 3rd trimester were the Subjects of study. All infants were delivered with in 48 hour of ultrasound examination. 100 patients were included in this study. Thigh measurements were made by conventional two-dimensional ultrasonography. The Isobe formula was compared with already established Aoki's formula and actual birth weight using paired sample t-test. RESULTS Isobe's formula showed a significant correlation with the actual birth weight. In 90% of cases estimated foetal weight was within 10% of the actual birth weight. CONCLUSION The Isobe's formula was found to be convenient among all the established formulas for estimated foetal body weight. Measurement of head circumference was not necessary near term.
Australopithecus sediba Hand Demonstrates Mosaic Evolution of Locomotor and Manipulative Abilities

The hand of Australopithecus sediba, a rare example in the hominid fossil record, shows short fingers and a long thumb consistent with improved precision gripping while retaining strength for climbing. Hand bones from a single individual with a clear taxonomic affiliation are scarce in the hominin fossil record, which has hampered understanding the evolution of manipulative abilities in hominins. Here we describe and analyze a nearly complete wrist and hand of an adult female [Malapa Hominin 2 (MH2)] Australopithecus sediba from Malapa, South Africa (1.977 million years ago). The hand presents a suite of Australopithecus-like features, such as a strong flexor apparatus associated with arboreal locomotion, and Homo-like features, such as a long thumb and short fingers associated with precision gripping and possibly stone tool production. Comparisons to other fossil hominins suggest that there were at least two distinct hand morphotypes around the Plio-Pleistocene transition. The MH2 fossils suggest that Au. sediba may represent a basal condition associated with early stone tool use and production.
Bioluminescence Imaging of Toxoplasma gondii Infection in Living Mice Reveals Dramatic Differences between Strains

ABSTRACT We examined the in vivo growth, dissemination, and reactivation of strains of the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii using a bioluminescence-based imaging system. Two T. gondii strains, one with a highly virulent disease phenotype in mice (S23) and the other with a 1,000-fold-lower virulence phenotype (S22), were engineered to stably express the light-emitting protein luciferase. One clone of each wild-type strain was isolated, and the two clones (S23-luc7 and S22-luc2) were found to express similar levels of luciferase. Mice were infected intraperitoneally with S23-luc7 (50 or 5 parasites) or S22-luc2 (500, 50, or 5 parasites), and the progress of the infections was examined noninvasively following injection of the substrate for luciferase, d-luciferin. In mice infected with 50 S23-luc7 parasites, the parasites grew exponentially within the peritoneal cavity (as measured by light emitted from luciferase-expressing parasites) during days 1 to 10 p.i. , and this proliferation continued until there was severe disease. In mice infected with 500 S22-luc2 parasites, the parasites proliferated in a fashion similar to the S23-luc7 proliferation during days 1 to 6, but this was followed by a precipitous drop in the signal to levels below the limit of detection. Using this technique, we were also able to observe the process of reactivation of T. gondii in chronically infected mice. After treatment with dexamethasone, we detected reactivation of toxoplasmosis in mice infected with S23-luc7 and S22-luc2. During reactivation, growth of S23-luc7 was initially detected primarily in the head and neck area, while in S22-luc2-infected mice the parasites were detected primarily in the abdomen. This method has great potential for identifying important differences in the dissemination and growth of different T. gondii strains, especially strains with dramatically different disease outcomes.
Determining the Costs of Families’ Support Networks Following a Child’s Cancer Diagnosis

Background: Cancer in children may place considerable economic burden on more than individual family members. The costs incurred to families’ support networks (FSNs) have not been previously studied. Objectives: The study objectives were to (a) identify and determine independent predictors of the direct and time costs incurred by the FSN and (b) explore the impact of these cancer-related costs on the FSN. Methods: A prospective mixed-methods study was conducted. Representing the FSN, parents recorded the resources consumed and costs incurred during 1 week per month for 3 consecutive months, beginning 1 month following their child’s diagnosis. Descriptive statistics, multiple regression modeling, and descriptive qualitative analytical methods were used to analyze the data. Results: In total, 28 fathers and 71 mothers participated. The median total direct and time costs for the 3 months were CAN$154 and $2776, respectively, per FSN. The largest component of direct and time costs was travel and foregone leisure. Direct and time costs were greatest among those parents who identified a support network at baseline. Parents relied on their FSN to “hold the fort,” which entailed providing financial support, assuming household chores, maintaining the siblings’ routines, and providing cancer-related care. Conclusions: Families’ support networks are confronted with a wide range of direct and time costs, the largest being travel and foregone leisure. Implications for Practice: Families’ support networks play an important role in mitigating the effects of families’ costs. Careful screening of families without an FSN is needed.
On climate and conflict: Precipitation decline and communal conflict in Ethiopia and Kenya

This study exploits a sudden and abrupt decline in precipitation of the long rains season in the Horn of Africa to analyze the possible link between climate change and violent armed conflict. Following the 1998 El Niño there has been an overall reduction in precipitation levels – associated with sea-surface temperature changes in the Indian and Pacific Oceans – resulting in an increase in the number and severity of droughts. Given that the probable cause of this shift is anthropogenic forcing, it provides a unique opportunity to study the effect of climate change on society compared to statistical inference based on weather variation. Focusing on communal conflict in Ethiopia and Kenya between 1999 and 2014, exploiting cross-sectional variation across districts, the regression analysis links the precipitation decline to an additional 1.3 conflict events per district. The main estimates show that there is a negative correlation between precipitation and communal conflict with a probability of 0.90. Changing model specification to consider plausible alternative models and accommodate other identifying assumptions produces broadly similar results. The generaliziability of the link between precipitation decline and conflict breaks down when using out-of-sample cross-validation to test the external validity. A leave-one-out cross-validation exercise shows that accounting for climate contributes relatively little to improving the predictive performance of the model. This suggests that there are other more salient factors underlying communal violence in Ethiopia and Kenya. As such, in this case the link between climate and conflict should not be overstated.
Firearm Violence Among High-Risk Emergency Department Youth After an Assault Injury

BACKGROUND: The risk for firearm violence among high-risk youth after treatment for an assault is unknown. METHODS: In this 2-year prospective cohort study, data were analyzed from a consecutive sample of 14- to 24-year-olds with drug use in the past 6 months seeking assault-injury care (AIG) at an urban level 1 emergency department (ED) compared with a proportionally sampled comparison group (CG) of drug-using nonassaulted youth. Validated measures were administered at baseline and follow-up (6, 12, 18, 24 months). RESULTS: A total of 349 AIG and 250 CG youth were followed for 24 months. During the follow-up period, 59% of the AIG reported firearm violence, a 40% higher risk than was observed among the CG (59.0% vs. 42.5%; relative risk [RR] = 1.39). Among those reporting firearm violence, 31.7% reported aggression, and 96.4% reported victimization, including 19 firearm injuries requiring medical care and 2 homicides. The majority with firearm violence (63.5%) reported at least 1 event within the first 6 months. Poisson regression identified baseline predictors of firearm violence, including male gender (RR = 1.51), African American race (RR = 1.26), assault-injury (RR = 1.35), firearm possession (RR = 1.23), attitudes favoring retaliation (RR = 1.03), posttraumatic stress disorder (RR = 1.39), and a drug use disorder (RR = 1.22). CONCLUSIONS: High-risk youth presenting to urban EDs for assault have elevated rates of subsequent firearm violence. Interventions at an index visit addressing substance use, mental health needs, retaliatory attitudes, and firearm possession may help decrease firearm violence among urban youth.
Interleaved practice enhances skill learning and the functional connectivity of fronto‐parietal networks

Practice of tasks in an interleaved order generally induces superior learning compared with practicing in a repetitive order, a phenomenon known as the contextual‐interference (CI) effect. Increased neural activity during interleaved over repetitive practice has been associated with the beneficial effects of CI. Here, we used psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis to investigate whether the neural connectivity of the dorsal premotor (PM) and the dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPFC) cortices changes when motor sequences are acquired through interleaved practice. Sixteen adults practiced a serial reaction time task where a set of three 4‐element sequences were arranged in a repetitive or in an interleaved order on 2 successive days. On Day 5, participants were tested with practiced sequences to evaluate retention. A within‐subjects design was used so that participants practiced sequences in the other condition (repetitive or interleaved) 2–4 weeks later. Functional magnetic resonance images were acquired during practice and retention. On Day 2 of practice, there was greater inter‐regional functional connectivity in the interleaved compared with the repetitive condition for both PM‐seeded and DLPFC‐seeded connectivity. The increased functional connectivity between both seeded regions and sensorimotor cortical areas correlated with the benefit of interleaved practice during later retention. During retention, a significant PPI effect was found in DLPFC‐seeded connectivity, with increased DLPFC‐supplementary motor area connectivity correlated with the benefits of interleaved practice. These data suggest that interleaved practice benefits learning by enhancing coordination of sensorimotor cortical regions, and superior performance of sequences learned under CI is characterized by increased functional connectivity in frontal cortex. Hum Brain Mapp, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A “neglected part of the curriculum” or “of limited use”? Views on genetics training by nongenetics medical trainees and implications for delivery

Purpose: Although the importance of genetics education for health care professionals is increasingly recognized worldwide, little is known about the needs and views of nongenetics postgraduate medical trainees.Methods: Data on the views of 143 learners from four specialties (family practice, neurology, cardiology, and dermatology) in two regions in England (West Midlands and South Western) were collected using focus groups, questionnaires, and interviews.Results: Low levels of genetics training were reported by both trainee family practitioners and trainee hospital consultant specialists. Responses to attitude statements indicate that the majority of trainee family practitioners believed genetics was important but thought that they were underprepared in this area. Focus groups with specialty trainees revealed general consensus that there was not enough formal postgraduate genetics training, although some cardiologists disagreed and trainees in all three specialties thought that the existing curriculum was overcrowded. Trainees stressed the importance of tailoring genetics education to be directly relevant to their daily practice. Trainee family practitioners prioritized topics related to the identification and referral of patients, and the subsequent implication of results. In contrast, specialty trainees prioritized topics related to the genetics and management of particular diseases.Conclusion: There is still work to be done before trainees in nongenetics specialties recognize how genetics can be relevant to their practice. Involvement of specialty trainers in the development and delivery of genetics education may help to address this issue.
Effects of Lime Application and Understory Removal on Soil Microbial Communities in Subtropical Eucalyptus L’Hér. Plantations

Soil microorganisms play key roles in ecosystems and respond quickly to environmental changes. Liming and/or understory removal are important forest management practices and have been widely applied to planted forests in humid subtropical and tropical regions of the world. However, few studies have explored the impacts of lime application, understory removal, and their interactive effects on soil microbial communities. We conducted a lime application experiment combined with understory removal in a subtropical Eucalyptus L’Hér. plantation. Responses of soil microbial communities (indicated by phospholipid fatty acids, PLFAs), soil physico-chemical properties, and litter decomposition rate to lime and/or understory removal were measured. Lime application significantly decreased both fungal and bacterial PLFAs, causing declines in total PLFAs. Understory removal reduced the fungal PLFAs but had no effect on the bacterial PLFAs, leading to decreases in the total PLFAs and in the ratio of fungal to bacterial PLFAs. No interaction between lime application and understory removal on soil microbial community compositions was observed. Changes in soil microbial communities caused by lime application were mainly attributed to increases in soil pH and NO3–-N contents, while changes caused by understory removal were mainly due to the indirect effects on soil microclimate and the decreased soil dissolved carbon contents. Furthermore, both lime application and understory removal significantly reduced the litter decomposition rates, which indicates the lime application and understory removal may impact the microbe-mediated soil ecological process. Our results suggest that lime application may not be suitable for the management of subtropical Eucalyptus plantations. Likewise, understory vegetation helps to maintain soil microbial communities and litter decomposition rate; it should not be removed from Eucalyptus plantations.
Threshold behaviour of human axons explored using subthreshold perturbations to membrane potential

The present study explores the threshold behaviour of human axons and the mechanisms contributing to this behaviour. The changes in excitability of cutaneous afferents in the median nerve at the wrist were recorded to a long‐lasting subthreshold conditioning stimulus, with a waveform designed to maximize the contribution of currents active in the just‐subthreshold region. The conditioning stimulus produced a decrease in threshold that developed over 3–5 ms following the end of the depolarization and then decayed slowly, in a pattern similar to the recovery of axonal excitability following a discharge. To ensure that the conditioning stimulus did not activate low‐threshold axons, similar recordings were then made from single motor axons in the ulnar nerve at the elbow. The findings were comparable, and behaviour with the same pattern and time course could be reproduced by subthreshold stimuli in a model of the human axon. In motor axons, subthreshold depolarizing stimuli, 1 ms long, produced a similar increase in excitability, but the late hyperpolarizing deflection was less prominent. This behaviour was again reproduced by the model axon and could be explained by the passive properties of the nodal membrane and conventional Na+ and K+ currents. The modelling studies emphasized the importance of leak current through the Barrett–Barrett resistance, even in the subthreshold region, and suggested a significant contribution of K+ currents to the threshold behaviour of axons. While the gating of slow K+ channels is slow, the resultant current may not be slow if there are substantial changes in membrane potential. By extrapolation, we suggest that, when human axons discharge, nodal slow K+ currents will be activated sufficiently early to contribute to the early changes in excitability following the action potential.
Treatment of Schizophrenia With Long-Acting Fluphenazine, Haloperidol, or Risperidone

Objective: This study compares 3 cohorts of patients with schizophrenia before, during, and after initiating treatment with fluphenazine decanoate (FD), haloperidol decanoate (HD), or long-acting injectable risperidone (LAR). Methods: Administrative data are analyzed from California Medicaid (Medi-Cal) beneficiaries with schizophrenia who initiated FD, HD, or LAR treatment. Patients were required to have been continuously enrolled in Medi-Cal for 180 days before and 180 days after the start of the new episode of long-acting antipsychotic therapy. Results: There were few demographic and clinical differences among patients initiating FD, HD, and LAR. During the 180 days before starting long-acting injections, most patients initiating FD (53.5%), HD (58.5%), and LAR (61.2%) received oral antipsychotic medications for <80% of the days in this period (medication possession ratio: <0.80). The mean duration of depot treatment episodes was 58.3 days (SD = 53.6) for FD, 71.7 days (SD = 56.4) for HD, and 60.6 days (SD = 48.8) for LAR (F = 18.3, df = 2, 2694, P < .0001, HD > FD). Few patients who started on FD (5.4%), HD (9.7%), or LAR (2.6%) continued for at least 180 days. Most patients in each group (FD [77.4%], HD [78.9%], and LAR [75.5%]) received oral antipsychotic medications during the 45 days after discontinuing long-acting injections. Coprescription with antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and benzodiazepines was common. Conclusions: Patients treated with long-acting antipsychotic injections tend to have complex pharmacological regimens and recent medication nonadherence. A great majority of patients initiating long-acting antipsychotic medications discontinue use within the first few months of treatment.
A robust optimization approach for the capacitated vehicle routing problem with demand uncertainty

In this paper we introduce a robust optimization approach to solve the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) with demand uncertainty. This approach yields routes that minimize transportation costs while satisfying all demands in a given bounded uncertainty set. We show that for the Miller–Tucker–Zemlin formulation of the VRP and specific uncertainty sets, solving for the robust solution is no more difficult than solving a single deterministic VRP. Our computational results on benchmark instances and on families of clustered instances show that the robust solution can protect from unmet demand while incurring a small additional cost over deterministic optimal routes. This is most pronounced for clustered instances under moderate uncertainty, where remaining vehicle capacity is used to protect against variations within each cluster at a small additional cost. We compare the robust optimization model with classic stochastic VRP models for this problem to illustrate the differences and similarities between them. We also observe that the robust solution amounts to a clever management of the remaining vehicle capacity compared to uniformly and non-uniformly distributing this slack over the vehicles.