Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neurodevelopment following fetal growth restriction and its relationship with antepartum parameters of placental dysfunction

Placental dysfunction leading to fetal growth restriction (FGR) is an important risk factor for neurodevelopmental delay. Recent observations clarify that FGR evolves prenatally from a preclinical phase of abnormal nutrient and endocrine milieu to a clinical phase that differs in characteristics in preterm and term pregnancies. Relating childhood neurodevelopment to these prenatal characteristics offers potential advantages in identifying mechanisms and timing of critical insults. Based on available studies, lagging head circumference, overall degree of FGR, gestational age, and umbilical artery (UA), aortic and cerebral Doppler parameters are the independent prenatal determinants of infant and childhood neurodevelopment. While head circumference is important independent of gestational age, overall growth delay has the greatest impact in early onset FGR. Gestational age has an overriding negative effect on neurodevelopment until 32–34 weeks' gestation. Accordingly, the importance of Doppler status is demonstrated from 27 weeks onward and is greatest when there is reversed end‐diastolic velocity in the UA or aorta. While these findings predominate in early‐onset FGR, cerebral vascular impedance changes become important in late onset FGR. Abnormal motor and neurological delay occur in preterm FGR, while cognitive effects and abnormalities that can be related to specific brain areas increase in frequency as gestation advances, suggesting different pathophysiology and evolving vulnerability of the fetal brain. Observational and management studies do not suggest that fetal deterioration has an independent impact on neurodevelopment in early‐onset FGR. In late‐onset FGR further research needs to establish benefits of perinatal intervention, as the pattern of vulnerability and effects of fetal deterioration appear to differ in the third trimester. Copyright © 2011 ISUOG. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
IMMUNOLOGIC PROPERTIES OF MOUSE THYMUS CELLS

The functional attributes of minor subpopulations of mouse thymus cells derived by bovine serum albumin density gradient centrifugation, cortisone treatment, or selective depletion by anti-TL or anti-θ treatment have been examined. A subpopulation derived in each fashion contains the cells required to evoke graft-versus-host reactions in neonatal F1 hybrid recipients and to be stimulated by alloantigens in vitro in one-way mixed lymphocyte cultures and by phytohemagglutinin. The functions of this subpopulation are abrogated by treatment with anti-H-2 plus complement and by high concentrations of anti-θ. A tentative ordering of the various thymus cell subpopulations, on the basis of these and other data, is described.
Convex bodies and algebraic equations on affine varieties

Given an affine variety X and a finite dimensional vector space of regular functions L on X, we associate a convex body to (X, L) such that its volume is responsible for the number of solutions of a generic system of functions from L. This is a far reaching generalization of usual theory of Newton polytopes (which is concerned with toric varieties). As applications we give new, simple and transparent proofs of some well-known theorems in both algebraic geometry (e.g. Hodge Index Theorem) and convex geometry (e.g. Alexandrov-Fenchel inequality). Our main tools are classical Hilbert theory on degree of subvarieties of a projective space (in algebraic geometry) and Brunn-Minkowski inequality (in convex geometric).
Spatial solitons in Kerr and Kerr-like media

This is a review paper of basic knowledge and recent advances in the area of spatial solitons in Kerr and Kerr-like media. We consider spatial bright and dark solitons, sol-itons in waveguide geometries, optical bullets, vortex solitons and, brie¯y, dissipative cases. In our treatment, we use a Hamiltonian approach when considering stability issues.
Multi-time measurement and displacement current in time-dependent quantum transport

With the aim of manufacturing faster and smaller devices, the electronic industry is today entering into the nanoscale and the high frequency regimes. In this particular scenario, the dynamics of the electron charge becomes affected by quantum mechanical laws, both, for its spatial or temporal description. We have recently shown that Bohmian trajectories allow a direct treatment of the time-dependent many-particle interaction among electrons with an accuracy comparable to Density Functional Theory techniques. In addition, Bohmian mechanics, by combining wave functions and trajectories, provides a very simple description on how to describe multi-time measurements in quantum scenarios. Using the previous formalism, in this work we present a general purpose time-dependent 3D quantum electron transport simulator named BITLLES (Bohmian Interacting Transport in large low-dimensional Electronic Structures) especially indicated for AC, transients and noise predictions. As a numerical example of its capabilities, we compute the full electrical characteristics (DC, High frequency and fluctuations) of a Resonant Tunneling Diode.
Signal-Powered Low-Drop-Diode Equivalent Circuit for Full-Wave Bridge Rectifier

Piezoelectric-device-based vibration energy harvesting requires a rectifier for conversion of input ac to usable dc form. Power loss due to diode drop in rectifier is a significant fraction of the already low levels of harvested power. The proposed circuit is a low-drop-diode equivalent, which mimics a diode using linear region-operated MOSFET. The proposed diode equivalent is powered directly from input signal and requires no additional power supply for its control. Power used by the control circuit is kept at a bare minimum to have an overall output power improvement. Diode equivalent was used to replace the four diodes in a full-wave bridge rectifier, which is the basic full-wave rectifier and is a part of the more advanced rectifiers like switch-only and bias-flip rectifiers. Simulation in 130-nm technology and experiment with discrete components show that a bridge rectifier with the proposed diode provides a 30-169% increase in output power extracted from piezoelectric device, as compared to a bridge rectifier with diode-connected MOSFETs. The bridge rectifier with the proposed diode can extract 90% of the maximum available power from an ideal piezoelectric device-bridge rectifier circuit. Setting aside the constraint of power loss, simulations indicate that diode drop as low as 10 mV at 38 μA can be achieved.
Wall laws for fluid flows at a boundary with random roughness

The general concern of this paper is the effect of rough boundaries on fluids. We consider a stationary flow, governed by incompressible Navier‐Stokes equations, in an infinite domain bounded by two horizontal rough plates. The roughness is modeled by a spatially homogeneous random field, with characteristic size ε. A mathematical analysis of the flow for small ε is performed. The Navier's wall law is rigorously deduced from this analysis. This substantially extends former results obtained in the case of periodic roughness, notably in [16, 17]. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
New geometric descriptor for the recognition of aggressive human behavior

Video surveillance has become a ubiquitous feature of modern life that has the potential to detect and monitor aggressive behavior more accurately. In this paper, we propose a new paradigm to recognize an aggressive human behavior such as boxing action. This method has been carried out on two levels; the low-level analysis consists to characterize each frame by using a new geometric descriptor. The latter is associated with a bag-of-features approach in order to extract the local movement of actions. Each frame of atomic action is associated with an appropriate label. This is done by using an offline clustering algorithm such as k-means. The high-level analysis consists to generate the feature vectors from a sequence video by using a set of labels as an optimum codebook. The boxing actions are then recognized by applying a support vector machine classifier. The tests are conducted on our own database and KTH dataset actions. The obtained results show that the proposed method enables robust recognition of aggressive human behavior in very challenging situations such as dynamic environment and deals well with self-occlusion problem.
The effects of land market development on economic growth: an empirical analysis based on Chinese panel data, 1999-2005

Optimized land resources allocation is important for economic growth because land is one of the basic ele ments for economic development. And urban land resources allocation has had an increasingly important influence since the Chinese socialist market economy system was established. This paper estimates the production function of both the secondary and the tertiary industries of China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government through an analysis of the panel data of the total output value of the secondary and the tertiary industries, invested capital, invested labor forces and the land market-featured management of the above-mentioned regions during the period of 1999-2005, and examines the positive influence of the above- mentioned factors on regional economic output. This study concludes that urban economic output is positively related with the level of urban land resources market-featured management, since the rate of economic growth of those regions approximates 14.7% under the condition of urban land market running during the period of 1999-2005.
Evidence for fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity white matter abnormalities in the internal capsule and cingulum in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND There is evidence to suggest that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with structural abnormalities in cortico-striato-thalamic circuits, yet the extent of white matter abnormalities is not well established. In this study, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine white matter integrity in specific regions of interest (ROIs) in patients with OCD. METHODS Patients with OCD and sex-, age- and IQ-matched healthy controls underwent DTI. The primary objective was to explore whether patients with OCD had white matter abnormalities in the anterior limb of the internal capsule (ALIC), the uncinate fasciculus, the genu of the corpus callosum and the cingulum. The secondary objective was to evaluate the relation between fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity in these ROIs and other clinical variables (including age at onset of OCD, OCD severity and levels of depressive and anxiety symptomatology) in patients with OCD. RESULTS There were 15 patients and 17 controls enrolled in our study. Compared with healthy controls, patients with OCD showed increased fractional anisotropy in bilateral regions of the ALIC adjacent to the body of the caudate, as well as decreased fractional anisotropy in the right anterior limb near the head of the caudate. Patients also had decreased mean diffusivity in the body of the right cingulum and the left anterior cingulum compared with controls. Correlational analyses revealed significant associations of fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity in select circuits with OCD, depression and anxiety severity scores. LIMITATIONS Inclusion of patients with OCD receiving pharmacotherapy may have been a limitation. In addition, the patients were heterogeneous in terms of their obsessive-compulsive symptom profiles; we did not distinguish between different obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions. CONCLUSION The study results provide further evidence for OCD-related white matter abnormalities in the ALIC and cingulum, consistent with a cortico striatal model of OCD.
Improvement of BM algorithm in intrusion detection system

This paper proposed an improved BM algorithm, which changed the original approach of starting the initial matching from the right end of the pattern string. Instead, by taking full advantage of the characteristics of the pattern string during the pre-treatment process, it can obtain a specific character, which will be first matched during each matching, before a complete matching is conducted for the entire pattern string from right to left. In this way of matching, when a mismatch occurs, the pattern string is allowed to skip as many characters as possible, to reduce the number of matches in the entire matching process, thereby improving the matching efficiency of BM algorithm.
Shade treatment affects structure and recovery of invasive C4 African grass Echinochloa pyramidalis

Echinochloa pyramidalis (Lam.) Hitchc. & Chase is an African grass with C4 photosynthesis, high biomass production, and high vegetative propagation that is tolerant to grazing and able to grow in flooded and dry conditions. Thus, it is highly invasive in tropical freshwater marshes where it is intentionally planted by ranchers to increase cattle production. This invasion is reducing plant biodiversity by increasing the invader's aerial coverage, changing wetland hydrology and causing soil physicochemical changes such as vertical accretion. Reducing the dominance of this species and increasing the density of native wetland species is a difficult, expensive, and time-consuming process. We applied a series of disturbance treatments aimed at eliminating E. pyramidalis and recovering the native vegetation of a partially invaded freshwater marsh. Treatments included physical (cutting, soil disking, transplanting individuals of the key native species Sagittaria lancifolia subsp. media (Micheli) Bogin, and/or reducing light with shade mesh) and/or chemical (spraying Round-Up™ herbicide) disturbances. At the end of the experiment, four of the five treatments used were effective in increasing the cover and biomass of native species and reducing that of E. pyramidalis. The combination of these treatments should be used to generate a proposal for the restoration of tropical wetlands invaded by non-native grasses. A promising treatment is using soil disked to soften the soil and destroy belowground structures such as roots and rhizomes. This treatment would be more promising if combined with the use of shade cloth. If it is desirable not to impact the soil or if there is not enough budget to make an effort to include active restoration disking soil, the use of shade cloth will suffice, although the recovery of native vegetation will be slower.
Framing REDD+ at National Level: Actors and Discourse around Nepal’s Policy Debate

Forests and carbon sequestration have become fundamental themes in climate change mitigation. The idea of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) has generated significant interest in forest governance from United Nations (UN) climate strategies over the past decade. REDD+ was initially hailed as a smart and cost-effective way to mitigate climate change. As it is rolling out, ambiguities and controversies are increasingly surfacing to the stakeholders at different levels. Examining the forest governance of Nepal in detail, this research examines how relationships between national and local forest actors have changed, and how REDD+ discourses have evolved among them at the interface between global interests in carbon commodification on one hand, and local realities of community forestry on the other hand. To better understand these competing positions, the study uses a post-structural political ecology perspective with elements of discourse analysis. Using data from interviews with policy actors and members of three local community forest user groups, focus group discussions, policy event observations, and document reviews, this paper highlights how global forest carbon commodification has been affecting community forestry governance. It also illustrates different storylines that actors employ to influence policy discourse and REDD+ debates, indicating a considerable range of problem definitions and policy solutions of climate change among the actors. The analysis highlights the connection between power relationships and the evolution of discourses surrounding REDD+, and how an external discourse can reinforce or challenge local governance and the centralization of forest authority. As such, the research also offers a new application of discursive storylines to climate change discourse analysis across national and local scales. The findings emphasize the importance of a more open and transparent dialogue across Nepal’s forest governance and management levels to ensure actual benefits for healthy forests, strong communities, and effective climate change mitigation. Nepal's findings also suggest highly relevant lessons to other developing countries with significant community forest governance, and a strong planned focus on REDD+.
Getting Away With Murder: Segregation and Violent Crime in Urban America

Although rates of violent crime and crime victimization are going down for most groups in the United States,' they are rising for African-Americans.2 A variety of theories have been put forth to explain this trend, but none have come to terms with black segregation. In this Article, I develop a theory that links high rates of black crime to two features of U.S. urban society: high rates of black poverty and high levels of black segregation. The coincidence of these two conditions yields an ecological niche within which rates of crime, levels of violence, and risks of victimization are high. In adapting to these conditions, people rationally adopt individual and collective strategies that offer some protection, but also fuel the violence and give it a self-perpetuating character. Unless desegregation occurs, this cycle of violence is likely to continue; however, the perpetuation of violence paradoxically makes desegregation less likely by increasing the benefits to whites of black residential isolation. Part I of this Article provides a brief overview of the nature and prevalence of crime in the United States and its relationship to segregation. Part II shows that two conditions known to exist within urban America-high levels of black segregation and high rates of black poverty-interact to create a unique ecological niche for black Americans, within which violent behavior becomes a logical, rational adaptation. Part III reviews recent ethnographic research on racially isolated, crime-ridden areas to show how residents adapt to this structurally produced environment. Part IV attempts to explain why it has been so difficult to implement policies to promote desegregation, pointing out the economic and political benefits that whites derive from residential segregation. Part V concludes with suggestions of alternative scenarios for the future of urban America.
An Explicit Fourth-order Compact Finite Diierence Scheme for Three Dimensional Convection-diiusion Equation

We present an explicit fourth-order compact nite diierence scheme for approximating the three dimensional convection-diiusion equation with variable coeecients. This 19-point formula is deened on a uniform cubic grid. We compare advantages and implementation cost of the new scheme with the standard 7-point scheme in the context of basic iterative methods. Numerical examples are used to verify the fourth-order convergence rate of the scheme and to show that the Gauss-Seidel iterative method converges for large values of the convection coeecients. Some algebraic properties of the coeecient matrices arising from diierent discretization schemes are compared. We also comment on potential use of the fourth-order compact scheme with multi-level iterative methods.
Skin Autofluorescence: A Pronounced Marker of Mortality in Hemodialysis Patients

Background: Accelerated formation and tissue accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs), reflecting cumulative glycemic and oxidative stress, occur in age-related and chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus (DM) and renal failure, and contribute to vascular damage. Skin autofluorescence (AF), a noninvasive measurement method, reflects tissue accumulation of AGEs. The aim of our study was to determine the predictive value of skin AF on overall and cardiovascular mortality in hemodialysis patients. Methods: Baseline skin AF was measured in 105 patients on hemodialysis, 23 had DM. Survival status was assessed after a mean follow-up period of 4.9 years (interquartile range 2.3–6.9 years). Results: Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed skin AF (hazard ratio (HR) 1.83; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32–2.54), preexisting cardiovascular disease (CVD) (HR 2.77; 95% CI 1.48–5.18), renal replacement therapy duration (HR 1.10; 95% CI 1.01–1.19), age (HR 1.03; 95% CI 1.01–1.06), serum albumin (HR 0.90; 95% CI 0.85–0.95), hematocrit (HR 0.92; 95% CI 0.86–0.98), phosphorus (HR 2.01; 95% CI 1.15–3.49), and parathyroid hormone (HR 0.99; 95% CI 0.98–0.996) to be predictors of mortality, whereas DM was not. Preexisting CVD and serum phosphorus were the only predictors of cardiovascular mortality. Conclusion: Skin AF showed to be an independent predictor of overall mortality in hemodialysis patients, but it had no predictive value for cardiovascular mortality.
A Framework for Learning Comprehensible Theories in XML Document Classification

XML has become the universal data format for a wide variety of information systems. The large number of XML documents existing on the web and in other information storage systems makes classification an important task. As a typical type of semistructured data, XML documents have both structures and contents. Traditional text learning techniques are not very suitable for XML document classification as structures are not considered. This paper presents a novel complete framework for XML document classification. We first present a knowledge representation method for XML documents which is based on a typed higher order logic formalism. With this representation method, an XML document is represented as a higher order logic term where both its contents and structures are captured. We then present a decision-tree learning algorithm driven by precision/recall breakeven point (PRDT) for the XML classification problem which can produce comprehensible theories. Finally, a semi-supervised learning algorithm is given which is based on the PRDT algorithm and the cotraining framework. Experimental results demonstrate that our framework is able to achieve good performance in both supervised and semi-supervised learning with the bonus of producing comprehensible learning theories.