Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analytical Boundaries of Controller Gains for Delay-Independent Stability of LTI Systems with Single Output Delay

Abstract We present a controller-design strategy for linear time invariant (LTI) systems with a single output delay. This strategy is based on the discriminant calculations of polynomials associated with the stability transitions of the LTI system at hand. It reveals the closed-form solutions only in terms of controller gains, for which the system at hand remains delay-independent stable, and it allows preserving the controller structure while complying with the necessary and sufficient conditions of delay-independent stability (DIS).
The Nonlinear House Price Adjustment Process in Developed and Transition Countries

We use a nonlinear framework in order to explore house price determinants and their adjustment properties. We test for threshold cointegration using a sample of four developed countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Ireland) and four transition countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Estonia). All eight countries experienced an intensive increase in house prices during the 1990s and the first half of this decade. In addition to testing for nonlinearities, we focus on house price determinants in these four transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe. An asymmetric house price adjustment is present in all transition countries and the U.S., while no threshold effects are detected in developed European countries. In a threshold error correction framework, house prices are aligned with the fundamentals; but house price persistence coupled with a slow and asymmetric house price adjustment process might have facilitated the house price boom in transition countries and the U.S.
Long-term retrospective study of patients with idiopathic clubfoot treated with posterior medial-lateral release.

BACKGROUND It has been demonstrated that an important component of clubfoot deformity is related to pathologic external rotation of the talus with respect to the remainder of the foot. The purpose of the present study was to review the long-term results for a cohort of patients with idiopathic clubfoot who were managed by a single surgeon with a uniform surgical protocol consisting of extensive posterior medial-lateral release in addition to the use of a temporary Kirschner wire to derotate the talus prior to fixation. METHODS Eighty patients (120 clubfeet) with idiopathic clubfoot without previous surgery were managed with posterior medial-lateral release. At an average of twenty-one years postoperatively, patients underwent a detailed physical examination and completed four quality-of-life surveys (the Short Form-36, the Laaveg and Ponseti scale, the Foot Function Index, and the modified Atar scale). RESULTS Thirty-two clubfeet (27%) had required additional procedures at the time of follow-up, with only one patient requiring complete revision posterior medial-lateral release and none requiring subtalar or triple arthrodesis. In patients with unilateral clubfoot, clinical examination demonstrated a significant decrease in the range of motion (p < 0.001), foot length (p = 0.045), and calf circumference (p = 0.008) on the affected side as compared with the unaffected, contralateral side. The results on all four quality-of-life scales remained durable, with no decline in relation to the time from the index procedure (p ≥ 0.48). Significantly worse scores were found for patients who required additional surgical procedures (p ≤ 0.03). CONCLUSIONS Previous studies have demonstrated inconsistent long-term results following the treatment of clubfoot with extensive soft-tissue releases. With our technique, thirty-two clubfeet (27%) required additional procedures and only one clubfoot required revision posterior medial-lateral release. We demonstrate that our technique, which involves aggressive posterior medial-lateral soft-tissue release in addition to manual derotation of the talus with a Kirschner wire to correct pathologic external rotation, produces acceptable results.
Creativity, collaboration and competence: agency in online synchronous chat environment

Agency is potentially an important concept for CSCL as researchers think about the effectiveness of online learning environments and the ways they encourage groups to take active control of their learning activities. This paper reports on several sessions of mathematics problem solving in the VMT Chat environment. The VMT Chat is a synchronous chat and whiteboard space for students to collaboratively define and work on problems that are open-ended and that encourage students to define the questions themselves. We draw on the anthropological, psychological and sociological traditions and their concept of agency in order to produce a robust analysis of several segments of student work in the VMT Chat. Our analysis suggests that there are structural features to the VMT Chat environment that encourage "agentic behavior" on the part of students. This has important implications for learning and the structure of pedagogic activities.
Oxidative stress enhances AP‐1 and NF‐κB‐mediated regulation of β2‐Glycoprotein I gene expression in hepatoma cells

β2‐Glycoprotein I (β2‐GPI), also known as apolipoprotein H, is a plasma glycoprotein with poorly defined gene regulation. The aim of this study was to clarify the role of oxidative stress in β2‐GPI gene regulation and determine the essential transcription element regulating β2‐GPI expression. We demonstrate that expression of β2‐GPI at the protein and mRNA levels was significantly elevated in Huh7 and HepG2 cells treated with 100 µM hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). To address the transcriptional mechanism of H2O2‐mediated β2‐GPI gene regulation, several promoter constructs were cloned and characterized by deletion assays. A region spanning from −2141 to −1419 (relative to the transcription start site), which contains two activator protein‐1 (AP‐1) sites (AP1‐2 and AP1‐3) and one nuclear factor‐kappaB (NF‐κB) site was found to be the main target site for up‐regulation of β2‐GPI promoter activity by oxidative stress. In addition, we found that H2O2 stimulation enhanced the nuclear translocation of AP‐1 and NF‐κB subunits. Using an electrophoretic mobility shift assay, it was confirmed that nuclear protein binding to the AP1‐2, AP1‐3, and NF‐κB sites was increased in Huh7 cells treated with H2O2. Knockdown of the c‐Jun, c‐Fos, p65, and p50 genes using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) further confirmed that AP‐1 and NF‐κB play an essential role in the H2O2‐induced β2‐GPI expression. Overall, these findings provide new insight suggesting that multiple cis‐elements in the β2‐GPI promoter work cooperatively to regulate β2‐GPI expression in cells under oxidative stress. J. Cell. Biochem. 111: 988–998, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A prospective study of tracheal intubation in an emergency department in Hong Kong

Emergency department (ED) doctors often intubate patients, however no data was available in Hong Kong on this aspect. Our study was to assess the competency of ED doctors in intubating critical patients in a typical ED in Hong Kong. Between March and August 1999, in an urban hospital with an emergency physician training programme, all doctors, after performing any tracheal intubation, were required to fill in a pro forma designed for the study. Data collected included the training status of the intubator, the number of intubation attempts, intubation methods and complications. A total of 214 ED patients required advanced airway management including 87 (41%) patients in cardiopulmonary arrest; 207 (97%) of them were successfully intubated by ED doctors (76 by specialists, 61 by trainees, 70 by residents) and 90% were successful in the first attempt. The remaining seven patients’ airway control was eventually managed by anaesthetists who successfully intubated six patients and performed cricothyrotomy for one patient. Rapid sequence intubation was performed in 70 (33%) patients by ED doctors and specialists. There were 30 (14%) patients successfully intubated using sedative agents alone. Twenty-two (10%) patients were found to have a total of 32 complications including 13 patients with oesophageal intubation, seven with soft tissue damage, four with desaturation, three with bronchial intubation, three with hypotension, one with dental trauma, one with dysrhythmia. The majority of ED intubations for critically ill patients were performed by ED doctors with high success rate and few major complications.
Effect of quercetin on plasma extravasation in rat CNS and dura mater by ACE and NEP inhibition

The effects of quercetin on substance P‐induced plasma protein extravasation (PE) in the rat dura mater, cerebellum, olfactory bulb and cortex and also its modulation by endopeptidases, angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) and neutral endopeptidase (NEP) were studied. PE was assessed by photometric measurement of extravasated Evans blue. Substance P (SP) and NEP or ACE inhibitors increased the PE in dura mater. Pretreatment with captopril or phosphoramidon potentiated PE induced by SP in the dura mater and cerebellum, respectively. Quercetin increased the PE in the dura mater, cerebellum and cortex. Further results suggested that the PE induced by SP in the dura mater was enhanced by pretreatment with quercetin, similar to that observed with selective peptidase inhibitors. Quercetin‐stimulated extravasation in all tissues was abolished by NK‐1 receptor blockade. These results suggest that quercetin increases PE in the dura mater and CNS tissues by inhibiting NEP and/or ACE, showing that the effect induced in the dura mater, cerebellum and cortex occurs through endogenous SP accumulation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Interleukin-23 Promotes a Distinct CD4 T Cell Activation State Characterized by the Production of Interleukin-17*

Interleukin (IL)-17 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that is produced by activated T cells. Despite increasing evidence that high levels of IL-17 are associated with several chronic inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and multiple sclerosis, the regulation of its expression is not well characterized. We observe that IL-17 production is increased in response to the recently described cytokine IL-23. We present evidence that murine IL-23, which is produced by activated dendritic cells, acts on memory T cells, resulting in elevated IL-17 secretion. IL-23 also induced expression of the related cytokine IL-17F. IL-23 is a heterodimeric cytokine and shares a subunit, p40, with IL-12. In contrast to IL-23, IL-12 had only marginal effects on IL-17 production. These data suggest that during a secondary immune response, IL-23 can promote an activation state with features distinct from the well characterized Th1 and Th2 profiles.
Cognitive Repositioning inside a Desktop VE: The Constraints Introduced by First-versus Third-Person Imagery and Mental Representation Richness

Cognitive repositioning is crucial for anticipating the content of the visual scene from new vantage points in virtual environments (VE). This repositioning may be performed using either a first-(immersive-like) or a third-person imagery perspective (via an imaginary avatar). A three-phase study examined the effect of mental representation richness and imagery perspective on the anticipation of new vantage points and their associated objects inside an unfamiliar but meaningfully organized VE. Results showed that the initial level of encoding affects the construction of spatial knowledge, whose exploration is then constrained mostly by the imagery perspective that has been adopted, and the spatial arrangement of the environment. A third-person perspective involves mental extrapolation of directions with the help of a scanning process whose rate of processing is faster than the process used to generate the missing 3-D representation of first-person perspectives. Finally, anticipation of a new vantage point precedes access to its associated object mainly when adopting a first-person perspective for exploring the environment. These findings may prove to be of potential interest when defining cognitively valid rules for real-time automatic camera control in VEs.
Intra-oral carcinomas in Maiduguri, north-eastern Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE To document the pattern of intra-oral carcinomas diagnosed in north-eastern Nigeria. DESIGN AND SETTING A retrospective clinical and histopathological review seen in a tertiary care hospital (January 1987-December 2002). MATERIALS AND METHODS Information on socio-demographic characteristics of patients and details of cancer management were retrieved from the files and histopathology records of cases diagnosed at the hospital. RESULTS A total of 378 biopsies, 317 primary cancers including 279 carcinomas of the head and neck were diagnosed during the study period. Intra-oral carcinomas constitute 43 (15.4%) of all head and neck carcinomas reported, with no occurrence in children. The overall mean age of occurrence was 51.2 +/- 15.6 years (male = 56.2 +/- 13.7 years; females = 47.5 +/- 16.2 years) and an overall male-female ratio of 3:4. Carcinomas were commonly reported in the palate 19 (44.2%) and lip six (13.9%) and floor of mouth four (9.3%). Squamous cell carcinoma 28 (65.1%), adenoidcystic carcinoma seven (16.3%) and mucoepidermoid carcinoma five (11.6%) were the commonly reported carcinomas. Squamous cell carcinoma was the most common carcinoma in all sites, in the sixth decade of life, of equal gender distribution and commonly reported in users of kola nuts and tobacco. The occupation of patients diagnosed with oral carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma was farming (50%, 61.5%). All the staged cancers patients (n = 7) reported in the late stages (III/IV) of the disease. The mean interval between symptoms and presentation for the different carcinomas ranged between 9 and 25 months, with the least interval reported for mucoepidermoid carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS Squamous cell carcinoma was the most common oral carcinoma, commonly reported in the palate, among farmers and in the sixth decade of life. Its occurrence in under 40 year olds is three to six times greater than reported for the USA and Europe and may be associated with poor diet and the habitual use of kola nuts and tobacco. The survival rates of patients diagnosed with intra-oral carcinomas, although not available, would be expectedly low in view of the prognostic indicators recorded in this series. The routine oral cancer screening of each patient, and counselling of patients with high-risk habits, by dentists is recommended to improve the prognosis of the disease.
The prevalence of erectile dysfunction in post-treatment colorectal cancer patients and their interests in seeking treatment: a cross-sectional survey in the west-midlands.

INTRODUCTION Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a recognized complication of colorectal cancer treatment, particularly if surgery is below the recto-sigmoid junction (RSJ), and is an important quality-of-life issue. Previous studies have generated inconsistent prevalence estimates. AIM We aimed to establish the prevalence of ED in postsurgery colorectal cancer patients and to establish what proportion wished to seek treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Questionnaire: sociodemographics, treatment methods, International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF)-5 questionnaire (validated tool to assess erectile function): score of <21 being used to define ED. METHODS Cross-sectional survey. INCLUSION CRITERIA adult male colorectal cancer patients diagnosed in 2000-2007, treated with curative intent in one teaching hospital. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS logistic regression analysis to determine predictors of ED. RESULTS The response rate was 46% (229/499). Respondents were aged 28 to 95 years; the majority were white (93.9%), more than half (57.1%) were in a sexual relationship, only a third reported having sex in the past 6 months (33.3%). The vast majority (75.1%; 172/229) of responders had ED as defined by the IIEF-5. ED was significantly associated with increasing age (P < 0.0005), having a malignancy below the RSJ (P = 0.002), having previous radiotherapy (P = 0.007), and having a stoma (P = 0.014). Those with ED were less likely to be in a sexual relationship (P = 0.002) and less likely to have had sex in the last 6 months (P < 0.0005). Only 29% of those with ED were not interested in treatment for their condition. CONCLUSIONS These data suggest a prevalence rate of ED of 75% in colorectal cancer survivors; this may be functional or psychological in origin. Quality of life may be improved if follow-up clinics for cancer survivors not only concentrated on the detection of recurrence but also offered assessment of erectile function and referral for patients who desire treatment.
[Facial nerve monitoring in the parotidectomy].

INTRODUCTION Facial palsy (FP) is a feared complication of parotidectomy. Facial nerve monitoring (FNM) has been poorly evaluated since it was created at the beginning of the 90's. The authors described a retrospective series and discussed it reviewing the literature data. SUBJECTS AND METHOD From January 2002 to January 2009, 75 parotidectomies were performed in 72 patients (34 males, 38 females), without FNM in 28 cases (group 1) and with FNM in 47 cases (group 2). RESULTS In group 1, 9 FP were noted, 5 were transient and 4 were definitive. In group 2, 12 FP were noted, 9 were transient and 3 were definitive. Both one month and six months after parotidectomy, the FP rate was significatively higher in group 1 than in group 2 for the reoperations. CONCLUSIONS Facial nerve monitoring is an adjunctive method available to a surgeon during parotid surgery to assist with the functional preservation of the facial nerve. It did not allow to improve the facial prognosis in benign tumours removal but it improved the facial prognosis in reoperations. Its interest should be tested for malignant tumour removal.
Reliability Evaluation for Copper/Low-$k$  Structures Based on Experimental and Numerical Methods

Bump shear is widely used to characterize the interfacial strength of Cu/low-k structures. In this paper, the blanket low-k structure was used to evaluate the reliability and strength of Cu/low-k structures based on experiment and finite-element modeling technique. The objectives of this paper are to determine the critical stress parameters for low-k interfaces with different low-k structures, to understand the failure mechanism, and to improve low-k structure reliability by optimizing some parameters. In this paper, a comprehensive parametric study was carried out. Such parameters include the effect of three different low-k structures, high-Pb solder bump versus Pb-free solder bump, different underbump metallization (UBM) thicknesses, barrier-layer material elastic modulus, and shear ram height on low-k structure reliability. The simulation findings can be summarized as follows. The critical stress decreases with the number of layers of low-k structure. An Sn-Ag solder bump results in a higher shear force and stress than a high-Pb solder bump. Reducing the UBM thickness can help improve the low-k structure reliability.
A Pilot Study of Lis-Dexamfetamine Dimesylate (LDX/SPD489) to Facilitate Smoking Cessation in Nicotine-Dependent Adults With ADHD

Objective: The goal of this study was to assess the efficacy and tolerability of lis-dexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) as an adjunct to nicotine replacement therapy in adult smokers with ADHD who were undergoing a quit attempt. Methods: Thirty-two regular adult smokers with ADHD were randomized to receive LDX (n = 17) or placebo (n = 15) in addition to nicotine patch concurrent with a quit attempt. Results: There were no differences between smokers assigned to LDX versus placebo in any smoking outcomes. Participants treated with LDX demonstrated significant reductions in self-reported and clinician-rated ADHD symptoms. LDX was well tolerated in smokers attempting to quit. Discussion: In general, LDX does not facilitate smoking cessation in adults with ADHD more than does placebo, though both groups significantly reduced smoking. LDX demonstrated efficacy for reducing ADHD symptoms in adult smokers engaging in a quit attempt.
Central and peripheral fatigability in boys and men during maximal contraction.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine central and peripheral factors of fatigability that could explain the differences in fatigability between adults and prepubertal boys after maximal sustained isometric contraction. METHODS A total of 11 untrained adult men and 10 prepubescent boys volunteered to participate in this study. The level of voluntary activation was assessed before and after fatigue by means of the twitch interpolation technique as well as peak twitch torque, maximum rate of torque development and maximum M-wave (Mmax) area of the soleus and medial gastrocnemius. The fatigue-inducing protocol consisted of a sustained maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) of the ankle's plantar flexor at 100% of MVC until the task could no longer be sustained at 50% of MVC. RESULTS During the fatigue-inducing protocol, boys were fatigued less, showing longer endurance limit and delayed torque and agonist EMG decrease. After fatigue, the level of activation decreased to a similar extent in both groups, and boys were less affected regarding their peak twitch torque and rate of torque development, whereas no differentiation between the groups was observed regarding the decrease in Mmax area of the examined muscles. CONCLUSIONS The results obtained provide evidence that the greater fatigability resistance in prepubertal children during sustained maximal contractions is mainly explained by peripheral rather than central factors.
Let's Make it Fun: Gamifying and Formalizing Code Review

Code review is a highly important task in the software development lifecycle. However, some of the characteristics of code review hinder practitionersâ? performance of this task. Code review is considered to be tedious and uninteresting, and includes challenging human aspects, such as collaboration among stakeholders. Despite the many concerns that need to be taken into consideration when performing code review, a comprehensive, formal definition thereof is yet to be determined. In a previous research, a set of formal guidelines for code review was presented, in the context of performing this task in a gamified environment. In this ongoing research, we explore whether the field of software engineering provides a formal definition for code review, and whether a formal definition is needed. The preliminary findings of this research indicate that while the field does provide several definitions for code review, in all that concerns the human aspect of this task, a formal definition is in order. As a response for this need, we present a framework of the task of code review toward its formalization, embedding gamification for motivation enhancement.
On the Mean Residual Lifetime at System Level in Two-Component Parallel Systems for the FGM Distribution FULL TEXT

In this paper, we consider the mean residual lifetime of two-component parallel systems in the case of possibly dependent components. We provide some results and examine the behavior of the mean residual life function at the system level for the bivariate Farlie-GumbelMorgenstern (FGM) distribution. Applications of these results to evaluate the relationship between the mean residual life and that of the dependence of components are also given.