Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in UV-Visible Transmittance of Silicone-Hydrogel Contact Lenses Induced by Wear

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of wear of silicone-hydrogel contact lenses on lens ultraviolet and visible spectrum transmittance by studying several contact lenses before and after wear. Methods: To investigate the ability of contact lenses to maintain their transmittance characteristics, we measured 104 different contact lenses in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible range from 200 to 700 nm, with a Shimadzu UV3101-PC UV-vis-NIR spectrophotometer equipped with an integrating sphere. The lenses used in this study were Acuvue Advance (Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.), Air Optix Night & Day (CIBA Vision), Air Optix (CIBA Vision), and PureVision (Bausch & Lomb). A conventional hydrogel contact lens was also tested, Acuvue (Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc.). Results: Our study indicates that lenses that do not have UV absorbers incorporated into the polymer transmitted most of the UV radiation (UVR) before and after wear. The results of the statistical analysis show that for the UVC portion of the spectrum significant difference exists within the measurements obtained before and after wear for all the lenses, with the exception of PureVision. Acuvue Advance is the only material in which significant transmittance differences were observed in the visible spectral range. Conclusions: Transmittance is modified after contact lenses wear, probably due to the formation of biofilms on the contact lens surface, being more noticeable in the UVR region of the spectrum (200–400 nm). Silicone-hydrogel and conventional hydrogel contact lens materials that provide UVR protection (UV-blocker) maintain this property even after being worn. The changes observed in the visible spectrum seem not to have any implications in visual performance of silicone-hydrogel contact lenses.
Hsa_circ_0007534 as a blood-based marker for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer and its prognostic value.

BACKGROUND Many studies have shown that differentially expressed circular RNA (circRNA) in plasma can serve as biomarkers in non-invasive detection of cancers during screening. However, the clinical significance of plasma circRNA in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) is still not clear. Therefore, we examined expression of hsa_circ_0007534 in plasma to verify whether it can be utilized to diagnose and monitor CRC in routine clinical practice. METHODS 112 CRC patients and 46 healthy controls were recruited to participate in our study. The levels of hsa_circ_0007534 in plasma samples and tumor tissues were identified by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The diagnostic value was evaluated using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves and the area under the ROC curves (AUC). The Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to evaluate whether the expression level of hsa_circ_0007534 was associated with overall survival rate. RESULTS Compared with the healthy control group, hsa_circ_0007534 expression was significantly increased in plasma from CRC patients. Increased hsa_circ_0007534 expression level in plasma was associated with progression of clinical classifications, metastatic phenotype, and poor differentiation in CRC patients. ROC analysis showed that hsa_circ_0007534 could distinguish CRC patients from healthy controls with high AUC (0.780), sensitivity (0.92) and specificity (0.522). Finally, high hsa_circ_0007534 expression was positively correlated with poor prognosis in CRC patients. CONCLUSION All of the results suggest that hsa_circ_0007534 may be a potential cancer marker of patients with CRC and may associate with poor prognosis.
Determinants of Smallholder Vegetable Farmers Credit Access and Demand in Southwest region, Cameroon

The study analyzed the determinants of smallholder vegetable farmerâ€™s access and demand to credit. Primary data were collected from hundred randomly selected farmers with the aid of structured questionnaires using multi-stage sampling procedures. One common approach used to modeling this situation is the tobit model. However, the decision taken by farmers to demand credit is preceded by the decision to have â€œaccess to creditâ€ . Therefore, a double-hurdle model was specified and used to determine factors influencing credit access and demand. Econometric results show that age has a positive and significant value on the quantity equation, but negative and significant on the access equation. The study concluded that the spread of lending agencies, membership to farmersâ€™ association, extension service, large farm size increase both access to and demand for credit. In addition, small and female farmers should be encouraged to form associations to ensure appropriate information sharing and advantage of non-rationing credit
Mortality Forecasting: How Far Back Should We Look in Time?

Extrapolative methods are one of the most commonly-adopted forecasting approaches in the literature on projecting future mortality rates. It can be argued that there are two types of mortality models using this approach. The first extracts patterns in age, time and cohort dimensions either in a deterministic fashion or a stochastic fashion. The second uses non-parametric smoothing techniques to model mortality and thus has no explicit constraints placed on the model. We argue that from a forecasting point of view, the main difference between the two types of models is whether they treat recent and historical information equally in the projection process. In this paper, we compare the forecasting performance of the two types of models using Great Britain male mortality data from 1950–2016. We also conduct a robustness test to see how sensitive the forecasts are to the changes in the length of historical data used to calibrate the models. The main conclusion from the study is that more recent information should be given more weight in the forecasting process as it has greater predictive power over historical information.
Practicing attachment in the real world: improving maternal insightfulness and dyadic emotional availability at an outpatient community mental health clinic

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to examine the efficacy of an attachment-based intervention program practiced at an outpatient clinic. Changes in parental insightfulness and dyadic emotional availability were assessed in 32 mother–child dyads from pre- to post-intervention. At both data collection points, mothers were interviewed with the Insightfulness Assessment and the mother–child dyad was observed in play sessions coded with the Emotional Availability Scales. Findings revealed a strong association between maternal insightfulness and dyadic emotional availability, both before and after treatment. In terms of intervention efficacy, positive gains were observed in both insightfulness and dyadic emotional availability from pre- to post-intervention. Mothers who changed their classifications from non-insightful to insightful following the intervention showed the greatest gains in emotional availability. These findings have important implications for the type of interventions and service delivery model that could work in real world clinical settings.
HPL increases susceptibility to P . syringae

Green Leaf Volatiles (GLVs) are C6-molecules alcohols, aldehydes and esters produced by plants upon herbivory or during pathogen infection. Exposure to this blend of volatiles induces defense-related responses in neighboring undamaged plants, thus assigning a role to GLVs in regulating plant defenses. Here we compared Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Ler with a hydroperoxide lyase lacking line, hpl1, unable to synthesize GLVs, for susceptibility to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (DC3000). We found that the growth of DC3000 was significantly reduced in the hpl1 mutant. This phenomenon correlated with lower jasmonic acid (JA) levels and higher salicylic acid (SA) levels in the hpl1 mutant. Furthermore, upon infection, the JA-responsive genes VSP2 and LEC were only slightly or not induced, respectively, in hpl1. This suggests that the reduced growth of DC3000 in hpl1 plants is due to the constraint of JA-dependent responses. Treatment of hpl1 plants with E-2-hexenal, one of the more reactive GLVs, prior to infection with DC3000, resulted in increased growth of DC3000 in hpl1, thus complementing this mutant. Interestingly, the growth of DC3000 also increased in Ler plants treated with E-2hexenal. This stronger growth was not dependent on the JAsignaling component MYC2, but on ORA59, an integrator of JA and ethylene (ET) signaling pathways, and on the production of coronatine by DC3000. GLVs may have multiple effects on plantpathogen interactions, in this case reducing resistance to P. syringae via JA and ORA59.
PR ] 2 0 D ec 2 01 7 Particles Systems for Mean Reflected BSDEs

In this paper, we deal with Reflected Backward Stochastic Differential Equations for which the constraint is not on the paths of the solution but on its law as introduced by Briand, Elie and Hu in [3]. We extend the recent work [2] of Briand, Chaudru de Raynal, Guillin and Labart on the chaos propagation for mean reflected SDEs to the backward framework. When the driver does not depend on z, we are able to treat general reflexions for the particles system. We consider linear reflexion when the driver depends also on z. In both cases, we get the rate of convergence of the particles system towards the square integrable deterministic flat solution to the mean reflected BSDE.
Modeling of rebound phenomenon of a rigid ball with friction and elastic effects

We derive analytical models of the rebound phenomenon between a ping-pong ball and the table/racket rubber. In the rebound model of the table, the determination of the type of the contact during the impact is derived as a generalized condition in the 3-dimensional space. In the model between the ball and racket rubber, it is assumed that the kinetic energy of the tangent velocity is stored as the potential energy due to the elasticity of the rubber. This assumption leads to that the impulse in the horizontal direction is proportional to the tangent velocity. The models are verified by experimental data.
Giemsa-based cytological assessment of area, shape and nucleus:cytoplasm ratio of goblet cells of rabbit bulbar conjunctiva

Goblet cells were visualized in impression cytology specimens from bulbar conjunctiva of the rabbit eye using Giemsa staining. Highly magnified images were used to generate outlines of the goblet cells and their characteristic eccentric nuclei. Using sets of 10 cells from 15 cytology specimens, I found that the longest dimension of the goblet cells averaged 16.7 ± 2.3 μm, the shortest dimension averaged 14.4 ± 1.8 μm and the nucleus averaged 6.3 ± 0.8 μm. The goblet cells were ellipsoid in shape and the longest:shortest cell dimension ratio averaged 1.169 ± 0.091. The goblet cell areas ranged from 108 to 338 μm2 (average 193 ± 50 μm2). The area could be predicted reliably from the longest and shortest dimensions (r2 = 0.903). The areas of goblet cell nuclei were 15–58 μm2 (average 33 ± μm2) and the nucleus:cytoplasm area fraction was predictably greater in smaller goblet cells and less in the larger goblet cells (Spearman correlation = 0.817). The nuclei were estimated to occupy an average of 9.5% of the cell volume. The differences in size, shape and nucleus:cytoplasm ratio may reflect differences in goblet cell maturation.
Point of View Gaps : An Elusive Source of Phylogenetic Information

Gaps: An Elusive Source of Phylogenetic Information KUMAR SAURABH1,2, BARBARA R. HOLLAND1,3,∗, GILLIAN C. GIBB1, AND DAVID PENNY1 1IMBS/IFS/INR, Massey University, Palmerston North 4442, New Zealand; 2Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati 781039, India; and 3School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Tasmania, Hobart 7001, Australia; ∗Correspondence to be sent to: Private Bag 37 Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia; E-mail: Barbara.Holland@utas.edu. au.
NPGPx modulates CPEB 2-controlled HIF-1 RNA translation in response to oxidative stress

Non-selenocysteine-containing phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase (NPGPx or GPx7) is an oxidative stress sensor that modulates the antioxidative activity of its target proteins through intermolecular disulfide bond formation. Given NPGPx’s role in protecting cells from oxidative damage, identification of the oxidative stressinduced protein complexes, which forms with key stress factors, may offer novel insight into intracellular reactive oxygen species homeostasis. Here, we show that NPGPx forms a disulfide bond with the translational regulator cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding protein 2 (CPEB2) that results in negative regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1alpha (HIF-1 ) RNA translation. In NPGPx-proficient cells, high oxidative stress that disrupts this bonding compromises the association of CPEB2 with HIF1 RNA, leading to elevated HIF-1 RNA translation. NPGPx-deficient cells, in contrast, demonstrate increased HIF-1 RNA translation under normoxia with both impaired induction of HIF-1 synthesis and blunted HIF-1 -programmed transcription following oxidative stress. Together, these results reveal a molecular mechanism for how NPGPx mediates CPEB2-controlled HIF-1 RNA translation in a redox-sensitive manner.
Employer Consolidation and Wages: Evidence from Hospitals

We test whether wage growth slows following employer consolidation by examining hospital mergers. We find evidence of reduced wage growth in cases where both (i) the increase in concentration induced by the merger is large and (ii) workers’ skills are industry-specific. In all other cases, we fail to reject zero wage effects. We consider alternative explanations and find that the observed patterns are unlikely to be explained by merger-related changes besides labor market power. Wage growth slowdowns are attenuated in markets with strong labor unions, and wage growth does not decline after out-of-market mergers that leave local employer concentration unchanged. (JEL G34, I11, J22, J24, J31, J42, R32)
Mitral valve surgery: comparison of outcomes in matched sternotomy and port access groups.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY The 30-day outcomes were compared between matched groups of patients undergoing mitral valve procedures through Port Access (femoral cannulation, percutaneous retrograde cardioplegia and aortic occlusion), and through a sternotomy. METHODS By using a Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)-certified, audited database, a total of 1108 patients was identified who were operated on between January 1996 and November 2008. A total of 608 mitral valve repair (MV-Rpr) patients (including 241 with Port Access procedures) and 500 mitral valve replacement (MVR) patients (including 45 with Port Access procedures) was included. Matching groups were created for 177 MV-Rpr patients (matched on preoperative cerebrovascular accident (CVA), previous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and valve procedures, urgent operative status, mitral stenosis, heart failure, NYHA class IV, and age) and for MVR patients with 43 matches (matched for previous CABG surgery, operative status, NYHA class IV, and mitral insufficiency). RESULTS Patients with Port Access procedures for MV-Rpr had a shorter length of hospital stay (5.4 +/- 2.8 versus 7.3 +/- 5.8 days), less postoperative ventilator usage (8.4 +/- 36.0 versus 24.8 +/- 81.6 h) and a shorter intensive care unit (ICU) stay (34.0 +/- 40.5 versus 81.7 +/- 133.8 h) when compared to sternotomy cases. Port Access also resulted in fewer patients requiring postoperative ventilation (50.3% versus 76.9%; p < 0.001) or reoperation for bleeding (2.3% versus 6.8%; p = 0.048). In MVR patients, Port Access use led to reductions in mortality (11.6% versus 0%; p = 0.021), ventilation time (13.8 +/- 40.3 versus 38.1 +/- 83.0 h), ICU stay (51.9 +/- 83.4 versus 152.4 +/- 125.0 h) and postoperative hospital stay (8.2 +/- 8.0 versus 11.0 +/- 8.6 days). In both groups, the cross-clamp time was longer with Port Access (107.7 +/- 26.8 versus 92.8 +/- 35.2 min for MV-Rpr; 130.2 +/- 44.2 versus 102.7 +/- 64.6 min for MVR). CONCLUSION The performance of mitral valve surgery through a Port Access approach led to a reduction in ICU time, ventilator time, and hospital stay when compared to sternotomy. No increase in morbidity was observed with Port Access compared to sternotomy.
On Conditional Expectations Arising from Group Actions

Induced conditional expectations of finite index on crossed product C*algebras are considered which are non-algebraically of finite index. The characteristics of actions of (amenable) topological groups on compact Hausdorif spaces X are investigated, ensuring the appearance of a well-defined induced conditional expectation on the corresponding commutative C*a1gebra C(X) and its property to be of finite index. For this purpose Hilbert C* module and topological techniques are used. Special emphasis is placed on discrete group actions.
L O ] 5 A pr 2 01 7 Reachability is in DynFO

Patnaik and Immerman introduced the dynamic complexity class DynFO of database queries that can be maintained by first-order dynamic programs with the help of auxiliary relations under insertions and deletions of edges [34]. This article confirms their conjecture that the Reachability query is in DynFO. As a byproduct it is shown that the rank of a matrix with small values can be maintained in DynFO(+,×). It is further shown that the (size of the) maximum matching of a graph can be maintained in non-uniform DynFO, another extension of DynFO, with non-uniform initialisation of the auxiliary relations.
Measuring message propagation and social influence on Twitter

Although extensive studies have been conducted on top of online social networks (OSNs), it is not clear how to characterise information propagation and social influence, two types of important but not well defined social behaviour. This paper presents a measurement study of 58 M messages collected from 700 K users on Twitter.com, a popular social medium. We analyse the propagation patterns of general messages and show how breaking news (Michael Jackson’s death) spread through Twitter. Furthermore, we evaluate different social influences by examining their stabilities, assessments, and correlations. This paper addresses the complications and challenges we encounter when measuring message propagation and social influence on OSNs. We believe that our results here provide valuable insights for future OSN research.
Evolution of Convolutional Neural Network Architecture in Image Classification Problems

At present, the models and computer vision algorithms are increasingly used in various fields of activity. For example, in systems of sample analysis in medicine and pharmacology, in identification of individuals by a fingerprint, iris or face, in video surveillance security systems and in many other systems and applications. In connection with the growth of computing power and the emergence of big databases of images, it became possible to learn and use deep neural networks for solving the problems of classification and recognition. As to the image classification problem, the Convolutional Neural Networks showed themselves best of all; every year since 2012, they won the prestigious international contest – the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Classification Challenge (ILSVRC), in which such giants as Google and Microsoft participated. Thanks to the revealing of their capabilities, the convolutional neural networks are increasingly used for pattern recognition, image classification, object detection, semantic segmentation, and solving many other problems. The paper examines the evolution of the most efficient models and trends in development of architecture of convolutional neural networks, which are currently used for classification of images that have been included in the list of winners of this international competition, ILSVRC. More precisely, the key features of architecture and its annual variations are revealed on the background of increasing efficiency of practical application of these networks. The data of numerous experiments conducted over the past few years are summarized, classes of applied problems are analyzed, and estimates are given for an effectiveness of use of the considered convolutional neural networks. In fact, these performance estimates are based on evaluation of probability of adequate classification of images. On this basis, a generalized algorithm is formulated, and practical recommendations are proposed taking into account the problem features.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Scalable MCMC for Mixed Membership Stochastic

We propose a stochastic gradient Markov chain Monte Carlo (SG-MCMC) algorithm for scalable inference in mixed-membership stochastic blockmodels (MMSB). Our algorithm is based on the stochastic gradient Riemannian Langevin sampler and achieves both faster speed and higher accuracy at every iteration than the current state-of-the-art algorithm based on stochastic variational inference. In addition we develop an approximation that can handle models that entertain a very large number of communities. The experimental results show that SG-MCMC strictly dominates competing algorithms in all cases.
Data-Driven Robust Optimization with Known Marginal Distributions

A key challenge in decision making under uncertainty is seeking robust solutions against high-dimensional data uncertainty. The joint distribution of the stochastic data can hardly ever be obtained exactly, even when estimation on their one-dimensional marginals is rather accurate. To tackle this issue, existing studies hedge a family of distributions with known marginals, but either allow arbitrary dependence structure of these distributions, which tends to be over-conservative, or impose constraints on the deviation — measured by Kullback-Leibler divergence — of the dependence structure from some nominal model, which may lead to pathological worst-case distributions. We propose a distributionally robust approach, which hedges against a family of joint distributions with known marginals and a dependence structure similar to — with similarity measured by Wasserstein distance — that of a nominal joint distribution (e.g., the empirical distribution or the independent product distribution). Tractability of our new formulation is obtained by a novel constructive proof of strong duality, combining ideas from the theory of multi-marginal optimal transport and a new variational argument. Numerical experiments in portfolio selection and nonparametric density estimation demonstrate how the proposed approach outperforms other benchmark approaches.
Firm-Level Shocks and Labor Adjustments

We analyze how firms adjust their labor in response to idiosyncratic shifts in their production function and demand curves using a unique data-set of Swedish manufacturing firms. We show that permanent shocks to firm-level demand is a main driving force behind both job and worker reallocation. In contrast, shocks to physical productivity and temporary demand shocks have a very limited impact on firm-level employment despite being important determinants of other firm-level fundamentals. We also present evidence suggesting that the adjustment to permanent demand shocks is fairly unconstrained. Most notably, firms primarily downsize through increased separations of both shortand long-tenured workers even when they could have adjusted their employment through reduced hires.
eview ilk lipid regulation at the maternal-offspring interface

Milk lipids provide a large proportion of energy, nutrients, essential fatty acids, and signaling molecules for the newborns, the synthesis of which is a tightly controlled process. Dysregulated milk lipid production and composition may be detrimental to the growth, development, health and survival of the newborns. Many genetically modified animal models have contributed to our understanding of milk lipid regulation