Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing the Needs of Patients in Pain: A Matter of Opinion?

Study Design. A prospective cohort study including patients with nonspecific spinal pain was performed. Objectives. To investigate whether the use of expert judgment in routine practice can provide a basis for reliable decision making concerning the need for intervention in patients with spinal pain and their ability to benefit from treatment. Summary of Background Data. A wide range of instruments and techniques are used to assess and treat patients with spinal pain. Many instruments are used without being clinimetrically tested. Methods. A questionnaire concerning the patients’ need of treatment and their potential to assimilate it was sent to experts in the health care arena: physicians, physical therapists, social insurance officers. The experts included were those connected with patients participating in a larger outcome study. Two cohorts of patients (sample 1, n = 217; sample 2, n = 257) were followed for 6 and 12 months, during which time the patients’ health and work status were mapped. Results. No acceptable agreement was found between any of the experts’ ratings of patients’ needs and potential for rehabilitation. Logistic regression showed that the experts’ judgments were based almost solely on the age of the patient. The prediction analyses showed that the most consistent predictor of the patients’ status at the 6-month follow-up assessment was the patients’ own belief in the existence of effective treatments and their perceived ability for learning to cope with the condition. Conclusions. Expert judgment as exercised in routine practice cannot be used as basis for reliable decision making concerning the need of the patient with spinal pain for intervention and the patient’s ability to benefit from treatment.
Temporal trends of heavy metals in sediment core from the gulf of Palermo (Sicily, Italy)

The evaluation of long–term heavy metal concentrations in the Gulf of Palermo was carried out in this study. Measurements of Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb and Zn concentrations were performed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) on dated fractions of a sediment core, dated by the 210 Pb ex method. They are found to cover a time period from 1951 to 2004. The constant sedimentation rate model was used for dating. Speciﬁc activities of 137 Cs have also been measured in the sediment core sections as a check of the time scale derived by the 210 Pb ex method. A time-series analysis based on temporal decomposition was used in order to investigate the presence of heavy metal pollution trend. The additive component model, widely used to estimate seasonal and long–term behavior, was chosen for the temporal analysis. Results showed the presence of a speciﬁc heavy metal concentration trend. Residual time–autocorrelation has also been taken into account in order to investigate their stochastic properties. Concentrations of some metals (Cu, Hg, and Zn) have been found increasing until the beginning of the 1970s. A peak around the beginning of the 1980s has been found for Cr and Pb. Heavy metal concentration in the sediment core show a signiﬁcant decreasing after these years. Our results for the concentration time trends are in good agreement with other surveys performed in different areas of the world, and they can be explained in terms of the reduction of anthropogenic contribution to atmospheric emissions. Further investigations on time properties and spatial distributions, are also planned.
Discrimination of different categories of forages harvested from North-western Italy according to near infrared reflectance spectroscopy, chemical composition and in vitro digestibility

Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS), in vitro digestibility and fermentation kinetics data were used to discriminate categories of forage quality, based on the method of conservation, forage species, maturity stage or harvest season of 64 forages commonly used in rumina nt production systems. Forages used in the study included 40 hay (H) and 24 silage (S) samples o f Lolium multiflorum L. , Medicago sativa L. , Zea mays L. and grassland herbage harvested from 20 dairy cattle farms in Pi emonte (N-W Italy). All the samples were scanned in duplicate (400 to 2500 nm) with a NIR Systems 6500 scanning monochromator, and the absorbance data were transformed by a second order derivative b efore being used in the principal com- ponent analysis (PCA). The chlorophyll absorbance in the visible re gion (650-690 nm) explained most of the variance in the spectra, so maize silage samples were classified apa
Sporophytic self-incompatibility genes and mating system variation in Arabis alpina.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Sporophytic self-incompatibility (SI) prevents inbreeding in many members of the Brassicaceae, and has been well documented in a variety of high-profile species. Arabis alpina is currently being developed as a model system for studying the ecological genetics of arctic-alpine environments, and is the focus of numerous studies on population structure and alpine phylogeography. Although it is highly inbreeding throughout most of its range, populations in central Italy have been identified that show inbreeding coefficients (F(IS)) more typical of self-incompatible relatives. The purpose of this study was to establish whether this variation is due to a functioning SI system. METHODS Outcrossing rate estimates were calculated based on 16 allozyme loci and self-compatibility assessed based on controlled pollinations for six Italian populations that have previously been shown to vary in F(IS) values. Putative SRK alleles (the gene controlling the female component of SI in other Brassicaceae) amplified from A. alpina were compared with those published for other species. Linkage of putative SRK alleles and SI phenotypes was assessed using a diallel cross. KEY RESULTS Functional avoidance of inbreeding is demonstrated in three populations of A. alpina, corresponding with previous F(IS) values. The presence is described of 15 putative SRK-like alleles, which show high sequence identity to known alleles from Brassica and Arabidopsis and the high levels of synonymous and nonsynonymous variation typical of genes under balancing selection. Also, orthologues of two other members of the S-receptor kinase gene family, Aly8 (ARK3) and Aly9 (AtS1) are identified. Further to this, co-segregation between some of the putative S-alleles and compatibility phenotypes was demonstrated using a full-sibling cross design. CONCLUSIONS The results strongly suggest that, as with other species in the Brassicaceae, A. alpina has a sporophytic SI system but shows variation in the strength of SI within and between populations.
The Rise of Household Indebtedness

A large rise in household indebtedness has been common to many, though not all, advanced economies over the past few decades and is a key feature of the broader trend of fi nancial deepening. This refl ects a number of factors, including an easing in credit constraints following fi nancial deregulation – which, among other things, has allowed for greater competition among lending institutions – and a decline in infl ation, and nominal and real interest rates. Where these factors have been especially strong, or operated simultaneously, debt has risen rapidly and has typically been associated with a sharp rise in real house prices. For instance, in Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the household debt-to-income ratio has increased substantially since the 1980s (Figure 1 and Table 1). In contrast, in countries such as France, Germany and Switzerland, indebtedness has increased only moderately over a similar period.
Delay system identification applied to the longitudinal flight of an aircraft through a vertical gust

This paper deals with modelling and identification of aircraft dynamic entering a vertical gust. The identification approach initiated in (M. Fliess et al., 2003) falls under a prospect for identification from tests carried out in the Flight Analysis Laboratory of the DCSD of ONERA in Lille. The plane is considered into various elements which consist in the fuselage, the wing and the tail. The model incorporates delays linked to the aircraft passage through the atmospheric turbulence
Simian virus 40-transformed human cells that express large T antigens defective for viral DNA replication

Many types of human cells cultured in vitro are generally semipermissive for simian virus 40 (SV40) replication. Consequently, subpopulations of stably transformed human cells often carry free viral DNA, which is presumed to arise via spontaneous excision from an integrated DNA template. Stably transformed human cell lines that do not have detectable free DNA are therefore likely to harbor harbor mutant viral genomes incapable of excision and replication, or these cells may synthesize variant cellular proteins necessary for viral replication. We examined four such cell lines and conclude that for the three lines SV80, GM638, and GM639, the cells did indeed harbor spontaneous T-antigen mutants. For the SV80 line, marker rescue (determined by a plaque assay) and DNA sequence analysis of cloned DNA showed that a single point mutation converting serine 147 to asparagine was the cause of the mutation. Similarly, a point mutation converting leucine 457 to methionine for the GM638 mutant T allele was found. Moreover, the SV80 line maintained its permissivity for SV40 DNA replication but did not complement the SV40 tsA209 mutant at its nonpermissive temperature. The cloned SV80 T-antigen allele, though replication incompetent, maintained its ability to transform rodent cells at wild-type efficiencies. A compilation of spontaneously occurring SV40 mutations which cannot replicate but can transform shows that these mutations tend to cluster in two regions of the T-antigen gene, one ascribed to the site-specific DNA-binding ability of the protein, and the other to the ATPase activity which is linked to its helicase activity.
Focusing ultrasound in biological media

The authors present a formulation for calculating the field distributions for an ultrasonic imaging system when focusing in biological media. A biological medium is characterized in terms of its complex and frequency-dependent compressibility that, in turn, depends on the medium relaxation time and specific heat ratio. The analysis is based on a spatial/temporal transfer function formalism and can predict the effects of dispersion, frequency-dependent attenuation, aperture apodization and pulse shape. These effects can be observed on a 'snapshot' of the field in time and space. A number of simulations for a 3-MHz broadband system are presented. The results indicate that, aside from geometrical considerations (F/number), the pulse-width and the dispersive processes can play a major role in imaging performance. <<ETX>>
Simple Staging Criteria for Esophageal Carcinoma: Classification With a Strict Prognostic Stratification

Some staging criteria for carcinoma of the esophagus have been proposed. However, none of them satisfied all the appropriateness providing an excellent prognostic stratification and simplicity to use. The aim of the current study was to establish simple and appropriate criteria to determine the clinical stage with a strict prognostic stratification for carcinoma of the esophagus. Two hundred sixty patients with esophageal carcinoma, who had undergone esophagectomy and reconstruction, were included. These patients were classified according to our newly established staging criteria (SN classification), and the clinicopathologic features and survival rates were investigated. The 1-, 3, and 5-year survival rates in patients classified as SN stage A were 100%, 94.7%, and 88.8%, respectively. In patients with stage B, the survival rates were 94.4%, 71.7%, and 62.2%. In patients in stage C were 72.3%, 33.5%, and 31.3%. In patients with stage D, survival rates were 32.4%, 8.9%, and 8.9%. All the comparative analyses between stages were significantly different (p = 0.002 for stage A vs. stage B, p < 0.0001 for stage B vs. stage C, and p < 0.0001 for stage C vs. stage D). Devised staging criteria for esophageal carcinoma providing an excellent stratification of disease has been established. The criteria are quite simple and convenient for physicians to apply clinically in determining the stage of esophageal carcinoma.
Quantitative Law Describing Market Dynamics Before and After Interest-Rate Change

We study the behavior of U.S. markets both before and after U.S. Federal Open Market Commission meetings and show that the announcement of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate change causes a financial shock, where the dynamics after the announcement is described by an analog of the Omori earthquake law. We quantify the rate n(t) of aftershocks following an interest-rate change at time T and find power-law decay which scales as n(t-T)∼(t-T)(-Ω) , with Ω positive. Surprisingly, we find that the same law describes the rate n'(|t-T|) of "preshocks" before the interest-rate change at time T . This study quantitatively relates the size of the market response to the news which caused the shock and uncovers the presence of quantifiable preshocks. We demonstrate that the news associated with interest-rate change is responsible for causing both the anticipation before the announcement and the surprise after the announcement. We estimate the magnitude of financial news using the relative difference between the U.S. Treasury Bill and the Federal Funds effective rate. Our results are consistent with the "sign effect," in which "bad news" has a larger impact than "good news. " Furthermore, we observe significant volatility aftershocks, confirming a "market under-reaction" that lasts at least one trading day.
First experiments on a new online handwritten flowchart database

We propose in this paper a new online handwritten flowchart database and perform some first experiments to have a baseline benchmark on this dataset. The collected database consists of 419 flowcharts labeled at the stroke and symbol levels. In addition, an isolated database of graphical and text symbols was extracted from these collected flowcharts. Then, we tackle the problem of online handwritten flowchart recognition from two different points of view. Firstly, we consider that flowcharts are correctly segmented, and we propose different classifiers to perform two tasks, text/non-text separation and graphical symbol recognition. Tested with the extracted isolated test database, we achieve up to 90% and 98% in text/non-text separation and up to 93.5% in graphical symbols recognition. Secondly, we propose a global approach to perform flowchart segmentation and recognition. For this latter, we adopt a global learning schema and a recognition architecture that considers a simultaneous segmentation and recognition. Global architecture is trained and tested directly with flowcharts. Results show the interest of such global approach, but regarding the complexity of flowchart segmentation problem, there is still lot of space to improve the global learning and recognition methods.
Estimating Transient Climate Response in a large-ensemble global climate model simulation 1 2

1 Estimating Transient Climate Response in a large-ensemble global climate model simulation 1 2 B.K. Adams and A.E. Dessler* 3 Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 4 * corresponding author, adessler@tamu.edu 5 6 Main points: 7 1. In a large model ensemble, we find that estimates of TCR from the 20th century tends to 8 be low biased compared to the model’s true TCR. 9 2. Internal variability can push down or enhance the warming in ensemble members & 10 lead to large errors in TCR inferred from the 20th century. 11 3. We also verify that the details of the construction of the temperature dataset from 12 which TCR is inferred can lead to significant biases in TCR inferred from observed 13 warming. 14 15 Plain language summary: 16 The transient climate response (TCR) is defined to be the warming after 70 years of a 1% per 17 year increase in atmospheric CO2. It is one of the important metrics in climate science because 18 it plays a key role in determining how much warming we will experience in the future. Previous 19 work has found that TCR inferred from observed warming over the 20th century tends to be 20 lower than TCR in climate models. This has been used by suggest that climate models are 21 overpredicting future warming. We use a large number of climate model runs to investigate 22 the methodology of this comparison. We find that TCR estimated from the 20th century 23 simulations may indeed be much lower than the model’s true TCR. This arises from biases in 24 the methodology of estimating TCR from 20th century warming, as well as biases in the 25 construction of the observational temperature data sets. We therefore find no evidence that 26 models are overestimating TCR. 27
Variability of Surface Heat Fluxes and Its Driving Forces at Different Time Scales Over a Large Ephemeral Lake in China

Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China. It is considered as an ephemeral lake—experiencing dynamic seasonal transitions ranging from a lake surface to wetland conditions. The influence of the seasonal water level transition on lake‐atmosphere energy exchange can have important consequences for local climate and water resource management. Here we study the dynamics of surface‐atmosphere energy exchange and examine the hydrological and meteorological controls on its partitioning for the period August 2013 to July 2016. Change in the water depth (WD) directly impacts water surface contribution and the inundated duration. The latent heat (LE) and sensible heat (H) fluxes showed an unimodal diurnal pattern in the wetland‐covered period and changed to an irregular pattern during the lake‐covered period when water surface contribution exceeded a value of 62%. The Bowen ratio (H/LE) was large/small in the wetland‐/lake‐covered period and decreased significantly with increasing WD. On a diurnal and daily timescale, the LE and H showed less dependence on wind speed (U) and water vapor or temperature gradient and greater dependence on net radiation when transitioning from the lake‐covered period to wetland‐covered period, respectively. On a monthly timescale, both the LE and H were mainly controlled by the net radiation. However, the interannual variations in LE and H were significantly correlated with the inundated duration and WD over Poyang Lake. The decreasing trend in Poyang Lake level, therefore, has potential to reduce lake evaporation and local precipitation and further amplify regional hydrometeorological droughts.
The FACT-Melanoma Quality-of-Life Instrument: comparison of a five-point and four-point response scale using the Rasch measurement model

The FACT-Melanoma (FACT-M) is one of only two validated quality-of-life instruments designed specifically for use in patients with melanoma. The instrument incorporates FACT-G, followed by a set of questionnaire items that are specific to melanoma; all items are scored on a five-point response scale. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the five-point response format of the FACT-M for goodness of fit to the Rasch measurement model, and to investigate whether rescoring the instrument using a four-point response format improved the psychometric properties. Two data sets of similar patient sample sizes (n=127 and 123) were used to test the reliability and validity of the generic instrument (FACT-G) to measure quality of life for patients with melanoma. The Additional Concerns and Melanoma Surgery subscales were subjected to a more detailed analysis using a combination of confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis techniques. The Rasch model fit of the FACT-M was improved by the use of a four-point response format, together with the deletion of three items. Principal components analysis suggested that two melanoma-specific subscales existed within the Additional Concerns subscale and each could be reduced to seven items, respectively, with improved goodness of fit to the Rasch model. The FACT-M instrument showed improved fit to the Rasch model specifications when the items adopted a four-point response format. These results point to possible improvements in the content and structure of the FACT-M for use in future melanoma clinical trials. However, further study should be conducted with larger samples, selected by disease and treatment status.
A stationary wavelet transform approach to compressed spectrum sensing in cognitive radio

In this paper, we introduce the implementation of the stationary wavelet transform in compressive sensing, particularly in spectrum sensing and edge detection in cognitive radio. We also review the different forms of the compressive sensing basis matrix, providing a comparative study of their performance, with emphasis on the matrices implementing the discrete wavelet transform, the stationary wavelet transform, and their multiscale counterparts. The results presented in this paper show that, using the stationary wavelet transform, we can reach the performance level and error rate obtained by the discrete wavelet transform using only half the samples required by the latter to attain the same performance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hydrological Model Calibration in Data-Limited Catchments Using Non-Continuous Data Series with Different Lengths

This paper evaluates the effects of calibration data series length on the performance of a hydrological model in data-limited catchments where data are non-continuous and fragmental. Non-continuous calibration periods were used for more independent streamflow data for SIMHYD model calibration. Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency and percentage water balance error were used as performance measures. The particle swarm optimization method was used to calibrate the rainfall-runoff models. Different lengths of data series ranging from one year to ten years were used to study the impact of calibration data series length. Fifty-five relatively unimpaired catchments located all over Australia with daily precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and streamflow data were tested to obtain more general conclusions. The results show that longer calibration data series do not necessarily result in better model performance. Our results may have useful and interesting implications for the efficiency of using limited observation data for hydrological model calibration in different climates.
Power Control Design of a Battery Charger in a Hybrid Active PV Generator for Load-Following Applications

A hybrid generator with a photovoltaic energy conversion system is proposed with supercapacitors and lead-acid batteries in a dc-coupled structure. The objective of this system is to supply the prescribed reactive and active power to the grid. This paper focuses on the strategy, which makes it possible to ensure a high battery state of charge and overcharge security by designing a dedicated local control system. A continuous dynamic model and a control design of the power system studied are proposed in this paper. Simulation and experimental results illustrate the performances obtained.