Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Physiology of the Perimenopausal Years: A Minireview

Selected studies on the physiology of the perimenopausal years and the subtle transitional changes that occur up to the postmenopause are reviewed. Extraovarian sources of estrogen, which must be considered when recommending dosage of replacement therapy, are described. The effects of hormonal therapy on endogenous hormones and the important roles of progesterone and prolactin are highlighted. The collected evidence suggests that (a) the vasomotor disturbance and depression experienced by estrogen‐deficient women are not psychosomatic disorders, (b) osteoporosis is preventable if estrogen therapy is initiated soon after cessation of ovarian function, and (c) administration of a weak estrogen combined with a progestogen can effectively prevent or treat the difficulties experienced during the female climacteric.
Application of carbon nanotubes (CNT) to design of the strain sensor

The aim of this work was to develop a sensor which could be easily applied to the tested material and integrated with it. Therefore, this paper is focused on the development of the Carbon Nanotube - a polymer strain sensor - which should fulfill such requirements. The development of such a sensor is discussed and the test of its performance are presented. Multiwalled CNTs were mixed with polymer and applied to the materials with use of screen printing. The sensor was tested for different types of loads. Manufacturing technology and sensor test results are presented in this work.
The Algorithmic Inflection of Russian and Generation of Grammatically Correct Text

We present a deterministic algorithm for Russian inflection. This algorithm is implemented in a publicly available web-service www.passare. ru which provides functions for inflection of single words, word matching and synthesis of grammatically correct Russian text. The inflectional functions have been tested against the annotated corpus of Russian language OpenCorpora.
Information and Discriminability as Measures of Reliability of Sensory Coding

Response variability is a fundamental issue in neural coding because it limits all information processing. The reliability of neuronal coding is quantified by various approaches in different studies. In most cases it is largely unclear to what extent the conclusions depend on the applied reliability measure, making a comparison across studies almost impossible. We demonstrate that different reliability measures can lead to very different conclusions even if applied to the same set of data: in particular, we applied information theoretical measures (Shannon information capacity and Kullback-Leibler divergence) as well as a discrimination measure derived from signal-detection theory to the responses of blowfly photoreceptors which represent a well established model system for sensory information processing. We stimulated the photoreceptors with white noise modulated light intensity fluctuations of different contrasts. Surprisingly, the signal-detection approach leads to a safe discrimination of the photoreceptor response even when the response signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is well below unity whereas Shannon information capacity and also Kullback-Leibler divergence indicate a very low performance. Applying different measures, can, therefore, lead to very different interpretations concerning the system's coding performance. As a consequence of the lower sensitivity compared to the signal-detection approach, the information theoretical measures overestimate internal noise sources and underestimate the importance of photon shot noise. We stress that none of the used measures and, most likely no other measure alone, allows for an unbiased estimation of a neuron's coding properties. Therefore the applied measure needs to be selected with respect to the scientific question and the analyzed neuron's functional context.
The Myth of Power Control in Routing

Energy management remains a critical problem in ad hoc networks since battery technology cannot keep up with rising expectations in wireless communications. Current approaches to energy conservation focus on reducing the energy consumption of the wireless interface either for a given communication task or during idling. However, these communication-time and idle-time approaches are not necessarily complementary. Therefore, we explore the interactions between the two approaches and their impact on the design of a complete solution to energy conservation. Essentially, a complete solution requires minimizing the energy spent in communication (i.e., for data and control overhead) and in idling while satisfying communication needs. This problem can be expressed as an energy-efficient network design problem, which is, not surprisingly, NP-hard. Therefore, we study several heuristic approaches. Our study shows that minimizing energy consumed in data transmissions as a primary goal does not save energy. Furthermore, jointly reducing energy consumed for both data and in idling becomes cost-prohibitive when the energy spent in control overhead is considered. Hence, we propose a two-stage approach that prioritizes idling energy consumption over energy spent for data transmissions. Due to its low control overhead, this two-stage approach provides an effective way to meet the challenge of operating the network with low energy cost.
Sexual history taking in general practice: managing sexually transmitted infections for female sex workers by doctors and assistant doctors in Vietnam

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Vietnam have been increasing. Control of STIs among female sex workers (FSWs) is important in controlling the epidemic. Effective STI control requires that physicians are skilful in taking sexual history for FSW patients. Three hundred and seventy-one physicians responded to a survey conducted in three provinces in Vietnam. The respondents were asked whether they asked FSW patients about their sexual history and information asked during sexual history taking. The respondents were also asked about their barriers for taking sexual history. Over one-fourth (27%) respondents always, over half (54%) respondents sometimes and 19% respondents never obtained a sexual history from FSW patients. Multivariable analysis revealed that factors associated with always taking a sexual history were being doctor, training in STIs and working at provincial level facilities. Physician’s discomfort was found to be inversely associated with training on communication with patients, seeing 15 or fewer patients a week, working at provincial level facilities. Issues in sexual history taking among FSW patients in general practice in Vietnam were identified. These issues can help STI control for FSW patients and need due attention in order to improve STI management in Vietnam.
How RNase R Degrades Structured RNA

RNase R, a ubiquitous 3′ exoribonuclease, plays an important role in many aspects of RNA metabolism. In contrast to other exoribonucleases, RNase R can efficiently degrade highly structured RNAs, but the mechanism by which this is accomplished has remained elusive. It is known that RNase R contains an unusual, intrinsic RNA helicase activity that facilitates degradation of duplex RNA, but how it stimulates the nuclease activity has also been unclear. Here, we have made use of specifically designed substrates to compare the nuclease and helicase activities of RNase R. We have also identified and mutated several residues in the S1 RNA-binding domain that are important for interacting with duplex RNA and have measured intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence to analyze the conformational changes that occur upon binding of structured RNA. Using these approaches, we have determined the relation of the RNA helicase, ATP binding, and nuclease activities of RNase R. This information has been combined with a structural analysis of RNase R, based on its homology to RNase II, whose structure has been determined, to develop a detailed model that explains how RNase R digests structured RNA and how this differs from its action on single-stranded RNA.
Effect of Dietary l-arabinose on the Intestinal Microbiota and Metabolism of Dietary Daidzein in Adult Mice

This study examined the effects of L-arabinose on mouse intestinal microbiota and urinary isoflavonoids. Male mice were randomly divided into two groups: those fed a 0.05% daidzein–2.5% L-arabinose diet (AR group) and those fed a 0.05% daidzein control diet (CO group) for 28 days. The amounts of daidzein detected in urine were significantly lower in the AR group than in the CO group. The ratio of equol/daidzein was significantly higher in the AR group (p<0.01) than in the CO group. The composition of caecal flora differed between the AR and CO groups. The occupation ratios of Prevotella and Lactobacillales were significantly lower in the AR group. This study suggests that dietary L-arabinose has the potential to affect the metabolism of equol from daidzein by altering the metabolic activity of intestinal microbiota.
Biochemical and Molecular Action of Nutrients Neonatal Dietary Zinc Deficiency in Artificially Reared Rat Pups Retards Behavioral Development and Interacts with Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency to Alter Liver and Brain Fatty Acid Composition 1

The objective of this study was to investigate whether short-term zinc deficiency in the early neonatal period would exacerbate the effects of essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency on liver and brain long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA) composition, as well as on behavioral development in artificially reared rat pups. Using a 2 3 2 factorial design, male Long-Evans rat pups were reared artificially from postnatal d 5 to 16; pups were fed through gastrostomy tubes with rat formula deficient in zinc and/or EFA. As expected, EFA deficiency significantly reduced levels of arachidonic acid [AA, 20:4(n-6)] and docosahexanoic acid [DHA, 22:6(n-3)] in liver phosphatidylcholine (PC) and brain phosphaditylethanolamine (PE), and increased 22:5(n-6) levels in liver and brain PC and PE. There were significant interactions between zinc and EFA in liver such that zinc deficiency reduced AA and DHA in the EFA-adequate groups, but significantly increased AA in the EFA-deficient groups. Contrary to the hypothesis, short-term zinc deficiency did not exacerbate the effects of EFA deficiency in liver phospholipids. In brain PE, a significant interaction between EFA and zinc was observed such that zinc deficiency increased 22:5(n-6) concentrations in EFA-adequate but not in EFA-deficient groups. Regardless of their EFA status, zinc-deficient rats were growth retarded and demonstrated deficits in locomotor skills. Possible effects of long-term zinc and EFA deficiency on brain function should be investigated in future studies. J. Nutr. 129:
A comparison of ASR and human errors for transcription of non-native spontaneous speech

In this paper, we compare ASR and human transcriptions of non-native speech to investigate to what extent the accuracy and the patterns of errors of a modern ASR system match those of human listeners in the context of automated assessment of L2 English language proficiency. We obtained multiple naïve transcriptions of short fragments of non-native spontaneous speech with different proficiency levels using crowdsourcing and matched these against the output of an ASR system. We compare WER and recall at the fragment level and consider human-ASR agreement at the word level. We find that we are able to attain a commensurate level of transcription quality using ASR, but the patterns of errors between the two groups differ at the word level.
Modelling microstructural evolution during multiple pass friction stir welding

The effect of multiple weld passes on the microstructure and properties of friction stir welds in aerospace aluminium alloy AA 7050 has been investigated with the aid of a microstructure model. Each weld pass leads to a reduction in minimum strength in the heat affected zone, the decrease being greatest after the first pass. The model predicts that this is due to partial dissolution and coarsening of the strengthening precipitatates, which up to weld pass 3 is dominated by dissolution, and beyond weld pass 3 by coarsening. Microstructural evolution in the nugget is predicted to involve complete precipitate dissolution during each pass, followed by reprecipitation on the refined grain boundaries. A post-weld aging treatment after multiple passes is predicted not to be effective in improving minimum strength since precipitation occurs via growth and coarsening of existing particles, not nucleation of new precipitates.
Hybrid simulation of biochemical systems using hybrid adaptive Petri nets

Due to the heterogeneity of many real biochemical systems, stochastic simulation methods do not scale well as systems become more complex and larger, whereas approximations provided by continuous models fail to capture the stochastic behavior of molecular species at very low numbers. A hybrid simulation method is a natural idea to resolve this dilemma. In this paper, we propose a novel notion of Petri net called hybrid adaptive Petri net (HAPN), which is a unified framework to conveniently incorporate ordinary differential equations (ODEs), stochastic models, static hybrid and adaptive hybrid models. By exploring the mutual dependence of transitions, we make an improvement on the hybrid simulation algorithm and achieve a substantial saving on computational cost. We implement an HAPN simulator on MATLAB and employ the improved algorithm in the simulator. Two numerical examples are used to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of our improved algorithm.
A Higher-Order Continuum Model for Elastic Media with Multiphased Microstructure

The conventional continuum theory is inadequate for modeling materials with microstructures when the characteristic dimension of the microstructure is comparable to the characteristic length of deformation or wave length. In this paper, a systematic procedure was introduced to construct higher-order microstructure continuum theories. A microstructure continuum theory that employs separate kinematic variables for individual phases of the microstructure was used to study wave propagation in layered media. Further, correction factors were introduced to compensate for the errors resulting from the displacement approximation adopted in developing the high order microstructure continuum theory and to ensure that, at long wave lengths, the phase velocity predicted by the microstructure theory converges to the exact solution. For comparison purposes, dispersion curves for wave propagation in layered media were also calculated using the micromorphic continuum theory which employs only one kinematic variable for materials with multi-phased microstructures.
Learning Styles

Following a literature review on the area of learning styles, and cross-cul tural perceptual learning styles in particular, this article reports the results for a survey of perceptual learning styles of Korean students (n=710). The study is a replication of two earlier studies in the area, and results are com prehensively analyzed in terms of the previous findings of these studies. Preferences for different perceptual learning styles as well as the preference for individual and group learning are examined in terms of a range of vari ables, including age, gender, year of study, major field, time spent overseas, and attendance at private language institutes. Findings, while supporting some of the previous research in the area, also contradict some of the pre vious results. Some criticisms are made concerning the manner in which results from previous studies have been compared with each other. Areas for future research are also discussed.
Does Decentralized Organization Improve Individual Performance? Evidence from Journalists

In this paper, I explore a natural experiment of organizational change from decentralization to centralization in a leading Chinese newspaper. Using a dierences-in-dierences approach, I …nd that centralization substantially increases the journalists'performance in the dimension desired by the newspaper. I provide evidence that the journalists whose jobs are potentially associated with larger private bene…ts respond more to the centralization reform and the journalists whose incentives are more aligned with the newspaper's goal respond less to the reform. The main …ndings are consistent with recent eco- nomic theories of organization that emphasize the tradeos between
Antarctic Porifera database from the Spanish benthic expeditions

Abstract The information about the sponges in this dataset is derived from the samples collected during five Spanish Antarctic expeditions: Bentart 94, Bentart 95, Gebrap 96, Ciemar 99/00 and Bentart 2003. Samples were collected in the Antarctic Peninsula and Bellingshausen Sea at depths ranging from 4 to 2044 m using various sampling gears. The Antarctic Porifera database from the Spanish benthic expeditions is unique as it provides information for an under-explored region of the Southern Ocean (Bellingshausen Sea). It fills an information gap on Antarctic deep-sea sponges, for which there were previously very few data. This phylum is an important part of the Antarctic biota and plays a key role in the structure of the Antarctic marine benthic community due to its considerable diversity and predominance in different areas. It is often a dominant component of Southern Ocean benthic communities. The quality of the data was controlled very thoroughly with GPS systems onboard the R/V Hesperides and by checking the data against the World Porifera Database (which is part of the World Register of Marine Species, WoRMS). The data are therefore fit for completing checklists, inclusion in biodiversity pattern analysis and niche modelling. The authors can be contacted if any additional information is needed before carrying out detailed biodiversity or biogeographic studies. The dataset currently contains 767 occurrence data items that have been checked for systematic reliability. This database is not yet complete and the collection is growing. Specimens are stored in the author’s collection at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) in the city of Gijón (Spain). The data are available in GBIF.
A Survey of Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms

Multiobjective optimization aims to simultaneously optimize two or more objectives for a problem, with multiobjective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) having become a popular research topic in evolutionary multiobjective optimization. We first define the multiobjective optimization problem and briefly summarize multiobjective optimization methods based on the evolutionary algorithm. Representative MOEAs from three categories are then introduced in detail, and we discuss some of the problems and challenges in improving MOEAs. Finally, future research directions for MOEAs are proposed.
Social Connections and Group Banking

Lending to the poor is expensive due to high screening, monitoring, and enforcement costs. Group lending advocates believe lenders overcome this by harnessing social connections. Using data from FINCA-Peru, I exploit a quasi-random group formation process to find evidence of peers successfully monitoring and enforcing joint-liability loans. Individuals with stronger social connections to their fellow group members (i.e., either living closer or being of a similar culture) have higher repayment and higher savings. Furthermore, I observe direct evidence that relationships deteriorate after default, and that through successful monitoring, individuals know who to punish and who not to punish after default.
Centroid neural network for face recognition

An unsupervised competitive neural network for efficient recognition of facial images is proposed. The proposed unsupervised competitive neural network, called centroid neural network with Chi square distance measure (CNN-χ2), employs the Chi square measure as its distance measure and utilizes the local binary pattern (LBP) as an effective feature extraction tool for image data. The proposed CNN-χ2 is applied to a face recognition problem on the Yale face database. The results are compared with those of well-known approaches including KFD (Kernel Fisher Discriminant based on eigenfaces), RDA (Regularized Discriminant Analysis), and Sobel faces combined with 2DPCA (two dimensional Principle Component Analysis). The evaluated results demonstrate that the proposed CNN-χ2 algorithm outperforms recent state-of-art algorithms in terms of recognition rate.
Role of large thermal fluctuations and magnesium ions in t-RNA selectivity of the ribosome

The fidelity of translation selection begins with the base pairing of codon-anticodon complex between the m-RNA and tRNAs. Binding of cognate and near-cognate tRNAs induces 30S subunit of the ribosome to wrap around the ternary complex, EF-Tu(GTP)aa-tRNA. We have proposed that large thermal fluctuations play a crucial role in the selection process. To test this conjecture, we have developed a theoretical technique to determine the probability that the ternary complex, as a result of large thermal fluctuations, forms contacts leading to stabilization of the GTPase activated state. We argue that the configurational searches for such processes are in the tail end of the probability distribution and show that the probability for this event is localized around the most likely configuration. Small variations in the repositioning of cognate relative to near-cognate complexes lead to rate enhancement of the cognate complex. The binding energies of over a dozen unique site-bound magnesium structural motifs are investigated and provide insights into the nature of interaction of divalent metal ions with the ribosome.
Beyond Sensor Networks: ZUMA Middleware

Most wireless sensor network (WSN) proposals are unrelated to multimedia and other smart home infrastructures. This paper combines these issues and presents a solution where the Kilavi sensor network platform can be used as middleware to provide information for ZUMA. Kilavi is a centralized protocol designed for communication between high capacity management point and low capacity sensor nodes in building environment. ZUMA is a centralized future smart-home platform that interconnects all kinds devices in the home environment. This paper mainly focuses on sensor network operation issues. The discussion is on the benefits that the centralized architecture can provide in typical sensor network operations that are node discovery, routing and data dissemination, power control, and security. To support the discussion, the paper gives numbers that illustrate the benefits that centralization has over typical decentralized WSN solutions in home environment.
RExtractor: a Robust Information Extractor

The RExtractor system is an information extractor that processes input documents by natural language processing tools and consequently queries the parsed sentences to extract a knowledge base of entities and their relations. The extraction queries are designed manually using a tool that enables natural graphical representation of queries over dependency trees. A workflow of the system is designed to be language and domain independent. We demonstrate RExtractor on Czech and English legal documents.