Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Closed-Loop Model of the Respiratory System: Focus on Hypercapnia and Active Expiration

Breathing is a vital process providing the exchange of gases between the lungs and atmosphere. During quiet breathing, pumping air from the lungs is mostly performed by contraction of the diaphragm during inspiration, and muscle contraction during expiration does not play a significant role in ventilation. In contrast, during intense exercise or severe hypercapnia forced or active expiration occurs in which the abdominal “expiratory” muscles become actively involved in breathing. The mechanisms of this transition remain unknown. To study these mechanisms, we developed a computational model of the closed-loop respiratory system that describes the brainstem respiratory network controlling the pulmonary subsystem representing lung biomechanics and gas (O2 and CO2) exchange and transport. The lung subsystem provides two types of feedback to the neural subsystem: a mechanical one from pulmonary stretch receptors and a chemical one from central chemoreceptors. The neural component of the model simulates the respiratory network that includes several interacting respiratory neuron types within the Bötzinger and pre-Bötzinger complexes, as well as the retrotrapezoid nucleus/parafacial respiratory group (RTN/pFRG) representing the central chemoreception module targeted by chemical feedback. The RTN/pFRG compartment contains an independent neural generator that is activated at an increased CO2 level and controls the abdominal motor output. The lung volume is controlled by two pumps, a major one driven by the diaphragm and an additional one activated by abdominal muscles and involved in active expiration. The model represents the first attempt to model the transition from quiet breathing to breathing with active expiration. The model suggests that the closed-loop respiratory control system switches to active expiration via a quantal acceleration of expiratory activity, when increases in breathing rate and phrenic amplitude no longer provide sufficient ventilation. The model can be used for simulation of closed-loop control of breathing under different conditions including respiratory disorders.
Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of cholangiocarcinoma: an update

The British Society of Gastroenterology guidelines on the management of cholangiocarcinoma were originally published in 2002. This is the first update since then and is based on a comprehensive review of the recent literature, including data from randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, cohort, prospective and retrospective studies.
Maternal fitness at the onset of the second trimester of pregnancy: correlates and relationship with infant birth weight

What is already known about this subject A healthy life begins in utero and a healthy pregnancy requires a fit and healthy mother. Physical activity during pregnancy provides a stimulation that is essential for promoting optimal body oxygenation and composition as well as metabolic fitness during pregnancy. Although a higher maternal fitness is expected to provide a beneficial fetal environment, it is still unclear whether physical fitness during pregnancy contributes to perinatal health. What this study adds Participation in sports and exercise previously and at the beginning of pregnancy can benefit maternal health by improving cardiorespiratory fitness during pregnancy, irrespective of maternal body mass index. Maternal strength, an indicator of muscular fitness, is an independent determinant of infant fetal growth and can positively influence birth weight.
An Agent-based Information Logistics Architecture for Process Management

Existing business process support systems focus on execution of highly structured business processes which are represented in a formal modeling notation. These systems fail, if processes are weakly structured or if process changes have to be considered during execution. Therefore, an information logistics architecture is proposed to support business processes, especially those which rely on informational inputs and produce information as an output. The architecture is based on software agent technology to flexibly monitor distributed activities. A showcase of the architecture to support a sales planning process is implemented in cooperation with an industry partner
Building a probabilistic grid-based road representation from direct and indirect visual cues

Detecting the road terrain ahead of the ego-vehicle is an important issue for modern driver assistance systems. In particular, vehicle motion planning in inner city environment requires the detection of road terrain up to 3 seconds in advance. State-of-the-art visual road terrain detection systems have a hard time fulfilling this task, due to their limited range and the presence of occlusions (other vehicles, buildings, etc.), which are expected to occur often in complex scenarios. However, those systems provide significant information where the conditions are favorable (proximity to the ego-vehicle, no occlusions). Therefore, a complementary approach is needed to enhance already existing and established detection systems. In this paper we propose a probabilistic grid-based approach based on the observation and interpretation of other vehicles' behavior in the scene. It exploits their movements in order to infer the presence and location of occluded road surface. We will show that this approach presents various advantages over current visual road terrain detection systems, especially in those situations that are the most challenging for them. We will illustrate how our approach is designed to work in concert also with other available resources, e.g. offline road maps. Qualitative results on real-world scenes taken from the KITTI benchmark[11] demonstrate that the fusion of this method with visual road terrain detection can potentially extend our time horizon well over the 3 seconds mentioned above. Finally, we will show how our approach is planned to develop into a semantically enriched representation of the road, including road properties such as availability, lanes and directions.
An opportunistic reconfiguration strategy for environmentally powered devices

Environmental energy is becoming a feasible alternative to traditional energy sources for ultra low-power devices such as sensor nodes and smart watches. Moreover, the increasing need for flexibility and reconfigurability of such devices makes its energy management even more challenging. As a result, to efficiently exploit the potentially unlimited environmental energy, new adaptation strategies are required. In this paper we present a novel system reconfiguration strategy that exploits the intrinsic unpredictability of environmental energy to opportunistically reconfigure the device. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed reconfiguration strategy we first perform a theoretical evaluation using statistical energy profile distribution and then we evaluate its energy efficiency on a prototype device in the presence of bursty energy profiles that we emulated using a programmable energy source.
Effect of Test Set Minimization on Fault Detection Effectiveness

Size and code coverage are important attributes of a set of tests. When a program P is executed on elements of the test set T, we can observe the fault detecting capability of T for P. We can also observe the degree to which T induces code coverage on P according to some coverage criterion. We would like to know whether it is the size of T or the coverage of T on P which determines the fault detection effectiveness of T for P. To address this issue we ask the following question: While keeping coverage constant, what is the effect on fault detection of reducing the size of a test set? We report results from an empirical study using the block and all-uses criteria as the coverage measures.
Object and reference immutability using Java generics

A compiler-checked immutability guarantee provides useful documentation, facilitates reasoning, and enables optimizations. This paper presents Immutability Generic Java (IGJ), a novel language extension that expresses immutability without changing Java's syntax by building upon Java's generics and annotation mechanisms. In IGJ, each class has one additional type parameter that is Immutable, Mutable, or ReadOnly. IGJ guarantees both reference immutability (only mutable references can mutate an object) and object immutability (an immutable reference points to an immutable object). IGJ is the first proposal for enforcing object immutability within Java's syntax and type system, and its reference immutability is more expressive than previous work. IGJ also permits covariant changes of type parameters in a type-safe manner, e.g., a readonly list of integers is a subtype of a readonly list of numbers. IGJ extends Java's type system with a few simple rules. We formalize this type system and prove it sound. Our IGJ compiler works by type-erasure and generates byte-code that can be executed on any JVM without runtime penalty.
The depolarization sequence of the human heart surface computed from measured body surface potentials

A method for computing the activation sequence at the ventricular surface from body surface potentials, has been adapted to handle measured data. By using measured anatomical data together with a 64-channel ECG (electrocardiogram) recording of the same subject for three subjects, it is shown that the model is able to determine activation sequences on the heart surface which closely resemble similar data obtained through invasive measurement as reported in literature. <<ETX>>
A Small Molecule Glycosaminoglycan Mimetic Blocks Plasmodium Invasion of the Mosquito Midgut

Malaria transmission-blocking (T-B) interventions are essential for malaria elimination. Small molecules that inhibit the Plasmodium ookinete-to-oocyst transition in the midgut of Anopheles mosquitoes, thereby blocking sporogony, represent one approach to achieving this goal. Chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycans (CS-GAGs) on the Anopheles gambiae midgut surface are putative ligands for Plasmodium falciparum ookinetes. We hypothesized that our synthetic polysulfonated polymer, VS1, acting as a decoy molecular mimetic of midgut CS-GAGs confers malaria T-B activity. In our study, VS1 repeatedly reduced midgut oocyst development by as much as 99% (P<0.0001) in mosquitoes fed with P. falciparum and Plasmodium berghei. Through direct-binding assays, we observed that VS1 bound to two critical ookinete micronemal proteins, each containing at least one von Willebrand factor A (vWA) domain: (i) circumsporozoite protein and thrombospondin-related anonymous protein-related protein (CTRP) and (ii) vWA domain-related protein (WARP). By immunofluorescence microscopy, we observed that VS1 stains permeabilized P. falciparum and P. berghei ookinetes but does not stain P. berghei CTRP knockouts or transgenic parasites lacking the vWA domains of CTRP while retaining the thrombospondin repeat region. We produced structural homology models of the first vWA domain of CTRP and identified, as expected, putative GAG-binding sites on CTRP that align closely with those predicted for the human vWA A1 domain and the Toxoplasma gondii MIC2 adhesin. Importantly, the models also identified patches of electropositive residues that may extend CTRP's GAG-binding motif and thus potentiate VS1 binding. Our molecule binds to a critical, conserved ookinete protein, CTRP, and exhibits potent malaria T-B activity. This study lays the framework for a high-throughput screen of existing libraries of safe compounds to identify those with potent T-B activity. We envision that such compounds when used as partner drugs with current antimalarial regimens and with RTS,S vaccine delivery could prevent the transmission of drug-resistant and vaccine-breakthrough strains.
Testing the fetal overnutrition hypothesis; the relationship of maternal and paternal adiposity to adiposity, insulin resistance and cardiovascular risk factors in Indian children

Abstract Objective We aimed to test the fetal overnutrition hypothesis by comparing the associations of maternal and paternal adiposity (sum of skinfolds) with adiposity and cardiovascular risk factors in children. Design Children from a prospective birth cohort had anthropometry, fat percentage (bio-impedance), plasma glucose, insulin and lipid concentrations and blood pressure measured at 9·5 years of age. Detailed anthropometric measurements were recorded for mothers (at 30 ± 2 weeks’ gestation) and fathers (5 years following the index pregnancy). Setting Holdsworth Memorial Hospital, Mysore, India. Subjects Children (n 504), born to mothers with normal glucose tolerance during pregnancy. Results Twenty-eight per cent of mothers and 38 % of fathers were overweight/obese (BMI ≥ 25·0 kg/m2), but only 4 % of the children were overweight/obese (WHO age- and sex-specific BMI ≥ 18·2 kg/m2). The children's adiposity (BMI, sum of skinfolds, fat percentage and waist circumference), fasting insulin concentration and insulin resistance increased with increasing maternal and paternal sum of skinfolds adjusted for the child's sex, age and socio-economic status. Maternal and paternal effects were similar. The associations with fasting insulin and insulin resistance were attenuated after adjusting for the child's current adiposity. Conclusions In this population, both maternal and paternal adiposity equally predict adiposity and insulin resistance in the children. This suggests that shared family environment and lifestyle, or genetic/epigenetic factors, influence child adiposity. Our findings do not support the hypothesis that there is an intra-uterine overnutrition effect of maternal adiposity in non-diabetic pregnancies, although we cannot rule out such an effect in cases of extreme maternal obesity, which is rare in our population.
Stochastic Volatility for Levy Processes

Three processes reflecting persistence of volatility are formulated by evaluating three Levy processes at a time change given by the integral of a square root process. A positive stock price process is then obtained by exponentiating and mean correcting these processes, or alternatively by stochastically exponentiating the processes. The characteristic functions for the log price can be used to yield option prices via the fast Fourier transform. Our empirical results on index options and single name options suggest advantages to employing higher dimensional Levy systems for index options and lower dimensional structures for single names. In general, mean corrected exponentiation performs better than employing the stochastic exponential. Martingale laws for the mean corrected exponential are also studied and two new concepts termed Levy and martingale marginals are introduced.
Hardware realization of a bio-inspired POEtic tissue

This paper presents the physical hardware realization of a novel bio-inspired architecture, called POEtic tissue. This electronic tissue provides a platform for the efficient implementation in actual hardware of evolutionary, epigenetic (learning) and ontogenetic (growth, self-repair, self-replication) mechanisms. After a brief introduction the overall organization of the tissue is presented. Then its main building blocks is reviewed. Finally, the implementation details of the first hardware prototype of the tissue, constructed in the form of an ASIC, is outlined. The implementation results demonstrate that the proposed architecture constitutes a good candidate when considering the electronic realization of bio-inspired principles.
Patterns of Wisdom: Discourse-Level Style in Multi-Sentence Quotations

Quotations are kernels not just of wisdom but also of beautiful and striking language. While recent studies have characterized the stylistic features of quotations, we characterize the order of stylistic information within quotations. Analyzing a corpus of two-sentence quotations collected from the social network Tum-blr, we explore the ways that both low-level features and high-level features tend to occur in either the ﬁrst or second sentence. Through analysis of examples, we interpret these ten-dencies as manifestations of rhetorical patterns. Results from a prediction task suggest that stylistic patterns are more prominent in quotations than in a comparison corpus.
Winter climate variability in the southern Appalachian Mountains, 1910–2017

Located in the mid‐latitudes and exhibiting the greatest topographic relief in the eastern United States, the southern Appalachian Mountains (SAM) contain some of the most diverse climatological environments in the United States. This diversity is most pronounced in the winter season when temperature and snowfall can vary drastically across the region. In this study, we identify long‐term trends and variation of temperature and snowfall in the SAM of the southeastern United States during climatological winter (DJF) from 1910 to 2017. Along with recognizing statistically significant climatic trends, we also identify the influence of several teleconnection patterns, namely the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) that further scientific understanding of how this region has remained a climatic anomaly. Results of this study indicate the SAM have experienced a statistically significant long‐term cooling trend since the early 20th century, with recent decades suggesting a reversal towards a warming pattern. Snowfall exhibited high interannual variability, with the 1960s and 1970s producing anomalously high amounts of snowfall. Several atmospheric forcing couplings are identified that align with anomalous conditions in the region. Most notably, negative temperature anomalies and higher snowfall amounts were frequently found during El Niño and negative NAO seasons, with the opposite being true during La Niña and positive NAO winters. The influence of these teleconnection patterns was spatially dependent, with lower elevations and eastern‐facing slopes being highly dependent on the phase of ENSO for snowfall, whereas higher elevations and western‐facing slopes were more reliant on the NAO. The identification of pattern couplings is critical to improving understanding of the anomalous climate of the SAM, enhancing seasonal forecasting, and predicting future climate change in the region.
Risk factors for spread of primary adult onset blepharospasm: a multicentre investigation of the Italian movement disorders study group

OBJECTIVES Little is known about factors influencing the spread of blepharospasm to other body parts. An investigation was carried out to deterrmine whether demographic features (sex, age at blepharospasm onset), putative risk, or protective factors for blepharospasm (family history of dystonia or tremor, previous head or face trauma with loss of consciousness, ocular diseases, and cigarette smoking), age related diseases (diabetes, hypertension), edentulousness, and neck or trunk trauma preceding the onset of blepharospasm could distinguish patients with blepharospasm who had spread of dystonia from those who did not. METHODS 159 outpatients presenting initially with blepharospasm were selected in 16 Italian Institutions. There were 104 patients with focal blepharospasm (mean duration of disease 5.3 (SD 1.9) years) and 55 patients in whom segmental or multifocal dystonia developed (mainly in the cranial cervical area) 1.5 (1.2) years after the onset of blepharospasm. Information was obtained from a standardised questionnaire administered by medical interviewers. A Cox regression model was used to examine the relation between the investigated variables and spread. RESULTS Previous head or face trauma with loss of consciousness, age at the onset of blepharospasm, and female sex were independently associated with an increased risk of spread. A significant association was not found between spread of dystonia and previous ocular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, neck or trunk trauma, edentulousness, cigarette smoking, and family history of dystonia or tremor. An unsatisfactory study power negatively influenced the validity and accuracy of the negative findings relative to diabetes, neck or trunk trauma, and cigarette smoking. CONCLUSIONS The results of this exploratory study confirm that patients presenting initially with blepharospasm are most likely to experience some spread of dystonia within a few years of the onset of blepharospasm and suggest that head or face trauma with loss of consciousness preceding the onset, age at onset, and female sex may be relevant to spread. The suggested association between edentulousness and cranial cervical dystonia may be apparent because of the confounding effect of both age at onset and head or face trauma with loss of consciousness. The lack of influence of family history of dystonia on spread is consistent with previous findings indicating that the inheritance pattern is the same for focal and segmental blepharospasm.
Geometric Control of Mechanical Systems

This talk will outline a comprehensive set of modeling, analysis and design techniques for a class of mechanical systems. We concern ourselves with simple mechanical control systems, that is, systems whose Lagrangian is kinetic energy minus potential energy. Example devices include robotic manipulators, aerospace and underwater vehicles, and mechanisms that locomote exploiting nonholonomic constraints. Borrowing techniques from nonlinear control and geometric mechanics, we propose a coordinateinvariant control theory for this class of systems. First, we take a Riemannian geometric approach to modeling systems dened on smooth manifolds, subject to nonholonomic constraints, external forces and control forces. We also model mechanical systems on groups and symmetries. Second, we analyze some control-theoretic properties of this class of systems, including controllability, averaged response to oscillatory controls, and kinematic reductions. Finally, we exploit the modeling and analysis results to tackle control design problems. Starting from controllability and kinematic reduction assumptions we propose some algorithms for generating and tracking trajectories.
A Description Logic of Change

We combine the modal logic S5 with the description logic (DL) ALCQI. The resulting multi-dimensional DL S5ALCQI supports reasoning about change by allowing to express that concepts and roles change over time. It cannot, however, discriminate between changes in the past and in the future. Our main technical result is that satisfiability of S5ALCQI concepts with respect to general TBoxes (including GCIs) is decidable and 2-EXPTIME-complete. In contrast, reasoning in temporal DLs that are able to discriminate between past and future is inherently undecidable. We argue that our logic is sufficient for reasoning about temporal conceptual models with time-stamping constraints.
A real-time encoding and decoding system for nonlinear HDTV editor

A real-time encoding and decoding system (REDS) for HDTV that can be used for nonlinear HDTV editing in studio has been developed. The intrapicture coding of motion JPEG is implemented and optimized in the REDS so that a high-quality image can be recovered for the nonlinear editing. The REDS has a parallel architecture with multiple programmable digital signal processors (DSP) and reconfigurable field programmable logic devices (FPLD). The HDTV image is spatially partitioned and concurrently processed by the multiple processors. The programmable DSPs perform the discrete cosine transform and quantization to reduce the spatial redundancy of the HDTV image, whereas the FPLDs perform the variable length coding to reduce the statistical redundancy. In addition, field-based quantization matrices are developed for HDTV images. The REDS has the programmability and the random accessibility of image frames, the two most important features for a nonlinear HDTV editing system. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 11, 152–157, 2000