Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Application de la spectroscopie proche infrarouge dans la discrimination de la charge de travail.

Notre comportement au quotidien necessite la prise en compte d'informations et l'elaboration d'actions qui peuvent nous paraitre banales. Il est cependant le fruit d'un traitement elabore et complexe de la part de notre cerveau. Ce traitement cerebral est a la base des fonctions cognitives et motrices chez l'homme. Si nous voulions enregistrer in situ l'evolution temporelle des signaux cerebraux traduisant notre comportement lors de tâches cognitives et/ou sensori-motrices, nos choix se porteraient sur l'utilisation de methodes non-invasives utilisees en neuroergonomie. Parmi les methodes actuellement disponibles en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle, la spectroscopie proche infrarouge (NIRS) quantifiant indirectement l'activite corticale (i.e., modification de la reponse hemodynamique) apparait la plus pertinente quant a l'appreciation de l'activite corticale en continu. Dans cette these, nous nous sommes interesses, en exploitant la NIRS, a mettre en evidence les correlats entre l'activite corticale (lobe frontal) et le niveau de sollicitation engendre par des charges de travail dans des tâches cognitives et/ou motrices a des intensites sous-maximales et de difficultes variables. Trois etudes ont ete menees, dont les resultats montrent que l'activite hemodynamique mesuree par NIRS varie en fonction de la charge de travail. L'activite corticale est estimable a une intensite d'effort sous-maximale pour des tâches cognitives et/ou motrices, a condition que l'analyse des signaux soit suffisamment discriminante pour des sollicitations faibles a moderees. Ce travail a revele la sensibilite et l'utilite de la NIRS dans l'exploration de la charge de travail.
Performance of neighbor discovery algorithms in mobile ad hoc self-configuring networks with directional antennas

One of the key performance measures for a neighbor discovery algorithm in military applications with directional antennas is how long it takes to discover the neighbors given that nodes do not have priori knowledge about where their neighbors are. One general impression in neighbor discovery is that algorithms based on all directional (directional transmission and directional receive) takes longer time to discover all neighbors than those algorithms partially or entirely based on omni-directional antennas. In this paper, we prove that this may not be the case. We first describe a generic random neighbor discovery algorithm (GRA), which uses omni-directional antennas for reception. Then we derive analytical expressions for the average number of slots required to discover all (or any one of) the neighbors for GRA and for an all-directional, scan based algorithm (omni-directional antennas are not used at all). Analytic and simulation results are presented to compare the two algorithms in terms of the expected number of slots required to discover any one or all of the neighbors. Based on the numerical results, we conclude that scan-based all-directional algorithm gives better performance than the algorithm which uses omni-antennas. If designed properly, all-directional neighbor discovery algorithms can discover neighbors in less time than those algorithms that use omnidirectional antennas. The advantages and disadvantages of each algorithm are discussed as well.
Selection on a eumelanic ornament is stronger in the tropics than in temperate zones in the worldwide‐distributed barn owl

Spatial variation in the pattern of natural selection can promote local adaptation and genetic differentiation between populations. Because heritable melanin‐based ornaments can signal resistance to environmentally mediated elevation in glucocorticoids, to oxidative stress and parasites, populations may vary in the mean degree of melanic coloration if selection on these phenotypic aspects varies geographically. Within a population of Swiss barn owls (Tyto alba), the size of eumelanic spots is positively associated with survival, immunity and resistance to stress, but it is yet unknown whether Tyto species that face stressful environments evolved towards a darker eumelanic plumage. Because selection regimes vary along environmental gradients, we examined whether melanin‐based traits vary clinally and are expressed to a larger extent in the tropics where parasites are more abundant than in temperate zones. To this end, we considered 39 barn owl species distributed worldwide. Barn owl species living in the tropics displayed larger eumelanic spots than those found in temperate zones. This was, however, verified in the northern hemisphere only. Parasites being particularly abundant in the tropics, they may promote the evolution of darker eumelanic ornaments.
Simulation of the Kinetics of Neuromuscular Block: Implications for Speed of Onset

BACKGROUND:The onset time for paralysis varies 3-fold among nondepolarizing muscle relaxants. Possible explanations include: (a) pharmacokinetic differences among drugs and (b) buffering of drug molecules by acetylcholine receptors as they diffuse into the neuromuscular junction. Although some pharmacokinetic models consider buffered diffusion, these models do not account for either the high density of receptors or synapse geometry. Here, I used computer simulations to calculate the kinetics of buffered diffusion. The goal was to determine the conditions under which buffered diffusion could account for differences in onset time among nondepolarizing muscle relaxants. METHODS:Monte Carlo simulation was used along with a realistic 3-dimensional model of the rat neuromuscular junction. Simulations determined the time dependence of the number of drug-bound receptors. A 1000-fold range of drug potency was examined. In some simulations, the drug concentration outside the junction was changed instantaneously. In other simulations, the concentration changed according to predictions of pharmacokinetic models assuming time-dependent changes in plasma drug concentration. The rate constant for equilibration of drug between plasma and muscle, keo, was varied between 0.15 and 0.6 min−1. Twitch amplitude was calculated from receptor occupancy assuming a high safety margin for neuromuscular transmission. Some simulations used a synaptic model with an increased nerve-muscle contact width. RESULTS:Simulations with instantaneous changes in drug concentration at the synapse, indicated that the time to 50% twitch depression (onset time) was 0.1 to 30 seconds and was proportional to drug potency. This corresponds to iontophoretic application of drug to isolated neuromuscular junctions, but is too fast to explain onset times in humans. When pharmacokinetic models were used to calculate the drug concentration outside the synapse, buffered diffusion increased onset times of potent drugs (drugs for which the effective concentration at 50% twitch height is <600 nM). Simulations using keo = 0.6 min−1 and a model with a 2- to 3-fold wider nerve-muscle contact width indicated that buffered diffusion could account for the differences in clinical onset times among the nondepolarizing muscle relaxants. CONCLUSION:Monte Carlo simulation provides a biophysically appropriate way to incorporate buffered diffusion into pharmacokinetic modeling. The simulations indicated that buffered diffusion could account for differences in onset time among drugs. However, a better understanding of the geometry of the human neuromuscular junction is needed before the magnitude of the effect of buffered diffusion can be quantified.
Cerebral Blood Flow and CO2 Reactivity in Interictal Migraineurs: A Transcranial Doppler Study

There is still some controversy about alterations in velocity of blood flow and in cerebral vasomotor reactivity of intracranial arteries in migraineurs during the interictal phase. By means of simultaneous bilateral transcranial Doppler ultrasonography we, therefore, assessed intracranial blood fIow velocities and cerebrovascular reactivity to carbon dioxide of all three basal brain arteries in 20 migraineurs during the interictal phase and 30 nonheadache‐prone control subjects. Mean blood flow velocities were higher in migraineurs than in controls in all three arteries on both sides, with a significant difference (P<0.05) for the right anterior cerebral artery and middle cerebral artery under basal conditions and for the right posterior cerebral artery during hypercapnia. Similarly, the cerebrovascular reactivity to carbon dioxide was always higher in patients than in controls, with a significant difference for the left anterior and the right middle cerebral arteries (P<0.05) and the right posterior cerebral artery (P<0.01). The broad overlap of cerebrovascular blood flow velocities and CO2 reactivities in patients and controls precluded identification of values diagnostic of migraine. Nevertheless, transcranial Doppler ultrasonography offers the opportunity to noninvasively monitor cerebral blood flow parameters and, therefore, represents a valuable tool for vascular research in migraine.
Iron Depletion by Phlebotomy Improves Insulin Resistance in Patients With Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Hyperferritinemia: Evidence from a Case-Control Study

OBJECTIVES:Hyperferritinemia is frequently observed in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome characterized by hepatic insulin resistance and considered high cardiovascular risk. Iron depletion by phlebotomy has been reported to decrease insulin resistance in NAFLD in small, uncontrolled studies. Aims of this study were to define the relationship between ferritin and iron stores in patients with NAFLD, the effect of iron depletion on insulin resistance, and whether basal ferritin levels influence treatment outcome.METHODS:Subjects were included if ferritin and/or ALT were persistently elevated after 4 months of standard therapy. Sixty-four phlebotomized subjects were matched 1:1 for age, sex, ferritin, obesity, and ALT levels with patients who underwent lifestyle modifications only. Insulin resistance was evaluated by insulin levels, determined by RIA and the HOMA-R index, at baseline and after 8 months.RESULTS:Baseline ferritin levels were associated with body iron stores (P < 0.0001). Iron depletion produced a significantly larger decrease in insulin resistance (P = 0.0016 for insulin, P = 0.0042 for HOMA-R) compared with nutritional counseling alone, independent of changes in BMI, baseline HOMA-R, and the presence of the metabolic syndrome. Iron depletion was more effective in reducing HOMA-R in patients in the top two tertiles of ferritin concentrations (P < 0.05 vs controls), and in carriers of the mutations in the HFE gene of hereditary hemochromatosis (P < 0.05 vs noncarriers). CONCLUSIONS:Given that phlebotomy reduces insulin resistance, which is associated with liver tissue damage, future studies should evaluate the effect of iron depletion on liver histology and cardiovascular end points.
Contrôle des micro-ondes en milieux réverbérants

Cette these traite du controle des micro-ondes en milieux reverberants, dans la continuite d'autres travaux realises a l'Institut Langevin. Nous commencons par les principes generaux touchant a la propagation des ondes en milieux complexes, c'est-a-dire des milieux reverberants ou diffusants. Nous revenons sur le concept de degres de liberte et expliquons pourquoi les techniques du retournement temporel et du faconnage de front d'ondes sont des moyens efficaces pour controler les ondes dans ces milieux. Nous introduisons ensuite une technique innovante en micro-ondes permettant de controler le couplage de milieux reverberants avec l'exterieur. Pour cela, nous proposons d'ouvrir une cavite avec un reseau de diffraction sub-longueur d'onde se comportant comme un miroir partiellement reflechissant. Nous montrons ensuite comment nous pouvons remplacer ces reseaux par des resonateurs plans et fractaux pour focaliser des champs micro-ondes sur des dimensions tres sub-longueur d'onde grâce a des techniques de retournement temporel monovoie. Enfin, nous detaillons la fabrication et l'utilisation d'une metasurface reconfigurable permettant de controler passivement les degres de liberte spatiaux d'un milieu reverberant. Nous montrons que cela permet d'optimiser un signal a des frequences WIFi en faconnant le champ micro-onde de maniere similaire a l'optique en milieux diffusants avec des modulateurs spatiaux de lumiere. Nous presentons egalement un model adapte a notre cas de figure ainsi qu'une nouvelle approche numerique integrale basee sur la methode des potentiels de couche, et permettant de calculer les modes d'une cavite dont les conditions aux limites sont mixtes.
Mathematics as a Science of Patterns: Epistemology

Si l'on definit les mathematiques comme science des structures, quelle est la genese de nos croyances quant a ces structures et ces croyances comptent-elles comme connaissance? P. 106-107: "Mathematical Epistemology: What is the Question? ", par P. MADDY.
Ecological changes in oral microcosm biofilm during maturation

Abstract. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ecological changes in the biofilm at different stages of maturation using 16S rDNA gene amplicon sequencing and to identify correlations between red/green (R/G) fluorescence ratio and ecological changes. An oral microcosm biofilm was initiated from the saliva of a single donor and grown anaerobically for up to 10 days in basal medium mucin. Quantitative light-induced fluorescence analysis was shown that the R/G ratio of the biofilm increased consistently, but the slope rapidly decreased after six days. The bacterial compositions of 10 species also consistently changed over time. However, there was no significant correlation between each bacteria and red fluorescence. The monitoring of the maturation process of oral microcosm biofilm over 10 days revealed that the R/G ratio and the bacterial composition within biofilm consistently changed. Therefore, the R/G fluorescence ratio of biofilm may be related with its ecological change rather than specific bacteria.
Human neutrophil antigen‐3a antibodies induce neutrophil stiffening and conformational activation of CD11b without shedding of L‐selectin

HNA‐3a antibodies induce severe transfusion‐related acute lung injury (TRALI) in which neutrophils play a major role. As neutrophil passage through the pulmonary microvasculature is a critical step in the pathogenesis of TRALI, we investigated the impact of HNA‐3a antibodies on two important factors that could impair granulocyte passage through lung capillaries: the elasticity of neutrophils and the expression and activation of adhesion molecules.
Standardized Bleeding Definitions for Cardiovascular Clinical Trials: A Consensus Report From the Bleeding Academic Research Consortium

Advances in antithrombotic therapy, along with an early invasive strategy, have reduced the incidence of recurrent ischemic events and death in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS; unstable angina, non–ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction [MI], and ST-segment–elevation MI). 1,–,4 However, the combination of multiple pharmacotherapies, including aspirin, platelet P2Y12 inhibitors, heparin plus glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, direct thrombin inhibitors, and the increasing use of invasive procedures, has also been associated with an increased risk of bleeding. Editorial see p 2664 Bleeding complications have been associated with an increased risk of subsequent adverse outcomes, including MI, stroke, stent thrombosis, and death, in patients with ACS and in those undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI),5,–,10 as well as in the long-term antithrombotic setting.11,12 Thus, balancing the anti-ischemic benefits against the bleeding risk of antithrombotic agents and interventions is of paramount importance in assessing new therapies and in managing patients. Prior randomized trials comparing antithrombotic agents suggest that a reduction in bleeding events is associated with improved survival.13,14 Because prevention of major bleeding may represent an important step in improving outcomes by balancing safety and efficacy in the contemporary treatment of ACS, bleeding events have been systematically identified as a crucial end point for the assessment of the safety of drugs during the course of randomized clinical trials, and are an important aspect of the evaluation of new devices and interventional therapies.15 Unlike ischemic clinical events (eg, cardiac death, MI, stent thrombosis), for which there is now general consensus on end-point definitions,16,17 there is substantial heterogeneity among the many bleeding definitions currently in use. Lack of standardization makes it difficult to optimally organize key clinical trial processes such as adjudication, and even more difficult to interpret relative …
Does the nonsense‐mediated mRNA decay mechanism prevent the synthesis of truncated BRCA1, CHK2, and p53 proteins?

The nonsense‐mediated mRNA decay (NMD) mechanism is an evolutionarily conserved process ensuring the degradation of transcripts carrying premature termination codon(s). NMD is believed to prevent the synthesis of truncated proteins that could be detrimental to the cell. However, although numerous studies have assessed the efficiency of this mechanism at the mRNA level, data are lacking in regard to whether NMD fulfills its expected goal at the protein level. In this study, we have investigated whether endogenous alleles of breast cancer predisposing genes carrying nonsense codons were able to produce detectable amounts of truncated proteins in lymphoblastoid cell lines. A total of 20 truncating BRCA1 mutations were analyzed, along with the 1100delC CHEK2 and the 770delT TP53 mutations. All the studied alleles triggered NMD, the amount of mutant transcript ranging from 16 to 63% of that of the wild‐type species. We found that BRCA1 and CHK2 truncated proteins could not be detected, even when NMD was inhibited. This suggests that BRCA1 and CHK2 truncated proteins are highly unstable. Conversely, the p53 protein encoded by the 770delT allele is as abundant as the wild‐type protein, as removal of the C‐terminal p53 domain leads to a stabilized mutant protein, whose abundance is markedly increased when NMD is inhibited. Therefore, our results show that it is not possible to infer the presence of truncated proteins in cells from carriers of a truncated mutation without experimental verification, as each case is expected to be different. Hum Mutat 29(1), 65–73, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Aquadichloro(di-2-pyridyldiazene)copper(II) monohydrate.

The crystal structure of the mononuclear title complex, [CuCl 2 (C 10 H 8 N 4 )(H20)]. H 2 O, shows an s-cis/E/s-trans-configured di-2-pyridyldiazene ligand, with the square-pyramidal Cu II ion coordinated to one pyridyl and one diazene N atom together with two Cl atoms and one aqua ligand. The crystal packing involves both hydrogen-bonding and π-π interactions. The solvent water molecule links three monomers to one another through hydrogen-bonding interactions in which two monomers are linked via chloro ligands and the third via the aqua ligand. Face-to-face and weak slipped π-π interactions also occur between di-2-pyridyldiazene moieties, and these interactions are responsible for the interchain packing.
Rapid, transient potentiation of dendritic spines in context‐induced relapse to cocaine seeking

Addiction to cocaine produces long‐lasting, stable changes in brain synaptic physiology that might contribute to the vulnerability to relapse. In humans, exposure to environmental contexts previously paired with drug use precipitates relapse, but the neurobiological mechanisms mediating this process are unknown. Initiation of cocaine relapse via re‐exposure to a drug‐associated context elicited reinstatement of cocaine seeking as well as rapid, transient synaptic plasticity in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore), measured as an increase in dendritic spine diameter. These results show that rapid context‐evoked synaptic potentiation in the NAcore may underpin relapse to cocaine use.
Development of Air Treatment Technology Using Plasma Method

Due to the physicochemical properties of nitrogen oxides as active molecules, the removal of this group of pollutants has always been considered as a matter of concern for specialists. The present study seeks to develop the removal technique of nitrogen oxides "as a major type of air pollutant" by means of non-thermal plasma process under atmospheric conditions. Besides having the potential to reduce energy consumption in the pollutant removal process, non-thermal plasma technology also provides particular flexibility for the simultaneous removal and mitigation of the secondary pollutants. In this research we have used the Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma process to achieve an effective conversion of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx). As a result of the collisions between the electrons and the airflow containing NOx, active radicals and molecules are generated in a limited and controlled volume (plasma reactor) and the conversion and removal process is then carried out in the presence of hydrocarbon as reducer gas. The key factors for NOx conversion especially in the non-thermal plasma condition are the geometric structure and design of the reactor, type of discharge, type of power supply, temperature, space velocity, propane/NOx mole ratio, and voltage. In the present study, the factors of temperature, mole ratio of the reducer and input voltage were examined. The results showed that the optimal conditions for conversion of NOx into N 2 and O 2 are temperature of 180°C, propane/NOx mole ratio of 0.5, and voltage of 5 KV. Under the optimal conditions acquired, NOx conversion was 0.79 in the 100 PPM concentration. Under the conditions of the present study, 1-5 PPM Ozone, Formaldehyde, and CO was generated as the undesirable pollutants.
Human Action Recognition using Continuous HMMs and HOG/HOF Silhouette Representation

This paper presents an alternative to the mainstream approach of STIP-based SVM recognition for human recognition. First, it studies whether or not whole silhouette representation by Histogram-of-Oriented-Gradients (HOG) or Histogram-of-Optical-Flow (HOF) descriptors is more discriminated when compared to sparse spatio-temporal interest points (STIPs). Second, it investigates whether explicitly modeling the temporal order of features using continuous HMMs outperforms the standard Bag-of-Words (BoW) representation that overlooks such an order. When both whole silhouette representation and temporal order modeling are combined, a significant improvement is shown on the Weizmann database over STIP-based SVM recognition.
Super resolution through alternative optimization using sparsity and PSF prior

Existing sparse representation model uses image statistics in the form of neighborhood correlation, learning algorithm for use of redundant dictionary, etc. The ill-posed nature of the problem means that there is no exact solution so any solution is an approximate of the actual solution and this often leads to discrepancy in the form of degradation as global smoothing of the final high resolution image. In our paper we propose overcome this drawback by using point spread function (PSF) or blur prior which will remove the degradations to give us an final super enhanced high resolution image. The PSF prior is integrated in to the SRM thereby preserving the computational complexity. The experimental results using the proposed method is compared with the existing state of the art methods for performance comparison.