Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of electrical velocimetry and transthoracic thermodilution technique for cardiac output assessment in critically ill patients

Background and objective The results of studies validating the assessment of cardiac output by pulmonary artery thermodilution and a modified algorithm using thoracic bioimpedance/electrical velocimetry in patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery are conflicting. The present observational study was designed to detect whether electrical velocimetry measurements are comparable to transthoracic thermodilution in septic patients after major general surgery. Methods Cardiac output was assessed simultaneously by thoracic bioimpedance measurement/electrical velocimetry and transthoracic thermodilution technique (PiCCO) in 30 patients with severe systemic inflammatory response syndrome or sepsis with haemodynamic instability being treated in the surgical intensive care unit of an university hospital. Results Thirty simultaneous measurements were taken with both methods. The Bland–Altman analysis of agreement revealed a bias of −0.3 l min−1 with a precision of ±1.9 l min−1 and wide limits of agreement (−4.1–3.5 l min−1). The percentage error was 54%. Conclusion There was poor agreement between the values of cardiac output estimation by transthoracic thermodilution and those by electrical velocimetry. Electrical velocimetry could not replace invasive monitoring in this trial.
Impact of the charge transport in the conduction band on the retention of Si-nitride based memories

An improved model for charge injection through ONO gate stacks, that comprises carrier transport in the conduction band of the silicon nitride (Si3N4), is used to investigate the program/retention sequence of Si3N4 based (SONOS/TANOS) non volatile memories without making assumptions on the initial distribution of the trapped charge at the beginning of retention. We show that carrier transport in the Si3N4 layer impacts the spatial charge distribution and consequently several other aspects of the retention transient. The interpretation of the Arrehnius plots of the high temperature retention data, typically used to infer the trap depth from the retention activation energy is discussed. The model provides a simple explanation of the small threshold voltage increase observed during retention experiments of thick tunnel oxide ONO stacks.
Robust Control by SOSM Facilitates Optimizing Under Actuated Induction Cap Sealing Process

Using nonuniformly distributed heat input on thin aluminum foil, the cap sealing process takes care of two activities—sealing and wax removal. Presence of more than one indirectly controlled spatial outputs being controlled by single heat input makes the process as under actuated. The performance of such system is optimal when energy delivered to and utilized by the foil takes place most efficiently. Though better topologies and power devices that have emerged the most influential contribution for such systems has been the use of litz-wire in high-frequency magnetic components. Sharp reduction in high-frequency power loss has enabled simple low-power cooling arrangement. Here, energy utilization is improved when the coil head ensures multizone heating at single frequency on a thin moving foil, whose thickness is negligible compared to its skin depth. Connecting multisegment air-cooled coil in parallel reduces no-load loss as its ac resistance is reduced. It, however, invites two problems, particularly, at no-load—the quality factor is large and damping factor is small. No-load oscillations tend to be more and the undamped voltage across the tank capacitor is high. This paper demonstrates how the introduction of robust control concept such as second-order sliding mode can resolve this weakness and help the system achieve its near optimal performance.
Industrial structure and the sources of agglomeration economies.

The impacts of agglomeration and local industrial structure are examined through an analysis of establishment-level productivity. Using micro-level data, measures of regional industrial specialization, economic diversity, and industrial competitive structure are incorporated together into a production function system estimated cross-sectionally for three years and three manufacturing industries in the U.S. The findings demonstrate the importance of the influences of regional industrial competitive structure and diversity on performance.
The MyoD-Inducible p204 Protein Overcomes the Inhibition of Myoblast Differentiation by Id Proteins

ABSTRACT The murine p204 protein level is highest in heart and skeletal muscle. During the fusion of cultured myoblasts to myotubes, the p204 level increases due to transcription dependent on the muscle-specific MyoD protein, and p204 is phosphorylated and translocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. p204 overexpression accelerates myoblast fusion in differentiation medium and triggers this process even in growth medium. Here we report that p204 is required for the differentiation of C2C12 myoblasts. We propose that it enables the differentiation, at least in part, by overcoming the inhibition of the activities of the MyoD and E47 proteins by the Id proteins: Id1, Id2, and Id3. These are known to inhibit skeletal muscle differentiation by binding and blocking the activity of MyoD, E12/E47, and other myogenic basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins. Our hypothesis is based on the following findings. (i) A decrease in the p204 level in C2C12 myoblasts by antisense RNA (a) increased the level of the Id2; (b) inhibited the MyoD-, E12/E47-, and other bHLH protein-dependent accumulation of the muscle-specific myosin heavy-chain protein; and (c) inhibited the fusion of myoblasts to myotubes in differentiation medium. (ii) p204 bound to the Id proteins in vitro and in vivo. (iii) In the binding of p204 to Id2, the b segment of p204 and the HLH segment of Id2 were involved. (iv) Addition of p204 overcame the inhibition by the Id proteins of the binding of MyoD and E47 to DNA in vitro. (v) Overexpression of p204 in myoblasts (a) decreased the level of the Id proteins, even in a culture in growth medium, and (b) overcame the inhibition by the Id proteins of MyoD- and E47 dependent transcription and also overcame the inhibition by Id2 of the fusion of myoblasts to myotubes.
Whole-Body Motion Planning for Robotic Manipulation of Articulated Objects

In this thesis, we present a sampling-based approach to generate whole-body motions for a humanoid robot. In particular, the planner developed is capable to generate valid whole-body motions for body repositioning as well as for grasping and manipulation of articulated objects, such as doors or drawers. Besides the generic constraints involved in motion planning, such as joint limits and collision avoidance, motions of a humanoid robot are required to satisfy stability and closure constraints. Additionally manipulation constraints arise, once the robot has grasped the handle of an object to be manipulated. In the work at hand, our planner, which is an extended variant of the RRT-CONNECT algorithm, will be presented. In the experiments we will show that the whole-body motion planner allows to perform tasks that are not feasible by a decomposition approach that plans motions for the lower and upper body consecutively. Furthermore, examples of manipulation planning will be presented and the planner is thoroughly evaluated. The experiments have been carried out successfully on both, the simulated and real humanoid robot platform.
Abrogation of hepatic ATP‐citrate lyase protects against fatty liver and ameliorates hyperglycemia in leptin receptor‐deficient mice

Hepatic steatosis is a hallmark of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and a key component of obesity‐associated metabolic dysfunctions featuring dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, and loss of glycemic control. It has yet to be completely understood how much dysregulated de novo lipogenesis contributes to the pathogenic development of hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance. ATP‐citrate lyase (ACL) is a lipogenic enzyme that catalyzes the critical reaction linking cellular glucose catabolism and lipogenesis, converting cytosolic citrate to acetyl‐coenzyme A (CoA). Acetyl‐CoA is further converted to malonyl‐CoA, the essential precursor for fatty acid biosynthesis. We investigated whether dysregulation of hepatic ACL is metabolically connected to hepatic steatosis, insulin resistance, and hyperglycemia. We found that in leptin receptor–deficient db/db mice, the expression of ACL was selectively elevated in the liver but not in the white adipose tissue. Liver‐specific ACL abrogation via adenovirus‐mediated RNA interference prominently reduced the hepatic contents of both acetyl‐CoA and malonyl‐CoA, markedly inhibited hepatic de novo lipogenesis, and protected against hepatic steatosis in db/db mice. Surprisingly, liver‐specific ACL abrogation markedly inhibited the expression of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐gamma and the entire lipogenic program in the liver. Moreover, hepatic ACL deficiency resulted in significantly down‐regulated expression of gluconeogenic genes in the liver as well as enhanced insulin sensitivity in the muscle, leading to substantially improved systemic glucose metabolism. Conclusion: These findings establish a crucial role of hepatic ACL in lipid and glucose metabolism; therefore, hepatic ACL may serve as a potential target to treat NAFLD and type 2 diabetes. (HEPATOLOGY 2009.)
Cohesion Policy Spending in the New Member States of the EU in an Endogenous Growth Model

European Union Cohesion Policy supports investment in infrastructure, research and development, and human capital in Europe's poorer regions. This paper provides a model-based assessment of the potential macroeconomic impact of these fiscal transfers using a microfounded dynamic general equilibrium model with endogenous growth and endogenous human capital accumulation. The simulations show the potential benefits of Structural Funds with significant output gains in the long run due to sizable productivity improvements. The condition that recipient countries cofinance part of the funding is found to raise the long-term output effects. Delays in spending due to slow absorption of available funding reduce potential gains.
Protein disulphide isomerase from human peripheral blood neutrophils

Protein disulphide isomerase (PDI) is a 56 kDa resident polypeptide of the endoplasmic reticulum of many cell types. We evaluated the ability of human peripheral blood polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) to synthesize both mRNA and proteins. Using in vitro [35S]‐methionine labeling of purified PMN, followed by immunoprecipitation of cell lysates with immobilized polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies and analysis by gel electrophoresis, PMN were shown to synthesize many proteins, including actin. In contrast, incorporation of [35S]‐methionine into PDI was not detected. Purification of total RNA from PMN and analysis by Northern blots demonstrated the presence in PMN of PDI‐RNA. Western immunoblot evaluations of total PMN protein display an immunoreactive‐PDI of 56 kDa. Indirect immunofluorescence studies suggest an abundance of immunoreactive‐PDI throughout PMN. We therefore conclude that PDI is synthesized in precursor cells of the bone marrow. Phorbol 12‐myristate 13‐aceiate, a reagent known to affect the degranulation of specific granules, causes the release of immunoreactive‐PDI into a post‐centrifugation supernatant. PDI, a ubiquitous endoplasmic reticulum resident protein, is shown here to be associated with specific granules in a cell type which has lost its intracellular membrane network during terminal differentiation.
A Point Cloud Filtering Approach to Generating DTMs for Steep Mountainous Areas and Adjacent Residential Areas

Digital terrain models (DTMs) are considered important basic geographic data. They are widely used in the fields of cartography, land utilization, urban planning, communications, and remote sensing. Digital photogrammetry mainly based on stereo image matching is a frequently applied technique to generate DTMs. Generally, the process of ground filtering should be applied to the point cloud derived from image matching to separate terrain and off-terrain points before DTM generation. However, many of the existing filtering methods perform unsatisfactorily for steep mountainous areas, particularly when residential neighborhoods exist in the proximity of the test areas. In this study, an improved automated filtering method based on progressive TIN (triangulated irregular networks) densification (PTD) is proposed to generate DTMs for steep mountainous areas and adjacent residential areas. Our main improvement on the classic method is the acquisition of seed points with better distribution and reliability to enhance its adaptability to different types of terrain. A rule-based method for detecting ridge points is first applied. The detected points are used as additional seed points. Subsequently, a locally optimized seed point selection method based on confidence interval estimation theory is applied to remove the erroneous points. The experiments on two sets of stereo-matched point clouds indicate that the proposed method performs well for both residential and mountainous areas. The total accuracy values in the form of root-mean-square errors of the generated DTMs by the proposed method are 0.963 and 1.007 m; respectively; which are better than the 1.286 and 1.309 m achieved by the classic PTD method.
An Empirical Analysis of Agglomeration Effect in the Japanese Food Industry -Panel Analysis Using Flexible Translog Production Function-

In this paper, we examine the existence of agglomeration effect on production in the Japanese food industry from 1985 to 2000 using plant-level 4-digit subclassification, panel dataset and new agglomeration index in Akune and Tokunaga (2005), and Tokunaga, Kageyama, and Akune (2005), based on Ellison and Glaeser (1997). This is an improvement on the the conventional indices such as Location Quotient (LQ) or Location Gini Coefficient (L). When we apply a flexible translog production function and cost share equation as suggested by Kim (1992), we find that around 2% of positive agglomeration effect exists in absence of any restriction on homotheticity in the the case of employment based agglomeration (Gamma EG ).
A tetranuclear chlorido-bridged manganese(II) cluster with imidazole ligands

The crystal structure of di-μ3-chlorido-tetra-μ2-chlorido-dichloridoocta(imidazole-κN)tetramanganese(II) ethanol 1.234 solvate, [Mn4Cl8(C3H4N2)8]·1.234C2H5O or [Mn4Cl8(Him)8]·1.234EtOH, where Him is imidazole (C3H4N2), is based upon two Mn4Cl4 cubes which share one face, and which each lack one manganese vertex, giving a Mn4Cl6 unit. This contains two different octahedral coordination environments for the Mn atoms. Mn1 is coordinated by four bridging chlorido ligands and two imidazole N atoms, whereas Mn2 is coordinated by three bridging and one terminal Cl and two imidazole N atoms. The remaining two Mn centres are generated by inversion symmetry. A partial occupancy solvent molecule (ethanol) is present. The crystal structure displays several N—H⋯Cl and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds.
A randomized controlled trial of online versus clinic-based CBT for adolescent anxiety.

OBJECTIVE The study examined the relative efficacy of online (NET) versus clinic (CLIN) delivery of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) in the treatment of anxiety disorders in adolescents. METHOD Participants included 115 clinically anxious adolescents aged 12 to 18 years and their parent(s). Adolescents were randomly assigned to NET, CLIN, or wait list control (WLC) conditions. The treatment groups received equivalent CBT content. Clinical diagnostic interviews and questionnaire assessments were completed 12 weeks after baseline and at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. RESULTS Assessment at 12 weeks post-baseline showed significantly greater reductions in anxiety diagnoses and anxiety symptoms for both NET and CLIN conditions compared with the WLC. These improvements were maintained or further enhanced for both conditions, with minimal differences between them, at 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Seventy-eight percent of adolescents in the NET group (completer sample) no longer met criteria for the principal anxiety diagnosis at 12-month follow-up compared with 80.6% in the CLIN group. Ratings of treatment credibility from both parents and adolescents were high for NET and equivalent to CLIN. Satisfaction ratings by adolescents were equivalent for NET and CLIN conditions, whereas parents indicated slightly higher satisfaction ratings for the CLIN format. CONCLUSIONS Online delivery of CBT, with minimal therapist support, is equally efficacious as clinic-based, face-to-face therapy in the treatment of anxiety disorders among adolescents. This approach offers a credible alternative to clinic-based therapy, with benefits of reduced therapist time and greater accessibility for families who have difficulty accessing clinic-based CBT.
The Link Between Information and Bargaining Efficiency

The article reviews the relevant theory and research linking information and bargaining efficiency and presents results of an analysis of negotiation times associated with 290 franchise renewal agreements. Data reveal three main findings: (1) Information revealing a history of poor performance by the supplier resulted in a 74% increase in negotiation time; (2) A 1% increase in the value of a contract increased negotiation time by 18%; and (3) the participation of an expert resulted in a 24% decrease in negotiation time. We also consider and test various moderator and mediator effects and conclude that the length of the previous relationship between the parties neither directly nor indirectly affects the negotiation time in a substantively meaningful way, nor does it mitigate the negative effect of conflict history.
Computational Prediction of Electron Ionization Mass Spectra to Assist in GC/MS Compound Identification.

We describe a tool, competitive fragmentation modeling for electron ionization (CFM-EI) that, given a chemical structure (e.g., in SMILES or InChI format), computationally predicts an electron ionization mass spectrum (EI-MS) (i.e., the type of mass spectrum commonly generated by gas chromatography mass spectrometry). The predicted spectra produced by this tool can be used for putative compound identification, complementing measured spectra in reference databases by expanding the range of compounds able to be considered when availability of measured spectra is limited. The tool extends CFM-ESI, a recently developed method for computational prediction of electrospray tandem mass spectra (ESI-MS/MS), but unlike CFM-ESI, CFM-EI can handle odd-electron ions and isotopes and incorporates an artificial neural network. Tests on EI-MS data from the NIST database demonstrate that CFM-EI is able to model fragmentation likelihoods in low-resolution EI-MS data, producing predicted spectra whose dot product scores are significantly better than full enumeration "bar-code" spectra. CFM-EI also outperformed previously reported results for MetFrag, MOLGEN-MS, and Mass Frontier on one compound identification task. It also outperformed MetFrag in a range of other compound identification tasks involving a much larger data set, containing both derivatized and nonderivatized compounds. While replicate EI-MS measurements of chemical standards are still a more accurate point of comparison, CFM-EI's predictions provide a much-needed alternative when no reference standard is available for measurement. CFM-EI is available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/cfm-id/ for download and http://cfmid.wishartlab. com as a web service.
The ADAS‐cog and clinically meaningful change in the VISTA clinical trial of galantamine for Alzheimer's disease

A minimum 4‐point change at 6 months on the Alzheimer's disease assessment scale‐cognitive subscale (ADAS‐cog) is deemed clinically important, but this cut‐point has been little studied in relation to clinical meaningfulness. In an investigator‐initiated, clinical trial of galantamine, we investigated the extent to which a 4‐point change classifies goal attainment by individual patients.
An extended DEA windows analysis: Middle East and East African seaports

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to evaluate the efficiency of 22 cargo seaports situated in the regions of East Africa and Middle East. Design/methodology/approach - The data envelopment analysis (DEA) with window analysis model evaluates the efficiency score in terms of normal efficiency and super efficiency. The analysis is based on the panel data for the period of 2000-2005. Findings - The number of efficient decision making units (DMUs) under super efficiency is more than the number under normal efficiency. Originality/value - Using panel data, this paper is the first study to use super efficiency with window analysis that compares the efficiency estimated with the normal efficiency and with super efficiency.
Learning Features from Co-occurrences: A Theoretical Analysis

Representing a word by its co-occurrences with other words in context is an effective way to capture the meaning of the word. However, the theory behind remains a challenge. In this work, taking the example of a word classification task, we give a theoretical analysis of the approaches that represent a word X by a function f(P(C|X)), where C is a context feature, P(C|X) is the conditional probability estimated from a text corpus, and the function f maps the co-occurrence measure to a prediction score. We investigate the impact of context feature C and the function f . We also explain the reasons why using the co-occurrences with multiple context features may be better than just using a single one. In addition, based on the analysis, we propose a hypothesis about the conditional probability on zero probability events.
Fast Skew Angle Detection Algorithm for Scanned Document Images

This paper makes a study on fast skew angle detection for document images. Given a document image and return the skew angle. First this algorithm computes the horizontal gradient image by the input image and then merges the characters area in the text line block, to get the valid text line by non-text area filtering, at last, statistic the text line characteristics to estimate the input image skew angle. This paper gives the processing of the algorithm. The experiment results indicate that this algorithm is accurate and effective, also with robustness. The algorithm can be applied in real- time processing system, by the more this algorithm can be applied in automatic de-skew for picture and text mixed images, layout analysis, picture and text segmentation and content-based retrieval.
Innovation in Public Finance

The Review section of Public Works Management & Policy(PWMP) intends to provide readers with an opportunity to examine the proceedings of professional meetings andthe results of research reports important to public works managers. Reviews capture the essence and insights of these documents and guide the reader to further pursuit of the topics. This review examines a roundtable discussion on innovation for public infrastructure finance conducted at the University of Southern California (USC), Sacramento Center, in December 2000. Coordinated by USC’s National Center for Innovations in Public Finance, the Roundtable focused on public/private partnerships andinnovative models andtools for developing and operating infrastructure systems.