Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Framework to Assess Where and How Children Connect to Nature

The design of the green infrastructure in urban areas largely ignores how people's relation to nature, or human-nature connection (HNC), can be nurtured. One practical reason for this is the lack of a framework to guide the assessment of where people, and more importantly children, experience significant nature situations and establish nature routines. This paper develops such a framework. We employed a mixed-method approach to understand what qualities of nature situations connect children to nature (RQ1), what constitutes children's HNC (RQ2), and how significant nature situations and children's HNC relate to each other over time (RQ3). We first interviewed professionals in the field of connecting children to nature (N = 26), performed inductive thematic analysis of these interviews, and then further examined the inductive findings by surveying specialists (N = 275). We identified 16 qualities of significant nature situations (e.g., “awe,” “engagement of senses,” “involvement of mentors”) and 10 abilities that constitute children's HNC (e.g., “feeling comfortable in natural spaces,” “feeling attached to natural spaces,” “taking care of nature”). We elaborated three principles to answer our research questions: (1) significant nature situations are various and with differing consequences for children's HNC; (2) children's HNC is a complex embodied ability; (3) children's HNC progresses over time through diverse nature routines. Together, these findings form the Assessment framework for Children's Human Nature Situations (ACHUNAS). ACHUNAS is a comprehensive framework that outlines what to quantify or qualify when assessing “child-nature connecting” environments. It guides the assessment of where and how children connect to nature, stimulating both the design of nature-connecting human habitats as well as pedagogical approaches to HNC.
Statistical Issues Arising in the Women's Health Initiative

Summary A brief overview of the design of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) clinical trial and observational study is provided along with a summary of results from the postmenopausal hormone therapy clinical trial components. Since its inception in 1992, the WHI has encountered a number of statistical issues where further methodology developments are needed. These include measurement error modeling and analysis procedures for dietary and physical activity assessment; clinical trial monitoring methods when treatments may affect multiple clinical outcomes, either beneficially or adversely; study design and analysis procedures for high‐dimensional genomic and proteomic data; and failure time data analysis procedures when treatment group hazard ratios are time dependent. This final topic seems important in resolving the discrepancy between WHI clinical trial and observational study results on postmenopausal hormone therapy and cardiovascular disease.
Automatically Identifying Minerals from Martian Orbit Robotics 811

Introduction The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) is a very high resolution near infrared spectrometer currently orbiting Mars on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Since each mineral has a unique spectral signature, it is possible to use the measurements from this instrument to identify minerals on the surface of Mars. This project describes a method[1] to derive the different mineral concentrations from a signal and shows the results of this processing on a dataset from Columbia Hills, the location of Spirit, the Mars Exploration Rover.
Bxb1 integrase serves as a highly efficient DNA recombinase in rapid metabolite pathway assembly

Phage-encoded serine integrases are widely used in genetic engineering. They also have the potential to serve as efficient DNA assemblers, demonstrated by the method of site-specific recombination-based tandem assembly (SSRTA) that can combine biological parts into devices, pathways, and systems. Here, four serine integrases, ϕBT1, TG1, ϕRv1, and Bxb1, were investigated to ascertain their in vitro DNA assembly activities. Bxb1 integrase displayed the highest efficiency to obtain final products. Thus, we conclude that Bxb1 integrase is an excellent choice for DNA assembly in vitro. Using this enzyme and its recognition sites, BioBrick standards were designed that are compatible with the SSRTA method for module addition. A rapid and efficient procedure was developed for the assembly of a multigene metabolic pathway in one step, directly from non-cutting plasmids containing the gene fragments. This technique is easy and convenient, and would be of interest to the synthetic biology community.
Use of Peritoneal Dialysis After Surgery for Congenital Heart Disease in Children

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication in children after surgery for congenital heart disease, and peritoneal dialysis (PD) is usually the renal replacement therapy (RRT) of choice, especially in very young children. The aim of the present study was to describe our experience of using PD to treat AKI after cardiac surgery. We retrospectively analyzed children 1 week to 16 years of age undergoing cardiac surgery during 2000 – 2008 and found the incidence of AKI treated with PD to be 2.3%. In the 23 patients treated with PD (13 male; average age: 29 ± 48.4 months; weight: 9.1 ± 8.1 kg), the indications for PD initiation were oliguria (n = 13), anuria (n = 9), and acidosis (n = 1). The average time between cardiac surgery and AKI was 4.8 ± 16.8 hours, and between AKI and PD initiation, it was 12 ± 16.8 hours. Patients were treated for a mean of 4.8 ± 3.8 days. Two patients developed peritonitis, and mechanical dysfunction of the PD catheter occurred in 1 patient. In-hospital mortality was 43.4%. Patients treated with PD weighed less (p = 0.004) and had longer bypass time (p = 0.004), inotrope use (p = 0.000), and mechanical ventilation (p = 0.000). However, in a regression analysis, only cardiopulmonary bypass time (odds ratio: 1.021; 95% confidence interval: 0.998 to 1.027; p = 0.032) remained predictive of a subsequent need for PD. We conclude that PD is an efficacious RRT for AKI in children undergoing cardiac surgery and that, in this setting, bypass time is the strongest predictor of a subsequent need for RRT.
A Self-Driven Current-Doubler-Rectifier Three-Level Converter With Integrated Magnetics

In this paper, a self-driven current-doubler-rectifier (CDR) three-level (TL) converter with integrated magnetics is proposed. The TL half-bridge (HB) structure without clamped diodes and flying capacitor is used as the primary-side structure, the current ripple of output inductors is reduced secondly, the main transformer is split into two transformers and their magnetizing inductors are employed as output inductors, and finally, these two transformers are integrated into one core. Compared to traditional zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) CDR TL-HB converter, the proposed converter have several advantages, the current ripple of output inductors is smaller, the number of magnetic component is only one by using the integrated magnetic method, the windings of main transformer can be directly used to drive synchronous rectifiers to realize self-driven, and the problem of poor clamped diode reliability in traditional ZVS CDR TL converter is eliminated. A 28 V/100 A prototype is built in lab to verify the theoretical analysis. Experimental results show that it can achieve 97.1% efficiency at full load.
Dealing with excess of zeros in the statistical analysis of magnetic resonance imaging lesion count in multiple sclerosis

Lesion count observed on brain magnetic resonance imaging scan is a common end point in phase 2 clinical trials evaluating therapeutic treatment in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). This paper compares the performances of Poisson, zero‐inflated poisson (ZIP), negative binomial (NB), and zero‐inflated NB (ZINB) mixed‐effects regression models in fitting lesion count data in a clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of fingolimod in comparison with placebo, in MS. The NB and ZINB models prove to be superior to the Poisson and ZIP models. We discuss the advantages and limitations of zero‐inflated models in the context of MS treatment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Malpractice Claims Associated with Medication Management for Chronic Pain

Background:Medication management is an integral part of chronic pain management. Prompted by an increase in the role of medication management in anesthesia chronic pain liability, we investigated the characteristics of malpractice claims collected from 2005 to 2008. Methods:After Institutional Review Board approval, we compared medication management claims with other chronic pain claims from the American Society of Anesthesiologists Closed Claims Database of 8,954 claims. Claims for death underwent in-depth analysis. Results:Medication management represented 17% of 295 chronic non-cancer pain claims. Compared with other chronic pain claims, medication management patients tended to be younger men (P < 0.01) with back pain. Most patients were prescribed opioids (94%) and also additional psychoactive medications (58%). Eighty percent of patients had at least one factor commonly associated with medication misuse and 24% had ≥ 3 factors. Most claims (82%) involved patients who did not cooperate in their care (69%) or inappropriate medication management by physicians (59%). Death was the most common outcome in medication management claims (57% vs. 9% in other chronic pain claims, P < 0.01). Factors associated with death included long-acting opioids, additional psychoactive medications, and ≥ 3 factors commonly associated with medication misuse. Alleged addiction from prescribed opioids was the complaint in 24%. Appropriateness of care and payments was similar for medication management versus other chronic pain claims. Conclusions:Most anesthesia malpractice claims for medication management problems involved patients with a history of risk behaviors commonly associated with medication misuse. Malpractice claims arising from medication management had a high proportion of deaths with both patient and physician contributions to the outcome.
A finite element model for predicting the tensile behavior of carbon naotube

An effective continuum/finite element (FE) approach for modeling the structure and the deformation of single- and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is presented. Individual tubes are modeled using Frame like structure with beam elements. , The effect of van der Waals forces, crucial in multi-wall nanotubes, is simulated by the construction of spring elements. The success of this new CNT modeling approach is verified by comparing simulations of deformation of single-wall nanotubes with molecular dynamics results available in the literature. Simulations of final deformed configurations are in excellent agreement with the atomistic models for various deformations. The approach was then applied to the multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), and the deformed configurations were compared to corresponding pervious data. The proposed approach successfully predicts the experimentally observed values mechanical behavior of SWCNTs and MWNTs. Presented results demonstrate that the proposed FE technique could provide a valuable tool for studying the mechanical behavior of different type of nanotubes, as well as their effectiveness as load-bearing entities in nanocomposite materials.
Facilitated Neural Differentiation of Adipose Tissue–Derived Stem Cells by Electrical Stimulation and Nurr-1 Gene Transduction

Neuron-like cells derived from adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) have been considered one of the most promising cells for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and neurotrauma in the central nervous system (CNS). Thus far, extensive efforts have been made to facilitate neuronal differentiation of ADSCs, but limited progress has been achieved. In the present study, we tested the possibility of using a combination of electrical stimulation (ES) with Nurr-1 gene transduction to promote neuronal differentiation of ADSCs. The tolerance of ADSCs to ES was first examined by a cell apoptosis assay. The proliferation of cells was characterized using a CCK-8 assay. The morphology of cells was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The differentiation of ADSCs into neuron-like cells was examined by immunocytochemistry (ICC)–immunofluorescence staining, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), Western blotting, and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The gene expression of microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP-2), β-tubulin, neurofilament 200 (NF-200), octamer binding transcription factor 4 (OCT-4), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) after stimulation was examined by qRT-PCR. We found that the optimal intensity of ES for neuronal differentiation of ADSCs was 1 V/cm. In addition, ES combined with Nurr-1 gene transduction increased the neuronal differentiation rate of ADSCs, the length of neurite-like processes, and the secretion of dopamine. Further studies showed that a combination of ES with Nurr-1 gene transduction was capable of promoting the expression of MAP-2, β-tubulin, and NF-200 but decreased the expression of OCT-4 and GFAP. All of these findings indicate that a combination of ES with Nurr-1 gene transduction could facilitate neuronal differentiation of ADSCs, which raises the possibility of its application in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and neurotrauma in the CNS.
Bifurcation Analysis and Experimental Study of a Multi-Operating-Mode Photovoltaic-Battery Hybrid Power System

Stand-alone hybrid renewable power generation systems have gained popularity in recent years. However, due to the intermittent nature of the renewable resources, hybrid renewable power generation systems are often designed to operate with multiple structures and multiple operating modes. The design for stable operation of such systems requires consideration of the stability conditions for all possible structures and operating modes. A stand-alone photovoltaic-battery hybrid power system is studied for illustrating the possible complex behavior in this paper. We reveal smooth bifurcation, including slow-scale Neimark-Sacker bifurcation, fast-scale period-doubling bifurcation as well as coexisting bifurcation. Under certain conditions, when the system switches its operating mode, a nonsmooth bifurcation, manifested as a jump between stable and unstable behavior, can also be observed. Moreover, a detailed analysis based on a discrete-time mapping model is performed to evaluate the stability boundaries of the system. Extensive experiments verify the analysis and simulated results.
Welding defect signal extraction technology based on OMP algorithm

Flip-chip technology has been rapidly developed and widely used in the field of microelectronic packaging, and defect detection has also received increasing attention. In the experiment, ultrasonic testing was used to detect defects on flip chip. Aiming at the problem that the interference noise of the ultrasonic detection defect signal seriously affects the location of the defects and the signal extraction, we use the algorithm based on orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) to extract the defect signal and adopt the Gabor atom library which is optimally matched with the ultrasonic signal to achieve matching the ultrasonic echo signals adaptively and greatly reducing the complexity of the sparse decomposition algorithm. The simulated and actual ultrasonic defect signals were tested separately and compared with the matching pursuit algorithm. The result shows that OMP can extract defect signals more effectively in the noise background.
Thermal-Constrained Task Scheduling on 3-D Multicore Processors for Throughput-and-Energy Optimization

Thermal-constrained task scheduler for throughput optimization on 3-D multicore processors (3-D MCPs) has been studied extensively. However, these throughput-optimized strategies often ignore energy consumption and overuse thermal simulations. Therefore, in this brief, a new strategy named thermal-aware mapping and VoltagE scaling (TAMVES) is proposed to optimize throughput and energy consumption while satisfying thermal constraints (in terms of both peak temperature and temperature gradient) simultaneously. Layer-by-layer task-to-core mapping and thermal-and-energy-aware voltage scaling are incorporated in TAMVES to reduce peak temperature and temperature gradient without extensive thermal simulation. Furthermore, idle time slots are also utilized by voltage scaling for minimizing energy consumption. Our experimental results show that under thermal constraints, TAMVES outperforms a previous work (3-D Wave) by 35.30% averagely on throughput. In addition, TAMVES that features three-order faster speed under timing constraints outperforms 3-D Wave for saving 51.17% more energy and reducing 8.37% more peak temperature and 5.67% more temperature gradient. As a result, TAMVES has proven itself an effective task scheduler that optimizes throughput and energy on 3-D MCPs under thermal constraints.
A framework for semantic annotation of geospatial data for agriculture

The Web is a huge repository of geospatial information. Efficient retrieval of this information is a key factor in planning and decision-making in many domains, including agriculture. However, standards for data annotation and exchange enable only syntactic interoperability, while semantic heterogeneity presents challenges. This work describes a framework that tackles interoperability problems via semantic annotations, which are based on multiple ontologies. The framework is being developed within a project to support agricultural planning in Brazil. The paper discusses design and implementation issues using a real case study, provides an overview of annotation mechanisms and identifies requirements for annotating agricultural data.
"It's good to know you're not a stranger every time"

When patients' decisions about health care priorities conflict with those of their health care providers, patients' health outcomes suffer. Patients' values for health and well-being influence their healthcare priorities, but recent work suggests that the values discussed in clinical settings do not reflect the full breadth of patients' values. To address an evidence gap regarding how discussions about values occur in clinical settings, we conducted a field study with patients with multiple chronic conditions and their health care providers, including clinical observations, interviews, and home visits. We report on the extent to which certain categories of patients' values identified in prior research were discussed in clinic visits. We then discuss how patients and providers coordinated their perspectives to establish connections among patients' values and health concerns. These findings have implications for the design of systems to support patient-provider communication to incorporate patients' values and promote concordant priorities for health care.
A colony architecture for an artificial creature

This report describes a working autonomous mobile robot whose only goal is to collect and return empty soda cans. It operates in an unmodified office environment occupied by moving people. The robot is controlled by a collection of over 40 independent ``behaviors'''' distributed over a loosely coupled network of 24 processors. Together this ensemble helps the robot locate cans with its laser rangefinder, collect them with its on-board manipulator, and bring them home using a compass and an array of proximity sensors. We discuss the advantages of using such a multi-agent control system and show how to decompose the required tasks into component activities. We also examine the benefits and limitations of spatially local, stateless, and independent computation by the agents.
Rapid modification of retroviruses using lipid conjugates

Methods are needed to manipulate natural nanoparticles. Viruses are particularly interesting because they can act as therapeutic cellular delivery agents. Here we examine a new method for rapidly modifying retroviruses that uses lipid conjugates composed of a lipid anchor (1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine), a polyethylene glycol chain, and biotin. The conjugates rapidly and stably modified retroviruses and enabled them to bind streptavidin. The implication of this work for modifying viruses for gene therapy and vaccination protocols is discussed.
A Block World Problem Based Sudoku Solver

There are many approaches proposed for solving Sudoku puzzles. One of them is by modelling the puzzles as block world problems. There have been three model for Sudoku solvers based on this approach. Each model expresses Sudoku solver as a parameterized multi agent systems. In this work, we propose a new model which is an improvement over the existing models. This paper presents the development of a Sudoku solver that implements all the proposed models. Some experiments have been conducted to determine the performance of each model. Keywords—Sudoku puzzle, Sudoku solver, block world problem, parameterized multi agent systems.
Effects of Exercise on Quality of Life in Women Living with Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review

Abstract: The goal of this systematic review was to examine the effect of exercise on quality of life (QOL) in women living with breast cancer. Data bases searched were MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PubMed, and PEDro. Keywords were “breast cancer and quality of life” in combination with “exercise” or “physical activity” (with associated Mesh terms). Limits were English or French language. Included studies were independently reviewed for methodological quality (van Tulder et al.) and assigned a level of evidence (Centre for Evidence‐Based Medicine). Nine relevant randomized controlled trials were included: four of moderate methodological quality and five of high methodological quality. There was strong evidence that exercise positively influences QOL in women living with breast cancer. Exercise can be an effective strategy to improve QOL in women living with breast cancer. Future research is necessary to determine optimal exercise types and parameters.
A Novel Function of RNAs Arising From the Long Terminal Repeat of Human Endogenous Retrovirus 9 in Cell Cycle Arrest

ABSTRACT The human genome contains approximately 50 copies of the replication-defective human endogenous retrovirus 9 (ERV-9) and thousands of copies of its solitary long term repeat (sLTR) element. While some sLTRs are located upstream of critical genes and have enhancer activity, other sLTRs are located within introns and may be transcribed as RNAs. We found that intronic RNAs arising from U3 sLTRs of ERV-9 were expressed as both sense (S) and antisense (AS) transcripts in all human cells tested but that expression levels differed in malignant versus nonmalignant cells. In nonmalignant cells, AS was expressed at higher levels than S and at higher levels than in malignant cells; in malignant cells, AS was expressed at amounts equivalent to those of S RNA. Critically, U3 AS RNA was found to physically bind to key transcription factors for cellular proliferation, including NF-Y, p53, and sp1, indicating that such RNA transcripts may function as decoy targets or traps for NF-Y and thus inhibit the growth of human cancer cells. Indeed, short U3 oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) based on these RNA sequences ably inhibited proliferation of cancer cell lines driven by cyclins B1/B2, the gene targets of NF-Y.
On the Stability Crossing Boundaries of Some Delay Systems Modeling Immune Dynamics in Leukemia

This paper focuses on the characterization of delay effects on the asymptotic stability of some continuoustime delay systems encountered in modeling the posttransplantation dynamics of the immune response to chronic myelogenous leukemia. More explicitly, we shall discuss the stability of the crossing boundaries of the corresponding linearized models in the delay-parameter space. Weak, and strong cell interactions are discussed, and analytic characterizations are proposed. An illustrative example completes the presentation. Keywords— Delay; asymptotic stability; switch; reversal; crossing curves; quasipolynomial.