Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cessation assistance reported by smokers in 15 countries participating in the International Tobacco Control (ITC) policy evaluation surveys.

AIMS To describe some of the variability across the world in levels of quit smoking attempts and use of various forms of cessation support. DESIGN Use of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project surveys of smokers, using the 2007 survey wave (or later, where necessary). SETTINGS Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uruguay and United States. PARTICIPANTS Samples of smokers from 15 countries. MEASUREMENTS Self-report on use of cessation aids and on visits to health professionals and provision of cessation advice during the visits. FINDINGS Prevalence of quit attempts in the last year varied from less than 20% to more than 50% across countries. Similarly, smokers varied greatly in reporting visiting health professionals in the last year (<20% to over 70%), and among those who did, provision of advice to quit also varied greatly. There was also marked variability in the levels and types of help reported. Use of medication was generally more common than use of behavioural support, except where medications are not readily available. CONCLUSIONS There is wide variation across countries in rates of attempts to stop smoking and use of assistance with higher overall use of medication than behavioural support. There is also wide variation in the provision of brief advice to stop by health professionals.
Aftershocks resulting from creeping sections in a heterogeneous fault

We show that realistic aftershock sequences with space‐time characteristics compatible with observations are generated by a model consisting of brittle fault segments separated by creeping zones. The dynamics of the brittle regions is governed by static/kinetic friction, 3D elastic stress transfer and small creep deformation. The creeping parts are characterized by high ongoing creep velocities. These regions store stress during earthquake failures and then release it in the interseismic periods. The resulting postseismic deformation leads to aftershock sequences following the modified Omori law. The ratio of creep coefficients in the brittle and creeping sections determines the duration of the postseismic transients and the exponent p of the modified Omori law.
A novel Adaptive Shape Support Window based cost aggregation method for local stereo matching

Cost aggregation is the most important step in a local stereo matching algorithm. In this paper, a novel cost aggregation method based on Adaptive Shape Support Window (ASSW) is proposed. There are two main parts: At first we construct a local support skeleton anchored each pixel with four varying arm lengths decided on color similarity, as a result, the support window integral of multiple horizontal segments spanned by pixels in the vertical neighboring is established; then we utilize extended implementation of guided filtering to aggregate cost volume within the ASSW, which has better edge-preserving smoothing property than bilateral filter independent of the filtering kernel size. In this way, the proposed method can effectively reduce the number of bad pixels locating in the incorrect depth regions through finding optimal support window with an arbitrary shape and size adaptively. When the proposed cost aggregation method is implemented together with the remaining steps, the overall local stereo matching algorithm achieves more outstanding matching performance compared with other existing algorithms based on cost aggregation strategy on the Middlebury stereo benchmark, especially in depth discontinuities and piecewise smooth regions.
Pipe Network Locomotion with a Snake Robot

We present a method of achieving whole‐body compliant motions with a snake robot that allows the robot to automatically adapt to the shape of its environment. This feature is important to pipe navigation because it allows the robot to adapt to changes in diameter and junctions, even though the robot lacks mechanical compliance or tactile sensing. Rather than reasoning in the configuration space of robot joint angles, the compliant controller estimates the overall state of the robot in terms of the parameters of a low‐dimensional control function, i.e., a gait. The controller then commands new gait parameters relative to that estimated state. Performing closed‐loop control in this lower‐dimensional parameter space, rather than the robot's full configuration space, exploits the intuitive connection between the gait parameters and higher‐level robot behavior. Furthermore, the ability to automatically adjust gait parameters with this controller enables more sophisticated motions that would previously have been too complex to be controlled manually.
Translation, orentation, and scale estimation based on Laguerre-Gauss circular harmonic pyramids

This paper deals with the problem of accurate position, orientation and scale estimation (localization) of objects in images, in the context of the Laguerre-Gauss Transform (GLT) theory. The solution proposed here is based on the maximization of the Maximum Likelihood functional, expressed by means of the Laguerre-Gauss expansion of the object and of the observed image. The original computational complexity of the problem, which would imply maximization over a four dimensional parameter space, is drastically reduced taking advantage of properties of the GLT image representation system.
Specific Antibody to Hog Renal Renin and Its Application to the Direct Radioimmunoassay of Renin in Various Organs

We produced anti-hog renin antibodies using as antigens pure hog renal renin that either had been insolubilized or conjugated to tetanus toxoid. High titer antibodies were obtained, which demonstrated different cross-reactivity with renins from other species. A direct radioimmunoassay for renin was developed using antibody, monoiodinatedluI-hog renin, and various methods for separating free and antibody-bound trace. This assay was capable of detecting 40 pg of hog renin and was applied to the determination of renin in hog blood and other organs. Based on the direct measurement of renin by this radioimmunoassay, the renin-like activity (i.e., the ability to generate angiotensin I from renin substrate preparations) of the pituitary gland was found to be due mostly to true renin, whereas the renin activity of other hog tissues, including the adrenal gland, liver, lung, spleen, and submaxillary gland, was not identified as renin and may have been due to cathepsins. Cire Ret 45: 275-281, 1979
Reduction of Compressor Vibrations by Optimizing the Locations of the Counterweight and the Internal Springs

Until now the rotating and oscillating imbalance in the hermetic compressor has been balanced to and greater or lesser extent, but in addition internal springs were added where this was expedient from a design viewpoint. It is clear, however, that the position of the springs is an important factor in the transmitted vibrations. Generally, it proves in this paper that for a single-cylinder compressor balanced by a counterweight there is one and only one plane at right angles to the axis of rotation, where the vibrations in the plane are at a minimum. If the points of application are placed in the plane it is clear that the forces transmitted through the springs will be minimal. INTRODUCTION The noise level of compressor driven refrigerators and freezers is determined by several factors. The compressor emits Noise Pulsations Vibrations ~1rthermore, the noise level is effected by flow noise in the refrigeration system itself and by installation conditions. In order to obtain a minimum noise level it is necessary to give equal consideration to all factors. It serves no purpose to reduce, for example, system noise and compressor pulsations, if it is vibrations or compressor noise which is the dominating influence in the total result. General competition factors and the use of effective insulation materials means, that refrigerators and freezers are to day con~iderably lighter than before. These facts 8oupled with an increasing tendency to build appliances into kitchen modules makes it especially important to focuse attention to the vibration level of the compressor (1). 55 A thorough analysis of the vibrations from compressor/refrigerator/kitchen module would be very complicated.
Treatment of vitamin D-resistant hypoparathyroidism with 25-hydroxycholecalciferol.

Twenty-five-hydroxycholecalciferol (25-HCC) is believed to be the biologically active metabolite of vitamin D 3 circulating in the blood. Its clinical usefulness was determined in four patients with hypoparathyroidism, three of whom were resistant to vitamin D. Two patients with Vitamin D resistance responded to 25-HCC (5,000 units or less per day) with a significant increase in serum calcium concentration and in urinary calcium excretion. A similar response was shown in a patient with idiopathic hypoparathyroidism who was probably not vitamin D-resistant. In all three patients, 25-HCC significantly increased the gastrointestinal absorption of calcium. In one patient, it increased the urinary excretion of hydroxyproline. In a fourth patient, who had shown resistance to dihydrotachysterol and cholecalciferol, 25-HCC did not significantly affect serum calcium concentration. This patient, unlike the rest, had a degree of moderate renal failure.
The Barley Uniculme 4 Gene Encodes a BLADE-ON-PETIOLE-Like Protein That Controls Tillering and Leaf Patterning 1 [ OPEN ]

Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Ambientali-Produzione, Territorio, Agroenergia, 20133 Milan, Italy (E.T., G.V., A.Hu., L.R.); Department of Crop Production and Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran (E.T.); Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics (R.O., H.B., G.J.M.) and Department of Plant Biology (G.J.M.), University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota 55108; Parco Tecnologico Padano, 26900 Lodi, Italy (V.S.J., L.R.); Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (M.J.S., N.R.T.); Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521– 0124 (T.J.C.); James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, United Kingdom (A.D., R.W.); and Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, 06466 Stadt Seeland, Germany (B.S., R.A., A.Hi., N.S.)
Removal of Arsenic in Drinking Water by Iron Oxide-Coated Sand and Ferrihydrite — Batch Studies

Arsenic, a common toxic element is mainly transported in the environment by water. Arsenic in drinking water is of major concern to many of the water utilities in the world. Numerous studies have examined the removal of arsenic from drinking water through treatment processes such as coagulation-precipitation, reverse osmosis and ion exchange. The focus of research has now shifted to solve the problems using suitable adsorbents to achieve low level As in drinking water for communities with high raw water arsenic concentration. The determination of arsenic species is also essential for a better understanding and prediction of the toxic and carcinogenic nature of the species present in natural water systems. It is generally known that As(III) is more toxic than As(V) and inorganic arsenicals are more toxic than organic derivatives. The objective of this study was to study the arsenic adsorption behaviour on iron oxide-coated sand (IOCS) and ferrihydrite (FH). Batch studies were conducted using these adsorbents with natural water containing 325 µg/L arsenic, and the removal of approximately 90% was obtained. The adsorption capacity of the IOCS and FH used in this study for arsenic was estimated as 18.3 and 285 µg/g, respectively. The experimental data fitted well with the well-known isotherms, namely, Freundlich, Langmuir and BET, indicating a favourable adsorption by these adsorbents. Speciation studies were also conducted with natural water containing arsenic. Particulate and soluble arsenic in water were determined, and As(III) in the sample was determined by passing the sample containing arsenic through anion exchange resin (Dowex 1X8-100; acetate form) packed in the column. Speciation studies with natural water showed that the particulate and soluble arsenic contributed 11.4 and 88.6% of the total arsenic present in the natural water, respectively. In the case of soluble arsenic, As(III) and As(V) were 47.3 and 52.7%, respectively.
On the mechanism of uncoupling in chloroplasts by ion-permeability inducing agents.

A general mechanism is presented for uncoupling of chloroplasts by compounds or combination of compounds which increase membrane permeability to both protons and alkali metal cations. Agents which supposedly increase the membrane permeability to protons only, such as 2,4-dinitrophenol and carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxy phenylhydrazone (FCCP) (at low concentrations), did not uncouple chloroplasts. Similarly, the antibiotics valinomycin, and nonactin and the synthetic compound LR6-125, which apparently increase only the cation permeability of membranes, did not uncouple. However, combinations of dinitrophenol or of low concentrations of FCCP with anyone of the cation permeability inducing agents, led to full uncoupling of the chloroplasts. Studies on the passive permeability properties of the grana membrane, support the assumption that combinations of dinitrophenol or FCCP (at low concentrations), with valino-mycin or nonactin or LR6-125, increase the membrane permeability to both proton and cations. High concentrations of FCCP (10 μM) which alone uncoupled chloroplasts, also appeared to increase the permeability of the membrane to both protons and to cations, while low concentrations of FCCP, which did not uncouple alone, sufficed to increase the membrane permeability to protons. It is suggested that the uncoupling produced by the compounds used in this work is of the same type as that induced by the antibiotics, gramicidin and nigericin, both of which were suggested to increase the membrane permeability to both protons and cations.
PI 3-kinase pathway is responsible for antiapoptotic effects of atrial natriuretic peptide in rat liver transplantation.

AIM To investigate the in vivo effect of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and its signaling pathway during orthotopic rat liver transplantation. METHODS Rats were infused with NaCl, ANP (5 microg/kg), wortmannin (WM, 16 microg/kg), or a combination of both for 20 min. Livers were stored in UW solution (4 degrees C) for 24 h, transplanted and reperfused. Apoptosis was examined by caspase-3 activity and TUNEL staining. Phosphorylation of Akt and Bad was visualized by Western blotting and phospho-Akt-localization by confocal microscopy. RESULTS ANP-pretreatment decreased caspase-3 activity and TUNEL-positive cells after cold ischemia, indicating antiapoptotic effects of ANP in vivo. The antiapoptotic signaling of ANP was most likely caused by phosphorylation of Akt and Bad, since pretreatment with PI 3-kinase inhibitor WM abrogated the ANP-induced reduction of caspase-3 activity. Interestingly, analysis of liver tissue by confocal microscopy showed translocation of phosphorylated Akt to the plasma membrane of hepatocytes evoked by ANP. CONCLUSION ANP activates the PI-3-kinase pathway in the liver in vivo leading to phosphorylation of Bad, an event triggering antiapoptotic signaling cascade in ischemic liver.
Crowd Escape Behavior Speed and Location Detection Using Bayesian Model

People escape from a place when unexpected events happen. In anomalous situation it is a promising way to detect crowd escape behavior from surveillance videos. In this paper, detection of people escape from crowd behavior in both the presence and absence of escape event is performed by using Bayesian framework. To condense the size of the dictionary, a novel dictionary selection method is designed with sparsity consistency constraint. To characterize crowd motion in the above two cases we introduce the concept of potential destinations and divergent centers, and construct corresponding class conditional probability density functions of optical flow. The training set considers the data associated with non-escape behavior. By using observed data the density function associated with the case of escape can be adaptively updated. The divergent centers indicate possible locations at which the unexpected events occur. Our method provides a unified solution to detect both local abnormal events (LAE) and global abnormal events (GAE), and updating the dictionary incrementally. This work presents an approach for generating video evidence of dangerous situations in crowded scenes. A grid of particles is placed over the image and it is advected with the space-time average of optical flow. Large dense crowds show aggregate behavior with reduced individual freedom of
Suivi de l’endommagement en fatigue d’un composite à renfort interlock carbone/époxy par émission acoustique

L’emission acoustique est une technique qui a deja prouve son utilite dans le suivi des endommagements d’un composite. Dans cette etude, cette technique est appliquee a des essais de fatigue sur un composite interlock. Dans un premier temps, cette etude presente les signaux rencontres lors d’un essai de traction uni-axiale. L’accent est porte ensuite sur le traitement des signaux acoustiques qui doit nous permettre de mieux apprehender les phenomenes responsables des pertes de propriete du materiau. L’originalite premiere de cette etude reside dans la distinction de deux branches lors de la representation de l’energie de chaque evenement en fonction du nombre de coups. Ces deux branches sont attribuees pour la premiere aux phenomenes de rupture de fibres, dechaussements, qu’on retrouve sur un essai statique, tandis que la deuxieme correspond aux phenomenes de fatigue, notamment les frottements, mais aussi des dommages plus importants tels que des micro-flambements locaux. Ce papier s’interesse ensuite a attribuer le role de chaque branche dans la perte de proprietes mecaniques du materiau.
Expression of Antioxidant Enzymes in Astrocytic Brain Tumors

We studied the expression of antioxidant enzymes (AOEs) and related proteins manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), thioredoxin (Trx), thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), and the catalytic (GLCL‐c) and regulatory (GLCL‐r) subunits of glutamate cysteine ligase (γ‐glutamylcysteinesynthetase) in 433 astrocytomas. Expression of MnSOD was found in 91%, Trx in 46%, TrxR in 66%, GLCL‐c 73% and GLCL‐r in 89% of the cases. Diffuse astro‐cytomas showed more intense staining for Trx (p= 0.002), TrxR (p=0.004), GLCL‐c (p=0.001), GLCL‐r (p=0.04) and MnSOD (p=0.01) than pilocytic astrocytomas. Within diffuse astrocytomas only Trx (p= 0.0001) and TrxR (p=0.04) significantly associated with increased malignancy grade. Necrotic tumors were more often immunopositive for Trx (p=0.001) and TrxR (p=0.02) and AOE expression was generally higher in mitotically active tumors. Expression of Trx and lack of MnSOD expression was associated with a worse prognosis in diffuse astrocytomas. None of the AOEs had any prognostic value in pilocytic grade I astrocytomas. Familial astrocytomas, which included 23 of the cases studied, did not differ in their expression of MnSOD from sporadic ones. The results show that MnSOD and Trx may influence the biological behaviour of astrocytomas, possibly by modulating cell proliferation and necrosis in these tumors.
O ensino do gênero contratos internacionais em um curso de inglês para fins específicos na área jurídica

Este trabalho tem como objetivo apresentar atividades baseadas em genero de um curso de ingles voltado a profissionais da area juridica, sob a perspectiva da Abordagem Linguas para Fins Especificos. O curso foi desenvolvido pelo Grupo Abordagem Instrumental e Ensino-Aprendizagem de Linguas em Contextos Diversos - GEALIN e vem sendo ministrado na COGEAE/PUCSP desde 2006 como um curso de extensao universitaria. O trabalho teve como base teorica a Abordagem Ingles para Fins Especificos segundo Hutchinson & Waters (1987) e Dudley-Evans & St. John (1998), a analise generica de Swales (1990) e a proposta pedagogica de Ramos (2004). Sao apresentados a descricao geral do corpus, o contexto da pesquisa e os procedimentos para realizacao das atividades.
An Information-Processing Model for Audiences' Selections of Movies

Abstract. Building on psychocognitive theories of information processing, the purpose of this study was to examine the relative impacts of qualitative bandwagon (e.g., using qualitative information such as comments and reviews) and quantitative bandwagon (e.g., using quantitative information such as view and download counts as bandwagon cues) on content selection decisions by media users. An experiment (N = 77) was conducted to investigate the contributions of the two types of bandwagon behaviors to the selections of Hollywood movies online and to identify factors moderating such bandwagon effects. The results showed that cognitive load was negatively associated with the strength of qualitative bandwagon effects, while positively associated with the strength of quantitative bandwagon effects. Although it was marginally significant, the results also showed that the impact of the quantitative bandwagon effect became stronger when individuals were less familiar with Hollywood movies. Implications with respec.
Activities of human RRP 6 and structure of the human RRP 6 catalytic domain

The eukaryotic RNA exosome is a highly conserved multi-subunit complex that catalyzes degradation and processing of coding and noncoding RNA. A noncatalytic nine-subunit exosome core interacts with Rrp44 and Rrp6, two subunits that possess processive and distributive 39-to-59 exoribonuclease activity, respectively. While both Rrp6 and Rrp44 are responsible for RNA processing in budding yeast, Rrp6 may play a more prominent role in processing, as it has been demonstrated to be inhibited by stable RNA secondary structure in vitro and because the null allele in budding yeast leads to the buildup of specific structured RNA substrates. Human RRP6, otherwise known as PM/SCL-100 or EXOSC10, shares sequence similarity to budding yeast Rrp6 and is proposed to catalyze 39-to-59 exoribonuclease activity on a variety of nuclear transcripts including ribosomal RNA subunits, RNA that has been poly-adenylated by TRAMP, as well as other nuclear RNA transcripts destined for processing and/or destruction. To characterize human RRP6, we expressed the full-length enzyme as well as truncation mutants that retain catalytic activity, compared their activities to analogous constructs for Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rrp6, and determined the X-ray structure of a human construct containing the exoribonuclease and HRDC domains that retains catalytic activity. Structural data show that the human active site is more exposed when compared to the yeast structure, and biochemical data suggest that this feature may play a role in the ability of human RRP6 to productively engage and degrade structured RNA substrates more effectively than the analogous budding yeast enzyme.