Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accelerated Lipid Absorption in Mice Overexpressing Intestinal SR-BI*

Dietary cholesterol absorption contributes to a large part of the circulating cholesterol. However, the mechanism of sterol intestinal uptake is not clearly elucidated. Scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI), major component in the control of cholesterol homeostasis, is expressed in the intestine, but its role in this organ remains unclear. We have generated transgenic mice overexpressing SR-BI primarily in the intestine by using the mouse SR-BI gene under the control of intestinal specific “apoC-III enhancer coupled with apoA-IV promoter. ” We found SR-BI overexpression with respect to the natural protein along the intestine and at the top of the villosities. After a meal containing [14C]cholesterol and [3H]triolein, SR-BI transgenic mice presented a rise in intestinal absorption of both lipids that was not due to a defect in chylomicron clearance nor to a change in the bile flow or the bile acid content. Nevertheless, SR-BI transgenic mice showed a decrease of total cholesterol but an increase of triglyceride content in plasma without any change in the high density lipoprotein apoA-I level. Thus, we described for the first time a functional role in vivo for SR-BI in cholesterol but also in triglyceride intestinal absorption.
Multi-touch techniques for exploring large-scale 3D astrophysical simulations

Enabling efficient exploration of large-scale virtual environments such as those simulating astrophysical environments is highly challenging. Astrophysical virtual worlds span exceptionally large spatial scales occupied mostly by empty space, and this makes it difficult for the user to comprehend the spatial context during exploratory navigation. Public exhibits, where novice users have little experience using complicated virtual navigation interfaces, pose additional challenges. To address these issues, we propose multi-touch techniques to deliver an effective interface to navigate the unique features of large-scale 3D environments such as astrophysical simulations. In this work, we carefully study conventional multi-touch methods and adapt them to the practical requirements of this application. A novel technique called the powers-of-ten ladder is introduced to support efficient movement across huge spatial scales using multi-touch interactions. We also investigate user experiences with various multi-touch finger gestures on our prototype digital planetarium.
Object detection using object likelihood and homogeneity likelihood

In this paper, we propose a novel probabilistic framework for detecting object using object likelihood and homogeneity likelihood of segmentations. Our method is based on higher order conditional random fields and uses potentials defined on sets of superpixels (image segmentations) generated using unsupervised segmentation algorithms. These potentials enforce label consistency in image regions and can be seen as a strict generalization of the commonly used pairwise smoothness potentials. The experimental results show that our method improves detection results and obtains better spatial support.
Author's Personal Copy Theoretical Computer Science Spatial-behavioral Types for Concurrency and Resource Control in Distributed Systems Author's Personal Copy Author's Personal Copy Author's Personal Copy

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: Spatial logics Concurrency control Distributed systems Service-based systems a b s t r a c t We develop a notion of spatial-behavioral typing suitable to discipline concurrent interactions and resource usage in distributed object systems. Our type structure reflects a resource sensitive model, where a parallel composition type operator expresses resource independence, a sequential composition type operator expresses resource synchronization, and a type modality expresses resource ownership. We model the intended computational systems using a concurrent object calculus. Soundness of our type system is established using a logical relations technique, building on a interpretation of types as properties expressible in a spatial logic. The aim of this work is to study typing disciplines for distributed service-based systems, with a particular focus on the key aspects of concurrency, resource control, and compositionality. For our current purposes, we consider service-based systems to be certain kinds of distributed object systems, but where binding between parties is dynamic rather than static, and the fundamental abstraction mechanism is task composition, rather than just remote method invocation. In this paper, we approach the issue of compositional analysis of distributed services and resources using a new notion of typing inspired by spatial logics. Technically, we proceed by introducing a process calculus for distributed services, where clients and servers are represented by concurrent " objects " (aggregates of operations and state). Services are called by reference, and references (names) to services may be passed around, as in π-calculi. New services may also be dynamically instantiated. We then develop and study a fairly expressive type system aimed at disciplining interactions and resource usage in these kind of systems. Our type structure is motivated by fundamental properties of the intended models. We conceive a service-based system as a layered concurrent and distributed system, where service provider objects execute tasks on behalf of client objects, in a coordinated way. Even if the same object may act as client and server, we do not expect intrinsic cyclic dependencies to occur in such a system. The main coordination abstractions for assembling tasks into services are probably parallel (independent) and sequential composition. Tasks are independent when they never get to compete for resources; independent …
Comparison of warfarin and aspirin for symptomatic intracranial arterial stenosis.

BACKGROUND Atherosclerotic intracranial arterial stenosis is an important cause of stroke. Warfarin is commonly used in preference to aspirin for this disorder, but these therapies have not been compared in a randomized trial. METHODS We randomly assigned patients with transient ischemic attack or stroke caused by angiographically verified 50 to 99 percent stenosis of a major intracranial artery to receive warfarin (target international normalized ratio, 2.0 to 3.0) or aspirin (1300 mg per day) in a double-blind, multicenter clinical trial. The primary end point was ischemic stroke, brain hemorrhage, or death from vascular causes other than stroke. RESULTS After 569 patients had undergone randomization, enrollment was stopped because of concerns about the safety of the patients who had been assigned to receive warfarin. During a mean follow-up period of 1.8 years, adverse events in the two groups included death (4.3 percent in the aspirin group vs. 9.7 percent in the warfarin group; hazard ratio for aspirin relative to warfarin, 0.46; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.23 to 0.90; P=0.02), major hemorrhage (3.2 percent vs. 8.3 percent, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.39; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.18 to 0.84; P=0.01), and myocardial infarction or sudden death (2.9 percent vs. 7.3 percent, respectively; hazard ratio, 0.40; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.18 to 0.91; P=0.02). The rate of death from vascular causes was 3.2 percent in the aspirin group and 5.9 percent in the warfarin group (P=0.16); the rate of death from nonvascular causes was 1.1 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively (P=0.05). The primary end point occurred in 22.1 percent of the patients in the aspirin group and 21.8 percent of those in the warfarin group (hazard ratio, 1.04; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.73 to 1.48; P=0.83). CONCLUSIONS Warfarin was associated with significantly higher rates of adverse events and provided no benefit over aspirin in this trial. Aspirin should be used in preference to warfarin for patients with intracranial arterial stenosis.
Bridging the gap: the creation of continuity by men on the verge of retirement

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to examine the means by which men on the verge of retirement create continuity or bridges between their past and present in their autobiographical narratives. Based on Whitbourne's ‘lifespan construct model of adaptation’, 56 Israeli men on the verge of retirement were asked to relate their ‘life stories’ and ‘life scenarios’ (their vision of the future). Their bridging strategies were examined using qualitative structural analyses, focusing on the ‘crossovers’ to the future in the ‘life stories’, and those to the past in their ‘life scenarios’. The findings show three main bridging patterns in the life stories and three in the life scenarios. Each was associated with differences in the ways that the men were coping emotionally with the transition to retirement, and pointed to the different ways by which they used continuity to cope with the anxieties aroused by their impending retirement. After trying to account for the greater frequency of bridging attempts in the ‘scenarios’ than the ‘life stories’, the discussion elaborates on the different bridging strategies and their associated features. The findings suggest that the identification of crossover patterns in life stories and life scenarios may be a useful tool for assessing a person's coping abilities and adjustment to difficult transitions.
A Unified Model of Thai Romanization and Word Segmentation

Thai romanization is the way to write Thai language using roman alphabets. It could be performed on the basis of orthographic form (transliteration) or pronunciation (transcription) or both. As a result, many systems of romanization are in use. The Royal Institute has established the standard by proposing the principle of romanization on the basis of transcription. To ensure the standard, a fully automatic Thai romanization system should be publicly made available. In this paper, we discuss the problems of Thai Romanization. We argue that automatic Thai romanization is difficult because the ambiguities of pronunciation are caused not only by the ambiguities of syllable segmentation, but also by the ambiguities of word segmentation. A model of automatic romanization then is designed and implemented on this ground. The problem of romanization and word segmentation are handled simultaneously. A syllable-segmented corpus and a corpus of word-pronunciation are used for training the system. The accuracy of the system is 94.44% for unseen names and 99.58% for general texts. When the training corpus includes some proper names, the accuracy of romanizing unseen names was increased from 94.44% to 97%. Our system performs well because it is designed to better suit the problem.
A Five-Factor Measure of Obsessive–Compulsive Personality Traits

This study provides convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity data for the Five-Factor Obsessive–Compulsive Inventory (FFOCI), a newly developed measure of traits relevant to obsessive–compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) from the perspective of the Five-factor model (FFM). Twelve scales were constructed as maladaptive variants of specific FFM facets (e.g., Perfectionism as a maladaptive variant of FFM competence). On the basis of data from 407 undergraduates (oversampled for OCPD symptoms) these 12 scales demonstrated convergent correlations with established measures of OCPD and the FFM. Further, they obtained strong discriminant validity with respect to facets from other FFM domains. Most important, the individual scales and total score of the FFOCI obtained incremental validity beyond existing measures of the FFM and OCPD for predicting a composite measure of obsessive–compulsive symptomatology. The findings support the validity of the FFOCI as a measure of obsessive–compulsive personality traits, as well as of maladaptive variants of the FFM.
Noise reduction of hyperspectral imagery using hybrid spatial-spectral derivative-domain wavelet shrinkage

In this paper, a new noise reduction algorithm is introduced and applied to the problem of denoising hyperspectral imagery. This algorithm resorts to the spectral derivative domain, where the noise level is elevated, and benefits from the dissimilarity of the signal regularity in the spatial and the spectral dimensions of hyperspectral images. The performance of the new algorithm is tested on two different hyperspectral datacubes: an Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) datacube that is acquired in a vegetation-dominated site and a simulated AVIRIS datacube that simulates a geological site. The new algorithm provides signal-to-noise-ratio improvement up to 84.44% and 98.35% in the first and the second datacubes, respectively.
The Fire Behind the Smoke

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, Vol. 36 No. 10, October 2009 1085-1090 DOI: 10.1177/0093854809344819 © 2009 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology AUTHORS’ NOTE: Correspondence concerning this article may be addressed to Harald Dern, Erster Kriminalhauptkommissar, Polizeilicher Fallanalytiker, Bundeskriminalamt, Wiesbaden, D-65173 Germany; e-mail: Harald.Dern@bka.bund. de. THE FIRE BEHIND THE SMOKE
Restriction maps for twenty-one Charon vector phages

The mapping of the sites of cleavage of nine restriction endonucleases (EcoRI, HindIII, BamHI, SalI, KpnI, SstI, BglII, XhoI, and XbaI) on 21 Charon phage vectors is described. Maps of individual subsections were obtained and then combined to assemble the complete vector maps. Calculations of maximum and minimum sizes of inserts which may be carried by the vectors using different restriction endonucleases or pairs of restriction endonucleases are presented. The regions mapped include several parts of phi 80 that had not been mapped previously.
Belief Update in Bayesian Networks Using Uncertain Evidence

This paper reports our investigation on the problem of belief update in Bayesian networks (BN) using uncertain evidence. We focus on two types of uncertain evidences, virtual evidence (represented as likelihood ratios) and soft evidence (represented as probability distributions). We review three existing belief update methods with uncertain evidences: virtual evidence method, Jeffrey's rule, and IPFP (iterative proportional fitting procedure), and analyze the relations between these methods. This in-depth understanding leads us to propose two algorithms for belief update with multiple soft evidences. Both of these algorithms can be seen as integrating the techniques of virtual evidence method, IPFP and traditional BN evidential inference, and they have clear computational and practical advantages over the methods proposed by others in the past
The Algebraic Structure of Interface De nition Languages and Architectures

In this paper we examine formally a notion of architecture for the design of systems. The basic idea is that: System Architecture = Structured set of (sub)-system interfaces. Thus, the architecture of a system is modelled by the structure of its interface expressed in terms of the interfaces for its components. We make an algebraic model of interface de nition languages (IDLs) based on this idea. We model: Interface = Name + Imports + Body A set of interfaces is a repository, and so an architecture is a repository with some primary interfaces and dependencies de ning its import structure. The algebraic model is a framework for de ning IDLs, and allows transformations, to be de ned by structural induction. Next we use the general model to derive a simple IDL suitable for the design phase of object-oriented software development. This requires us to specify a form of Body that treats both data types and state, and in Body we explicitly distinguish between methods with and without sidee ects, by commands and queries. We also consider other proposals for Body that yield new IDLs and types of architectures, including other object-oriented design languages and data type speci cation languages. The general algebraic model helps us make an algebraic speci cation of an IDL in a modular way.
Blood oxygen transport and endothelial dysfunction in patients with arterial hypertension

Disturbed nitric oxide (NO) synthesis leads to development of endothelial dysfunction that plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of arterial hypertension. The presence of various compounds of haemoglobin with NO can affect haemoglobin‐oxygen affinity of the whole blood. Methaemoglobin and S‐nitrosohaemoglobin increase it, whereas nitrosyl‐haemoglobin decreases. The aim of this study was to investigate the blood oxygen transport indices and to assess the endothelial function in patients with arterial hypertension. The patients with mild hypertension had a 4·47% increased actual p50 (the blood pO2 corresponding to its 50% oxygen saturation) (P<0·05), a diminished pO2 (P<0·05), and a raised pCO2 (P<0·01) as compared with the controls. The patients with severe hypertension had decreased pO2 and pH, and actual p50 was reduced by 3·03% (P<0·05), which reflects a more pronounced oxyhaemoglobin dissociation curve shift leftwards. These changes can be assessed as a blood oxygen transport decompensation that enhanced tissue hypoxia. The results of our studies indicate that the endothelial dysfunction in patients with arterial hypertension leads to significant impairments in blood oxygen transport indices. The endothelium may be involved in development of the above blood oxygen transport impairments, since only sufficient amounts of NO maintain a normal blood flow and oxygen transport to tissues. The endothelial dysfunction leads to a disturbed production of different haemoglobin NO derivatives, which not only affects NO release at different sites of the arterial bed, but also haemoglobin‐oxygen affinity and optimal blood oxygenation and deoxygenation in capillaries. These data support the notion that endothelial dysfunction may alter haemoglobin‐oxygen affinity and tissue oxygen supply in vivo. Alternation of haemoglobin‐oxygen supply may be involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension.
Professional Helpers and Resistances to Work with Older People

ABSTRACT Resistances to empathy with older service users are outlined, drawn primarily from Jungian psychology. It is suggested that lack of a helper's personal experience of old age allows disproportionate influence to be played by archetypal intrapsychic processes. These are augmented by helpers perceptions of a negative personal future and a tendency either to ignore the age appropriate projects of older persons or replace them with those appropriate for the helper. Consequences for helper training are briefly explored.
Bluebells: a design method for child-centred product development

This paper presents Bluebells, a design method that balances child-centred design with expert design in a progressive approach that marries the best of both disciplines. The method is described in the context of a museum technologies project. Bluebells comprises several new design techniques; these are evaluated and discussed in the paper. The authors conclude with guidelines for future use of the Bluebells method including the importance of providing a context for design partners and allowing them to express their ideas in ways they are comfortable with.
Study on power saving based on radio frame in LTE wireless communication system using DRX

Long Term Evolution (LTE) of 3GPP provides high bandwidth for data transfer. Having high bandwidth transfer will exhaust the user equipment (UE)'s battery power quickly. To extend the UE's battery lifetime the 3GPP standards for LTE support Enhanced Discontinuous Reception (DRX). The DRX allow an idle UE to save battery by turning off the radio receiver for a predefined period. Since the Transmission Time Interval (TTI) is related to the size of the data block passed from the higher networks layers to the radio link layer, the DRX scheduler should vary the resource allocation of each user basis on TTI. In this paper, we have evaluated the influences of the TTI sizes as well as the effects of LTE DRX Light and Deep Sleep mode on power consumption for Voice and Web traffic.
A Ray Tracing Accelerator Based on a Hierarchy of 1D Sorted Lists

Since the introduction of ray tracing as a rendering technique, several approaches have been proposed to reduce the number of ray/object tests. This paper presents yet another such approach based on a hierarchy of 1D sorted lists. A bounding box aligned with the axes encloses an object. The coordinates of each bounding box are ordered in three sorted lists (one for each axis) and are treated as events. Traversing a scene with a ray consists of traversing each sorted list in order, intersecting an object only when for this object a first event has been encountered (entered) in every dimension before a second event has been encountered (exited) in any dimension. To reduce the number of events (entries and exits) traversed, a hierarchy of sorted lists is constructed from a hierarchy of bounding boxes. The results are favourable for scenes ranging from moderate to high complexity. Further applications of the technique to hardware assist for ray tracing and to collision detection are discussed.
Biosynthesis of collagen. III. The direct action of ascorbic acid on hydroxyproline and collagen formation in subcutaneous polyvinyl sponge implants in guinea pigs.

Little is known about the biochemical processes involved in the formation of fibrous collagen. There is no question that ascorbic acid plays a prominent role in the early stages of collagen biosynthesis since the withdrawal of ascorbic acid from the diet of guinea pigs for a period merely long enough to deplete the animal results in the inability to form new collagen. Upon the administration of ascorbic acid the defect is promptly repaired (1). Earlier concepts (2, 3) that ascorbic acid acts as a gelating agent which transforms preexisting extracellular material into collagen may not be entirely accurate. Orekhovich and his coworkers (4, 5), Highberger, Gross, and Schmitt (6), and Gross (7) have identified soluble procollagenous compounds that are essentially similar to mature collagen in amino acid composition in the skin of growing young animals. Considerably diminished amounts were found in the skin of scorbutic animals. Gould and Woessner (1) have presented presumptive evidence that in the absence of ascorbic acid there is an apparent accumulation of a hydroxyprolinefree precursor of collagen. In the absence of ascorbic acid the metabolic defect appears to be the inability to hydroxylate proline to hydroxyproline. Robertson and Schwartz (8) have also postulated such a precursor. Data do not exist to clarify the role of ascorbic acid in such a hydroxylation mechanism or even to substantiate the concept of a direct local action for ascorbic acid in collagen formation or, for that matter, with respect to any biological effect of ascorbic acid. It is indeed possible that the failure of fiber formation in scurvy may be related to impaired adrenal hormone balance (9, lo), abnormal carbohydrate metabolism (II), or other general systemic alterations which result from ascorbic acid deficiency. Quantitative studies of collagen formation by chick fibroblasts grown in roller tube cultures in synthetic as well as in complex media free from