Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intratendon Delivery of Leukocyte-Poor Platelet-Rich Plasma Improves Healing Compared With Leukocyte-Rich Platelet-Rich Plasma in a Rabbit Achilles Tendinopathy Model

Background: Chronic tendinopathy is a commonly occurring clinical problem that affects both athletes and inactive middle-aged patients. Although some studies have shown that different platelet-rich plasma (PRP) preparations could exert various therapeutic effects in vitro, the role of leukocytes in PRP has not yet been defined under tendinopathy conditions in vivo. Purpose: This study compared the effects of the intratendon delivery of leukocyte-poor PRP (Lp-PRP) versus leukocyte-rich PRP (Lr-PRP) in a rabbit chronic tendinopathy model in vivo. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: Four weeks after a local injection of collagenase in the Achilles tendon, the following treatments were randomly administered on the lesions: injections of (1) 200 μL of Lp-PRP (n = 8), (2) 200 μL of Lr-PRP (n = 8), or (3) 200 μL of saline (n = 8). Healing outcomes were assessed at 4 weeks after therapy with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), cytokine quantification, real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis of gene expression, histology, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results: MRI revealed that the Lr-PRP and saline groups displayed higher signal intensities compared with the Lp-PRP group with T2 mapping. Histologically, the Lp-PRP group displayed significantly better general scores compared with the Lr-PRP (P = .001) and saline (P < .001) groups. Additionally, TEM showed that the Lp-PRP group had larger collagen fibril diameters than the Lr-PRP group (P < .001). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed a significantly lower level of catabolic cytokine IL-6 in the Lp-PRP group compared with the Lr-PRP (P = .001) and saline (P = .021) groups. The Lp-PRP group displayed significantly increased expression of collagen I compared with the saline group (P = .004) but not the Lr-PRP group. Both the Lp-PRP and Lr-PRP groups exhibited significantly lower matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)–1 and MMP-3 expression levels compared with the saline group. However, only the Lp-PRP group displayed significantly higher expression of TIMP-1 than the saline group (P = .024). Conclusion: Compared with Lr-PRP, Lp-PRP improves tendon healing and is a preferable option for the clinical treatment of tendinopathy. Clinical Relevance: PRP is widely used in the clinical management of chronic tendinopathy. However, the clinical results are ambiguous. It is imperative to understand the influence of leukocytes on PRP-mediated tissue healing in vivo, which could facilitate the better clinical management of chronic tendinopathy. Further studies are needed to translate our findings to the clinical setting.
New species of small scaly crickets of genus Micrornebius (Orthoptera: Mogoplistidae; Mogoplistinae) from Singapore.

The small and cryptic scaly crickets of the genus Micrornebius from Singapore are reviewed. The Henningian species concept was applied and morphology was used to estimate species boundaries. Three new species are described: Micrornebius distinctus sp. n. , Micrornebius eclipsus sp. n. and Micrornebius mandai sp. n. This increases the number of species Micrornebius from Singapore to five. A tentative key to the species of Micrornebius from Singapore is provided.
System features of an inhabited 3D virtual environment supporting multimodality in communication

What semiotic potential resides in a 3D virtual environment? This paper accounts for some system features of a Norwegian virtual world called Patagonia, which is part of the 3D RenderWare-based ActiveWorlds. It is argued that these features constitute a semiotic resource in interplay with language. The paper suggests visual semiotics as an additional framework to discourse studies of computer-mediated communication. The term "multimodality" is useful for the recognition of coexistent semiotic modes. Case studies of system features and praxis among experienced users reveal a complex spectrum of semiotic modes in use in Patagonia. The available modes and praxis in a society constitute the "semiotic landscape". Different communication modes are visually represented by a color system. Non-verbal communication is enabled. 3D graphics support the perception of an actual community or "world", although it is located in virtual reality. In closing, the paper stipulates some ethical and methodological issues.
Asthma onset prior to multiple sclerosis and the contribution of sibling exposure in early life

Higher sibling exposure is associated with a reduced risk of asthma and other T helper 2 (Th2)‐type disorders, possibly through a beneficial effect of higher infection load. The effect on Th1 disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS) is less clear. Here we examine the association between asthma and MS, taking into account early life sibling exposure. A population‐based case–control study in Tasmania, Australia based on 136 cases of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)‐confirmed MS and 272 community controls, matched on sex and year of birth. Study measures include cumulative exposure to total, older or younger siblings by age 6 years, history of doctor‐diagnosed asthma and serological IgG responses to herpes viruses. MS cases were more likely (P = 0·02) than controls to have asthma which began before age of onset of MS symptoms compared to the corresponding age for controls. The absence of younger sibling exposure by age 6 years potentiated (P = 0·04) the association between asthma and MS. Compared to those with younger sibling exposure and no asthma, the adjusted odds ratio for MS for those with asthma and no younger sibling exposure was 7·22 (95% CI: 2·52, 20·65). Early life sibling exposure was associated with altered IgG serological responses to Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1) in adulthood. Reduced early life sibling exposure appeared to contribute to the excess of asthma among MS cases by the time of MS onset. MS development may reflect factors that relate to a general immuno‐inflammatory up‐regulation of immune activity as well as disease specific factors. The link between early life sibling exposure and the immune response to herpes group viral antigens is consistent with a protective role for early life infections.
Incentive Schemes for Participatory Sensing

We consider a participatory sensing scenario where a group of private sensors observes the same phenomenon, such as air pollution. Since sensors need to be installed and maintained, owners of sensors are inclined to provide inaccurate or random data. We design a novel payment mechanism that incentivizes honest behavior by scoring sensors based on the quality of their reports. The basic principle follows the standard Bayesian Truth Serum (BTS) paradigm, where highest rewards are obtained for reports that are surprisingly common. The mechanism, however, eliminates the main drawback of the BTS in a sensing scenario since it does not require sensors to report predictions regarding the overall distribution of sensors' measurements. As it is the case with other peer prediction methods, the mechanism admits uninformed equilibria. However, in the novel mechanism these equilibria result in worse payoff than truthful reporting.
Experiences with Tracing Causality in Networked Services

Unlike device-centric monitoring, task-centric tracing enables an operator to causally trace the complete execution of a networked system across the boundaries of applications, protocols, and administrative domains. In this paper, we argue that causal, end-to-end tracing should be an integral part of network services. Moreover, it is not fundamentally difficult to achieve, given a primitive that propagates task metadata alongside logical execution and communication paths. X-Trace is a framework that relies on such propagation to provide comprehensive causal tracing. We report on our experience integrating X-Trace into several production networked services--including 802.1X authentication, Web content distribution, and DNS-based replica selection--to illustrate benefits of causal tracing, and to discuss the instrumentation of different protocols and component architectures. We highlight the challenges we encountered and techniques we developed to better integrate causal tracing into network services.
Measuring the superfluous functionality in software components

One of the drawbacks of a pragmatic, white box approach to the reuse of software is that reusable components often have more built-in functionality than is needed for a particular (re)usage scenario. This functionality either has to be invasively removed by changing the source code of the component, with the corresponding risk of errors, or has to be incorporated into a new project where it essentially pollutes the code base. While this may not be an immediate problem, over time such unneeded, polluting functionality can decrease the understandability of software and make it harder to maintain. The degree of superfluous functionality built into a component, when considered for a new use for which it was not initially intended, is therefore a useful metric which should be taken into account when choosing components to reuse. For example, it can be used as an input for a code search engine's ranking algorithm. In this paper we present a family of metrics for measuring the superfluous functionality within software components from the perspective of specific (re)use scenarios, describe how these metrics can be calculated, and investigate their utility as a differentiating measure to help developers choose which components to reuse.
The Backchannel Norms of Native English Speakers: A Target for Japanese L2 English Learners

This article presents a general account of the backchannel tendencies of native English speakers for the purpose of assisting Japanese L2 English learners. The dimensions of backchannel behaviour which are described include the following: frequency, variability, discourse contexts favouring backchannels, and form and function. Some of the potential issues that Japanese L2 English learners may experience in acquiring these skills are explored. This general description of native English speakers’ backchannel behaviour appears to be only one of the pieces in an emerging framework for analysing the efficacy of backchannel behaviour across cultures. It is suggested that future efficacy models should also involve measuring other interrelated aspects of backchannel behaviour such as learners’ intercultural communicative competence, willingness to communicate, and development of conversational micro-skills and repair strategies.
Short blind signatures

Blind signatures allow users to obtain signatures on messages hidden from the signer; moreover, the signer cannot link the resulting message/signature pair to the signing session. This paper presents blind signature schemes, in which the number of interactions between the user and the signer is minimal and whose blind signatures are short. Our schemes are defined over bilinear groups and are proved secure in the common-reference-string model without random oracles and under standard assumptions: CDH and the decision-linear assumption. We also give variants over asymmetric groups based on similar assumptions. The blind signatures are Waters signatures, which consist of 2 group elements.Moreover, we instantiate partially blind signatures, where the message consists of a part hidden from the signer and a commonly known public part, and schemes achieving perfect blindness. We propose new variants of blind signatures, such as signer-friendly partially blind signatures, where the public part can be chosen by the signer without prior agreement, 3-party blind signatures, as well as blind signatures on multiple aggregated messages provided by independent sources.We also extend Waters signatures to non-binary alphabets by proving a new result on the underlying hash function.
Architecture of a message-driven processor

We propose a machine architecture for a high-performance processing node for a message-passing, MIMD concurrent computer. The principal mechanisms for attaining this goal are the direct execution and buffering of messages and a memory-based architecture that permits very fast context switches. Our architecture also includes a novel memory organization that permits both indexed and associative accesses and that incorporates an instruction buffer and message queue. Simulation results suggest that this architecture reduces message reception overhead by more than an order of magnitude.
Natural Disasters in Black and White : How Racial Cues Influenced Public Response to Hurricane Katrina

This paper extends findings on implicit racial bias to public opinion concerning natural disasters. Using an online experiment, we show that racial cues embedded in news coverage of Hurricane Katrina influenced public support for governmental disaster assistance. First, exposure to a white rather than African-American hurricane victim made participants more likely to cite the federal government than private relief organizations or individual victims as the appropriate source of assistance. Second, participants awarded higher levels of disaster assistance and for longer periods of time after reading about the white victim. We obtained parallel effects, although on a smaller scale, by substituting a news report about crime and looting in New Orleans during the immediate aftermath of the hurricane for one that focused exclusively on the scope of the destruction.
Bayesian inference for rare errors in populations with unequal unit sizes

We describe a Bayesian model for a scenario in which the population of errors contains many 0s and there is a known covariate. This kind of structure typically occurs in auditing, and we use auditing as the driving application of the method. Our model is based on a categorization of the error population together with a Bayesian nonparametric method of modelling errors within some of the categories. Inference is through simulation. We conclude with an example based on a data set provided by the UK's National Audit Office.
CASE STUDY: Coping in Professional Sport: A Case Study of an Experienced Cricket Player

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article was to examine the coping responses employed by an athlete to manage the daily hassles he experienced in professional sport. Adopting a phenomenological orientation, data were gathered via four in-depth interviews with an experienced professional cricket player. Findings indicated that stress appraisals were related to endangerment of personal performance goals. Coping strategies deployed to deal with these stressors were evaluation and planning (learning about opponents, reading (new) opponents, and understanding conditions), proactive psychological skills (confidence building and maintaining concentration) and reactive psychological skills (resilience and self-talk). Results are discussed in the context of previous situation-specific research on appraisal and coping. Finally, implications for researchers and applied sport psychologists are outlined. Introduction Coping represents an individual's cognitive, affective, and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands (Crocker, Kowalski, & Graham, 1998; Lazarus, 1999). Athletes must develop a range of cognitive and behavioral coping skills to manage the competitive stressors they face (Scanlan, Stein, & Ravizza, 1991). Obtaining information about the nature and application of coping strategies used by elite athletes has special appeal for practitioners in sport psychology because it offers a foundation for interventions. The most widely used coping model in sport psychology is based on Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) transaction process perspective. They view coping as a process that begins with situational appraisal. Primary appraisal refers to how an individual evaluates the personal significance of a 1
A Graph-BasedWeb Service Composition Technique Using Ontological Information

We investigate Web service composition as a planning problem and use the input-output parameter relations in order to select the constituent services that make up the composite service. Furthermore, we make use of ontological information between the input-output parameters such that a more specific concept can be used instead of a general concept to make the process more flexible. Our proposed approach is based on constructing a dependency graph including the service parameters and Web services themselves. By using this dependency graph, we perform backward chaining starting to search from the desired output parameters, which is in fact the goal, to the available input parameters. In addition to using semantic information through the search, our approach considers non-functional attributes of the services such as service quality. Considering the quality measures, we find the constituent services by making use of depth first search. After finding the required services, our algorithm generates a plan that shows the execution order of each service.
Reputation in an economic game modulates premotor cortex activity during action observation

Our interactions with other people – and our processing of their actions – are shaped by their reputation. Research has identified an Action Observation Network (AON) which is engaged when observing other people's actions. Yet, little is known about how the processing of others’ actions is influenced by another's reputation. Is the response of the AON modulated by the reputation of the actor? We developed a variant of the ultimatum game in which participants watched either the visible or occluded actions of two ‘proposers’. These actions were tied to decisions of how to split a pot of money although the proposers’ decisions on each trial were not known to participants when observing the actions. One proposer made fair offers on the majority of trials, establishing a positive reputation, whereas the other made predominantly, unfair offers resulting in a negative reputation. We found significant activations in two regions of the left dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC). The first of these showed a main effect of reputation with greater activation for the negative reputation proposer than the positive reputation proposer. Furthermore individual differences in trust ratings of the two proposers covaried with activation in the right primary motor cortex (M1). The second showed an interaction between visibility and reputation driven by a greater effect of reputation when participants were observing an occluded action. Our findings show that the processing of others’ actions in the AON is modulated by an actor's reputation, and suggest a predictive role for the PMC during action observation.
Modularity and the Impact of Buyer - Supplier Relationships on the Survival of Suppliers

Modularity in product design and flexible supply chains is increasingly common in buyer--supplier relationships. Although the benefits of supply chain flexibility and component modularity for end-product manufacturers are accepted, little is known about their impact on suppliers. We advance the literature on modularity by exploring how three aspects of a supplier's relationships with its customers affect the supplier's survival: duration of buyer--supplier relationships, autonomy from customers, and links to prominent buyers. We compared the effects of these aspects of buyer--supplier relationships for low- and high-modularity components. Using data on U.S. carburetor and clutch manufacturers from 1918 to 1942, we found that suppliers of high-modularity components benefited more from autonomy provided by potential customers, whereas suppliers of low-modularity components benefited more from ties to higher status customers. Both benefited from autonomy generated by existing customers. Thus, relationships that require trust and extensive sets of interfirm routines, as do those for low-modularity components, led to both greater relationship benefits and greater constraints.
Bridging the GPGPU-FPGA efficiency gap

This paper compares an implementation of a Bayesian inference algorithm across several FPGAs and GPGPUs, while embracing both the execution model and high-level architecture of a GPGPU. Our study is motivated by recent work in template-based programming and architectural models for FPGA computing. The comparison we present is meant to demonstrate the FPGA's potential, while constraining the design to follow the microarchitectural template of more programmable devices such as GPGPUs. The FPGA implementation proves capable of matching the performance of a high-end Nvidia Fermi-based GPU - the most advanced GPGPU available to us at the time of this study. Further investigation shows that each FPGA core outperforms workstation GPGPU cores by a factor of ~ 3.14x, and mobile GPGPU cores by ~ 4.25x despite a ~ 4x reduction in core clock frequency. Using these observations, we discuss the efficiency gap between these two platforms, and the challenges associated with template-based programming models.
Intranuclear Binding of Hydrocortisone In Liver and Thymus Tissues 1

Summary Intranuclear uptake and binding of hydrocortisone was determined in several tissues of the rat. The first experiment was a time-uptake study designed to determine the relative distribution of 3H-hydrocortisone between the cytosol and nuclear fractions of liver and hypothalamus tissue. Maximum uptake was observed in each tissue as early as 1 min after the addition of the isotope. This was followed by a rapid migration of the radioactivity into the nucleus. Maximum nuclear uptake had occurred by 20 min. The increased nuclear uptake was accompanied by a decreased cytoplasmic radioactivity. The second experiment was designed to determine if pretreatment of rats. with hydrocortisone increased specific nuclear binding in the cerebral cortex, heart, liver, and thymus. These tissues were selected because the liver and thymus are known to respond greatly to glucocorticoids, whereas, the cerebral cortex and heart have now shown such a response. It was observed that pretreatment with hydrocortisone increased nuclear binding in the liver and thymus, but hydrocortisone treatment had no effect on the cortex or the heart. The inability of nonglucocorticoids to drive receptors into the nucleus was apparent since pretreatment with either aldosterone or testosterone did not increase the number of specific nuclear binding sites in either the liver or the thymus. The nuclear receptors in the liver and thymus were shown to be specific for hydrocortisone by the ability of non-radioactive hydrocortisone to compete for the receptor sites, whereas, aldosterone or testosterone offered no competition.