Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The incidence of coronary heart disease among Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem.

BACKGROUND Lifestyle factors relevant to coronary risk factors differ between Palestinians and Israelis. Both have been exposed, albeit differently, to the stressors of the long-term conflict. We determined the incidence of coronary heart disease, previously unreported in Palestinians, in these Mediterranean populations and made international comparisons with the MONICA Programme. METHODS We applied the rigorous World Health Organization MONICA protocol, which enables standardized international population-based comparisons, to determine all acute myocardial infarction events and coronary deaths among Palestinians and Israelis aged 25-74, residents of the Jerusalem district in 1997. RESULTS We confirmed a total of 265 coronary events among 76,200 Arabs and 698 among 226,500 Jews. Rates among Arabs were substantially higher than in Jews, particularly so in women. Age-adjusted rate ratios (RRs) for coronary events were 1.58 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.34-1.87] among men and 2.37 (95% CI 1.81-3.10) among women. When restricted to coronary deaths, Arab: Jewish RRs were 2.79 (95% CI 2.09-3.73) in men and 2.66 (95% CI 1.77-4.00) in women. Compared with MONICA populations in 20 countries, Arabs ranked first in total coronary event rates and first in non-fatal myocardial infarction rates, exceeded populations in Finland, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and showed striking differences from the participating Mediterranean centres. CONCLUSIONS Coronary risk appears to be particularly high in Palestinian Arabs. Determinants of these unexpected findings should be sought and prevention programmes initiated.
Robot Emotive Display Systems and the Analogous Physical Features of Emotion

Robots are currently utilized by various civilian and military agencies, and are becoming more common in human environments. These machines can vary in form and function, but require an interface supporting naturalistic social interactions. Emotion is a key component of social interaction that conveys states and action tendencies, and standard design protocol is necessary to guide the research and development of emotive display systems so that reliable implementations are supported. This work suggests a framework for conveying emotion based on the analogous physical features of emotive cues and their associations with the dimensions of emotion. Sound, kinesics, and color can be manipulated according to their speed, intensity, regularity, and extent to convey the emotive states of a robot. Combinations of cues can enhance human recognition accuracy of robot emotion, but further research is necessary to understand the extent of these interactions and establish each parameter space.
Do stressful conditions make adaptation difficult? Guppies in the oil-polluted environments of southern Trinidad

The ability of populations to rapidly adapt to new environments will determine their future in an increasingly human‐modified world. Although meta‐analyses do frequently uncover signatures of local adaptation, they also reveal many exceptions. We suggest that particular constraints on local adaptation might arise when organisms are exposed to novel stressors, such as anthropogenic pollution. To inform this possibility, we studied the extent to which guppies (Poecilia reticulata) show local adaptation to oil pollution in southern Trinidad. Neutral genetic markers revealed that paired populations in oil‐polluted versus not‐polluted habitats diverged independently in two different watersheds. Morphometrics revealed some divergence (particularly in head shape) between these environments, some of which was parallel between rivers. Reciprocal transplant experiments in nature, however, found little evidence of local adaptation based on survival and growth. Moreover, subsequent laboratory experiments showed that the two populations from oil‐polluted sites showed only weak local adaptation even when compared to guppies from oil‐free northern Trinidad. We conclude that guppies show little local adaptation to oil pollution, which might result from the challenges associated with adaptation to particularly stressful environments. It might also reflect genetic drift owing to small population sizes and/or high gene flow between environments.
H2RDF+: High-performance distributed joins over large-scale RDF graphs

The proliferation of data in RDF format calls for efficient and scalable solutions for their management. While scalability in the era of big data is a hard requirement, modern systems fail to adapt based on the complexity of the query. Current approaches do not scale well when faced with substantially complex, non-selective joins, resulting in exponential growth of execution times. In this work we present H2RDF+, an RDF store that efficiently performs distributed Merge and Sort-Merge joins over a multiple index scheme. H2RDF+ is highly scalable, utilizing distributed MapReduce processing and HBase indexes. Utilizing aggressive byte-level compression and result grouping over fast scans, it can process both complex and selective join queries in a highly efficient manner. Furthermore, it adaptively chooses for either single- or multi-machine execution based on join complexity estimated through index statistics. Our extensive evaluation demonstrates that H2RDF+ efficiently answers non-selective joins an order of magnitude faster than both current state-of-the-art distributed and centralized stores, while being only tenths of a second slower in simple queries, scaling linearly to the amount of available resources.
L-Tryptophan Metabolism in Pregnant Mice Fed a High L-Tryptophan Diet and the Effect on Maternal, Placental, and Fetal Growth

Excess L-tryptophan (L-Trp) in the diet decreases fetal body weight. However, the relationship between L-Trp concentration and its effects on maternal, placental, and fetal growth are not well-understood. We investigated the effects of excess L-Trp intake on maternal, placental, and fetal growth. Female mice were fed a 20% casein diet (control diet) or control diet plus 2% or 5% L-Trp during gestation. Pup weights did not differ between the control (L-Trp intake: 0.04 g/kg body weight (BW)/day) and 2% L-Trp groups (L-Trp intake: 3.3 g/kg BW/day), but were significantly lower in the 5% L-Trp group (L-Trp intake: 7.0 g/kg BW/day) than in the control and 2% L-Trp groups. These results show that less than 3.3 g/kg BW/day L-Trp intake in pregnant mice during gestation does not affect fetal growth or L-Trp homeostasis in the placenta or fetus.
Dynamic Feature Analysis and Measurement for Large-Scale Network Traffic Monitoring

Measuring and monitoring the changes of network traffic patterns in large-scale networks are crucial for effective network management. In this paper, we present a framework and method for detecting and measuring the dynamic changes of the pivotal traffic patterns. A bidirectional regional flow model is established to aggregate traffic packets and extract the traffic metrics and profiles. The characteristics of the regional flows are analyzed and interesting findings are obtained. A directed graph model is applied to describe the flow metrics and six flow features are extracted to capture the dynamic changes of the flow patterns. The measurements based on Renyi entropy are developed to quantitatively monitor these changes. The experimental results based on the actual network traffic data traces show that the method presented in this paper can capture the dynamic changes of pivotal traffic patterns effectively.
Utility of saliva and hair follicles in donor selection for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and chimerism monitoring

Selection of an HLA identical donor is a critical pre-requisite for successful hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Most transplant centers utilize blood as the most common source of DNA for HLA testing. However, obtaining blood through phlebotomy is often challenging in patients with conditions like severe leucopenia or hemophilia, pediatric and elderly patients. We have used a simple in-house protocol and shown that HLA genotypes obtained on DNA extracted from saliva or hair are concordant with blood and hence can be used for selection of donors for HSCT or organ transplantation. Similarly, for post-HSCT chimerism monitoring, non-availability of pre-transplant DNA samples poses a major limitation of reference STR fingerprints. This study shows that DNA obtained post-HSCT from hair follicles can be used to generate pre-transplant patient specific fingerprints while the STR profiles obtained in saliva samples cannot as these display a mixed state of chimerism.
Design of Digital Control Networks for Continuous Passive Plants Subject To Delays and Data Dropouts

We present a framework to synthesize lm 2 -stablecontrol networks which are subject to delays and data dropou ts. This framework can be applied to control systems which use “soft-real-time ” cooperative schedulers and wired or wireless network feed back. The approach applies topassiveplants and controllers that can be either linear, nonlinear , and (or) time-varying. This framework is based on fundamental results presented here related to passivecontrol, and scattering theory. It loosens the requirement s for the passivesystems to possess specialized storage functions and state spac descriptions as is typically done in showing Lyapunov stability for passiveforce-feedback telemanipulation systems, of which we prov ide a short review. The benefits of loosening these requirements will become quite obvious to the reader as we ma ke connections between the general input-output definition s f passivityand the more specific passive dissipativesystem definitions. Theorem 4 states how a (non)linear ( strictly input or strictly output) passiveplant can be transformed to a discrete ( strictly input) passiveplant using a particular digital sampling and hold scheme. F urthermore, Theorem 5(6) provide new sufficient conditions forlm 2 (and L m 2 )-stability in which a strictly-output passivecontroller and plant are interconnected with only wavevariables. Lemma 2 shows it is sufficient to use discrete wave-variableswhen data is subject to fixed time delays and dropouts in order to maintainpassivity. Lemma 3 shows how to safely handle time varying discrete wave-variabledata in order to maintain passivity. Proposition 1 shows how to synthesize a discrete passive LTIsystem from a continuous passive LTIsystem, which leads to Corollary 1 that shows how to synthesize a discrete strictly-output passive LTI system from a continuous passive LTI system. Corollary 2 provides a suitable method to appropria tely scale the synthesized discrete strictly-output passive LTI system. Corollaries 3 and 4 show how to integrate the discrete strictly-output passive LTI system withwave variables . Proposition 2 shows how a LTI strictly-output passiveobserver can be implemented for a strictly-output passive LTI continuous plant. Corollaries 5 and 6 result from Proposition 2 as they relate to an observer u sing wave variables . We then present a new cooperative scheduler algorithm to implement alm 2 -stablecontrol network. We also provide an illustrative simulated example followed by a discussion of future research.
Study on the Nonlinear Dynamic Characteristic of Cone Penetrate Test Curve

Soil on the surface of the earth is the remnants of weathered rock and strata with layer structure appear a time series feature. Static cone penetrate test (CPT) is an exploration technology which can obtain the physical indices of strata accurately. Study shows that specific penetration resistances (Ps values) of soil vary with the buried depth of strata and the curves of Ps values have fractal characteristics. In this paper, we adopted nonlinear dynamic theory to analyze the chaos and multi-fractal properties of these curves. At the same time, we also discussed the Hurst exponents of CPT data sets. The results suggest that chaos characteristics of the test data are not clear, however the multi-fractal spectrum of each CPT curve can identify nonhomogeneity degree of soil, also it can distinguish the difference of sedimentary environments. Furthermore, rescaled range analysis indicates that the soil layers deposited later had long range dependence on those deposited early.
Verifying Coalitions in 3-Party Systems

Multiplayer games are played by a set of agents, where, at each round, all players give their moves, and the combination of their moves defines the successor states for the game. In such games, the players pursue certain goals with their moves and in that pursuit, they can form coalitions to fulfill a common objective. In this paper, we adopt this model of multiplayer coalition games in the context of 3-party systems, consisting of a module, its environment, and a controller. The winning objective of our game is given as a specification in linear temporal logic and the module and controller together attempt to satisfy the specification for all possible strategies of the environment. In this paper, we analyze the problem for various degrees of observability of the module-controller pair, and provide quantified Boolean formula-based methods for investigating the existence of a winning coalition strategy. The coalition strategy can only be fulfilled on carefully implementing both the module and the controller such that they can cooperate. We also consider the problem where the implementations of the module and the controller are available and we present a dynamic simulation-based approach for verifying whether these implementations conform to the coalition requirements. In case, they do not, we provide algorithms for designing the winning strategy for an intelligent environment to drive the coalition to a refutation.
Multiple sensor fusion for detecting location of curbs, walls, and barriers

Knowledge of the location of curbs, walls, or barriers is important for guidance of vehicles or for the understanding of their surroundings. We have developed a method to detect such continuous objects alongside and in front of a host vehicle. We employ a laser line stripper, a vehicle state estimator, a video camera, and a laser scanner to detect the object at one location, track it alongside the vehicle, search for it in front of the vehicle and eliminate erroneous readings caused by occlusion from other objects.
GLUCOSE : a solver that predicts learnt clauses quality

GLUCOSE is based on a new scoring scheme for the clause learning mechanism, based on the paper [Audemard and Simon, 2009]. This short competition report summarizes the techniques embedded in the competition 09 version of GLUCOSE. Solver’s name comes from glue clauses, a particular kind of clauses that GLUCOSE detects and preserves during search. The web page for GLUCOSE is http://www.lri. fr/ ̃simon/glucose.
NBER WORKING PAPER SERIES THE EFFECTS OF EXTENDING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS PROTECTION TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: A CASE STUDY OF THE INDIAN PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET

Under the TRIPS agreement, WTO members are required to enforce product patents for pharmaceuticals. The debate about the merits of this requirement has been and continues to be extremely contentious. Many poor developing economies claim that patent protection for pharmaceuticals will result in substantially higher prices for medicines, with adverse consequences for the health and well-being of their citizens. On the other hand, research-based global pharmaceutical companies, which claim to have lost billions of dollars because of patent infringement, argue that prices are unlikely to rise significantly because most patented products have therapeutic substitutes. In this paper we empirically investigate the basis of these claims. Central to the ongoing debate is the structure of demand for pharmaceuticals in poor economies where, because health insurance coverage is so rare, almost all medical expenses are met out-of-pocket. Using a product-level data set from India, which is unique in terms of its detail and coverage, we estimate key price and expenditure elasticities and supply-side parameters for the fluoroquinolones subsegment of the systemic anti-bacterials (i.e., antibiotics) segment of the Indian pharmaceuticals market. We then use these estimates to carry out counterfactual simulations of what prices, profits (of both domestic firms and multinational subsidiaries) and consumer welfare would have been, had the fluoroquinolone molecules we study been under patent in India as they were in the U.S. at the time. Our results suggest that concerns about the potential adverse welfare effects of TRIPS may have some basis. We estimate that in the absence of any price regulation or compulsory licensing the total annual welfare losses to the Indian economy from the withdrawal of the four domestic product groups in the fluoroquinolone sub-segment would be on the order of U.S. $713 million, or about 118% of the sales of the entire systemic anti-bacterials segment in 2000. Of this amount, foregone profits of domestic producers constitute roughly $50 million (or 7%). The overwhelming portion of the total welfare loss therefore derives from the loss of consumer welfare. In contrast, the profit gains to foreign producers are estimated to be only around $57 million per year. Shubham Chaudhuri Department of Economics Columbia University sc301@columbia.edu Pinelopi K. Goldberg Department of Economics Yale University 37 Hillhouse Avenue P.O. Box 208264 New Haven, CT 06520-8264 and NBER penny.goldberg@yale.edu Panle Jia Department of Economics Yale University panle.jia@yale.edu
Giving structure to the biofilm matrix: an overview of individual strategies and emerging common themes

Biofilms are communities of microbial cells that underpin diverse processes including sewage bioremediation, plant growth promotion, chronic infections and industrial biofouling. The cells resident in the biofilm are encased within a self-produced exopolymeric matrix that commonly comprises lipids, proteins that frequently exhibit amyloid-like properties, eDNA and exopolysaccharides. This matrix fulfils a variety of functions for the community, from providing structural rigidity and protection from the external environment to controlling gene regulation and nutrient adsorption. Critical to the development of novel strategies to control biofilm infections, or the capability to capitalize on the power of biofilm formation for industrial and biotechnological uses, is an in-depth knowledge of the biofilm matrix. This is with respect to the structure of the individual components, the nature of the interactions between the molecules and the three-dimensional spatial organization. We highlight recent advances in the understanding of the structural and functional role that carbohydrates and proteins play within the biofilm matrix to provide three-dimensional architectural integrity and functionality to the biofilm community. We highlight, where relevant, experimental techniques that are allowing the boundaries of our understanding of the biofilm matrix to be extended using Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, and Bacillus subtilis as exemplars.
Design of a Robust Adaptive Control （RAC） of Robotic Manipulators for Trajectory Tracking with Structured and Unstructured Uncertainties

This paper deals with design of a robust adaptive control (RAC) of robotic manipulators for trajectory tracking with structured and unstructured uncertainties. This controller has been used for evaluation of tracking error and time of settlement of output and desired output has been compared. Simulation results on a two-link SCARA manipulator are shown for trajectory tracking in the presence of the impulse disturbance.
Microplane Constitutive Model and Metal Plasticity

The microplane model is a versatile constitutive model in which the stress-strain relations are dermed in tenns of vectors rather than tensors on planes of all possible orientations, called the microplanes, representative of the microstructure of the material. The microplane model with kinematic constraint has been successfully employed in the modeling of concrete, soils, ice, rocks, fiber composites and other quasibrittle materials. The microplane model provides a powerful and efficient numerical tool for the development and implementation of constitutive models for any kind of material. The paper presents a review of the background from which the microplane model stems, highlighting differences and similarities with other approaches. The basic structure of the microplane model is then presented, together with its extension to fmite strain defonnation. Three microplane models for metal plasticity are introduced and discussed. They are compared mutually and with the classical Jrflow theory for incremental plasticity by means of two examples. The first is the material response to a nonproportional loading path given by uniaxial compression into the plastic region followed by shear (typical of buckling and bifurcation problems). This example is considered in order to show the capability of the microplane model to represent a vertex on the yield surface. The second example is the 'tube-squash' test of a highly ductile steel tube: a finite element computation is run using two microplane models and the Jrflow theory. One of the microplane models appears to predict more accurately the final shape of the deformed tube, showing an improvement compared to the J2-flow theory even when the material is not SUbjected to abrupt changes in the loading path direction. This review article includes 114 references.
Honing in on social learning networks in MOOC forums: examining critical network definition decisions

This study examines the impact of content-based network partitioning and tie definition on social network structures and interpretation for MOOC discussion forums. Using dynamic interrelated post and thread categorization [5] based on a previously developed natural language model [27], 817 threads containing 3124 discussion posts from 567 learners in a MOOC on the use of statistics in medicine were characterized as either related to the learning of course content or not. Content-related, non-content, and unpartitioned interaction networks were constructed based on five different tie definitions: Direct Reply, Star, Direct Reply+Star, Limited Copresence, and Total Copresence. Results showed content-related and non-content networks to have distinct characteristics at the network, community, and individual node levels, validating the usefulness of the content/non-content distinction as an analytic tool. Network properties were less sensitive to differences in tie definition with the exception of Total Copresence, which showed distinct characteristics presenting dangers for general use, but usefulness for detecting inflated social status due to "superthread" initiation.
Plasma Anypath Routing in Wireless Mesh Networks

We present a new routing paradigm that generalizes opportunistic routing for the multi-gateway case. In plasma anypath routing, each packet is delivered over the best available path to one of the gateways. The choice of the path and gateway for each packet is not made beforehand by the source node, but rather on-the-fly by the mesh routers as the packet traverses the network. To our knowledge, the problem of gateway anycasting via anypath routing has not been explored before. We provide a theory capable of jointly optimizing the transmission rate and the set of next hops to reach the best subset of gateways. We propose an optimal distributed routing algorithm as well as a load-balancing technique to disperse the network traffic among multiple gateways. We validate our proposal with traces from an 802.11b testbed. Our results show that plasma anypath routing outperforms multirate anypath routing, with a maximum gain of 31% for two gateways and 64% for four gateways. We also show that the load can be distributed among the gateways and that plasma anypath routing is robust to wireless link fluctuations over long periods of time.