Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lasofoxifene (CP‐336,156) Protects Against the Age‐Related Changes in Bone Mass, Bone Strength, and Total Serum Cholesterol in Intact Aged Male Rats

The purpose of this study was to evaluate if long‐term (6 months) treatment with lasofoxifene (LAS), a new selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), can protect against age‐related changes in bone mass and bone strength in intact aged male rats. Sprague‐Dawley male rats at 15 months of age were treated (daily oral gavage) with either vehicle (n = 12) or LAS at 0.01 mg/kg per day (n = 12) or 0.1 mg/kg per day (n = 11) for 6 months. A group of 15 rats was necropsied at 15 months of age and served as basal controls. No significant change was found in body weight between basal and vehicle controls. However, an age‐related increase in fat body mass (+42%) and decrease in lean body mass (−8.5%) was observed in controls. Compared with vehicle controls, LAS at both doses significantly decreased body weight and fat body mass but did not affect lean body mass. No significant difference was found in prostate wet weight among all groups. Total serum cholesterol was significantly decreased in all LAS‐treated rats compared with both the basal and the vehicle controls. Both doses of LAS treatment completely prevented the age‐related increase in serum osteocalcin. Peripheral quantitative computerized tomography (pQCT) analysis at the distal femoral metaphysis indicated that the age‐related decrease in total density, trabecular density, and cortical thickness was completely prevented by treatment with LAS at 0.01 mg/kg per day or 0.1 mg/kg per day. Histomorphometric analysis of proximal tibial cancellous bone showed an age‐related decrease in trabecular bone volume (TBV; −46%), trabecular number (Tb.N), wall thickness (W.Th), mineral apposition rate, and bone formation rate‐tissue area referent. Moreover, an age‐related increase in trabecular separation (Tb.Sp) and eroded surface was observed. LAS at 0.01 mg/kg per day or 0.1 mg/kg per day completely prevented these age‐related changes in bone mass, bone structure, and bone turnover. Similarly, the age‐related decrease in TBV and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) and the age‐related increase in osteoclast number (Oc.N) and osteoclast surface (Oc.S) in the third lumbar vertebral cancellous bone were completely prevented by treatment with LAS at both doses. Further, LAS at both doses completely prevented the age‐related decrease in ultimate strength (−47%) and stiffness (−37%) of the fifth lumbar vertebral body. These results show that treatment with LAS for 6 months in male rats completely prevents the age‐related decreases in bone mass and bone strength by inhibiting the increased bone resorption and bone turnover associated with aging. Further, LAS reduced total serum cholesterol and did not affect the prostate weight in these rats. Our data support the potential use of a SERM for protecting against the age‐related changes in bone and serum cholesterol in elderly men.
Modelling fatigue spectra of aircraft structure under gust loads

Cette these est consacree a l'analyse de fatigue et de tolerance aux dommages des structures d'avions soumis aux rafales de vent. L'analyse de fatigue et de tolerance aux dommages est un enjeu essentiel dans la conception des structures d'avions. Elle permet de definir un programme d'inspection de la structure afin d'assurer sa securite tout au long de la vie de l'avion. La premiere partie passe en revue l'etat de l'art dans les differents domaines impliques dans le processus global d'analyse de fatigue des structures d'avions soumis aux rafales de vent: la modelisation de la turbulence atmospherique, le calcul des charges et des contraintes a l'aide d'analyses par elements finis, la construction du spectre de fatigue et enfin, l'analyse de fatigue et de tolerance aux dommages. La deuxieme partie presente le processus complet actuellement implemente au sein d'Airbus. Les points forts et les points faibles de ce processus sont d'identifies et permettent de degager des axes d'amelioration. A partir du modele de turbulence continue base sur la densite spectrale de puissance (DSP) de Von Karman, les contraintes calculees sont inserees selon des statistiques etablies par des mesures envol dans le spectre de fatigue pour former une sequence de cycles de contraintes. Les donnees d'entree pour l'analyse de fatigue et tolerance aux dommages sont obtenues a partir de la definition des differents profils de mission, des valeurs de contraintes unitaires, de la reponse dynamique de la structure et des statistiques de turbulence. Dans la troisieme partie, une nouvelle methodologie est presentee afin d'obtenir des sequences temporelles des contraintes dues a la turbulence de maniere precise et efficace. Cette methode s'appuie sur de nouveaux resultats permettant de generer des signaux temporels correles a partir des DSP. Tout d'abord, les DSP des differentes composantes des contraintes sont directement obtenues a l'aide d'une analyse par elements finis a partir de la DSP de Von Karman. Puis, les sequences temporelles correlees de ces contraintes sont generees et sont ensuite distribuees dans le spectre de fatigue selon la loi statistique de l'intensite de la turbulence atmospherique. Ce nouveau processus permet d'ameliorer le calcul des contraintes et la generation du spectre de fatigue. Il remplace les statistiques de turbulence par des statistiques de franchissement de niveaux de contraintes raisonnablement conservatives definies par une formule analytique. De plus, le temps de livraison des donnees d'entree pour l'analyse de fatigue et tolerance aux dommages est significativement reduit. Les resultats presentes, issus de l'analyse de fatigue et de tolerance aux dommages, permettent de souligner la qualite des ameliorations apportees a la fois en termes de precision et de duree du processus.
Quantum Mechanical Predictions Of Energetic Materials: When Good Theories Go Bad

Abstract : The performance of density functional theories (DFT) in predicting structural parameters for six conventional energetic materials (EM) over various degrees of compression was examined for a wide range of pressures. The systems studied were nitromethane, 1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetraazacyclooctane (HMX), cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), 2,4,6,8,10,12- hexanitrohexaazaisowurzitane (CL-20), 2,4,6-trinitro- 1,3,5-benzenetriamine (TATB), and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). Dependencies of results on basis set size, k-points, choice of pseudopotential and method were explored. The results indicate that at zero compression, DFT is not adequate to describe crystallographic parameters for the systems under study. However, at compressions consistent with 6 GPa or greater, DFT predictions of crystal volumes are within 5% of experiment, and are insensitive to method, choice of pseudopotential and basis set size. The results suggest that the major source of error in DFT calculations applied to systems similar to these are due to inadequate treatment of van der Waals forces, which are the dominant forces in molecular organic crystals at the ambient state.
Production and Rheological Properties of the Extracellular Polysaccharide Synthesized by Pseudomonas sp. Strain EPS-5028

During batch aerobic submerged fermentation, the exopolysaccharide synthesis by Pseudomonas sp. strain EPS-5028 occurred in growth- and non-growth-linked processes. Polysaccharide formation increased when the pH was controlled at 7 during fermentation. Exopolysaccharide production depended on the phosphate content of the medium. The polymer exhibited a pseudoplastic nature, had good thermostability, and was affected neither by pH nor by high concentrations of salt.
Detection of antibodies to Trypanosoma cruzi among blood donors in the southwestern and western United States. I. Evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of an enzyme immunoassay for detecting antibodies to T. cruzi

BACKGROUND: Chagas' disease or American trypanosomiasis, caused by infection with Trypanosoma cruzi, is a significant health problem in Latin America. In the United States, transfusions of T. cruzi‐ contaminated blood from Latin American immigrants may represent the major source of Chagas' disease. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A new enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the detection of antibody to T. cruzi was evaluated in the sera of blood donors from the southwestern and western regions of the United States. Serum samples had been screened and were negative for all tests required. Specimens that were repeatedly reactive in the Chagas antibody EIA were analyzed for seroreactivity by a confirmatory EIA and by radioimmunoprecipitation assay. RESULTS: Fourteen of the 13,309 donor samples (0.105%) were confirmed as being positive for antibody to T. cruzi. The Chagas antibody EIA showed improved sensitivity over the Chagas IgG enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay and two indirect hemagglutination assays. The Chagas antibody EIA had a specificity of 99.98 percent with negative samples. The sensitivity of the Chagas antibody EIA was 100 percent (80/80) in xenodiagnosed specimens and 100 percent (50/50) in specimens positive by consensus (i.e., reactive in EIA, indirect hemagglutination assay, and immunofluorescence assays). CONCLUSION: This Chagas antibody EIA meets the need for accurate and rapid identification of seroreactive samples in low‐prevalence or endemic populations.
Chapter 2.2: Mechanics of the Cytoskeleton

The cytoskeleton, the system of protein filaments that permeate the cytoplasmic space of all eukaryotic cells, is primarily responsible for the structural integrity exhibited by a cell and determines its deformation in response to a given stress. This fibrous matrix is instrumental to a wide variety of essential cell functions ranging from migration to adhesion to mitosis to mechanotransduction (the genetic response of a cell to mechanical stimuli). For some cells, their intrinsic elasticity determines their deformation in response to external forces. Cells such as those circulating within or lining the walls of the vascular system are subjected to fluid dynamic forces and change shape as a direct consequence of those forces. In other cells, such as those surrounded by a stiffer extracellular matrix, their shape is dictated by the deformation of the structures in which they are embedded and the cell’s own elastic characteristics play little role in determining the magnitude of those deformations. Even in these, however, externally-imposed deformations produce intercellular forces that can influence cell secretions, gene expression and protein synthesis. Cell migration results from an interaction between the forces of adhesion to structures external to the cell (extracellular matrix in vivo or cell culture substrate for in vitro preparations), and the cell’s own intrinsic stiffness in response to internally generated forces. As will be shown in Chapter 2.3, the speed of migration depends on a critical balance between cell stiffness and adhesion strength such that migration speed is reduced when the cell is either too rigid or too compliant. Mechanotransduction is the term used to describe gene expression in response to cellular deformations or forces acting on the cell. This appears to be a property of nearly all eukaryotic
Low Latency Stream Processing : Twitter Heron with Infiniband and Omni-Path

Worldwide data production is increasing both in volume and velocity, and with this acceleration, data needs to be processed in streaming settings as opposed to the traditional store and process model. Distributed streaming frameworks are designed to process such data in real time with reasonable time constraints. Twitter Heron is a production ready large scale distributed stream processing framework developed at Twitter. In order to scale streaming applications to large numbers of nodes, the network is of utmost importance. High performance computing (HPC) clusters feature interconnects that can perform at higher levels than traditional Ethernet. In this work the authors present their findings on integrating Twitter Heron distributed stream processing system with two high performance interconnects; Infiniband and Intel Omni-Path.
Multivariable Adaptive Backstepping Control: A Norm Estimation Approach

In this note, a novel output-feedback adaptive backstepping control is proposed for linear time-invariant multivariable plants under a mild assumption that the Hurwitz condition for high-frequency gain matrix is satisfied. By estimating the norm of those unknown parameter matrices instead of their elements, it is shown that only one parameter needs to be updated online and therefore, the computational burden can be greatly reduced compared with any current multivariable adaptive control scheme.
The 2016 Power Trading Agent Competition

This is the specification for the Power Trading Agent Competition for 2012 (Power TAC 2012). Power TAC is a competitive simulation that models a “liberalized” retail electrical energy market, where competing business entities or “brokers” offer energy services to customers through tariff contracts, and must then serve those customers by trading in a wholesale market. Brokers are challenged to maximize their profits by buying and selling energy in the wholesale and retail markets, subject to fixed costs and constraints. Costs include fees for publication and withdrawal of tariffs, and distribution fees for transporting energy to their contracted customers. Costs are also incurred whenever there is an imbalance between a broker’s total contracted energy supply and demand within a given time slot. The simulation environment models a wholesale market, a regulated distribution utility, and a population of energy customers, situated in a real location on Earth during a specific period for which weather data is available. The wholesale market is a relatively simple call market, similar to many existing wholesale electric power markets, such as Nord Pool in Scandinavia or FERC markets in North America, but unlike the FERC markets we are modeling a single region, and therefore we do not model location-marginal pricing. Customer models include households and a variety of commercial and industrial entities, many of which have production capacity (such as solar panels or wind turbines) as well as electric vehicles. All have “real-time” metering to support allocation of their hourly supply and demand to their subscribed brokers, and all are approximate utility maximizers with respect to tariff selection, although the factors making up their utility functions may include aversion to change and complexity that can retard uptake of marginally better tariff offers. The distribution utility models the regulated natural monopoly that owns the regional distribution network, and is responsible for maintenance of its infrastructure and for real-time balancing of supply and demand. The balancing process is a market-based mechanism that uses economic incentives to encourage brokers to achieve balance within their portfolios of tariff subscribers and wholesale market positions, in the face of stochastic customer behaviors and weather-dependent renewable energy sources. The broker with the highest bank balance at the end of the simulation wins.
Ethnic Differences in Parents’ Perception of Participatory Decision-Making Style of Their Children's Physicians

Objectives:The objectives of this study were to test whether there are ethnic differences in parents’ perceptions of the participatory styles of their children's physicians, and to determine how Hispanic ethnicity influences the factors that are correlated with the perceptions of participatory styles. Study Design:We conducted a population-based cross-sectional telephone survey in 111 counties of West Texas. Parents of children and adolescents 3 to 18 years of age (n = 3876) were included in analyses. Methods:The participatory decision-making (PDM) style of physicians was measured by a 3-item instrument used in the Medical Outcomes Study. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify ethnic differences and whether the effect of independent variables on participatory style varied by ethnicity. Results:The t test showed that the mean participatory decision-making score for Hispanics was significantly lower than that for non-Hispanic whites (P <0.01). However, the variance of the PDM score among Hispanics was greater than that among non-Hispanic whites using an F test (P = 0.03). After controlling for other independent variables, the effect of ethnicity was still significant. The association between PDM scores and a child's insurance and the parent's age varied by ethnicity. Parents’ age, education, self-employment status, and income were associated with non-Hispanic white parents’ perceptions of physicians’ PDM, whereas children's insurance, parents’ education and income were associated with Hispanic parents’ perceptions of physicians’ PDM (P <0.05). Conclusions:Because patient participation is closely related to health outcomes and patient satisfaction, improving Hispanic patients’ participation can be 1 avenue for diminishing ethnic disparities in health. Further research is needed to establish whether ethnic differences in children's physicians’ participation style exist from physicians’ perspective and whether the differences are associated with physicians’ characteristics.
Efficient Victim Block Selection for Flash Storage Devices

Motivated by the needs to enhance the performance of garbage collection in low-cost flash storage devices, we propose a victim block selection design to efficiently identify the blocks for erases and reclaim the space of invalid data without extensively scanning flash memory for the data status stored in the storage, so as to improve the garbage collection performance on reclaiming the space of invalid data. Moreover, this design could easily identify and reclaim the space released by file systems. Experiments based on benchmark traces show significant performance improvement of garbage collection with limited system overheads.
A Dynamic-Adjusting Threshold-Voltage Scheme for FinFETs low power designs

In this paper, a novel device/circuit co-design scheme, namely Dynamic-Adjusting Threshold-Voltage Scheme (DATS) for independent-gate mode FinFET circuits has been proposed. The main idea of this scheme is that a pair of back-gate bias of FinFETs is adjusted dynamically to change threshold voltage according to the system operating frequency and operating mode, which could optimize circuit power, especially leakage power. The experimental and simulation result shows that the leakage power dissipation reduced greatly when circuits operate at the lower frequency, and the energy-delay product of FinFET circuits is reduced by 30% approximately.
Optimal Carbon Policies in a Dynamic Heterogenous World

We derive the optimal contributions to global climate policy when countries differ with respect to income level and pollution intensity. Countries growth rates are determined endogenously, and abatement efficiency is improved by technical progress. We show that country heterogeneity has a crucial impact on optimal policy contributions: more developed countries have to make a larger effort while less developed countries are allowed to graduate under a less stringent environmental regime. The optimal allocation of pollution permits depends on international trade. In the absence of international permit trade, more developed countries should receive more permits than the less developed countries but permit prices are higher in the rich countries. With international permit trade, more developed countries receive less permits than the less developed. When global distribution of physical capital is uneven and the aggregate pollution ceiling is low, poor countries receive all the permits and incomes do not converge, even with free trade.
The Development of a Questionnaire to Measure Business Process Maturity

Purpose: the creation of a questionnaire for business process maturity measurement. Design/Method/Approach. The authors developed a set of items and applied confirmatory factor analysis in order to demonstrate questionnaire validation and reliability. Findings. The model supports prior research to the extent that business process maturity can be explained by strategic alignment, governance and culture. Surprisingly, methodology showed weak result and IT & Technology as well as people did not seem to be part of the model. Theoretical implications. This research not only confirmed prior research but also showed that there is wiggle room regarding the underlying factors of business process maturity and how to apply them. Practical implications. This research provides a questionnaire for practitioners to assess business process maturity. Originality/Value. The authors created a questionnaire that can be used in practice and is based on factors backed up by academic research and findings. Research limitations/Future research. The authors suggests applying the questionnaire to a larger sample size as well as expanding the statistical methods used. Paper type – empirical.
Bat algorithm for multi-objective optimisation

Engineering optimisation is typically multi-objective and multidisciplinary with complex constraints, and the solution of such complex problems requires efficient optimisation algorithms. Recently, Xin-She Yang proposed a bat-inspired algorithm for solving non-linear, global optimisation problems. In this paper, we extend this algorithm to solve multi-objective optimisation problems. The proposed multi-objective bat algorithm (MOBA) is first validated against a subset of test functions, and then applied to solve multi-objective design problems such as welded beam design. Simulation results suggest that the proposed algorithm works efficiently.
Women in boards of Philippine publicly traded firms: Does gender diversity affect corporate risk-taking behavior?

The notion that corporate boards should be more gender-diverse is attracting greater attention around the world. Some scholars argue that gender diversity on boards improves firm performance and induces more prudent corporate decisionmaking. This rationale is based on the hypothesis that women are less overconfident and are innately more risk-averse than men. Other researchers argue that firms having more female directors are associated with greater corporate risk-taking, as past studies show that risk-seeking women tend to be appointed to the board. Still, another strand of literature argues that riskaversion does not vary between homogeneously male boards and more gender-diverse boards. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between board diversity for Philippine firms and corporate risk-taking over the period 2003 to 2015. We use four alternative measures of corporate risk-taking and employ the two-step system generalized method of moments estimation technique to account for endogeneity issues that may influence this relationship. Overall, we find some evidence that greater female participation in the boardroom increases financial risk-taking, proxied by the leverage and current ratio, but decreases riskiness of firm outcomes, proxied by the volatility of return on assets. This suggests that greater gender diversity in Philippine corporate boards, while addressing the usual equality, social, and fairness considerations, also has economic consequences that may or may not be desirable with respect to firm risk.
Rapid Flow Cytometric Analysis of the Cell Cycle in Intact Plant Tissues

Mechanical chopping of plant tissues in the presence of mithramycin released intact nuclei representative of the cells within the tissues. The amount of nuclear DNA in the homogenates of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants was accurately and rapidly determined by flow microfluorometry, and the distribution of nuclei involved in the cell cycle was charted for tissues selected from different physical locations or developmental stages.