Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The relationship between environmental monitoring and biological markers in exposure assessment.

The poor quality of traditional assessments of exposure has encouraged epidemiologists to explore biological monitoring in studies of chronic diseases. Yet, despite theoretical advantages, biomarkers have not been widely used in such applications. This article compares the general utility of a biomarker with that of the measurement of exposure per se. Points are illustrated with a longitudinal study of boat workers in which levels of styrene in the breathing zone and in exhaled air were compared to sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) in peripheral lymphocytes. First, the linear relationship is explored between personal exposure and the levels of a biomarker in the cohort. A good fit to the straight-line relationship reflected by a correlation coefficient which is close to 1, such as observed with styrene in exhaled air (r2 = 0.83), suggests linear kinetics, that the appropriate route of exposure was measured by personal monitoring, small interindividual differences, adequate sample sizes, and a specific biomarker. However, a small correlation coefficient, as observed between SCEs and styrene exposure (r2 = 0.11), indicates that either kinetics were nonlinear or that more complex issues were involved with one or more of these factors. Second, environmental and biologic measurements are compared for use as independent variables in establishing a straight-line relationship between exposure and the health effect. If the ratio of the within-person to the between-person components of variance of the independent variable is large, then significant attenuation results when estimating the slope of the line. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Human-like motion of a humanoid robot arm based on a closed-form solution of the inverse kinematics problem

Humanoid robotics is a new challenging field. To cooperate with human beings, humanoid robots not only have to feature human-like form and structure but, more importantly, they must possess human-like characteristics regarding motion, communication and intelligence. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for solving the inverse kinematics problem associated with the redundant robot arm of the humanoid robot ARMAR. The formulation of the problem is based on the decomposition of the workspace of the arm and on the analytical description of the redundancy of the arm. The solution obtained is characterized by its accuracy and low cost of computation. The algorithm is enhanced in order to generate human-like manipulation motions from object trajectories.
A framework for opportunistic power control - convergence and applications

Most power control algorithms that aim at hitting an SIR target fall within Yates's (1995) framework. However, for delay-tolerable applications, it is unnecessary to maintain the SIR at a certain level all the time. To maximize throughput, one should increase one's power when the interference level is low, and the information transmission rate is adjusted accordingly by adaptive modulation and coding techniques. This approach is called opportunistic communications. In this paper, we generalize Yates's result and establish a new framework, which is applicable to systems supporting opportunistic communications and with heterogeneous service requirements.
High birefringence in tension-coiled single-mode fibers.

Coiling a single-mode fiber of radius r under tension onto a cylinder of radius R produces a linear birefringence of βtc ≃ 28 × 107∊2r/R deg/m in the fiber at λ = 0.63 μm, where ∊z is the relative fiber elongation. Polarization beat lengths down to 2.5 cm have been realized this way, providing excellent polarization holding.
Quality of life in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients requiring insulin treatment in Buenos Aires, Argentina: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND Decision-makers have begun to recognize Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) as an important and measurable outcome of healthcare interventions; and HRQoL data is increasingly being used by policy-makers to prioritize health resources. Our objective was to measure HRQoL in a group of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) patients receiving insulin treatment in Buenos Aires, Argentina. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study of patients with T2DM over 21 years of age, treated with either Neutral Protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin or Insulin Glargine (IG), who had not changed their baseline schedule in the last 6 months. The recruitment was during 2006-7 in nine private diabetes specialists' offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A standardized diabetes-specific HRQoL questionnaire, the Audit of Diabetes Dependent Quality of Life (ADDQoL), was used. RESULTS A total of 183 patients were included (93 receiving NPH and 90 receiving IG). The mean QoL score was: 0.98 (SD: 0.89) and the diabetes specific QoL was: -1.49 (SD: 0.90). T2DM had a negative impact on HRQoL with a mean Average Weighted Impact (AWI) score on QoL of -1.77 (SD: 1.58). The greatest negative impact was observed for domains: 'worries about the future', 'freedom to eat', 'living conditions', 'sex life', and 'family life'. The mean AWI score was -1.71 (SD: 1.48) in patients treated with IG and -1.85 (SD: 1.68) in patients receiving NPH, this difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION The ADDQoL questionnaire is a tool that can be used in Argentina to measure the QoL of patients with diabetes when evaluating diabetes care programs. The scores of QoL in our selected population did not differ from those reported in high-income countries. We expect that the results of this study will increase healthcare providers' awareness of patients' perceived QoL and help to overcome the barriers that delay insulin treatment; mainly clinical inertia and patient resistance.
Antagonism of Tetherin Restriction of HIV-1 Release by Vpu Involves Binding and Sequestration of the Restriction Factor in a Perinuclear Compartment

The Vpu accessory protein promotes HIV-1 release by counteracting Tetherin/BST-2, an interferon-regulated restriction factor, which retains virions at the cell-surface. Recent reports proposed β-TrCP-dependent proteasomal and/or endo-lysosomal degradation of Tetherin as potential mechanisms by which Vpu could down-regulate Tetherin cell-surface expression and antagonize this restriction. In all of these studies, Tetherin degradation did not, however, entirely account for Vpu anti-Tetherin activity. Here, we show that Vpu can promote HIV-1 release without detectably affecting Tetherin steady-state levels or turnover, suggesting that Tetherin degradation may not be necessary and/or sufficient for Vpu anti-Tetherin activity. Even though Vpu did not enhance Tetherin internalization from the plasma membrane (PM), it did significantly slow-down the overall transport of the protein towards the cell-surface. Accordingly, Vpu expression caused a specific removal of cell-surface Tetherin and a re-localization of the residual pool of Tetherin in a perinuclear compartment that co-stained with the TGN marker TGN46 and Vpu itself. This re-localization of Tetherin was also observed with a Vpu mutant unable to recruit β-TrCP, suggesting that this activity is taking place independently from β-TrCP-mediated trafficking and/or degradation processes. We also show that Vpu co-immunoprecipitates with Tetherin and that this interaction involves the transmembrane domains of the two proteins. Importantly, this association was found to be critical for reducing cell-surface Tetherin expression, re-localizing the restriction factor in the TGN and promoting HIV-1 release. Overall, our results suggest that association of Vpu to Tetherin affects the outward trafficking and/or recycling of the restriction factor from the TGN and as a result promotes its sequestration away from the PM where productive HIV-1 assembly takes place. This mechanism of antagonism that results in TGN trapping is likely to be augmented by β-TrCP-dependent degradation, underlining the need for complementary and perhaps synergistic strategies to effectively counteract the powerful restrictive effects of human Tetherin.
Local and Parallel Finite Element Algorithm Based On Multilevel Discretization for Eigenvalue Problem

A local and parallel algorithm based on the multilevel discretization is proposed in this paper to solve the eigenvalue problem by the finite element method. With this new scheme, solving the eigenvalue problem in the finest grid is transferred to solutions of the eigenvalue problems on the coarsest mesh and a series of solutions of boundary value problems by using the local and parallel algorithm. The computational work in each processor can reach the optimal order. Therefore, this type of multilevel local and parallel method improves the overall efficiency of solving the eigenvalue problem. Some numerical experiments are presented to validate the efficiency of the new method.
The International Journal of Biostatistics Targeted Minimum Loss Based Estimation of a Causal Effect on an Outcome with Known Conditional Bounds

This paper presents a targeted minimum loss based estimator (TMLE) that incorporates known conditional bounds on a continuous outcome. Subject matter knowledge regarding the bounds of a continuous outcome within strata defined by a subset of covariates, X, translates into statistical knowledge that constrains the model space of the true joint distribution of the data. In settings where there is low Fisher Information in the data for estimating the desired parameter, as is common when X is high dimensional relative to sample size, incorporating this domain knowledge can improve the fit of the targeted outcome regression, thereby improving bias and variance of the parameter estimate. We show that TMLE, a substitution estimator defined as a mapping from a density to a (possibly d-dimensional) real number, readily incorporates this global knowledge, resulting in improved finite sample performance.
Associative Learning, Acquired Equivalence, and Flexible Generalization of Knowledge in Mild Alzheimer Disease

BackgroundAcquired equivalence is a phenomenon in which prior training to treat 2 stimuli as equivalent increases generalization between them. Previous studies demonstrated that the hippocampal complex might play an important role in acquired equivalence associative learning. In this study, we tested the possibility that acquired equivalence learning is a sensitive marker of mild Alzheimer disease (AD). MethodsIn the associative learning test, antecedent stimuli were cartoon faces and consequent stimuli were different colored cartoon fishes. Each cartoon character had some pet fish and the task was to learn these face-fish associations using feedback provided after each decision. In the transfer phase, knowledge about face-fish pairs had to be generalized to new associations. ResultsAD patients exhibited mild impairments in the training phase, whereas they were profoundly impaired on the acquired equivalence test. Associative knowledge could not be transferred to a more flexible retrieval condition. ConclusionsThese results suggest that acquired equivalence learning is specifically impaired in early AD, which may indicate the pathology of the hippocampal complex.
Programming Techniques and Data Structures Planar Point Location Using

A classical problem in computational geometry is the planar point location problem. This problem calls for preprocessing a polygonal subdivision of the plane defined by n line segments so that, given a sequence of points, the polygon containing each point can be determined quickly on-line. Several ways of solving this problem in O(log n) query time and O(n) space are known, but they are all rather complicated. We propose a simple O(log f&query-time, O(n)-space solution, using persistent search trees. A persistent search tree differs from an ordinary search tree in that after an insertion or deletion, the old version of the tree can still be accessed. We develop a persistent form of binary search tree that supports insertions and deletions in the present and queries in the past. The time per query or update is O(log m), where m is the total number of updates, and the space needed is O(I) per update. Our planar point location algorithm is an immediate application of this data structure. The structure also provides an alternative to Chazelle’s “hive graph” structure, which has a variety of applications in geometric retrieval. 1. PLANAR POINT LOCATION Let us consider a classical geometric retrieval problem. Suppose the Euclidian plane is subdivided into polygons by n line segments’ that intersect only at ’ We regard a line or half-line as being a line segment. and an infinite region whose boundary consists of a finite number of line segments as being a
Almost Sure and pth-Moment Stability and Stabilization of Regime-Switching Jump Diffusion Systems

This work focuses on regime-switching jump diffusions, which include three classes of random processes, Brownian motions, Poisson processes, and Markov chains. First, a scalar linear system is treated as a benchmark model. Then stabilization of systems with one-sided linear growth is considered. Next, nonlinear systems that have a finite explosion time are treated, in which regularization (explosion suppression) and stabilization are achieved by introducing appropriate diffusions together with Poisson and Markov chain perturbations. This work reveals the impact of various random effects on the underlying systems for almost sure and $p$th-moment stability and provides insight on stability and stabilization of switching jump diffusion systems.
Connectionist plan reminding in a hybrid planning model

That planning comprises an automatic (parallel) plan reminding process and conscious (sequential) plan manipulation process and hence is naturally suited for modeling by hybrid connectionist and production system models is the central hypothesis of the author's research. This hybrid model of planning, which combines symbolic and subsymbolic processing, is different from the traditional artificial intelligence planning models, which use symbolic processing uniformly at all levels. The automatic-plan-reminding process and a connectionist model of the same are described. Plan reminding is defined as the process by which reasonably constrained plans for the given goal or set of goals become automatically available for further conscious processing. It is characterized by dramatic contextual effect, constraint satisfaction and automatic inferencing. The working of the plan-reminding process has been demonstrated using connectionist simulation for a set of errand planning examples. The connectionist network captures some of the errors people make in errand planning. <<ETX>>
Rare Circulating Cells in Familial Waldenström Macroglobulinemia Displaying the MYD88 L265P Mutation Are Enriched by Epstein-Barr Virus Immortalization

The MYD88 L265P is a recurrent somatic mutation in neoplastic cells from patients with Waldenström Macroglobulinemia (WM). We identified the MYD88 L265P mutation in three individuals from unrelated families, but its presence did not explain the disease segregation within these WM pedigrees. We observed the mutation in these three individuals at high allele fractions in DNA extracted from EBV-immortalized Lymphoblastoid cell lines established from peripheral blood (LCL), but at much lower allele fractions in DNA extracted directly from peripheral blood, suggesting that this mutation is present in a clonal cell subpopulation rather than of germ-line origin. Furthermore, we observed that the MYD88 L265P mutation is enriched in WM families, detected in 40.5% of patients with familial WM or MGUS (10/22 WM, 5/15 MGUS), compared to 3.5% of patients with familial MM or MGUS (0/72 MM, 4/41 MGUS) (p = 10−7). The mutant allele frequency increased with passages in vitro after immortalization with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) consistent with the MYD88 L265P described gain-of-function proposed for this mutation. The MYD88 L265P mutation appears to be frequently present in circulating cells in patients with WM, and MGUS, and these cells are amenable to immortalization by EBV.
Time-differential sense amplifier for sub-80mV bitline voltage embedded STT-MRAM in 40nm CMOS

Spin-torque-transfer (STT) MRAM is a promising candidate for embedded non-volatile memory in next generation microcontrollers, because of superior endurance, low process costs and logic supply voltage operation. Two major drawbacks of STT-MRAM technology are the small read window because of the low tunnel magnetic resistance (TMR) ratio, and the low read current due to read disturb, which is proportional to the bitline (BL) voltage [1].
Author's Personal Copy Cw Cavity Ring-down Spectroscopy (crds) with a Semiconductor Optical Amplifier as Intensity Modulator

We summarized both advantages and disadvantages of different light modulators used in cw-CRDS experiments. For the first time, we introduce the use of a semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) as light modulator in cw-CRDS. A direct comparison of the sensitivity realized on the same instrument using an SOA as modulator with use of an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) has been made. It is found that the SOA has larger extinction ratio ($81 dB) than the AOM. For our instrument, with single-shot initial signal-to-noise ratio of 1400:1, these two modulators are found giving equivalent sensitivity. In the past decade, cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) has become a widely used method for the detection of trace levels of absorption [1,2]. In CRDS, absorption and scattering loss of a sample placed inside of a high finesse optical cavity is measured by an increase in the decay rate of light intensity trapped inside the cavity. Sensitivities to loss as small as 10 À9 –10 À11 cm À1 are routinely obtained in the visible and near-IR [3], where the highest reflectiv-ity dielectric mirrors are available. The highest sensitivities are usually realized by using a narrow bandwidth continuous wave laser to excite the cavity and then observing the cavity decay by rapidly (compared to the cavity storage time) switching off the input radiation, which is known as cw-CRDS [4,5]. This method gives a more reproducible excitation of a single mode of the cavity, thus minimizing fluctuations caused, by among other reasons, spatial variations in the mirror reflectivity. In cw-CRDS experiments, the light intensity modulator must have large enough shut-off extinction ratio and fast enough shut-off speed in order to generate clean exponential cavity decay signals. If the extinction ratio of the modulator is not large enough, the remaining optical power couples into the excited mode. Since the optical coherence time of most lasers is less than the life time of photons trapped in the cavity, this extra field adds with random phase and creates an interference noise on the decay [6]. We have completed a systematic study of the signal to noise in cw-CRDS as a function of the effective isolation of the light modulator, and will publish the results in another paper [7]. The shut-off speed of the modulator will determine the shortest decay time constant, hence the maximum absorption that can be measured by cw-CRDS. Unfortunately, most of the commercially available light intensity modulators lack either sufficient …
Arabidopsis GLAUCE promotes fertilization-independent endosperm development and expression of paternally inherited alleles

Early seed development of sexually reproducing plants requires both maternal and paternal genomes but is prominently maternally influenced. A novel gametophytic maternal-effect mutant defective in early embryo and endosperm development, glauce (glc), has been isolated from a population of Arabidopsis Ds transposon insertion lines. The glc mutation results from a deletion at the Ds insertion site, and the molecular identity of GLC is not known. glc embryos can develop up to the globular stage in the absence of endosperm and glc central cells appear to be unfertilized. glc suppresses autonomous endosperm development observed in the fertilization-independent seed (fis) class mutants. glc is also epistatic to mea, one of the fis class mutants, in fertilized seeds, and is essential for the biparental embryonic expression of PHE1, a repressed downstream target of MEA. In addition, maternal GLC function is required for the paternal embryonic expression of the ribosome protein gene RPS5a and the AMP deaminase gene FAC1, both of which are essential for early embryo and endosperm development. These results indicate that factors derived from the female gametophyte activate a subset of the paternal genome of fertilized seeds.
Pepper pathogenesis-related protein 4c is a plasma membrane-localized cysteine protease inhibitor that is required for plant cell death and defense signaling.

Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv) type III effector AvrBsT triggers programmed cell death (PCD) and activates the hypersensitive response (HR) in plants. Here, we isolated and identified the plasma membrane localized pathogenesis-related (PR) protein 4c gene (CaPR4c) from pepper (Capsicum annuum) leaves undergoing AvrBsT-triggered HR cell death. CaPR4c encodes a protein with a signal peptide and a Barwin domain. Recombinant CaPR4c protein expressed in Escherichia coli exhibited cysteine protease-inhibitor activity and ribonuclease (RNase) activity. Subcellular localization analyses revealed that CaPR4c localized to the plasma membrane in plant cells. CaPR4c expression was rapidly and specifically induced by avirulent Xcv (avrBsT) infection. Transient expression of CaPR4c caused HR cell death in pepper leaves, which was accompanied by enhanced accumulation of H2 O2 and significant induction of some defense-response genes. Deletion of the signal peptide from CaPR4c abolished the induction of HR cell death, indicating a requirement for plasma membrane localization of CaPR4c for HR cell death. CaPR4c silencing in pepper disrupted both basal and AvrBsT-triggered resistance responses, and enabled Xcv proliferation in infected leaves. H2 O2 accumulation, cell-death induction, and defense-response gene expression were distinctly reduced in CaPR4c-silenced pepper. CaPR4c overexpression in transgenic Arabidopsis plants conferred greater resistance against infection by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis. These results collectively suggest that CaPR4c plays an important role in plant cell death and defense signaling.
Industrial augmented reality (IAR): challenges in design and commercialization of killer apps

Design of industrial AR applications has been oneof our main goals at Siemens Corporate Research since1997.As an industrial R&D laboratory, we pay particular attention to future commercialization of such applications. This paper is an extended abstract for aninvited talk at ISMAR 2003. In this talk, I take theexamples of AR applications we have been working onat Siemens Corporate Research (SCR) to discuss thechallenges the industrial AR research community needsto face in order to succeed.
Development of an Algorithm for Register the Movement of the Instrumental in a Simulator for Screw Positioning in the Lumbar Region

The objective of this paper is to present an algorithm that allows us to record the movements and metrics that the surgeon does for placement of intrapedicular screw in lumbar region, and also provides de visual feedback that simulates the fluoroscope imagery. This algorithm is intended for be used with a model of the lumbar area in order to develop a simulator of a minimum invasive surgery, that will allows the resident training in this procedure.