Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A biomechanical comparison of countermovement performance after short-term traditional and daily-undulated loaded vertical jump training

ABSTRACT In order to assess lower extremity muscle mechanical properties in athletes, power-load characteristics during multi-joint tasks are frequently examined. This work compared 6 weeks of traditional (TP) and daily-undulated (DUP) periodized loaded countermovement jumping (CMJ). 20 amateur athletes (age: 24.2 ± 2.6 years, height: 175.6 ± 7.1 cm, body mass: 71.5 ± 7.7 kg, 10 males/10 females) exercised three times weekly using maximal CMJs with loads corresponding to 0%, 15% and 30% of body mass. Prior to the training period, subjects were once-only assigned by random to either the TP or DUP training scheme. Pre-to-post training, maximal center of mass (COM) -height, -take-off velocity, -power output and -impulse were compared during CMJ with additional loads corresponding to 0–30% of body mass. ANOVA (time * group) with repeated measures revealed significant (P < 0.05) temporal gains of maximal COM-height (2–11%), -take-off velocity (1–7%), -power (2–8%) and -impulse (3–9%) over most loading conditions for TP and DUP. However, ANOVA indicated no group effects for any outcome. Independent from the periodization model, maximal power output remained statistically unchanged with increased testing loads. For short-term conditioning periods, TP and DUP were equally effective in enhancing biomechanical jumping variables under varying loading conditions.
Identification of a Dual Inhibitor of Janus Kinase 2 ( JAK 2 ) and p 70 Ribosomal S 6 Kinase 1 ( S 6 K 1 ) Pathways *

Sanguine Byun, Semi Lim, Ji Young Mun, Ki Hyun Kim, Timothy R. Ramadhar, Lee Farrand, Seung Ho Shin, N. R. Thimmegowda, Hyong Joo Lee, David A. Frank, Jon Clardy, Sam W. Lee, and Ki Won Lee From the Cutaneous Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technology, Seoul National University, Suwon 443-270, Republic of Korea, WCU Biomodulation Major, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea, Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Eulji University, Seongnam 461-463, Republic of Korea, Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Republic of Korea, Yuhan Research Institute, Yuhan Corp., Yongin 446-902, Republic of Korea, Program in Biomedical Informatics and Computational Biology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, Department of Chemistry, Government Sri Krishnarajendra Silver Jubilee Technological Institute, Bangalore 560001, India, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, and World Class Institute, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Ochang 363-883, Korea
Green Chemistry: Comparison of Ionic Liquid vs Conventional Solvent for Indole Alkylation

A comparison of the effectiveness of two synthetic methods was done for a green chemistry method using an ionic liquid-based solvent relative to a conventional method using organic solvents for the N-alkylation of indole. The green method used potassium hydroxide in the ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, followed by addition of the alkyl halide. The conventional method used sodium hydride in dimethylformamide. Possible advantages of the green method would be the use of a non-volatile solvent, the possibility of recycling the solvent, and the use of a less reactive base. However, its reaction yield was lower than for the conventional method, the reagent expense was higher, and recycling and reuse of the ionic solvent require considerable amounts of conventional solvent to clean it up sufficiently for reuse. On a laboratory scale, the ionic liquid method yielded neither a “green” nor an efficiency advantage. It is possible that with optimization on an industrial scale involving solvent reclamation that the green method could realize its promise.
Lophirones B and C prevent aflatoxin B1-induced oxidative stress and DNA fragmentation in rat hepatocytes

Abstract Context Despite the reported anticarcinogenic activity of lophirones B and C, no scientific information exists for its activity in rat hepatocytes. Objective Effect of lophirones B and C on aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced oxidative stress, and DNA fragmentation in rat hepatocytes was investigated. Materials and methods Wistar rat hepatocytes were incubated with lophirones B and C (1 mg/mL) or sylimarin (1 mg/mL) in the presence or absence of AFB1. For an in vivo study, rats were orally administered with lophirones B and C, and/or AFB1 (20 μg/d) for 9 weeks. Results Lophirones B and C lowered AFB1-mediated increase in nitric oxide, superoxide anion radicals, caspase-3 and fragmented DNA. Lophirones B and C attenuated AFB1-mediated decrease in superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, and reduced glutathione. Also, lophirones B and C attenuated AFB1-mediated increase in conjugated dienes, lipid hydroperoxides and malondialdehyde in rat hepatocytes. Furthermore, AFB1-mediated alterations in alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, albumin, total bilirubin and globulin in rat serum were significantly annulled in lophirones B and C-treated rats. Conclusion This study revealed that lophirones B and C prevented AFB1-induced oxidative damage in rat hepatocytes.
Apical effect of diosmectite on damage to the intestinal barrier induced by basal tumour necrosis factor-alpha.

BACKGROUND: In many digestive diseases the intestinal barrier is weakened by the release of proinflammatory cytokines, including tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha). AIM: To investigate the protective effect of apical diosmectite on the intestinal dysfunction induced by the proinflammatory cytokine TNF alpha. METHODS: Filter grown monolayers of the intestinal cell line HT29-19A were incubated for 48 hours in basal medium containing 10 ng/ml TNF alpha and 5 U/ml interferon-gamma (IFN gamma). Next, 1, 10, or 100 mg/ml diosmectite was placed in the apical medium for one hour. Intestinal function was then assessed in Ussing chambers by measuring ionic conductance (G) and apicobasal fluxes of 14C-mannitol (Jman), and intact horseradish peroxidase. In control intestinal monolayers, diosmectite did not significantly modify G, Jman, or intact horseradish peroxidase. RESULTS: After incubation with TNF alpha and IFN gamma, intestinal function altered, as shown by the increases compared with control values for G (22.8 (3.7) v (9.6 (0.5) mS/cm2), Jman (33.8 (7.5) v 7.56 (0.67) micrograms/h x cm2), and intact horseradish peroxidase (1.95 (1.12) v 0.14 (0.04) micrograms/h x cm2). G and Jman were closely correlated, suggesting that the increase in permeability was paracellular. Treatment with diosmectite restored al the variables to control values. CONCLUSIONS: Basal TNF alpha disrupts the intestinal barrier through the tight junctions, and apical diosmectite counteracts this disruption.
A heterogeneous household model of consumption smoothing with imperfect capital markets and income risk-sharing

ii DEDICATION. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . vi VITA. viii LIST OF TABLES. xi CHAPTER 1 . 1 INTRODUCTION . 1 CHAPTER 2 . 12 A REVIEW OF THE CONSUMPTION SMOOTHING LITERATURE. 12 2.1 Introduction. 12 2.2 Consumption Smoothing Strategies. 13 2.3 The Permanent Income Hypothesis . 15 2.3.1 A Textbook Model. 15 2.3.2 Testing for the PIH. 18 2.4 Main Findings Testing PIH in the Literature. 20 2.5. Analysis of some assumptions: Savings, Credit Constraints, and Transaction Costs . 22 2.5.1 Utility Function and Savings . 22 2.5.2 Credit Constraints . 23 2.5.3 The Importance of Transaction Costs . 25 2.6 The Risk Sharing Hypothesis. 27 2.6. 1 A Textbook Model. 27 2.6. 2 Testing for Full Risk Sharing. 28 2.6. 3 Main Findings of Empirical Tests of the RSH. 29 2.7 Efforts to Test for the PIH and RSH Jointly . 30 CHAPTER 3 . 35 A DYNAMIC MODEL OF HETEROGENEOUS HOUSEHOLDS UNDER ALTERNATIVE CONSUMPTION SMOOTHING REGIMES . 35 3.1 Introduction. 35 3.2 Typical Household . 37 3.3 Numerical Solution . 40 3.4 Model Significance . 41 CHAPTER 4 . 44 SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS . 44 4.1 Introduction. 44 4.2 Baseline Simulation . 44 x 4.3 Optimal Policy Functions . 47 4.4 Willingness to Pay for Risk Sharing. 50 4.4.1 Borrowing Limits. 52 4.4.2 Transaction Costs. 53 4.4.3 Interest Rate . 53 4.4.4 Coefficient of Risk Aversion . 55 4.5 Aggregate Income, Deposits, Savings, and Consumption. 55 4.6 Dynamic Path Analysis. 59 CHAPTER 5 . 67 AN EMPIRICAL MODEL OF HOUSEHOLDS' CONSUMPTION SMOOTHING WITH IMPERFECT CAPITAL MARKETS AND INCOME RISK-SHARING . 67 5.1 Introduction. 67 5.2 Empirical Model . 68 5.3 Identification . 69 5.4 Simulated Data. 71 5.5 Regression Results for the Simulated Data. 75 5.5.1 Regression Results for Households without Risk-Sharing Arrangements. 76 5.5.2 Regression Results for Households with Risk-Sharing Arrangements. 79 5.6 Testing for Different Scenarios of Consumption Smoothing . 84 5.7 Empirical Estimation of Households' Consumption Smoothing . 85 5.7. 1 Database Characteristics . 86 5.7. 2 Panel Characteristics. 88 5.7. 3 Descriptive Statistics by Village. 92 5.7. 4 Regression Results . 95 Villages in Chachoengsao. 96 Villages in Buriram. 98 Villages in Lopburi . 100 Villages in Sisaket. 102 CHAPTER 6 . 105 CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS. 105 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 111
Fusion of dimensionality reduction techniques for Fkp recognition with Gabor filter

In universal, identification and authentication are done by smart cards, passwords which are gently broken by others. To conquer this event, biometrics has been induced as a only tool to cognize an individual person. The Biometric is a measure which comprises of distinctive natural characteristics that afford more authentication and safety than password, smart cards, etc. This literary has centered on the Finger Knuckle Print (FKP), and this paper proposes an innovative method to personal identification and identity authentication, using Gabor filter the fusion of PCA, LDA, MMDA algorithms with Euclidian distance measure. Moreover the fusion process helps to improve the recognition rate. For analyze the performance of the proposed method by utilization of Poly-U finger knuckle print database. The results of verification process are which shows efficiency and effectiveness of this proposed method.
Modeling and Design of Low Cost Lower Limb Rehabilitation Robot Control System for Post-Stroke Patient using PWM Controller

164501-3939 -IJMME-IJENS © February 2016 IJENS I J E N S  Abstract— Rehabilitation robot is a robot for assisting the patient to recover from stroke or other extremity injuries. As the number of post-stroke patients is increased, it needs more rehabilitation robot to support post-stroke patients. Generally, rehabilitation robots used for lower limb rehabilitation are highly priced and not affordable to the lower income segment of the population. This is caused by the application of the current control system that needs expensive hardware system. Therefore, we design the control system by using Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) controller. This paper presents the result of our research that aim to develop lower limb rehabilitation robot control system with a low price by using a PWM controller for voltage manipulation. The system model and hardware implementation have been built to show the effectiveness of the proposed system and to find the optimal conditions.
Policies of related variety in practice: the case Innovation Session Method

ABSTRACT The article describes the foundations of related-variety policies in practice, delineating the roles that related variety and fruitful distances may play in innovation policy. The main focus is on methods of managing related variety. Three types of regional collaboration and renewal processes are identified. By presenting empirical research on the Innovation Session Method developed in the Lahti region of Finland, the article provides insights into the practical implementation of innovation policy based on related variety. This study finds that Innovation Sessions appear to function quite well in the related-variety context, serving as a practical implementation of innovation policy that is in transition. The role of an optimal combination of distances is highlighted. This study contributes to the development of effective methods for innovation policy.
Comparative morpho-physiological and biochemical responses of lentil and grass pea genotypes under water stress

Background: Both lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) and grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) in the family Fabaceae are two important cool-season food legumes, often experiencing water stress conditions during growth and maturity. Objective: The present study was undertaken to ascertain the response of these two crops under different water stress regimes. Materials and Methods: Different morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters were studied in a pot experiment under controlled environmental conditions. Along with control (proper irrigation, 0 stress), three sets of plants were subjected to mild (6 d), moderate (13 d) and severe (20 d) water stress by withholding irrigation at the appropriate time. Results: Compared with control, plant growth traits and seed yield components reduced significantly in both crops with increasing period of water stress, resulting in lowering of dry mass with more severe effect on lentil compared with grass pea. Foliar Relative Water Content (RWC) (%), K+/Na+ ratio, chlorophyll (chl) a, chl a/b ratio, stomatal conductance and net photosynthetic rate declined considerably in both crops under water stress. Leaf-free proline level increased significantly in both crops, but it decreased markedly in nodules of lentil and remained unchanged in grass pea. Nodulation was also affected due to water stress. The impairment in growth traits and physio-biochemical parameters under water stress was manifested in reduction of drought tolerance efficiency of both crops. Conclusion: Impact of water stress was more severe on lentil compared with grass pea, and modulation of growth traits signified necessity of a detailed strategy in breeding of food legumes under water stress.
Mortality Heterogeneity and Systematic Mortality Improvement

Insurers and pension funds provide life annuities and pensions that are impacted by both aggregate mortality improvement and individual mortality heterogeneity. Aggregate population mortality trends have shown significant improvement over long periods of time. Individual mortality heterogeneity arises from differing risk characteristics across individuals. This paper assesses the extent that systematic mortality improvement varies with individual risk characteristics. To do this, a Lee-Carter model is used to assess if mortality improvement varies for groups of individuals with similar risk characteristics along with an individual mortality model that allows for heterogeneity with time trends to assess systematic risk. Data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is used since this provides longitudinal, individual level data. Our results are highly relevant to life insurers, pension funds and regulators assessing the future impact of improvement trends in mortality on their premiums and liabilities. Mortality trends differ across individuals reflecting the different risk factors and particularly the prevalence of different diseases such as high blood pressure, cancer and heart problems. Models that are based on aggregate population level trends and differing only by gender and age are not adequate in quantifying mortality trends and risks.
AdcAII of Streptococcus pneumoniae Affects Pneumococcal Invasiveness

Across bacterial species, metal binding proteins can serve functions in pathogenesis in addition to regulating metal homeostasis. We have compared and contrasted the activities of zinc (Zn2+)-binding lipoproteins AdcA and AdcAII in the Streptococcus pneumoniae TIGR4 background. Exposure to Zn2+-limiting conditions resulted in delayed growth in a strain lacking AdcAII (ΔAdcAII) when compared to wild type bacteria or a mutant lacking AdcA (ΔAdcA). AdcAII failed to interact with the extracellular matrix protein laminin despite homology to laminin-binding proteins of related streptococci. Deletion of AdcA or AdcAII led to significantly increased invasion of A549 human lung epithelial cells and a trend toward increased invasion in vivo. Loss of AdcAII, but not AdcA, was shown to negatively impact early colonization of the nasopharynx. Our findings suggest that expression of AdcAII affects invasiveness of S. pneumoniae in response to available Zn2+ concentrations.
A Major Role for Memory CD4 T Cells in the Control of Lymphopenia-Induced Proliferation of Naive CD4 T Cells1

In a state of lymphopenia, naive and memory CD4 T cells compete with each other for expansion at the expense of naive T cells. This competition prevents the proliferation as well as the phenotypic and functional conversion of naive T cells to “memory-like” T cells and may consequently prevent immune pathology frequently associated with lymphopenia-induced proliferation of naive cells. However, in T cell replete mice, memory T cells do not compete with naive T cells, indicating independent homeostatic control of naive and memory CD4 T cells in conditions that do not involve profound lymphopenia. Moreover, within the memory compartment, subsequent generation of new memory T cells precludes the survival of memory-like T cells. Thus, memory T cells have a major role in the control of lymphopenia-induced proliferation of naive cells because they inhibit both the generation of memory-like T cells and their persistence within the memory compartment.
Does the Presence of Very Young Children and/or Older Minor-aged Children in the Home Reduce Cigarette Smoking? Panel Data Evidence for the United States

Within the context of the Period Fixed-Effects Model, this study of cigarette consumption in the US uses a state-level panel dataset to investigate a new hypothesis. This hypothesis argues that the presence in the home of minor-aged children, that is, children under 18 years of age, reduces the percentage of the population that smokes cigarettes. The eclectic model includes the levels of federal plus state cigarette excise taxation along with a number of other established explanatory variables. The empirical estimates in this preliminary study find support for the hypothesis proffered here, that is, it is found that the percentage of the population that smokes cigarettes is a decreasing function of the percentage of households with minor-aged children residing in the home. Moreover, aside from providing further insight into smoker behaviour, the results from this study also raise the question that since this phenomenon has been ignored in previous related studies involving such public policies as cigarette taxation and cigarette smoking bans that those studies may suffer from omitted variable bias. JEL Classification: R22, I18, H71, H29
A Method to Detect and Classify Inconsistencies of Moving Objects' Stops with Requested and Reported Tasks

Moving objects' trajectories automatically collected by using sensors enable tracking objects doing activities in the geographic space. However, methods for analyzing trajectories rarely compare them to tasks execution plans and/or travel diaries. This article proposes a method to detect and classify inconsistencies of trajectories with both planned tasks and reported tasks, by checking their spatial and temporal incompatibilities. The classified inconsistencies returned help to investigate possible problems on tasks planning or reporting, and even misbehaviors of moving objects. This method has been implemented in a prototype on top of PostGIS, and helped to detect and investigate a variety of inconsistencies in real data provided by a water supply company.
Differences in MR signal intensity of lateral collateral ligament of knee joint on fat-suppressed proton density-weighted imaging.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationship between the increased signal intensity (SI) of proximal lateral collateral ligament (LCL) at femoral attachment site on fat-suppressed (FS) proton density-weighted (PDW) MR imaging and the corresponding histological features on cadaveric knees. METHODS MRI was obtained from 11 cadaveric knees. Two musculoskeletal radiologists evaluated SI of LCL at femoral attachment site and the remaining caudal portion on FS PDW imaging. The SI was classified into three types; I = low, II = intermediate to slightly high, III = high SI or intraligamentous discontinuity of fibre. In addition, 100 control subjects were reviewed for normal LCL SI. RESULTS All proximal LCLs at femoral attachment site showed increased SI (nine cases of Type II and two cases of Type III). The remaining caudal portion presented Type I in all cases. Histological examination of proximal LCL at femoral attachment site revealed loose distribution of fine collagen fibres, intervened with fat and vessels, whereas the remaining caudal portion was composed of parallel distribution of compact collagen bundles. There were no signs of degeneration or tear of the LCL in all our cadaveric knee samples, even for the two cases that presented as Type III. Clinical study identified increased SI of proximal LCL at femoral attachment site in 94% (94/100) of control subjects. CONCLUSION Increased SI of proximal LCL at femoral attachment site on FS PDW imaging is due to histological characteristics, not degeneration or tear. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE Increased SI of proximal LCL at femoral attachment site on FS PDW MR imaging is a common, normal finding that its clinical significance can be neglected.
Optimal gradient-based learning using importance weights

We introduce a novel "importance weight" method (IW) to speed up learning of "difficult" data sets including unbalanced data, highly non-linear data, or long-term dependencies in sequences. An importance weight is assigned to every training data point and controls its contribution to the total weight update. The importance weights are obtained by solving a quadratic optimization problem and determines the learning informativeness of a data point. For linear classifiers we show, that IW is equivalent to standard support vector learning. We apply IW to feedforward multi-layer perceptrons and to recurrent neural networks (LSTM). Benchmarks with QuickProp and standard gradient descent methods show that IW is usually much faster in terms of epochs as well as in terms of absolute CPU time, and that it provides equal or better prediction results. IW improved gradient descent results on "real world" protein datasets. In the "latching benchmark" for sequence prediction, IW was able to extract dependencies between sites which are 1,000,000 sequence elements apart - a new record.
Blockade of A2a Adenosine Receptors Positively Modulates Turning Behaviour and c‐Fos Expression Induced by D1 Agonists in Dopamine‐denervated Rats

In rats with unilateral 6‐hydroxydopamine lesions of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal pathway, administration of the A2a adenosine antagonist SCH 58261 alone did not induce any motor asymmetry but strongly potentiated the contralateral turning behaviour induced by the dopamine D1 agonist SKF 38393. SCH 58261 also increased the number of Fos‐like positive nuclei induced by SKF 38393 in the 6‐hydroxydopamine‐lesioned striatum. Intense potentiation of D1‐dependent turning behaviour and c‐Fos expression was also observed after administration of the A2a/A1 antagonist CGS 15943. Administration of the A1 adenosine receptor antagonist DPCPX induced a small potentiation of D1‐mediated contralateral turning while c‐Fos expression induced by SKF 38393 was not modified. The results suggest that endogenous adenosine acting on A2a receptors can exert an inhibitory influence on the functional expression of D1‐mediated responses in dopamine‐denervated rats, and propose new possible therapeutic approaches in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.