Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison between Frailty Index of Deficit Accumulation and Phenotypic Model to Predict Risk of Falls: Data from the Global Longitudinal Study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW) Hamilton Cohort

Objectives To compare the predictive accuracy of the frailty index (FI) of deficit accumulation and the phenotypic frailty (PF) model in predicting risks of future falls, fractures and death in women aged ≥55 years. Methods Based on the data from the Global Longitudinal Study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW) 3-year Hamilton cohort (n = 3,985), we compared the predictive accuracy of the FI and PF in risks of falls, fractures and death using three strategies: (1) investigated the relationship with adverse health outcomes by increasing per one-fifth (i.e., 20%) of the FI and PF; (2) trichotomized the FI based on the overlap in the density distribution of the FI by the three groups (robust, pre-frail and frail) which were defined by the PF; (3) categorized the women according to a predicted probability function of falls during the third year of follow-up predicted by the FI. Logistic regression models were used for falls and death, while survival analyses were conducted for fractures. Results The FI and PF agreed with each other at a good level of consensus (correlation coefficients ≥ 0.56) in all the three strategies. Both the FI and PF approaches predicted adverse health outcomes significantly. The FI quantified the risks of future falls, fractures and death more precisely than the PF. Both the FI and PF discriminated risks of adverse outcomes in multivariable models with acceptable and comparable area under the curve (AUCs) for falls (AUCs ≥ 0.68) and death (AUCs ≥ 0.79), and c-indices for fractures (c-indices ≥ 0.69) respectively. Conclusions The FI is comparable with the PF in predicting risks of adverse health outcomes. These findings may indicate the flexibility in the choice of frailty model for the elderly in the population-based settings.
Globalisation, Inequality and Redistribution: Theory and Evidence

This paper constructs a simple theoretical model to study the implications of globalization for inequality and redistribution. It shows that when globalization increases inequality, a policymaker interested in maximizing the sum of welfares of all agents increases redistribution. Empirically, the paper examines the effects of globalization on inequality and redistribution in a panel data set of 140 countries for the period from 1970 to 2012. It finds that both inequality and redistribution have been increasing with globalization. The results are robust to the inclusion of many different controls and the exclusion of outliers.
Evernimicin Binds Exclusively to the 50S Ribosomal Subunit and Inhibits Translation in Cell-Free Systems Derived from both Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria

ABSTRACT Evernimicin (SCH 27899) is a new antibiotic with activity against a wide spectrum of gram-positive bacteria and activity against some gram-negative bacteria. Previous metabolic labeling studies indicated that evernimicin specifically inhibited protein synthesis inStaphylococcus aureus. Using a susceptibleEscherichia coli strain, we demonstrated that evernimicin also inhibited protein synthesis in E. coli. In cell-free translation assays with extracts from either E. coli orS. aureus, evernimicin had a 50% inhibitory concentration of approximately 125 nM. In contrast, cell-free systems derived from wheat germ and rabbit reticulocytes were inhibited only by very high levels of evernimicin. Evernimicin did not promote transcript misreading. [14C]evernimicin specifically bound to the 50S subunit from E. coli. Nonlinear regression analysis of binding data generated with 70S ribosomes from E. coli andS. aureus and 50S subunits from E. colireturned dissociation constants of 84, 86, and 160 nM, respectively. In binding experiments, performed in the presence of excess quantities of a selection of antibiotics known to bind to the 50S subunit, only the structurally similar drug avilamycin blocked binding of [14C]evernimicin to ribosomes.
Randomized Model Predictive Control for HVAC Systems

Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems play a fundamental role in maintaining acceptable thermal comfort and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) levels, essentials for occupants well-being. Since performing this task implies high energy requirements, there is a need for improving the energetic efficiency of existing buildings. A possible solution is to develop effective control strategies for HVAC systems, but this is complicated by the inherent uncertainty of the to-be-controlled system. To cope with this problem, we design a stochastic Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategy that dynamically learns the statistics of the building occupancy and weather conditions and uses them to build probabilistic constraints on the indoor temperature and CO2 concentration levels. More specifically, we propose a randomization technique that finds suboptimal solutions to the generally non-convex stochastic MPC problem. The main advantage of this method is the absence of apriori assumptions on the distributions of the uncertain variables, and that it can be applied to any type of building. We investigate the proposed approach by means of numerical simulations and real tests on a student laboratory, and show its practical effectiveness and computational tractability.
Transpiration and Photosynthesis of the Olive Tree: a Model Approach

Preliminary results of simulation by the RATP (Radiation Absorption, Transpiration and Photosynthesis) model on olive tree are presented. At leaf level, Jarvisstomatal conductance (gs) model and Faquhars photosynthesis (A) model were parameterised on 2-year-old plants under controlled conditions. At canopy level the spatial distribution of leaf area density of a 31-year-old tree was described for simulating whole tree transpiration (Ep) by RATP. Simulated Ep values were compared with sap flow measurements. At leaf level, results showed a realistic behaviour both of gs and A. At the canopy level, the simulated Ep values agreed well with the Ep determined from sap flow measurements. The simulated values of A by the RAPT model were not validated with field measurements. A better agreement of Ep estimates could be expected, provided that the architecture of the canopy and the sap flow are characterised more precisely.
Matching and Grokking: Approaches to Personalized Crowdsourcing

Personalization aims to tailor content to a person's individual tastes. As a result, the tasks that benefit from personalization are inherently subjective. Many of the most robust approaches to personalization rely on large sets of other people's preferences. However, existing preference data is not always available. In these cases, we propose leveraging online crowds to provide on-demand personalization. We introduce and evaluate two methods for personalized crowdsourcing: taste-matching for finding crowd workers who are similar to the requester, and taste-grokking, where crowd workers explicitly predict the requester's tastes. Both approaches show improvement over a nonpersonalized baseline, with taste-grokking performing well in simpler tasks and taste-matching performing well with larger crowds and tasks with latent decision-making variables.
Distributed Energy Beamforming for Simultaneous Wireless Information and Power Transfer in the Two-Way Relay Channel

Energy harvesting is an emerging solution to prolong the lifetime of energy-constrained nodes in wireless networks. This letter develops a novel distributed energy beamforming scheme for realizing simultaneous wireless information and power transfer in the two-way relay channel (TWRC), where two source nodes exchange information via an energy-harvesting relay node. We investigate the optimal transceiver design to maximize the achievable sum-rate of the TWRC. We also propose a low-complexity power-splitting based suboptimal scheme with closed-form solution. Numerical results demonstrate significant performance improvement of the proposed schemes over the conventional power-splitting based scheme.
Invariant Gabor Features for Face Evidence Extraction

Invariant feature extraction is one of the most difficult problems in machine vision. Human face detection and recognition have recently become an important application area of computer vision. In this paper, a novel illumination, translation, rotation, and scale invariant feature extraction method based on Gabor filtering is introduced. The proposed method is successfully applied to invariant detection of facial features. In addition to face detection, the proposed theories and methods can be applied to a wide variety of object detection problems.
Distances in Random Graphs with Finite Mean and Infinite Variance Degrees

In this paper we study typical distances in random graphs with i.i. d. degrees of which the tail of the common distribution function is regularly varying with exponent $1-\tau$. Depending on the value of the parameter $\tau$ we can distinct three cases: (i) $\tau>3$, where the degrees have finite variance, (ii) $\tau\in (2,3)$, where the degrees have infinite variance, but finite mean, and (iii) $\tau\in (1,2)$, where the degrees have infinite mean. The distances between two randomly chosen nodes belonging to the same connected component, for $\tau>3$ and $\tau \in (1,2),$ have been studied in previous publications, and we survey these results here. When $\tau\in (2,3)$, the graph distance centers around $2\log\log{N}/|\log(\tau-2)|$. We present a full proof of this result, and study the fluctuations around this asymptotic means, by describing the asymptotic distribution. The results presented here improve upon results of Reittu and Norros, who prove an upper bound only. The random graphs studied here can serve as models for complex networks where degree power laws are observed; this is illustrated by comparing the typical distance in this model to Internet data, where a degree power law with exponent $\tau\approx 2.2$ is observed for the so-called Autonomous Systems (AS) graph
Evaluating effects of fibrosis in atrial arrhythmogenesis using 3D computational modelling

Fibrosis is strongly linked with the mechanisms of atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common arrhythmia. Direct electrotonic coupling between atrial myocytes and fibroblast has been suggested to contribute to these mechanisms. We use a 3D biophysical model of the atria to study the effects of fibrosis on atrial electrophysiology. Realistic tissue geometry, regional heterogeneity and myofiber anisotropy are integrated in the model. The model also accounts for the effects AF induced ionic remodeling, which has been shown to promote AF. The model simulations demonstrated that fibrosis significantly reduced both the atrial conduction velocity and action potential duration. Both these factors contributed to a large (45%) reduction of the atrial activation wavelength. This is comparable with the wavelength reduction (65%) due to ionic remodeling. As a result, the sustenance of reentrant waves in the 3D atria was substantially increased with both fibrosis and remodeling. Hence, the elecrotonic changes induced by fibrosis can be comparable to those due to ionic remodeling, and both factors can provide substrate for re-entry in the 3D atria model.
Problem-solving Model for Managing Stress and Anxiety

The purpose of this study is to take a look at problem-solving model for managing stress and anxiety. If each of us as a human being has an organized method for solving the different problems of our life, at that time we can get along with stress and anxiety easily. The capability of problem solving makes it possible for that person a) to distinguish emotions in himself and others b) to understand how excitement affects behavior c) to be able to show different reactions to different emotions. If we don't deal with emotional states such as grief, anger or anxiety properly, theses emotions will have negative effects on the physical and mental health of the person. Problem solving teaching is a treatment method by which the person learns to utilize effective cognitive skills to get along with inter-personal and problematic situations. In this study, we would like to emphasize the importance of the problem-solving teaching, and learn about its varieties and principal and implementation techniques, so that we can use it to manage our internal and environmental stressors. Among the various models, I will mention the easy and helpful five-step problem solving approach of Dixon and Glover (1984, as cited Yari (2009)) as an example including describing the problem, stating the problem in precise and clear terms, selecting guidelines for solving the problems and prioritizing them, implementing the guidelines characterized at the previous stage, finally evaluating. At this stage, we will consider what we have gained vis a vis what we had hoped to gain.
The emergence of solar thermal utilization: Solar-driven steam generation

Solar-driven steam generation not only has a long history of application demand, but is also a new research topic due to the progress in nano-material science. Conventional solar-driven steam generation suffers from low efficiency and high cost in practical applications. A new type of steam generation system based on plasmonic absorption of nano-materials with a good cost-efficiency balance has emerged in the last few years. For the first time, studies on various plasmonic solar-driven steam generation systems are summarized and discussed in this review based on the types of materials used. Throughout this article, the basic concept, classification, mechanism and development of plasmonic solar-steam generation systems, as well as the factors that influence these novel systems, are clearly presented. This review provides unique insight into this rapidly developing field and sheds light on the potential of research into plasmonic solar-driven steam generation systems.
Microbial electrochemical reactors for metal recovery from leachate

Metals are essential elements used in a wide range of technologies in modern society, but they are also major environmental contaminants. For example, in Sweden there are over 80 000 contaminated sites, many of which are polluted by metals. Moreover, fly ash generated from the incineration of municipal solid waste have high content of metals such as Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd. Management of such ash is difficult and specialized landfills are required to avoid potential release of metals into the environment (Karlfeldt Fedje et al. 2010).
A Highlight of Recent Advances in Aptamer Technology and Its Application

Aptamers and SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) technology have gained increasing attention over the past 25 years. Despite their functional similarity to protein antibodies, oligonucleotide aptamers have many unique properties that are suitable for clinical applications and industrialization. Aptamers may be superior to antibodies in fields such as biomarker discovery, in vitro and in vivo diagnosis, precisely controlled drug release, and targeted therapy. However, aptamer commercialization has not occurred as quickly as expected, and few aptamer-based products have yet successfully entered clinical and industrial use. Thus, it is important to critically review some technical barriers of aptamer and SELEX technology per se that may impede aptamer development and application. To date, how to rapidly obtain aptamers with superior bioavailability over antibodies remains the key issue. In this review, we discuss different chemical and structural modification strategies aimed to enhance aptamer bioavailability. We also discuss improvements to SELEX process steps to shorten the selection period and improve the SELEX process success rate. Applications in which aptamers are particularly suited and perform differently or superior to antibodies are briefly introduced.
Cross-sectional structure of the secondary wall of wood fibers as affected by processing

Understanding the arrangement of wood polymers within the fiber wall is important for understanding the mechanical properties of the fibers themselves. Due to their high load bearing ability, the arrangement of cellulose fibrils within the cell wall are of special interest. In this work AFM—Atomic Force Microscopy—in combination with image processing has been used to obtain more information about the arrangement of cellulose aggregates (fibrils) in the secondary cell wall layer of spruce wood. The effects of chemical processing on the arrangement of these cellulose aggregates were also studied. Enlargement of cellulose aggregates was found in the initial phase of the kraft cook. This increase in cellulose aggregate dimensions depended mostly on temperature for treatment temperatures above 140 ◦ C, regardless of the amount of alkali present. Although hemicelluloses are lost to various degrees under alkaline conditions, the increase in cellulose aggregate size was mainly related to thermally induced rearrangement of the cellulose molecules. The mean side length of cellulose aggregates was found to be around 18 nm in unprocessed wood and 23 nm in processed wood. The cellulose aggregates were assumed to be square shaped in cross section in both cases. C
Ultra-Wideband Power Divider With Good In-Band Splitting and Isolation Performances

An ultra-wideband (UWB) power divider on microstrip line is proposed, analyzed and designed. This divider is formed by installing a pair of stepped-impedance open-circuited stubs and parallel-coupled lines to two symmetrical output ports. In addition, a single resistor is properly placed between two output ports. After simple transmission line theory analysis, it is demonstrated that 3 dB power splitting from one input to two output ports, good impedance matching at all the three ports and excellent isolation between two output ports are achieved over the specified 3.1-10.6 GHz UWB range. Finally, a prototype divider is fabricated and measured to provide an experimental verification on the predicted attractive features.
Carotid baroreflex pressor responses at rest and during exercise: cardiac output vs. regional vasoconstriction.

The arterial baroreflex mediates changes in arterial pressure via reflex changes in cardiac output (CO) and regional vascular conductance, and the relative roles may change between rest and exercise and across workloads. Therefore, we quantified the contribution of CO and regional vascular conductances to carotid baroreflex-mediated increases in mean arterial pressure (MAP) at rest and during mild to heavy treadmill exercise (3.2 kph; 6.4 kph, 10% grade; and 8 kph, 15% grade). Dogs (n = 8) were chronically instrumented to measure changes in MAP, CO, hindlimb vascular conductance, and renal vascular conductance in response to bilateral carotid occlusion (BCO). At rest and at each workload, BCO caused similar increases in MAP (average 35 +/- 2 mmHg). In response to BCO, neither at rest nor at any workload were there significant increases in CO; therefore, the pressor response occurred via peripheral vasoconstriction. At rest, 10.7 +/- 1.4% of the rise in MAP was due to vasoconstriction in the hindlimb, whereas 4.0 +/- 0.7% was due to renal vasoconstriction. Linear regression analysis revealed that, with increasing workloads, relative contributions of the hindlimb increased and those of the kidney decreased. At the highest workload, the decrease in hindlimb vascular conductance contributed 24.3 +/- 3.4% to the pressor response, whereas the renal contribution decreased to only 1.6 +/- 0.3%. We conclude that the pressor response during BCO was mediated solely by peripheral vasoconstriction. As workload increases, a progressively larger fraction of the pressor response is mediated via vasoconstriction in active skeletal muscle and the contribution of vasoconstriction in inactive beds (e.g., renal) becomes progressively smaller.
Adolescent but not adult-born neurons are critical for susceptibility to chronic social defeat

Recent evidence implicates adult hippocampal neurogenesis in regulating behavioral and physiologic responses to stress. Hippocampal neurogenesis occurs across the lifespan, however the rate of cell birth is up to 300% higher in adolescent mice compared to adults. Adolescence is a sensitive period in development where emotional circuitry and stress reactivity undergo plasticity establishing life-long set points. Therefore neurogenesis occurring during adolescence may be particularly important for emotional behavior. However, little is known about the function of hippocampal neurons born during adolescence. In order to assess the contribution of neurons born in adolescence to the adult stress response and depression-related behavior, we transiently reduced cell proliferation either during adolescence, or during adulthood in GFAP-Tk mice. We found that the intervention in adolescence did not change adult baseline behavioral response in the forced swim test, sucrose preference test or social affiliation test, and did not change adult corticosterone responses to an acute stressor. However following chronic social defeat, adult mice with reduced adolescent neurogenesis showed a resilient phenotype. A similar transient reduction in adult neurogenesis did not affect depression-like behaviors or stress induced corticosterone. Our study demonstrates that hippocampal neurons born during adolescence, but not in adulthood are important to confer susceptibility to chronic social defeat.
Simple Analytical and Graphical Methods for Carrier-Based PWM-VSI Drives

This paper provides analytical and graphical methods for the study, performance evaluation and design of the modern carrier-based pulse width modulators (PWMs), which are widely employed in PWM voltage-source inverter (VSI) drives. Simple techniques for generating the modulation waves of the high-performance PWM methods are described. The two most important modulator characteristics-the current ripple and the switching losses-are analytically modeled. The graphical illustration of these often complex multivariable functions accelerate the learning process and help one understand the microscopic (per-carrier cycle) and macroscopic (per fundamental cycle) behavior of all the modern PWM methods. The analytical formulae and graphics are valuable educational tools. They also aid the design and implementation of the high-performance PWM methods.