Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bay Leaves Improve Glucose and Lipid Profile of People with Type 2 Diabetes

Bay leaves (Laurus nobilis) have been shown to improve insulin function in vitro but the effects on people have not been determined. The objective of this study was to determine if bay leaves may be important in the prevention and/or alleviation of type 2 diabetes. Forty people with type 2 diabetes were divided into 4 groups and given capsules containing 1, 2 or 3 g of ground bay leaves per day for 30 days or a placebo followed by a 10 day washout period. All three levels of bay leaves reduced serum glucose with significant decreases ranging from 21 to 26% after 30 d. Total cholesterol decreased, 20 to 24%, after 30 days with larger decreases in low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol of 32 to 40%. High density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol increased 29 and 20% in the groups receiving 1 and 2 g of bay leaves, respectively. Triglycerides also decreased 34 and 25% in groups consuming 1 and 2 g of bay leaves, respectively, after 30 d. There were no significant changes in the placebo group. In summary, this study demonstrates that consumption of bay leaves, 1 to 3 g/d for 30 days, decreases risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases and suggests that bay leaves may be beneficial for people with type 2 diabetes.
Fidelity and complexity of standing group conversation simulations: A framework for the evolution of Multi Agent Systems through bootstrapping human aesthetic judgments

Simple rule based Multi Agent Systems are widely used in the fields of social simulations and game artificial intelligence in order to incorporate the complexity and richness of action and interaction into the characters in the virtual environments while keeping computational cost low. This paper presents an approach to synthesize the spatio-temporal dynamics of groups in standing conversation: four simple spatial rules form the building-blocks and a framework to automatically evolve rule and the parameter space by bootstrapping a-priori human judgment on the aesthetic quality of the simulations is introduced. The framework consists of a Genetic Algorithm and a scorer (fitness function) developed based on a machine learning system trained using human evaluations. The results of the study suggest that the framework is capable of deriving optimal rule and parameter combinations utilizing only a relatively small set of human scored training data. Further, the relationship between rule-complexity and visual fidelity is explored.
Low Seroprevalence of Toxocara Infection in Schizophrenic Inpatients in Durango, Mexico: A Case Control Study

Psychiatric patients have a higher seroprevalence of toxocariasis than general population. However, there is poor knowledge about any specific psychiatric diagnosis associated with toxocariasis. The aim of the study was to determine whether seropositivity to Toxocara was associated with schizophrenia. Through an age and gender-matched case-control seroprevalence study in Durango City, Mexico, 50 schizophrenic inpatients in a public psychiatric hospital and 100 control subjects of the general population were compared for the presence of anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies. One of the 50 (2%) schizophrenic inpatients, and 3 (3%) of the 100 controls were positive for anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies. No statistically significant difference in Toxocara seroprevalence among cases and controls was found (P=0.59). The Toxocara positive schizophrenic patient suffered from paranoid schizophrenia (F20.0) and had a number of putative risk factors for Toxocara exposure including contact with cats, dogs and other animals, worked in agriculture, and consumed undercooked meat, unwashed fruits and vegetables, and untreated water. Results suggest that seroprevalence of Toxocara infection was low and not associated with schizophrenia in psychiatric inpatients in Durango, Mexico. However, further studies to elucidate the association of toxocariasis with schizophrenia are needed.
PIQL: Success-Tolerant Query Processing in the Cloud

Newly-released web applications often succumb to a "Success Disaster," where overloaded database machines and resulting high response times destroy a previously good user experience. Unfortunately, the data independence provided by a traditional relational database system, while useful for agile development, only exacerbates the problem by hiding potentially expensive queries under simple declarative expressions. As a result, developers of these applications are increasingly abandoning relational databases in favor of imperative code written against distributed key/value stores, losing the many benefits of data independence in the process. Instead, we propose PIQL, a declarative language that also provides scale independence by calculating an upper bound on the number of key/value store operations that will be performed for any query. Coupled with a service level objective (SLO) compliance prediction model and PIQL's scalable database architecture, these bounds make it easy for developers to write success-tolerant applications that support an arbitrarily large number of users while still providing acceptable performance. In this paper, we present the PIQL query processing system and evaluate its scale independence on hundreds of machines using two benchmarks, TPC-W and SCADr.
Back‐barrier flooding by storm surges and overland flow

Low‐elevation areas within a sandy barrier island are subject to flooding via saturation overland flow following moderate storm surges and rainfall events. Using a high resolution topographic survey and simple hydrology models, we estimate the discharge and velocities from storm surge return flow and saturation overland flow. Results show that return flow velocities are of the same magnitude as the critical velocity necessary to mobilize sand when a hydraulic connection between the watershed and back‐barrier bay is present. Storms of moderate strength and rainfall intensity may be sufficient to keep the return channels open within the back‐barrier, thus providing natural conduits for water exchange from overwash events during extreme storm surges triggered by hurricanes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Changes in the δ13C of surface water particulate organic matter across the subtropical convergence in the SW Indian Ocean

We have measured the carbon isotopic composition of particulate organic matter suspended in surface waters (POM) between 59°S and 30°S in the SW Indian Ocean during the austral summer. In an attempt to further document the pattern and causes of covariance between POC-δ13C and [CO2aq], we concurrently measured surface water pCO2, temperature, salinity, nitrate concentration, POM concentration, chlorophyll a and the δ13C of total dissolved inorganic carbon. While we found the previously reported general negative correlation between POC-δ13C and [CO2aq], we also observed a prominent maximum in POC-δ13C in the region immediately north of the Subtropical Convergence, coinciding with a maximum in [POM] and chlorophyll a, and with a minimum in pCO2. The increase in POC-δ13C between 59°S and the Subtropical Convergence is consistent with the trend expected if [CO2aq] were the main factor controlling the isotopic composition of POM. In contrast, data from the region north of the Subtropical Convergence clearly illustrate that POC-δ13C can also vary independently of [CO2aq] as a 5 per mil decrease in POC-δ13C was found in a region characterized by nearly constant [CO2aq]. We review several physiological factors which may account for these observations and discuss their implications for paleoceanographic reconstruction of [CO2aq] from the carbon isotopic composition of sedimentary organic matter.
Calibration of Robot Reference Frames for Enhanced Robot Positioning Accuracy

Industrial robot manipulators are important components of most automated manufacturing systems. Their design and applications rely on modeling, analyzing, and programming the robot tool-center-point (TCP) positions with the best accuracy. Industrial practice shows that creating accurate robot TCP positions for robot applications such as welding, material handling, and inspection is a critical task that can be very time-consuming depending on the complexity of robot operations. Many factors may affect the accuracy of created robot TCP positions. Among them, variations of robot geometric parameters such as robot link dimensions and joint orientations represent the major cause of overall robot positioning errors. This is because the robot kinematic model uses robot geometric parameters to determine robot TCP position and corresponding joint values in the robot system. In addition, positioning variations of the robots and their end-effectors also affect the accuracy of robot TCP positions in a robot work environment. Model-based robot calibration is an integrated solution that has been developed and applied to improve robot positioning accuracy through software rather than changing the mechanical structure or design of the robot itself. The calibration technology involves four steps: modeling the robot mechanism, measuring strategically planned robot TCP positions, identifying true robot frame parameters, and compensating existing robot TCP positions for the best accuracy. Today, commercial robot calibration systems play an increasingly important role in industrial robot applications because they are able to minimize the risk of having to manually recreate required robot TCP positions for robot programs after the robots, end-effectors, and fixtures are slightly changed in robot workcells. Due to the significant reduction of robot production downtime, this practice is extremely beneficial to robot applications that may involve a rather large number of robot TCP positions. This chapter provides readers with methods of calibrating the positions of robot reference frames for enhancing robot positioning accuracy in industrial robot applications. It is organized in the following sections: Section 2 introduces basic concepts and methods used in modeling static positions of an industrial robot. This includes robot reference frames, joint parameters, frame transformations, and robot kinematics. Section 3 discusses methods and techniques for identifying the true parameters of robot reference frames. Section 4 presents applications of robot calibration methods in transferring existing robot programs among
Decadal variations of Pacific North Equatorial Current bifurcation from multiple ocean products

In this study, we examine the decadal variations of the Pacific North Equatorial Current (NEC) bifurcation latitude (NBL) averaged over upper 100 m and underlying dynamics over the past six decades using 11 ocean products, including seven kinds of ocean reanalyzes based on ocean data assimilation systems, two kinds of numerical simulations without assimilating observations and two kinds of objective analyzes based on in situ observations only. During the period of 1954-2007, the multiproduct mean of decadal NBL anomalies shows maxima around 1965/1966, 1980/1981, 1995/1996, and 2003/2004, and minima around 1958, 1971/1972, 1986/1987, and 2000/2001, respectively. The NBL decadal variations are related to the first Empirical Orthogonal Function mode of decadal anomalies of sea surface height (SSH) in the northwestern tropical Pacific Ocean, which shows spatially coherent variation over the whole region and explains most of the total variance. Further regression and composite analyzes indicate that northerly/southerly NBL corresponds to negative/positive SSH anomalies and cyclonic/anticyclonic gyre anomalies in the northwestern tropical Pacific Ocean. These decadal circulation variations and thus the decadal NBL variations are governed mostly by the first two vertical modes and attribute the most to the first baroclinic mode. The NBL decadal variation is highly positively correlated with the tropical Pacific decadal variability (TPDV) around the zero time lag. With a lead of about half the decadal cycle the NBL displays closer but negative relationship to TPDV in four ocean products, possibly manifesting the dynamical role of the circulation in the northwestern tropical Pacific in the phase-shifting of TPDV.
Natural attenuation of organophosphates in river systems: Chattahoochee River case study

Three organophosphoric acid triesters, tributyl phosphate (TBP), tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), and tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEP) have been detected in surface waters across the world, primarily the result of sewage treatment plant discharge. Despite concentrations as low as a few parts per trillion, there is growing concern over the potential impact these compounds can have on human and environmental health. This study is an attempt to identify the presence of natural removal processes for these three organophosphoric acid triesters within the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Samples were collected during the month of January at various sites along the Chattahoochee River. They were subsequently analyzed for concentration of all three organophosphoric acid triesters. These concentrations were then implemented in the construction of mass balances with the intention of identifying a sink term for each compound. A separate set of samples were collected and analyzed at various times over a 24-hour period. These results were used to calculate a biodegradation rate for each organophosphoric acid triester within the Chattahoochee River. The results demonstrate that these three compounds are persistent in the Chattahoochee River over the course of one day. This conclusion is specific to the time of year and location of sampling. Despite findings of no significant natural attenuation, this study should be used as a foundation for future research into the removal of low-level contaminants within the Chattahoochee River.
New Insights into the Cleaning of Paintings: Proceedings from the Cleaning 2010 International Conference Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and Museum Conservation Institute

The present volume brings together the papers and posters presented at the “Cleaning 2010 International—New Insights into the Cleaning of Paintings” conference that was held at the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia in Spain, in collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute. This was the first major international conference on this topic in two decades. The 20 papers and 19 extended abstracts presented at the conference are included in this publication, grouped into four main categories: Ethics, Aesthetics, Training, and Documentation; Traditional Media: Egg Tempera and Oil; Modern Paints; and Cleaning Systems. Within each category, the papers and extended abstracts are grouped by the specific topic they address to make it easier for the reader to find all related material in one section. A summary of panel discussions held at the end of the conference has also been included. All papers and abstracts included in this publication have been peer reviewed. The aim of the conference was to provide a knowledge exchange forum and to produce a publication that assembles the latest developments in the various studies addressing the problems that affect paintings. These range from normal soiling to removal of aged varnishes, from the effect of solvents on paints to the subsequent changes in their mechanical behavior. The cleaning of unvarnished paintings is one of the most critical issues that was discussed. Finally, different cleaning techniques, such as gels, soaps, enzymes, ionic liquids, and foams, as well as various dry methods and lasers, are discussed in various papers and extended abstracts. Although the conference was organized in Spain, the United States contributed 21% of the contents, followed by Spain and Italy, both with 16%; the United Kingdom and Germany, each with 9%; and Canada, the Netherlands, and Portugal, all with 5%. The rest are individual contributions from Australia, Norway, Switzerland, Poland, and Greece.
Software Service Evolution: A Requirements Perspective

Software service has to adapt to constant changes of requirements and environment, which would give rise to the concentration on service evolution. Among the many reasons for evolution, requirements are regarded as the major driving factor. However, most current work on service evolution focuses on different kinds of tactics to keep the compatibility between services and client applications, few of them treat requirements in priority. In this paper, we thoroughly survey the state-of-the-art studies on service evolution, including basic concepts, types, challenges and approaches; then analyze service evolution from four dissimilar dimensions, and for each one we identify the open problems and inadequacies. Based on our analysis and discovery, we argue that requirements driven service evolution would become an essential and promising research direction.
The Optimal Investment Scale and Timing: A Real Option Approach to Oilfield Development

The oil company holds the investment opportunity to develop a delineated oilfield. The investment plan must be presented until a specific date or the oilfield rights return to the government. The firm considers a set of mutually exclusive alternatives of scale to exploit the oilfield. Larger scale means faster exploitation – increasing the present value of revenues, but also higher investment cost. Oil price uncertainty affects all alternatives. In addition to the scale option, the firm has a timing option and hence this investment opportunity is analog to a finite-lived American call option on the best of multiple assets with the same underlying oil price stochastic process but with different benefits and different exercise prices. We examine both geometric Brownian motion and a mean-reversion process to model oil prices. We obtain the undeveloped oilfield (real option) value and the optimal investment rules, i.e., the optimal timing and the optimal scale thresholds.
A Path-Sensitive Control Flow Graph

Control Flow Graph (CFG) is a compact representation of all executable paths of a program and it is central to most program analyses. Unfortunately, the direct use of a CFG has two major sources of imprecision: (a) the existence of infeasible paths, and (b) the merging of states along incoming edges of a control-flow merge. Addressing these two problems is the path-sensitivity issue, and it is a folklore that path-sensitive analyses are more accurate. In this paper, we present a method to systematically restructure a CFG in order to encode path-sensitivity into it. The path-sensitive CFG is generated from the symbolic execution tree by (a) removing infeasible paths, and (b) duplicating subgraphs when it is likely to produce more accurate results by the underlying analyzer. We use constraint solving to test path infeasibility. To produce a graph of manageable size, we systematically generalize the state associated with a tree node while preserving its reason of infeasibility. This increases the likelihood of subsuming other nodes. If a node is subsumed then it is merged together with its subsumer. Otherwise, our method splits the subsumer and the subsumed nodes. The above transformation is done offline and independent to the analysis. We finally present experimental data on real benchmarks that shows the efficiency and effectiveness of the approach.
Intrapulpal heat generation during provisionalization: effect of desensitizer and matrix type.

PURPOSE This study investigated the effect of different matrices and application of a desensitizer on pulpal temperature rise during direct provisionalization. MATERIALS AND METHODS The apical third of a second premolar was resected and pulpal tissue was removed. Silicone heat-conducting medium was injected, and a J-type thermocouple was inserted into the pulp chamber and sealed. The tooth was embedded in acrylic resin with its cervical line 1 mm higher than the base. Addition and condensation silicone impression materials were mixed and placed inside plastic molds. Impressions were taken before tooth preparation. The tooth was then prepared with a 1.5-mm shoulder finish line. The experimental model was kept in a 36 degrees C water bath. Four provisional materials were applied in sequence onto the prepared tooth using matrices. Each provisional resin was used in combination with each matrix (n = 12). Then a dentin desensitizer was coated on the prepared tooth and provisionalizations were made in the same manner. The thermocouple was connected to the data-logger. During setting of the resins, pulp temperatures were recorded and transferred to the computer. Measurements were conducted for each test group by calculating the temperature rise as the difference between the start and highest temperature reading. RESULTS The type of the silicone matrix used and the use of desensitizer did not affect the intrapulpal heat generation during direct provisionalization. CONCLUSION Application of a desensitizer and different type of matrix seems to be noneffective on intrapulpal heat rise, although the type of provisional material used may be effective.
Can we quantitatively image complex structures with rays

Ray‐based prestack depth migration fails to image quantitatively complex structures when a single arrival—for example, the first or the strongest one—is taken into account. In this paper, we investigate whether accounting for multiple arrivals in ray‐based preserved amplitude prestack depth migration allows one to improve quantitative imaging of complex media. The asymptotic ray‐Born migration/inversion, originally designed to process one single arrival, is extended to the case of multiple arrivals by accounting for the cross‐contributions of all the source and receiver raypaths. Multiple arrivals in the folded ray fields are computed by a dynamic ray tracing based on a wavefront construction technique. With an application to the complex Marmousi model, we demonstrate that ray‐Born inversion can provide a reliable quantitative estimation of the relative impedance perturbation even in the complex deep part of the model, for which the amplitudes were underestimated drastically when only a single arrival was.
Acetaminophen Increases Blood Pressure in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease

Background— Because traditional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs are associated with increased risk for acute cardiovascular events, current guidelines recommend acetaminophen as the first-line analgesic of choice on the assumption of its greater cardiovascular safety. Data from randomized clinical trials prospectively addressing cardiovascular safety of acetaminophen, however, are still lacking, particularly in patients at increased cardiovascular risk. Hence, the aim of this study was to evaluate the safety of acetaminophen in patients with coronary artery disease. Methods and Results— The 33 patients with coronary artery disease included in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study received acetaminophen (1 g TID) on top of standard cardiovascular therapy for 2 weeks. Ambulatory blood pressure, heart rate, endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilatation, platelet function, endothelial progenitor cells, markers of the renin-angiotensin system, inflammation, and oxidative stress were determined at baseline and after each treatment period. Treatment with acetaminophen resulted in a significant increase in mean systolic (from 122.4±11.9 to 125.3±12.0 mm Hg P=0.02 versus placebo) and diastolic (from 73.2±6.9 to 75.4±7.9 mm Hg P=0.02 versus placebo) ambulatory blood pressures. On the other hand, heart rate, endothelial function, early endothelial progenitor cells, and platelet function did not change. Conclusions— This study demonstrates for the first time that acetaminophen induces a significant increase in ambulatory blood pressure in patients with coronary artery disease. Thus, the use of acetaminophen should be evaluated as rigorously as traditional nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors, particularly in patients at increased cardiovascular risk. Clinical Trial Registration— URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT00534651.