Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Peri‐operative adverse respiratory events in children

Three quarters of all critical incidents and a third of all peri‐operative cardiac arrests in paediatric anaesthesia are caused by adverse respiratory events. We screened for risk factors from children's and their families' histories, and assessed the usefulness of common markers of allergic sensitisation of the airway as surrogates for airway inflammation and increased risk for adverse respiratory events. One hundred children aged up to 16 years with two or more risk factors undergoing elective surgery were included in the study. Eosinophil counts, IgE level, specific IgE for D. pteronyssinus, cat epithelia and Gx2 (grass pollen) were measured for each child and adverse respiratory events (bronchospasm, laryngospasm, oxygen desaturation < 95%, severe persistent coughing, airway obstruction and postoperative stridor) were recorded. Twenty‐one patients had an adverse respiratory event but allergic markers were poor predictors. Binary logistic regression showed a lack of predictive value of the eosinophil range and adverse respiratory events (p = 0.249). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the presence of adverse respiratory events vs level of specific IgE antibody (to Gx2 (AUC 0.614), cat epithelia (0.564) and D. pteronyssinus (0.520)) demonstrated poor predictive values. However, the presence of risk factors was strongly associated with adverse respiratory events (p < 0.001) and a ROC‐curve analysis indicated a fair capacity to predict adverse respiratory events (AUC 0.788). There was a significant difference (p = 0.001) between the presence of adverse respiratory events in patients with more than four (p = 0.006), compared with less than four (p = 0.001), risk factors. We conclude that while risk factors taken from the child's (or family) history proved good predictors of adverse respiratory events, immunological markers of allergic sensitisation demonstrated low predictive values. Pre‐operative identification of children at high risk for an adverse respiratory event should rely on clinical, rather than immunological, assessment.
Parameter estimation for linear dynamical systems

Linear systems have been used extensively in engineering to model and control the behavior of dynamical systems. In this note, we present the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm for estimating the parameters of linear systems (Shumway and Sto er, 1982). We also point out the relationship between linear dynamical systems, factor analysis, and hidden Markov models. Introduction The goal of this note is to introduce the EM algorithm for estimating the parameters of linear dynamical systems (LDS). Such linear systems can be used both for supervised and unsupervised modeling of time series. We rst describe the model and then brie y point out its relation to factor analysis and other data modeling techniques. The Model Linear time-invariant dynamical systems, also known as linear Gaussian state-space models, can be described by the following two equations: xt+1 = Axt +wt (1) yt = Cxt+ vt: (2) Time is indexed by the discrete index t. The output yt is a linear function of the state, xt, and the state at one time step depends linearly on the previous state. Both state and output noise, wt and vt, are zero-mean normally distributed random variables with covariance matrices Q and R, respectively. Only the output of the system is observed, the state and all the noise variables are hidden. Rather than regarding the state as a deterministic value corrupted by random noise, we combine the state variable and the state noise variable into a single Gaussian random
Laminarin protects against hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative damage in MRC-5 cells possibly via regulating NRF2

Oxidative damage is a major cause of lung diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis. Laminarin is a kind of polysaccharide extracted from brown algae and plays vital roles in various biological processes. However, the functions and mechanisms of laminarin in pulmonary oxidative damage are poorly understood. This study aimed at investigating the protective effect of laminarin against pulmonary oxidative damage and underlying mechanisms. Human lung fibroblasts MRC-5 cells were treated with hydrogen peroxide to induce oxidative damage. Laminarin treatment was performed before or after hydrogen peroxide treatment, and then major indexes of oxidative damage, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) and catalase (CAT), were quantified by biochemical assays. The expression of oxidation-related factor, nuclear factor erythroid 2 like 2 (NRF2) was analyzed by qPCR, Western blot and immunofluorescence assay. NRF2 knockdown and overexpression were performed by cell transfection to reveal possible mechanisms. Results showed that laminarin treatment of 0.020 mg/mL for 24 h, especially the pre-treatment, could significantly relieve changes in SOD, MDA, GSH and CAT that were altered by hydrogen peroxide, and promote NRF2 mRNA (P < 0.001). NRF2 protein was also elevated by laminarin, and nuclear translocation was observed. Factors in NRF2 signaling pathways, including KEAP1, NQO1, GCLC and HO1, were all regulated by laminarin. Roles of NRF2 were tested, suggesting that NRF2 regulated the concentration of SOD, MDA, GSH and CAT, suppressed KEAP1, and promoted NQO1, GCLC and HO1. These findings suggested the protective role of laminarin against pulmonary oxidative damage, which might involve the regulation of NRF2 signaling pathways. This study provided information for the clinical application of laminarin to pulmonary diseases like pulmonary fibrosis.
The relationship between individual personality orientation and executive leadership behaviour

The following study was undertaken to explore the link between individual differences in personality orientation and subsequent leadership behaviours in the workplace. More specifically, relationships among two measures of personality and one measure of transformational–transactional leadership style were investigated using data collected from 253 senior executives (and their direct reports) from a highly diversified global corporation. After an initial examination of the personality variables using a correlational approach, a k-means cluster analysis was used to generate four distinct ‘groups’ based on the mean personality orientation or style exhibited. These groups were labelled accordingly in order to reflect the dispositional characteristics among each cluster of executives: (1) innovators for change or inventors; (2) analytical coordinators or managers; (3) organized pragmatists or implementors; and (4) enthusiastic idealists or motivators. Subsequent ANOVA models using these cluster groups yielded significant differences with respect to the perceptions of both executives and their direct reports of their leadership behaviour. In general, inventors and motivators were found to be more transformational in their leadership style than managers and implementors. These results are discussed in terms of the characteristics of each personality cluster and their respective linkages to the leadership behaviours observed by self and others.
Upregulation of Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Antisense Transcription by the Viral Tax Protein

ABSTRACT Several studies have recently demonstrated the existence of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) antisense transcripts, which allow the synthesis of the newly described HBZ protein. Although previous reports have been aimed at understanding the potential role of the HBZ protein in HTLV-1 pathogenesis, little is known as to how this viral gene is regulated. Here, using our K30-3′asLuc reporter construct, we show that the viral Tax protein upregulates antisense transcription through its action on the TRE sequences located in the 3′ long terminal repeat. Generation of stable clones in 293T cells demonstrated that Tax-induced HBZ expression is importantly influenced by the integration site in the host genome. The cellular DNA context could thus affect the level of HBZ mRNA expression in infected cells.
Genital and subjective measurement of the time course effects of an acute dose of testosterone vs. placebo in postmenopausal women.

INTRODUCTION Recent research on the impact of testosterone (T) on female sexual function has yielded inconsistent results, and few studies have used physiological measures of genital arousal. AIM This study examined the effects of an acute dose of methyltestosterone (MT) on physiological (genital) and subjective sexual response in postmenopausal women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA) and self-reported sexual response. METHODS Randomized, double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled trial of 5 mg MT, consisting of two separate 8-hour visits. Participants were 10 postmenopausal women without sexual dysfunction. Participants viewed both neutral and erotic video segments during five post-dose trials while their genital and subjective responses were monitored. RESULTS The Wilcoxon signed rank test indicated a significant difference in VPA between the T (M = 0.018, SD = 0.018) and placebo (M = 0.016, SD = 0.017) conditions at 4.5 hours post-dose (P = 0.03). Higher difference scores were noted for 80% of subjects during the T condition at 4.5 hours, in contrast with only 50% of subjects responding to T at the other four time points. No differences were found on VPA relative change scores or subjective sexual arousal scores. When summed across all five time points, genital and subjective measures were correlated regardless of medication condition (0.62 and 0.60 for self-reported physical and mental sexual arousal scores, respectively). CONCLUSIONS These findings in postmenopausal women combined with those of two previous investigations in premenopausal women demonstrate a probable acute-dose time delay for genital sexual effects of exogenous T with no change in self-reported sexual arousal. Further investigation is needed to determine whether acute dosing of T has a consistent and predictable impact on genital arousal that has promise for the treatment of any subgroup of women with sexual disorders.
Utilizing Web Search Engines for Program Analysis

Programming involves representing domain concepts by using programming abstractions. In object-oriented programs, concepts and relations of the business domain are represented as classes, attributes and methods. However, the concepts and relations that logically belong together are scattered across different modules, interleaved with technical concepts, and distorted due to implementation details. In this paper, we present an automatic method to identify logically related concepts and the relations among them. To achieve this, we systematically transform program identifiers into fragments of natural language sentences and check whether these sentence fragments are meaningful for humans. In order to automatically perform such checks, we use the World Wide Web as a knowledge base that contains a huge number of meaningful texts, and use the Google web search engine to validate the meaningfulness of these sentences. If the search engine returns a sufficient number of hits, we discovered a piece of knowledge in the code. By systematically applying this method, we obtain a condensed form of the knowledge embodied in the program which is an enabler for automatic analyses. We present our experience with several use-cases: (1) assessing the meaningfulness of identifiers, (2) extracting complex concepts from compound identifiers, (3) extracting a meaningful taxonomy from the class hierarchy, and (4) extracting complex conceptual relations from the code. We report on our observations during the analysis of real world Java code, discuss the limitations of our approach and sketch extension possibilities.
Seals and sea lions are what they eat, plus what? Determination of trophic discrimination factors for seven pinniped species.

RATIONALE Mixing models are a common method for quantifying the contribution of prey sources to the diet of an individual using stable isotope analysis; however, these models rely upon a known trophic discrimination factor (hereafter, TDF) that results from fractionation between prey and animal tissues. Quantifying TDFs in captive animals is ideal, because diet is controlled and the proportional contributions and isotopic values of all prey items are known. METHODS To calculate TDFs for the Hawaiian monk seal, northern elephant seal, bearded seal, ringed seal, spotted seal, harbor seal, and California sea lion, we obtained whiskers, serum, plasma, red blood cells, and prey items from nine captive individuals. We obtained δ(13) C and δ(15) N values using continuous-flow isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. The average δ(13) C and δ(15) N values from bulk and lipid-corrected prey from the diet were subtracted from the δ(13) C and δ(15) N values of each blood and whisker sample to calculate tissue-specific TDFs for each individual (∆(13) C or ∆(15) N). RESULTS The ∆(13) C values ranged from +1.7 to +3.2‰ (bulk prey) and from +0.8 to +1.9‰ (lipid-corrected prey) for the various blood components, and from +3.9 to +4.6‰ (bulk prey) or +2.6 to +3.9‰ (lipid-corrected prey) for whiskers. The ∆(15) N values ranged from +2.2 to +4.3‰ for blood components and from +2.6 to +4.0‰ for whiskers. The TDFs tended to group by tissue, with whiskers having greater ∆(13) C values than blood components. In contrast, the ∆(15) N values were greater in serum and plasma than in red blood cells and whiskers. CONCLUSIONS By providing the first TDF values for five seal species (family Phocidae) and one otariid species (family Otariidae), our study facilitates more accurate mixing models for these species. These values are particularly important for critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals and the three Arctic seal species (bearded, ringed, and spotted) that are faced with a rapidly changing environment.
Design of a novel control algorithm for a 6 D.O.F. mobile manipulator based on a robust observer

Abstract: In this paper a control algorithm based on a design technique named “Robust Damping Control” is introduced. A robust observer is further shown to overcome the problem of using velocity sensors that may degrade the system performance. The proposed controller uses only position measurements and is capable of disturbance rejection in the presence of unknown bounded disturbances without requiring the knowledge of its bound. Moreover, we propose an accurate and fast time integration method to solve the dynamic equations of the mobile manipulator system. The simulation results of a 6 D.O. F. mobile manipulator illustrate the effectiveness of the presented algorithm.
UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF THE OPTICALLY FAINT RADIO SOURCES AND THEIR CONNECTION TO THE SUBMILLIMETER POPULATION

We present a sample of 43 submillimeter sources detected (at >3σ), drawn from our program to follow-up optically faint radio sources with SCUBA. These sources alr eady have associated radio and in many cases optical identifications, and many are also detected at 450 μm. We compare these with 12 submillimeter sources drawn from the literature, which were discovered in blank field map ping campaigns, but also have radio detections. We then use this total sample (55 sources) to study and model the volution of dusty galaxies. A correlation is observed in the sub-mm/radio color-magnitude diagram, which can be m odeled by strong luminosity evolution. The selection effects of the radio/optical pre-selection technique ar determined from the models, and a corrected redshift distribution is constrained using a range of model assumpti ons. The temperature/redshift effects on the 450 μm detected subset of our sample are studied in relation to the m odels, and prospects for improved measurements in the shorter sub-mm wavelength windows (450 μm and 350μm) are explored. Subject headings: galaxies: evolution — galaxies: formation — sub-mm: galaxi es — radio: galaxies
A Comparative Study on the Dynamic EEG Center of Mass with Different References

One of the most fundamental issues during an EEG study is choosing an available neutral reference. The infinity zero reference obtained by the reference electrode standardization technique (REST) has been recommended and used for its higher accuracy. This paper examined three traditional references, the average reference (AR), the linked mastoids reference (LM), and REST, in the study of the EEG center of mass (CM) using simulated and real ERPs. In the simulation, the relative error of REST was the smallest among the references. As for the ERP data with the visual oddball paradigm, the dynamic CM trajectory and its traveling velocity obtained by REST characterized three typical stages in spatial domain and temporal speed metrics, which provided useful information in addition to the distinct ERP waveform in the temporal domain. The results showed that the CM traveling from the frontal to parietal areas corresponding to the earlier positive components (i.e., P200 and P250), stays temporarily at the parietal area corresponding to P300 and then returns to the frontal area during the recovery stage. Compared with REST, AR, and LM not only changed the amplitude of P300 significantly but distorted the CM trajectory and its instantaneous velocity. As REST continues to provide objective results, we recommend that REST be used in future EEG/ERP CM studies.
Marketing the female politician: an exploration of gender and appearance

Abstract This paper sheds light on issues of gender roles and gender hierarchies using Goffman’s theories on gender and performance as a starting point to explore modern-day manifestations of power structures in political marketing, particularly as related to female politicians. In-depth interviews with four female politicians, 17 aides, volunteers, PAC and media executives as well as two focus groups with registered voters reveal subordination of female politicians through hyper-ritualised displays of social relations. The findings showcase how appearance is used to facilitate the ongoing objectification of female politicians in political marketing and devalue their candidacies. This study is an important step in examining the role of gender and appearance in political marketing and its importance in building brand image for a female politician.
Personality Traits and Relationship Satisfaction in Intimate Couples: Three Perspectives on Personality

Personality traits are important predictors of relationship satisfaction. However, the majority of previous study findings are based on self–perceptions of personality. Thus, by means of the self–, partner–, and meta–perceptions of personality, the present study focused on three different perspectives on the Big Five personality traits to examine dyadic associations with relationship satisfaction of intimate couples. The study was based on the first measurement occasion of the Swiss longitudinal study ‘Co–Development in Personality: Longitudinal Approaches to Personality Development in Dyads across the Life Span’ and included data of 216 couples. The main analyses were based on Actor–Partner Interdependence Model. Three general findings emerged. First, the three personality perspectives represented related, albeit distinct, constructs, and showed incremental validity with respect to relationship satisfaction. Second, neuroticism was negatively related to relationship satisfaction, whereas agreeableness and conscientiousness were positively related to relationship satisfaction across all perspectives. Third, substantial associations between extraversion and relationship satisfaction were exclusively evident in terms of the partner– and meta–perception. The present results contribute to the literature by showing that each perspective is essential for the understanding of the role of personality for relationship satisfaction. Copyright © 2014 European Association of Personality Psychology
Mining Knowledge from Interconnected Data: A Heterogeneous Information Network Analysis Approach

Most objects and data in the real world are interconnected, forming complex, heterogeneous but often semi-structured information networks. However, most people consider a database merely as a data repository that supports data storage and retrieval rather than one or a set of heterogeneous information networks that contain rich, inter-related, multi-typed data and information. Most network science researchers only study homogeneous networks, without distinguishing the different types of objects and links in the networks. In this tutorial, we view database and other interconnected data as heterogeneous information networks, and study how to leverage the rich semantic meaning of types of objects and links in the networks. We systematically introduce the technologies that can effectively and efficiently mine useful knowledge from such information networks.
Cost Optimization for Lab-on-Chip Devices using Nano and Micro -Fluidics Technology

Now a days, in the field of science, technology, engineering and management, a lot of work has been carried out in the domain of Lab-on-Chip (LoC), Network-on-Chip (NoC), System-on-Chip (SoC) and Direct Write Assembly (DWA) and Three Dimensional Printing (3DP) Prototype etc. This kind of innovation technology not only used a less amount of engineering materials, it also optimized the production cost. Due to the advanced technology and mass production, the price at the user end, it also quite less. So with the literature survey from the past research and our experimental data, we are in the position to mention, we can optimized the cost of LoC, NoC, SoC, DWA and 3DP at very feasible price. We have performed the experimental work and used various kinds of simulators to optimize the cost of these devices at end user.
Functional Augmented State Transfer (FAST) Architecture for Computationally Intensive Network Applications

We describe a novel architecture that combines the simplicity of RESTful architecture with the power of functional programming for delivering web-services. Although, RESTful architecture has been quite useful in simplifying the development of scalable systems, it is not suited for all types of network applications. Our architecture improves upon the RESTful architecture to provide scalable framework for computationally intensive network applications. The proposed architecture is ideal for applications that involve data management and data analysis/calculations on data. Data analytics and financial calculations are two areas where the architecture can be applied efficiently.
Evaluation of the Linköping Youth Life Experience Scale

The objective of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of a newly developed instrument for potentially traumatic life events, the Linköping Youth Life Experience Scale (LYLES), and determine the benefits of including adverse childhood circumstances (ACCs) as factors in the evaluation. In addition, we wanted to investigate the difference between interpersonal and noninterpersonal traumatic events, the impact of ACCs, and the cumulative effects of these events on self-reported symptoms of dissociation, depression, and anxiety. Adolescents from the normative population (n = 188) answered the questionnaire LYLES and also the Dissociation-Questionnaire-Sweden and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The results showed that LYLES was stable, with test-retest r = 0.79 and kappa item per item ranging between k = 0.44 and 1.0. ACCs contributed independently to the explanation of symptoms explaining them better than potentially traumatic events alone, particularly for boys where the impact of ACCs exceeded the impact of events. The conclusions are that LYLES displayed satisfactory psychometric properties and that ACCs seem to be a valuable addition to an instrument to evaluate potentially traumatic events.