Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
at UWindsor

This paper investigates the introduction of biologically inspired intelligence into virtual assembly. It develops an approach to assist product engineers making assembly-related manufacturing decisions without actually realizing the physical products. This approach extracts the knowledge of mechanical assembly by allowing human operators to perform assembly operations directly in the virtual environment. The incorporation of a biologically inspired neural network into an interactive assembly planner further leads to the improvement of ﬂexible product manufacturing, i.e., automatically producing alternative assembly sequences with robot-level instructions for evaluation and optimization. Complexity analysis and simulation study demonstrate the eﬀec-tiveness and eﬃciency of this approach.
Microsatellite analysis of a population crash and bottleneck in the Mauna Kea silversword, Argyroxiphium sandwicense ssp. sandwicense (Asteraceae), and its implications for reintroduction

The Mauna Kea silversword, Argyroxiphium sandwicense ssp. sandwicense, has experienced both a severe population crash associated with an increase in alien ungulate populations on Mauna Kea, and a population bottleneck associated with reintroduction. In this paper, we address the genetic consequences of both demographic events using eight microsatellite loci. The population crash was not accompanied by a significant reduction in number of alleles or heterozygosity. However, the population bottleneck was accompanied by significant reductions in observed number of alleles, effective number of alleles, and expected heterozygosity, though not in observed heterozygosity. The effective size of the population bottleneck was calculated using both observed heterozygosities and allele frequency variances. Both methods corroborated the historical census size of the population bottleneck of at most three individuals. The results suggest that: (i) small populations, even those that result from severe reductions in historical population size and extent, are not necessarily genetically depauperate; and (ii) species reintroduction plans need to be conceived and implemented carefully, with due consideration to the genetic impact of sampling for reintroduction.
Low serum bilirubin level predicts the development of chronic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background/Aims We evaluated whether serum bilirubin levels can predict the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods This was a retrospective observational longitudinal study of patients presenting at the Pusan National University Hospital. A total of 349 patients with T2DM and preserved kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate ≥ 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) were enrolled. The main outcome was the development of CKD stage 3 or greater. The patients were divided into four groups according to the quartiles of the total serum bilirubin levels at baseline. Results The group with the lowest range of total serum bilirubin level (Q1) showed the highest cumulative incidence of CKD stage 3 or greater than that of the other lower quartiles (Q1 vs. Q4; hazard ratio [HR], 6.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.54 to 29.47; p = 0.011). In multivariate analysis, the risk of developing CKD stage 3 or greater was higher in the second lowest quartile of the serum bilirubin level than that in the highest quartile of the serum bilirubin level (Q2 vs. Q4; HR, 9.36; 95% CI, 1.33 to 65.73; p = 0.024). In the normoalbuminuria subgroup (n = 236), multivariate analysis showed that the risk of developing CKD stage 3 or greater was higher in the lowest quartile of the serum bilirubin level than that in the highest quartile of the serum bilirubin level (Q1 vs. Q4; HR, 7.36; 95% CI, 1.24 to 35.82; p = 0.019). Conclusions Serum bilirubin might be an early clinical marker for predicting the progression of CKD in patients with T2DM and preserved renal function.
The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations

Using PSID microdata over the 1980-2010, we provide new empirical evidence on the extent of and trends in the gender wage gap, which declined considerably over this period. By 2010, conventional human capital variables taken together explained little of the gender wage gap, while gender differences in occupation and industry continued to be important. Moreover, the gender pay gap declined much more slowly at the top of the wage distribution that at the middle or the bottom and by 2010 was noticeably higher at the top. We then survey the literature to identify what has been learned about the explanations for the gap. We conclude that many of the traditional explanations continue to have salience. Although human capital factors are now relatively unimportant in the aggregate, women’s work force interruptions and shorter hours remain significant in high skilled occupations, possibly due to compensating differentials. Gender differences in occupations and industries, as well as differences in gender roles and the gender division of labor remain important, and research based on experimental evidence strongly suggests that discrimination cannot be discounted. Psychological attributes or noncognitive skills comprise one of the newer explanations for gender differences in outcomes. Our effort to assess the quantitative evidence on the importance of these factors suggests that they account for a small to moderate portion of the gender pay gap, considerably smaller than say occupation and industry effects, though they appear to modestly contribute to these differences.
Electronic courseware in higher education

The rising costs of education often lead to the call for a change from the traditional, space–and–time bound institutions to ones that offer increasingly cost–effective, technologically enhanced programs. As institutions of higher education turn to technology, primarily Internet–based, to address these challenges, the use of electronic courseware is dramatically increasing. In order to effectively utilize electronic courseware in the classroom, educators not only need to be aware of terminology, functions, and uses of the most popular types of electronic courseware, but also (and perhaps more importantly) educators need to develop and critique pedagogically based research that can, at the broader level, help educators at various levels of technological expertise learn and adapt their teaching styles to maximize student learning. In this paper we consider electronic course management systems from a pedagogical perspective, with the goal of aiding educators to effectively utilize electronic courseware in the classroom. By discussing the basics (such as terminology, functions, and uses of the most popular types of electronic courseware) and examining pedagogically based research we hope, at the broader level, to help educators at various levels of technological expertise learn and adapt their teaching styles to maximize student learning.
A Concern towards Data Security in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is one of the emerging innovative trend of IT technology today. This trend has got remarkable advancement in computing world. Although cloud is boon to computing world but its adoption in IT sector is lack behind due to many issues. In this paper we focus on most prevailing issues related to data security of cloud. The main objective is related to data security which may include the concepts like confidentiality, integrity, data leakage, availability, data access.
An improvised prespective to agile methodology

In last few years, anecdotal evidence of mostly positive experiences with the implementation of agile development has emerged from various case studies. This enables data gathering from a larger sample of organizations, to learn about the factors driving the adoption and use of agile practices, and their benefits and challenges as perceived by early adopters of this software development methodology. From the studies it's discovered that present agile methodologies have some unsuitable practices. These practices can be revisited and thus a new model for agile methodology is proposed in this paper, which increases the productivity.
Oxytocin Increases the Perceived Value of Both Self- and Other-Owned Items and Alters Medial Prefrontal Cortex Activity in an Endowment Task

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) can influence self-processing and may help motivate us to value the attributes of others in a more self-like manner by reducing medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) responses. We do not know however whether this OXT effect extends to possessions. We tend to place a higher monetary value on specific objects that belong to us compared to others, known as the “endowment effect”. In two double-blind, between-subject placebo (PLC) controlled experiments in subjects from a collectivist culture, we investigated the influence of intranasal OXT on the endowment effect, with the second study incorporating functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In the task, subjects decided whether to buy or sell their own or others’ (mother/father/classmate/stranger) possessions at various prices. Both experiments demonstrated an endowment effect in the self-owned condition which extended to close others (mother/father) and OXT increased this for self and all other-owned items. This OXT effect was associated with reduced activity in the ventral mPFC (vmPFC) in the self-owned condition but increased in the mother-condition. For the classmate- and stranger-owned conditions OXT increased activity in the dorsal mPFC (dmPFC). Changes in vmPFC activation were associated with the size of the endowment effect for self- and mother-owned items. Functional connectivity between the dmPFC and ventral striatum (VStr) was reduced by OXT in self- and mother-owned conditions and between vmPFC and precuneus in the self-condition. Overall our results show that OXT enhances the endowment effect for both self- and other-owned items in Chinese subjects. This effect is associated with reduced mPFC activation in the self-condition but enhanced activation in all other-conditions and involves differential actions on both dorsal and ventral regions as well as functional connectivity with brain reward and other self-processing regions. Overall our findings suggest that OXT increases the perceived value of both self- and other-owned items by acting on neural circuitry involved in self-processing and reward.
How Useful are the E/P Ratio and the Spreads between the E/P Ratio and Interest Rates in Forecasting Hong Kong Stock Market Conditions?

The earnings-price ratio (E/P ratio) of the Hang Seng Index (HSI) and the spreads between the E/P ratio and interest rates are widely used by market practitioners to forecast the stock market outlook. This paper studies their usefulness as indicators of future Hong Kong stock market conditions. Based on simple regression models, this paper finds that the E/P ratio and the spreads are not particularly useful for forecasting the returns or the excess returns of the Hang Seng Total Return Index. Trading rules based on the out-of-sample forecasts or the historical extreme values of the E/P ratio and the spreads, which provide market-timing signals for deciding whether to invest in the HSI or to switch to the 1-month Exchange Fund Bill, can reduce the volatility of the portfolio investment without significantly lowering the average return. Some central banks' financial stability reports include measures of whether stock markets are overvalued by looking at E/P ratios. However, the results in this paper show that the ratios are not useful in assessing the extent to which there is an overvaluation in the Hong Kong stock market in the short run.
Depression‐related disturbances in mitogen‐induced lymphocyte responses and interleukin‐1β and soluble interleukin‐2 receptor production

In an attempt to delineate the pathophysiology underpinning the previously reported blunted lymphocyte responses to mitogenic stimulation in depressed patients, we measured the following immune variables in 28 depressives and 10 healthy controls: pre‐ and postdexamethasone (1 mg orally) lymphocyte responses to various mitogens, such as phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), and the PHA‐induced accumulation of interleukin‐1β (Il‐1β) and soluble interleukin‐2‐receptors (sIl‐2Rs) in culture supernatants. In the predexamethasone state, we found significantly more mitogen‐stimulated blastogenesis in minor depressives vs healthy controls and major depressives. In depressed subjects there was a significant inverse relationship between the severity of illness and the mitogen‐induced lymphocyte responses. Melancholics exhibited significantly more Il‐1β accumulation in PHA culture supernatant than healthy controls. In healthy controls – but not in depressed patients – the sIl‐2R accumulation perfectly reflects the magnitude of the PHA‐induced lymphocyte stimulation. Dexamethasone administration significantly suppressed the lectin‐induced blastogenesis and the Il‐1β production rate in normal volunteers, whereas depressives exhibited dexamethasone nonsuppression in those factors. Healthy controls exhibited significantly less postdexamethasone blast transformation, Il‐1β and sIl‐2Rs accumulation in culture supernatant than the depressed patients.
Introduction of a novel magnetic resonance imaging tenosynovitis score for rheumatoid arthritis: reliability in a multireader longitudinal study

Objectives: To describe a novel scoring system for the assessment of tenosynovitis by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and assess its intra- and inter-reader reliability in a multireader, longitudinal setting. Methods: Flexor and extensor tenosynovitis were evaluated at the level of the wrist in 10 different anatomical areas, graded semi-quantitatively from grade 0 to 3 (total score 0–30), based on the maximum width of post-contrast enhancement within each anatomical area on axial T1-weighted MR images. Ten sets of baseline and 1-year follow-up MR images of the wrists of patients with rheumatoid arthritis with early and established disease were scored independently by four readers twice on 2 consecutive days. Intra- and inter-reader agreements were evaluated. Results: The intrareader intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were high for status scores (median ICCs 0.84–0.88) and slightly lower for change score (0.74). The smallest detectable difference (SDD) in % of the maximum score was 11.2–11.5% for status scores and 13.3% for change scores. Inter-reader single-measure ICCs were acceptable for both status scores (median 0.73–0.74) and change scores (0.67), while average-measures ICCs were very high for both status and change score (all ⩾0.94). The median scoring time per patient (baseline and follow-up images) was 7 min (range 3–10). Conclusions: The introduced tenosynovitis scoring system demonstrates a high degree of multireader reliability, is feasible, and may be used as an adjuvant to the existing OMERACT RAMRIS score, allowing improved quantification of inflammatory soft tissue changes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
The Effectiveness of the Federal Reserve’s Maturity Extension Program – Operation Twist 2: The Portfolio Rebalancing Channel and Public Debt Management

This paper provides a first assessment of the Federal Reserve’s recent Maturity Extension Program, dubbed Operation Twist 2. Despite the mere exchange of short-term for long-term Treasury securities, the announcement effect is comparable to the second Large Scale Asset Purchase programme (LSAP2). The portfolio rebalancing channel, however, is countervailed by the issuance of even more Treasury coupon securities, which may explain the temporary nature of the observed interest rate effects. In the extreme, Operation Twist 2 and LSAP2 can be viewed as just offsetting the adverse impact of the pronounced increase in outstanding government securities.Full publication: Threat of fiscal dominance?
Calcium channel antagonists suppress nicotine-induced place preference and locomotor sensitization in rodents.

The influence of calcium channel antagonists on the behavioral sensitization to nicotine-induced hyperlocomotion and place preference was investigated. Locomotor sensitization in mice was produced by injecting nicotine (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) for 5 consecutive days before placement in an apparatus in which locomotor activity was evaluated for 1 h. One week later, activity of mice was recorded after challenge with the same dose of nicotine. The L-type voltage-dependent calcium channel antagonists: nimodipine (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg, i.p.), verapamil (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg, i.p.) and diltiazem (5, 10 and 20 mg/kg, i.p.) were injected 15 min before each injection of nicotine (induction of sensitization) or acutely 15 min before a challenge nicotine injection (expression of sensitization). It was shown that the calcium channel blockers attenuated both the induction and expression of nicotine-induced locomotor sensitization in a dose-dependent manner. In the place preference paradigm, nicotine produced a place preference to the initially less-preferred compartment paired with its injections during conditioning (0.5 mg/kg, i.p., 4 drug sessions). Pretreatment with nimodipine (10 mg/kg, i.p.), verapamil (10 mg/kg, i.p.) and diltiazem (10 mg/kg, i.p.) blocked nicotine-induced place conditioning. These results suggest the common calcium-dependent mechanisms of nicotine-induced behavioral sensitization and place preference.
Iodine supplementation during pregnancy of hypothyroid women treated with L-thyroxine neither influences neonatal TSH nor prevents decrease in maternal free thyroid hormone concentrations in second and third trimesters.

INTRODUCTION Pregnant women require about 250 μg of iodine daily. Hypothyroid women treated with L-thyroxine do not utilise iodine, and metabolism of L-thyroxine tablets is an additional source of iodine for their foetuses. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of iodine supplementation in hypothyroid pregnant women treated with L-thyroxine on neonate TSH concentration and maternal thyroid parameters. MATERIAL AND METHODS Ninety-two pregnant women with primary hypothyroidism on adequate thyroid hormone replacement were voluntarily divided into two groups: "thyroxine" (n = 38) treated with L-thyroxine only, and "thyroxine + iodine" (n = 54) treated additionally with 150 μg/day of iodine since 10th gestational week. Primary outcomes were the maternal thyroid function tests (TSH, fT4, fT3) and neonatal TSH concentrations at the 3-4th day of life. Urinary iodine concentration was measured at first and third trimester to compare iodine status in both groups. RESULTS Iodine supplementation significantly increased median urinary ioduria in the third trimester (from 95.15 μg/L to 151.50 μg/L), but did not prevent the decrease of maternal fT4 and fT3 concentrations in the second and third trimester. Median neonate TSH concentration in both groups was within normal range, but was 33% higher in the "thyroxine + iodine" than in the "thyroxine" group (1.91 mU/L vs. 1.34 mU/L). Moreover, 8.77% of newborns in the "thyroxine + iodine" group had TSH > 5 mIU/L. CONCLUSIONS We did not find evidence for a positive influence of iodine supplementation on thyroid function of either hypothyroid pregnant women sufficiently treated with L-thyroxine or their neonates. (Endokrynol Pol 2016; 67 (4): 367-374).
Energy forecasting for grid connected MW range solar PV system

An accurate forecasting of PV output is essential to improve real-time control performance and to reduce possible negative impacts. For an energy management system (EMS) of distributed energy resources, accurate forecasting of solar irradiation and thus PV power output can reduce the impact of uncertainty for PV power generation, improve system reliability, and increase the penetration level of the PV power generation system. Solar power output can be predicted based on historical solar irradiance and weather data, using Artificial Neural Networks and then is converted to PV power output. Neural Networks is designed to train, visualize, and validate network models using feed forward network with back propagation algorithm. The model is trained; using data collected from a 10 kW PV system which includes beam solar irradiance, relative humidity, temperature and wind speed as input for the training set. The future DC and AC power outputs are predicted for any given day. Also the power forecasting is being extended for a 100 kW and 1 MW PV system.
ACO approach in static routing for network-on-chips with 3D mesh topology

With increasing integration capability of integrated systems, today we see numerous systems based on a set of processing elements. One example is multi-core processors. An efficient connection of these elements can be obtained with use of interconnection networks. This approach is similar to traditional computer networks. However, this paradigm is not restricted to multi-processors. In fact, it is possible to interconnect several dedicated devices. Such systems are said NoC based, because of the use of network-on-chip platform. Like other networks, NoCs can be arranged in different topologies, such as ring, mesh and torus. Because several data packets can be transmitted simultaneously through the network, an efficient routing strategy must be used in order to avoid congestion delays. Ant colony algorithms have proves effective in static routing in systems designed to perform a fixed set of tasks, or where the communication pattern is known. In this paper, we study the performance of ACO-based routing in NoC with 3D mesh topology. The results are compared with other types of routing, such as deterministic or with use of randomness.
Simultaneous measurement of thrombin and plasmin generation to assess the interplay between coagulation and fibrinolysis

summary Normal haemostasis is maintained by a controlled balance between coagulation and fibrinolysis, involving thrombin and plasmin the respective key enzymes. Simultaneous evaluation of both enzymes facilitates, therefore, an overall understanding of normal and pathological haemostasis. Combined thrombin and plasmin generation (T/P-G) assays have been recently described, and we have adapted the technique to investigate the interplay between coagulation and fibrinolysis in patients with various haemostatic disorders. Our modified T/P-G was initiated by the addition of a mixture of optimised lower concentrations of tissue factor and tissue-type plasminogen activator. Thrombin generation (TG) and plasmin generation (PG) were monitored simultaneously using individual fluorescent substrates in separate microtitre wells. The relationship between coagulation and fibrinolysis was demonstrated by analysing the effects of thrombin inhibitors, activated protein C and thrombomodulin. The most evident impairments in TG were observed with plasma samples deficient of coagulation factors participating in the prothrombinase complex. Defects in PG were observed with deficiencies of factor (F)V, FX, fibrinogen, and plasminogen. TG appeared to be a prerequisite for the initiation of PG, and overall PG was governed by fibrinogen concentration. TG in patients with haemophilia A correlated with levels of FVIII activity, but there was no significant relationship between PG and FVIII:C, confirming that the abnormal haemostasis in haemophilia A results in a severe imbalance between coagulation and fibrinolysis. The findings demonstrate that global haemostasis depends on a sensitive balance between coagulation and fibrinolysis, and that the modified T/P-G assay could provide an enhanced understanding of haemorrhage and thrombosis in clinical practice.