Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Predictable Blood Pressure Variability in Healthy and Complicated Pregnancies

With the aim of describing the predictable pattern of blood pressure (BP) variability during gestation, we analyzed 2430 BP series systematically sampled by ambulatory monitoring for 48 consecutive hours every 4 weeks from the first obstetric visit (usually within the first trimester of pregnancy) until delivery in 235 normotensive women, 128 women who developed gestational hypertension, and 40 women who had a final diagnosis of preeclampsia. The pattern of variation along gestation of the 24-hour means of BP and heart rate was established for each group of women by polynomial regression analysis. For normotensive women, results indicate a steady decrease in BP up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, followed by an increase in BP up to the day of delivery, with an average 8% BP increase between the middle of gestation and delivery. In complicated pregnancies, BP is stable until the 22nd week of gestation and then increases linearly for the remainder of the pregnancy. Complicated pregnancies are characterized by a 9% and 13% increase in systolic and diastolic BPs, respectively, during the second half of gestation. Results also indicate that during the first half of pregnancy, systolic but not diastolic BP is slightly elevated in women who developed preeclampsia compared with those who developed gestational hypertension. During the second half of gestation, the linear trend of increasing BP for women who developed preeclampsia has a significantly higher slope than the trend for women with gestational hypertension. For both healthy and complicated pregnancies, heart rate increases until the end of the second trimester and slightly decreases thereafter. This study of women systematically sampled by 48-hour ambulatory BP monitoring throughout gestation confirms the predictable pregnancy-associated variability in BP and provides proper information for the establishment of reference limits for BP to be used in the early diagnosis of hypertensive complications in pregnancy. Those limits should be developed as a function of gestational age, taking into account the trends in BP throughout pregnancy demonstrated here.
The Limes Security Model for Information Flow Control

In the business world, the protection of information and data objects and their well-directed flow is essential for the success of enterprises. The Chinese Wall Security Policy model (CWSP model), defined by Brewer and Nash in, provides access control based on the definition of conflict of interest classes. This model addresses in particular the commercial business sector. In their model Brewer and Nash made the implicit assumption that a conflict of interest is an equivalence relation. Lin presented a modified version of the model called the Aggressive Chinese Wall Security Policy model (ACWSP model). He showed in that the "conflict of interest" is a binary relation, but not, in general, an equivalence relation like Brewer and Nash assumed. Lin observed that the Conflict of Interest relation is symmetric but non-reflexive and non-transitive. In the world of business, symmetric conflict of interest classes are not the default. In this paper a new model is presented that is based on a non-symmetric, non-reflexive and non-transitive conflict of interest relation, where each object is allowed to define its own time dependent Conflict Function and Conflict Of Interest List. Before a subject is allowed to do a write access to an object, each object that has been read accessed by the same subject before has to acknowledge that it is free of conflict with the object the subject intends to write access currently. Otherwise the write access is denied.
Registration via direct methods: a statistical approach

The "direct methods" achieve global image registration without explicit knowledge of feature correspondences. We employ the motion gradient constraint as the relation between the motion parameters and the measured image gradients. While this relation appears as a linear system of equations, for any motion model (other than a translation) we show that the underlying noise process is data-dependent, i.e., heteroscedastic, a fact which must be taken into account in the parameter estimation process. The improvement obtained using the adequate procedure is confirmed for the 2D rigid motion model through comparison with the traditional total least square approach.
ECNU at SemEval 2016 Task 6: Relevant or Not? Supportive or Not? A Two-step Learning System for Automatic Detecting Stance in Tweets

This paper describes our submissions to Task 6, i.e., Detecting Stance in Tweets, in SemEval 2016, which aims at detecting the stance of tweets towards given target. There are three stance labels: Favor (directly or indirectly by supporting given target), Against (directly or indirectly by opposing or criticizing given target), and None (none of the above). To address this task, we present a two-step learning system, which performs two steps, i.e., relevance detection and orientation detection, in a pipeline-based processing procedure. Our sys-tem ranked the 5 th among 19 teams.
Virus-Specific CD 4 1 T Cells Eliminate Borna Disease Virus from the Brain via Induction of Cytotoxic CD 8 1 T Cells †

Persistent Borna disease virus infection of the brain can be prevented by treatment of naive rats with a virusspecific CD4 T-cell line prior to infection. In rats receiving this treatment, only a transient low-level encephalitis was seen compared to an increasingly inflammatory reaction in untreated infected control rats. Virus replication was found in the brain for several days after infection before the virus was cleared from the central nervous system. The loss of infectivity from the brain was confirmed by negative results by reverse transcription-PCR with primers for mRNA, by in situ hybridization for both genomic and mRNA, and by immunohistology. Most importantly, in vitro assays revealed that the T-cell line used for transfusion had no cytotoxic capacity. The kinetics of virus clearance were paralleled by the appearance of CD8 T cells and the expression of perforin in the brain. Testing of lymphocytes isolated from the brains of CD4 T-cell-treated rats after challenge revealed high cytotoxic activity due to the presence of CD8 cytotoxic T cells at time points when brain lymphocytes from infected control rats induced low-level cytolysis of target cells. Neutralizing antiviral antibodies and gamma interferon were shown not to be involved in the elimination of virus from the brain.
Note on Minimax Sliding Mode Control Design for Linear Systems

The technical note studies the problem of sliding mode control design for linear systems with incomplete and noisy measurements of the output and additive/multiplicative exogenous disturbances. First, we construct a linear minimax observer to have an estimate of the system's state with minimal worst-case error. Second, we establish the optimality of the constructed observer in the class of all observers represented by measurable functionals of the output. Finally, we propose an algorithm, generating continuous and discontinuous feedbacks, which steers the observer as close as possible to a given sliding hyperplane in finite time. The optimality (sub-optimality) of the designed feedbacks is proven for the case of bounded noises and additive (multiplicative) disturbances of ${L}^2$-class. The efficacy of the proposed algorithm is illustrated by a numerical example.
Sustained Morphine-Induced Sensitization and Loss of Diffuse Noxious Inhibitory Controls in Dura-Sensitive Medullary Dorsal Horn Neurons

Overuse of medications used to treat migraine headache can produce a chronic daily headache, termed medication overuse headache (MOH). Although “overuse” of opioids, triptans, and over-the-counter analgesics can all produce MOH, the neuronal mechanisms remain unknown. Headache pain is likely to be produced by stimulation of primary afferent neurons that innervate the intracranial vasculature and the resulting activation of medullary dorsal horn (MDH) neurons. The present study compared the receptive field properties of MDH dura-sensitive neurons in rats treated with morphine to those given vehicle. Animals were implanted with osmotic minipumps or pellets for sustained subcutaneous administration of morphine or vehicle 6–7 d before recording from dura-sensitive neurons. Electrical and mechanical activation thresholds from the dura were significantly lower in chronic morphine-treated animals when compared to vehicle controls. In addition, sustained morphine increased the cutaneous receptive field sizes. The presence of diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNICs) was examined by placing the tail in 55°C water during concomitant noxious thermal stimulation of the cutaneous receptive field, usually located in the ophthalmic region. The DNIC stimulus produced significant inhibition of heat-evoked activity in vehicle- but not chronic morphine-treated animals. Inactivation of the rostral ventromedial medulla with 4% lidocaine reinstated DNICs in chronic morphine-treated animals. These results are consistent with studies demonstrating a loss of DNICs in patients that suffer from chronic daily headache and may partially explain why overuse of medication used to treat migraine can induce headaches.
Negotiating Multiculturalism: Religion and the Organisation of Hindu Identity in Contemporary Britain

This paper examines the intersections of religious with ethnic and racial discourses in contemporary British politics, and asks how this process has affected the projection of minority identities in Britain. In particular, it looks at the development of Hindu identity through the emergence of national-level Hindu organisations, examining them in the framework of an analysis of developing multiculturalism and the articulation of religion as a legitimate facet of the public space. The paper argues that religion has emerged in a number of ways in recent years, and tries to understand Hindu organisations in relation to these varied articulations. Drawing comparisons with the political representation of Hindus and others in colonial India, the paper goes on to argue that the dominant discursive formation through which religion is legitimated as a facet of contemporary politics invokes an ‘organisational landscape’ which mediates and contains the potential of religious identifications in modern Britain.
SAT-Based Synthesis of Fault-Tolerance 1

We present a technique where we use SAT solvers in automatic synthesis of fault-tolerant distributed programs from their faultintolerant version. Since adding fault-tolerance to distributed programs is NP-complete, we use state-of-the-art SAT solvers to benefit from efficient heuristics integrated in SAT solvers to deal with the exponential complexity of adding fault-tolerance. Also, such SAT-based technique has the potential to use multiple instances of SAT solvers simultaneously so that independent sub-problems can be solved in parallel during synthesis.
Observations on Effect of IPC in GA Based Scheduling on Computational Grid

Computational Grid CG provides a wide distributed platform for high end compute intensive applications. Inter Process Communication IPC affects the performance of a scheduling algorithm drastically. Genetic Algorithms GA, a search procedure based on the evolutionary computation, is able to solve a class of complex optimization problems. This paper proposes a GA based scheduling model observing the effect of IPC on the performance of scheduling in computational grid. The proposed model studies the effects of Inter Process Communication IPC, processing rate and arrival rate. Simulation experiment, to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm is conducted and results reveal the effectiveness of the model.
Pharmaceutical Cocrystal of Piroxicam: Design, Formulation and Evaluation

Purpose: Cocrystallisation of drug with coformers is a promising approach to alter the solid sate properties of drug substances like solubility and dissolution. The objective of the present work was to prepare, formulate and evaluate the piroxicam cocrystal by screening various coformers. Methods: Cocrystals of piroxicam were prepared by dry grinding method. The melting point and solubility of crystalline phase was determined. The potential cocrystal was characterized by DSC, IR, XRPD. Other pharmaceutical properties like solubility and dissolution rate were also evaluated. Orodispersible tablets of piroxicam cocrystal were formulated, optimized and evaluated using 32 factorial design. Results: Cocrystals of piroxicam-sodium acetate revealed the variation in melting points and solubility. The cocrystals were obtained in 1:1 ratio with sodium acetate. The analysis of Infrared explicitly indicated the shifting of characteristic bands of piroxicam. The X-Ray Powder Diffraction pattern denoted the crystallinity of cocrystals and noteworthy difference in 2θ value of intense peaks. Differential scanning calorimetry spectra of cocrystals indicated altered endotherms corresponding to melting point. The pH solubility profile of piroxicam showed sigmoidal curve, which authenticated the pKa-dependent solubility. Piroxicam cocrystals also exhibited a similar pH-solubility profile. The cocrystals exhibited faster dissolution rate owing to cocrystallization as evident from 30% increase in the extent of dissolution. The orodispersible tablets of piroxicam cocrystals were successfully prepared by direct compression method using crosscarmelose sodium as superdisintegrant with improved disintegration time (30 sec) and dissolution rate. Conclusion: The piroxicam cocrystal with modified properties was prepared with sodium acetate and formulated as orodispersible tablets having faster disintegration and greater dissolution rate.
Allergic reactions to glyceryl trinitrate and isosorbide dinitrate demonstrating cross‐sensitivity

Summary Glyceryl trinitrate (nitroglycerin) has been in use for relief of angina for over a hundred years, but allergic reactions to it or to other organic nitrates rarely feature in the medical literature. Most of the case reports describe reactions to transdermally applied nitroglycerin. We report a case of a localized allergic reaction to nitroglycerin transdermal patches that developed when these were worn for the first time after 7 days of uneventful treatment with intravenous isosorbide dinitrate. The reaction evolved into a severe and generalized maculopapular rash with facial swelling when intravenous isosorbide dinitrate was re‐administered 10 days later. Subsequent patch testing with a transdermal nitroglycerin patch and a placebo nitroglycerin‐free patch provoked a reaction to the nitroglycerin patch but not to the placebo, thus excluding allergy to other constituents of the nitroglycerin patch.
Multicultural Curriculum Development in Online Classes: Practices From Washington State Community Colleges

The community college system is based on an open-door mission and serves to provide access to students of diverse backgrounds. Online learning is one of the fastest growing segments of community college offerings. If the community college system embraces its open-door mission, it must also embrace new ways of providing multicultural experiences within online classes. Yet, little research has been conducted in looking at connections between online learning and multicultural education within community colleges. This study asked if multiculturalism plays a significant role in the traditional face-to-face college classroom—what role, if any, does it play in an online classroom? Literature on multicultural education, distance learning, educational theory, and social psychology were explored within the context of community colleges. Community college faculty who reported using multicultural approaches within their online classes were interviewed and observed. The results indicated that these online instructors generally had a collection of instructional methods that correlated to Banks’ (2004) Multicultural Dimensions. This article shares practices used by the faculty that can affect change in online students’ experiences with multiculturalism.
Triplet pregnancies in women aged 40 or older: a matched control study.

OBJECTIVE To determine, in triplet pregnancies, if maternal age is associated with adverse outcome in terms of birth weight characteristics. STUDY DESIGN We analyzed a nationwide cohort of live-born triplets compiled by Matria Healthcare (Marietta, Georgia). We compared all 171 mothers > or = 40 years old with randomly selected and matched-for-parity mothers aged 25-29 and 35-39 years. The main outcome measures were length of gestation and individual and total triplet birth weight. All the subjects had private health insurance. The sample size was adequate to detect 5% differences at a power of 80%. RESULTS Birth weights for infants A, B and C were significantly higherfor mothers > or = 40 years (P = .016, .01, and .03, respectively); total triplet birth weight was significantly higher as compared with that in the younger controls (P =.01). Gestational ages were similar in the 3 groups. In addition, the frequencies of births at < 28 weeks and of < 1,000 g were reduced by one-third or more in women aged 40 or older as compared to the younger controls (2.3% vs. 6.4% and 4.5% vs. 7.0%, respectively). CONCLUSION Older mothers of triplets have better outcomes than do their younger counterparts in terms of total triplet birth weight.
Finite Rate Feedback MIMO Broadcast Channels

This paper summarizes recent results on the multiple antenna broadcast (downlink) channel with finite rate feedback of channel state information from each receiver. I n this model, the receivers are assumed to have perfect channel knowledge, while the transmitter gains channel knowled ge through a finite rate feedback channel from each receiver. The SNR degradation as a function of the feedback rate is compute d, as is the feedback rate scaling required to achieve throughp ut close to that with perfect CSIT. Additionally, it is shown that a small number of antennas per receiver can be used to significa ntly reduce this required feedback load. Finally, the potentialmultiuser diversity in finite-rate feedback systems with a large n umber of users is studied.
A Study of Inherent Pen Input Modalities for Precision Parameter Manipulations during Trajectory Tasks

Adjustment of a certain parameter in the course of performing a trajectory task such as drawing or gesturing is a common manipulation in pen-based interaction. Since pen tip information is confined to x-y coordinate data, such concurrent parameter adjustment is not easily accomplished in devices using only a pen tip. This paper comparatively investigates the performance of inherent pen input modalities (Pressure, Tilt, Azimuth, and Rolling) and Key Pressing with the non-preferred hand used for precision parameter manipulation during pen sliding actions. We elaborate our experimental design framework here and conduct experimentation to evaluate the effect of the five techniques. Results show that Pressure enabled the fastest performance along with the lowest error rate, while Azimuth exhibited the worst performance. Tilt showed slightly faster performance and achieved a lower error rate than Rolling. However, Rolling achieved the most significant learning effect on Selection Time and was favored over Tilt in subjective evaluations. Our experimental results afford a general understanding of the performance of inherent pen input modalities in the course of a trajectory task in HCI (human computer interaction).
Data-driven approaches to articulatory speech processing

Author(s): Qin, Chao | Advisor(s): Carreira-Perpinan, Miguel A. | Abstract: Is it possible to recover movements of the vocal tract shape of the subject from arbitrary but normal speech acoustics? This problem is formally known as acoustic-to-articulatory mapping or articulatory inversion. A successful solution to this long standing and unsolved problem can facilitate useful applications in vocal tract visualization, language learning, speech therapy, and improve state-of-art recognition, speech synthesis, speech coding. It is known as the signature problem in articulatory speech processing, which aims to integrate explicitly human speech production knowledge into acoustics based speech technologies--Abstract.
Microinjection of ras p21 induces a rapid rise in intracellular pH

Quiescent mouse NIH 3T3 cells responded to microinjection of activated ras p21 with a rapid and sustained rise in intracellular pH (approximately 0.17 pH units). The p21-induced pH change was inhibited by amiloride treatment or growth of cells in medium low in sodium, suggesting a role for the Na+/H+ antiporter. Amiloride was found to suppress p21-induced mitosis, also.
Precise Motion Control of a Piezoelectric Microgripper for Microspectrometer Assembly

The Fourier Transform (FTIR) microspectrometer discussed in this paper is an example of a complex Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical System (MOEMS) configured as an optical bench on a chip. It is an important benchmark application for microtechnology due to increased demands for the use of miniature wavelength detection instruments in bio, nano and material science. This device can be manufactured using automated microassembly and precision alignment of hybrid silicon and glass components, and in particular, of a micro-beamsplitter cube along 3 rotational degrees of freedom. In this paper, a piezoelectric microgripper with four degrees of freedom was attached to a precision robot in order to enhance its dexterity and align the beamsplitter to arcsecond angular tolerance. The modeling and control of the microgripper, and the alignment algorithm utilizing a novel spot-Jacobian servoing technique are discussed. Experimental results obtained during joint on-going work in Texas and in France are presented, demonstrating the advantage of using the microgripper for optical alignment of the microspectrometer.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Science achievement of English language learners in Urban elementary schools: Results of a first-year professional development intervention

This study is part of a 5-year professional development intervention aimed at improving science and literacy achievement of English language learners (or ELL students) in urban elementary schools within an environment increasingly driven by high-stakes testing and accountability. Specifically, the study examined science achievement at the end of the first-year implementation of the professional development intervention that consisted of curriculum units and teacher workshops. The study involved 1,134 third-grade students at seven treatment schools and 966 third-grade students at eight comparison schools. The results led to three main findings. First, treatment students displayed a statistically significant increase in science achievement. Second, there was no statistically significant difference in achievement gains between students at English to Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) levels 1 to 4 and students who had exited from ESOL or never been in ESOL. Similarly, there was no significant difference in achievement gains between students who had been retained on the basis of statewide reading test scores and students who had never been retained. Third, treatment students showed a higher score on a statewide mathematics test, particularly on the measurement strand emphasized in the intervention, than comparison students. The results indicate that through our professional development intervention, ELL students and others in the intervention learned to think and reason scientifically while also performing well on high-stakes testing. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 31–52, 2008