Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complex systems and human movement

Human movement reveals the hall mark characteristics of complex systems: namely, many interacting subsystems, multiple interactions within and between levels of analysis, emergence of movement coordination modes, and the exhibition of varying levels of the complexity of system output that continually evolve with learning and development over the life span. Here we outline how this high or infinitely dimensional complex dynamical system can be modeled by an epigenetic landscape framework—in the sense of Waddington—that captures the key features of the adaptive qualitative and quantitative properties of coordination modes (“order parameters”), the degeneracy of movement organization and the time scales of change. The framework provides some new ways to consider old problems in motor learning and development—such as an explicit and quantitative approach to exploring the concept of motor programs and developmental pathways—and yields new results and insights into the organization of learning during practice and rest times. For instance along one dimension of the landscape most of the changes occur between practice sessions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 12: 40–51, 2006
Calibrating the Predictability of Exchange Rates: A Model-Independent Approach

This paper proposes a nonparametric model-independent methodology to calibrate the predictability of exchange rates. In order to predict the exchange rates, the predictors should contain enough information about the future return, regardless of the specification of the model. The information transfer from the predictors to future return can be measured by their mutual information. According to Shannon's channel coding theorem, it is the measure of the statistical dependence, linear and nonlinear, and not just the linear dependence as the correlation coefficient measures. The information transfer also acts as the upper bound of the predictive power of any model based on these predictors. Empirically, we evaluate the predictability at the hourly, daily and monthly frequency, and find that exchange rates are systematically predictable intraday, but not on other frequencies. Moreover, the linear model is suboptimal and fails to capture most of the information, which explains why it is so hard for the traditional linear models to outperform the random walk benchmark.
Capturing Knowledge in Semantically-typed Relational Patterns to Enhance Relation Linking

Transforming natural language questions into formal queries is an integral task in Question Answering (QA) systems. QA systems built on knowledge graphs like DBpedia, require a step after natural language processing for linking words, specifically including named entities and relations, to their corresponding entities in a knowledge graph. To achieve this task, several approaches rely on background knowledge bases containing semantically-typed relations, e.g., PATTY, for an extra disambiguation step. Two major factors may affect the performance of relation linking approaches whenever background knowledge bases are accessed: a) limited availability of such semantic knowledge sources, and b) lack of a systematic approach on how to maximize the benefits of the collected knowledge. We tackle this problem and devise SIBKB, a semantic-based index able to capture knowledge encoded on background knowledge bases like PATTY. SIBKB represents a background knowledge base as a bi-partite and a dynamic index over the relation patterns included in the knowledge base. Moreover, we develop a relation linking component able to exploit SIBKB features. The benefits of SIBKB are empirically studied on existing QA benchmarks and observed results suggest that SIBKB is able to enhance the accuracy of relation linking by up to three times.
Proteome analysis of Escherichia coli using high‐performance liquid chromatography and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

The basic problem of complexity poses a significant challenge for proteomic studies. To date two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis (2‐DE) followed by enzymatic in‐gel digestion of the peptides, and subsequent identification by mass spectrometry (MS) is the most commonly used method to analyze complex protein mixtures. However, 2‐DE is a slow and labor‐intensive technique, which is not able to resolve all proteins of a proteome. To overcome these limitations gel‐free approaches are developed based on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT‐ICR MS). The high resolution and excellent mass accuracy of FT‐ICR MS provides a basis for simultaneous analysis of numerous compounds. In the present study, a small protein subfraction of an Escherichia coli cell lysate was prepared by size‐exclusion chromatography and proteins were analyzed using C4 reversed phase (RP)‐HPLC for pre‐separation followed by C18 RP nanoHPLC/nanoESI FT‐ICR MS for analysis of the peptide mixtures after tryptic digestion of the protein fractions. We identified 231 proteins and thus demonstrated that a combination of two RP separation steps – one on the protein and one on the peptide level – in combination with high‐resolution FT‐ICR MS has the potential to become a powerful method for global proteomics studies.
Compensating Wage Differentials and Wage Discrimination in Major League Baseball

Using Major League Baseball (MLB) players who had the ability to bargain for new contracts between the years 2009 and 2013 as a sample, empirical results indicated that contract length had a significant positive influence on salary. The salaries of players who had extended their current contracts met the assumptions of the theory of compensating wage differentials, while those of free agents showed no compensating wage differential effects. Finally, the results suggest discrimination against Latino players.
The TZD insulin sensitizer clue provides a new route into diabetes drug discovery

Introduction: Thiazolidinedione (TZD) insulin sensitizers have a pleotropic pharmacology including reduction of insulin resistance, a root cause of diabetes. Importantly, these agents also preserve pancreatic beta cell function. TZDs are not widely used, especially early on in disease progression when they might have the greatest benefit, because of side effects, principally volume expansion, weight gain, and increased bone reabsorption. Incomplete understanding of their mechanism of action has prevented the development of new agents. Recent studies suggest that these compounds modify mitochondrial metabolism and metabolic signals that coordinate downstream cell function. Areas covered: The author provides a brief history of the development of the first generation insulin sensitizer TZDs, which coincided with the expansion of the concept of insulin resistance in disease. Furthermore, the article summarizes ideas as to how a newly identified mitochondrial target might explain the activity of new clinical candidates. Expert opinion: Recognition of the pyruvate carrier complex as a mitochondrial target of the TZDs provides a new direction for discovery and development of anti-diabetic agents. Recent clinical studies have suggested that reduction of direct agonism of PPARγ may prove to be useful therapeutically by reducing dose-limiting side effects. The study of the mechanism of insulin resistance produced by metabolic signals (metabolic inflammation) and the counterbalance of these signals by insulin sensitizers is likely to be useful in providing more target and discovery approaches to metabolic diseases.
A 73dB SNDR 20MS/s 1.28mW SAR-TDC using hybrid two-step quantization

This work describes a Nyquist rate ADC based on a two-step voltage and time quantization technique which can reduce power consumption and improve scaling immunity for high resolution applications. The hybrid two-step approach uses a successive approximation register (SAR) ADC for coarse quantization in the voltage domain, and a time-to-digital converter (TDC) for fine quantization in the time domain. The residue amplifier is suited for deep submicron CMOS due to its low gain and small output swing requirements, allowing the use of a single stage architecture. A 20MS/s prototype was designed and implemented in 180nm CMOS. Measurement results demonstrate an SNDR of 73dB. Operating with a reference voltage of 1.6V and a TDC supply of 1.0V, the total power is 1.28mW. This results in a Walden figure-of-merit (FOMw) of 17.4 fJ/conversion-step.
Dementia of acute onset in the Canadian Study of Health and Aging

Background: Although most people with dementia experience an insidious onset of symptoms, in some cases onset can be acute. The importance of acute onset is unclear. Some reports suggest that it portends a worse course. Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of the clinical examination cohort (n=2914) of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA). We defined “acute onset of dementia” from the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders in the Elderly (CAMDEX) questionnaire, conducted with an informant. People with dementia of acute onset were compared to those with dementia of insidious onset for development of adverse outcomes of death and institutionalization over 5years. Results: Of the 1132 people who had dementia, 130 (11.5%) met criteria for acute onset. Compared with gradual-onset dementia patients, those with acute-onset dementia were more often men (42% vs. 30%, p<0.05), resided in nursing homes (75% vs. 63%, p<0.05), had vascular risk factors (72% vs. 47%, p<0.05), and a Hachinski Ischemia Scale (HIS) score ≥7 (64% vs. 19%, p<0.05). More patients with dementia of acute onset than gradual onset were diagnosed with vascular dementia (55% vs. 13%; p<0.05). Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for survival and institutionalization in the acute-onset group were 0.93 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.7–1.2] and 0.76 (95% CI 0.4–1.3), respectively, compared with the gradual-onset group. Conclusions: People with acute-onset dementia had more vascular risk factors than those with gradual-onset dementia across all dementia diagnoses, and lower risks of institutionalization but worse survival. Routine inquiry about the onset of dementia might help to better clarify prognoses in patients with dementia.
Assessing teachers' attitude and use of laptops for teaching and learning among primary school mathematics teachers

This research explored attitude towards laptops and the use of laptops among primary school mathematics teachers. The State Government granted them personal laptops. This study implemented quantitative study using questionnaires, which were collected from 304 teachers. The findings indicated that the use of laptops for work related and personal use is low. The most favorable work related activity using the laptops was more on searching and preparing for teaching aids while the personal use of laptop was towards updating themselves in current affairs. However, this study found that teachers' attitude towards laptop is positive. Correlational analysis showed that there is a significant relationship between attitude towards laptops and work related (r = .406**, p = .001) and personal use (r = .276, p = .001). In terms of gender, there is no significance difference between male and female teachers attitudes toward using laptop.
A block in full-length transcript maturation in cells nonpermissive for B19 parvovirus

Vertebrate parvoviruses share a similar genomic organization, with the capsid proteins encoded by genes on the right side and nonstructural proteins encoded by genes on the left side. The temporal and cell-specific appearances of these two types of gene products are regulated by a variety of genetic mechanisms. Rodent parvovirus structural proteins, for example, are encoded by a separate promoter which is positively regulated by nonstructural-gene products. In contrast, for the human B19 parvovirus, the analogous structural-gene promoter is nonfunctional, and both left- and right-side transcripts originate from a single promoter and are highly processed. Using a combination of sensitive RNA analyses of wild-type and mutant templates, we have found that the relative abundance of these alternatively processed transcripts appears to be governed by unique postinitiation events. In permissive cells, the steady-state level of right-side structural-gene transcripts predominates over that of left-side nonstructural-gene transcripts. In nonpermissive cells transfected with the B19 virus genome, nonstructural-gene transcripts predominate. Removal of 3' processing signals located in the middle of the viral genome increases transcription of the far right side. Disruption of a polyadenylation signal in this region makes readthrough of full-length right-side transcripts possible. These results suggest that the abundance of B19 virus RNAs is determined by active 3' processing and is coupled to DNA template replication.
A Legislature Comes of Age: Hong Kong's Search for Influence and Identity

When the Chinese and British governments signed the Joint Declaration, providing for the transfer of Hong Kong to Chinese jurisdiction in July 1997, they allowed for a certain autonomy to be given to the territory: governance by its citizens and maintenance of its capitalist lifestyle for 50 years. The autonomy was expected to be preserved by Hong Kong's Legislative Council, a colonial administrative body established more than a century before. This study provides the first detailed portrait of the institution, placing it in the context of other British colonial legislatures the world over, tracing its 140-year history, and exploring its roles and responsibilities for the future.
Biology of platelet-derived growth factors in development.

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) was one of the first growth factors to be characterized, and the PDGF family of ligand and receptors has remained an archetype system for studies of the mechanisms of action of growth factors and receptor tyrosine kinases for more than two decades. The small size of the family has also facilitated genetic studies and, in particular, manipulations of the mouse PDGF and PDGF receptor genes have given important insights into the role of this family during mammalian development. These studies have shown that discrete populations of mesenchymal and neuroectodermal progenitor cells depend on PDGF signaling for their growth and distribution within developing organs. Other studies suggest that the same, or similar, cells may be targeted by exaggerated PDGF signaling in a number of pathological processes, including different types of cancer. The present review summarizes current views on the roles of PDGFs in developmental processes, and discusses the critical importance of the amount, spatial distribution, and bioavailability of the PDGF proteins for acquisition of the correct number and location of target cells.
Prefrontal cortex afferents to the anterior temporal lobe in the Macaca fascicularis monkey

The anatomical organization of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) afferents to the anterior part of the temporal lobe (ATL) remains to be clarified. The LPFC has two subdivisions, dorsal (dLPFC) and ventral (vLPFC), which have been linked to cognitive processes. The ATL includes several different cortical areas, namely, the temporal polar cortex and rostral parts of the perirhinal, inferotemporal, and anterior tip of the superior temporal gyrus cortices. Multiple sensory modalities converge in the ATL. All of them (except the rostral inferotemporal and superior temporal gyrus cortices) are components of the medial temporal lobe, which is critical for long‐term memory processing. We studied the LPFC connections with the ATL by placing retrograde tracer injections into the ATL: the temporal polar (n = 3), perirhinal (areas 35 and 36, n = 6), and inferotemporal cortices (area TE, n = 5), plus one additional deposit in the posterior parahippocampal cortex (area TF, n = 1). Anterograde tracer deposits into the dLPFC (A9 and A46, n = 2), the vLPFC (A46v, n = 2), and the orbitofrontal cortex (OF; n = 2) were placed for confirmation of those projections. The results showed that the vLPFC displays a moderate projection to rostral area TE and the dorsomedial portion of the temporal polar cortex; in contrast, the dLPFC connections with the ATL were weak. By comparison, the OFC and medial frontal cortices (MFC) showed dense connectivity with the ATL, namely, A13 with the temporopolar and perirhinal cortices. All areas of the MFC projected to the temporopolar cortex, albeit with a lower intensity. The functional significance of such paucity of LPFC afferents is unknown. J. Comp. Neurol. 523:2570–2598, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Angiogenesis induction and regression in human surgical wounds

Angiogenesis in human wound healing is not well characterized, with only sparse information available regarding the maturation and fate of vessels formed as a consequence of human tissue repair. Therefore, this study aimed to establish the temporal profile of angiogenesis in human dermal wounds. Punch biopsies were obtained under local anesthesia from 45 patients following breast surgery. Scars were predominantly between 2 and 52 weeks after surgery but in five patients were > 52 weeks. Control samples were taken from breast skin peroperatively (n=24). Quantification of vascular density was performed using the Chalkley grid, following antibody staining for platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule. Vascular patterns, wound cellularity and morphology were also determined. Cumulative microvessel density was increased in all samples when compared to controls (p < 0.05). This was greatest 2 to 24 weeks following surgery 17 (15–21) median (range), decreased thereafter, but remained elevated compared to controls even in the mature scars > 52 weeks. Control tissue showed an ordered morphological arrangement of dermal structures, collagen, and elastic fibers. However, wounding resulted in marked structural distortion for up to 15 weeks. In conclusion, this study shows for the first time the prolonged persistence of both microvessels and cellularity (fibroblastic cells), in addition to structural distortion in human dermal wounds, which is in contrast to previous in vitro and in vivo studies. (WOUND REP REG 2002;10:245–251)
Barriers to implementing the group B streptococcal prevention guidelines.

BACKGROUND Group B streptococcal disease is the leading cause of neonatal sepsis in the United States. We assessed predictors of compliance with the consensus guidelines for perinatal group B streptococcus disease prevention at two Group Health Cooperative hospitals. METHODS A descriptive and cohort analysis was conducted of failure to comply with the screening-based approach to group B streptococcus prevention among singleton birth pregnancies in two Group Health Cooperative hospitals, September 1, 1996 to December 31, 1997. We studied determinants of failure to screen pregnant women for group B streptococcus at 35 to 37 weeks' gestation and failure to deliver intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis to Group B streptococcus-positive women. RESULTS Nearly 28 percent of 1969 women delivering at two Group Health Cooperative hospitals were not screened appropriately for group B streptococcus. Women who were not screened properly were more likely to be in their teens. A short length of hospital stay before delivery was the strongest predictor of the lack of administration of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis to infected multiparas at delivery. Group B streptococcus-positive women without pregnancy complications were less likely to receive intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis than infected women with complications. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study suggest that to improve group B streptococcus disease prevention, screening efforts should focus on teenage women, and intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis delivery efforts should be aimed at low-risk women with precipitous labor.
Coupled Release of Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factors 5B and 1A from 80S Ribosomes following Subunit Joining

ABSTRACT The translation initiation GTPase eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5B (eIF5B) binds to the factor eIF1A and catalyzes ribosomal subunit joining in vitro. We show that rapid depletion of eIF5B in Saccharomyces cerevisiae results in the accumulation of eIF1A and mRNA on 40S subunits in vivo, consistent with a defect in subunit joining. Substituting Ala for the last five residues in eIF1A (eIF1A-5A) impairs eIF5B binding to eIF1A in cell extracts and to 40S complexes in vivo. Consistently, overexpression of eIF5B suppresses the growth and translation initiation defects in yeast expressing eIF1A-5A, indicating that eIF1A helps recruit eIF5B to the 40S subunit prior to subunit joining. The GTPase-deficient eIF5B-T439A mutant accumulated on 80S complexes in vivo and was retained along with eIF1A on 80S complexes formed in vitro. Likewise, eIF5B and eIF1A remained associated with 80S complexes formed in the presence of nonhydrolyzable GDPNP, whereas these factors were released from the 80S complexes in assays containing GTP. We propose that eIF1A facilitates the binding of eIF5B to the 40S subunit to promote subunit joining. Following 80S complex formation, GTP hydrolysis by eIF5B enables the release of both eIF5B and eIF1A, and the ribosome enters the elongation phase of protein synthesis.
Benzyl N-((S)-2-hydroxy-1-{N′-[(E)-2-methoxybenzylidene]hydrazinecarbonyl}ethyl)carbamate from synchrotron data

A U-shaped conformation is found in the title compound, C19H21N3O5, with the benzene rings lying to the same side of the molecule; the dihedral angle between them is 10.83 (16)°. The dihedral angle formed between the hydrazinecarbonyl and carbamate residues is 68.42 (13)°. The carbonyl groups lie approximately at right angles to each other [O—C⋯C—O pseudo torsion angle of 107.7 (3)°], and the conformation about the C12=N3 bond [1.279 (4) Å] is E. An intramolecular Ncb—H⋯Ohy (cb = carbmate and hy = hydroxy) hydrogen bond occurs, generating an S(6) loop. In the crystal, intermolecular Oh—H⋯Oca (ca = carbonyl) and Nhz—H⋯Oca (hz = hydrazine) hydrogen bonds lead to the formation of a supramolecular chain, two molecules thick, which propagates along the a axis; these are connected by C—H⋯Oca contacts.
Older Runners Retain Youthful Running Economy despite Biomechanical Differences.

PURPOSE Sixty-five years of age typically marks the onset of impaired walking economy. However, running economy has not been assessed beyond the age of 65 yr. Furthermore, a critical determinant of running economy is the spring-like storage and return of elastic energy from the leg during stance, which is related to leg stiffness. Therefore, we investigated whether runners older than 65 yr retain youthful running economy and/or leg stiffness across running speeds. METHODS Fifteen young and 15 older runners ran on a force-instrumented treadmill at 2.01, 2.46, and 2.91 m·s(-1). We measured their rates of metabolic energy consumption (i.e., metabolic power), ground reaction forces, and stride kinematics. RESULTS There were only small differences in running economy between young and older runners across the range of speeds. Statistically, the older runners consumed 2% to 9% less metabolic energy than the young runners across speeds (P = 0.012). Also, the leg stiffness of older runners was 10% to 20% lower than that of young runners across the range of speeds (P = 0.002), and in contrast to the younger runners, the leg stiffness of older runners decreased with speed (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Runners beyond 65 yr of age maintain youthful running economy despite biomechanical differences. It may be that vigorous exercise, such as running, prevents the age related deterioration of muscular efficiency and, therefore, may make everyday activities easier.