Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Angiopoietin-1 Is an Antipermeability and Anti-Inflammatory Agent In Vitro and Targets Cell Junctions

Inflammation is a basic pathological mechanism that underlies many diseases. An important component of the inflammatory response is the passage of plasma components and leukocytes from the blood vessel into the tissues. The endothelial monolayer lining blood vessels reacts to stimuli such as thrombin or vascular endothelial growth factor by changes in cell-cell junctions, an increase in permeability, and the leakage of plasma components into tissues. Other stimuli, such as tumor necrosis factor-&agr; (TNF-&agr;), are responsible for stimulating the transmigration of leukocytes. Here we show that angiopoietin-1, a cytokine essential in fetal angiogenesis, not only supports the localization of proteins such as platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) into junctions between endothelial cells and decreases the phosphorylation of PECAM-1 and vascular endothelial cadherin, but it also strengthens these junctions, as evidenced by a decrease in basal permeability and inhibition of permeability responses to thrombin and vascular endothelial growth factor. Furthermore, angiopoietin-1 inhibits TNF-&agr;–stimulated leukocyte transmigration. Angiopoietin-1 may thus have a major role in maintaining the integrity of endothelial monolayers.
Factors and Outcomes Associated with Recanalization Timing after Thrombolysis

Background: A substantial number of acute stroke patients do not respond immediately to aggressive intra-arterial (IA) recanalization therapy. The factors and outcomes associated with timing of recanalization after IA thrombolysis, however, have not yet been determined. Methods: Factors and outcomes in 75 acute ischemic stroke patients treated with IA urokinase (± intravenous tissue plasminogen activator) within 6 h of onset were retrospectively assessed. Immediate recanalization (IR) was assessed by the angiogram at the end of the IA procedure, and delayed (DR) and no (NR) recanalization were assessed by 5-day MR angiography. Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores were determined at 7 days and 3 months. Results: Of the 75 patients, 32 (42.7%) achieved IR, 21 (28%) achieved DR, and 22 (29.3%) showed NR. Good functional outcomes (mRS score ≤2) at 7 days and 3 months were observed in 59.4 and 62.5%, respectively, of the IR group, 14.3 and 38.1% of the DR group, and 22.7 and 27.3% of the NR group (p = 0.001 for 7 days, p = 0.028 for 3 months). Multivariate analysis showed that cardioembolism [odds ratio (OR), 3.74; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.15–12.19] and middle cerebral artery occlusion (OR, 3.23; 95% CI, 1.04–10.04) were independent predictors of IR or DR compared with NR. Age (OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.77–0.95) and initial NIHSS score (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.04–1.37) were independent predictors of DR compared with IR. Conclusions: Patients receiving IA thrombolysis show different clinical and radiological characteristics according to the timing of recanalization. Earlier identification of DR patients and their more efficient recanalization may improve overall clinical outcomes after IA thrombolysis.
Wheel slip reset controller in automotive brake systems

The use of new technologies in brake systems, allows to generate independent brake forces at each wheel by slip controllers. The aim of these controllers is to provide certain degree of slip on each wheel independently, maximizing the friction between the tire and road, avoiding simultaneously its lock. This paper investigates the application of reset control to the slip control in automotive brake systems. A reset controller is a standard linear controller that, at some instants, resets to zero its internal states (or part of the states). The reset instants are triggered by the event of zero crossing of the tracking error. It has been proven in many other applications (process control, teleoperation, motor drives etc.) that reset control is able to overcome linear limitations, that is, achieves time responses with good speed and damping properties, combined in a way that no other linear controller is able to produce. We investigate the addition of a reset integrator (Clegg integrator CI) to a PI used as slip controller. We have found by simulations that the PI+CI has superior performance and gives a better solution to the trade-off between speed and damping. The controller design is based on a simplified vehicle model, taking into account the interaction tireroad, actuator saturation and time-delay in the communications between local and central units. We check through simulations that the application of reset controllers instead of the conventional ones will allow an improvement on the robustness and performance of the system.
Evolutionary Characterization of the Pandemic H1N1/2009 Influenza Virus in Humans Based on Non-Structural Genes

The 2009 influenza pandemic had a tremendous social and economic impact. To study the genetic diversity and evolution of the 2009 H1N1 virus, a mutation network for the non-structural (NS) gene of the virus was constructed. Strains of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza A virus could be divided into two categories based on the V123I mutation in the NS1 gene: G1 (characterized as 123 Val) and G2 (characterized as 123 Ile). Sequence homology analysis indicated that one type of NS sequence, primarily isolated from Mexico, was likely the original type in this pandemic. The two genotypes of the virus presented distinctive clustering features in their geographic distributions. These results provide additional insight into the genetics and evolution of human pandemic influenza H1N1.
The Genetic Control of Blood Pressure and Body Composition in Rats with Stress-Sensitive Hypertension

The genetic basis of the stress-sensitive arterial hypertension was investigated using the quantitative trait loci (QTL) approach. Two groups of F2 (inherited stress-induced arterial hypertension [ISIAH] × Wistar albino Glaxo [WAG]) hybrid males of different age (3–4 months old and 6 months old) were tested for blood pressure at rest and stressed conditions and for body composition traits. Several novel loci for the traits were determined. Some loci for blood pressure and organ weight were mapped to the same genetic region in rats of different age. The dynamic change of QTL effects in two rat groups of different age might reflect the process of stress-sensitive hypertension development.
Changes in quality of life in patients with breast cancer.

AIM To describe and compare changes in quality of life in two groups of patients with breast cancer and to identify factors predicting negative changes in quality of life within six months. BACKGROUND Women with breast cancer suffer from various treatment side-effects, from psychological and social symptoms as well as decreased quality of life, creating a need for support that may persist throughout the breast cancer experience. DESIGN This six-month longitudinal study involved a sample of 164 women, who were quasi-randomized between intervention (n = 85) and control groups (n = 79) after breast cancer surgery. Intervention group received support and education via telephone one week after the breast cancer surgery and face-to-face support six months after the surgery. Quality of life was estimated one week and six months after breast cancer surgery, using the Quality of Life Index-Cancer Version (QLI-CV) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Breast Cancer-Specific Quality of Life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-BR23). METHOD Data were analysed statistically using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests. Factors predicting negative changes in quality of life within six months were investigated using logistic regression models with the enter method. RESULTS Significant group difference in the magnitude of changes within six months was found in future outlook. Logistic regression analyses revealed six significant predictors of negative changes in quality of life within six months: education, employment status, having underaged children, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal therapy. CONCLUSION The results of this study underline the importance of identifying quality of life changes in patients with breast cancer and paying attention to those women with difficulties in adapting to being a cancer survivor. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The findings of this study provide evidence which may help to create appropriate supportive interventions for both acute and long-term settings.
THE MINIMAL BELIEF PRINCIPLE : A NEW METHOD FOR PARAMETRIC INFERENCE

Contemporary very-high-dimensional (VHD) statistical problems call attention more than ever to solving the fundamental problem of scientific inference, that is, to make situation-specific inference with credible evidential support. After scrutinizing the great innovative ideas behind Fisher’s fiducial argument and the Dempster-Shafer (DS) theory for scientific inference, we recognize that given a postulated sampling model, reasoning for statistical inference (about a particular realization of random variables) should be different from reasoning for data generation. The classical belief in distributional invariance of pivotal variables does not distinguish these two types of reasoning processes and is thus often too strong to be believable. Intuitively, beliefs with higher credibility can be obtained from the classical belief by making it weaker. This general idea is termed as the “minimal belief” (MB) principle. Technically, the proposed method is built on the DS theory, and provides ways to capture realistically more “don’t know” and thereby to build better DS models for solving VHD problems. It is shown that for general single-parameter and certain multiparameter distributions, the MB posteriors are obtained in closed form. The method is illustrated with a variety of examples, including the simple test of significance, the Behrens-Fisher problem, the multinomial model, and the many-normal-means problem. The many-normal-means example offers an MB perspective of often-crude Bayesian and related shrinkage techniques, which have been considered necessary in the last half a century.
Task Segregation as a Mechanism for Within-job Inequality

In this article, we examine a case of task segregation—when a group of workers is disproportionately allocated, relative to other groups, to spend more time on specific tasks in a given job—and argue that such segregation is a potential mechanism for generating within-job inequality in the quality of a job. When performing those tasks is undesirable, this allocation has unfavorable implications for that group’s experienced job quality. We articulate the processes by which task segregation can lead to workplace inequality in job quality through an inductive, interview-based case study of airport security-screening workers in a unit of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at a large urban airport. Female workers were disproportionately allocated to the pat-down task, the manual screening of travelers for prohibited items. Our findings suggest that this segregation led to overall poorer job quality outcomes for women. Task segregation overexposed female workers to processes of physical exertion, emotional labor, and relational strain, giving rise to work intensity, emotional exhaustion, and lack of coping resources. Task segregation also seemed to disproportionately expose female workers to managerial sanctions for taking recuperative time off and a narrowing of their skill set that may have contributed to worse promotion chances, pay, satisfaction, and turnover rates for women. We conclude with a theoretical model of how task segregation can act as a mechanism for generating within-job inequality in job quality.
Are Parents of Young Children Practicing Healthy Nutrition and Physical Activity Behaviors?

BACKGROUND: Although parenthood is a common life event in early adulthood, little is known about whether parenthood is associated with weight and weight-related health behaviors, including dietary intake and physical activity. OBJECTIVE: In this article we examine whether parents of young children (aged ≤5 years) report different dietary intake, physical activity, and BMIs compared with young adults without children. METHODS: Data for this analysis were drawn from the second and third waves of Project EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults), a longitudinal population-based cohort study. Young adults (838 women, 682 men) from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds were included. Gender-stratified linear regression models were used to examine associations between parental status and dietary intake, hours of physical activity, and BMI. Results were adjusted for each health behavior outcome level 5 years earlier (time 2). RESULTS: Results indicate that although many dietary behaviors were the same between parents and nonparents, mothers reported greater consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, total energy, and percent saturated fat compared with women without children. Both mothers and fathers had lower amounts of physical activity compared with nonparents. Mothers had higher mean BMIs than women without children. No difference was observed in BMIs between fathers and men without children. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that pediatricians and health care providers may want to consider discussing dietary intake and physical activity with new parents to identify ways to engage in healthful behaviors given the daily demands of parenthood, both to improve parents' own health and to help them model healthful behavior for their children.
Improving Batch Scheduling on Blue Gene/Q by Relaxing Network Allocation Constraints

As systems scale toward exascale, many resources will become increasingly constrained. While some of these resources have historically been explicitly allocated, many-such as network bandwidth, I/O bandwidth, or power-have not. As systems continue to evolve, we expect many such resources to become explicitly managed. This change will pose critical challenges to resource management and job scheduling. In this paper, we explore the potential of relaxing network allocation constraints for Blue Gene systems. Our objective is to improve the batch scheduling performance, where the partition-based interconnect architecture provides a unique opportunity to explicitly allocate network resources to jobs. This paper makes three major contributions. The first is substantial benchmarking of parallel applications, focusing on assessing application sensitivity to communication bandwidth at large scale. The second is three new scheduling schemes using relaxed network allocation and targeted at balancing individual job performance with overall system performance. The third is a comparative study of our scheduling schemes versus the existing scheduler on Mira, a 48-rack Blue Gene/Q system at Argonne National Laboratory. Specifically, we use job traces collected from this production system.
Using the Internet registries to construct а structural model for locality estimation in the overlay networks

The structure of the database files of the regional Internet registries is analyzed. With the help of proposed method for the locality class estimation is calculated the topological affinity for arbitrary address pairs without using any service traffic. The proposed locality class metric can be used as a distance substitute instead of the traditional trace and ping metrics to construct optimal overlay structure of the distributed and peer-to-peer networks.
NERVE GROWTH FACTOR ( NGF ) AND NGF RECEPTORS IN RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS ( RSV )-INFECTED LUNGS

Nerve growth factor (NGF) controls sensorineural development and responsiveness and modulates immuno-inflammatory reactions. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) potentiates the proinflammatory effects of sensory nerves in rat airways by upregulating the substance P (NK1) receptor. We investigated whether the expression of NGF and its trkA and p75 receptors in the lungs is age-dependent, whether it is upregulated during RSV infection, and whether it affects neurogenic inflammation. Pathogen-free rats were killed at 2 (weanling) to 12 (adult) wk of age; in addition, subgroups of rats were inoculated with RSV or virus-free medium. In pathogen-free rats, expression of NGF and its receptors in the lungs declined with age, but RSV doubled expression of NGF, trkA, and p75 in weanling and adult rats. Exogenous NGF upregulated NK1 receptor expression in the lungs. Anti-NGF antibody inhibited NK1 receptor upregulation and neurogenic inflammation in RSV-infected lungs. These data indicate that expression of NGF and its receptors in the lungs declines physiologically with age, but is upregulated by RSV and is a major determinant of neurogenic inflammation.
It Could Just as Well Have Been in Greek: Experiences from Introducing Code as a Design Material to Exhibition Design Students

This paper discusses the experience and learning from introducing programming in a museum exhibition design course. Thirty-seven information design students from Sweden, with no previous experience in programming, participated in the course in 2014 and 2015. The students' tasks were to create interactive exhibition stations at a county museum in five weeks. We introduced Arduino and Processing programming in the course to enlarge the information design students' repertoire and to find ways to develop the interactive aspects of the exhibition medium. We aim to identify and discuss challenges and strengths when introducing code as design material in design education. The education of future exhibition designers is an important matter relevant the TEI community.
Revitalizing Tier 2 Intervention with Graphic Novels

The authors explore the practice of incorporating graphic novels in a Tier 2 Response To Intervention (RTI) program for five elementary-aged struggling readers in an urban school. Using a formative experiment framework, the study found that graphic novels provided a vehicle for the application of word recognition and fluency strategies learned in the RTI intervention program. In addition, graphic novels were used to develop students’ vocabulary and comprehension skills and resulted in increased progress for students’ fluency as measured by DIBELS. Since graphic novels are not grade level specific, they are appropriate for readers across grades. As a genre, graphic novels can also provide a scaffold for students in the development of literacy skills.
Neural networks in non-Euclidean metric spaces

Multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) use scalar products to compute weighted activation of neurons providing decision borders using combinations of soft hyperplanes. The weighted fan-in activation function corresponds to Euclidean distance functions used to compute similarities between input and weight vector. Replacing the fan-in activation function by non-Euclidean distance function offers a natural generalization of the standard MLP model, providing more flexible decision borders. An alternative way leading to similar results is based on renormalization of the input vectors using non-Euclidean norms in extended feature spaces. Both approaches influence the shapes of decision borders dramatically, allowing to reduce the complexity of MLP networks.
Understanding Morphological Changes from Parental to Filial Generations: A Case Study of the Santhal of West Bengal

The present paper aims to investigate relations between parental and filial generations in morphological characteristics of the Santhal For this purpose, a cross-sectional sample was collected from 18 villages of Ranibandh block of Bankura district of West Bengal, using multi-stage cluster random sampling. Both Santhal Sons and Daughters have great affinity with their Fathers and Mothers. Significantly higher mean values of Stature and other linear body measurements in Sons and Daughters, as compared to their Fathers and Mothers respectively might indicate a positive secular trend. Sex differences are evident in most of the body measurements. The Santhal Fathers, Mothers, Sons and Daughters resemble in being Dolichocephalic, Mesorrhinic and Hyper euryprosopic. Almost all of them have longer arm and leg. In terms of body physique Fathers, Mothers, Sons and Daughters are predominantly Mesomorphic.
Design and implementation of mobile robot ultrasonic localization system

This paper proposes adopting multiple ultrasonic sensors to localize indoor mobile robot. In order to achieve uttermost coverage and improve the accuracy, we combine three-sensor coverage, two-sensor coverage and single sensor coverage. When the data from sensors cannot determine the location of the robot, the relative coordinates is adopted for localization. This paper firstly gives principles and overall design idea of multiple ultrasonic sensors localization, then details software and hardware designing methods of the system. Finally, it conducts a test in self developed ultrasonic sensor transmit-receive system, and test data shows that this system can complete coverage of the whole room, reducing blind zone of coverage. The accumulated deviation was less than 13cm.
Using General Strain Theory to Understand Drug and Alcohol Use in Canada: An Examination of how Strain, its Conditioning Variables and Gender are Interrelated

This thesis uses the Canadian Drugs and Alcohol survey conducted in 1994 by Statistics Canada to explore how Agnew’s (1992, 2001, 2006) general strain theory can help to understand drug and alcohol use in Canada. Agnew argues that experiences of strain, which include an array of negative life events, produce a negative emotional response which creates pressure for corrective action. In postulating why certain individuals are more likely to react to strain with deviant behaviour, Agnew (1992, 2001, 2006) emphasizes the importance of variables that condition the effects of strain on deviance. It is argued that people are less likely to respond to strain with deviant coping strategies depending upon their levels of social control, constraint, social support and deviant peers and values (Agnew 1992; Broidy and Agnew 1997; Agnew 2006). Results are very supportive of GST as measures of objective and subjective strains as well measures of the conditioning variables are consistently associated with drug and alcohol use in hypothesized directions; strain measures also tended to interact with conditioning variables in associations with substance use. Hypotheses surrounding gender differences were also supported as females generally scored higher than males on measures argued to protect against the effects of strain and lower on measures argued to encourage deviant coping. Additionally, objective financial strain tended to have a stronger effect on male substance use while subjective strains tended to be more important in the prediction of female substance use. Avenues for further research are discussed including ways to ameliorate the adaptation of GST to gendered substance use patterns.