Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Why be so Critical? Nineteenth Century Mathematics and the Origins of Analysis

One striking feature of nineteenth century mathematics, as contrasted with that of previous eras, is the higher degree of rigor and precision demanded by its practitioners. This tendency was especially noticeable in analysis, a field of mathematics that essentially began with the “invention” of calculus by Leibniz and Newton in the mid-17th century. Unlike the calculus studied in an undergraduate course today, however, the calculus of Newton, Leibniz and their immediate followers focused entirely on the study of geometric curves, using algebra (or ‘analysis’) as an aid in their work. This situation changed dramatically in the 18th century when the focus of calculus shifted instead to the study of functions, a change due largely to the influence of the Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler (1707– 1783). In the hands of Euler and his contemporaries, functions became a powerful problem solving and modelling tool in physics, astronomy, and related mathematical fields such as differential equations and the calculus of variations. Why then, after nearly 200 years of success in the development and application of calculus techniques, did 19th-century mathematicians feel the need to bring a more critical perspective to the study of calculus? This project explores this question through selected excerpts from the writings of the 19th century mathematicians who led the initiative to raise the level of rigor in the field of analysis.
A high-precision fuzzy impedance control algorithm and application in robotic arm

In machining die and mold with free-form surfaces, We not only require the movement of the technical apparatus can guarantee the polishing tool finish machining the work piece according to the scheduled lines or the technological requirement, but also require the force between the polishing tool and the work piece is compliant to the change of curvature radius of die and mold with free-form surfaces. To realize the compliance control of robotic arm, we presented a novel impedance control method for high-precision fuzzy controller with self adjustment quantitative factor on a sampling polishing compression force in this paper. This method can not only realize the real-time control by adjusting impedance parameters, but also enhance the stability and dynamic characteristics of the system. We have demonstrated this strategy is feasible and effective based on the simulation researches of robotic arm.
An investigation of three-dimensional scanning of human body surfaces and its use in the design and manufacture of prostheses

Abstract The capture of highly accurate data describing the complex surfaces of the human body may prove extremely useful in many medical situations. The data provide a method of measuring and recording changes to the surface of a patient's soft tissue. The data may be applied to computer-controlled manufacturing techniques, such as rapid prototyping (RP). This enables accurate physical replicas of the patient topography to be produced. Such models may be used as an aid in the design and manufacture of prostheses. This paper describes an investigation aimed at identifying problems that may be encountered when scanning patients and describes the application of the resulting data in the design and manufacture of facial prostheses. The results of the experiment are presented together with a discussion of the accuracy and potential advantages afforded by this approach.
A pharmacological study of Arabidopsis cell fusion between the persistent synergid and endosperm

ABSTRACT Cell fusion is a pivotal process in fertilization and multinucleate cell formation. A plant cell is ubiquitously surrounded by a hard cell wall, and very few cell fusions have been observed except for gamete fusions. We recently reported that the fertilized central cell (the endosperm) absorbs the persistent synergid, a highly differentiated cell necessary for pollen tube attraction. The synergid–endosperm fusion (SE fusion) appears to eliminate the persistent synergid from fertilized ovule in Arabidopsis thaliana. Here, we analyzed the effects of various inhibitors on SE fusion in an in vitro culture system. Different from other cell fusions, neither disruption of actin polymerization nor protein secretion impaired SE fusion. However, transcriptional and translational inhibitors decreased the SE fusion success rate and also inhibited endosperm division. Failures of SE fusion and endosperm nuclear proliferation were also induced by roscovitine, an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK). These data indicate unique aspects of SE fusion such as independence of filamentous actin support and the importance of CDK-mediated mitotic control. Summary: Inhibitor assays reveal unique aspects of plant persistent synergid and endosperm cell fusion such as its independence from filamentous actin support and the importance of CDK-mediated mitotic control.
Diet and brain cancer in adults: A case‐control study in Northeast China

A hospital‐based case‐control study was conducted in the Heilongjiang Province of northeast China between May 1993 and May 1995. A total of 129 histologically confirmed brain cancer cases (73 gliomas and 56 meningiomas) and 258 matched controls were interviewed in 6 major hospitals to examine the influence of dietary factors in developing brain cancer. Information was obtained about frequency of consumption of 57 food items. Odds ratios (ORs) were obtained from conditional logistic regression, including allowance for socio‐demographic factors, alcohol, tobacco and total energy intake. Consumption of fresh vegetables (OR = 0.29 for the highest quartile compared with the lowest one), and specifically of Chinese cabbage and onion, fruit (OR = 0.15), fresh fish (OR = 0.38) and poultry (OR = 0.16) was inversely related to the risk of developing brain cancer. A protective effect was also seen for vitamin E intake, calcium and, although non‐significantly, beta‐carotene and vitamin C. Risk of brain cancer increased with consumption of salted vegetables (OR = 2.54) and salted fish. Int. J. Cancer81:20–23, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Improvement in Lipid and Protein Trafficking in Niemann‐Pick C1 Cells by Correction of a Secondary Enzyme Defect

Different primary lysosomal trafficking defects lead to common alterations in lipid trafficking, suggesting cooperative interactions among lysosomal lipids. However, cellular analysis of the functional consequences of this phenomenon is lacking. As a test case, we studied cells with defective Niemann‐Pick C1 (NPC1) protein, a cholesterol trafficking protein whose defect gives rise to lysosomal accumulation of cholesterol and other lipids, leading to NPC disease. NPC1 cells also develop a secondary defect in acid sphingomyelinase (SMase) activity despite a normal acid SMase gene (SMPD1). When acid SMase activity was restored to normal levels in NPC1‐deficient CHO cells through SMPD1 transfection, there was a dramatic reduction in lysosomal cholesterol. Two other defects, excess lysosomal bis‐(monoacylglycerol) phosphate (BMP) and defective transferrin receptor (TfR) recycling, were also markedly improved. To test its relevance in human cells, the acid SMase activity defect in fibroblasts from NPC1 patients was corrected by SMPD1 transfection or acid SMase enzyme replacement. Both treatments resulted in a dramatic reduction in lysosomal cholesterol. These data show that correcting one aspect of a complex lysosomal lipid storage disease can reduce the cellular consequences even if the primary genetic defect is not corrected.
Physiological Society Symposium — Vagal Control: From Axolotl to Man

Introduction Vagal control of tidal volume and breathing pattern Vagal control of heart rate and pulmonary blood flow The role of vagal pulmonary stretch receptor feedback in respiratory sinus arrythmias Anatomy of the heart and the basis for vagal control of cardiac shunts Effects of R-L shunts on arterial oxygen levels Why do reptiles have cardiac shunts? Responses to elevated metabolic rate and its autonomic control References Experimental Physiology (2001) 86.6, 777-784. PAGE
The Strengthening Mechanism of Resin Cements on Porcelain Surfaces

All-ceramic crowns bonded with resin cements have increased performance, and two theories have been proposed. Marquis (1992) suggested that the resin modified defects by crack healing, while Nathanson (1993) proposed that resin polymerization shrinkage strengthened porcelains. Both theories imply a sensitivity of strengthening to defect size. The hypothesis tested was that resin strength enhancement is independent of defect severity. We ground 200 porcelain discs to remove imperfections and indented 120 to create a large defect. Discs were tested dry, wet, and after being coated with 75–100 μm of resin cement in bi-axial flexure. Disc strength with and without indentations was increased significantly when coated with 2 resin cements. Both cements significantly increased the strength independent of defect population, and the hypothesis was accepted. It is proposed that the combination of surface pre-treatment and cement moved the fracture origin from the porcelain/cement interface to the cement surface, consistent with resin strength enhancement independent of defect severity.
Stroke Point Warping-Based Reference Selection and Verification of Online Signature

Signatures alignment and reference selection are an important task for signature verification. Due to inherent variability of the acquired signature, a novel technique called stroke point warping (SPW) is proposed. After incorporating the SPW technique, the normalized correlation coefficient of two signatures from the same signer is improved. A novel reference selection strategy is also proposed by combining the SPW method and the normalization of signature support. Two functional features based on shape signature and instantaneous phase are introduced. The corresponding global features, i.e., entropy of the shape signature and the first two statistical moments of instantaneous phase are also derived. Further, a novel fusion technique is proposed in this paper, where the global features (derived from dynamic signature profile) are combined with functional reference signature-based scores. In the signature verification framework, the number of sample signatures available for a person is small compared with the available features. The minimum redundancy maximum relevance method is applied to rank the features. After feature selection, the support vector machine-based verification is evaluated. The proposed algorithm, evaluated on the task 2 SVC2004 database, achieves the equal error rate of 1%, which is better than the state-of-the-art algorithms.
From Finance to Marketing: The Impact of Financial Leverage on Customer Satisfaction

The authors examine how a firm's financial leverage affects marketing outcomes and consequent firm value. They find that leverage has a dual effect: it reduces customer satisfaction and moderates the relationship between satisfaction and firm value. The burden of making regular interest payments to debt holders pressures managers to generate adequate cash flows. The authors theorize that this may lead marketers to adopt short-term actions such as cutting advertising and research-and-development spending, which can hurt customer satisfaction by lowering perceived quality and perceived value. Furthermore, higher leverage reduces financial flexibility by constraining marketers from exploiting growth opportunities resulting from higher customer satisfaction. The authors empirically show that leverage leads to lower customer satisfaction, with advertising intensity mediating this effect. The negative impact of leverage on satisfaction is more pronounced for service firms and firms in competitive markets. Finally, leverage negatively moderates the customer satisfaction–firm value link. Increases in customer satisfaction are value enhancing at modest levels of leverage, but at very high levels of leverage, increases in satisfaction are value reducing.
Analysis of the kinetic and equilibrium binding of Ku protein to DNA.

The loading of Ku onto a DNA end in a double-strand DNA break is thought to be one of the first steps in the non-homologous DNA end joining (NHEJ) pathway, giving it an essential role in the maintenance of genomic integrity. The binding of Ku to DNA is complicated since DNA can accommodate multiple Ku subunits, which can translocate on the DNA strand. Furthermore, Ku may exhibit cooperativity in the loading process. Therefore, simple one- to-one kinetic models are unable to adequately simulate the process. However, through the use of computer simulation and curve-fitting, we are able to provide a comprehensive mechanistic model and rate constants that closely approximate experimental data for DNA molecules that bind one, two, and three Ku molecules under both kinetic and equilibrium conditions. The model obtains a best fit with Ku having a roughly seven-fold preference to bind to DNA ends rather than internal positions and is consistent with Ku having a strong preference of which face of the protein loads onto the DNA end.
Recent advances in the medical management of breast cancer: highlights from the 29th San Antonio Breast Cancer Conference

The 29th edition of the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium was attended by a total of > 8000 basic scientists, translational researchers, clinical investigators and physicians gathering from ~ 80 countries worldwide. This is the largest meeting focusing on breast cancer, encompassing a wide array of topics from prevention, aetiology and diagnosis to molecular biology and treatment. From the main presentations at the meeting, it seems clear that combined efforts at prevention and treatment of this disease have translated into small, but significant, achievements. Much of the research in the area is focused on improving the therapeutic ratio of available treatments by better selection of patients.
ROBÓTICA, MODELADO 3D Y REALIDAD AUMENTADA EN EDUCACIÓN PARA EL DESARROLLO DE LAS INTELIGENCIAS MÚLTIPLES

La realidad aumentada y la robotica constituyen unas tecnologias emergentes valiosas para dar respuesta eficaz desde una perspectiva innovadora a los nuevos estilos de aprendizaje del alumnado de la nueva era digital en las etapas de educacion primaria y secundaria. Acorde con las ultimas ediciones del informe NMC Horizon Report (2015, 2016), la implementacion en el aula de las tecnologias basadas en robotica, modelado 3D, impresion 3D y realidad aumentada supondra una oportunidad para reconfigurar la practica educativa desde un punto de vista didactico, metodologico, organizativo, curricular, formativo, espacial y temporal.Asi pues, en el presente trabajo se realizara una revision conceptual y un analisis de modelos de robots y aplicaciones basadas en la tecnologia de realidad aumentada y el modelado 3D. Con estas tecnologias se pretende la creacion de escenarios en el aula que impliquen tareas de diseno y programacion de materiales para el aprendizaje de diversos contenidos didacticos en areas y etapas educativas diferentes desde un enfoque colaborativo, inclusivo y conectivista que susciten en el discente el desarrollo de las inteligencias multiples y las competencias digitales acorde con las demandas de la sociedad del conocimiento y de la informacion.
Relationship of medical home quality with school engagement and after-school participation among children with asthma

Objectives: To examine the relationship between medical home quality and measures of daily life experiences among children with asthma. Methods: A nationally representative sample of children from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), aged 6–17 years (n = 6357), who have asthma was used to assess the relationship of a quality medical home and its features with their daily life experiences. Five medical home features – access, continuity, comprehensiveness, family-centered care, and coordination of care – were examined individually and in total in relation to measures of school engagement (missed school days, parents contacted about problems with the child, repeating a grade since kindergarten) and after-school activity participation (physical activity, sports participation, and community service or volunteer work). Results: Before and after adjustment for personal characteristics, health insurance status, family environment, neighborhood variables, and asthma severity, total medical home score was associated with more days exercised [beta (B) = 0.10, p < . 05] and a greater likelihood of having performed community service or volunteer work [odds ratio (OR) = 1.16, CI: 1.02–1.31]. Additionally, the medical home features of access, comprehensiveness, and family-centered care remained favorably associated with three of the six measures of school engagement and after-school activity participation, even after adjustment. Conclusion: Medical home quality – particularly the features of access, comprehensiveness, and family-centered care – is positively associated with the daily life experiences of children with asthma. Working to enhance these aspects of primary care might be one place to start in improving the management of children's chronic conditions and their quality of life.
Applications of Economic and Pricing Models for Wireless Network Security: A Survey

This paper provides a comprehensive literature review on applications of economic and pricing theory to security issues in wireless networks. Unlike wireline networks, the broadcast nature and the highly dynamic change of network environments pose a number of nontrivial challenges to security design in wireless networks. While the security issues have not been completely solved by traditional or system-based solutions, economic and pricing models recently were employed as one efficient solution to discourage attackers and prevent attacks to be performed. In this paper, we review economic and pricing approaches proposed to address major security issues in wireless networks including eavesdropping attack, denial-of-service (DoS) attack such as jamming and distributed DoS, and illegitimate behaviors of malicious users. Additionally, we discuss integrating economic and pricing models with cryptography methods to reduce information privacy leakage as well as to guarantee the confidentiality and integrity of information in wireless networks. Finally, we highlight important challenges, open issues and future research directions of applying economic and pricing models to wireless security issues.
Identification of nonlinear errors-in-variables systems in state-space form: A linear parameter varying approach

In this work, we consider identification of nonlinear errors-in-variables (EIV) system in the state-space form. As the direct identification of nonlinear structured model is difficult, the proposed strategy identifies nonlinear process as a linear parameter varying (LPV) EIV system. The method involves identification of various local linear models along an operating trajectory, and aggregating them using weights computed by means of local model identities. The entire problem is formulated as a maximum likelihood (ML) estimation problem, and is solved using the EM algorithm to obtain the LPV EIV model parameters. A pilot-scale experimental study is employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
A Survey of Ranging and Imaging Techniques for Precision Agriculture Phenotyping

Agricultural production must double by 2050 in order to meet the expected food demand due to population growth. Precision agriculture is the key to improve productivity and efficiency in the use of resources, thus helping to achieve this goal under the diverse challenges currently faced by agriculture mainly due to climate changes, land degradation, availability of farmable land, labor force shortage, and increasing costs. To face these challenges, precision agriculture uses and develops sensing methodologies that provide information about crop growth and health indicators. This paper presents a survey of the state-of-the-art in optical visible and near-visible spectrum sensors and techniques to estimate phenotyping variables from intensity, spectral, and volumetric measurements. The sensing methodologies are classified into three areas according to the purpose of the measurements: 1) plant structural characterization; 2) plant/fruit detection; and 3) plant physiology assessment. This paper also discusses the progress in data processing methods and the current open challenges in agricultural tasks in which the development of innovative sensing methodologies is required, such as pruning, fertilizer and pesticide management, crop monitoring, and automated harvesting.
The importance of the preoperative clinical parameters and the intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring in brachial plexus surgery.

OBJECTIVE The study aims to demonstrate the impact of some preoperative clinical parameters on the functional outcome of patients sustaining brachial plexus injuries, and to trace some commentaries about the use of intraoperative monitoring techniques. METHOD A retrospective study one hundred cases of brachial plexus surgery. The analysis regarding postoperative outcomes was performed by comparing the average of the final result of the surgery for each studied cohort. RESULTS Direct electrical stimulation was used in all patients, EMG in 59%, SEPs in 37% and evoked NAPs in 19% of the cases. Patients in whom the motor function of the hand was totally or partially preserved before surgery, and those in whom surgery was delayed less than 6 months demonstrated significant (p<0.05) better outcomes. CONCLUSION The preoperative parameters associated to favorable outcomes in reconstruction of the brachial plexus are a good post-traumatic status of the hand and a short interval between injury and surgery.
Immunochemical Analysis of Triton X-100-Insoluble Residues from Micrococcus lysodeikticus Membranes

Triton X-100-insoluble residues from Micrococcus lysodeikticus membranes were analyzed by crossed immunoelectrophoresis after dispersal of the residues in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Conditions which produce no obvious distortion of the immunoprecipitate profile and which allow qualitative and quantitative analyses of the antigens present in the extracts are described. Two main antigens were detected; these were identified as succinate dehydrogenase (EC 1.3.99.1) and adenosine triphosphatase (EC 3.6.1.3). As determined by peak area estimations, the maximal release of succinate dehydrogenase and of adenosine triphosphatase from Triton X-100-insoluble membrane residues occurred at protein/SDS ratios of about 4.3:1 (0.2% SDS) and 6.8:1 (0.13% SDS), respectively. A comparison of enzyme activities of SDS extracts with those of untreated, control Triton X-100-insoluble membrane residues indicated that both the succinate dehydrogenase and the adenosine triphosphatase antigens were released with a full (or enhanced) catalytic potential at or below concentrations of SDS required to effect maximal solubilization of the enzyme in question. Evidence is also presented to suggest that the more acidic of the two components detected by crossed immunoelectrophoresis for the heterogeneous adenosine triphosphatase antigen is more sensitive to SDS than is the other. Both succinate dehydrogenase and adenosine triphosphatase lost catalytic activity and were denatured at protein/SDS ratios lower than 3.4:1.