Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonlinear stabilization via Control Contraction Metrics: A pseudospectral approach for computing geodesics

Real-time nonlinear stabilization techniques are often limited by inefficient or intractable online and/or offline computations, or a lack guarantee for global stability. In this paper, we explore the use of Control Contraction Metrics (CCM) for nonlinear stabilization because it offers tractable offline computations that give formal guarantees for global stability. We provide a method to solve the associated online computation for a CCM controller - a pseudospectral method to find a geodesic. Through a case study of a stiff nonlinear system, we highlight two key benefits: (i) using CCM for nonlinear stabilization and (ii) rapid online computations amenable to real-time implementation. We compare the performance of a CCM controller with other popular feedback control techniques, namely the Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC). We show that a CCM controller using a pseudospectral approach for online computations is a middle ground between the simplicity of LQR and stability guarantees for NMPC.
The Sequential Failure of Osseointegrated Submerged Implants

This report presents a case of sequential failure of nonrestored implants that were osseointegrated and submerged for 3 years. The suspected causes of failure were investigated and analyzed. These included anatomic, physiologic, traumatic, and pathogenic factors. The findings of this report compliment other literature and contribute to the comprehensive classification of implant failure based on osseointegration criteria.
Studies in the "Vakyapadiya".

Bhartrhari's Vakyapadiya is a major work in Sanskrit Linguistics and its study is a long-felt need. In the thesis, some of the leading doctrines discussed in Cantos I and II of the work are discussed, and an attempt made to correlate them to some Modern doctrines. The four chapters of the Thesis are arranged such as to give a picture of the system of the philosophy of the Sanskrit grammarians. Chapter I discusses the doctrine of S'abda Brahman, the Supreme Word-principle from which the Universe of things and names is evolved. The Vedas, the Brahmanas and the Upanisads contain references to Vak as a creative principle functioning in association with Prajapati. The doctrine of S'abda Brahman developed in later times by grammarians like Shartrhari can be traced back to these texts. In Chapter II Bhartrhari conception of Speech as a human activity is discussed. Every speech-unit, such as the sentence, the word or the letter has two elements (1) the phonetic pattern (dhvani) and (2) the permanent speech-principle (sphota) which conveys the meaning of the unit. It is a primary Speech-sound (prakrtadhvani) which reveals the sphota and the utterance itself shows the speaker's personal variations of sounds (vaikrtadhvani). In Chapter III the sentence is discussed as an integral unit on the speech-level and as divisible on the level of interpretation. The controversies on the topic of the integral nature of the sentence on the Speech-level and the relation between the sentence and the word are discussed. Chapter IV discusses the word and the problems about it, such as the nature of word-meaning, the change in meaning, classification of meaning as primary, secondary and incidental and proper names. A translation of Cantos I and II of the Vakyapadiya is also included in the Thesis.
INCORPORATING THE CREDIT RANKING MEASURE TO EVALUATE THE OPERATING EFFICIENCY OF FINANCIAL HOLDING C

One hears that the credit ranking score has increased technical efficiency in financial holding companies, when a data envelopment analysis (DEA) is employed. Our empirical results show that the credit ranking scores will obviously affect the estimated results of efficiency measurement in Taiwan’s financial holding companies. Additionally, the effects on technical inefficiency could be attributed to the under-utilization of inputs, rather than the inappropriate returns of scale, or the selection of incorrect input combinations. It shows that the pure technical efficiency change index number and the scale efficiency change index number are still improvement. Especially, when credit ranking score is incorporated as an important factor for efficiency measure, the credit ranking measure can be viewed as a discretionary variable for inputs.
Application of GIS network analysis in water pollution control of Huaihe River Basin

Huaihe River Basin is a unique region in China with high densities in both population and water projects (dams and floodgates) and is also subject to the most serious water pollution. It is a complicated water system, with a large number of tributaries, many inter-provincial rivers, and highly artificial river water control. Management of water projects regulating of river network require a series of professional analysis tools, which are closely related to the spatial modality and spatial distribution. In this paper, we apply GIS network analysis technology to water pollution tracing under water projects regulation, which establish digital river network model and integrate and manage water projects regulating related data resource. The study has put forward a water pollution management model as a GIS tool in the long-term water projects regulating process and pollution control plan for the Huaihe River Basin.
Nerve growth factor and proprotein convertases furin and PC7 in transected sciatic nerves and in nerve segments cultured in conditioned media: Their presence in Schwann cells, macrophages, and smooth muscle cells

Synthesis of proteins such as nerve growth factor (NGF) is induced after nerve lesion. The NGF precursor (pro‐NGF) requires a posttranslational processing by proprotein convertases to become active. In this report, we re‐examine the localization of NGF protein and mRNA in injured nerve and show that the candidate pro‐NGF convertases furin and PC7 colocalize with NGF in non‐neuronal cells in nerve. By Northern blot analysis, 1.5‐kb and 1.3‐kb NGF mRNAs were shown to be increased in distal and immediately proximal nerve segments on days 1, 4, and 14 after lesion; by Western blot analysis, NGF proteins of high molecular weight were detected after injury. In vivo, two phases of NGF immunopositivity were observed, in macrophages and perivascular cells shortly after lesion and in endoneurial cells on day 1 and 4. To identify the cells containing NGF, nerve segments were incubated in serum‐containing medium with or without conditioning by white blood cells isolated from the circulation. Both hybridization and immunoreactivity signals for NGF were elevated after incubation of nerve segments for 4 hours in conditioned media, so that cells with NGF immunoreactivity could be identified by antibodies to specific cell markers. In these nerve fragments, Schwann cells, perivascular smooth muscle cells, and macrophages contained NGF immunoreactivity. The concentration of furin and PC7 mRNA also increased in lesioned nerves. By immunocytochemical investigation of nerve explants, furin and PC7 were detected in endoneurial cells, macrophages and perivascular cells and were colocalized with NGF. These in vitro and in vivo findings suggest that both furin and PC7 are associated with NGF in several cell types of the sciatic nerve and, hence, may be implicated in intracellular processing of pro‐NGF. J. Comp. Neurol. 403:471–485, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
In vivo retroviral integration: fidelity to size of the host DNA duplication might Be reduced when integration occurs near sequences homologous to LTR ends.

Integrated retroviral DNAs are flanked by a short duplication of target DNA whose size is virus specific and invariable. We have sequenced the junctions between an ALSV (Avian Leukemia and Sarcoma Viruses)-based vector and quail DNA from five individual proviruses. Three proviruses were flanked by the expected 6-bp duplication of host DNA, whereas the two others were flanked by a 5-bp duplication. Nucleotide sequencing of the native integration sites of these two proviruses showed that these integrations had occurred at the immediate vicinity of either a CA or a TG dinucleotide, revealing striking microhomologies between the integration sites and viral LTR ends. These results suggest that size duplication of the target DNA might be influenced by nucleotidic sequence at the site of integration.
QUALITY CONTROL OF AUTOMATIC LABELLING USING HMMBASED HMMBASED HMMBASED SYNTHESIS

This paper presents a measure to verify the quality of automatically aligned phone labels. The measure is based on a similarity cost between automatically generated phonetic segments and phonetic segments generated by an HMMbased synthesiser. We investigate the effectiveness of the measure for identifying problems of three types: alignment errors, phone identity problems and noise insertion. Our experiments show that the measure is best at finding noise errors, followed by phone identity mismatches and serious misalignments.
Pathology in chickens experimentally inoculated or contact-infected with mycoplasma gallisepticum.

Three different agents have been demonstrated by Olson et al. (1) as causes of infectious synovitis in poultry. These were identified as a pox group viral agent or WVU 1675, Mycoplasma synoviae, and Mycoplasma gallisepticum. Other reports have been made of changes in joints of chickens due to Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) infection. Delaplane (2), Johnson (3), and Van Roekel et al. (4) described inflammation in joints of chick embryos inoculated with MG isolated from chickens with chronic respiratory disease. Chute and Cole (5) described a synovitis in chick embryos infected with MG. Olson (6), in 1959, described a synovitis in chickens caused by a pleuropneumonia-like organism (PPLO) which he designated as isolate WVU 1791. This isolate later proved to be MG (7). The general pathology in chickens infected with MG has been described by several investigators (8-11). Jungherr et al. (8) described lymphoid cell accumulations in the respiratory system. Johnson (3) reported the specificity of lymphofollicular lesions in the diagnosis of CRD. Olesiuk et al. (12) described lymphofollicular reactions in air sacs and a bronchial exudate in chickens infected with MG.
The optimality of syntactic dependency distances

It is often stated that human languages, as other biological systems, are shaped by cost-cutting pressures but, to what extent? Attempts to quantify the degree of optimality of languages by means of an optimality score have been scarce and focused mostly on English. Here we recast the problem of the optimality of the word order of a sentence as an optimization problem on a spatial network where the vertices are words, arcs indicate syntactic dependencies, and the space is defined by the linear order of the words in the sentence. We introduce a score to quantify the cognitive pressure to reduce the distance between linked words in a sentence. The analysis of sentences from 93 languages representing 19 linguistic families reveals that half of languages are optimized to a 70% or more. The score indicates that distances are not significantly reduced in a few languages and confirms two theoretical predictions: that longer sentences are more optimized and that distances are more likely to be longer than expected by chance in short sentences. We present a hierarchical ranking of languages by their degree of optimization. The score has implications for various fields of language research (dependency linguistics, typology, historical linguistics, clinical linguistics, and cognitive science). Finally, the principles behind the design of the score have implications for network science.
Biblical Literalism And Implications For Learning

Given that everything we learn is scaffolded onto prior knowledge, how and what we learn is infinitely complex. There are many factors influencing learning, including environment, social and institutional attitudes, access, conditioning and biases. Among the social and environmental factors, religious affiliation is a powerful force which can either encourage educational pursuit, or discourage and demonize it. This study used Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory (2003) to examine the lived experiences of individuals who were raised in biblical literalist faith traditions. The researcher conducted loosely structured interviews with each participant to learn about their educational and spiritual journeys as they left the religion of their childhood in search of a more integrated approach to knowledge and spirituality. The study culminated in recommendations for educators teaching students from such a background.
A study on the interactions between heparan sulfate proteoglycans and Wnt proteins

The Wnt signaling pathway plays key roles in development and adult homeostasis. Wnt proteins are secreted, lipid‐modified glycoproteins. They can form morphogen gradients that are regulated at the level of protein secretion, diffusion, and internalization. These gradients can only exist if the hydrophobic Wnt proteins are prevented from aggregating in the extracellular environment. Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) are necessary for proper activity of Wnt proteins and influence their distribution along the morphogenetic gradient. In this study, we show that HSPGs are able to maintain the solubility of Wnt proteins, thus stabilizing their signaling activity. Our results suggest that the role of HSPGs is not only to concentrate Wnt molecules at the cell surface but also to prevent them from aggregating in the extracellular environment. Developmental Dynamics 239:184–190, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
hUPF2 Silencing Identifies Physiologic Substrates of Mammalian Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay

ABSTRACT Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a conserved eukaryotic surveillance pathway that selectively degrades aberrant mRNAs with premature termination codons (PTCs). Although a small number of cases exist in mammals, where NMD controls levels of physiologic PTC transcripts, it is still unclear whether the engagement of NMD in posttranscriptional control of gene expression is a more prevalent phenomenon. To identify physiologic NMD substrates and to study how NMD silencing affects the overall dynamics of a cell, we stably down-regulated hUPF2, the human homolog of the yeast NMD factor UPF2, by RNA interference. As expected, hUPF2-silenced HeLa cells were impaired in their ability to recognize ectopically expressed aberrant PTC transcripts. Surprisingly, hUPF2 silencing did not affect cell growth and viability but clearly diminished phosphorylation of hUPF1, suggesting a role of hUPF2 in modulating NMD activity through phosphorylation of hUPF1. Genome-wide DNA microarray expression profiling identified 37 novel up-regulated and 57 down-regulated transcripts in hUPF2-silenced cells. About 60% of the up-regulated mRNAs carry typical NMD motifs. Hence, NMD is important not only for maintaining the transcriptome integrity by removing nonfunctional and aberrant PTC-bearing transcripts but also for posttranscriptional control of selected physiologic transcripts with NMD features.
Signature Amyloid β Profiles Are Produced by Different γ-Secretase Complexes*

Background: γ-Secretase complexes generate amyloid-β (Aβ) in Alzheimer disease. Results: Aβ profiles of the four γ-secretase complexes expressed in humans show that PSEN regulates total peptide levels and the Aβ38 pathway, whereas APH1 affects mainly the efficiency of the carboxypeptidase-like activity. Conclusion: γ-Secretase subunit composition regulates Aβ generation. Significance: These intrinsic differences could be used to advance AD therapeutic development. γ-Secretase complexes are involved in the generation of amyloid-β (Aβ) in the brain. Therefore, γ-secretase has been proposed as a potential therapeutic target in Alzheimer disease (AD). Targeting γ-secretase activity in AD requires the pharmacological dissociation of the processing of physiological relevant substrates and the generation of “toxic” Aβ. Previous reports suggest the differential targeting of γ-secretase complexes, based on their subunit composition, as a valid strategy. However, little is known about the biochemical properties of the different complexes, and key questions regarding their Aβ product profiles should be first addressed. Here, we expressed, purified, and analyzed, under the same conditions, the endopeptidase and carboxypeptidase-like activities of the four γ-secretase complexes present in humans. We find that the nature of the catalytic subunit in the complex affects both activities. Interestingly, PSEN2 complexes discriminate between the Aβ40 and Aβ38 production lines, indicating that Aβ generation in one or the other pathway can be dissociated. In contrast, the APH1 subunit mainly affects the carboxypeptidase-like activity, with APH1B complexes favoring the generation of longer Aβ peptides. In addition, we determined that expression of a single human γ-secretase complex in cell lines retains the intrinsic attributes of the protease while present in the membrane, providing validation for the in vitro studies. In conclusion, our data show that each γ-secretase complex produces a characteristic Aβ signature. The qualitative and quantitative differences between different γ-secretase complexes could be used to advance drug development in AD and other disorders.
A personalized spatial cognitive road network for agent-based modeling of pedestrian evacuation simulation: a case study in Hong Kong

In this article, we study the spatial knowledge issue of pedestrians while simulating their routing behaviors in agent-based simulation research. As the data collected from a field survey conducted in a real event case exposed, we proposed a personalized spatial cognitive road network (PSCRN) model, which assumes that different pedestrians hold different probabilities of recognizing a particular road for evacuation due to different spatial cognition under the incomplete spatial knowledge hypothesis. The multivariate binary logistic regression method was applied to identify the linkage between the predictors selected and the response probability variable quantitatively, and the Hosmer–Lemeshow statistic was used to test the regression model. Thus, in agent-based simulations for a given pedestrian, the PSCRN model could predict the recognized roads that the pedestrian was able to take for evacuation with respect to the diversity of spatial cognition lying in the public rather than every road as the complete spatial knowledge hypothesis assumes.
Study on digital beamforming for spaceborne SAR based on sparse DOA estimation

A novel digital beamforming (DBF) algorithm for spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system based on sparse direction-of-arrive (DOA) estimation is presented, which can solve the beam mispointing caused by the terrain height. Compared to the traditional subspace-based algorithms, the approach has no strict requirement for the number of snapshots. Finally, the simulated results validate the proposed algorithm.
A Tautomerase-Null Macrophage Migration-Inhibitory Factor (MIF) Gene Knock-In Mouse Model Reveals That Protein Interactions and Not Enzymatic Activity Mediate MIF-Dependent Growth Regulation

ABSTRACT Macrophage migration-inhibitory factor (MIF) is an upstream regulator of innate immunity and a potential molecular link between inflammation and cancer. The unusual structural homology between MIF and certain tautomerases, which includes both a conserved substrate-binding pocket and a catalytic N-terminal proline (Pro1), has fueled speculation that an enzymatic reaction underlies MIF's biologic function. To address the functional role of the MIF tautomerase activity in vivo, we created a knock-in mouse in which the endogenous mif gene was replaced by one encoding a tautomerase-null, Pro1→Gly1 MIF protein (P1G-MIF). While P1G-MIF is completely inactive catalytically, it maintains significant, albeit reduced, binding to its cell surface receptor (CD74) and to the intracellular binding protein JAB1/CSN5. P1G-MIF knock-in mice (mifP1G/P1G) and cells derived from these mice show a phenotype in assays of growth control and tumor induction that is intermediate between those of the wild type (mif+/+) and complete MIF deficiency (mif−/−). These data provide genetic evidence that MIF's intrinsic tautomerase activity is dispensable for this cytokine's growth-regulatory properties and support a role for the N-terminal region in protein-protein interactions.
Testerone concentrations in the peripheral plasma of adrogenized female rats and in the estrous cycle of normal female rats.

Previous in vitro data have suggested that the ovaries of androgen sterilized female rats (ASFR) have the capacity to incorporate more labeled precursors into androgens than ovaries from normal rats. In order to test the biosynthetic capacity of the ASFR ovary in vivo, the following experiments were carried out. Blood was collected from 120-day-old intact, castrated or adrenalectomized ASFR. In addition, blood was collected from diestrous, estrous, proestrous, adrenalectomized proestrous and castrated female rats. The plasma was assayed for testosterone by a radioimmunologic system which did not require chromatography. The plasma testosterone concentration in ASFR was lower than that found in proestrous and diestrous females, similar to that found in estrous females, and higher than that found in castrated females. The proestrous females had significantly higher peripheral testosterone concentrations than either estrous or diestrous females. Furthermore, the testosterone concentration in the peripheral bl.
Health-Related Quality-of-Life Instruments for Pediatric Patients with Diverse Facial Deformities: A Systematic Literature Review.

BACKGROUND Treatment for patients with diverse craniofacial conditions is complex and long-term. Craniofacial conditions profoundly influence health-related quality of life, and patient- and parent-reported outcomes provide a critical and complementary perspective on the multidisciplinary treatment of patients. However, little is known regarding the health-related quality of life among children with diverse craniofacial conditions. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature regarding patient- and parent-reported outcomes measures for patients with diverse craniofacial conditions. METHODS Articles from the PubMed, PsychINFO, CINAHL, Embase/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases that used patient- and/or parent-reported outcome instruments in patients with diverse craniofacial conditions were reviewed. Diagnoses included were cleft lip and/or palate, craniosynostosis, microtia, craniofacial microsomia, facial vascular malformations, and congenital nevi across pediatric populations (0 to 22 years of age). RESULTS Six hundred ninety articles were identified, and 155 were selected for inclusion. One hundred twenty different health-related quality-of-life tools were used to analyze factors such as physical, psychological, or social function. Of these, the 10 most common psychometrically tested tools were identified in 59 studies. Five tools had both parent and patient versions. Two tools were developed and validated for patients with diverse craniofacial conditions, but neither was developed for nonadolescent children. CONCLUSIONS Many parent- and patient-reported instruments are used to measure varying health-related quality of life factors in this population, but no tool exists that was developed and psychometrically tested in different facial deformities that measures comprehensive health-related quality of life issues across all pediatric ages. This study will guide the development of new tools to measure the parent and patient health-related quality-of-life perspective in patients with diverse craniofacial conditions.