Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The future of health and long-term care spending

This paper proposes a new set of public health and long-term care expenditure projections until 2060, following up on the previous set of projections published in 2006. It disentangles health from long-term care expenditure as well as the demographic from the non-demographic drivers, and refines the previous methodology, in particular by better identifying the underlying determinants of health and long-term care spending and by extending the country coverage to include BRIICS countries. A cost-containment and a cost-pressure scenario are provided together with sensitivity analysis. On average across OECD countries, total health and long-term care expenditure is projected to increase by 3.3 and 7.7 percentage points of GDP between 2010 and 2060 in the cost-containment and the cost-pressure scenarios, respectively. For the BRIICS over the same period, it is projected to increase by 2.8 and 7.3 percentage points of GDP in the costcontainment and the cost-pressure scenarios, respectively.
Cost‐efficient deployment of mmW small cells with hybrid backhauls

Hybrid backhaul networks with millimeter wave (mmW) technologies are widely viewed as promising solutions to support next‐generation ultradense mobile networks. In this paper, we propose a cost‐efficient deployment framework of mmW small cells with hybrid backhaul, with the aim of providing useful insights on the optimal deployment of small cells for mmW mobile network planning. We investigate the trade‐off between the deployment cost and the number of user equipments that can be admitted while considering 2 kinds of base stations (BSs) in mmW networks: backhaul aggregate nodes (BANs) and wireless backhaul BSs (WBSs). We derive the deployment cost of mmW networks including BSs and wired backhaul links as a function of the number of BANs and WBSs and investigate the relationship between the number of BSs and the number of admitted user equipments. We formulate an optimization problem to maximize cost efficiency subject to the constraint of wireless backhaul link capacity and derive the optimal number of WBSs per BAN cluster as well as the optimal number of deployed BANs. Numerical results validate the effectiveness of our proposed BS deployment framework.
Striatal Iron Content Predicts Its Shrinkage and Changes in Verbal Working Memory after Two Years in Healthy Adults

The accumulation of non-heme iron in the brain has been proposed as a harbinger of neural and cognitive decline in aging and neurodegenerative disease, but support for this proposal has been drawn from cross-sectional studies, which do not provide valid estimates of change. Here, we present longitudinal evidence of subcortical iron accumulation in healthy human adults (age 19–77 at baseline). We used R2* relaxometry to estimate regional iron content twice within a 2 year period, measured volumes of the striatum and the hippocampus by manual segmentation, and assessed cognitive performance by working memory tasks. Two-year change and individual differences in the change of regional volumes, regional iron content, and working memory were examined by latent change score models while taking into account the age at baseline and metabolic risk indicators. Over the examined period, volume reduction occurred in the caudate nucleus and hippocampus, but iron content increased only in the striatum, where it explained shrinkage. Higher iron content in the caudate nucleus at baseline predicted lesser improvement in working memory after repeat testing. Although advanced age and elevated metabolic syndrome risk were associated with greater iron content in the putamen at baseline, neither age nor metabolic risk influenced change in any variable. Thus, longitudinal evidence supports the notion that accumulation of subcortical iron is a risk factor for neural and cognitive decline in normal aging.
Reduced DNA methylation and hydroxymethylation in patients with systemic mastocytosis

As disruption of epigenetic control is a frequent event in solid tumors and leukemia, we investigated changes in DNA methylation (5mC) and hydroxymethylation (5hmC) in patients with systemic mastocytosis (SM), a rare myeloproliferative disease with a wide spectrum of severity, characterized by the accumulation of mast cells in various organs.
Better Surface Realization through Psycholinguistics

In this survey, we review recent progress on surface realization in natural language generation (NLG), highlighting how machine learning models have moved beyond n-grams to successfully incorporate linguistic insights into increasingly rich models. We also advance the view that NLG still has much to gain by taking up insights from psycholinguistic studies – not only of human production but also of comprehension. We highlight how realization ranking models can be improved by modeling the role of memory in human language comprehension and discuss how surface realizers might transition to using grammars developed for incremental parsing in computational psycholinguistics, thereby making them more suitable for integration into real-time incremental dialog systems. From a production standpoint, we suggest that the principle of uniform information density has the potential to enhance the theoretical basis for choice making in NLG and discuss two initial steps in this direction. Finally, we conclude our survey with a discussion of prospects for community-based evaluation of surface realization systems.
Holographic Synthesis of Diffraction Free Beams and Dark Hollow Beams

Since its discovery, holographic techniques had been proved to be one of the most powerful tools for controlling the optical field in almost all the optical areas [1,2,3]. Just to mention some ones, these techniques had been used in the design of hybrid lenses to decrease or avoid aberrations, in optical metrology it had been used to analyze the vibration modes in order to detect potential risks. The recording of the holographic interaction on photo resins it had been possible to design surface roughness, where the statistical features of the surface can be controlled with the parameters of the recording interaction such as time of exposition, angle of recording, wavelength, etc. The influence of these parameters is manifested in the power spectrum associated to the scattered field. A very interesting application of this technique was implemented by West-O’Donnell [4] in order to describe the relation of the scattered field with surface plasmon modes. The experiment was obtained by depositing a metal thin film over the hologram surface. This technique paves the way to implement a two dimensional surface plasmon optics [5,6]. This configuration allows the study of interesting physical properties such as enhanced backscattering also the apparition of satellite peaks in the scattered field [7,8]. This process can be extended by depositing a stack of layers of dielectric thin film-metal thin film, generating in this way a holographic roughness wave guides with application to communication systems. In the holographic context, a very interesting subject consists in the research of novel material of holographic register. In this same context, recently has been reported the recording of the interaction between optical waves on rubidium vapor, which allows the control of light with light [9,10]. Other important materials of holographic register are the photorefractive crystals. In this kind of material, non-linear features can be induced and controlled. For example shift frequency, control of fluorescence time [11,12]. The purpose of this work is to present, in a plain way, the use of a photorefractive crystal as holographic recording material. The hologram consists in the interference between diffraction free beams. The interest in this topic comes from the fact that in the physical optics context, a contemporary topic research consists in the trapping and manipulation of particle conductors or/and dielectrics by means of optical fields also as atom/ion trapping
Involvement of laminin binding integrins and laminin-5 in branching morphogenesis of the ureteric bud during kidney development.

Branching morphogenesis of the ureteric bud (UB) [induced by the metanephric mesenchyme (MM)] is necessary for normal kidney development. The role of integrins in this complex developmental process is not well understood. However, the recent advent of in vitro model systems to study branching of UB cells and isolated UB tissue makes possible a more detailed analysis of the integrins involved. We detected integrin subunits alpha3, alpha6, beta1, and beta4 in both the UB and cells derived from the early UB. Blocking the function of each of these integrin subunits individually markedly inhibited branching morphogenesis in cell culture models. However, inhibiting individual integrin function with blocking antibodies in whole kidney and isolated UB culture only partially inhibited UB branching morphogenesis, suggesting that, in these more complex in vitro systems, multiple integrins are involved in the branching program. In whole organ and isolated bud culture, marked retardation of UB branching was observed only when both alpha3 and alpha6 integrin subunits were inhibited. The alpha6 integrin subunit can be expressed as both alpha6beta1 and alpha6beta4, and both of these beta subunits are important for UB branching morphogenesis in both cell and organ culture. Furthermore, laminin-5, a common ligand for integrins alpha3beta1 and alpha6beta4, was detected in the developing UB and shown to be required for normal UB branching morphogenesis in whole embryonic kidney organ culture as well as isolated UB culture. Together, these data from UB cell culture, organ culture, and isolated UB culture models indicate that both integrin alpha3 and alpha6 subunits play a direct role in UB branching morphogenesis, as opposed to being modulators of the inductive effects of mesenchyme on UB development. Furthermore the data are consistent with a role for laminin-5, acting through its alpha3beta1 and/or alpha6beta4 integrin receptors, in UB branching during nephrogenesis. These data may help to partially explain the renal phenotype seen in integrin alpha3 and alpha3/alpha6 subunit-deficient animals.
Automatic property checking of robotic applications

Robot software controllers are often concurrent and time critical, and requires modern engineering approaches for validation and verification. With this motivation, we have developed a tool and techniques for graphical modelling with support for automatic generation of underlying mathematical definitions for model checking. It is possible to check automatically both general properties, like absence of deadlock, and specific application properties. We cater both for timed and untimed modelling and verification. Our approach has been tried in examples used in a variety of robotic applications.
AbeM, an H+-Coupled Acinetobacter baumannii Multidrug Efflux Pump Belonging to the MATE Family of Transporters

ABSTRACT We cloned a gene, abeM, for a multidrug efflux pump from Acinetobacter baumannii using Escherichia coli as the host. Sequence analysis revealed that AbeM is a member of the MATE family of pumps. AbeM was found to be an H+-coupled multidrug efflux pump and a unique member of the MATE family.
Ecologically justified charisma: preservation of top predators delivers biodiversity conservation

Summary 1. Because of their popular appeal, top vertebrate predators have frequently been used as flagship or umbrella species to acquire financial support, raise environmental awareness and plan systems of protected areas. However, some have claimed that the utilization of charismatic predators may divert a disproportionate amount of funding to a few glamorous species without delivering broader biodiversity benefits, an accusation aggravated by the fact that the conservation of top predators is often complex, difficult and expensive. Therefore, tests are needed of whether apex predators may be employed to achieve ecosystem-level targets. 2. To test such a hypothesis, we compared the biodiversity values recorded at the breeding sites of six raptor species, differing widely in diet and habitat associations, with those observed at three types of control locations, (i) sites randomly chosen in comparable habitat, (ii) breeding sites of a randomly selected bird species of lower trophic level and (iii) breeding sites of a lower trophic level species with specialized ecological requirements. Biodiversity was measured as the richness and evenness of bird, butterfly and tree species. 3. Biodiversity levels were consistently higher at sites occupied by top predators than at any of the three types of control sites. Furthermore, sites occupied by top predators also held greater densities of individual birds and butterflies (all species combined) than control sites. 4. In a reserve-selection simulation exercise, networks of protected sites constructed on the basis of top predators were more efficient than networks based on lower trophic level species, enabling higher biodiversity coverage to be achieved with a smaller number of reserves. 5. Synthesis and applications . Our results provide evidence of a link between the strategic utilization of top predatory species and ecosystem-level conservation. We suggest that, at least in some biological systems, conservation plans based on apex predators could be implemented to deliver broader biodiversity benefits.
Benzalkonium Chloride Accelerates the Formation of the Amyloid Fibrils of Corneal Dystrophy-associated Peptides*

Background: Formation of amyloid fibrils is accelerated by surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate. Results: Fibrillation of corneal dystrophy-associated peptides was accelerated by benzalkonium chloride, a cationic surfactant widely used in eye drops. Conclusion: The results suggest the potential risk that benzalkonium chloride in eye drops may accelerate amyloid fibrillation. Significance: The results support the view of amylome that most proteins contain amyloidogenic sequences. Corneal dystrophies are genetic disorders resulting in progressive corneal clouding due to the deposition of amyloid fibrils derived from keratoepithelin, also called transforming growth factor β-induced protein (TGFBI). The formation of amyloid fibrils is often accelerated by surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Most eye drops contain benzalkonium chloride (BAC), a cationic surfactant, as a preservative substance. In the present study, we aimed to reveal the role of BAC in the amyloid fibrillation of keratoepithelin-derived peptides in vitro. We used three types of 22-residue synthetic peptides covering Leu110-Glu131 of the keratoepithelin sequence: an R-type peptide with wild-type R124, a C-type peptide with C124 associated with lattice corneal dystrophy type I, and a H-type peptide with H124 associated with granular corneal dystrophy type II. The time courses of spontaneous amyloid fibrillation and seed-dependent fibril elongation were monitored in the presence of various concentrations of BAC or SDS using thioflavin T fluorescence. BAC and SDS accelerated the fibrillation of all synthetic peptides in the absence and presence of seeds. Optimal acceleration occurred near the CMC, which suggests that the unstable and dynamic interactions of keratoepithelin peptides with amphipathic surfactants led to the formation of fibrils. These results suggest that eye drops containing BAC may deteriorate corneal dystrophies and that those without BAC are preferred especially for patients with corneal dystrophies.
A comparison between reactive potential fields and Attractor Dynamics

We study four established reactive approaches that can be implemented on computationally weak hardware with the goal of minimizing oscillatory movements to reduce the energetic cost of robot navigation. In this regard, we examine the smoothness and variability of the control action in our analysis. Sensor noise, including the large variance of GPS estimates, is evaluated. Care is taken to make the techniques comparable. Statistical data were obtained in simulation in which environments were randomly varied. We show that the second order Attractor Dynamics Approach satisfies our requirements significantly better than Potential Field approaches.
Public warning in the networked age

he sharing of information about threats and hazards is one of humankind's most basic social activities. Warning others and—often simultane-ously—enlisting help are essential functions in any community. Our aim here is to outline how modern public warning has developed and suggest some directions where it could be heading. In industrialized societies, public warning is often seen as one-way communication: the authorities send information to the affected population about a hazard before it— " early warning " —or during it, or about its consequences afterward. The public is assumed to do as the authorities instruct. If the warning is sufficiently understandable [6] and action-oriented [5], and if it gets confirmation from several information sources [2, 3], something akin to this ideal model may actually happen. Unfortunately, public warning was until recently headed toward specialization to the point of chaos. Public warning had been seen as a separate task for each authority or each administrative region, instead of a coherent social capability of the whole community or region. For example, although a fire chief, a flood plain manager, and a public health official have common public warning concerns, separate research, regulations, and routines for public warning had sprung from each of these domains—and others. As one result numerous technologies: sirens, colorful flags, radio, television, telephone-based notifications, email, Web-based services, and various wireless alerts are currently used to warn of particular hazards. However, experiences and best practices from one authority's domain or jurisdiction do not easily transfer to another's. This situation parallels that in computing prior to standards-based networking. From the 1950s well into the 1970s, duplication of work was unavoidable because sharing was impractical , and local practices often resulted in incompatibility with other computing clusters' norms. The way out from isolated computing clusters was a set of standards for data exchange general enough for reliable communication between diverse systems. The Internet protocols have vastly enhanced the value of the computers that use them and enabled several types of standard-format digital content exchanging.
Hydraulic Engineering Aspects of the Chimu Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal

Of the many canal systems of the Chimu empire the Chicama-Moche Intervalley (La Cumbre) Canal connecting the Chicama and Moche valleys represents the highest level of technical achievement. This paper examines the engineering skills of the Chimu as revealed by computer analysis of the open channel flow design techniques they utilized. Analysis of agricultural strategies made possible by this canal and the surveying skills inherent to its use are examined in detail. The presence of many trial canal paths toward the distal end of the canal indicate extreme difficulty in overcoming tectonically induced ground-slope changes caused by fault lines near the intervalley divide. The canal was abandoned prior to completion of construction and thus never served to supply the Moche Valley with Chicama water.
Effects of Fixation, Dehydration and Staining on Dimensions of Myxosporidan and Microsporidan Spores

The effects of fixation, dehydration and staining on the morphological dimensions of myxo- and microsporidan spores were tested. Seven fixatives, two dehydrants and five stains were tested. Ten % formalin produced the least shrinkage and provided the best cytological detail of fixed material in both types of spores. All fixatives caused shrinkage of myxosporidan spore length and polar capsule length. Spore capsule width and polar capsule width were unaffected by 10% formalin. Ethyl alcohol caused no significant change in spore width. Microsporidan spore length shrunk with all fixatives, but spore width was generally unaffected. Dehydration, with either isopropyl alcohol or acetone, produced additional, significant shrinkage. The influence of stains on spore size was negligible. Heidenhains iron hematoxylin followed by eosin, and Mallory's analine-blue collagen stain, effectively stained myxo- and microsporidan spores.
Scalable Non-Orthogonal Pilot Design for Massive MIMO Systems with Massive Connectivity

With the growing need for Internet of things (IoT) applications, wireless communications are facing the challenge of providing massive connectivity. However, as the number of users increases, the capacity of massive MIMO systems will be severely affected due to the huge channel estimation overhead. Therefore it is necessary to introduce non-orthogonal pilots to massive MIMO systems in order to ease the burden on the resources for channel estimation. In this paper, we propose a KKT-basediterativenon-orthogonalpilotdesignalgorithmwhich maximizes the mutual information between the received signal and the channel for MMSE channel estimation. For the typical antenna deployment of uniform linear array (ULA), we also provide scalable estimation schemes with low complexity based onchannelangularrepresentationasalternatives.Thesimulation results show that our schemes signi&#64257;cantly save the estimation overhead at the cost of slight decrease in the MSE performance of the channel estimation, and the saving is even more prominent when the system accommodates more users.
Prophylactic pulmonary vein isolation during isthmus ablation for atrial flutter: Three‐year outcomes of the PREVENT AF I study

The PREVENT AF I study demonstrated that prophylactic pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) in patients with pure typical atrial flutter (AFL) resulted in substantial reduction of new‐onset atrial fibrillation (AF) during 1‐year follow‐up as assessed by continuous implantable cardiac monitor (ICM). The objective of this study was to assess 3‐year outcomes.
Neural networks and static voltage stability in power systems

A power system is an interconnected network of mainly generation, transmission/distribution, and consumption of electrical energy. The steady-state operation of maintaining voltage stability is done by switching various controllers scattered all over the network. Some of the common controllers are the PV or generation buses voltage magnitudes, static reactive power (VAR) compensators, and under load tap transformers. When a contingency occurs, whether forced or unforced, the dispatcher in the energy control center is to alleviate the problem in a minimum time, cost, and effort. Persistent problem may lead to blackout. The dispatcher is to have the appropriate switching of controllers in terms of type, location, and size to remove the contingency and maintain voltage stability. Wrong switching may worsen the problem and that may lead to blackout. Thus, to do this intricate and delicate switching is a challenging task and requires highly experienced dispatcher. This work proposed and used an artificial neural network (ANN) to assist the dispatcher in the decision making.
Nanoscale photovoltaic performance in micro/nanopatterned CdTe-CdS thin film solar cells

A new approach to measure the local response of micropatterned CdTe based solar cells is presented. This method provides fast results with high spatial resolution and the ability to map short circuit current (Ish), open circuit voltage (Voc), maximum power, and fill factor. It is based on consecutive photoconductive atomic force microscopy (pcAFM) scans collected at different DC biases over the same area. An array of I-V response curves results based on spectra for any given location (image pixel) according to the photoresponse (pcAFM current contrast) as a function of the applied bias (image). Grains, grain boundaries and even twin boundaries are clearly resolved.