Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of combined β-alanine and sodium bicarbonate supplementation on cycling performance.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 28 d of β-alanine supplementation on 4-min cycling time trial performance and to determine whether there was an additive effect of combined β-alanine and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) supplementation on high-intensity cycling performance. METHODS Fourteen highly trained cyclists (mean ± SD: age = 25.4 ± 7.2 yr, mass = 71.1 ± 7.1 kg, V˙O(2max) = 66.6 ± 5.7 mL·kg·min) supplemented for 28 d with β-alanine (65 mg·kg body mass each day) or placebo. A maximal 4-min bout of cycling was performed before supplementation (baseline) and twice after supplementation: after ingestion of NaHCO3 (300 mg·kg body mass) and ingestion of a placebo using a randomized crossover design with 2 d between trials. Blood pH and HCO3 concentration were determined before loading (postsupplementation trials) and at pretest and posttest. RESULTS In the acute NaHCO3 loading trials, blood pH and HCO3 were elevated from before loading to pretest, and the magnitude of the change in HCO3 from pretest to posttest was significantly greater compared with the acute placebo loading trial (P < 0.001). Average power output in the 4-min cycling performance trial was increased in placebo + NaHCO3 (+3.1% ± 1.8%) and β-alanine + NaHCO3 (+3.3% ± 3.0%) compared with baseline (P < 0.05). β-alanine + placebo did not significantly improve average power output compared with baseline (+1.6% ± 1.7%, P = 0.20); however, magnitude-based inferences demonstrated that β-alanine + placebo was associated with a 37% likelihood of producing average power improvements. CONCLUSIONS In trained cyclists, β-alanine supplementation did not significantly improve 4-min cycling performance; however, there may be a small meaningful improvement in performance. Acute NaHCO3 supplementation significantly improved 4-min cycling performance. There seemed to be a minimal additive effect of combined β-alanine and NaHCO3 supplementation.
Isolation and characterisation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human placenta tissue.

AIM To explore the feasibility of placenta tissue as a reliable and efficient source for generating mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). METHODS MSC were generated from human placenta tissue by enzymatic digestion and mechanical dissociation. The placenta MSC (PLC-MSC) were characterized for expression of cell surface markers, embryonic stem cell (ECS) gene expression and their differentiation ability into adipocytes and osteocytes. The immunosuppressive properties of PLC-MSC on resting and phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulated allogenic T cells were assessed by means of cell proliferation via incorporation of tritium thymidine ((3)H-TdR). RESULTS The generated PLC-MSC appeared as spindle-shaped cells, expressed common MSC surface markers and ESC transcriptional factors. They also differentiated into adipogenic and osteogenic lineages when induced. However, continuous cultivation up to passage 15 caused changes in morphological appearance and cellular senescence, although the stem cell nature of their protein expression was unchanged. In terms of their immunosuppressive properties, PLC-MSC were unable to stimulate resting T cell proliferation; they inhibited the PHA stimulated T cells in a dose dependent manner through cell to cell contact. In our study, MSC generated from human placenta exhibited similar mesenchymal cell surface markers; MSC-like gene expression pattern and MSC-like differentiation potential were comparable to other sources of MSC. CONCLUSION We suggest that placenta tissues can serve as an alternative source of MSC for future experimental and clinical studies.
DYRK1A phoshorylates histone H3 to differentially regulate the binding of HP1 isoforms and antagonize HP1‐mediated transcriptional repression

Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) proteins are chromatin‐bound transcriptional regulators. While their chromodomain binds histone H3 methylated on lysine 9, their chromoshadow domain associates with the H3 histone fold in a region involved in chromatin remodeling. Here, we show that phosphorylation at histone H3 threonine 45 and serine 57 within this latter region differentially affects binding of the three mammalian HP1 isoforms HP1α, HP1β and HP1γ. Both phosphorylation events are dependent on the activity of the DYRK1A kinase that antagonizes HP1‐mediated transcriptional repression and participates in abnormal activation of cytokine genes in Down's syndrome‐associated megakaryoblastic leukemia.
Genetic Similarity between Cotton Leafroll Dwarf Virus and Chickpea Stunt Disease Associated Virus in India

The cotton leafroll dwarf virus (CLRDV) is one of the most devastating pathogens of cotton. This malady, known as cotton blue disease, is widespread in South America where it causes huge crop losses. Recently the disease has been reported from India. We noticed occurrence of cotton blue disease and chickpea stunt disease in adjoining cotton and chickpea fields and got interested in knowing if these two viral diseases have some association. By genetic studies, we have shown here that CLRDV is very close to chickpea stunt disease associated virus (CpSDaV). We were successful in transmitting the CLRDV from cotton to chickpea. Our studies indicate that CpSDaV and CLRDV in India are possibly two different strains of the same virus. These findings would be helpful in managing these serious diseases by altering the cropping patterns.
Sedentary behaviors increase risk of cardiovascular disease mortality in men.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between two sedentary behaviors (riding in a car and watching TV) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in men in the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study. METHODS Participants were 7744 men (20-89 yr) initially free of CVD who returned a mail-back survey during 1982. Time spent watching TV and time spent riding in a car were reported. Mortality data were ascertained through the National Death Index until December 31, 2003. Cox regression analysis quantified the association between sedentary behaviors (hours per week watching TV, hours per week riding in a car, and total hours per week in these two behaviors) and CVD mortality rates. RESULTS Three hundred and seventy-seven CVD deaths occurred during 21 yr of follow-up. After age adjustment, time riding in a car and combined time spent in these two sedentary behaviors were positively (P(trend) < 0.001) associated with CVD death. Men who reported >10 h x wk(-1) riding in a car or >23 h x wk(-1) of combined sedentary behavior had 82% and 64% greater risk of dying from CVD than those who reported <4 or <11 h x wk(-1), respectively. The pattern of the association did not materially change after multivariate adjustment. Regardless of the amount of sedentary activity reported by these men, being older, having normal weight, being normotensive, and being physically active were associated with a reduced risk of CVD death. CONCLUSION In men, riding in a car and combined time spent in these two sedentary behaviors were significant CVD mortality predictors. In addition, high levels of physical activity were related to notably lower rates of CVD death even in the presence of high levels of sedentary behavior. Health promotion efforts targeting physically inactive men should emphasize both reducing sedentary activity and increasing regular physical activity for optimal cardiovascular health.
Two Cohort and Three Independent Anonymous Twin Projects at the Keio Twin Research Center (KoTReC)

The Keio Twin Research Center has conducted two longitudinal twin cohort projects and has collected three independent and anonymous twin data sets for studies of phenotypes related to psychological, socio-economic, and mental health factors. The Keio Twin Study has examined adolescent and adult cohorts, with a total of over 2,400 pairs of twins and their parents. DNA samples are available for approximately 600 of these twin pairs. The Tokyo Twin Cohort Project has followed a total of 1,600 twin pairs from infancy to early childhood. The large-scale cross-sectional twin study (CROSS) has collected data from over 4,000 twin pairs, from 3 to 26 years of age, and from two high school twin cohorts containing a total of 1,000 pairs of twins. These data sets of anonymous twin studies have mainly targeted academic performance, attitude, and social environment. The present article introduces the research designs and major findings of our center, such as genetic structures of cognitive abilities, personality traits, and academic performances, developmental effects of genes and environment on attitude, socio-cognitive ability and parenting, genes x environment interaction on attitude and conduct problem, and statistical methodological challenges and so on. We discuss the challenges in conducting twin research in Japan.
A New Family of 2-D Codes for Fiber-Optic CDMA Systems With and Without the Chip-Synchronous Assumption

In this paper, we propose a new family of wavelength-time codes, which are based on one-dimensional optical orthogonal codes (1-D OOCs) of cross-correlation functions of at most two. By relaxing the maximum cross-correlation values to two, the new 2-D codes provide larger code cardinality for accommodating more subscribers and support heavier code weight for better code performance. It is known that the traditional chip-synchronous assumption used in the analyses of optical codes gives a pessimistic performance upper bound, while the newer chip-asynchronous assumption offers a more accurate analysis. The performance of the new 2-D codes is here analyzed under both assumptions for comparison. Under certain conditions, our results show that the new wavelength-time codes outperform our recently reported multiple-wavelength OOCs and 2-D codes, which were based on 1-D OOCs of cross-correlation functions of at most one and two, respectively.
Real-time demonstration of multipath-assisted indoor navigation and tracking (MINT)

This paper presents an evaluation of a demonstration system for multipath-assisted indoor navigation and tracking (MINT). MINT overcomes the non-line-of-sight problems of range-based indoor localization systems by explicitly using location information of reflected signal components. With the real-time demonstration system, performance evaluations are possible without the need to rely on pre-recorded measurement trajectories or simulated radio channels. Hence, the robustness and accuracy of MINT in different environments can be tested easily and a proof-of-concept in close-to-practical conditions is obtained. Exemplary results in two different rooms highlight the following key findings: The excellent performance of MINT that we reported previously based on pre-recorded measurements can also be obtained with the real-time system, i.e. 5 cm accuracy for 90% of the estimates at a bandwidth of 2GHz. Furthermore, the covariance of the position error of the tracking filters matches well with the corresponding Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB).
Transient responses analysis of some ultra-wideband fliters in the presence of wideband electromagnetic pluses

It is well known that intentional or unintentional electromagnetic interference can impact on microwave circuits or systems to make them improper functionality, and in this paper, we analysis the transient responses of two ultrawideband (UWB) filters under a high-power EMP. Based on a modified FDTD method, numerical calculation is performed to show the EMP interference impacting on the S-parameters of UWB filters which are usually used in the wideband integration of communication circiuts and systems. The statistical analysis provides a new procedure for a confidence determination of the interference behavior parameters.
SUPERCAPACITORS FROM NANOTUBES / CONDUCTING POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) have been proposed as electrode materials for supercapacitors [14]. The capacitance values of the entangled MWNTs reach 80 F/g, even 130 F/g after functionalization by hot nitric acid [2], and energy can be withdrawn at relatively high frequency, ca. 1Hz [1], what can find a practical application. However, pseudocapacitance connected with the presence of surface groups diminishes with cycling. Since it has been demonstrated that electrically conducting polymers (ECP), enhance capacitance of carbon materials in aqueous medium [5, 6], our objective is to use PPy (polypyrrole) for the realization of optimized MWNTs/PPy composite capacitor materials, taking profit of the good electronic conductivity of PPy and an excellent ionic conductivity in the opened mesoporous network of nanotubes.
Selecting public goods institutions: Who likes to punish and reward?

The authors extend the standard public goods game in a variety of ways, in particular by allowing for endogenous preference over institutions and by studying the relationship between individual types, their preferences, and later behavior within the various institutional environments. They collect individual data on a variety of demographic factors, in addition to measuring levels of risk aversion and ambiguity aversion (over both gains and losses). The authors then elicit preferences in an incentive-compatible manner over voluntary contribution mechanisms with and without reward and punishment options. Finally, they randomly assign subjects to one of the four institutions and observe repeated play. They find that payoffs are significantly greater when punishment is allowed but that only a small minority of participants prefers such an environment. There is at most a weak link between individual characteristics and elicited preferences over environments. On the other hand, institutional preferences, as well as individual characteristics, are more strongly predictive of behavior in the public goods game. For instance, loss averse individuals preemptively reward more often when that option is available. This result suggests that when studying social interactions, especially if people can choose whether to participate in a sanctions-and-rewards mechanism, it is important to consider individual attitudes toward risk and uncertainty.
Camera system to detect the orientation of a corner cube in real time

The measurement of the position and orientation of a robot end effector is the most critical issue in calibrating robots. Systems to measure the position are well known but systems to measure the orientation at the same time and with a useful accuracy are not available. A method to do this was developed at the Institute of Flexible Automation (INFA). The new system (LuxWess) bases on a tracking system, a laser beam and image processing techniques. This paper describes the real time image processing system required to record the profile of the laser beam with a sample rate of more than 10000 frames per second and to find the geometry of the corner cube. The detection of the information needed to calculate the orientation of the corner cube with an accuracy of 10 arc seconds is explained. A method to increase the accuracy up to 2 arc seconds is introduced.
High-level microprogramming with APL syntax

The article demonstrates how higher-level microprograms can be written in APL notation. With an architecture support package (ASP) defining and emulating target machine features, the resulting 'microAPL' code is directly APL executable. Firmware development is very straightforward. An implemented ASP, microAPL compiler, and microAPL linker are discussed. MicroAPL is also compared with S* notation.
Effectiveness of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) on communication and speech for children with autism spectrum disorders: a meta-analysis.

PURPOSE The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a popular communication-training program for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This meta-analysis reviews the current empirical evidence for PECS in affecting communication and speech outcomes for children with ASD. METHOD A systematic review of the literature on PECS written between 1994 and June 2009 was conducted. Quality of scientific rigor was assessed and used as an inclusion criterion in computation of effect sizes. Effect sizes were aggregated separately for single-subject and group studies for communication and speech outcomes. RESULTS Eight single-subject experiments (18 participants) and 3 group studies (95 PECS participants, 65 in other intervention/control) were included. Results indicated that PECS is a promising but not yet established evidence-based intervention for facilitating communication in children with ASD ages 1-11 years. Small to moderate gains in communication were demonstrated following training. Gains in speech were small to negative. CONCLUSIONS This meta-analysis synthesizes gains in communication and relative lack of gains made in speech across the PECS literature for children with ASD. Concerns about maintenance and generalization are identified. Emerging evidence of potential preintervention child characteristics is discussed. Phase IV was identified as a possibly influential program characteristic for speech outcomes.
Representation of Semantic Mappings

The aim of this breakout session was to chart the landscape of existing approaches for representing mappings between heterogeneous models, identify common ideas and formulate research questions to be addressed in the future. In the session, the discussion mainly concerned three aspects: The nature of mappings, existing proposals for mappings and open research questions.
metano - An open-source toolbox for the reconstruction and analysis of genome-scale metabolic models

Metabolische Modelle sind wichtige systembiologische Werkzeuge, um den Stoffwechsel von Zellen zu verstehen. Mit der Flux-Balance-Analyse und verwandten Methoden kann das Verhalten metabolischer Netzwerke unter verschiedenen Umweltbedingungen vorhergesagt werden. Nachteile existierender Implementierungen dieser Algorithmen sind u.a. die fehlende oder schwierige Erweiterbarkeit und die Zuweisung von unphysiologisch hohen zyklischen Flussen in der Flux-Balance-Analyse. Letztere wird meist durch sekundare Optimierungsstrategien unter zusatzlichem Rechenaufwand behoben. Daneben werden Flussverteilungen in metabolischen Netzwerken bisher uberwiegend unter einer rein reaktionszentrischen Sicht analysiert, obwohl einzelne Reaktionsflusse fur sich kaum interpretierbar sind. In dieser Arbeit wird metano, eine Sammlung von mathematischen Werkzeugen fur die Analyse und Verfeinerung von metabolischen Modellen, vorgestellt. In metano wurde die Flux-Balance-Analyse so implementiert, dass das Problem biologisch unplausibler zyklischer Flusse vermieden wird. Als objektorientierte Open-Source-Software kann metano leicht erweitert bzw. angepasst werden. Innerhalb dieser Plattform wurde eine Reihe von neuen Algorithmen entwickelt, darunter die automatische Plausibilitatsprufung von metabolischen Modellen sowie Methoden fur die metabolitzentrische Analyse von Flussverteilungen. Die in dieser Arbeit entwickelten Methoden Split-Ratio-Analyse und Metabolitfluss-Minimierung etablieren eine metabolitzentrische Sicht auf Flussverteilungen, welche die klassische reaktionszentrische Sicht komplementiert. Die neu entwickelten Methoden wurden auf publizierte genomweite metabolische Modelle der Bakterien Escherichia coli und Thermotoga maritima angewendet. Durch die metabolitzentrische Analyse konnten mehrere Ansatzpunkte zur Optimierung der Modelle identifiziert werden.
Frequency Limited Model Reduction Techniques With Error Bounds

The main issue with the pioneer frequency limited interval Gramian-based technique by Gawronski and Jaung is that it yields unstable reduced order models. There exist some techniques in literature that yield stable reduced order models, however, these techniques yield relatively more frequency response errors. In this brief, three frequency limited interval Gramians-based model order reduction techniques are proposed. The proposed techniques ensure the stability of the reduced order models, produce relatively lower frequency response error (as compared with existing stability preserving techniques) and yield the frequency response error bounds. Numerical examples along with comparison among different techniques are presented which show the effectiveness (relatively low approximation error as compared with other existing stability preserving model order reduction techniques) of the proposed techniques.
HIV Autonomic Function is Associated with Fitness Level in HIV-Infected Individuals

Autonomic Function is Associated with Fitness Level in HIV-Infected Individuals Morgan H Kocher1, MS, ATC, Ronald K Hetzler1*, PhD, FACSM , Cecilia M Shikuma2, MD, Iris F Kimura1,2, PhD, ATC, PT, Cris D Stickley1, PhD, ATC, CSCS , Rachel A Lindsey3, PhD, ATC, Beau K Nakamoto2, 4, MD, PhD, Dominic C Chow2, MD, MPH, PhD 1Department of Kinesiology and Rehabilitative Science, College of Education, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA 2Hawaii Center for AIDS, Department of Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA 3Math and Science Department, Kapiolani Community College, Honolulu, HI, USA 4Department of Neurology, Straub Clinic & Hospital, Honolulu, HI, USA *Corresponding author:Dr. Ronald Hetzler, 1337 Lower Campus Road, PE/A 231, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA, Tel: (808) 956-3802; Fax: (808) 956-7976; E-mail: hetzler@hawaii.edu Received: 05-14-2015 Accepted: 06-15-2015 Published: 06-18-2015 Copyright: © 2015 Ronald Research Article
Automating the Discovery of AS-IS Business Process Models: Probabilistic and Algorithmic Approaches

In the current corporate environment, business organizations have to reengineer their processes to ensure that process performance efficiencies are increased. This goal has lead to a recent surge of work on Business Process Reengineering (BPR) and Workflow Management. While a number of excellent papers have appeared on these topics, all of this work assumes that existing (AS-IS) processes are known. However, as is also widely acknowledged, coming up with AS-IS process models is a nontrivial task, that is currently practiced in a very ad-hoc fashion. With this motivation, in this paper, we postulate a number of algorithms to discover, i.e., come up with models of, AS-IS business processes. Such methods have been implemented as tools which can automatically extract AS-IS process models. To the best of our knowledge, no such work exists in the BPR and workflow domain. We back up our theoretical work with a case study that illustrates the applicability of these methods to large real-world problems. We draw on.
Access control with safe role assignment for mobile agents

Mobile agent systems provide new perspectives for distributed e-commerce applications. Sea-of-Data (SoD) applications are those that need to process huge quantities of distributed data. They present specific restrictions, which make mobile agent systems one of the most feasible technologies to implement them. In this paper we propose a mechanism to safely assign roles to mobile agents and an access control method based in Role-based Access Control (RBAC). The access control method provides a simple, lightweight and distributed model for mobile agent applications. It provides a role system implemented with Simple Public Key Infrastructure (SPKI) certificates and uses the authorization model of SPKI for trust management.