Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Growing Old With Fibromyalgia: Factors That Predict Physical Function

Background:Fibromyalgia, a persistent, widespread pain condition, significantly limits physical function, threatening an older adult’s health and ability to live independently. Objectives:The aim of the study was to identify predictors of physical function in older adults living with fibromyalgia and to examine the influence of resilience on the relationship between fibromyalgia pain and physical function. Methods:This was a descriptive correlational, cross-sectional design using mailed questionnaires to analyze relationships between health-related variables and physical function in a convenience sample of community-dwelling older adults diagnosed with fibromyalgia (n = 224; age M = 62.1 years, SD = 6.75 years). Multiple regression was used to identify a priori predictors of physical function; hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine resilience as a moderator of pain and physical function. Results:The sample was predominantly women, Caucasian, married, well educated, had moderate levels of income and tangible social support, and had low levels of physical function. Three-fourths were overweight or obese. Despite impaired physical function (Late Life Function and Disability Index, M = 51.5/100, SD = 9) and moderate levels of pain (Numeric Rating Scale, M = 5.47/10, SD = 2.6), resilience was moderately high (Resilience Scale, M = 137/175, SD = 20). An eight-variable disablement-based model accounted for 48% of variance in physical function: age, income, education, depressive symptoms, body mass index, and physical activity accounted for 31%; pain added 14%; and resilience contributed an additional 3%. Resilience was not a moderator of fibromyalgia pain and physical function; resilience did contribute uniquely to physical function variance. Discussion:Resilience, a novel variable in fibromyalgia research, was a unique predictor of physical function. Further research is needed to learn more about the relationships between resilience, fibromyalgia impact, and the aging process.
Retrieving leaf area index for coniferous forest in Xingguo County , China with Landsat ETM + images

Spatial distributions of the leaf area index (LAI) needed for carbon cycle modeling in Xingguo County, China were estimated based on correlations between the field-measurements and vegetation indices (VIs). After making geometric and atmospheric corrections to two Landsat ETM+ images, one in January 2000 and the other in May 2003, three VIs (SR, NDVI, and RSR) were derived, and their separate correlations with ground LAI measurements were established. The correlation with RSR was the highest among the three VIs. The retrieved LAI values for January 2000 were lower than those for May 2003 because of a small seasonal variation in the coniferous forests (predominantly masson pine) and the decrease in the understorey vegetation during winter. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Toward automatic adjustment of pointing device configuration to accommodate physical impairment

Purpose. Software was developed which makes recommendations regarding configuration of a computer pointing device, such as a mouse, to accommodate a person's physical impairment. Specifically, a software agent automatically recommends a setting for the computer's control-display gain based on observations of a user's performance in a target selection task. Method. The software agent makes its recommendations based on available adjustment settings in the existing operating system. The agent was evaluated in studies with 12 participants who have motor impairments. Results. The agent-selected gain was not associated with significant improvements in selection time or error-free performance compared with the operating system's default gain. Across participants and trials, gain did not have a significant effect on selection time except at the lowest gain settings tested. However, two participants did have notable and consistent improvement in selection time and error-free performance using the agent-selected gain; gain across trials had a significant effect on number of target entries and number of submovements; and a post-hoc analysis indicated improved target selection time when varying both target size and control-display gain. Conclusion. These observations provide possible avenues for future work, although the current study indicates that changes to control-display gain, alone, are unlikely to offer improvements in speed or accuracy for the general population of people with motor impairments.
An automated method for measuring static pressure–volume curves of the respiratory system and its application in healthy lungs and after lung damage by oleic acid infusion

Elastic pressure/volume (PV) curves of the respiratory system have attracted increasing interest, because they may be helpful to optimize ventilator settings in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation. Clinically applicable methods need to be fast, use routinely available equipment, draw the inspiratory and expiratory PV curve limbs, separate the resistive and viscoelastic properties of the respiratory system from the elastic properties, and provide reproducible measurements. This paper presents a computer-controlled method for rapid measurements of static PV curves using a long inflation–deflation with pauses, and its evaluation in six pigs before and after lung damage caused by oleic acid. The method is fast, i.e. 20.5 ± 1.9 s (mean ± SD) in healthy lungs and 17.7 ± 4.1 s in diseased lungs, this including inspiratory and expiratory pauses of 1.1 s duration. In addition the only equipment used was a clinical ventilator and a PC. For healthy and damaged lungs expiratory PV curve limbs were very reproducible and were at higher volume than the inspiratory limbs, indicating hysteresis. For damaged lungs inspiratory PV limbs were reproducible. For healthy lungs the inspiratory limbs were reproducible but only after the first inflation–deflation. It is possible that during the first inflation alveoli are recruited which are not derecruited on deflation, shifting the inspiratory limb of the PV curve. The paused long inflation–deflation technique provides a quick, automated measurement of static PV curves on both inspiratory and expiratory limbs using routinely available equipment in the intensive care unit.
Long-Term Visual Training Increases Visual Acuity and Long-Term Monocular Deprivation Promotes Ocular Dominance Plasticity in Adult Standard Cage-Raised Mice

Abstract For routine behavioral tasks, mice predominantly rely on olfactory cues and tactile information. In contrast, their visual capabilities appear rather restricted, raising the question whether they can improve if vision gets more behaviorally relevant. We therefore performed long-term training using the visual water task (VWT): adult standard cage (SC)-raised mice were trained to swim toward a rewarded grating stimulus so that using visual information avoided excessive swimming toward nonrewarded stimuli. Indeed, and in contrast to old mice raised in a generally enriched environment (Greifzu et al., 2016), long-term VWT training increased visual acuity (VA) on average by more than 30% to 0.82 cycles per degree (cyc/deg). In an individual animal, VA even increased to 1.49 cyc/deg, i.e., beyond the rat range of VAs. Since visual experience enhances the spatial frequency threshold of the optomotor (OPT) reflex of the open eye after monocular deprivation (MD), we also quantified monocular vision after VWT training. Monocular VA did not increase reliably, and eye reopening did not initiate a decline to pre-MD values as observed by optomotry; VA values rather increased by continued VWT training. Thus, optomotry and VWT measure different parameters of mouse spatial vision. Finally, we tested whether long-term MD induced ocular dominance (OD) plasticity in the visual cortex of adult [postnatal day (P)162–P182] SC-raised mice. This was indeed the case: 40–50 days of MD induced OD shifts toward the open eye in both VWT-trained and, surprisingly, also in age-matched mice without VWT training. These data indicate that (1) long-term VWT training increases adult mouse VA, and (2) long-term MD induces OD shifts also in adult SC-raised mice.
Measurement of Interleukin 3 and Other Hematopoietic Cytokines, such as GM‐CSF, G‐CSF, M‐CSF, Erythropoietin, Steel Factor, and Flt‐3 Ligand

Detection and quantitation of IL‐3 and other hematopoietic cytokines in serum samples and culture supernatants has played an important role in understanding their function and pleiotropic properties during the process of hematopoiesis. Several methods for detecting and quantitating cytokines—such as the colony‐stimulating factors granulocyte/macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF), granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (G‐CSF), macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (M‐CSF, also called CSF‐1), interleukin 3 (IL‐3), and erythropoietin (Epo), as well as two potent costimulating cytokines steel factor (SLF) and Flt3/Flk‐2 ligand (Flt3‐L)—are described in this unit.
Trends in the incidence of ischaemic stroke in young adults between 1985 and 2011: the Dijon Stroke Registry

Background Recent data have suggested that stroke incidence in young people may be rising. In this population-based study, we aimed to determine whether the incidence of stroke in people aged <55 years old had changed over the last three decades. Methods All cases of first-ever stroke (ischaemic stroke, spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage, and undetermined stroke) occurring in Dijon, France, from 1985 to 2011 were prospectively collected from a population-based registry. Incidence rates were calculated and temporal trends were analysed by age groups and stroke subtypes using a Poisson regression to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRR). Risk factors and premorbid treatments were analysed. Results Over the 27-year study period, 4506 patients were recorded (53% women, mean age 74.6±14.4, 10.1% aged <55 years). An increase in overall stroke incidence was noted, as was a rise in ischaemic stroke in individuals aged <55 years (IRR 1.308; 95% CI 0.982 to 1.741, p=0.066 for period 1994–2002 vs period 1985–1993, and IRR 1.697; 95% CI 1.340 to 2.150, p<0.001 for period 2003–2011 vs period 1994–2002), which was consistent for men and women. In these young patients, smoking was the most frequent risk factor (43%). Conclusions Multiple factors may account for the increased incidence of ischaemic stroke in people aged <55 years including changes in vascular risk factors, better awareness of the disease and treatment options in the population and among practitioners leading to more frequent referrals for specialised care, and improvements in stroke diagnosis. Stroke prevention must be encouraged even in young adults.
Nonlinear Magnetic Levitation System Modelling and Switched Control

—This paper investigates the dynamic model of a nonlinear magnetic levitation system and its precise control using robust control technique. In this study, a magnetic levitation system model is first identified using piecewise linearization technique and numerical computation. Then a robust controller which could stand up to 50% displacement around the operating area is designed and investigated in simulation. Then this technique is extended to the whole range operation, using switched controller techniques. Finally, the performance of the designed controller was evaluated both in simulation and experiments. The results showed that the performance is consistently better off comparing with that of a traditional PID controller.
Flexible alarm calling in meerkats: the role of the social environment and predation urgency

Flexible vocal production has been demonstrated in several vertebrate species, with much work focusing on the role of the social "audience" in explaining variation in call production. It is, however, likely that the decision to call is an emergent property of both external and internal factors, and the extent to which these factors are integrated has been little investigated. We addressed this question by examining the production of alarm calls in wild male meerkats (Suricata suricatta) in different social environments and different predator-encounter contexts. Males searching for reproductive opportunities (rovers) were followed 1) in their home group and when prospecting either 2) solitarily or 3) in a coalition with other males. Results showed that conspecific presence influenced the production of flee-alarm and recruitment calls. Solitary rovers were less likely to produce flee-alarm calls compared with when they are with conspecifics, whether coalitionary rovers or the rover’s home group. Experimentally elicited recruitment calls were also produced less when males were solitary than when in their home group. Bark vocalizations, emitted when meerkats were safe, were always produced irrespective of conspecific presence, indicating that these calls function to address predators. The probability of producing flee alarms also increased with the urgency of the predation event. Our results indicate that variation in alarm call production depends on whom the call is addressed to and also on the motivational state of the caller. We argue that neglecting to integrate internal and external factors when elucidating mechanisms underlying vocal production can potentially lead to misguided, parsimonious conclusions regarding vocal flexibility in animals.
A Model of the Probability Distribution of the Signal-to-Noise Ratio Estimated from BER Measurements

For additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels, first we show that the conditional probability distribution of the symbol error ratio (BER), in n transmitted symbols, can be modeled as lognormal in BPSK, QPSK and QAM transmission schemes, for a given average probability of symbol error p, and then we show that the channel signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), conditioned to p, can be modeled as a Gaussian random variable, as long as p<<1, n>>1, np>=1000. The theoretical results could be useful in assessing bounds to the estimated SNR in terrestrial, satellite or deep-space AWGN channels. Moreover, from the estimated SNR, it should be possible to estimate the fading due to slow tropospheric phenomena, such as rain, water vapor, oxygen attenuation.
Local Control of Postinhibitory Rebound Spiking in CA1 Pyramidal Neuron Dendrites

Postinhibitory rebound spiking is characteristic of several neuron types and brain regions, where it sustains spontaneous activity and central pattern generation. However, rebound spikes are rarely observed in the principal cells of the hippocampus under physiological conditions. We report that CA1 pyramidal neurons support rebound spikes mediated by hyperpolarization-activated inward current (Ih), and normally masked by A-type potassium channels (KA). In both experiments and computational models, KA blockage or reduction consistently resulted in a somatic action potential upon release from hyperpolarizing injections in the soma or main apical dendrite. Rebound spiking was systematically abolished by the additional blockage or reduction of Ih. Since the density of both KA and Ih increases in these cells with the distance from the soma, such “latent” mechanism may be most effective in the distal dendrites, which are targeted by a variety of GABAergic interneurons. Detailed computer simulations, validated against the experimental data, demonstrate that rebound spiking can result from activation of distal inhibitory synapses. In particular, partial KA reduction confined to one or few branches of the apical tuft may be sufficient to elicit a local spike following a train of synaptic inhibition. Moreover, the spatial extent and amount of KA reduction determines whether the dendritic spike propagates to the soma. These data suggest that the plastic regulation of KA can provide a dynamic switch to unmask postinhibitory spiking in CA1 pyramidal neurons. This newly discovered local modulation of postinhibitory spiking further increases the signal processing power of the CA1 synaptic microcircuitry.
THE QUANTITATIVE HISTOCHEMISTRY OF THE SYMPATHOADRENAL SYSTEM I. ENZYMES OF GLYCOLYSIS

Quantitative histochemical methods were used to measure the activities of four glycolytic enzymes, hexokinase (HE), phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI), phosphofructokinase (PFK) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH), in sympathetic ganglion, adrenal medulla, dorsal root ganglion and cerebellar granular layer. Based upon HIK activity the capacity of the glycolytic pathway in sympathetic ganglion and cerebellar granular layer is 2-2.5 times greater than in adrenal medulla or dorsal root ganglion. Direct regulation of glycolysis probably occurs at the HK and PFK steps in all four tissues. Indirect regulation may possibly be mediated through LDH in sympathetic ganglion.
Political Monetary Cycles Under Alternative Institutions: The Independent Treasury and the Federal Reserve

The theory of opportunistic political business cycles predicts incumbent politicians will alter their economic policies to spur short-run growth to attract additional votes for the upcoming election. There has not been much emphasis on the possibility of historical political business cycles prior to the Keynesian Revolution. No study has yet undertaken a systematic approach to testing for policy cycles during this period. Our study will bridge this gap by considering cycles in monetary policy for the periods of 1879-1914 until the start of Fed operations, and 1914-1932 until abandonment of the gold standard. To properly test for political cycles, it is necessary to develop reaction functions for the Treasury and compare against the reaction function later held by the Fed. This also reveals that creation of an independent monetary authority to be insulated from political pressures changed the manner in which policy was directed, aside from political issues. The evidence is not consistent, however, with monetary cycles closely tied to electoral concerns. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.
Heterogeneous wireless network RAT selection with multiple operators and service contracts

Heterogeneous wireless network (HWNs) often consider a single operator. This work proposes that HWN research should consider multiple operators and the economic agreements between the operators and the users when considering performance. The paper makes several contributions. First, the reasons for conducting HWN research in the context of multiple operators and economic models are outlined. Particularly, this discussion occurs with radio access technology (RAT) selection in mind. Next, a simulation tool which has been designed to explore the complexities of these models is discussed. Third, three simple RAT selection techniques are evaluated and discussed. The limitations of the simple techniques are discussed and potential improvements are outlined in detail.
Development of an Amplified Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Sensitive Measurement of Apolipoprotein B in Plasma and Tissue Culture Media

We have developed a non-competitive sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the quantitation of apolipoprotein B, which utilizes the biotin-avidin amplification system. All components were optimized with respect to either concentration or incubation time. The assay uses microtitre wells as a solid phase and polyclonal, affinity-purified capture antibody. The amplification system was composed of hydroxy-succinimide biotin conjugated to an affinity-purified anti-apolipoprotein B IgG and either ExtrAvidin-alkaline phosphatase or streptavidin-alkaline phosphatase. The within-run precision (n = 10) of the apolipoprotein B control (1.39 g/l) was 3%, while the between-run precision of the assay (n = 6) for 9 consecutive assays was determined to be 8%. A sensitivity of 3 ng was attained, with a mean analytical recovery of 110%. Comparison of the assay with an established immunoturbidometric method resulted in a correlation of 0.92 using patient plasma samples (n = 19). The use of the biotin-avidin amplification system provides the sensitivity required for measuring apolipoprotein B in tissue culture media samples and circumvents the many problems associated with the direct conjugation of enzymes to antibodies. Minimal amounts of reagents are required and the assay can be performed in 5 h, making it both economical and practical for clinical laboratories.
A Rolling Grey Model Optimized by Particle Swarm Optimization in Economic Prediction

Grey system theory has been widely used to forecast the economic data that are often nonlinear, irregular, and nonstationary. Current forecasting models based on grey system theory could adapt to various economic time series data. However, these models ignored the importance of the model parameter optimization and the use of recent data, which lead to poor forecasting accuracy. In this article, we propose a novel forecasting model, called particle swarm optimization rolling grey model (PSO‐RGM(1,1)), based on a rolling mechanism GM with optimized parameters by using the particle swarm optimization algorithm. The simple model is shown to be very effective in forecasting the tertiary industry data sequences, which are short and noisy but regular in secular trend. The experimental results show that PSO‐RGM(1,1) outperforms other commonly used forecasting models on three real economic data sets. Our empirical study shows that PSO is found to be the best overall algorithm to optimize the parameter of RGM compared with other well‐known metaheuristics. Furthermore, we evaluated other variant PSOs and found that single particle PSO outperforms others overall in terms of prediction accuracy, convergence speed, and degree of certainty.
The dispersion diagram used for periodic patterned microstrip antenna analysis

Antennas are a key element in the wireless communication world of today, however, the significant disadvantage of microstrip antennas is its low bandwidth. In this work a microstrip planar antenna with enhanced bandwidth has been discussed. This antenna can be treated as an Ultra Wide Band (UWB) microstrip antenna due to the obtained frequency range of 12.9 GHz. The enhancement derives mainly from the structure with repetitive periodic pattern applied to the antenna. The unit cell composing the periodic pattern of the antenna was simulated to verify their dispersion characteristics. The dispersion diagram showed that the phase velocity and the group velocity are in opposite direction, which means that a medium loaded with an array made of repetition of the unit cells, supports left-handed waves (backward waves). From these findings, we conclude that the antenna has metamaterial property.
License Plate Automatic Recognition Model based on PCA-SVM

License plate recognition is one of the important research topic in computer vision, image processing and pattern recognition technology in the field of intelligent transportation applications. It is an important part of the intelligent traffic management, project management of highways, urban transport and parking and plays a decisive role. In order to increase the license plate recognition precisions, this paper proposes a license plate automatic recognition model (PCA-SVM) which combines principal component analysis and Support Vector Machine. First, the structural features and image grey features, such as license plate outline and strokes orders are extracted; then, the principal component analysis fuses the two types of features, reduces the dimensions and removes redundancy. Finally, Support Vector Machine is applied to establish structural feature recognition model and grey feature recognition model and final recognition results are evaluated by high confidence discrimination rules. The simulation results illustrate PCA-SVM can increase the license plate recognition precisions, and the recognition speed is fast. It can be applied in practical license plate recognition.