Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute diaphragmatic shortening: in vitro mechanics and fatigue.

In acute hyperinflation, the occurrence of diaphragmatic shortening may alter the contractile characteristics and function of the diaphragm. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acute passive diaphragmatic shortening on in vitro mechanical properties and fatigability. Optimal diaphragmatic length (Lo) was defined as being that length at which peak twitch-tension occurred. Acute shortening (85% Lo, 70% Lo) altered the twitch characteristics. At shorter lengths, the time-to-peak tension and the half-relaxation time were significantly reduced (p less than 0.05). These alterations led to marked alterations in the shape of the force-frequency curve at shorter lengths and in the length-tension properties when assessed at different stimulation frequencies. When normalized with respect to maximal tension, a disproportionate decrease in the generated tension was observed at shorter lengths. Fatigability was assessed by repeatedly stimulating the diaphragmatic bundles and observing the drop in tension with respect to time. For a given fatigue regimen, i.e., same stimulation frequency, the shorter diaphragm (70% Lo) generated more absolute force at any given time period. When the initial tensions were matched at Lo and 70% Lo by increasing the stimulation frequency used to fatigue the shorter muscle, the acutely shortened diaphragm generated less absolute force following 60 s of the fatigue regimen. We conclude that alterations in the contractile characteristics of the diaphragm during acute passive shortening are such that a disproportionately greater excitability is required in order to reach a given submaximal tension as at Lo. This factor may partly account for increased diaphragmatic fatiguability in the acutely shortened state.
Critical success factors for implementing lean production: the effect of contingencies

To facilitate the implementation of lean production, practitioners and researchers have suggested an array of critical success factors (CSFs). However, despite a broad consensus about what needs to be done, companies still struggle to implement lean. Contingency theory posits the explanation that the common advice is not universal but is instead contingent on the situation. This paper investigates how contingency variables influence what practitioners see as success factors for implementing lean. A survey asked 432 practitioners from 83 factories belonging to two multinational companies for their opinions about what managers should do to ensure the success of the factory-level implementation of lean production. The survey responses were grouped into general success factors, which were then tested for differences across four contingency variables: corporation, factory size, stage of lean implementation and national culture. In general, the analysis supports a generic list of CSFs, but with some minor exceptions. For example, the stage of lean implementation in a factory influences to a slight extent which factors are perceived as more effectual than others. The paper contributes to the literature on lean production and offers several recommendations for managers striving to implement lean in their firms.
Statistical tools for discovering pseudo-periodicities in biological sequences

Many protein sequences present non trivial periodicities, such as cysteine signatures and leucine heptads. These known periodicities probably represent a small percentage of the total number of sequences periodic structures, and it is useful to have general tools to detect such sequences and their period in large databases of sequences. We compare three statistics adapted from those used in time series analysis: a generalisation of the simple autocovariance based on a similarity score and two statistics intending to increase the power of the method. Theoretical behaviour of these statistics are derived, and the corresponding tests are then described. In this paper we also present an application of these tests to a protein known to have sequence periodicity.
Deducing radiation pressure on a submerged mirror from the Doppler shift

Radiation pressure on a flat mirror submerged in a transparent liquid, depends not only on the refractive index n of the liquid, but also on the phase angle psi_0 of the Fresnel reflection coefficient of the mirror, which could be anywhere between 0^{\circ} and 180^{\circ}. Depending on the value of psi_0, the momentum per incident photon picked up by the mirror covers the range between the Abraham and Minkowski values, i.e., the interval (2\hbarw_0/nc,2n\hbarw_0/c). Here \hbar is the reduced Planck constant, w_0 is the frequency of the incident photon, and c is the speed of light in vacuum. We argue that a simple experimental setup involving a dielectric slab of refractive index n, a vibrating mirror placed a short distance behind the slab, a collimated, monochromatic light beam illuminating the mirror through the slab, and an interferometer to measure the phase of the reflected beam, is all that is needed to deduce the precise magnitude of the radiation pressure on a submerged mirror. In the proposed experiment, the transparent slab plays the role of the submerging liquid (even though it remains detached from the mirror at all times), and the adjustable gap between the mirror and the slab simulates the variable phase-angle psi_0. The phase of the reflected beam, measured as a function of time during one oscillation period of the mirror, then provides the information needed to determine the gap-dependence of the reflected beam's Doppler shift and, consequently, the radiation pressure experienced by the mirror.
Interfaces for Musical Creativity for Non-Experts

Current systems aiming at facilitating and extending musical expression typically rely on concepts that nonmusicians can hardly comprehend. To attract such users, different interaction metaphors laying outside of the musical domain need to be considered. This study is a step towards the definition of a new class of interfaces for musical expression that targets non-musicians and is centered on experience and performance of the users; we analyze the design requirements and present the current development state of our proposed system. Author
Synthesis, Antitubercular and Anticancer Activities of p-nitrophenylethylenediamine-derived Schiff Bases.

BACKGROUND Schiff bases have been greatly studied in biological field due to their wide range of pharmacological activities, such as antitubercular and antitumour. In the search of novel antitubercular agents, several compounds containing pharmacophoric group of ethambutol have been synthesized and evaluated against mycobacteria species causing tuberculosis. In this work, we investigate whether ethylenediamine, Schiff base as well as nitro group together could contribute to the formation of novel molecules with dual biological activities: antitubercular and anticancer. METHODS A series of Schiff bases (3-12) derived from p-nitrophenylethylenediamine (1) as well as N1,N2-bis(4-nitrophenyl)ethane-1,2-diamine (2) were synthetized and assayed for their action against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv strain and the human tumour cell lines SF-295 (glioblastoma multiforme), HCT-116 (colon adenocarcinoma) and OVCAR-8 (ovarian cancer). RESULTS Among the compounds that showed antimycobacterial effects, 4 was more active than ethambutol, the antitubercular drug used as positive control. Also, compounds 1, 8, 10 and 12 were able to reduce strongly the viability of the tumour cell lines at 5 µgmL-1. CONCLUSION According to studies, some modifications on p-nitrophenylethylenediamine (1) were an effective strategy to obtain compounds with antiproliferactive activities. Also, Schiff base 4 proved to be the lead antitubercular compound.
Performance-oriented service management in clouds

Cloud computing has provided the convenience for many IT-related and traditional industries to use feature-rich services to process complex requests. Various services are deployed in the cloud and they interact with each other to deliver the required results. How to effectively manage these services, the number of which is ever increasing, within the cloud has unavoidably become a critical issue for both tenants and service providers of the cloud. In this thesis, we develop the novel resource provision frameworks to determine resources provision for interactive services. Next, we propose the algorithms for mapping Virtual Machines (VMs) to Physical Machines (PMs) under different constraints, aiming to achieve the desired Quality-of-Services (QoS) while optimizing the provisions in both computing resources and communication bandwidth. Finally, job scheduling may become a performance bottleneck itself in such a large scale cloud. In order to address this issue, the distributed job scheduling framework has been proposed in the literature. However, such distributed job scheduling may cause resource conflict among distributed job schedulers due to the fact that individual job schedulers make their job scheduling decisions independently. In this thesis, we investigate the methods for reducing resource conflict. We apply the game theoretical methodology to capture the behaviour of the distributed schedulers in the cloud. The frameworks and methods developed in this thesis have been evaluated with a simulated workload, a large-scale workload trace and a real cloud testbed.
Identification of a cDNA clone specific for the oligodendrocyte‐derived repulsive extracellular matrix molecule J1‐160/180

A cDNA clone specific for the oligodendrocyte‐de‐rived extracellular matrix glycoproteins Jl‐160/180 was obtained from a àZAPII expression library using polyclonal antibodies generated against mouse JI‐160. The library was constructed from poly(A) + ‐RNA isolated from O1 antigen‐positive rat oligodendrocytes. The cDNA clone expressed a fusion protein that was recognized by the J1‐160/180‐specific monoclonal antibodies 596, 619, and 620, and, weakly, 597. The fusion protein was not recognized by polyclonal antibodies to mouse J1/tenascin. The cDNA clone with an insert of approximately 5.6 kb in size contained the nucleotide sequence coding for the amino acid sequence of the N‐terminus of a tryptic peptide derived from mouse J1‐160. The developmental and tissue distribution of the mRNA recognized by the cDNA clone is in agreement with the described expression of the J1‐160/180 proteins.
A new prognostic classification of chronic lymphocytic leukemia derived from a multivariate survival analysis

Survivals of two series of CLL patients (99 from a retrospective series and 196 from a prospective series) were studied separately. The three main staging systems (Rai, Binet, Rundles) agreed well, but as far as survival is concerned, too many stages are defined. The authors performed a Cox multivariate analysis of survival in order to isolate important prognostic factors at diagnosis and to use them to build a simple three‐stage classification. Thrombopenia and anemia appeared as the most important risk factors. Among the nonanemic and nonthrombopenic patients, the number of involved areas was clearly related to prognosis in the authors' two series. This study allowed the authors to propose a new classification in three prognostic groups. Group C: anemia (Hb < 10 g) and/or thrombopenia (platelets < 100,000/mm3); about 15% of the patients; median of 2 years. Group B: no anemia, no thrombopenia, three or more involved areas (counting as one each of the following: axillary, cervical, inguinal, lymph nodes, whether unilateral or bilateral, spleen and liver); about 30% of patients; median of 7 years. Group A: no anemia, no thrombopenia, less than three involved areas; about 55% of patients; the survival of this group does not seem different from that of the French population of the same age and sex distribution. This three‐stage classification only requires clinical examination and routine hemogram, has a good prognostic value which was confirmed on the series of Montserrat and Rozman (146 patients), and should therefore be helpful in planning new clinical trials.
Object recognition by effective methods and means of computer vision

The paper deals with the design and new solutions of application software with the aim to detect and recognize objects sensed by a camera. Objects of the sensed scene were determined and recognized after previous digital processing of data delivered by the camera. To this end the computer vision learning neural-based methods of feature extraction were used. The proposed application software may be used in various applications where the tracking of objects and understanding of a real scene is required. The results obtained will be used for teaching and research at the FEI STU in Bratislava.
Is day care equivalent to inpatient care for active rheumatoid arthritis? Randomised controlled clinical and economic evaluation

Abstract Objective: To test the clinical equivalence and resource consequences of day care with inpatient care for active rheumatoid arthritis. Design: Randomised controlled clinical trial with integrated cost minimisation economic evaluation. Setting: Rheumatic diseases unit at a teaching hospital between 1994 and 1996. Subjects: 118 consecutive patients with active rheumatoid arthritis randomised to receive either day care or inpatient care. Main outcome measures: Clinical assessments recorded on admission, discharge, and follow up at 12 months comprised: the health assessment questionnaire, Ritchie articular index, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, hospital anxiety and depression scale, and Steinbrocker functional class. Resource estimates were of the direct and indirect costs relating to treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Secondary outcome measures (health utility) were ascertained by time trade off and with the quality of well being scale. Results: Both groups had improvement in scores on the health assessment questionnaire and Ritchie index and erythrocyte sedimentation rate after hospital treatment (P<0.0001) but clinical outcome did not differ significantly between the groups either at discharge or follow up. The mean hospital cost per patient for day care, £798 (95% confidence interval £705 to £888), was lower than for inpatient care, £1253 (£1155 to £1370), but this difference was offset by higher community, travel, and readmission costs. The difference in total cost per patient between day care and inpatient care was small (£1789 (£1539 to £2027) v £2021 (£1834 to £2230)). Quantile regression analysis showed a cost difference in favour of day care up to the 50th centile (£374; £639 to £109). Conclusions: Day care and inpatient care for patients with uncomplicated active rheumatoid arthritis have equivalent clinical outcome with a small difference in overall resource cost in favour of day care. The choice of management strategy may depend increasingly on convenience, satisfaction, or more comprehensive health measures reflecting the preferences of patients, providers, and service commissioners.
Selective visual responses to expansion and rotation in the human MT complex revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation

Many neurons in the macaque visual area MSTd are sensitive to the global structure of a pattern of moving dots, responding to optic flow components such as expansion and rotation. Direct evidence for neurons with similar properties in humans has been lacking. We have explored sensitivity to optic flow in the human occipital cortex using an event‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging adaptation paradigm. On each trial, two brief random‐dot kinematograms were presented sequentially. Attention was controlled with a demanding task at fixation. In human MST, the compound response was smaller (indicating adaptation) when the two had the same flow structure than when they were different, suggesting the presence of separate neural populations sensitive to rotation and expansion. Surprisingly, the middle‐temporal (MT) gyrus visual area also showed signs of flow specificity, and even V3A showed weak specificity. In V1, which is expected to respond only to local dot motions, no evidence of flow‐specific neurons was found. The same was true in V2, V3, V3B and V4. Control experiments showed that the results cannot be attributed to adaptation to local translation within the flow pattern, or to attentional effects. Our results clearly demonstrate selective responses to specific optic flow structures in MST, and we tentatively suggest that the human MT and even V3A may show similar properties.
Human autoantibodies with amylolytic activity

Molecular and Radiation Biophysics Division, Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, 188350, Gatchina, St. Petersburg, Russia; tel. : ++ 7 81271 32014, fax: ++ 7 81271 32303, e-mail: neustk@omrb.pnpi. spb.ru Novosibirsk Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Siberian Division of Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia Biophysics Department, St. Petersburg Technical University, St. Petersburg, Russia
Removal of a Protruded Thoracic Disc Using Microsurgical Endoscopy: A New Technique

Study Design The first clinical implementation of a microsurgical endoscope technique for removal of thoracic disc herniation is described. Objective To decompress the spinal cord with a ventral approach, combining microsurgical and endoscopic techniques, while reducing the “approach-related trauma. ” Methods A detailed description of the preoperative preparation as well as the surgical technique is given. Advantages and disadvantages of the microsurgical endoscopic technique are discussed and compared with other surgical procedures described in the literature. Results A herniated disc at T6-T7 was removed and the spinal cord was decompressed. The patient recovered completely and was discharged at the seventh postoperative day. He returned to work 4 weeks later. Conclusions The microsurgical endoscopic technique allows spinal cord decompression with a substantial reduction in surgical trauma. It may shorten bed confinement and allow early return to active life. Application of this technique in other areas is being studied.
Modified Transverse Locking Nail Fixation of Proximal Femoral Fractures

It was hypothesized that transverse locking screws of intramedullary nails, seated above the lesser trochanter, provide equal strength to that of reconstruction nails, and that screws placed through the medial cortex of the femoral neck do not have adverse biomechanical effects during physiologic loading. Synthetic femurs (n = 10) and paired anatomic specimen femurs (n = 14) were tested intact and with an intramedullary device in place. Intact specimens were loaded nondestructively, then a segmental subtrochanteric defect was created and either a high seated transverse locking nail or a reconstruction nail was inserted and statistically locked. Axial and torsional stiffness were determined followed by axial failure testing. Mechanical parameters evaluated were stiffness, displacement, and energy. The implanted specimens did not show any statistically significant difference between transverse or reconstruction screw constructs with any of the measured parameters (stiffness, displacement, and energy). Failure tests in implanted specimens also did not show any statistically significant difference in yield load, yield displacement, or energy to failure between implant constructs. All anatomic specimens failed, with fractures of the proximal fragment involving medial and lateral cortices. Synthetic specimens did not fracture but showed failure with implant deformation at the level of the skeletal defect. The use of high seated transverse locking nails for complex proximal femoral fractures is a viable option and has comparable in vitro mechanical performance with reconstruction nails. Although not shown to be a problem in the present study, clinical evaluation of screws through the medial femoral neck cortex is required.
Learning to Write Stylized Chinese Characters by Reading a Handful of Examples

Automatically writing stylized characters is an attractive yet challenging task, especially for Chinese characters with complex shapes and structures. Most current methods are restricted to generate stylized characters already present in the training set, but required to retrain the model when generating characters of new styles. In this paper, we develop a novel framework of Style-Aware Variational Auto-Encoder (SA-VAE), which disentangles the content-relevant and style-relevant components of a Chinese character feature with a novel intercross pair-wise optimization method. In this case, our method can generate Chinese characters flexibly by reading a few examples. Experiments demonstrate that our method has a powerful one-shot/few-shot generalization ability by inferring the style representation, which is the first attempt to learn to write new-style Chinese characters by observing only one or a few examples.
Iterative Decoding of Differential coded Multiband-OFDM UWB Communication Systems

Compared with coherent detection, the price of not requiring channel state information (CSI) in a noncoherent UWB receiver is an increase of about 3 dB in the required SNR. In order to overcome the gap, a differential encoding and decoding scheme for multiband UWB systems is proposed in this paper. The proposed scheme employs the parallel concatenation of two differential diagonal space-frequency encoders at the transmitter and performs a simple soft decision iterative decoding at the receiver. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can outperform the conventional differential and coherent detection at high SNR with few number of iterations.
A Short Alcohol Withdrawal Scale (SAWS): development and psychometric properties

Abstract The measurement of alcohol withdrawal symptoms is important for the assessment of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome and for the evaluation of the effectiveness of withdrawal treatment interventions. There continues to be a need for an instrument for the measurement of alcohol withdrawal severity which is short, easy to understand (especially by respondents who may feel anxious, confused or physically ill) and easy to administer (for example, within clinical services with limited time and resources). This paper describes the development and psychometric properties of the 10‐item Short AlcoholWithdrawal Scale. The SAWS includes five items which represent psychological symptoms (anxious, confused, restless, miserable, memory problems) which accounted for 47% of the variance. A further five items represent physical symptoms (tremor, nausea, heart pounding, sleep disturbance, sweating) and accounted for 11% of the variance. The procedures leading to the development of the scale are described and results are presented showing that the SAWS has high internal consistency, and good construct and concurrent validity.
The family of K2P channels: salient structural and functional properties

Potassium channels participate in many biological functions, from ion homeostasis to generation and modulation of the electrical membrane potential. They are involved in a large variety of diseases. In the human genome, 15 genes code for K+ channels with two pore domains (K2P). These channels form dimers of pore‐forming subunits that produce background conductances finely regulated by a range of natural and chemical effectors, including signalling lipids, temperature, pressure, pH, antidepressants and volatile anaesthetics. Since the cloning of TWIK1, the prototypical member of this family, a lot of work has been carried out on their structure and biology. These studies are still in progress, but data gathered so far show that K2P channels are central players in many processes, including ion homeostasis, hormone secretion, cell development and excitability. A growing number of studies underline their implication in physiopathological mechanisms, such as vascular and pulmonary hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, nociception, neuroprotection and depression. This review gives a synthetic view of the most noticeable features of these channels.