Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new type of personal questionnaire technique.

Shapiro has developed a method of constructing a questionnaire for an individual psychiatric patient, which gives a relatively coarse scaling of fluctuations in a fairly large number of his own symptoms, expressed in his own words, and calibrated by himself. It has been pointed out that this is only one member of a general class of such techniques: the present paper describes another, suitable for obtaining relatively precise (interval) scalings of a fairly small number of symptoms. For each symptom (i) statements are derived, in consultation with the patient, representing graded levels of its possible intensity and (ii) optionally, a preliminary scaling of this set of statements may be obtained by the patient's making paired comparison judgements of the differences between these levels. Then (iii) on each occasion when a scaling of the current level of the symptom is required, the patient makes paired comparison judgements of the difference between it and each of the statements in turn (an estimate of the level on each such occasion being given by the average of these judgements). After all the data have been collected the significance of changes in the level of the symptom is assessed by means of a final analysis of variance, which also checks the preliminary scaling of statements and tests for systematic inconsistencies in the patient's responses. ALGOL 60 programs to check, analyse and graph the results are reported, and a clinical example presented, together with supplementary statistical analyses to answer further questions of clinical relevance which typically arise.
A modulatory role of the Rax homeobox gene in mature pineal gland function: Investigating the photoneuroendocrine circadian system of a Rax conditional knockout mouse

The retinal and anterior neural fold homeobox gene (Rax) controls development of the eye and the forebrain. Postnatal expression of Rax in the brain is restricted to the pineal gland, a forebrain structure devoted to melatonin synthesis. The role of Rax in pineal function is unknown. In order to investigate the role of Rax in pineal function while circumventing forebrain abnormalities of the global Rax knockout, we generated an eye and pineal‐specific Rax conditional knockout mouse. Deletion of Rax in the pineal gland did not affect morphology of the gland, suggesting that Rax is not essential for pineal gland development. In contrast, deletion of Rax in the eye generated an anophthalmic phenotype. In addition to the loss of central visual pathways, the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus housing the circadian clock was absent, indicating that the retinohypothalamic tract is required for the nucleus to develop. Telemetric analyses confirmed the lack of a functional circadian clock. Arylalkylamine N‐acetyltransferase (Aanat) transcripts, encoding the melatonin rhythm‐generating enzyme, were undetectable in the pineal gland of the Rax conditional knockout under normal conditions, whereas the paired box 6 homeobox gene, known to regulate pineal development, was up‐regulated. By injecting isoproterenol, which mimics a nocturnal situation in the pineal gland, we were able to induce pineal expression of Aanat in the Rax conditional knockout mouse, but Aanat transcript levels were significantly lower than those of Rax‐proficient mice. Our data suggest that Rax controls pineal gene expression and via Aanat may modulate melatonin synthesis.
Stakeholders and the reform of the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy: the institutionalisation of a consultation culture?

The European Union's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has recently undergone a dramatic process of reinvention, or so it would seem. In the two decades, or thereabouts, of its existence much criticism has been levelled at the CFP for its failure to effectively keep pace with changing social, economic and, more particularly, environmental circumstances. A key flaw,identified as contributing to this failure of the policy, was the highly centralised, top-down and coercive nature of the CFP. The recent reform process sought to counter these criticisms by conducting a consultation exercise with fisheries stakeholders regarding the content of the reform package. Informed by insights into stakeholders' perceptions of European management of fisheries gathered through our own consultation conducted in the UK and the Netherlands, this paper applies theoretical conceptualisations of 'stakeholders; and the relationships between them, to the empirical context of the reform of the CFP. Our discussion of the power dynamics between stakeholder groups suggests that the institutionalisation of a consultation culture, via provisions made for Regional Advisory Councils, has not overcome prevailing norms in the CFP.
Bayesian Finite Markov Mixture Model for Temporal Multi‐Tissue Polygenic Patterns

Finite mixture models can provide the insights about behavioral patterns as a source of heterogeneity of the various dynamics of time course gene expression data by reducing the high dimensionality and making clear the major components of the underlying structure of the data in terms of the unobservable latent variables. The latent structure of the dynamic transition process of gene expression changes over time can be represented by Markov processes. This paper addresses key problems in the analysis of large gene expression data sets that describe systemic temporal response cascades and dynamic changes to therapeutic doses in multiple tissues, such as liver, skeletal muscle, and kidney from the same animals. Bayesian Finite Markov Mixture Model with a Dirichlet Prior is developed for the identifications of differentially expressed time related genes and dynamic clusters. Deviance information criterion is applied to determine the number of components for model comparisons and selections. The proposed Bayesian models are applied to multiple tissue polygenetic temporal gene expression data and compared to a Bayesian model‐based clustering method, named CAGED. Results show that our proposed Bayesian Finite Markov Mixture model can well capture the dynamic changes and patterns for irregular complex temporal data (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Developing empirical correlations for frost thickness and air face velocity degradation for microchannel heat exchangers used in heat pump applications under frosting conditions

This study experimentally investigated the frost growth on louvered folded fins in outdoor microchannel heat exchangers used in air-source heat pump systems. The effects of surface temperature and fin geometries on the performance of the microchannel heat exchangers under frosting condition were studied. Seven fin samples with various fin widths, fin heights, and fin densities and a louver angle of approximately 30° were tested in controlled laboratory conditions that replicated those of actual heat pump systems in the winter season. The fin surface temperature was experimentally measured with the novel methodology developed in the present study. Experimental data of local frost thickness, air pressure drop across the coils, time of frost–defrost cycles, and heat transfer rates were recorded for heat exchangers operating in actual transient frosting conditions. Data showed that frosting time and frost growth rates depended mainly on the local fin surface temperature. A set of empirical correlations were developed to predict the frost thickness on the fin leading edge and the reduction of air face velocity due to air pressure drop across the frosted coil during frosting operation. The correlations were compared against experimental data of frost collected in the present study, and satisfactory agreement was achieved. The frost thickness correlation and air face velocity correlations aid in the calculation of the instantaneous air-side Reynolds numbers during frosting operation of the fin samples. These are critical for predicting the heat transfer rates of the microchannel coils in quasi-steady-state frosting operating conditions.
Human erythrocytes as nanoparticle carriers for magnetic particle imaging

The potential of red blood cells (RBCs) loaded with iron oxide nanoparticles as a tracer material for magnetic particle imaging (MPI) has been investigated. MPI is an emerging, quantitative medical imaging modality which holds promise in terms of sensitivity in combination with spatial and temporal resolution. Steady-state and dynamic magnetization measurements, supported by semi-empirical modeling, were employed to analyze the MPI signal generation using RBCs as novel biomimetic constructs. Since the superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) bulk material that is used in this study contains nanoparticles with different sizes, it is suggested that during the RBC loading procedure, a preferential entrapment of nanoparticles with hydrodynamic diameter ⩽60 nm occurs by size-selection through the erythrocyte membrane pores. This affects the MPI signal of an erythrocyte-based tracer, compared to bulk. The reduced signal is counterbalanced by a higher in vivo stability of the SPIO-loaded RBCs constructs for MPI applications.
How Do Others ’ Behavior Influence Payments in Consumer Elective Pricing ?

Social behavior is heavily influenced by the perception of the behaviors of others. We considered how perceptions (and misperceptions) of kindness can increase generosity in economic transactions. We investigated how these perceptions can alter behavior in a novel real-life situation that pitted kindness against selfishness. That situation, consumer elective pricing, is defined by an economic transaction allowing people to purchase goods or services for any price (including zero). Field and lab experiments compared how people behave in 2 financially identical circumstances: pay-what-you-want (in which people are ostensibly paying for themselves) and pay-it-forward (in which people are ostensibly paying on behalf of someone else). In 4 field experiments, people paid more under pay-it-forward than pay-what-you-want (Studies 1–4). Four subsequent lab studies assessed whether the salience of others explains the increased payments (Study 5), whether ability to justify lowered payments (Study 6), and whether the manipulation was operating through changing the perceptions of others (Studies 7 and 8). When people rely on ambiguous perceptions, pay-it-forward leads to overestimating the kindness of others and a corresponding increase in personal payment. When those perceptions are replaced with explicit descriptive norms (i.e., others’ payment amounts), that effect is eliminated. Finally, subsequent studies confirmed that the effects were not driven by participant confusion (Studies 9A and 9B) and not limited by the specificity of the referent other in the pay-it-forward framing (Study 9C).
Continuous Adaptation in Robotic Systems by Indirect Online Evolution

A conceptual framework for online evolution in robotic systems called indirect online evolution (IDOE) is presented. A model specie automatically infers models of a hidden physical system by the use of gene expression programming (GEP). A parameter specie simultaneously optimizes the parameters of the inferred models according to a specified target vector. Training vectors required for modelling are automatically provided online by the interplay between the two coevolving species and the physical system. At every generation, only the estimated fittest individual of the parameter specie is executed on the physical system. This approach thus limits both the evaluation time, the wear out and the potential hazards normally associated with direct online evolution (DOE) where every individual has to be evaluated on the physical system. Additionally, the approach enables continuous system identification and adaptation during normal operation. Features of IDOE are illustrated by inferring models of a simplified, robotic arm, and further optimizing the parameters of the system according to a target position of the end effector. Simulated experiments indicate that the fitness of the IDOE approach is generally higher than the average fitness of DOE.
A new approach to construction of nearly uniform designs

The uniform design is one of space filling designs and has been widely used in computer and industrial experiments. Many methods for construction of uniform designs or nearly uniform designs, such as the glp method, optimisation method etc., have been proposed. A nearly uniform design is a design with low-discrepancy, where the discrepancy is a measure of uniformity. Various discrepancies have been suggested. To find a uniform design for n runs and s factors under a given discrepancy is a NP hard problem in the sense of computation complexity when n → ∞ and s > 1. In this paper, we propose a new method, called the cutting method, for construction of nearly uniform designs. It shows that the computation load of the new method is light and designs obtained by the new approach have better uniformity.
Determinants of Health‐Promoting Lifestyle Behaviors in Rural Older Women

The purpose of this study was to: (a) describe the health-promoting lifestyle behaviors and attempts at change among 102 community-dwelling rural women aged 65 and older, and (b) determine the extent to which personal influences (demographics, definition of health, and perceived health status) and contextual influences (sources of health information and provider counseling) explain health-promoting lifestyle behaviors and attempts at change among those women. They scored highest on frequency of nutrition behaviors and lowest on frequency of physical activity behaviors. They had attempted change in from zero to five areas of health-promoting lifestyle within the past year. Multiple regression analyses revealed that younger age, living with other(s), defining health as wellness, better perceived mental health, more sources of health information and provider counseling were significantly associated with health-promoting lifestyle behaviors. Only younger age and more sources of health information were significantly associated with attempts at change. These findings provide information that is relevant in designing interventions to enhance health-promoting lifestyle behaviors among rural older women.
Modeling and control of grid-connected photovoltaic energy conversion system used as a dispersed generator

This paper proposes a detailed mathematical model and a multi-level control scheme of a three-phase grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system used as a dispersed generator, including the PV array and the electronic power conditioning (PCS) system, based on the Matlab/Simulink software. The model of the PV array proposed uses theoretical and empirical equations together with data provided by the manufacturer, solar radiation and cell temperature among others variables, in order to accurately predict the current-voltage curve. The PCS utilizes a two-stage energy conversion system topology that meets all the requirement of high quality electric power, flexibility and reliability imposed for applications of modern distributed energy resources (DER). The control approach incorporates a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) for dynamic active power generation jointly with reactive power compensation of the distribution power system. Validation of simulation results has been carried out by using a 250 Wp PV experimental set-up.
An unexpected role for the yeast nucleotide exchange factor Sil1 as a reductant acting on the molecular chaperone BiP

Unfavorable redox conditions in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) can decrease the capacity for protein secretion, altering vital cell functions. While systems to manage reductive stress are well-established, how cells cope with an overly oxidizing ER remains largely undefined. In previous work (Wang et al., 2014), we demonstrated that the chaperone BiP is a sensor of overly oxidizing ER conditions. We showed that modification of a conserved BiP cysteine during stress beneficially alters BiP chaperone activity to cope with suboptimal folding conditions. How this cysteine is reduced to reestablish 'normal' BiP activity post-oxidative stress has remained unknown. Here we demonstrate that BiP's nucleotide exchange factor – Sil1 – can reverse BiP cysteine oxidation. This previously unexpected reductant capacity for yeast Sil1 has potential implications for the human ataxia Marinesco-Sjögren syndrome, where it is interesting to speculate that a disruption in ER redox-signaling (due to genetic defects in SIL1) may influence disease pathology. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.24141. 001
Human Detection and Tracking under Complex Activities

Multiple-target tracking is a challenging question when dealing with complex activities. Situations like partial occlusions in grouping events or sudden target orientation changes introduce complexity in the detection which is difficult to solve. In particular, when dealing with human beings, often the head is the only visible part. Techniques based in upper body achieve good results in general, but fail to provide a good tracking accuracy in the kind of situations mentioned before. We present a new methodology for provide a full tracking system under complex activities. A combination of three different techniques is used to overcome the problems mentioned before. Experimental results in sport sequences show both the speed and performance of this
Chemiluminescent Quantitative Immunohistochemical p16INK4A Localization as a Marker for Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasias

A quantitative evaluation of p16INK4A overexpression together with its topographical localization in the epithelium of cervical biopsies from non-neoplastic lesions and cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN 1, 2, and 3) was obtained by the development of an objective and sensitive immunohistochemical assay with chemiluminescent detection (CL IHC assay). The cervical biopsy samples were also checked for the presence of human papillomavirus nucleic acids. The quantitative evaluation of p16INK4A expression was performed by combining 2 parameters: (1) intensity of the chemiluminescent-positive signal in the epithelium and (2) percentage of epithelium interested by the overexpression of p16INK4A, to obtain a p16INK4A expression score. A cut-off value was determined by using the receiver-operator characteristic analysis to distinguish between low-grade and high-grade CIN. Quantitative data showed that both p16INK4A expression parameters increased with worsening grades of CIN and, when combined to obtain the p16INK4A expression score, they showed a sharp discrimination among different lesions. The differences between the average p16INK4A score of CIN1 versus CIN2 (0.57 versus 1.05), of CIN1 versus CIN3 (0.57 versus 1.31) and of CIN1 versus CIN2/3 (0.57 versus 1.20) were statistically significant. The quantitative evaluation of p16INK4A expression by CL IHC assay could be therefore an interesting adjuvant method to distinguish different CIN grades and to predict the risk of progression of early CIN lesions.
Control System Design for Height Measurement of BGA Balls Based on Timed Automata

This paper presents a model, based on timed automata (TA), of a real-time control system to measure the heights of solder balls of ball grid arrays (BGAs) on a printed circuit board and to determine whether the BGAs pass the height inspection routine. The TA model is actually a network of five TA, namely User, Controller, Motion, Camera, and Light, synchronized through user-defined channels. The dynamics of system components are simplified by a time delay which can be determined through experiments or roughly by experience. The simulation and verification in UPPAAL show that the model works fine without deadlock, and procedures after user operations demonstrate proper timely cooperation among the automata. The main design of hardware and software for the control system based on the model is also given in this paper, which has been successfully implemented in our laboratory.
Monitoring open‐ocean deep convection from space

Deep convection (DC) is a key‐process of the oceanic circulation, costly to monitor in situ and under the influence of climate change. Our study is a first step toward monitoring DC from space: we investigate the feasibility of observing its variability using improved satellite altimetry. An oceanic simulation of the Mediterranean circulation was performed for the 1999–2007 period. DC interannual variability is realistically modelled, and the sea surface elevation (SSE) is in agreement with altimetry data. Numerical results show a strong correlation between the annual DC characteristics and the winter SSE. From that, we propose a method to monitor DC interannual variability and long term evolution using altimetry data. Our method, applied to the longest available altimetry series, represents correctly the interannual variability of DC in the Northwestern Mediterranean between 1994 and 2007.
Fatty Acid Metabolism during Maturation Affects Glucose Uptake and is Essential to 1 Oocyte Competence

15 Fatty acid oxidation (FAO) is essential for oocyte maturation in mice. The objective of this 16 experiment was to determine the effect of etomoxir (a FAO inhibitor; 100 μM), carnitine (1 17 mM), and palmitic acid (1 or 100 μM) during maturation on metabolism and gene expression of 18 the oocyte and cumulus cells, and subsequent embryo development in the mouse. Carnitine 19 significantly increased embryo development, while there was a decrease in development 20 following maturation with 100 μM palmitic acid or etomoxir (P<0.05). Glucose consumption 21 per cumulus-oocyte-complex (COC) was decreased after treatment with carnitine and increased 22 following etomoxir treatment (P<0.05). Intracellular oocyte lipid content was decreased after 23 carnitine or etomoxir exposure (P<0.05). Abundance of Glut1 was increased after etomoxir 24 treatment in the oocyte and cumulus cells (P<0.05), suggesting stimulation of glucose transport 25 and potentially the glycolytic pathway for energy production when FAO is inhibited. Abundance 26 of Cpt2 tended to increase in oocytes (P=0.1) after treatment with 100 μM palmitic acid and in 27 cumulus cells after exposure to 1 μM palmitic acid (P=0.07). Combined with carnitine, 1 μM 28 palmitic acid increased abundance of Acsl3 (P<0.05) and Cpt2 tended to increase (P=0.07) in 29 cumulus cells, suggesting FAO was increased during maturation in response to stimulators and 30 fatty acids. In conclusion, fatty acid and glucose metabolism are related in the mouse COC, as 31 inhibition of FAO increases glucose consumption. Stimulation of FAO decreases glucose 32 consumption and lipid stores, positively affecting subsequent embryo development, while an 33 overabundance of fatty acid or reduced FAO negatively affects oocyte quality. 34 Page 2 of 44