Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decreased Venous Distensibility in Borderline Hypertension

SUMMARY There are abnormalities in renous structure and function in animal models of hypertension. In humans with borderline hypertension, there is a redistribution of blood from the periphery to the central circulation that may be produced in part by a decrease in peripheral Tenons distensibility. In this study we used a water-filled pletbysmograph to determine forearm renous distensibility in nine young men with borderline hypertension and nine normotensive control subjects. The venous pressure-volume curve in men with borderline hypertension as compared to that in normotensive men was shifted toward the pressure axis (p < 0.05). This indicates that venous distensibility was significantly decreased in borderline hypertension. Pbentolamlne, 1 mg I.V. for 5 minutes, increased venous distensibility slightly but significantly (p < 0.05) in borderline hypertensive men, but not in normotensive men. Thus, decreased venous distensibility in borderline hypertensive subjects was due in part to a-adrenergic renoconstriction. Venous distensibility after phentolamine was less in borderline hypertensive men than in normotensive men (p < 0.05). This finding suggests that most of the decrease in venous distensibility in borderline hypertension resulted from non-adrenergic mechanisms. Thus, there is a decrease in venous distensibility in young men with borderline hypertension that is related partly to adrenergic mechanisms, but also involves other factors, perhaps including structural changes in veins.
Sensory Storage of Fragmentary Displays

A partial-report version of the Eriksen-Collins paradigm was devised to test iconic storage. The test lay in presenting arrays of 12 partial letters, one of which was randomly chosen for completion. Additional conditions checked whether the completed letters were legible and to what extent the completion fragments were guessable. Test sequences included dark or light inter-stimulus intervals and 4 different delay times, which had no significant effects. Analysis showed that subjects were no better able to report a synthesis of the first and second fragments than to guess the letters from separate fragments. A second experiment demonstrated some integration of successive single-letter presentations, although subjects apparently do not have iconic access to full arrays of letter fragments.
P HYSICAL H EALTH , AND L IFE S ATISFACTION : A P ROCESS M ODEL

Aggressive individuals are at increased risk of poor health, early mortality, mental health problems, and decreased life satisfaction. However, recent research suggests that trait aggression is not a unitary phenomenon. To date, most personality research on the topic has focused on direct aggression. Individuals high in trait direct aggression tend to respond to provocation with immediate anger and retaliation. By contrast, those high in trait displaced aggression tend to respond to provocations with initial restraint, yet eventually “take out” their anger on innocent individuals. Trait displaced aggression is a multifaceted personality dimension consisting of angry rumination, revenge planning, and aggression against undeserving targets. The present research was the first to investigate the effects of trait displaced aggression on physical and mental health-related variables. Specifically, more than 800 Internet respondents completed measures of direct and displaced aggression, physical health, life satisfaction, stress, and risky behaviour. Trait displaced aggression predicted negative physical and mental health outcomes as well as decreased life satisfaction. Structural equation modeling tested a process model whereby these effects occur. Results showed that perceived stress and avoidant provocation-related coping strategies mediated the relationship between trait displaced aggression and self-reported physical health symptoms while perceived stress mediated the effect of trait displaced aggression on life satisfaction.
Enhancement of Lumbar Fusion and Alleviation of Adjacent Segment Disc Degeneration by Intermittent PTH(1‐34) in Ovariectomized Rats

Osteoporosis, which is prevalent in postmenopausal or aged populations, is thought to be a contributing factor to adjacent segment disc degeneration (ASDD), and the incidence and extent of ASDD may be augmented by osteopenia. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) (1‐34) has already been shown to be beneficial in osteoporosis, lumbar fusion and matrix homeostasis of intervertebral discs. However, whether PTH(1‐34) has a reversing or retarding effect on ASDD in osteopenia has not been confirmed. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of intermittent PTH(1‐34) on ASDD in an ovariectomized (OVX) rat model. One hundred 3‐month‐old female Sprague‐Dawley rats underwent L4–L5 posterolateral lumbar fusion (PLF) with spinous‐process wire fixation 4 weeks after OVX surgery. Control groups were established accordingly. PTH(1‐34) was intermittently administered immediately after PLF surgery and lasted for 8 weeks using the following groups (n = 20) (V = vehicle): Sham+V, OVX+V, Sham+PLF+V, OVX+PLF+V, OVX+PLF+PTH. The fused segments showed clear evidence of eliminated motion on the fusion‐segment based on manual palpation. Greater new bone formation in histology was observed in PTH‐treated animals compared to the control group. The extent of ASDD was significantly increased by ovariotomy. Intermittent PTH(1‐34) significantly alleviated ASDD by preserving disc height, microvessel density, relative area of vascular buds, endplate thickness and the relative area of endplate calcification. Moreover, protein expression results showed that PTH(1‐34) not only inhibited matrix degradation by decreasing MMP‐13, ADAMTS‐4 and Col‐I, but also promote matrix synthesis by increasing Col‐II and Aggrecan. In conclusion, PTH(1‐34), which effectively improves lumbar fusion and alleviates ASDD in ovariectomized rats, may be a potential candidate to ameliorate the prognosis of lumbar fusion in osteopenia. © 2015 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
Design of a Spectral–Spatial Pattern Recognition Framework for Risk Assessments Using Landsat Data—A Case Study in Chile

For many ecological applications of remote sensing, traditional multispectral data with moderate spatial and spectral resolution have to be used. Typical examples are land-use change or deforestation assessments. The study sites are frequently too large and the timespan covered too long assumes the availability of modern datasets such as very high resolution or hyperspectral data. However, in traditional datasets such as Landsat data, separability of the relevant classes is limited. A promising approach is to describe the landscape context pixels that are integrated. For this purpose, multiscale context features are computed. Then, spectral-spatial classification is employed. However, such approaches require sophisticated processing techniques. This study exemplifies these issues by designing an entire framework for exploiting context features. The framework uses kernel-based classifiers which are unified by a multiple classifier system and further improved by conditional random fields. Accuracy on three scenarios is raised between 19.0%pts and 26.6%pts. Although the framework is designed, focusing an application in Chile, it is generally enough to be applied to similar scenarios.
An Algebraic Approach to Reverse Engineering Finite Dynamical Systems Arising from Biology

Finite dynamical systems have been used successfully in modeling biological processes. When certain regulatory mechanisms of a biological system or a model are unknown it is important to be able to identify the best model with the available data. In this context, reverse engineering of finite dynamical systems from partial information is an important problem. While this problem has been studied in the past, there are currently no algorithms that can predict the signs of the interactions. In this paper we propose a framework and algorithms to reverse engineer the possible signed wiring diagrams of a finite dynamical system from data. The algorithm consists of encoding all possible wiring diagrams using ideals and algebraic sets and choosing those that are minimal using the primary decomposition and the irreducible components.
Semantics of a call-by-need lambda calculus with McCarthy's amb for programm equivalence

In this thesis we investigate the semantics of concurrent programming languages with respect to the correctness of program transformations which occur during compilation of programs. We investigate the correctness of transformations on the same language, as well as the correctness of transformations from a higher-level language into a lower-level language. As a semantic model of a concurrent program language we introduce the calculus Λ amb which is an untyped higher-order lambda calculus extended by data constructors and case-expressions, explicit sharing and recursion via letrec-expressions, seq-expressions for modeling sequential computations, and the nondeterministic operator amb. The binary operator amb is locally bottom-avoiding, that is if applied to two arguments s and t, the operator chooses one of both arguments, but must not choose a divergent argument unless both arguments s and t are divergent. An analysis of such a bottom-avoiding operator is interesting for several reasons. Its implementation requires concurrent (that is interleaved) as well as fair evaluation of both arguments, and hence a calculus with an amb-operator models essential properties of modern concurrent functional programming languages. Moreover, the amb operator is theoretically challenging, since usual properties do not hold if this operator is included. For example a divergent expression is no longer a least element when using a contextual preorder as semantics. From a practical point of view the combination of an amb-operator with an enriched lambda-calculus enables us to implement a lot of other nondeterministic operators, for example erratic choice, demonic choice, parallel-or, a parallel convergence tester, and most importantly a bottom-avoiding nondeterministic merge-operator, which has several applications for the implementation of event driven systems, like graphical user interfaces and operating systems.
ICT and COMPRAM to assess road Traffic Congestion Management in Kinshasa

Traffic Congestion Management (TCM) in a megacity like Kinshasa, capital of the DR Congo, is a knowledge and real life problem of complex nature. Here, the authors describe the TCM problem through 9 phases of the layer 1 of the COMPRAM methodology. TCM is a worldwide complex societal problem and specifically in Kinshasa where it presents a set of characteristics such as ‘chaotic’ driver behaviour, road potholes and the road network physiognomy doesn't respond to the supply-versus demand-side equation. The other complex problems include the absence of road planning with consideration to demographic parameters and car ownership increase, no suitable traffic operations infrastructure and limited funds for both maintaining existing roads and building additional ones. To solve this TCM problem, the authors propose a TTCMP (Triangular Traffic Congestion Management Process) framework as an output based layer 1 of COMPRAM by identifying types and sources of congestion, followed by a TCM problem description and a set of technical elements for ‘curbing’ traffic congestion with an overview on a Bluetooth based technology for traffic data collection as an adapted ICT4D solution for a low-income city like Kinshasa.
Investigation of point defects in silica-based optical fibers by cathodoluminescence

We demonstrate the high potential of cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy for the study of point defects in the main classes of optical fibers: Telecom-grade, radiation-hardened, and radiation sensitive. Canonical samples, differently doped in their core (Ge, P, N) or their cladding (F), have been investigated by CL using electrons of energy ranging from 5 to 30 keV. Advantages and limitation of the CL tool are discussed on the basis of the obtained experimental results.
Eating progress estimation based on depth images for medication management support

The authors developed an image processing technique for estimating the progress of eating behavior of an elderly recipient. The image processing is for depth images and does not require any visual markers on plateware such as dishes. The authors' medication management support system can make a reminder at the correct time (e.g., after eating) depending on the estimated progress. In addition, a human support robot will be able to pass a dose of medicines to the recipient in advance by predicting the end of eating behavior.
Peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptors and inflammation: take it to heart

Peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptors (PPARs) are ligand‐activated transcription factors acting as key regulators of lipid metabolism as well as modulators of inflammation. The role of PPARα and PPARγ in cardiac ischaemia‐reperfusion injury, infarct healing and hypertrophy is the subject of intense research. Due to the later development of PPARδ‐specific ligands, the role of this PPAR isoform in cardiac disease remains to be established. Although many studies point to salutatory effects of PPAR ligands in cardiac disease, the exact molecular mechanism is still largely unsolved. Both the metabolic (via transactivation) and the more recently discovered anti‐inflammatory (via transrepression) effects of PPARs are likely to play a role. In this review the reported, and sometimes contradictory, effects of PPAR ligands on ischaemia‐reperfusion, infarct healing and cardiac hypertrophy are critically evaluated. In particular the role of inflammation in these disease processes, the ability of PPARs to interfere with pro‐inflammatory processes, and the mechanisms of transrepression are discussed. Currently, the significance of PPARs as therapeutic targets in cardiovascular disease is receiving widespread attention. Accordingly, detailed understanding of the mechanisms controlling the activity of these nuclear hormone receptors is essential.
Molecular Isolation and Characterization of Trypanosoma evansi in Dromedary Camels from Different Regions of Sudan

Trypanosoma evansi is classified under the subgenus Trypanozoon along with the T. brucei spp. and T. equiperdumi, and they are main causative agents of Animal trypanosomoses throughout the world. T. evansi causes Surra via mechanical transmission in Camels. Whole blood samples were collected from 102 suspected camels from 18 different geographic regions in Sudan. T. evansi-affected camels were detected by Wet smear method, and the positive blood samples (10 out of 102) were subjected to DNA extraction and TBR-PCR examination and phylogenetic analysis. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool data of the obtained TBR sequences revealed that partial sequence of most of them corresponded to those of T. evansi (VSG), Malaysian isolate selanger 2 (AM497934.1) with the homology of 100%. The phylogenetic tree inferred from the TBR nucleotide sequences (137bp) clearly showed the genetic diversity of the parasites. Phylogenetic and molecular analyses of this region of variable surface glycoprotein (VSG) showed that three distinct genotypes of T. evansi in Sudanese dromedary camels are present. This study suggests that T. evansi could be a polyphyltic group with 4 clades or a monophlytic group and all isolates have a common ancestor. More informative genetic marker is required in order to have ultimate conclusion.
A combined multi-agent and case-based reasoning approach to support collaborative nonconformance problem solving in the thermoplastic injection moulding process

Injection moulding is one of the most versatile technologies for processing thermoplastic materials used nowadays in industry. Despite all the technological resources used, the probability of occurring nonconformances in the production stage cannot be completely eliminated, and in general these nonconformances occur owing to the complex interrelation among the constructive elements of the moulded part, the mould, the rheological characteristics of the resin, and the processing conditions. These factors lead to a difficult analytical modelling, and frequently cause the task of discovering the source of nonconformance and its solution to become slow and costly. Owing to this scenario, this paper presents an agent-based architecture that includes case-based reasoning agents to support nonconformance problem solving. This paper presents the set of descriptors that represent the nonconformance features, as well as the implementation of a prototype based on the Java Agent DEvelopment Framework (JADE Platform) and the jCOLIBRI CBR Framework as core engine. The results show that the developed system supports adequately the collaborative nonconformance problem solving in injection moulding, since it quickly provides, through a friendly interface, the following information: (a) knowledge inference, retrieval and presentation; (b) the suggested solutions for the nonconformance; (c) the result of carrying out the solution.
Creating Safer Drinking Environments

The focus of the chapter is violence and crime in the licensed drinking environment. The central argument is that creating safer licensed environments is primarily a regulatory problem, not just an “alcohol problem”, and that formal enforcement is a necessary but not sufficient tool for creating a culture of compliance. A system of regulation that is responsive to industry conditions will rely on the interaction of formal regulation, which is the political domain; informal regulation, mobilising civil society; and self-regulation, taming the market. To be effective, regulatory systems must reduce situationally specific risk factors in the licensed environment that are related primarily to management practices and to “hidden deals” between licensees and regulators. Effective regulation will ensure that the physical environment is attractive and sends a message to patrons about appropriate behaviour; that it does not irritate or frustrate people by being crowded, excessively noisy, hot or smoky; that provocation related to such games as pool or to dancing is minimised; and that non-salty food is freely available. The social environment will not be permissive, having clear limits concerning sexual and other behaviours; drinking to intoxication, especially by large numbers simultaneously, will be discouraged; trained, peace-loving security and bar staff will be employed; and people identified as regularly aggressive will be kept out. There is limited evidence that formal enforcement through visible, random checks on licensees can be effective, as can undercover policing combined with warnings to managers. There is consistent evidence that mobilising local community groups and agencies through organised community action can bring about major reductions in aggression and violence in and around venues, although the effects have not been demonstrated to be permanent in any locality. Critical ingredients of community action include: strong directive leadership during the establishment period; the mobilization of community groups concerned about violence and disorder; the implementation of a multi-agency approach involving licensees, local government, police, health and other groups; the use of safety audits to engage the local community and identify risks; a focus on the way licensed venues are managed (particularly those that cater to large numbers of young people); the “re-education” of patrons concerning their role as consumers of “quality hospitality;” and attention
Graduate students’ experiences with standardized patients as adjuncts for teaching pelvic examinations

Purpose: To explore graduate nurse practitioner students’ perceptions of their experiences when learning to perform pelvic examinations in the laboratory and performing them in subsequent clinical rotations. One group was taught by faculty with voluntary peer examination, and the other two groups were taught by standardized patients (SPs). Data sources: Surveys with open‐ and closed‐ended (responses on Likert scales) items administered twice during 3 consecutive years to students enrolled in an advanced health assessment course. Conclusions: All groups reported feeling anxious while learning pelvic exam techniques and in subsequent clinical experiences. SPs provided immediate feedback to students, decreased their feelings of anxiety, and increased their confidence in performing examinations. Students who were taught pelvic examination techniques by SPs rated their learning experiences more positively and reported a better understanding of exam techniques than students who learned to perform exams by voluntary examination of classmates. Implications for practice: Graduate nursing programs should consider locating and using SP programs for teaching pelvic examinations in advanced health assessment courses. Although more cost‐effective, voluntary peer examination was a less effective teaching method.
Robust delay-dependent feedforward control of neutral time-delay systems via dynamic IQCs

This paper studies the design problem of delay-dependent based robust and optimal feedforward controller design for a class of time-delay control systems having state, control and neutral type delays which are subject to norm-bounded uncertainties and type measurable or observable disturbance signals. Two independent loops which include state-feedback and dynamic feedforward controller form the basis of the proposed control scheme in this study. State-feedback controller is generally used in stabilisation of the nominal delay-free system, whereas the feedforward controller is used for improving disturbance attenuation performance of the overall system. In order to obtain less conservative results, the delay and parametric uncertainty effects are treated in operator view point and represented by frequency-dependent (dynamic) integral quadratic constraints (IQCs). Moreover, sufficient delay-dependent criterion is developed in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) such that the time-delay system having parametric uncertainties is guaranteed to be asymptotically stable with minimum achievable disturbance attenuation level. Plenty of numerical examples are provided at the end, in order to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed technique. The achieved results on minimum achievable disturbance attenuation level and maximum allowable delay bounds are exhibited to be less conservative in comparison to those of controllers having only feedback loop.