Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Wavelet-based level set evolution for classification of textured images

A supervised classification model based on a variational approach is presented. This model is specifically devoted to textured images. We want to get a partition of an image, composed of texture regions separated by regular interfaces. Each kind of texture defines a class. We use a wavelet packet transform to analyze the textures, characterized by their energy distribution in each sub-band. In order to have an image segmentation according to the classes, we model the regions and their interfaces by level set functions. We define a functional on these level sets whose minimizers define the optimal classification according to textures. A system of coupled PDEs is deduced from the functional. By solving this system, each region evolves according to its wavelet coefficients and interacts with the neighbour region in order to obtain a partition with regular contours. Experiments are shown on synthetic and real images.
Fuzzy evaluation model to assess interoperability in LARG Supply Chains

Supply Chain Management has become a tactic asset for the current global competition situation. Innovative strategies such as Lean, Agile, Resilient and Green emerged as a response, requiring high levels of cooperation and of great complexity. However, the strategic alignment of operations with partners in supply chains is affected by lack of interoperability. The present work provides a framework to enhance SC competitiveness and performance by assessing interoperable SCM Practices applied in automotive industry.
The Role of Carotid Ultrasound for Cardiovascular Risk Stratification beyond Traditional Risk Factors

Primary prevention and early detection of cardiovascular disease is important, as it is the leading cause of death throughout world. Risk stratification algorithms, such as Framingham Risk Score and European Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation, that utilize a combination of various traditional risk factors have been developed to improve primary prevention. However, the accuracy of these algorithms for screening high risk patients is moderate at best. Accordingly, the use of biomarkers or imaging studies may improve risk stratification. Carotid ultrasound, which measures both carotid intima-media thichkness (cIMT) and carotid plaque, is useful in detecting the degree of subclinical carotid atherosclerosis, and has the advantage of being noninvasive and safe. Several large epidemiologic studies have indicated that cIMT and carotid plaque are closely related with other cardiovascular risk factors and may be useful for risk reclassification in subjects deemed to be at intermediate risk by traditional risk scores. Moreover, recent clinical guidelines for management of hypertension or dyslipidemia highlight the usefulness of cIMT in high risk patients. In this article, we review evidence for the usefulness of measurement of cIMT and carotid plaque for cardiovascular risk stratification.
Aldosterone Excretion PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIATIONS IN MAN

A reliable, simple radioimmunoassay for measurement of the urinary excretion rate of the acid-labile conjugate of aldosterone is described, in which aldosterone, reconstituted by acid hydrolysis of a urinary metabolite, is quantified. The results were compared with those obtained by double-isotope dilution. Using both methods, aldosterone excretion rates were characterized in normal subjects over a wide range of dietary sodium intakes. Identity of results from the two methods was demonstrated. Aldosterone excretion ranged from 18 to 85 fig/day at sodium excretion rates of less than 25 mEq/day, from 5 to 26 fig/day at sodium excretion rates between 75 and 125 mEq/day, and from 1.5 to 12.5 /ig/day at excretion rates above 200 mEq/day. However, a more precise index was derived with limits inscribed by the whole curve used as a nomogram. During sodium depletion of normal subjects, aldosterone excretion reacted slowly and inadequately until a critical level of sodium or volume depletion was reached. During maintained sodium loading for up to 11 days, initial sodium retention was followed by natriuresis and then by slight sodium retention. Mean urinary aldosterone during these three periods was 23.4, 3.6, and 4.5 yu,g/day, respectively. Urinary sodium excretion exhibited a more consistent relationship to aldosterone activity than did either sodium intake or cumulative sodium balance, even when constant dietary regimens were used. These data suggest a dynamic role for aldosterone in governing renal sodium excretion, even at very high levels of sodium excretion.
Diet intervention and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE To compare the effects of a 4-week high-saturated fat/high-glycemic index (HIGH) diet with a low-saturated fat/low-glycemic index (LOW) diet on insulin and lipid metabolism, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) markers of Alzheimer disease, and cognition for healthy adults and adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). DESIGN Randomized controlled trial. SETTING Veterans Affairs Medical Center clinical research unit. PARTICIPANTS Forty-nine older adults (20 healthy adults with a mean [SD] age of 69.3 [7.4] years and 29 adults with aMCI with a mean [SD] age of 67.6 [6.8] years). INTERVENTION Participants received the HIGH diet (fat, 45% [saturated fat, > 25%]; carbohydrates, 35%-40% [glycemic index, > 70]; and protein, 15%-20%) or the LOW diet (fat, 25%; [saturated fat, < 7%]; carbohydrates, 55%-60% [glycemic index, < 55]; and protein, 15%-20%) for 4 weeks. Cognitive tests, an oral glucose tolerance test, and lumbar puncture were conducted at baseline and during the fourth week of the diet. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The CSF concentrations of β-amyloid (Aβ42 and Aβ40), tau protein, insulin, F2-isoprostanes, and apolipoprotein E, plasma lipids and insulin, and measures of cognition. RESULTS For the aMCI group, the LOW diet increased CSF Aβ42 concentrations, contrary to the pathologic pattern of lowered CSF Aβ42 typically observed in Alzheimer disease. The LOW diet had the opposite effect for healthy adults, ie, decreasing CSF Aβ42, whereas the HIGH diet increased CSF Aβ42. The CSF apolipoprotein E concentration was increased by the LOW diet and decreased by the HIGH diet for both groups. For the aMCI group, the CSF insulin concentration increased with the LOW diet, but the HIGH diet lowered the CSF insulin concentration for healthy adults. The HIGH diet increased and the LOW diet decreased plasma lipids, insulin, and CSF F2-isoprostane concentrations. Delayed visual memory improved for both groups after completion of 4 weeks of the LOW diet. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that diet may be a powerful environmental factor that modulates Alzheimer disease risk through its effects on central nervous system concentrations of Aβ42, lipoproteins, oxidative stress, and insulin.
A Green Model for Sustainable Software Engineering

Information Communication Technology (ICT) has a strong impact on sustainable development due its rising demands for energy and resources needed when building hardware and software products. Most of the efforts spent on Green ICT/IT have been dedicated to addressing the effects of hardware on the environment but little have been considering the effects of building software products as well. Efficient software will indirectly consume less energy by using up less hardware equipment to run. Our contributions in this paper are devoted to building a two level green software model that covers the sustainable life cycle of a software product and the software tools promoting green and environmentally sustainable software. In the first level we propose a new green software engineering process that is a hybrid process between sequential, iterative, and agile development processes to produce an environmentally sustainable one. Each stage of the software process is then further studied to produce a green and sustainable stage. We propose either green guidelines or green processes for each software stage in the engineering process. We add to the software life cycle the requirements stage and the testing stage. We also include in the first level a complete list of metrics to measure the greenness of each stage in terms of the first order effects of ICT on the environment for a green software engineering process. No effort has been placed before in designing a green software engineering process. The second level explains how software itself can be used as a tool to aid in green computing by monitoring resources in an energy efficient manner. Finally, we show and explain relationships that can be found between the two levels in our proposed model to make the software engineering process and product green and sustainable.
Insulin Stimulates Adipogenesis through the Akt-TSC2-mTORC1 Pathway

Background The signaling pathways imposing hormonal control over adipocyte differentiation are poorly understood. While insulin and Akt signaling have been found previously to be essential for adipogenesis, the relative importance of their many downstream branches have not been defined. One direct substrate that is inhibited by Akt-mediated phosphorylation is the tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC2) protein, which associates with TSC1 and acts as a critical negative regulator of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1 (mTORC1). Loss of function of the TSC1-TSC2 complex results in constitutive mTORC1 signaling and, through mTORC1-dependent feedback mechanisms and loss of mTORC2 activity, leads to a concomitant block of Akt signaling to its other downstream targets. Methodology/Principal Findings We find that, despite severe insulin resistance and the absence of Akt signaling, TSC2-deficient mouse embryo fibroblasts and 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes display enhanced adipocyte differentiation that is dependent on the elevated mTORC1 activity in these cells. Activation of mTORC1 causes a robust increase in the mRNA and protein expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), which is the master transcriptional regulator of adipocyte differentiation. In examining the requirements for different Akt-mediated phosphorylation sites on TSC2, we find that only TSC2 mutants lacking all five previously identified Akt sites fully block insulin-stimulated mTORC1 signaling in reconstituted Tsc2 null cells, and this mutant also inhibits adipogenesis. Finally, renal angiomyolipomas from patients with tuberous sclerosis complex contain both adipose and smooth muscle-like components with activated mTORC1 signaling and elevated PPARγ expression. Conclusions/Significance This study demonstrates that activation of mTORC1 signaling is a critical step in adipocyte differentiation and identifies TSC2 as a primary target of Akt driving this process. Therefore, the TSC1-TSC2 complex regulates the differentiation of mesenchymal cell lineages, at least in part, through its control of mTORC1 activity and PPARγ expression.
Vygotsky's perspective on the development of imagination and creativity

Abstract From the three translated papers of Vygotsky which directly addressed creativity, one can extract the outlines of a viable theory explaining the development of creativity. Vygotsky claimed that creative imagination is the distinguishing feature between the world of culture and the world of nature, and the basis of all mature mental activity. He found the origins of creative imagination in early manifestations of play, and explained that it goes through a process of integration and evolution following the development of concepts and reasoning during adolescence. It develops into mature creative imagination only in adulthood The argument in the present article is that Vygotsky's explanation can resolve contradictions that exist in the empirical findings on the development of creativity during adolescence. In addition to a general theoretical examination of Vygotsky's perspective on creativity, the theory's relevance to developmental issues in creativity is critically examined, and its relationship .
The Moral Brain: A Multidisciplinary Perspective

Over the past decade, an explosion of empirical research in a variety of fields has allowed us to understand human moral sensibility as a sophisticated integration of cognitive, emotional, and motivational mechanisms shaped through evolution, development, and culture. Evolutionary biologists have shown that moral cognition evolved to aid cooperation; developmental psychologists have demonstrated that the elements that underpin morality are in place much earlier than we thought; and social neuroscientists have begun to map brain circuits implicated in moral decision making. This volume offers an overview of current research on the moral brain, examining the topic from disciplinary perspectives that range from anthropology and neurophilosophy to justice and law. The contributors address the evolution of morality, considering precursors of human morality in other species as well as uniquely human adaptations. They examine motivations for morality, exploring the roles of passion, extreme sacrifice, and cooperation. They go on to consider the development of morality, from infancy to adolescence; findings on neurobiological mechanisms of moral cognition; psychopathic immorality; and the implications for justice and law of a more biological understanding of morality. These new findings may challenge our intuitions about society and justice, but they may also lead to more a humane and flexible legal system. ContributorsScott Atran, Abigail A. Baird, Nicolas Baumard, Sarah Brosnan, Jason M. Cowell, Molly J. Crockett, Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza, Andrew W. Delton, Mark R. Dadds, Jean Decety, Jeremy Ginges, Andrea L. Glenn, Joshua D. Greene, J. Kiley Hamlin, David J. Hawes, Jillian Jordan, Max M. Krasnow, Ayelet Lahat, Jorge Moll, Caroline Moul, Thomas Nadelhoffer, Alexander Peysakhovich, Laurent Pretot, Jesse Prinz, David G. Rand, Rheanna J. Remmel, Emma Roellke, Regina A. Rini, Joshua Rottman, Mark Sheskin, Thalia Wheatley, Liane Young, Roland Zahn
Access to antiretroviral treatment and sexual behaviours of HIV‐infected patients aware of their serostatus in Côte d'Ivoire

ObjectiveTo compare sexual behaviours of HIV-infected patients in Côte d'Ivoire whether or not they had access to antiretroviral treatment (ARV). Design and methodsCross-sectional survey using face-to-face interviews among all patients, informed of their HIV serostatus, attending the eight health centers in charge of HIV care in Abidjan and Bouaké. Univariate comparisons of declared sexual behaviours during the prior 6 months between the 164 ARV-treated and the 547 non-ARV-treated respondents. Multiple logistic regressions to identify factors related to sexual abstinence in the total sample and to unprotected sexual intercourse in the subsample of sexually active respondents during the same period were performed. ResultsMore than half of the 711 respondents (53.0%) declared an absence of sexual activity during the previous 6 months, with this proportion being significantly higher among women (60.6%), and among both men (85.7%) and women (92.4%) who were not living in a stable relationship. Among the 334 sexually active patients, 49.7% declared a low frequency of sexual intercourse (‘once a month or less’), and 43.7% declared at least one episode of unprotected sexual intercourse. In multivariate analysis, recent diagnosis of HIV infection (< 9 months), having only one sexual partner and not knowing her/his serostatus, high alcohol consumption, absence of episodes of acute morbidity, not participating in household's expenditures and not being ARV-treated were significantly related to a higher likelihood of HIV-related risky sexual behaviours. ConclusionSexual abstinence is the preventive strategy of choice for a majority of HIV-infected patients aware of their serostatus and consulting for care in Côte d'Ivoire. In these patients, access to ARV is not associated with an increase in HIV-related risky sexual behaviours.
Doing versus Thinking: John Dewey's Critique of Scientific Management

Scientific management introduced a novel way of organizing work and measuring productivity into the modern workplace. With a stopwatch and a clever method of analysis, Frederick Winslow Taylor is either acclaimed or reviled, depending on the audience, for giving industrial/organizational consultancy a groundbreaking tool: the efficiency study. What is less well known is that the American pragmatist John Dewey criticized scientific management for its dualistic assumptions, for treating workers as pure doers or “muscle” and management as pure thinkers or “brains” in an efficient, though inhumane, work process. The first section of this paper examines the similarities and differences between Dewey’s and Taylor’s respective conceptions of science and management. In the second section, I consider Dewey’s critique of scientific management in his book Democracy and Education. The paper concludes with some final thoughts concerning the usefulness of the Dewey-Taylor comparison, specifically its implications for organizational theory and industrial relations today.
PHAGOCYTOSIS OF TUBERCLE BACILLI BY RABBIT PULMONARY ALVEOLAR MACROPHAGES AND ITS RELATION TO NATIVE RESISTANCE TO TUBERCULOSIS.

Pulmonary alveolar macrophages (AM) of rabbits inbred for resistance and susceptibility to tuberculosis were compared with respect to their ability to ingest tubercle bacilli in vitro. AM from the resistant T family ingested about twice as many bacilli as those from the susceptible C and FCCa families. This was due to differences in the number of phagocytes ingesting bacilli rather than differences in the number of bacilli ingested by each phagocyte. These results suggest that the AM of certain susceptible inbred rabbit families trap fewer bacilli from the alveolar air. This could explain why they were resistant to attack by tuberculosis via the respiratory route, even though they were highly susceptible to its progress.
KIDS: Construction of Database Management Systems based on Reuse

This paper describes the KIDS approach to database management system (DBMS) construction. KIDS aims at the development of a DBMS-construction approach by defining specification-based approaches strongly relying on software reuse. We propose an architecture model that supports reuse of architectures, but is also able to integrate various DBMS components into a coherent entirety. Second, KIDS defines a construction process model that strives for reuse in all phases. We have identified three important aspects that are initially addressed by the construction approach: the data model aspect, the transaction management aspect, and the integrity management aspect. For each of these aspects, a customized approach how to construct the corresponding subsystem has been developed, again relying on software reuse wherever possible. While these aspects have been considered because of their relevance for any DBMS, the construction method is open for further aspects.
Multiple access interference plus noise constrained least mean square algorithm

In this work, a constrained least-mean-square (LMS) algorithm, which incorporates the knowledge of the number of users, spreading sequence length and additive noise variance, is developed subject to the new combined constraint comprising both the MAI and noise variance. The novelty of this constraint resides in the fact that the MAI variance was never used as a constraint. This constrained optimization technique results in an (MAI plus noise)-constrained LMS (MNCLMS) algorithm. Convergence analysis is carried out of the proposed algorithm in the presence of MAI. Finally, a number of simulations are conducted to compare performance of MNC-LMS algorithm with other adaptive algorithms.
Dimensiones del compromiso organizacional

Como el Dios Jano, el estudio del compromiso organizacional muestra dos caras que apuntan en direcciones opuestas: una sonríe ante la gran popularidad que ha alcanzado el constructo, mientras que la otra muestra la profunda fragmentación que caracteriza su investigación. El creciente interés que los especialistas en el estudios del comportamiento en las organizaciones y profesionales de la dirección de recursos humanos muestran por este concepto se debe, en gran medida, a su capacidad para predecir algunos resultados organizacionales como el desempeño, la satisfacción en el trabajo, el absentismo o la rotación de personal (Griffin y Bateman, 1986; Mathieu y Zajac, 1990; Meyer y Allen, 1991; Morrow, 1983; Reichers, 1985). Desgraciadamente de forma paralela han proliferado los enfoques, las nomenclaturas y las escalas de medida utilizadas, lo que hace muy difícil la obtención de conclusiones precisas. En los últimos diez años, no obstante, han surgido propuestas integradoras que pueden dar fin a la jungla en que se ha convertido el estudio del compromiso organizacional (Jaros, Jerrnier, Koehler y Sincich, 1993; Meyer y Allen, 1991; O'Reilly y Chatman, 1986). En el presente trabajo analizamos la premisa básica de la propuesta de Meyer y Allen: la tridimensionalidad del compromiso organizacional.
Intonation with single words: purposive and grammatical use

ABSTRACT The study examined the transition to purposive use of intonation with single words for two children. Contrary to Bloom's (1973) claim of no systematic use of intonation in the one-word period, purposive use of rising tones was demonstrated in the context of indicating interest and naming objects. One child, by 1;3, clearly used rising tones to ask ‘legitimate’ questions in which the content of the replies mattered. If an informative response was not given he repeated his question accentuating the rising tone. The other child also sought informative replies, although this could only be established at 1;6. In addition, by 1;5 both children demonstrated widespread grammatical use of intonation in which a word was combined with distinct intonations to indicate a meaning distinction equivalent to one made by the grammar of the language. There were, however, earlier developments that presaged the way, so that the transition to grammatical use of intonation was gradual.
Presence and Persistence of Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhimurium in the Phyllosphere and Rhizosphere of Spray-Irrigated Parsley

ABSTRACT Salmonella enterica is one of the major food-borne pathogens associated with ready-to-eat fresh foods. Although polluted water might be a significant source of contamination in the field, factors that influence the transfer of Salmonella from water to the crops are not well understood, especially under conditions of low pathogen levels in water. The aim of this study was to investigate the short- and long-term (1 h to 28 days) persistence of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium in the phyllosphere and the rhizosphere of parsley following spray irrigation with contaminated water. Plate counting and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR)-based methods were implemented for the quantification. By applying qRT-PCR with enrichment, we were able to show that even irrigation with water containing as little as ∼300 CFU/ml resulted in the persistence of S. Typhimurium on the plants for 48 h. Irrigation with water containing 8.5 log CFU/ml resulted in persistence of the bacteria in the phyllosphere and the rhizosphere for at least 4 weeks, but the population steadily declined with a major reduction in bacterial counts, of ∼2 log CFU/g, during the first 2 days. Higher levels of Salmonella were detected in the phyllosphere when plants were irrigated during the night compared to irrigation during the morning and during winter compared to the other seasons. Further elucidation of the mechanisms underlying the transfer of Salmonella from contaminated water to crops, as well as its persistence over time, will enable the implementation of effective irrigation and control strategies.