Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Persistence and Progression of Masked Hypertension: A 5-Year Prospective Study

Objectives. To examine masked hypertension persistence over 5 years. Methods. White-collar workers were recruited from three public organizations. Blood pressure (BP) was measured using Spacelabs 90207. Manually operated BP was defined as the mean of the first three readings taken at rest. Ambulatory BP was defined as the mean of the next readings taken every 15 minutes and recorded during working hours. BP was assessed three times over 5 years. Masked hypertension was defined as manually operated BP less than 140 and less than 90 mmHg and ambulatory BP at least 135 or at least 85 mmHg. Sustained hypertension was defined as manually operated BP at least 140 or at least 90 mmHg and ambulatory BP at least 135 or at least 85 mmHg or being treated for hypertension. Results. BP measurements were obtained from 1669 participants from whom 232 had masked hypertension at baseline. Persistence of masked hypertension was 38% and 18.5%, after 3 and 5 years, respectively. Progression to sustained hypertension was 26% and 37%, after 3 and 5 years, respectively. Conclusion. Among baseline masked hypertensives, one-third progressed to sustained hypertension and about one out of five remained masked after 5 years, potentially delaying diagnosis and treatment.
Chemical Composition and Botanical Origin of Red Propolis, a New Type of Brazilian Propolis

Red propolis is a new type of Brazilian propolis. This material, as well as the secretions of 20 plant species that are often mentioned as its probable botanical source, have been investigated by RP-HPTLC. Phytochemical evidence based on UV-VIS spectra, RP-HPLC and GC-MS, showed Dalbergia ecastophyllum (L.) Taub. to be the main source of red propolis in Alagoas state. The propolis and plant resin showed high relative percentages of the isoflavonoids 3-Hydroxy-8,9-dimethoxypterocarpan and medicarpin. To our knowledge this is the first report of the secretion of a leguminous species being the source of propolis.
Cellular Automata Based Cryptographic Hash Function *

* This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology(2011-0014977). Abstract Recently, in many applications where speed is important and very large amounts of data have to be authenticated, hardware implementation is demanded as a natural solution. A cellular automata (CA) is one of the best solutions for the hardware structure because of its parallelism and bit-wise operations. This paper proposes a secure and efficient cryptographic hash function based on a linear group and nonlinear non-group CA. Our algorithm satisfies the secure properties and forms remarkably simple structure. We show that our hash function produces an excellent quality of hash result having a low construction cost.
A deterministic equivalent for the capacity analysis of correlated multi-user MIMO channels

This article provides capacity expressions for multi-user and multi-cell wireless communication schemes when the transmitters and receivers are equipped with multiple antennas and when the transmission channel has a certain correlation profile. In mathematical terms, this contribution provides novel deterministic equivalents for the Stieltjes and Shannon transforms of a class of large dimensional random matrices. These results are of practical relevance to evaluate the rate performance of communication channels with multiple users, multiple cells and with transmit and receive correlation at all communication pairs. In particular, we analyse the per-antenna achievable rates for these communication systems which, for practical purposes, is a relevant measure of the trade-off between rate performance and operating cost of every antenna. We study specifically the per-antenna rate regions of (i) multi-antenna multiple access channels and broadcast channels, as well as the capacity of (ii) multi-antenna multi-cell communications with inter-cell interference. Theoretical expressions of the per-antenna mutual information are obtained for these models, which extend previous results on multi-user multi-antenna performance without channel correlation to the more realistic Kronecker channel model. From an information theoretic viewpoint, this article provides, for scenario (i), a deterministic approximation of the per-antenna rate achieved in every point of the MAC and BC rate regions, a deterministic approximation of the ergodic per-antenna capacity with optimal precoding matrices in the uplink MAC and an iterative water-filling algorithm to compute the optimal precoders, while, for scenario (ii), this contribution provides deterministic approximations for the mutual information of single-user decoders and the capacity of minimum mean square error (MMSE) decoders. An original feature of this work is that the deterministic equivalents are proven asymptotically exact, as the system dimensions increase, even for strong correlation at both communication sides. The above results are validated by Monte Carlo simulations.
DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A BUSINESS INFORMATION VISUALIZATION SYSTEM FOR MANUFACTURING PRODUCTION PLANNING SUPPORT

In most management domains, problem-solving and decision-making are overwhelming because of the high volume of complicated data, the multiple complex relationships among data, the negotiability of the constraints, the changing environment, and time pressure. Most existing computer systems, such as expert systems, decision support systems, and simulation systems, have built-in functionalities and cannot reflect the changing environment and possibilities for negotiation. Although they can generate reports, they are very limited in providing superior solutions for complex problems. Human beings are in control in the process of problem-solving and decision-making. A useful decision support system should incorporate human problem-solving processes, support human information need during the processes, consider human cognition and perception characteristics, and provide insight into generated or collected data.This paper describes our preliminary results on the design and evaluation of an information visualization system for the support of manufacturing production planning. It introduces the domain problem, information visualization research methodology from a user-centered perspective, and the design and implementation of a prototype system based on a proposed visualization model that emphasizes human-information interaction. A lab experimental study shows that the visualization system cooperated with planners’ problem-solving strategies, provided the relevant information at the relevant abstract levels that planners need during the planning processes, and was easy to understand and use. Compared with a traditional manufacturing production planning support system, the visualization system supported planners with more alternative solutions, more efficient changes in raw planning data, more confidence about domain tasks, and more satisfaction with solutions.
Long-Range Axonal Calcium Sweep Induces Axon Retraction

Axon guidance molecules trigger a cascade of local signal in growth cones and evoke various morphologic responses, including axon attraction, repulsion, elongation, and retraction. However, little is known about whether subcellular compartments, other than axonal growth cones, control axon outgrowth. We found that in isolated dentate granule cells, local application of glutamate to the somatodendritic areas, but not the axon itself, induced rapid axon retraction, during which a calcium wave propagated from the somata to the axon terminals. The calcium wave and axon retraction were both inhibited by blockade of voltage-sensitive calcium channels and intracellular calcium dynamics. A combination of perisomatic application of calcium ionophore and depolarizing current injection induced axonal calcium sweep and axon retraction. Thus, perisomatic environments can modulate axon behavior through long-range intracellular communication.
Search Heuristics for Load Balancing in IP-networks

Two of the most commonly used intra-domain Internet routing protocols are Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS). In both these protocols the traffic is routed along shortest paths to the destination without considering other traffic demands or load in the network. The weight of the links, and thereby the shortest paths, can be set by the network operator. This creates the possibility for the network operator to redirect traffic from congested links to less utilised links and achieve a more efficient use of the network. We study three different heuristics for the problem of finding a set of OSPF/IS-IS weights that optimises the performance of the network. We evaluate the heuristics in topologies with power-law properties and compare the obtained results with those from a standard weight setting recommended by Cisco (a major router vendor) as well as with those from an optimal multi-commodity flow routing. Our main conclusion is that one of the heuristics performs better than the rest of the heuristics and achieves results reasonable close to optimum.
Pheromone interruption of pine engraver, Ips pini , by pheromones of mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae (Coleoptera: Scolytidae)

The effect of pheromones of Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins on the attraction of Ips pini (Say) to its pheromone, ipsdienol, was investigated in stands of lodgepole pine. The mixture of cis- and trans-verbenol significantly reduced catches of I. pini in traps baited with ipsdienol at three locations in British Columbia. exo-Brevicomin had no effect on catches of I. pini, irrespective of the enantiomeric composition of exobrevicomin. Ipsdienol did not significantly reduce the attraction of D. ponderosae to traps baited with cis - and trans-verbenol, and (±)-exo-brevicomin. Key Words: Coleoptera; Scolytidae; Ips pini; Dendroctonus ponderosae; pheromone interruption; synomone; exo-brevicomin; cis-verbenol; trans-verbenol; ipsdienol
16nm BULK CMOS DOCCCII BASED CONFIGURABLE ANALOG BLOCK DESIGN FOR FIELD PROGRAMMABLE ANALOG ARRAY

Field programmable analog array (FPAA) is a rapidly growing technology for fast prototyping of analog signal processing systems facilitating the quick innovation at industry level with saving in terms of both time and cost. Analog signal processing is much faster and consumes less power than conventional digital signal processing, justifying the need for FPAA. Here we propose a Dual output current controlled current conveyor (DOCCCII) in 16nm bulk CMOS technology using PTM (High Performance 16nm Metal Gate / High-K / Strained-Si parameter) and discuss its characteristic. DOCCCII is superior in design among Current Conveyors because it requires no additional resistance for activation, it has it’s own parasitic resistance tunable through biasing current and has high bandwidth (GHz range). A configurable analog block (CAB) is also proposed which mainly consists of the DOCCCII readily configurable to realize an application. This cab is used here for the realization of 2 nd order filters.
Empirical Analysis of Informatization Strategy for China's Manufacturing Enterprises

Informatization construction has become a very important measure for manufacturing enterprises to upgrade the value chains. However, some enterprises have discovered various problems in the informatization process: difficulty in confirming the informatization strategy, incompatibility between the informatization strategy and enterprise strategy and so on. This article has raised the analytical framework for manufacturing enterprise informatization strategy on the basis of overall management performance index system of enterprise information and conducted empirical analysis to the enterprise informatization strategy performance by using informatization index investigation data in the manufacturing industry between 2004-2006.
Medium-resolution Isaac Newton Telescope library of empirical spectra - II. The stellar atmospheric parameters

We present a homogeneous set of stellar atmospheric parameters (T-eff, log g, [Fe/H]) for MILES, a new spectral stellar library covering the range lambda lambda 3525-7500 angstrom at 2.3 angstrom (FWHM) spectral resolution. The library consists of 985 stars spanning a large range in atmospheric parameters, from super-metal-rich, cool stars to hot, metal-poor stars. The spectral resolution, spectral type coverage and number of stars represent a substantial improvement over previous libraries used in population synthesis models. The atmospheric parameters that we present here are the result of a previous, extensive compilation from the literature. In order to construct a homogeneous data set of atmospheric parameters we have taken the sample of stars of Soubiran, Katz & Cayrel, which has very well determined fundamental parameters, as the standard reference system for our field stars, and have calibrated and bootstrapped the data from other papers against it. The atmospheric parameters for our cluster stars have also been revised and updated according to recent metallicity scales, colour-temperature relations and improved set of isochrones.
A novel method for spammer detection in social networks

Online social networks have played an important role in people's common life. Most existing social network platforms, however, face the challenges of dealing with undesirable users and their malicious spam activities that disseminate content, malware, viruses, etc. to the legitimate users of the service. In this paper, an Extreme Learning Machine based supervised machine is proposed for effective spammer detection. The experiment and evaluation show that the proposed solution provides excellent performance with a true positive rate of spammers and non-spammers reaching 99% and 99.95%, respectively. As the results suggest, the proposed solution could achieve better reliability and feasibility compared with existing SVM based approaches.
Toward a new Telco role in future content distribution services

In the recent years the following two trends have been accelerated: on the one hand, as Content Services became at the center of Internet usages, OTTs strengthen their position. On the other hand, in several cases, Telcos are seeing their role shrinking to “dumb pipes” providers. This paper introduces advanced Telcos' positioning in future content distribution services. In particular, it focuses on the “value” that Telcos can bring to CDN providers and Content providers and analyses the required evolutions of the involved systems' architectures (network and content delivery). Value is assessed with respect to both users' trends and content ecosystem evolution. We show that existing Telcos' assets could indeed be leveraged to make the proposed move, bringing to Telcos a major differentiator in this arena. For that, an open and efficient control infrastructure is necessary, the paper presents the core required functionalities and architectural framework, as well as related challenges.
Endovascular Stent-Graft Treatment of a Traumatic Vertebral Artery Pseudoaneurysm and Vertebrojugular Fistula

An endovascular intervention is a feasible alternative to the technically challenging conventional surgery for the treatment of traumatic vertebral arterial lesions. This report describes a rare case involving a 22-year-old patient with a traumatic vertebral arterial pseudoaneurysm and multiple arteriovenous fistulas which were successfully sealed using the endovascular stent-graft technique.
Creating a Positive Future for a Minority Community: Transportation and Urban Renewal Politics in Miami

Overtown, once the center of African American life in Miami, lost 40% of its population when Interstate 95 was built through the heart of the community in the 1960s. Even though a variety of non-policy factors played a role in the decline of the area, expressway construction and urban renewal greatly accelerated the process. Just as important, efforts to mitigate the impact of the highway were delayed for many years, thus magnifying the negative effects of public policies. The political barriers preventing the redevelopment of Overtown are described and analyzed. The future of Overtown is critically examined and evaluated.
Lightweight searchable screen video recording

Command logging of maintenance and operation activities of modern computer systems has become an integral component of customer and audit requirements. In recent years, this logging has usually been achieved via desktop video recording. However, the conventional approach of video recording requires high computation overhead, high network bandwidth, and a large storage size. Searching through video files is also a challenge. In this paper, we present a lossy, but text text-preserving, compression scheme that meets these challenges by creating a sparse bitonal image suitable for optical character recognition (OCR). Using our system for auditing, the bitonal image gets stored on a server. Due to the mechanism's text-preserving compression, we can apply OCR off-line to create annotations of each video frame, making the output searchable. Compared to state-of-the-art compression of raw video, our approach can reduce file size by 50-80%, while using CPU and memory resources similar to other methods.
Comparison Research between XY and Odd-Even Routing Algorithm of a 2-Dimension 3X3 Mesh Topology Network-on-Chip

The Network-on-Chip (NoC) has been recognized as a paradigm to solve System-on-Chip (SoC) design challenges. The routing algorithm is one of key researches of a NoC design. XY routing algorithm, which is a kind of distributed deterministic routing algorithms, is simple to be implemented. Odd-Even (OE) routing algorithm, whose implementation is complex, is a sort of distributed adaptive routing algorithms with deadlock-free ability. We demonstrate the two routing algorithms in details at first. XY routing algorithm and OE routing algorithm are then simulated and compared based on a 3X3 mesh topology NoC with NIRGAM simulator. The simulation results show that OE routing algorithm, whose P parameter equals to 1.09, increases P parameter greatly as compared to XY routing algorithm, whose P parameter equals to 0.86, in a 2-dimension 3X3 mesh topology NoC, with Constant Bit Rate (CBR) traffic condition of each tail.
Modulation of leaf economic traits and trait relationships by climate

Aim Our aim was to quantify climatic influences on key leaf traits and relationships at the global scale. This knowledge provides insight into how plants have adapted to different environmental pressures, and will lead to better calibration of future vegetation‐climate models. Location The data set represents vegetation from 175 sites around the world. Methods For more than 2500 vascular plant species, we compiled data on leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf life span (LL), nitrogen concentration (N mass ) and photosynthetic capacity (A mass ). Site climate was described with several standard indices. Correlation and regression analyses were used for quantifying relationships between single leaf traits and climate. Standardized major axis (SMA) analyses were used for assessing the effect of climate on bivariate relationships between leaf traits. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to summarize multidimensional trait variation. Results At hotter, drier and higher irradiance sites, (1) mean LMA and leaf N per area were higher; (2) average LL was shorter at a given LMA, or the increase in LL was less for a given increase in LMA (LL‐LMA relationships became less positive); and (3) A mass was lower at a given N mass , or the increase in A mass was less for a given increase in N mass . Considering all traits simultaneously, 18% of variation along the principal multivariate trait axis was explained by climate.
The Application of GPS/GIS Navigation and Positioning System in Cross-Country Orienteering

Cross-country orienteering is a main game in orienteering. It is a new style athletic sport with full popularity, entertaining quality, knowledge as well as rivalrousness. By taking use of a map with some checkpoints and traverse lines and the north stabilized indicator, competitors choose the way to get the checkpoints one by one. The one who accomplish all the checkpoints with the shortest time would be winner. In traditional cross-country orienteering training, with the limits of different kinds of reasons, our coach cannot get the information of training course and qualification of skills well. In this paper, we take an advanced way, which is GPS/GIS navigation and positioning system, to assist the training of cross-country orienteering.
Shed membrane microparticles with procoagulant potential in human atherosclerotic plaques: a role for apoptosis in plaque thrombogenicity.

BACKGROUND The specific role of apoptosis in human atherosclerosis remains unknown. During apoptotic cell death, phosphatidylserine exposure on the cell surface confers a high tissue-factor (TF)-dependent procoagulant activity. METHODS AND RESULTS In this study, we examined the role of apoptotic cell death in the promotion of plaque thrombogenicity. TF expression and its relation to apoptosis was analyzed in 16 human atherosclerotic plaques by the use of immunohistochemical techniques. The presence of shed membrane apoptotic microparticles was analyzed in extracts from 6 human atherosclerotic plaques and 3 underlying arterial walls. The microparticles were captured by annexin V and their amounts estimated with respect to their phospholipid content by use of a prothrombinase assay. The prothrombogenic potential of the microparticles was further assessed by the measurement of total and microparticle-dependent TF activity in the extracts. The cell origin of the microparticles was determined after capture by specific antibodies. We were able to detect marked TF expression in the plaques in close proximity to apoptotic cells and debris, suggesting a potential interaction between TF and the apoptotic cell surfaces. High levels of shed membrane apoptotic microparticles were detected in extracts from atherosclerotic plaques but not in the underlying arterial walls (29.5+/-3.7 nmol/L phosphatidylserine equivalent versus 1.3+/-0.4 nmol/L, respectively, P<0.02). The microparticles were mainly of monocytic and lymphocytic origin and retained 97+/-2% of total TF activity, indicating a direct causal relationship between shed membrane microparticles and procoagulant activity of plaque extracts. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that shed membrane microparticles with procoagulant potential are produced in human atherosclerotic plaques. Apoptosis could be a critical determinant of plaque thrombogenicity after plaque rupture.
Replication of avian leukosis viruses with mutations at the primer binding site: use of alternative tRNAs as primers

We have tested whether avian leukosis viruses (ALVs) can use tRNAs other than tRNATrp to initiate reverse transcription. The primer binding site (PBS) of a wild-type ALV provirus, which is complementary to the 3' end of tRNA(Trp), was replaced with sequences homologous to the 3' ends of six different chicken tRNAs (tRN(APro), tRNA(Lys), tRNA(Met), tRNA(Ile), tRNA(Phe), and tRNA(Ser)). Transfection of these proviruses into chicken embryo fibroblasts resulted in the production of infectious viruses, all of which apparently used the tRNA specified by the mutated PBS to replicate. However, growth of these viruses resulted in reversion to the wild-type (tRNA(Trp)) PBS. Some of the viruses revert quite quickly, while others are more stable. The relative stability of a given PBS correlated with the concentration of the corresponding tRNA in the virion. We determined the percentage of viral RNA that had a tRNA bound to the PBS and found that the occupancy rate is lower in the mutants than in the wild-type virus. We conclude that many different tRNAs can be used as primers to initiate reverse transcription in ALV. However, ALVs that use tRNA(Trp) have a growth advantage over ALVs that use other tRNAs.