Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of chard (Beta vulgaris L. var. cicla) extract on the kidney tissue, serum urea and Creatinine levels of diabetic rats

The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of chard (Beta vulgaris L. var. cicla) extract on serum urea and creatinine concentrations and on kidney tissue in normal and streptozotocin‐diabetic rats. The extract was administered to rats at a dose of 2 g/kg every day for 28 days, 14 days after animals were made diabetic. On day 42, kidney tissue and blood samples were examined. Significant degenerative changes in kidney tissue of diabetic rats were observed, but in the group given chard extract, the morphology of kidney tissue was found to be nearly the same as the controls. Serum urea and creatinine levels significantly increased in the diabetic groups, but the chard extracts significantly reduced serum urea and creatinine levels. It is concluded that the extract of this plant may reduce serum urea and creatinine levels and confer a protective effect on the kidney of diabetic rats. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Characterization and Molecular Interpretation of the Photosynthetic Traits of Lonicera confusa in Karst Environment

Lonicera confusa was a medical plant which could adapt to the Ca-rich environment in the karst area of China. The photosynthesis, relative chlorophyll content,differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) of L. confusa that cultivated in calcareous and sandstone soils were investigated. The results showed that the relative chlorophyll content and net photosynthesis rate of L. confusa in calcareous soil are much higher than that planted in sandstone soil, the higher content of calcium might play a role in keeping the chloroplast from harm and showed higher photosynthesis rate. The transpiration and stomata conductance were decreased in calcareous soil, which might result from the closure of stomata. The GeneFishing and proteomic results showed that the expression of DEGs and DEPs were critical for photosynthesis and stomata closure, such as RuBisCO, photosynthetic electron transfer c and malate dehydrogenase varied in the leaves of L. confusa that cultivated in different soils. These DEGs or DEPs were further found to be directly or indirectly regulated by calcium sensor proteins. This study enriched our knowledge of the molecular mechanism of high net photosynthesis rate and lower transpiration of L. confusa that cultivated in the calcareous soil in some degree.
Recurrence-based time series analysis by means of complex network methods

Complex networks are an important paradigm of modern complex systems sciences which allows quantitatively assessing the structural properties of systems composed of different interacting entities. During the last years, intensive efforts have been spent on applying network-based concepts also for the analysis of dynamically relevant higher-order statistical properties of time series. Notably, many corresponding approaches are closely related with the concept of recurrence in phase space. In this paper, we review recent methodological advances in time series analysis based on complex networks, with a special emphasis on methods founded on recurrence plots. The potentials and limitations of the individual methods are discussed and illustrated for paradigmatic examples of dynamical systems as well as for real-world time series. Complex network measures are shown to provide information about structural features of dynamical systems that are complementary to those characterized by other methods of time series analysis and, hence, substantially enrich the knowledge gathered from other existing (linear as well as nonlinear) approaches.
An Adaptive Spectral Clustering Algorithm Based on the Importance of Shared Nearest Neighbors

The construction of a similarity matrix is one significant step for the spectral clustering algorithm; while the Gaussian kernel function is one of the most common measures for constructing the similarity matrix. However, with a fixed scaling parameter, the similarity between two data points is not adaptive and appropriate for multi-scale datasets. In this paper, through quantitating the value of the importance for each vertex of the similarity graph, the Gaussian kernel function is scaled, and an adaptive Gaussian kernel similarity measure is proposed. Then, an adaptive spectral clustering algorithm is gotten based on the importance of shared nearest neighbors. The idea is that the greater the importance of the shared neighbors between two vertexes, the more possible it is that these two vertexes belong to the same cluster; and the importance value of the shared neighbors is obtained with an iterative method, which considers both the local structural information and the distance similarity information, so as to improve the algorithm’s performance. Experimental results on different datasets show that our spectral clustering algorithm outperforms the other spectral clustering algorithms, such as the self-tuning spectral clustering and the adaptive spectral clustering based on shared nearest neighbors in clustering accuracy on most datasets.
Theoretical Study of Carrier Transport in Silicon Nanowire Transistors Based on the Multisubband Boltzmann Transport Equation

We study electronic transport in silicon nanowire transistors at room temperature based on the self-consistent numerical solution of the multisubband Boltzmann transport equation and Poisson equation. The Schrodinger equation with nonparabolic corrections is solved in order to obtain the multisubband structure. Relevant microscopic scattering mechanisms due to acoustic and intervalley phonons, surface roughness, and ionized impurities are included in the simulation. A flux-conserving discretization scheme based on the uniform total energy grid is employed to avoid excessive numerical diffusion originating from the conventional kinetic-energy-based upwind scheme. We report an interesting kink behavior in the output characteristics and study the electron energy distribution inside the transistor as a function of bias conditions and scattering mechanisms.
A 31P-NMR study of tissue respiration in working dog muscle during reduced O2 delivery conditions.

To investigate the role of tissue oxygenation as one of the control factors regulating tissue respiration, 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-NMR) was used to estimate muscle metabolites in isolated working muscle during varied tissue oxygenation conditions. O2 delivery (muscle blood flow x arterial O2 content) was varied to isolated in situ working dog gastrocnemius (n = 6) by decreases in arterial PO2 (hypoxemia; H) and by decreases in muscle blood flow (ischemia; I). O2 uptake (VO2) was measured at rest and during work at two or three stimulation intensities (isometric twitch contractions at 3, 5, and occasionally 7 Hz) during three separate conditions: normal O2 delivery (C) and reduced O2 delivery during H and I, with blood flow controlled by pump perfusion. Biochemical metabolites were measured during the last 2 min of each 3-min work period by use of 31P-NMR, and arterial and venous blood samples were drawn and muscle blood flow measured during the last 30 s of each work period. Muscle [ATP] did not fall below resting values at any work intensity, even during O2-limited highly fatiguing work, and was never different among the three conditions. Muscle O2 delivery and VO2 were significantly less (P < 0.05) at the highest work intensities for both I and H than for C but were not different between H and I. As VO2 increased with stimulation intensity, a larger change in any of the proposed regulators of tissue respiration (ADP, P(i), ATP/ADP.P(i), and phosphocreatine) was required during H and I than during C to elicit a given VO2, but requirements were similar for H and I. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Telling Tales: Discursive Narratives of ESOL Migrant Identities.

This paper concerns migrant identity construction in an ESOL course. Taking a poststructuralist perspective, identity is viewed a fluid process of ongoing struggle between different subject positions that individuals take in a variety of social sites. In this study, five migrant ESOL learners were interviewed to talk about the concept of self to investigate the process of identity construction. The purpose of this study was also to identify the role of learning English for migrant workers in relation to imagined community and self. The study showed how these migrant ESOL learners conceptualize self in relation to two aspects: learning English and investment, gaining social and cultural capitals and access to imagine community, and being transmigrants. This paper highlights the implications in language education. 뀀ഀȠ 뀀ഀȠ Ozet: Bu makale bir ikinci dil olarak Ingilizce dersindeki gocmen kimligi olusturma ile ilgilidir. Post- yapisalcilik acisindan ele alindiginda, kimlik bireylerin cesitli sosyal mevkilerde takindiklari farkli ozne pozisyonlari arasinda suregelen catismanin canli bir sureci olarak gorulmektedir. Bu calismada, kimlik olusturma surecini incelemek icin bes gocmen diger dil konusanlari icin Ingilizce ogrencisi ile benlik kavrami hakkinda roportaj yapilmistir. Bu calismanin amaci, ayni zamanda, gocmen isciler icin Ingilizce ogrenmenin rolunu muhayyel topluluk ve benlik ile baglantili olarak tespit etmektir. Bu calisma bu gocmen diger dil konusanlari icin Ingilizce ogrencilerinin benligi iki acidan nasil kavramsallastirdiklarini gostermektedir: Ingilizce ogrenme ve yatirim, sosyal ve kulturel sermaye kazanma, hayal edilen camiaya erisim, ve ulkeler arasi gocmen olmak. Bu calisma dil egitimindeki onerileri vurgulamaktadir. Anahtar sozcukler: Ikinci dil olarak Ingilizce ogrencileri; kimlik; dil ogrenimi; gocmenler; ulkelerarasi gocmenler
Predição dos valores pessoais sobre percepção de justiça de funcionários que atuam com turismo em empresas do Distrito Federal Prediction of personal values on perception of justice among employees working in tourism in companies in the Federal District

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo conhecer a percepcao de justica distributiva e de procedimento, abordando as variaveis de valores individuais como preditores destas em organizacoes de turismo. Neste estudo foram utilizadas as respostas de 197 trabalhadores de empresas publicas (42,3%) e privadas (57,7%). O tipo motivacional poder prediz a percepcao de justica distributiva e o tipo motivacional estimulacao prediz a percepcao de justica de procedimento. Discutem-se os resultados, implicacoes e limitacoes. Palavras chave: Organizacao de Turismo, Percepcao de Justica,Valores.
"Robust statistical methods in web retrieval" by Carsten Eickhoff and Arjen P. de Vries, with Martin Vesely as coordinator

Information retrieval systems rely on multitudes of individual features in order to determine the ranking of documents for a given user and query combination. Current solutions to this challenge are often inconsistent with the formal probabilistic framework in which constituent scores were estimated, or use sophisticated learning methods that make it difficult for humans to understand the origin of the final scores. To address these issues, we employ copulas, a family of robust statistical methods, introducing their formal background and empirically demonstrating their merit in a number of settings, including ranking, score fusion and language modelling.
Phase string effect in the t-J model: General theory

We reexamine the problem of a hole moving in an antiferromagnetic spin background and find that the injected hole will always pick up a sequence of nontrivial phases from the spin degrees of freedom. Previously unnoticed, such a stringlike phase originates from the hidden Marshall signs which are scrambled by the hopping of the hole. We can rigorously show that this phase string is nonrepairable at low energy and give a general proof that the spectral weight Z must vanish at the ground-state energy due to the phase-string effect. Thus, the quasiparticle description fails here and the quantum interference effect of the phase string dramatically affects the long-distance behavior of the injected hole. We introduce a so-called phase-string formulation of the t-J model for a general number of holes in which the phase-string effect can be explicitly tracked. As an example, by applying this new mathematical formulation in one dimension, we reproduce the well-known Luttinger-liquid behaviors of the asymptotic single-electron Green's function and the spin-spin correlation function. We can also use the present phase-string theory to justify previously developed spin-charge separation theory in two dimensions, which offers a systematic explanation for the transport and magnetic anomalies in the high-${\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{c}}$ cuprates.
Emerging mHealth innovations for patient self-management support

mHealth solutions enable connected patients to take care of their health and care needs while `on the move'. There exist a variety of emerging innovative technologies supporting them in their goal of symptoms tracking, medication adherence, or connecting with others, either peers suffering from the same disease or expert practitioners supervising the health status from away. In this article we first present and categorize some examples of such technologies for performance maximization, health maintenance, disease prevention and disease management. Then we discuss these technologies in terms of their design space supporting the patient's self-care, supporting the peer efforts in care, or supporting the patient-practitioner interaction. We discuss the technologies' strengths and weaknesses in terms of the barriers for adoption and scaling. We especially focus on discussion on the evidence of mHealth as an intervention, for its safety, efficiency, efficacy and effectiveness and provide some guidelines for future work areas to be completed, such that evidence can be provided with a sufficient power and emerging mHealth technologies can enable the support for patient health self-management.
The Failure of TCP in High-Performance Computational Grids

Distributed computational grids depend on TCP to ensure reliable end-to-end communication between nodes across the wide-area network (WAN). Unfortunately, TCP performance can be abysmal even when buffers on the end hosts are manually optimized. Recent studies blame the self-similar nature of aggregate network traffic for TCP’s poor performance because such traffic is not readily amenable to statistical multiplexing in the Internet, and hence computational grids. In this paper, we identify a source of self-similarity previously ignored, a source that is readily controllable - TCP. Via an experimental study, we examine the effects of the TCP stack on network traffic using different implementations of TCP. We show that even when aggregate application traffic ought to smooth out as more applications’ traffic are multiplexed, TCP induces burstiness into the aggregate traffic load, thus adversely impacting network performance. Furthermore, our results indicate that TCP performance will worsen as WAN speeds continue to increase.
Segmentación laboral y análisis de clusters con datos individuales. Una aplicación al mercado de trabajo andaluz

La investigacion, desarrollada con datos de 2007 a 2010, propone medidas concretas para la busqueda eficaz de empleo mediante la metodologia de clusters, que permite suministrar a cada demandante, de forma individualizada, toda la informacion que necesita para poder conocer las opciones de empleo que tiene actualmente en su segmento laboral.
Sequential acquisition of toilet-training skills: a descriptive study of gender and age differences in normal children.

OBJECTIVE To compare the ages, by gender, at which normally developing children acquire individual toilet-training skills and to describe the typical sequence by which children achieve complete toileting success. METHODS A longitudinal survey was conducted of a cohort of children who were 15 to 42 months of age and attending 4 pediatric practices in the Milwaukee area (2 inner city and 2 suburban) from 1995 through 1997. Parents completed background surveys, and each child's development was assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II. Each week for 12 to 16 months, parents completed a training status survey (TSS). The TSS, designed for this project, included information on daily toilet-training status (eg, number of urine successes on a 5-point scale) and 28 weekly toilet-training behaviors rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Children were considered to have acquired a particular skill when they received a rating of 4 or 5 on the TSS scale. The median age and interquartile range for children for each toilet-training skill are reported for girls and boys separately using survival curve analysis. Ages at which each gender achieved these skills are compared using a log-rank test. RESULTS The study included 126 girls and 141 boys; 88% were white. Parents submitted a total of 10 741 weekly surveys (range: 1--73; median: 49 per child). Girls demonstrated toilet-training skills at earlier ages than boys. The median ages for "staying dry during the day" were 32.5 months (95% confidence interval: 30.9--33.7) and 35.0 months (95% confidence interval: 33.3--36.7) for girls and boys, respectively. The median ages for readiness skills for girls and boys, respectively, were as follows: "showing an interest in using the potty," 24 and 26 months; "staying dry for 2 hours," 26 and 29 months; "indicating a need to go to the bathroom," 26 and 29 months. There was a marked concordance in the sequences in which girls and boys achieve individual skills. In addition, the interquartile ranges of the toileting skills varied from 6.9 to 11.4 months in girls and from 7.5 to 14.6 months in boys. CONCLUSIONS In this study population, girls achieve nearly all toilet-training skills earlier than boys, including successful completion. Most children do not master the readiness skills until after the second birthday. The range of normalcy for the attainment of individual skills may vary by as much as a year.
Common field-of-view of cameras in robotic swarms

Cooperative swarms of robots with cameras can provide stereo and multi-view vision. They are robust against failures and introduce diversity in the case of poor conditions. Cameras are used both for data acquisition and navigation. Additional sensors also play a role in the SLAM tasks (Simultaneously Localization and Mapping). The independent mobility of the robots/cameras leads to a situation in which the common field-of-view (FOV) of cameras changes continuously. The present paper addresses the task of acquiring and tracking the cameras FOVs. State-of-the-art FOV characterization techniques count feature points or do image segmentation. These methods are often not accurate or complex. We propose an adaptive common FOV detection method based on fuzzy plane clustering. The performance of the method is shown to be invariant under baseline scaling. An autonomous grouping algorithm is further proposed with respect to both distance of robots and overlapping FOV of cameras.
Stress and Gender in Unemployed Female and Male Managers

The purpose of this pioneering study was to investigate the overall impact of unemployment on female managers compared to their male counterparts, an area which to date has received no specific attention. A questionnaire was designed based on a review of the relevant literature and content analysis of in-depth interviews with 40 unemployed managers. This was distributed to the 80 government run Executive Job Clubs located throughout England, and was used to gain quantitative data exploring respondents’ experiences of unemployment in terms of sources of stress, stress moderators, and stress outcomes. Completed questionnaires were received from 115 female and 169 male unemployed managers registered at 46 Executive Job Clubs (return rate 47%). Multiple regression techniques were used to develop individual and comparative models of unemployment for unemployed female and male managers. The findings indicated that unemployed female managers encountered substantially greater sources of stress than their male counterparts in all aspects of unemployment. Increased stressors and less effective stress moderators resulted in female managers experiencing significantly poorer mental well-being and greater negative physical effects during unemployment than their male counterparts. Recommendations are made to key organisations. Cette recherche originale avait pour objectif l’analyse de l’impact global du chomage sur les femmes cadres compare´es a` leurs homologues masculins, un domains qui jusqu’a` pre´sent n’a pas e´te´ spe´cifiquement e´tudie´. On a construit un questionnaire a` partir d’informations fournies par la litte´rature et par l’analyse de contenu d’entretiens effectue´s aupre`s de quarante cadres au chomage. Ce questionnaire fut envoye´ aux 80 Executive Job Clubs anglais relevant de l’Etat et permit d’obtenir des donne´es quantitatives sur l’expe´rience que les re´pondants avaient du chomage (origines, gestion et conse´quences du stress). On a rec¸u 115 questionnaires remplis par des femmes et 169 par des hommes inscrits dans 46 Executive Job Clubs, soit un taux de retour de 47%. On a fait appel a` des techniques de re´gression multiple pour e´laborer des mode`les individuels et comparatifs du chomage chez les cadres masculins et fe´minins sans emploi. Les re´sultats ont montre´ que les femmes e´taient confronte´es a` des sources de stress nettement plus importantes que leurs colle`gues masculins dans toutes les dimensions du chomage. Des facieurs de stress plus nocifs et une gestion du stress moins efficace provoquaient chez les femmes cadres un moindre bien-etre physique et mental durant leur pe´riode de chomage. Des recommandations sont propose´es aux organismes concerne´s.
Wireless Inertial Sensors for Monitoring Animal Behavior

Wireless sensors were designed which are small and light enough to be worn by small animals such as rats. These sensors are used to record three axes acceleration data from animals during natural behavior in a cage. The behavior of the animal is further extracted from the recorded acceleration data using neural network based pattern recognition algorithms. Successful recognition of eating, grooming and standing are demonstrated using this approach. Finally another potential application of this research is demonstrated in behavioral neuroscience by showing correlations between action potentials recorded from the motor cortex of a rat and acceleration data.
Unplanned extubation: a local experience.

OBJECTIVES To study the outcome of unplanned extubation (UE) in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and to identify factors which predict the need for reintubation. METHODS A prospective study of all mechanically ventilated patients admitted to MICU in 1998. Patients were enrolled into the study at the point of their first UE. The primary endpoint was reintubation after UE and secondary endpoint was death from any cause during hospitalisation. RESULTS A total of 543 patients were admitted to MICU of which 312 were mechanically ventilated. UE accounted for 8.7% of our mechanically ventilated patients. The mean APACHE 11 score was 20 (+/- 10), mean time between intubation and UE was 3.1 days (+/- 3.1), mean length of MICU stay was 10.1 days (+/- 10.2) and mean hospital stay was 27.0 days (+/- 36.1). Eighty-seven percent of the UE was deliberate. The rate of reintubation after failed UE was 58.3% of which 71.4% had immediate reintubation. Twenty-nine percent of patients were undergoing weaning during UE. The in-hospital mortality was 25%. All deaths occurred in the group who failed UE. Patients who failed UE had a higher mean APACHE 11 score, a higher mean pre-extubation FiO2 level and a lower mean PaO2/ FiO2 ratio (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION UE accounted for 8.7% of our mechanically ventilated patients and 58.3% of these patients required reintubation. Failed UE was associated with a higher mortality. A higher APACHE 11 score, higher pre-extubation FiO2 level and a lower PaO2/FiO2 ratio were associated with reintubation after failed UE.