Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pathogenesis and treatment of post-operative cognitive dysfunction

Cognitive disorders common in the post-operative period, are the post-operative delirium (POD) and the post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) does not mention POCD as a separate disease entity, and thus little is known about the pathogenesis of this disorder. The aim of this study was to review, detect and highlight the most important data cited, regarding pathogenesis mechanisms and treatment of the post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). The study was carried out from March 2015 to June 2015. Literature review was achieved by searching a number of bibliographic databases including PubMed, Google Scholar and SCOPUS, surveying published articles from 1955 to 2014. As far as the selection criteria, the material consists of scientific articles published mainly over the last fifteen years, while material published before 2000 was selected because it was considered to be important. This review showed that deficits are observed in one or more discrete areas of the patient’s mental state, such as attention, concentration, memory, psychomotor speed and more. This condition is usually developed over a period of more than a week or month after surgery and is more common in elderly patients. Mechanisms that have been proposed to explain this phenomenon are hyperventilation, hypotension, cerebral microemboli and inflammatory mechanisms. Its differential diagnosis will be made mainly from delirium. POCD treatment will first include the exclusion of any other serious diseases that can cause organic psychosyndrome and then focus on the actual symptoms.
Increased Level of IFN-γ and IL-4 Spot-Forming Cells on ELISPOT Assay as Biomarkers for Acute Graft-Versus-Host Disease and Concurrent Infections

Acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Infections may coexist and in certain circumstances aggravate aGVHD. It was described that type 1 as well as type 2 cytokines are important mediators of aGVHD. We measured spot-forming cells (SFCs) for interferon (IFN)-γ, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10, and IL-17 in unstimulated peripheral blood from 80 patients with hematological disorders who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation by using the enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay that reflects the ongoing in vivo immune status. A serial monitoring showed that both type 1 and type 2 cytokine SFCs were correlated with aGVHD activity. The numbers of IFN-γ and IL-4 SFCs in patients with grade II-IV aGVHD were significantly higher than those in patients with grade 0 and/or I aGVHD. Elevation of IFN-γ and IL-4 SFCs was significantly correlated with the severity of aGVHD, but not with infection itself, e.g., cytomegalovirus infection. Cytokine SFCs are clinically relevant biomarkers for the diagnostic and therapeutic evaluation of aGVHD and concurrent infection.
Permeability, conductivity, and pore geometry of sandstone

Using Bruggeman's effective medium theory, the hydraulic permeability and dc electrical conductivity of sandstone are both expressed in terms of the ratio of two microscopic lengths, which are the dimensions of a characteristic pore throat and pore chamber, respectively. The theory is consistent with Kozeny-Carman formulas in the limit of a perfectly microscopically homogeneous pore structure. Based on the effective medium approximation, the transport properties of Fontainebleau sandstone are predicted from a quantitative study of the pore space morphology. A series of epoxy-impregnated thin sections of Fontainebleau sandstone was prepared from cores with porosity ranging between 5 and 22%. Using an image analyzer, throat and pore size distributions were constructed from the digitized and segmented microsections. For each sample the transport coefficients are calculated from the characteristic lengths, which are estimated directly from the experimental size histograms. The changes of both permeability and conductivity are predicted within a factor of 3 over the whole range of porosity. The variations of transport coefficients with porosity are interpreted from the contrasting evolution of pores and throats during diagenesis. Large pore chambers alternate with narrow passages in Fontainebleau sandstone. With decreasing porosity, some of the large pores remain stable, while the throats gradually shrink and are finally eliminated. The microscopic inhomogeneity of the pore geometry of Fontainebleau sandstone implies that its flow properties deviate from Kozeny-Carman predictions.
Crowdsourcing on the spot: altruistic use of public displays, feasibility, performance, and behaviours

This study is the first attempt to investigate altruistic use of interactive public displays in natural usage settings as a crowdsourcing mechanism. We test a non-paid crowdsourcing service on public displays with eight different motivation settings and analyse users' behavioural patterns and crowdsourcing performance (e.g., accuracy, time spent, tasks completed). The results show that altruistic use, such as for crowdsourcing, is feasible on public displays, and through the controlled use of motivational design and validation check mechanisms, performance can be improved. The results shed insights on three research challenges in the field: i) how does crowdsourcing performance on public displays compare to that of online crowdsourcing, ii) how to improve the quality of feedback collected from public displays which tends to be noisy, and iii) identify users' behavioural patterns towards crowdsourcing on public displays in natural usage settings.
Distributed optimization of multi-class SVMs

Training of one-vs.-rest SVMs can be parallelized over the number of classes in a straight forward way. Given enough computational resources, one-vs.-rest SVMs can thus be trained on data involving a large number of classes. The same cannot be stated, however, for the so-called all-in-one SVMs, which require solving a quadratic program of size quadratically in the number of classes. We develop distributed algorithms for two all-in-one SVM formulations (Lee et al. and Weston and Watkins) that parallelize the computation evenly over the number of classes. This allows us to compare these models to one-vs.-rest SVMs on unprecedented scale. The results indicate superior accuracy on text classification data.
What motivates sports event tourists?: a synthesis of three disciplines

[Abstract]: Sport event tourism is a huge and growing global industry with important economic implications for both the sport, the event and the impact of travel and tourism related benefits on host destinations. Research within the tourism and event marketing fields reveal an abundance of studies on motivation and satisfaction (Crompton 1979; Dann 1977; Uysal & Jurwoski 1994; Gnoth 1992; Wann & Branscombe. However there is a lack of research into what motivates consumers to become sport event tourists and whether these motivations differ from the traditional sport consumption, tourism or event marketing literature. This paper synthesises the consumer motivation literature from three fields; tourism, events and sports spectating. It further provides a proposal for future research which advocates the testing of a new set of motivational variables and eventual identification of a sport event tourist typology.
Changing Colour Preferences with Ageing: A Comparative Study on Younger and Older Native Germans Aged 19–90 Years

Background: Previous studies have shown that colour preferences change from early childhood to adulthood. Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess whether colour preferences undergo further changes during adult life. Methods: Cross-sectional data on colour preferences were collected in 842 adults (aged 19–90 years) living in Mainz, Germany. The sample was split by age into younger (183 men, 232 women) and older (157 men, 270 women) adults. The subgroups were compared for their most and least preferred colours that they had chosen by name out of four given colours (blue, green, red, yellow). Differences in the pattern of frequencies between sexes and age groups were assessed for statistical significance using chi-square analyses. Results: Both age groups and both sexes chose blue as most preferred colour and yellow as least preferred one; green and red fluctuated in the middle position of the rank order of preferences. All frequency distributions departed significantly from chance (p < 0.001). In both younger and older adults, significant sex differences did not exist for the ranking of the most preferred colours (p > 0.2), but were evident in the ranking of the least preferred colours (p < 0.01); men stated more often yellow and less often red as least preferred than women did. Age group differences in colour preferences were highly significant. With advancing age, the preference for blue decreased steadily, whereas the popularity of green and red increased (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The results suggest that colour preferences change during the course of the adult life span. These changes seem to be a reversal of the trend reported in the literature for children. Changed colour preferences in the aged might be attributed to alterations in colour discrimination and visual imagery, the yellowing of the crystalline lens, and the decreased function of the blue cone mechanism with ageing.
Infantile myofibromatosis of the triceps detected by prenatal sonography

A routine prenatal sonographic examination at 36 weeks' menstrual age revealed a solid and slightly inhomogeneous soft‐tissue tumor on a fetus's left upper arm. The mass in the left triceps brachii muscle measured 8 × 7 × 5 cm at birth. Because of progressive flexion contracture of the left elbow joint, at 2 months of age the infant underwent radical resection of the tumor, sparing some muscle fibers. Light microscopic and immunohistochemical studies revealed myofibromatosis. Neither tumor nor functional disorder of the arm was evident 3 years after surgery. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 27:147–150, 1999.
Strength of slab inferred from the seismic tomography and geologic history around the Japanese Islands

I analyze the seismic tomography around the Japanese Islands to elucidate the present slab morphology. A simple conversion from the high speed to the temperature anomaly is done based on the recent study of the conversion coefficient from the velocity to the thermal anomaly and on the study of the relation between the seismicity and the temperature in the slab. I find recognizable amount of cold temperature anomalies under the subducting slab. This suggests a rather continuous slab throughout the mantle consistent with the results of many recent numerical models. However, there still is a gap in the slab or diluted slab under the transition zone. To understand this, I construct a simple half‐kinematic model of subduction zone in which a Byerlee's type yield stress and the depth independent yield stress are assumed. Taking into account the geologic history around the Japanese Islands, I find that the slab morphology similar to the tomographic image is obtained when the yield stress is O(100 MPa). The present study shows that the detailed studies of seismic tomography and the tectonic history of the surveyed area can provide the constraints on the slab dynamics.
Proposed methods for potential evapotranspiration calculation of the Red River basin (North Vietnam)

Potential evapotranspiration (ETP) is an important part of a climatic water balance and a crucial variable in many kinds of models in computing actual evapotranspiration. The objective of this study was to find a reasonable approach of ETP calculation for a height‐differentiated landscape in subtropical climate. From the pool of diverse approaches, six common methods [Hamon, Priestley–Taylor, Thornthwaite, Blaney–Criddle, Turc and Food and Agricultural Organization Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56 (FAO‐56)] were selected. With the meteorological data for long‐term period (1964–2008), the calculation of ETP values was performed for 12 different meteorological stations in the Red River basin. Among the applied ETP calculation methods, the Turc and the FAO‐56 methods agreed well at most stations and represent best the expectations for the ETP values of the Thao and Da subbasins. The findings of our investigations indicate that in highly structured (land use and elevation) regions, not all methods provide satisfying results. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Transplantation of Insulin-Producing Cells Differentiated from Human Periosteum-Derived Progenitor Cells Ameliorate Hyperglycemia in Diabetic Mice

Background Periosteum-derived progenitor cells (PDPCs) isolated from the adult periosteum can differentiate into several specific cell types. In this study, we examined the characteristics of human PDPCs and insulin-producing cells (IPCs) differentiated from PDPCs and their ability to ameliorate hyperglycemia when transplanted into streptozotocin-induced nonobese diabetic–severe combined immunodeficiency diabetic mice. Methods Periosteum-derived progenitor cells were isolated from patients, expanded in culture, and subjected to a three-step differentiation protocol to produce IPCs. The expression of immunogenic, pluripotent, and pancreatic markers was examined, and glucose-stimulated insulin release in vitro was also assessed. Insulin-producing cells that differentiated from PDPCs were transplanted under the kidney capsule of streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice, and glucose levels and glucose tolerance were measured. Results We found that PDPCs expressed the mesenchymal stem cell markers CD73, CD90, and CD105 and the pluripotent markers, octamer-binding transcription factor 4 and Nanog, but not sex-determining region Y-box 2 or Rex1. Periosteum-derived progenitor cells expressed human leukocyte antigen–ABC but did not express human leukocyte antigen–DR or the costimulatory molecules CD80 and CD86. Differentiated IPCs expressed pancreatic hormones (insulin, glucagon, somatostatin, and glucose transporter 2), hormone processing, and secretion molecules (prohormone convertase-1 and convertase-2, Kir6.2), and pancreatic transcription factors (neurogenin 3, pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1, sex-determining region Y-box 17). When IPCs were stimulated with glucose in vitro, insulin secretion was elevated. Transplantation of IPCs under the kidney capsules of diabetic mice improved hyperglycemia and glucose tolerance. Human insulin was detected in the serum and kidney sections of mice transplanted with IPCs differentiated from PDPCs. Conclusion These results suggest that IPCs differentiated from PDPCs might be an alternative source of &bgr; cells for treating diabetes.
Getting Out of the Woods

Abstract The number and area of nature reserves in China have increased significantly in the last 2 decades. This massive increase has not been matched by a corresponding enhancement of management inputs and capabilities. Six major problems in protected area (PA) management are identified in this article: selection of unsuitable sites for conservation, shortage of funding, rising people–park conflicts, the paper park syndrome, multiple but disparate management agents, and lack of international experience. Five management quandaries are discussed to highlight the major dilemmas, ie, whether the reserves should exclude traditional resource-tapping activities, whether non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should be encouraged to help management agents, whether the management should earn income from the reserves, whether they should be the umpire or a player in the utilization of natural resources in reserves, and whether an integrated management structure should supersede the present compartmentalized arrangement. Finally, specific recommendations are obtained from the study.
Design and Optimization of a Contactless Magnetically Levitated Actuator for 4-Axis-Machining

A new design of a machine has been developed which performs contactless actuation in four axis-three translational and one rotational-with high accuracy and controllability in 6-DOF. Remarkable on this concept is the contactless moving part, which enables completely free rotations on the z-axis. The components of the device are optimized especially regarding to the characteristics for micromachining. The optimization algorithm is based on the response surface approximation (RSA) combined with an evolution strategy (ES). The design and optimization process is supported by 3-D numerical simulations using the volume integral equation method (VIEM) coupled with the fast multipole method (FMM) for a fast and efficient computation.
Crop genetic resource policy: towards a research agenda

Since the 1970's, the worldwide capacity of genebanks for ex situ conservation of crop genetic resources has increased greatly. This has increased the accessibility of landraces and wild and weedy relatives to crop breeders; in situ conservation, though essential, is not an efficient means of furnishing genebanking services. But utilization of genebank resources has not kept pace. The set of popular cultivars in major crops is typically rather small, and their ancestry encompasses only a small fraction of the genetic diversity currently available in other cultivars. Discussions of farmers' rights that focus on compensation for current incorporation of farmers' varieties in new cultivars have diverted attention from the question of why so little of the newly accessible genetic diversity is currently being utilized by public and private breeders. To optimize the future provision of genebank services, research is needed on the costs of genebanks, the market for their services, the use of genetic resources by breeders, and the implications of recognition of farmers' rights, evolving intellectual property rights, continued funding problems and developments in biotechnology.
Characteristics of Suicide Attempters in a Population-Based Sample of Dutch Adolescents

The characteristics of suicide attempters were ascertained in a sample of 9393 Dutch students aged 14–20. Broken homes and use of drugs and alcohol were found more often among attempters. Attempters more frequently lived with a single parent, in children's homes or foster homes, were disproportionately of female sex, reported more deaths of friends or relatives, and more often had an unemployed father. Thoughts of suicide and of death were reported more frequently, they were more depressed and hopeless, and had less self-esteem. They were less rational and perceived relationships with parents as poor.
A Nonconvex Relaxation Approach for Rank Minimization Problems

Recently, solving rank minimization problems by leveraging nonconvex relaxations has received significant attention. Some theoretical analyses demonstrate that it can provide a better approximation of original problems than convex relaxations. However, designing an effective algorithm to solve nonconvex optimization problems remains a big challenge. In this paper, we propose an Iterative Shrinkage-Thresholding and Reweighted Algorithm (ISTRA) to solve rank minimization problems using the nonconvex weighted nuclear norm as a low rank regularizer. We prove theoretically that under certain assumptions our method achieves a high-quality local optimal solution efficiently. Experimental results on synthetic and real data show that the proposed ISTRA algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods in both accuracy and efficiency.
Sodium intake of 1 to 5‐year‐old children: the STRIP Project

The aim of this study is to examine sodium intake and dietary sodium sources of 1‐5‐y‐old children in a prospective, randomized long‐term coronary heart disease prevention trial, focused on dietary fat modification. Counselling included no advice about reducing salt in the children's diets. Food consumption of 100 intervention children and 100 control children was recorded for 3 consecutive days at the age of 13 mo and for 4 consecutive days at the ages of 3 and 5 y. Sodium intakes were calculated using the Micro Nutrica program. Children's mean daily sodium (NaCl) consumption (intervention and control children combined) was 1600 ± 527 mg (4.0 ± 1.3 g), 1900 ± 504 mg (4.8 ± 1.3 g) and 2200 ± 531 mg (5.5 ± 1.3 g) at the ages of 13 mo and 3 and 5 y, respectively. The intervention children consumed as much or slightly more sodium than the control children at all ages studied. Half the sodium consumption was derived from added salt in commercially prepared or homemade foods. Milk, meat products, bread and cereals were other important sodium sources.
Interpretation of heat flow measurements in the Vema Fracture Zone

Twenty-three measurements in the floor of the Vema Fracture Zone show heat flow to be above normal and remarkably uniform between the active spreading centers (HF = 3.5 HFU). A simple thermal model of a transform fracture zone shows that heat flow over the fault plane should equal the means of the heat flows over the two abutting lithospheric plates. This model predicts a rather uniform heat flow between the two spreading centers.
A genetic algorithm for solving multistage graph problem

A multistage graph is center problem of computer science, many coordination and consistency problems can be convert into multistage graph problem. We obtained the fitness function by coding the vertex of multistage graph, and designed the genetic algorithm for solving multistage graph problem. Experiment results show that this algorithm is very effective and feasible.
Muscle-Specific Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Antibody Positive Myasthenia Gravis Current Status

Muscle-specific tyrosine-kinase-antibody-positive myasthenia gravis (MuSK-MG) has emerged as a distinct entity since 2001. This disease has been reported worldwide, but with varying rates among patients with generalized acetylcholine-receptor-antibody-negative MG. MuSK-MG was detected in approximately 37% of generalized acetylcholine receptor antibody-negative MG. MuSK-MG patients were predominantly female with more prominent facial and bulbar involvement and more frequent crises. Disease onset tended to be earlier. Patients tended to have a relatively poor edrophonium response but showed prominent decrement in the repetitive nerve stimulation test in the facial muscles. Patients were more likely to display poor tolerance of, or a lack of improvement with, anticholinesterase agents. Somewhat better response was observed with steroids and plasma exchange. Most were managed successfully with aggressive immunomodulatory therapies, although a higher proportion of MuSK-MG patients had a refractory course when compared with other forms of generalized MG. I present here an up-to-date overview on MuSK-MG based on our experience at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the existing literature.
Coherent Distortion Risk Measures - A Pitfall

Concave distortion risk measures were introduced in the actuarial literature by Wang (1996). Loosely speaking, such a risk measure assigns a ”distorted expectation”to any distribution function. The expectation is distorted by a so-called ”distortion function”. Concavity of the distortion function ensures that the risk measure preserves stop-loss order. Consider two random couples with identical marginal distributions but of which the dependency structure differs. Assume that the covariance of the second couple exceeds the covariance of the first one. Let us now consider a risk measure for the sum of the components of each couple. One would expect that any reasonable risk measure will lead to a smaller real number for the sum of the components of the first couple. However, we will demonstrate that this property does not hold in general for concave distortion risk measures. Moreover, for any such risk measure, it is possible to construct an example where the correlation order is not preserved. Despite this theoretical result, some simulation-based testing indicates that most well-known concave distortion risk measures for sums of random couples with given marginals frequently do preserve the order of the correlations.