Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Innate immune dysfunction in inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract. Gersemann M, Wehkamp J, Stange EF (Robert Bosch Hospital, Stuttgart; Dr. Margarete Fischer‐Bosch Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Stuttgart and University of Tübingen, Tübingen; Germany). Innate immune dysfunction in inflammatory bowel disease (Review). J Intern Med 2012; 271: 421–428.
Modelling and forecasting brent prices

Since early times, the Brent, usually know as crude oil or petroleum, has been used in several elds due to its high energy density, easy transportability, and relative abundance. During the past years, it has become the most important source of energy in the world, and it plays a prominent part in the maintenance of our modernised and industrialised civilization. Therefore, the aim of this work is to analyse, understand and forecast the Brent prices behaviour, on a daily and monthly basis. To model and forecast Brent prices, two di erent approaches have been considered. In the rst approach, the presence of long memory is tested in the conditional mean and modelled by using long memory time series models, namely ARFIMA models. The long memory characteristic is also checked in the volatility, and it is modelled with FIGARCH models, or some of their variants, namely FIAPARCH or FIEGARCH models. The alternative approach considers stochastic regime-switching models, namely STAR, SETAR and MS-AR models. The results obtained from the daily Brent prices analysis suggest that the data under investigation should be modelled with long memory time series, as there was evidence of long-range dependence on the volatility of the Brent prices. Regime-switching models were also applied to the daily data, but the hypothesis of non-linearity was rejected. Regarding the monthly Brent prices, neither conditional heteroskedasticity nor longrange dependence were identi ed. Regime-switching models were also considered, and in this case a two state model was identi ed, showing clear di erences between the achieved regimes.
Quality-Aware Online Task Assignment in Mobile Crowdsourcing

Mobile crowd sourcing (MCS) has grown to be a powerful computation paradigm to harness human power to solve real-world problems. Many commercial MCS platforms have arisen, enabling various novel applications. As crowd workers can be unreliable, a critical issue of these platforms is quality control. Many task assignment approaches have been proposed to increase the quality of crowd sourced tasks by matching workers and tasks in a bipartite graph. However, they fail to apply to MCS platforms where tasks are bound with locations. This paper considers the quality-aware online task assignment problem with location-based tasks. The goal is to optimize tasks' overall quality by assigning appropriate sets of tasks to workers in an online manner. To solve this problem, we propose a probabilistic quality measurement model and a hitchhiking model to characterize workers' behavior. Then we design a polynomial-time online assignment algorithm and prove that the proposed algorithm approximates the offline optimal solution with a competitive ratio of 10/7. Through extensive simulations, we demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our solution.
Nurses' characteristics and organisational factors associated with their assessments of individualised care in care institutions for older people.

RATIONALE Individualised care is considered a key attribute of the quality in clinical care. Despite the environment in which the care is delivered and the care providers can influence in this concept, perceptions of individuality in the care settings for older people are rarely studied. AIM To identify nurses' characteristics and organisational factors associated with nurses' views about the provision of individualised care in care settings for older people. STUDY DESIGN A cross-sectional multisite survey design. METHODS A multisite survey of nursing staff (N = 1513, n = 874, response rate 58%) working in 62 different units for older people in southwest Finland was carried out using self-administered questionnaires (The Individualised Care Scale-Nurse-B and a questionnaire gathering socio-demographic and organisational variables). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Spearman's correlation coefficients, paired-sample t-tests and one-way analyses of variance. RESULTS Participants' perceptions about the level of individualised care provided to older people were generally positive (Mean 3.92, SD 0.56). In this regard, taking into account the patients' clinical situation (Mean 4.31, SD 0.53) and the support of older patients' decisional control (Mean 3.80, SD 0.71) obtained the highest scores. Regarding nurses' socio-demographic variables, a positive correlation between age and type of organisation with the assessments of individualised care provision was found. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study show that nurses' age and the type of organisation where the care is delivered have an impact on the perceptions of individualised care of nurses working in institutions for older people. The participants' assessments about individualised care delivery have practical utility as it may help managers better understand and develop areas that obtained the lowest scores. This information may lead to the reduction of barriers (structures and processes) that hinder individualised care delivery and facilitate programs aimed at developing professional environments that improve the delivery of older people's care.
Support vector machines for tree species identification using LiDAR-derived structure and intensity variables

Tree species identification and forest type classification are critical for sustainable forest management and native forest conservation. Recent success in forest classification and tree species identification using LiDAR (light detection and ranging)-derived variables has been reported in many studies. However, there is still considerable scope for further improvement in classification accuracy. It has driven research into more efficient classifiers such as support vector machines (SVMs) to take maximum advantage of the information extracted from LiDAR data for potential increases in the accuracy of tree species classification. This study demonstrated the success of the SVMs for the identification of the Myrtle Beech (the dominant species of the Australian cool temperate rainforest in the study area) and adjacent tree species – notably, the Silver Wattle at individual tree level using LiDAR-derived structure and intensity variables. An overall accuracy of 92.8% was achieved from the SVM approach, showing significant advantages of the SVMs over the traditional classification methods such as linear discriminant analysis in terms of classification accuracy.
Effects of two protocols of intermittent hypoxia on human ventilatory, cardiovascular and cerebral responses to hypoxia

We determined the ventilatory, cardiovascular and cerebral tissue oxygen response to two protocols of normobaric, isocapnic, intermittent hypoxia. Subjects (n= 18, male) were randomly assigned to short‐duration intermittent hypoxia (SDIH, 12% O2 separated by 5 min of normoxia for 1 h) or long‐duration intermittent hypoxia (LDIH, 30 min of 12% O2). Both groups had 10 exposures over a 12 day period. The hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR) was measured before each daily intermittent hypoxia exposure on days 1, 3, 5, 8, 10 and 12. The HVR was measured again 3 and 5 days after the end of intermittent hypoxia. During all procedures, ventilation, blood pressure, heart rate, arterial oxyhaemoglobin saturation and cerebral tissue oxygen saturation were measured. The HVR increased throughout intermittent hypoxia exposure regardless of protocol, and returned to baseline by day 17 (day 1, 0.84 ± 0.50; day 12, 1.20 ± 1.01; day 17, 0.95 ± 0.58 l min−1%SaO2−1; P < 0.01). The change in systolic blood pressure sensitivity (r=+0.68; P < 0.05) and the change in diastolic blood pressure sensitivity (r=+0.73; P < 0.05) were related to the change in HVR, while the change in heart rate sensitivity was not (r=+0.32; NS). The change in cerebral tissue oxygen saturation sensitivity to hypoxia was less on day 12, and returned to baseline by day 17 (day 1, −0.51 ± 0.13; day 12, −0.64 ± 0.18; day 17, −0.51 ± 0.13; P < 0.001). Acute exposure to SDIH increased mean arterial pressure (+5 mmHg; P < 0.01), but LDIH did not (P > 0.05). SDIH and LDIH had similar effects on the ventilatory and cardiovascular response to acute progressive hypoxia and hindered cerebral oxygenation. Our findings indicate that the vascular processes required to control blood flow and oxygen supply to cerebral tissue in a healthy human are hindered following exposure to 12 days of isocapnic intermittent hypoxia.
Life Expectancy and Old Age Savings

Rich people, women, and healthy people live longer. We document that this heterogeneity in life expectancy is large, and we use an estimated structural model to assess its effect on the elderly's saving. We find that the differences in life expectancy related to observable factors such as income, gender, and health have large effects on savings, and that these factors contribute by similar amounts. We also show that the risk of outliving one's expected lifespan has a large effect on the elderly's saving behavior.
Inactivated Sendai virus suppresses murine melanoma growth by inducing host immune responses and down-regulating β-catenin expression.

OBJECTIVE This paper aims to investigate the anti-tumor mechanism of inactivated Sendai virus (Hemagglutinating virus of Japan envelope, HVJ-E) for murine melanoma (B16F10). METHODS The murine dendritic cells (DCs) were treated with HVJ-E, and then the cytokines secreted from DCs and costimulation-related molecules on DCs were measured. Meanwhile, the expression of β-catenin in HVJ-E treated murine melanoma cells was detected. In addition, HVJ-E was intratumorally injected into the melanoma on C57BL/6 mice, and the immune cells, CTL response and tumor volume were analyzed. RESULTS HVJ-E injected into B16F10 melanoma obviously inhibited the growth of the tumor and prolonged the survival time of the tumor-bearing mice. Profiles of cytokines secreted by dendritic cells (DCs) after HVJ-E stimulation showed that the number of cytokines released was significantly higher than that elicited by PBS (1P<0.05). The co-stimulation-related molecules on DCs were comparable to those stimulated by LPS. Immunohistochemical examinations demonstrated the repression of β-catenin in B16F10 melanoma cells after HVJ-E treatment. Meanwhile, real-time reverse transcription PCR revealed that HVJ-E induced a remarkable infiltration of CD11c positive cells, chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) molecules, interleukin-2 (IL-2) molecule, CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells into HVJ-E injected tumors. Furthermore, the mRNA expression level of β-catenin in the HVJ-E injected tumors was also down-regulated. In addition, B16F10-specific CTLs were induced significantly after HVJ-E was injected into the tumor-bearing mice. CONCLUSION This is the first report to show the effective inhibition of melanoma tumors by HVJ-E alone and the mechanism through which it induces antitumor immune responses and regulates important signal pathways for melanoma invasion. Therefore, HVJ-E shows its prospect as a novel therapeutic for melanoma therapy.
Convex Approximated Weighted Sum-Rate Maximization for Multicell Multiuser OFDM

This letter considers the weighted sum-rate maximization (WSRMax) problem in downlink multicell multiuser orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing system. The WSRMax problem under per base station transmit power constraint is known to be NP-hard, and the optimal solution is computationally very expensive. We propose two less-complex suboptimal convex approximated solutions which are based on sequential parametric convex approximation approach. We derive provably faster convergent iterative convex approximation techniques that locally optimize the weighted sum-rate function. Both the iterative solutions are found to converge to the local optimal solution within a few iterations compared to other well-known techniques. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed approaches.
Three‐dimensional co‐culture of C2C12/PC12 cells improves skeletal muscle tissue formation and function

Engineered muscle tissues demonstrate properties far from native muscle tissue. Therefore, fabrication of muscle tissues with enhanced functionalities is required to enable their use in various applications. To improve the formation of mature muscle tissues with higher functionalities, we co‐cultured C2C12 myoblasts and PC12 neural cells. While alignment of the myoblasts was obtained by culturing the cells in micropatterned methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) hydrogels, we studied the effects of the neural cells (PC12) on the formation and maturation of muscle tissues. Myoblasts cultured in the presence of neural cells showed improved differentiation, with enhanced myotube formation. Myotube alignment, length and coverage area were increased. In addition, the mRNA expression of muscle differentiation markers (Myf‐5, myogenin, Mefc2, MLP), muscle maturation markers (MHC‐IId/x, MHC‐IIa, MHC‐IIb, MHC‐pn, α‐actinin, sarcomeric actinin) and the neuromuscular markers (AChE, AChR‐ε) were also upregulated. All these observations were amplified after further muscle tissue maturation under electrical stimulation. Our data suggest a synergistic effect on the C2C12 differentiation induced by PC12 cells, which could be useful for creating improved muscle tissue. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Simple algorithms for remote determination of mineral abundances and particle sizes from reflectance spectra

Simple algorithms for quantitatively modeling the reflectance spectra of mineral particulates are tested. Although more sophisticated models exist, these algorithms are particularly suited for remotely sensed data, where little or no opportunity exists to independently measure reflectance versus particle size and phase function. Previously, we introduced this method in the analysis of the directional-hemispherical reflectance spectra of binary mineral mixtures containing a single particle size distribution. In this study the technique is extended to multicomponent mixtures, various size separates, and spectra with differing illumination/viewing geometries. It is found that the theoretical calculations and measured data agree to nearly the level of experimental error. This method is also used to determine the threshold abundance at which a mineral can be detected when mixed with another mineral.
Proxy Cache Design: Algorithms, Implementation and Performance

Caching at proxy servers is one of the ways to reduce the response time perceived by Web users Cache replacement algorithms play a central role in the response time reduction by selecting a subset of documents for caching so that a given performance metric is maximized At the same time the cache must take extra steps to guarantee some form of consistency of the cached documents Cache consistency algorithms enforce appropriate guarantees about the staleness of the cached documents We describe a uni ed cache maintenance algorithm LNC R W U which integrates both cache replacement and consistency algorithms The LNC R W U algorithm evicts documents from the cache based on the the delay to fetch each document into the cache Consequently the documents which took a long time to fetch are preferentially kept in the cache The LNC R W U algorithm also considers in the eviction consideration the validation rate of each document as provided by the cache consistency component of LNC R W U Consequently documents which are infrequently updated and thus seldom require validations are preferentially retained in the cache We describe the implementation of LNC R W U and its integration with the Apache code base Finally we present a trace driven experimental study of LNC R W U performance and its comparison with other previously published algorithms for cache maintenance
Biochemical Identification ofCitrobacter Species Defined by DNA Hybridization and Description of Citrobacter gillenii sp. nov. (FormerlyCitrobacter Genomospecies 10) and Citrobacter murliniae sp. nov. (Formerly CitrobacterGenomospecies 11)

ABSTRACT Recent work describing six named species and two unnamed genomospecies within Citrobacter has enlarged the genus to 11 species. DNA relatedness and phenotypic tests were used to determine how well these species can be identified. One hundred thirty-six strains were identified to species level by DNA relatedness and then identified phenotypically in a blinded fashion. By using conventional tests, 119 of the 136 strains (88%) were correctly identified to species level. Three additional strains (2%) were identified as citrobacteria but were not identified to species level, and 14 strains (10%) were misidentified as other Citrobacter species. Carbon source utilization tests were used to identify 86 of the strains. Eighty-four strains (98%) were correctly identified, and two strains (2%) were misidentified as other Citrobacterspecies. Additional strains of Citrobacter genomospecies 10 and Citrobacter genomospecies 11 were identified, allowing these species to be formally named as Citrobacter gilleniisp. nov. and Citrobacter murliniae sp. nov., respectively.
Intelligent battery management for electric and hybrid electric vehicles: A survey

In this paper we present an overview of the state-of-the-art on intelligent battery management systems for electric and hybrid electric vehicles. The focus is on mathematical principles, methods and practical implementations. The intelligent battery management systems aim at lengthening the lifetime of the battery pack and enhancing the safety of drivers of electric and hybrid electric vehicles. Three major research topics are covered in the paper, state of charge (SoC), state of health (SoH) of the battery pack, and the remaining driving range estimation.
New Classification of ELPAT for Living Organ Donation

In the literature, varying terminology for living organ donation can be found. However, there seems to be a need for a new classification to avoid confusion. Therefore, we assessed existing terminology in the light of current living organ donation practices and suggest a more straightforward classification. We propose to concentrate on the degree of specificity with which donors identify intended recipients and to subsequently verify whether the donation to these recipients occurs directly or indirectly. According to this approach, one could distinguish between “specified” and “unspecified” donation. Within specified donation, a distinction can be made between “direct” and “indirect” donation.
Green Supply Chain Management Based on Low-Carbon Economy

Green Logistics launched the green supply chain management. Does the green supply chain management really the guidance of the low-carbon economy? Does the green supply chain management accord with sustainable development indeed? The environment system of Green supply chain can be optimized through close cooperation between enterprises and enterprises internal departments on the industrial chain. The green supply chain management will impact the environmental protection globally. This paper analyzes the inherent relationship between low-carbon economy and green supply chain. On this basis, studies the management and characteristics of green supply chain, and last explores the realization of green supply chain based on low-carbon economy.
Light harvesting with multiwall carbon nanotube/silicon heterojunctions

We report on a significant photocurrent generation from a planar device obtained by coating a bare n doped silicon substrate with a random network of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This MWCNT/n-Si hybrid device exhibits an incident photon to current efficiency reaching up to 34% at 670 nm. We also show that MWCNTs covering a quartz substrate still exhibit photocurrent, though well below than that of the MWCNTs coating the silicon substrate. These results suggest that MWCNTs are able to generate photocurrent and that the silicon substrate plays a fundamental role in our planar device. The former effect is particularly interesting because MWCNTs are generally known to mimic the electronic properties of graphite, which does not present any photocurrent generation. On the basis of theoretical calculations revealing a weak metallic character for MWCNTs, we suggest that both metallic and semiconducting nanotubes are able to generate e–h pairs upon illumination. This can be ascribed to the presence of van Hove singularities in the density of states of each single wall carbon nanotube constituting the MWCNT and to the low density of electrons at the Fermi level. Finally, we suggest that though both MWCNTs and Si substrate are involved in the photocurrent generation process, MWCNT film mainly acts as a semitransparent electrode in our silicon-based device.
Early Secretory Antigenic Target‐6 Drives Matrix Metalloproteinase‐10 Gene Expression and Secretion in Tuberculosis

&NA; Tuberculosis (TB) causes disease worldwide, and multidrug resistance is an increasing problem. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), particularly the collagenase MMP‐1, cause lung extracellular matrix destruction, which drives disease transmission and morbidity. The role in such tissue damage of the stromelysin MMP‐10, a key activator of the collagenase MMP‐1, was investigated in direct Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)‐infected macrophages and in conditioned medium from Mtb‐infected monocyte‐stimulated cells. Mtb infection increased MMP‐10 secretion from primary human macrophages 29‐fold, whereas Mtb‐infected monocytes increased secretion by 4.5‐fold from pulmonary epithelial cells and 10.5‐fold from fibroblasts. Inhibition of MMP‐10 activity decreased collagen breakdown. In two independent cohorts of patients with TB from different continents, MMP‐10 was increased in both induced sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid compared with control subjects and patients with other respiratory diseases (both P < 0.05). Mtb drove 3.5‐fold greater MMP‐10 secretion from human macrophages than the vaccine strain bacillus Calmette‐Guerin (P < 0.001), whereas both mycobacteria up‐regulated TNF‐&agr; secretion equally. Using overlapping, short, linear peptides covering the sequence of early secretory antigenic target‐6, a virulence factor secreted by Mtb, but not bacillus Calmette‐Guerin, we found that stimulation of human macrophages with a single specific 15‐amino acid peptide sequence drove threefold greater MMP‐10 secretion than any other peptide (P < 0.001). Mtb‐driven MMP‐10 secretion was inhibited in a dose‐dependent manner by p38 and extracellular signal‐related kinase mitogen‐activated protein kinase blockade (P < 0.001 and P < 0.01 respectively), but it was not affected by inhibition of NF‐&kgr;B. In summary, Mtb activates inflammatory and stromal cells to secrete MMP‐10, and this is partly driven by the virulence factor early secretory antigenic target‐6, implicating it in TB‐associated tissue destruction.