Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effets d'un entraînement cognitif et d'une immersion en réalité virtuelle sur la cognition et la conduite automobile des seniors

Le premier objectif de cette these etait d'evaluer l'efficacite d'un programme d'entrainement cognitif informatise, associe ou non a une immersion sur simulateur de conduite, sur les performances cognitives et de conduite, sur la calibration des capacites cognitives et sur le bien-etre de 88 conducteurs âges de 70 ans et plus qui sur ou sous-estimaient leurs capacites. Des interventions hebdomadaires ont ete menees durant trois mois. Un groupe controle a effectue une activite de lecture de magazines. Nos resultats indiquent que l'entrainement cognitif, comme l'activite controle, ont ameliore les capacites d'attention visuelle selective et les adaptations comportementales au volant (choix de vitesse et distances de securite). Pres de la moitie des participants (41/88, dont 2/3 de sous-estimateurs), ont corrige leur biais de calibration. L'immersion sur simulateur de conduite n'a pas eu d'effet de transfert sur la conduite reelle. Les benefices des interventions sur l'initiation du changement de comportement et la mise en place de strategies d'autoregulation afin de maintenir la conduite dans des conditions sures, essentielle au vieillissement reussi, sont discutes. Le second objectif de ce travail etait d'evaluer l'efficacite d'une contremesure au mal du simulateur, qui limite son utilisation chez les seniors. Les effets d'une stimulation galvanique cutanee de la nuque ont ete evalues et n'ont pas revele de diminution du mal du simulateur chez les seniors, contrairement aux effets observes chez des sujets jeunes. De nouvelles pistes de recherche sont suggerees afin de d'envisager le simulateur comme moyen d'intervention pour promouvoir une conduite automobile securitaire.
Scope definition of social impact of the blue-green algae event in Taihu Lake and necessity and feasibility of research

Based on analysis of the process and reasons for blue-green algae outbreak in Taihu Lake in 2007, from five areas, such as the quality of life for residents, the residents physical and mental health, employment, environmental awareness and government's public service, to defined the social impact of the blue-green algae event in Taihu Lake, and then explore the necessity and feasibility of studying. The article suggests that it is necessary to study the social impact for quantify the social impact, scientific planning and decision-making, and achieve harmonious society.
Detection of Thermal Emission from an Extrasolar Planet

We present Spitzer Space Telescope infrared photometric time series of the transiting extrasolar planet system TrES-1. The data span a predicted time of secondary eclipse, corresponding to the passage of the planet behind the star. In both bands of our observations, we detect a flux decrement with a timing, amplitude, and duration as predicted by published parameters of the system. This signal represents the first direct detection of (i.e., the observation of photons emitted by) a planet orbiting another star. The observed eclipse depths (in units of relative flux) are 0.00066 ± 0.00013 at 4.5 μm and 0.00225 ± 0.00036 at 8.0 μm. These estimates provide the first observational constraints on models of the thermal emission of hot Jupiters. Assuming that the planet emits as a blackbody, we estimate an effective temperature of Tp = 1060 ± 50 K. Under the additional assumptions that the planet is in thermal equilibrium with the radiation from the star and emits isotropically, we find a Bond albedo of A = 0.31 ± 0.14. This would imply that the planet absorbs the majority of stellar radiation incident upon it, a conclusion of significant impact to atmospheric models of these objects. We also compare our data to a previously published model of the planetary thermal emission, which predicts prominent spectral features in our observational bands due to water and carbon monoxide. This model adequately reproduces the observed planet-to-star flux ratio at 8.0 μm; however, it significantly overpredicts the ratio at 4.5 μm. We also present an estimate of the timing of the secondary eclipse, which we use to place a strong constraint on the expression e cos ω, where e is the orbital eccentricity and ω is the longitude of periastron. The resulting upper limit on e is sufficiently small that we conclude that tidal dissipation is unlikely to provide a significant source of energy interior to the planet.
Split Sampling: Expectations, Normalisation and Rare Events

In this paper we develop a methodology that we call split sampling methods to estimate high dimensional expectations and rare event probabilities. Split sampling uses an auxiliary variable MCMC simulation and expresses the expectation of interest as an integrated set of rare event probabilities. We derive our estimator from a Rao-Blackwellised estimate of a marginal auxiliary variable distribution. We illustrate our method with two applications. First, we compute a shortest network path rare event probability and compare our method to estimation to a cross entropy approach. Then, we compute a normalisation constant of a high dimensional mixture of Gaussians and compare our estimate to one based on nested sampling. We discuss the relationship between our method and other alternatives such as the product of conditional probability estimator and importance sampling. The methods developed here are available in the R package: SplitSampling.
Mud Aggregates from the Katberg Formation, South Africa: Additional Evidence for Early Triassic Degradational Landscapes

Mudclast aggregates are documented in the Lower Triassic, anabranching fluvial deposits of the Katberg Formation, Karoo Basin, South Africa. Here, aggregates are: (1) coarse silt to fine sand size, (2) of a heterogeneous texture consisting of several clay clasts, some of which display the presence of clay skins, (3) uniquely shaped, not simply filling pore space between other grains as matrix, and (4) in association with reworked carbonate nodules and mud-chip rip-up clasts. They occur in basal channel lags, trough fills of megaforms, and at the tops of channel-fill sequences; there is no evidence of mud aggregates in paleosol intervals. Two chemical types of aggregates are identified. One type is enriched in carbon and depleted in calcium, and is interpreted to have originated in an upper soil horizon; the second is depleted in carbon and enriched in calcium, and is interpreted to have originated at some depth in the soil profile. These attributes, in conjunction with the presence of calcite-cemented nodules concentrated in channel lags, are used to interpret the former presence of paleoVertisols across the Early Triassic Karoo landscape prior to landscape degradation.
Modeling Data Correlations in Recommendation

In the field of recommender systems, the Beer & Nappies is a famous story, which reveals the latent relationships between different categories of items. Though matrix factorization (MF) has demonstrated its great effectiveness in most previous work, it neglects the co-occurrences of items selected by individuals. In most MF-based models, the latent preferences of users (or the latent categories of items) are assumed independent, which thereby leads to the weak correlation between the Beer and the Nappies. It also greatly limits the models’ ability in recommendation. In this paper, we propose a pure probabilistic generative model, which applies a Gaussian prior to capture the semantic correlations between the latent factors. We also show that our model theoretically achieves better expressive power than traditional MF-based models. We derive efficient inference and learning algorithms based on variational EM methods. The effectiveness of our proposed model is comprehensively verified on three different public data sets. Experimental results show that our approach achieves significant improvements on prediction quality compared with the current state of the art.
Clusterin/Apolipoprotein J Attenuates Angiotensin II-Induced Renal Fibrosis

The blockade of angiotensin II (Ang II) is a major therapeutic strategy for diabetic nephropathy. The main roles of Ang II in renal disease are mediated via the Ang type 1 receptor (AT1R). Upregulation of clusterin/apolipoprotein J has been reported in nephropathy models, suggesting it has a protective role in nephropathogenesis. Here, we studied how clusterin acts against Ang II-induced renal fibrosis. Levels of AT1R and fibrotic markers in clusterin-/- mice and Ang II infused rats transfected with an adenovirus encoding clusterin were evaluated by immunoblot analysis, real time RT-PCR, and immunohistochemical staining. The effect of clusterin on renal fibrosis was evaluated in NRK-52E cells, a cultured renal tubular epithelial cell line, using immunoblot analysis and real time RT-PCR. Nuclear localization of NF-κB was evaluated using immunofluorecence and co-immunoprecipitation. Renal fibrosis and expression of AT1R was higher in the kidneys of clusterin-/- mice than in those of wild-type mice. Furthermore, loss of clusterin accelerated Ang II-stimulated renal fibrosis and AT1R expression. Overexpression of clusterin in proximal tubular epithelial cells decreased the levels of Ang II-stimulated fibrotic markers and AT1R. Moreover, intrarenal delivery of clusterin attenuated Ang II-mediated expression of fibrotic markers and AT1R in rats. Fluorescence microscopy and co-immunoprecipitation in conjunction with western blot revealed that clusterin inhibited Ang II-stimulated nuclear localization of p-NF-κB via a direct physical interaction and subsequently decreased the AT1R level in proximal tubular epithelial cells. These data suggest that clusterin attenuates Ang II-induced renal fibrosis by inhibition of NF-κB activation and subsequent downregulation of AT1R. This study raises the possibility that clusterin could be used as a therapeutic target for Ang II-induced renal diseases.
Deciding first-order properties of nowhere dense graphs

Nowhere dense graph classes, introduced by Nešetřil and Ossona de Mendez [30], form a large variety of classes of "sparse graphs" including the class of planar graphs, actually all classes with excluded minors, and also bounded degree graphs and graph classes of bounded expansion. We show that deciding properties of graphs definable in first-order logic is fixed-parameter tractable on nowhere dense graph classes. At least for graph classes closed under taking subgraphs, this result is optimal: it was known before that for all classes C of graphs closed under taking subgraphs, if deciding first-order properties of graphs in C is fixed-parameter tractable, then C must be nowhere dense (under a reasonable complexity theoretic assumption). As a by-product, we give an algorithmic construction of sparse neighbourhood covers for nowhere dense graphs. This extends and improves previous constructions of neighbourhood covers for graph classes with excluded minors. At the same time, our construction is considerably simpler than those. Our proofs are based on a new game-theoretic characterisation of nowhere dense graphs that allows for a recursive version of locality-based algorithms on these classes. On the logical side, we prove a "rank-preserving" version of Gaifman's locality theorem.
Predicting Arterial Flow and Pressure Dynamics Using a 1D Fluid Dynamics Model with a Viscoelastic Wall

This paper combines a generalized viscoelastic model with a one-dimensional (1D) fluid dynamics model for the prediction of blood flow, pressure, and vessel area in systemic arteries. The 1D fluid dynamics model is derived from the Navier–Stokes equations for an incompressible Newtonian flow through a network of cylindrical vessels. This model predicts pressure and flow and is combined with a viscoelastic constitutive equation derived using the quasilinear viscoelasticity theory that relates pressure and vessel area. This formulation allows for inclusion of an elastic response as well as an appropriate creep function allowing for the description of the viscoelastic deformation of the arterial wall. Three constitutive models were investigated: a linear elastic model and two viscoelastic models. The Kelvin and sigmoidal viscoelastic models provide linear and nonlinear elastic responses, respectively. For the fluid domain, the model assumes that a given flow profile is prescribed at the inlet, that flow is c.
A 7 Gb/s Embedded Clock Transceiver for Energy Proportional Links

A rapid-on/off transceiver for embedded clock architecture that enables energy proportional communication over the serial link is presented. In an energy proportional link, energy consumed by serial link is proportional to the amount of data communicated. Energy proportionality can be achieved by scaling the serial link power linearly with the link utilization, and fine grained rapid power state transition (rapid-on/off) is one such technique which can achieve this objective. In this paper, architecture and circuit techniques to achieve rapid-on/off in PLL, transmitter and receiver are discussed. Background phase calibration technique in PLL and CDR phase calibration logic in receiver enable instantaneous lock on power-on. The proposed transceiver demonstrates power scalability with a wide range of link utilization and, therefore, helps in improving overall system efficiency. Fabricated in 65 nm CMOS technology, the 7 Gb/s transceiver achieves power-on-lock in less than 20 ns. Proposed PLL achieves power-on-lock in 1 ns. The transceiver achieves power scaling by 44 × (63.7 mW-to-1.43 mW) and energy efficiency degradation by only 2.2 × (9.1 pJ/bit-to-20.5 pJ/bit), when the effective data rate (link utilization) changes by 100 × (7 Gb/s-to-70 Mb/s). The proposed transceiver occupies an active die area of 0.39 mm 2.
Dose–response effects of exercise training on the subjective sleep quality of postmenopausal women: exploratory analyses of a randomised controlled trial

Objective To investigate whether a dose–response relationship existed between exercise and subjective sleep quality in postmenopausal women. This objective represents a post hoc assessment that was not previously considered. Design Parallel-group randomised controlled trial. Setting Clinical exercise physiology laboratory in Dallas, Texas. Participants 437 sedentary overweight/obese postmenopausal women. Intervention Participants were randomised to one of four treatments, each of 6 months of duration: a non-exercise control treatment (n=92) or one of three dosages of moderate-intensity exercise (50% of VO2peak), designed to meet 50% (n=151), 100% (n=99) or 150% (n=95) of the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Panel physical activity recommendations. Exercise dosages were structured to elicit energy expenditures of 4, 8 or 12 kilocalories per kilogram of body weight per week (KKW), respectively. Analyses were intent to treat. Primary outcome measures Continuous scores and odds of having significant sleep disturbance, as assessed by the Sleep Problems Index from the 6-item Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale. Outcome assessors were blinded to participant randomisation assignment. Results Change in the Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Problems Index score at 6 months significantly differed by treatment group (control: −2.09 (95% CI −4.58 to 0.40), 4 KKW: −3.93 (−5.87 to −1.99), 8 KKW: −4.06 (−6.45 to −1.67), 12 KKW: −6.22 (−8.68 to −3.77); p=0.04), with a significant dose–response trend observed (p=0.02). Exercise training participants had lower odds of having significant sleep disturbance at postintervention compared with control (4 KKW: OR 0.37 (95% CI 0.19 to 0.73), 8 KKW: 0.36 (0.17 to 0.77), 12 KKW: 0.34 (0.16 to 0.72)). The magnitude of weight loss did not differ between treatment conditions. Improvements in sleep quality were not related to changes in body weight, resting parasympathetic control or cardiorespiratory fitness. Conclusion Exercise training induced significant improvement in subjective sleep quality in postmenopausal women, with even a low dose of exercise resulting in greatly reduced odds of having significant sleep disturbance. Trial registration number clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00011193.
Using genetic programming to detect fraud in electronic transactions

The volume of online transactions has raised a lot in last years, mainly due to the popularization of e-commerce, such as Web retailers. We also observe a significant increase in the number of fraud cases, resulting in billions of dollars losses each year worldwide. Therefore it is important and necessary to developed and apply techniques that can assist in fraud detection, which motivates our research. This work proposes the use of Genetic Programming (GP), an Evolutionary Computation approach, to model and detect fraud (charge back) in electronic transactions, more specifically in credit card operations. In order to evaluate the technique, we perform a case study using an actual dataset of the most popular Brazilian electronic payment service, called UOL PagSeguro. Our results show good performance in fraud detection, presenting gains up to 17.72% percent compared to the baseline, which is the actual scenario of the corporation.
Model hrvatskoga političkog prostora, dimenzioniran stavovima glasača

Radom se testiraju različiti strukturalni modeli opažaja hrvatskoga političkoga prostora. Analiza kovarijančne strukture stavova prema najznačajnijim hrvatskim političkim strankama pokazala je da opažaj počiva na četiri temeljne latentne dimenzije, različite po svojoj prirodi i interkorelacijama na poduzorku visokoobrazovanih u usporedbi s poduzorkom osoba nižeg obrazovanja. Iako u oba slučaja temeljne dimenzije mogu biti prepoznate kao faktori stava prema lijevom, desnom, centralnom i regionalno usmjerenom dijelu političke pozornice, do­ bivena struktura ima znatno veću jasnoću i jednostavnost na uzorku visokoobrazovanih. Opažaj političkog prostora osoba nižeg obrazovanja bitno je složeniji, što vjerojatno treba pripisati ulozi nesubstancijalnih i idiosinkratičnih kriterija prilikom procjenjivanja stranaka. Ključne riječi: POLITIČKE STRANKE, HRVATSKA, STRUKTURALNI MODEL, LISREL, STAVOVI
Effects of Insulin on Cholesterol Synthesis in Type II Diabetes Patients

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effects of intensive insulin therapy and subsequent optimized metabolic control on daily urinary mevalonic acid (MVA) excretion, an index of whole-body cholesterol synthesis, and the acute effects of insulin on plasma MVA concentrations in type II diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Ten (five men and five postmenopausal women) nonobese, normolipidemic (total cholesterol < 6.2 mmol/l, triglycerides < 2.82 mmol/l), type II diabetic patients in poor metabolic control (HbA1c > 10%, fasting plasma glucose > 11 mmol/l) and receiving sulfonylurea treatment were selected. The 24-h urinary MVA excretion and plasma lipid values were determined before and after intensive insulin therapy. The acute effects of insulin on plasma MVA concentrations were also evaluated during a 3-h euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp study. RESULTS Urinary MVA excretion rates (μmol/24h) were 1.82 ± 0.21 in control subjects and 2.49 ± 0.35 (P < 0.01 vs. control subjects) and 1.78 ± 0.28 in patients before and after intensive insulin therapy, respectively. Total cholesterol, low-density-lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides decreased by 9, 8, and 12%, respectively, after blood glucose optimization. Acute insulin infusion during the euglycemic clamp studies reduced mean plasma MVA concentrations at 120 and 180 min by 29 and 38%, respectively (P < 0.01 for both vs. baseline). CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrates that in nonobese, normolipidemic, type II diabetic patients under poor metabolic control, an increased cholesterol synthesis is normalized by insulin therapy. Hyperinsulinemia in the presence of euglycemia acutely decreases the circulating levels of MVA, the immediate product of hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase activity and an index of whole-body cholesterol synthesis.
Expanding functions of GIT Arf GTPase-activating proteins, PIX Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factors and GIT–PIX complexes

ABSTRACT The GIT proteins, GIT1 and GIT2, are GTPase-activating proteins (inactivators) for the ADP-ribosylation factor (Arf) small GTP-binding proteins, and function to limit the activity of Arf proteins. The PIX proteins, α-PIX and β-PIX (also known as ARHGEF6 and ARHGEF7, respectively), are guanine nucleotide exchange factors (activators) for the Rho family small GTP-binding protein family members Rac1 and Cdc42. Through their multi-domain structures, GIT and PIX proteins can also function as signaling scaffolds by binding to numerous protein partners. Importantly, the constitutive association of GIT and PIX proteins into oligomeric GIT–PIX complexes allows these two proteins to function together as subunits of a larger structure that coordinates two distinct small GTP-binding protein pathways and serves as multivalent scaffold for the partners of both constituent subunits. Studies have revealed the involvement of GIT and PIX proteins, and of the GIT–PIX complex, in numerous fundamental cellular processes through a wide variety of mechanisms, pathways and signaling partners. In this Commentary, we discuss recent findings in key physiological systems that exemplify current understanding of the function of this important regulatory complex. Further, we draw attention to gaps in crucial information that remain to be filled to allow a better understanding of the many roles of the GIT–PIX complex in health and disease. Summary: In this Commentary, we discuss recent findings in key physiological systems that exemplify the current understanding of the functions of GIT, PIX and the GIT–PIX complex.
Geometric Point Light Source Calibration

We present a light position calibration technique based on a general arrangement of at least two reflective spheres in a single image. Contrary to other techniques we do not directly intersect rays for triangulation but instead solve for the optimal light position by evaluating the image-space error of the light highlights reflected from the spheres. This approach has been very successful in the field of Structure-from-Motion estimation. It has not been applied to light source calibration because determining the reflection point on the sphere to project the highlight back in the image is a challenging problem. We show a solution and define a novel, non-linear error function to recover the position of a point light source. We also introduce a light position estimation that is based on observing the light source directly in multiple images which does not use any reflections. Finally, we evaluate both proposed techniques and the classical ray intersection method in several scenarios with real data.
Tiger soup revisited : the involvement of attachment, caregiving, and sexual behavior systems in early adult romantic relationships

1 The present study examined associations between the attachment, ciregiving, and sexual behaviour systems which together have been postulated to comprise the construct of love within adult romantic relationships. A primary focus was the relationship of sexual behaviour to attachment and caregiving. university undergrad~tes were administered measures assessing attachrqent dimensions, caregiving dimensions, and several aspects of sexual functioning. As expected, results indicated a moderate degree of reIatedness among the three behaviour systhms, and specifically highlighted the usefuhess of including the sexual behaviour system along with attachment and caregiving in understanding the nature of intimacy within romantic relationships. Profiles of sexual characteristics were provided based on associations between sexual variables and each of B holomew's (1990) four attachhent dimensions. Implications of the current v P findings and directions for future research wkre discussed in relation tFtherapeutic service * , . provision, and recent work in the areas of romantic love, romantic relationships, attachment, and