Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Economy growth coupling between mining-dependent city and urban clusters: Cointegration analysis

In the past decades, there are many mining-depend city emerged in Chinese urban system due to their fast urbanization and industrialization. Due to the exhaustibility of natural resources, these mining-dependent cities might face the sustainable development in its urban economical and social development. In this paper, it is to study the economy growth coupling between the mining-dependent city and urban clusters including the mining city. Taken the Zhongyuan urban clusters and mining city Jiaozuo as example, the economy growth cointegration and Granger causality test are conducted. The results indicated that they are integrated and have a dual causality interaction among mining city and urban clusters.
Quotient isomorphism invariants of a finitely generated Coxeter group

In this paper we describe a family of isomorphism invariants of a finitely generated Coxeter group W. Each of these invariants is the isomorphism type of a quotient group W/N of W by a characteristic subgroup N. The virtue of these invariants is that W/N is also a Coxeter group. For some of these invariants, the isomorphism problem of W/N is solved and so we obtain isomorphism invariants that can be effectively used to distinguish isomorphism types of finitely generated Coxeter groups.
Causal Induction and the Revision of Belief

We propose that the process of causal induction can be regarded as a form of belief-revision, and formalize this idea using a discrepancy-based learning algorithm similar to that employed in the Rescorla-Wagner model of associative learning (Rescorla and Wagner, 1972) and the Belief-Adjustment Model (Hogarth and Einhorn, 1992). We then demonstrate that this model can account for conflicting patterns in human induction judgments reported by Wasserman et al. (1993) and Buehner and Cheng (1997), two data-sets which it is difficult for other models to satisfactorily explain.
The influence of nano-Fe on the electromagnetic shielding properties of nano-Fe/carbon fiber/LDPE composites

Abstract Nano-Fe/carbon fiber/ Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) composites were prepared by melt compounding. The electromagnetic shielding properties of nano-Fe/CF/LDPE composites as a function of nano-Fe mass content were investigated. The data of DC electrical conductivity evidence percolation behavior of the composites, and percolation threshold descends with the increase of nano- Fe. When the CF/LDPE composites reach the percolation threshold (pCF=0.10), “double percolation” appears in the nano-Fe/ CF/LDPE composites as continuously adding nano-Fe into the CF/LDPE composites, and the percolation threshold of the “double percolation” is 0.10 mass fraction of CF and 0.08 mass fraction of nano-Fe, which result in at least 103 orders of magnitude greater than that of CF/LDPE composites. The data of Initial DC permeability μr, coercivity Hc, saturation magnetization Ms and residual magnetization Mr of nano-Fe/CF/LDPE composites at the magnetic field intensity between -2500 G and 2500 G enhance with increasing addition of nano-Fe. The value of relative permeability decreases as the loading of nano-Fe is increased from 0.04 to 0.19 mass fraction in frequency ranges of 300 KHz-100 MHz. The EMI SE in frequency ranges of 300KHz-100MHz increase with the addition of nano-Fe, and mechanism of electromagnetic shield for nano-Fe/CF/LDPE composites is compound shielding mechanism with reflection loss R and absorption loss A. Absorption loss A increases significantly with increasing addition of nano-Fe from 0.04 to 0.19 mass fraction, and increasing trend of reflection loss R slow down as mass fraction of the fillers reach percolation threshold.
A structure and evolution-guided Monte Carlo sequence selection strategy for multiple alignment-based analysis of proteins

MOTIVATION Various multiple sequence alignment-based methods have been proposed to detect functional surfaces in proteins, such as active sites or protein interfaces. The effect that the choice of sequences has on the conclusions of such analysis has seldom been discussed. In particular, no method has been discussed in terms of its ability to optimize the sequence selection for the reliable detection of functional surfaces. RESULTS Here we propose, for the case of proteins with known structure, a heuristic Metropolis Monte Carlo strategy to select sequences from a large set of homologues, in order to improve detection of functional surfaces. The quantity guiding the optimization is the clustering of residues which are under increased evolutionary pressure, according to the sample of sequences under consideration. We show that we can either improve the overlap of our prediction with known functional surfaces in comparison with the sequence similarity criteria of selection or match the quality of prediction obtained through more elaborate non-structure based-methods of sequence selection. For the purpose of demonstration we use a set of 50 homodimerizing enzymes which were co-crystallized with their substrates and cofactors.
Exertional Fatigue Due to Skeletal Muscle Dysfunction in Patients With Heart Failure

BackgroundExertional fatigue in patients with chronic heart failure is usually attributed to skeletal muscle underperfusion. Recently, skeletal muscle atrophy, abnormal muscle metabolic responses, and reduced muscle enzyme levels have been noted in such patients, raising the possibility that some patients may develop muscle fatigue due to intrinsic muscle abnormalities. The present study was undertaken to determine if a subpopulation of patients with heart failure develops exertional fatigue due to skeletal muscle dysfunction rather than to reduced muscle flow. Methods and ResultsAll exercise hemodynamic studies performed in our laboratory on patients with heart failure were reviewed to identify those who exhibited peak exercise V02 levels . 18 ml min--1 kg-1 due to leg fatigue and who underwent insertion of a Swan-Ganz catheter and leg blood flow catheter. Thirty-four patients were identified. Six normal subjects were also studied to define normal leg flow and femoral venous lactate responses to exercise. Patients with peak exercise leg flow levels within the normal mean flow level ±2 SEM were considered to have normal skeletal muscle flow during exercise. Nine of the 34 patients with heart failure were found to have normal leg blood flow during exercise. All of these patients terminated exercise due to leg fatigue, and all exhibited abnormal increases in femoral venous lactate concentrations (slope of work load versus femoral venous lactate: normal, 0.33±0.07 mg/W; heart failure with normal flow, 0.81±0.08 mg/W;p<0.002). There was no significant difference between patients with normal leg flows and those with reduced flow in age, ejection fraction, and resting hemodynamic measurements. However, patients with normal flows exhibited more normal cardiac output responses to exercise and tended to have higher peak exercise Vo2 (14.1±0.9 versus 11.5±0.7 ml - min-1 kg-1 p< 0.05). ConclusionA substantial percentage of patients with chronic heart failure develop exertional fatigue due to skeletal muscle dysfunction rather than to reduced skeletal muscle blood flow. In such patients, therapeutic interventions probably should be directed at improving the skeletal muscle abnormalities rather than at improving skeletal muscle flow.
Adaptive Intrinsic Growth Rates: An Integration Across Taxa

The evolution of intrinsic growth rate has received less attention than other life history traits, and has been studied differently in plants, homoiotherms, and poikilotherms. The benefits of rapid growth are obvious, so the problem is to explain the costs and tradeoffs that cause organisms to grow below their physiological maximum. Four prevailing themes emerge from the literature: (1) slow growth is adaptive for dealing with nutrient stress, (2) the tradeoff between growth rate and development limits growth in species that require mature function early in life, (3) rapid growth evolves when a minimum size must be reached quickly, such as for sexual maturation or overwintering, and (4) rapid growth may evolve to compensate for slowed growth owing to environmental conditions. Evidence for each of these themes is detailed for plants, homoiotherms, and poikilotherms. In addition, empirical evidence is reviewed for costs of rapid growth, including increased fluctuating asymmetry, reduced immune capacity, and reduced ability to respond to environmental stress.
Smooth motion-compensated video deinterlacing

In this paper a smooth motion-compensated approach for video deinterlacing is proposed. The algorithm combines intra-field interpolation with overlapped-block-based motion- compensated inter-field interpolation, alleviating thus the artifacts specific to block-based motion-compensated deinterlacing schemes. Our algorithm takes into account the high-frequency content of an area and adapts the interpolation approach accordingly, such that the contours are preserved in the resulted progressive frame. Moreover, our proposal is optimized to lower heavy computation, which is the main drawback of motion-compensated deinterlacing algorithms. Experiments demonstrate a significant gain in reconstruction quality as compared to other deinterlacing implementations.
Blood Cultures Positive for Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci: Antisepsis, Pseudobacteremia, and Therapy of Patients

ABSTRACT A blood culture cohort study investigating issues related to isolation of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) and other skin microflora is reported. Data were collected over 12 weeks to determine the incidence of significant CoNS bacteremia versus that of pseudobacteremia (contaminants) and to evaluate drug therapy in patients with cultures positive for CoNS. In addition, the effectiveness of 0.2% chlorine peroxide as a bactericidal disinfectant was compared to that of 10% providone iodine. A total of 3,276 cultures of blood from 1,433 patients were evaluated in the study. Eighty-nine cultures were positive for skin flora, with 81 of 89 (91%) involving CoNS. The incidence of significant CoNS bacteremia was 20 of 81 (24.7%), that of indeterminate bacteremia was 10 of 81 (12.3%), and that of contamination was 59 of 81 (72.8%). The incidence of significant bacteremia involving CoNS was double the 10 to 12% rate based on previous estimations at our institutions. In tests with the two bactericidal disinfectants, 22 of 1,639 cultures (1.3%) in the chlorine peroxide group versus 37 of 1,637 (2.3%) in the providone iodine group were considered contaminated (P = 0.065). Rates of contamination for venipuncture versus catheter collection were not significantly different (P = 0.46). The overall contamination rate was 59 of 3,276 (1.8%), which is consistent with the lower end of published quality assurance benchmark standards. The low rate was believed to be due to the professional phlebotomy staff in our institutions. There was excellent agreement between retrospective analysis by reviewers, when formal criteria were used, and the attending physicians’ intuitive clinical impressions in the classification of significant bloodstream infections (100% agreement) or contamination (95% agreement). However, physicians still used antimicrobial agents to treat nearly one-half of the patients with contaminated blood cultures, with vancomycin being misused in 34% of patients. In addition, 10% of patients with significant bacteremia were treated with inappropriate agents. There were no significant adverse events or prolonged hospital stays due to the unnecessary use of vancomycin; however, the additional costs of treating patients whose cultures contained CoNS contaminants was estimated to be $1,000 per patient. Measures to limit the unnecessary use of vancomycin (and other agents) are important.
Trust revision for conflicting sources

Sensors and information sources can produce conflicting evidence for various reasons, including errors and deception. When conflicting evidence is received, some sources produce more accurate evidence than others with regard to the ground truth. The reliability of sources can be expressed by assigning a level of trust to each source. In this situation, multiple fusion strategies can be applied: one strategy is to directly fuse the evidence based on a priori trust in each source, another strategy is to first revise a priori trust assignments as a function of the degree of conflict, before the evidence is fused. This paper focuses on the latter approach, and describes a method for applying trust revision in case of highly conflicting evidence. The trust revision method is expressed in the formalism of subjective logic.
Ginsenoside Rb1 Prevents H2O2-Induced HUVEC Senescence by Stimulating Sirtuin-1 Pathway

Purposes We have previously reported that Ginsenoside Rb1 may effectively prevent HUVECs from senescence, however, the detailed mechanism has not demonstrated up to now. Recent studies have shown that sirtuin-1 (Sirt1) plays an important role in the development of endothelial senescence. The purpose of this study was to explore whether Sirt1 is involved in the action of Ginsenoside Rb1 regarding protection against H2O2-induced HUVEC Senescence. Methods and Results Senescence induced by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was examined by analyzing plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) expression, cell morphology, and senescence-associated beta-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) activity. The results revealed that 42% of control-treated HUVECs were SA-β-gal positive after treatment by 60 µmol/L H2O2, however, this particular effect of H2O2 was decreased more than 2-fold (19%) in the HUVECs when pretreated with Rb1 (20 µmol/L) for 30 min. Additionally, Rb1 decreased eNOS acetylation, as well as promoted more NO production that was accompanied by an increase in Sirt1 expression. Furthermore, upon knocking down Sirt1, the effect of Rb1 on HUVEC senescence was blunted. Conclusions The present study indicated that Ginsenoside Rb1 acts through stimulating Sirt1 in order to protect against endothelial senescence and dysfunction. As such, Sirt1 appears to be of particular importance in maintaining endothelial functions and delaying vascular aging.
Infection of the retina by human immunodeficiency virus type I.

HUMAN immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the etiologic agent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). 1 2 3 4 HIV penetrates specific cells bearing the CD4 surface antigen5 , 6 and has been observed in helper T lymphocytes, monocytes, Langerhans' cells, and recently, astrocytes, endothelial cells, oligodendrocytes, and neurons.7 8 9 10 11 HIV-infected cells have been found in the blood, semen, vaginal secretions, breast milk, lymph nodes, brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves.7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Many patients with HIV infection have a variety of ocular abnormalities not associated with obvious opportunistic infections; these abnormalities include cotton-wool spots and microvascular changes of the retina.20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 These observations, together with the established neurotropism of HIV, .
Hybrid Invariant Manifolds in Systems With Impulse Effects With Application to Periodic Locomotion in Bipedal Robots

Motivated by the problem of controlling walking in a biped with series compliant actuation, this paper develops two main theorems relating to the stabilization of periodic orbits in systems with impulse effects. The first main result shows that when a periodic orbit of a system with impulse effects lies within a hybrid invariant manifold, there exist local coordinate transforms under which the Jacobian linearization of the Poincare return map has a block upper triangular structure. One diagonal block is the linearization of the system as restricted to the hybrid invariant manifold, also called the hybrid zero dynamics. The other is the product of two sensitivity matrices related to the transverse dynamics-one pertaining to the impact map and the other pertaining to the closed-loop vector field. When either of these sensitivity matrices is sufficiently close to zero, the stability of the return map is determined solely by the stability of the hybrid zero dynamics. The second main result of the paper details the construction of a hybrid invariant manifold, such as that required by the first main theorem. Forward invariance follows from the methods of Byrnes and Isidori, and impact invariance is achieved by a novel construction of impact-updated control parameters. In addition to providing impact invariance, the construction allows entries of the impact sensitivity matrix of the transverse dynamics to be made arbitrarily small. A simulation example is provided where stable walking is achieved in a 5-link biped with series compliant actuation.
Hardware/software partitioning of software binaries: a case study of H.264 decode

We describe results of a case study whose intent was to determine whether new techniques for hardware/software partitioning of an application's binary are competitive with partitioning at the C source code level. While such competitiveness has been shown previously for standard benchmark suites involving smaller or unoptimized applications, the case study instead focuses on a complete 16,000-line highly-optimized commercial-grade application, namely an H.264 video decoder. The several month study revealed that binary partitioning was indeed competitive, achieving nearly identical 2.5x speedups as source level partitioning, compared to a standard microprocessor. Furthermore, the study revealed that several simple C-level coding modifications, including pass by value-return, function specialization, algorithmic specialization, hardware-targeted reimplementation, global array elimination, hoisting and sinking of error code, and conversion to explicit control flow, could lead to improved application speedups approaching 7x for both source level and binary level partitioning.
Effect of intravitreal injection of bevacizumab on optic nerve head leakage and retinal ganglion cell survival in a mouse model of optic nerve crush.

PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of bevacizumab, a VEGF inhibitor, on optic nerve edema and retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss in a mouse model of optic nerve crush (ONC). METHODS Two hundred C57BL/6 wild-type mice were anesthetized. Right ONC was induced in 150 mice, of which half (n = 75) received an intravitreal injection of bevacizumab immediately thereafter and half (n = 75) did not. The remaining 50 received only bevacizumab. The left eyes served as a control. Findings were analyzed by fluorescein angiography (days 0, 1, 3), histologic and immunohistochemical tests (days 1, 3, 4, 21), and quantitative real-time PCR. RESULTS Angiography revealed a reduction in postinjury disc leakage following bevacizumab injection (days 1, 3), confirmed with IgG staining. On PCR, expression of HO-1 and SOD-1 mRNA increased following ONC and further increased with bevacizumab. VEGF gene expression decreased following bevacizumab injection without ONC, remained at baseline after ONC, and increased slightly after ONC+bevacizumab. Histologically, there was a 38% RGC loss 21 days after ONC alone, which dropped to 14% with bevacizumab treatment; it was close to 15% with bevacizumab alone. Mean (SEM) microvascular perfusion in the optic nerve 4 days after ONC was significantly higher in the bevacizumab-treated (85% ± 10%) than the vehicle-treated (33% ± 13%) animals. CONCLUSIONS Bevacizumab treatment following ONC induction exerts a protective effect, manifested by reduced optic nerve head edema. The underlying mechanism probably involves a lesser interruption of axonal transport. Reduced expression of antioxidative and ischemic genes may contribute to RGC preservation.
An efficient solution to 3D reconstruction from two uncalibrated views under SV constraint

In this paper, an efficient solution is proposed to the problem of 3D reconstruction from two uncalibrated views under Standard Vergence (SV) constraint. This solution consists of three core steps: firstly, set up the camera configuration according to SV constraint; secondly, estimate camera's focal length and relative pose between two views; lastly, reconstruct the scene optimally by minimizing reprojection error. By analysing the degenerated camera motion under SV constraint, a novel method for efficiently estimating camera's focal length and relative pose is proposed. Both synthetic and real data experiments showed that this new method could provide close estimation, which resulted in fast convergence in the most time-consuming step of final optimization. The main contribution of this paper is that it is the first time to introduce SV constraint into 3D reconstruction problem, and an efficient solution which utilizes this constraint is proposed.
Brain-Computer Interfaces: A Neuroscience Paradigm of Social Interaction? A Matter of Perspective

A number of recent studies have put human subjects in true social interactions, with the aim of better identifying the psychophysiological processes underlying social cognition. Interestingly, this emerging Neuroscience of Social Interactions (NSI) field brings up challenges which resemble important ones in the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). Importantly, these challenges go beyond common objectives such as the eventual use of BCI and NSI protocols in the clinical domain or common interests pertaining to the use of online neurophysiological techniques and algorithms. Common fundamental challenges are now apparent and one can argue that a crucial one is to develop computational models of brain processes relevant to human interactions with an adaptive agent, whether human or artificial. Coupled with neuroimaging data, such models have proved promising in revealing the neural basis and mental processes behind social interactions. Similar models could help BCI to move from well-performing but offline static machines to reliable online adaptive agents. This emphasizes a social perspective to BCI, which is not limited to a computational challenge but extends to all questions that arise when studying the brain in interaction with its environment.
Day-to-Day Changes in Muscle Protein Synthesis in Recovery From Resistance, Aerobic, and High-Intensity Interval Exercise in Older Men.

BACKGROUND Resistance exercise (RE) and aerobic exercise are recommended for older adults for fitness and strength. High-intensity interval exercise (HIIT) is an understudied but potent potential alternative to aerobic exercise. This study aimed to determine how each mode of exercise affected the integrated day-to-day response of muscle protein synthesis. METHODS Sedentary men (n = 22; 67±4 years; body mass index: 27.0±2.6 kg m(-) (2) [mean ± SEM]) were randomly assigned to perform RE, aerobic exercise, or HIIT. Participants consumed a stable isotope tracer (D2O) for 9 days. Daily saliva samples were taken to measure tracer incorporation in body water. Muscle biopsies were obtained on Days 5-8 of D2O consumption to measure tracer incorporation into muscle at rest, 24 hours, and 48 hours following each exercise bout: RE (3 × 10 repetitions: leg extensor and press, 95% 10RM), HIIT (10 × 1 minute, 95% maximal heart rate [HRmax]), or aerobic exercise (30 minutes, 55%-60% HRmax). RESULTS Myofibrillar protein fractional synthetic rate was elevated, relative to rest, at 24 and 48 hours following RE and HIIT. The increase in myofibrillar fractional synthetic rate was greater following RE versus HIIT at both time points. HIIT was the only mode of exercise to increase sarcoplasmic protein fractional synthetic rate 24-hour postexercise (2.30±0.34% d(-) (1) vs 1.83±0.21% d(-) (1)). CONCLUSIONS This study shows that in older men, changes in muscle protein synthesis in response to certain exercises are long lasting and that HIIT significantly increases myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic fractional synthetic rate in this population.