Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Asymmetric Dimethylarginine and the Risk of Cardiovascular Events and Death in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease: Results from the AtheroGene Study

As a competitive inhibitor of endothelial nitric oxide synthase, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) has been related to atherosclerotic disease. Little is known about the prognostic impact of baseline ADMA determination. In a prospective cohort of 1908 patients with coronary artery disease, we assessed baseline serum concentration of ADMA in 1874 consecutive patients with coronary artery disease. One hundred fourteen individuals developed the primary end point of death from cardiovascular causes or nonfatal myocardial infarction during a mean follow-up of 2.6±1.2 years. Median concentrations of ADMA levels were higher among individuals who subsequently developed the primary end point than among those who did not (0.70 versus 0.63 &mgr;mol/L; P<0.001). The risk of future cardiovascular event was associated with increasing thirds of baseline ADMA (P for trend, <0.001) such that individuals in the highest third at entry had a hazard ratio 2.48 times higher than those in the lowest third (95% confidence interval, 1.52 to 4.06; P<0.001). This relationship remained nearly unchanged after adjustment for most potential confounders. Prediction models that simultaneously incorporated ADMA, B-type natriuretic peptide, C-reactive protein, and creatinine in addition to traditional risk factors revealed B-type natriuretic peptide (hazard ratio, 1.96; 95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 3.0; P=0.002) and ADMA (hazard ratio, 1.90; 95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 2.8; P=0.001) as the strongest risk predictors. High levels of baseline ADMA independently predict future cardiovascular risk. ADMA has prognostic value beyond traditional risk factors and novel biomarkers and might guide therapeutic strategies.
The power of emotional valence—from cognitive to affective processes in reading

The comprehension of stories requires the reader to imagine the cognitive and affective states of the characters. The content of many stories is unpleasant, as they often deal with conflict, disturbance or crisis. Nevertheless, unpleasant stories can be liked and enjoyed. In this fMRI study, we used a parametric approach to examine (1) the capacity of increasing negative valence of story contents to activate the mentalizing network (cognitive and affective theory of mind, ToM), and (2) the neural substrate of liking negatively valenced narratives. A set of 80 short narratives was compiled, ranging from neutral to negative emotional valence. For each story mean rating values on valence and liking were obtained from a group of 32 participants in a prestudy, and later included as parametric regressors in the fMRI analysis. Another group of 24 participants passively read the narratives in a three Tesla MRI scanner. Results revealed a stronger engagement of affective ToM-related brain areas with increasingly negative story valence. Stories that were unpleasant, but simultaneously liked, engaged the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which might reflect the moral exploration of the story content. Further analysis showed that the more the mPFC becomes engaged during the reading of negatively valenced stories, the more coactivation can be observed in other brain areas related to the neural processing of affective ToM and empathy.
Analysis of hierar hical fixed-priority scheduling

Reservation-based operating systems provide applications with guaranteed and timely access to system resources. One of their chief benefits is temporal isolation, which prevents the timing mis-behavior of one task from interfering with other tasks. Such a benefit is appealing enough that many systems [2, 8] desire to recursively apply this reservation model to each of their components. This recursive application provides flexible load isolation among applications, users and other high-level resource management entities such as aggregated flows for network bandwith. The hierarchical reservation study can be applied to hierarchical schedulers [5, 6], that support heterogenous scheduling algorithms. We propose and analyze a hierarchical reservation model in the context of fixed-priority scheduling, rate-monotonic and deadline-monotonic, as used in systems such as the Resource Kernel [11]. Detailed schedulability analyses under both deferrable-server and sporadic-server replenishment schemes, including exact completion time tests under hierarchical deadline-monotonic schedulers, are presented. We also derive the least upper scheduling bound for hierarchicalrate-monotonic schedulers. Finally, we describe how to apply multi-reserve PCP [4 ], an extension of the Priority Ceiling Protocol for reservation-based systems, to allow tasks to share non-preemptable resources across the hierarchy.
Four-probe electrical-transport measurements on single indium tin oxide nanowires between 1.5 and 300 K

Single-crystalline indium tin oxide (ITO) nanowires (NWs) were grown by the standard thermal evaporation method. The as-grown NWs were typically 100–300 nm in diameter and a few µm long. Four-probe submicron Ti/Au electrodes on individual NWs were fabricated by the electron-beam lithography technique. The resistivities of several single NWs have been measured from 300 down to 1.5 K. The results indicate that the as-grown ITO NWs are metallic, but disordered. The overall temperature behavior of resistivity can be described by the Bloch–Grüneisen law plus a low-temperature correction due to the scattering of electrons off dynamic point defects. This observation suggests the existence of numerous dynamic point defects in as-grown ITO NWs.
Acute hematogenous osteomyelitis of the pelvis in childhood: Diagnostic clues and pitfalls

Acute hematogenous osteomyelitis (AHOM) of the pelvis is a rare form of childhood osteomyelitis. Prompted by a recent case, we reviewed the 146 reported cases of pelvic AHOM published since 1966. Classical childhood AHOM of tubular bones usually occurs in older children (mean age, 8.1 y) as opposed to younger children (aged 2–5 y). It is more common in boys than in girls (male to female ratio = 1.5:1). The most common site is the ilium (40%), followed by the ischium (28%) and the pubis (15%). In contrast to AHOM of the long bones, trauma is an uncommon antecedent event in pelvic AHOM. The pain in pelvic AHOM may be referred to the hip, thigh, or abdomen, often leading to misdiagnosis. On average, the correct diagnosis is delayed for 12 days. Such delays have resulted in a permanent disability in 3.4% of the cases. If diagnosed and treated promptly, uneventful recovery can be anticipated in all patients. This case history and review of the literature may facilitate early recognition of pelvic AHOM by primary care physicians, as well as by pediatric or orthopedic specialists.
2 D and 3 D Caging-Based Grasping of Objects in Various Shapes *

We proposed a novel method to grasp objects: caging-based grasping. This method is caging an object by rigid parts of a robot hand and simultaneously grasping by soft parts attached to the rigid parts. By this method, even with a robot hand of simple structure, we can grasp objects in various shapes with only geometrical information. We derive concrete conditions for 2D and 3D caging-based grasping of objects in various shapes. We then simulate cagingbased grasping on a PC and conduct experiments with mobile robots and robot hands. In this paper, we show the results of experiments and simulations.
Active Information Acquisition for Improved Clustering

Many datasets include feature values that are missing but may be acquired at a cost. In this paper, we consider the clustering task for such datasets, and address the problem of acquiring missing feature values that improve clustering quality in a cost-effective manner. Since acquiring all missing information may be unnecessarily expensive, we propose a framework for iteratively selecting feature values that result in highest improvements in clustering quality per unit cost. Our framework can be adapted to different clustering algorithms, and we illustrate it in the context of two popular methods, K-Means and hierarchical agglomerative clustering. Experimental results on several datasets demonstrate clustering accuracy improvements provided by the proposed framework over random acquisition. Additional experiments demonstrate the performance of the framework for different cost structures, and explore several alternative formulations of the acquisition strategy.
Amino acid coevolution induces an evolutionary Stokes shift

The process of amino acid replacement in proteins is context-dependent, with substitution rates influenced by local structure, functional role, and amino acids at other locations. Predicting how these differences affect replacement processes is difficult. To make such inference easier, it is often assumed that the acceptabilities of different amino acids at a position are constant. However, evolutionary interactions among residue positions will tend to invalidate this assumption. Here, we use simulations of purple acid phosphatase evolution to show that amino acid propensities at a position undergo predictable change after an amino acid replacement at that position. After a replacement, the new amino acid and similar amino acids tend to become gradually more acceptable over time at that position. In other words, proteins tend to equilibrate to the presence of an amino acid at a position through replacements at other positions. Such a shift is reminiscent of the spectroscopy effect known as the Stokes shift, where molecules receiving a quantum of energy and moving to a higher electronic state will adjust to the new state and emit a smaller quantum of energy whenever they shift back down to the original ground state. Predictions of changes in stability in real proteins show that mutation reversals become less favorable over time, and thus, broadly support our results. The observation of an evolutionary Stokes shift has profound implications for the study of protein evolution and the modeling of evolutionary processes.
Glycoxidative Stress and Cardiovascular Complications in Experimentally-Induced Diabetes: Effects of Antioxidant Treatment

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disease, representing a serious risk factor for the development of cardiovascular complications, such as coronary heart disease, peripheral arterial disease and hypertension. Oxidative stress (OS), a feature of DM, is defined as an increase in the steady-state levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and may occur as a result of increased free radical generation and/or decreased anti-oxidant defense mechanisms. Increasing evidence indicates that hyperglycemia is the initiating cause of the tissue damage in DM, either through repeated acute changes in cellular glucose metabolism, or through long-term accumulation of glycated biomolecules and advanced glycation end products (AGEs). AGEs are formed by the Maillard process, a non-enzymatic reaction between ketone group of the glucose molecule or aldehydes and the amino groups of proteins that contributes to the aging of proteins and to the pathological complications of DM. In the presence of uncontrolled hyperglycemia, the increased formation of AGEs and lipid peroxidation products exacerbate intracellular OS and results in a loss of molecular integrity, disruption in cellular signaling and homeostasis, followed by inflammation and tissue injury such as endothelium dysfunction, arterial stiffening and microvascular complications. In addition to increased AGE production, there is also evidence of multiple pathways elevating ROS generation in DM, including; enhanced glucose auto-oxidation, increased mitochondrial superoxide production, protein kinase C-dependent activation of NADPH oxidase, uncoupled endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activity, increased substrate flux through the polyol pathway and stimulation of eicosanoid metabolism. It is, therefore, not surprising that the correction of these variables can result in amelioration of diabetic cardiovascular abnormalities. A linking element between these phenomena is cellular redox imbalance due to glycoxidative stress (GOS). Thus, recent interest has focused on strategies to prevent, reverse or retard GOS in order to modify the natural history of diabetic cardiovascular abnormalities. This review will discuss the links between GOS and diabetes-induced cardiovascular disorders and the effect of antioxidant therapy on altering the development of cardiovascular complications in diabetic animal models.
A very stable and low noise linear voltage regulator for nuclear applications

We have realized a new instrument to equip an array of large mass bolometers. The instrument is a linear bipolar supply voltage having very stringent specifications. It has a large power supply rejection ratio, in excess of 100 dB, a low noise and a negligible drift, less than 2 ppm//spl deg/C. Its outputs can be selected in the range starting from /spl plusmn/5 V up to /spl plusmn/12 V with a maximum load current of 2 A.
STUDY OF EFFECT OF THE COMPANY ' S STRATEGIC POSITION ON THE RATE OF STOCK RETURNS FIRMS LISTED IN TEHRAN STOCK EXCHANGE

Any company that is competing in an industry has a competitive strategy, whether explicit or implied. It is possible that this strategy is clearly achieved through the planning process or during the execution of various parts of a company's activities gradually and incidental to create. Therefore, structure and strategies that codified and implemented to management and administer an enterprise or industry is a direct impact on the efficiency and competitiveness of it. This study assessed the relationship between corporate strategy (differentiation and leadership) and return on equity of listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange deals. The study sample comprised 109 companies have been analyzed for the period 2008 2012 that a total of 545 years of the company, then companies were divided into two groups according to the prescribed conditions that in total, 110 of the company's strategy of distinguishingand105 years of the company's strategy of cost leadership and the rest of the samples were excluded due to lack of qualification. In this study of the statistical methods used is composed of linear regression. To achieve the above objective, a main hypothesis and sub-hypothesis was introduced four. The results show that the distinction between corporate strategy and performance factors including return on equity, return on sales, return on assets and return on fixed assets, there is a significant linear relationship, but the strategy only led to a significant return on sales and return on equity is a linear relationship. Further differentiation strategy than the strategy of cost, higher power output is capable of explaining factors.
Welfare Implications for Dairy Cattle of Modern Technological Advances: (I) Robotic Milking

Automatic milking systems, otherwise, known as robotic milking, have been used in dairy farms more and more over the past two decades. The system gives the cattle the opportunity to decide when they are milked which should be beneficial to their welfare, but potentially separated the farmer from his or her animals, which could be detrimental. Here we look at health and welfare implications of robotic milking, seek to review research undertaken in this area and look to future advances in automatic milking of dairy cattle.
Language Independent NER using a Maximum Entropy Tagger

Named Entity Recognition (NER) systems need to integrate a wide variety of information for optimal performance. This paper demonstrates that a maximum entropy tagger can effectively encode such information and identify named entities with very high accuracy. The tagger uses features which can be obtained for a variety of languages and works effectively not only for English, but also for other languages such as German and Dutch.
Radiation Dose Reduction in Paranasal Sinus CT Using Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: CT performed with Veo model-based iterative reconstruction has shown the potential for radiation-dose reduction. This study sought to determine whether Veo could reduce noise and improve the image quality of low-dose sinus CT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty patients consented to participate and underwent low- and standard-dose sinus CT on the same day. Standard-dose CT was created with filtered back-projection (120 kV[peak], 210 mA, 0.4-second rotation, and 0.531 pitch). For low-dose CT, mA was decreased to 20 (the remaining parameters were unchanged), and images were generated with filtered back-projection and Veo. Standard- and low-dose datasets were reconstructed by using bone and soft-tissue algorithms, while the low-dose Veo reconstruction only had a standard kernel. Two blinded neuroradiologists independently evaluated the image quality of multiple osseous and soft-tissue craniofacial structures. Image noise was measured by using multiple regions of interest. RESULTS: Eight women and 12 men (mean age, 63.3 years) participated. Volume CT dose indices were 2.9 mGy (low dose) and 31.6 mGy (standard dose), and mean dose-length products were 37.4 mGy-cm (low dose) and 406.1 mGy-cm (standard dose). Of all the imaging series, low-dose Veo demonstrated the least noise (P < .001). Compared with filtered back-projection low-dose CT using soft-tissue and bone algorithms, Veo had the best soft-tissue image quality but the poorest bone image quality (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Veo significantly reduces noise in low-dose sinus CT. Although this reduction improves soft-tissue evaluation, thin bone becomes less distinct.
Integrating Data Mining and Microsimulation Modelling to Reduce Traffic Congestion: A Case Study of Signalized Intersections in Dhaka, Bangladesh

A growing body of research has applied intelligent transportation technologies to reduce traffic congestion at signalized intersections. However, most of these studies have not considered the systematic integration of traffic data collection methods when simulating optimum signal timing. The present study developed a three-part system to create optimized variable signal timing profiles for a congested intersection in Dhaka, regulated by fixed-time traffic signals. Video footage of traffic from the studied intersection was analyzed using a computer vision tool that extracted traffic flow data. The data underwent a further data-mining process, resulting in greater than 90% data accuracy. The final data set was then analyzed by a local traffic expert. Two hybrid scenarios based on the data and the expert’s input were created and simulated at the micro level. The resultant, custom, variable timing profiles for the traffic signals yielded a 40% reduction in vehicle queue length, increases in average travel speed, and a significant overall reduction in traffic congestion.
A real-time approach to stereopsis and lane-finding

Reports new results we have obtained in applying stereo vision algorithms to the problem of autonomous vehicle navigation on highways. The project consists of two parts: lane extraction and obstacle detection. Our lane extraction system is based on a parameterized model for the appearance of the lanes in the images. This model captures the position, orientation and width of the lane as well as the height and inclination of the stereo rig with respect to the road. A robust lane recognition procedure is employed to recover the position of the vehicle within the lane. This scheme is able to recover and track the lane markers in real time (20 Hz) even in the presence of a significant number of spurious lane features. We have developed a new real time stereo system (20 Hz) that has been optimized for use in a highway navigation system. The algorithm first extracts vertical line features from a subset of the scan lines in the left and right images. Correspondences are made between line features in the left and right images by a region-based correlation scheme. The results of this process can then be passed to the grouping and tracking process. The paper also describes the implementation of these algorithms on our network of TMS320C40 DSPs. This computational architecture allows us to handle the demanding computational and I/O requirements of these applications. These algorithms have been tested on video data obtained from a test vehicle that was driven in typical highway traffic. Results from these experiments are presented.
Raising User Awareness about Privacy Threats in Participatory Sensing Applications through Graphical Warnings

Mobile phones are increasingly leveraged as sensor platforms to collect information about user's context. The collected sensor readings can however reveal personal and sensitive information about the users and hence put their privacy at stake. In prior work, we have proposed different user interfaces allowing users to select the degree of granularity at which the sensor readings are shared in order to protect their privacy. In this paper, we aim at further increasing user awareness about potential privacy risks and investigate the introduction of picture-based warnings based on their current privacy settings. Depending on their privacy conception and the proposed warnings, users can then adapt their settings or leave them unchanged. We evaluate the picture-based warnings by conducting a user study involving 30 participants. The results show that more than 70% of the participants would change their settings after having seen the picture-based warnings.
Effects of Sin− versions of histone H4 on yeast chromatin structure and function

Previous studies have identified single amino acid changes within either histone H3 or H4 (Sin− versions) that allow transcription in the absence of the yeast SWI–SNF complex. The histone H4 mutants are competent for nucleosome assembly in vivo, and the residues that are altered appear to define a discrete domain on the surface of the histone octamer. We have analyzed the effects of the Sin− versions of histone H4 on transcription and chromatin structure in vivo. These histone H4 mutants cause an increased accessibility of nucleosomal DNA to Dam methyltransferase and to micrococcal nuclease. Sin− derivatives of histone H4 also grossly impair the ability of nucleosomes to constrain supercoils in vivo. Nucleosome‐mediated repression of the PHO5 gene is severely impaired by these histone H4 mutants; PHO5 expression is derepressed to 31% of the wild‐type induced level. In contrast to the induction caused by nucleosome depletion, full PHO5 derepression by Sin− versions of histone H4 requires upstream regulatory elements. In addition, Sin− derivatives of histone H4 do not activate expression from CYC1 or GAL1 promoters that lack UAS elements. We propose that these Sin− mutations alter histone–DNA contact residues that play key roles in restricting the accessibility of nucleosomal DNA to transcription factors.