Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A system approach to the integration of ecosystem services with DPSIR components

When analyzed with the tools provided by the system theory, the DPSIR framework apparently implies a model of the natural environment (the ecosystem) separated f rom and in same way conflicting with the human soci ety and its processes. Moreover, the baseline used to define th e responses for the protection of the environment a ppe rs to be not generated by such processes. In order to reconcile the model with a more global vision of the dynamics of interest for the environm ent, the notion of ecosystem services has been added to the DPSIR a pproach. As a result, it has been obtained a concep tual model that includes all the DPSIR components and, moreove r, can exploit the huge amounts of data that are co ll cted on a steady basis for the social systems. This approach could allow to improve the data acquisition and dec ision making processes meant to provide a better management of t he relationships between the humans and the environ ment.
Retinal vessel diameters and their associations with age and blood pressure.

PURPOSE To describe the cross-sectional relationship between retinal arteriolar and venular diameters with age and blood pressure. METHODS A population-based study was conducted in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin (n=4926, age range, 43-84 years). Retinal photographs of right eyes taken at the baseline examination (1988-90) were digitized. All arterioles and venules located in the area between one-half and one disc diameter from the optic disc margin were measured with a computer-based program. These measurements were combined to provide the average diameters of retinal arterioles and venules of each eye, and the association with age and blood pressure (BP) was analyzed. RESULTS After controlling for gender, hypertension, diabetes, serum glucose and lipids, cigarette smoking, and body mass index, retinal arteriolar diameters were found to be decreased by 2.1 microm (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5-2.7) for each decade increase in age, and by 4.4 microm (95% CI, 3.8-5.0) for each 10-mm Hg increase in mean arterial BP. The association of narrowed retinal arterioles and higher BP was stronger in younger persons. For each 10-mm Hg increase in mean arterial BP, arteriolar diameters decreased by 7.0 microm in persons aged 43 to 54 years but by only 2.5 microm in persons aged 75 to 84 years. In contrast, retinal venular diameters narrowed with increasing age but not with increasing BP. CONCLUSIONS Retinal arteriolar diameters are narrower in older persons and in persons with higher BP, independent of other factors. The weaker association of retinal arteriolar diameters and BP in older people may reflect greater sclerosis of the retinal arterioles, preventing a degree of narrowing with higher BP similar to that seen in younger persons.
Exploiting the Potential of Environmental Information Systems for Risk, Crisis and Environmental Management Applications

Traditionally, Environmental Information Systems (EIS) allow the user to store, query and process environmental information and visualize it in thematic maps, diagrams and reports. However, there is a trend that, beyond their fundamental role in the monitoring and assessment of the environmental situation, EIS are increasingly used in practice to support higher-level management tasks. Examples of this next step are management systems to accompany environmental measures (e.g. planning and operation of flood retention areas), applications to assess environmental and technological risks as well as emergency and crisis management systems. This paper discusses this trend from the design and architectural perspective. It describes how EIS software architectures have been adapted to changing demands concerning the integration of thematic domains, the distribution to user communities and the functional enhancements. Furthermore, recognizing the established paradigm of service-orientation, it argues for using a service-oriented analysis and design methodology and presents the SERVUS methodology. The paper concludes with an out-look how the design of EIS may be influenced by using generic and environmental enablers of the Future Internet.
Ration Gaming and the Bullwhip Effect

We model the workings of a single-supplier, 73-store supply chain as a dynamic discrete choice problem, adopting a generalized (S, s) inventory framework. We estimate the model with transaction-level data, spanning 3,251 products and 1,370 days. We find two phenomena: ration gaming (strategic inventory hoarding) and the bullwhip effect (the amplification of demand variability along the supply chain). To establish ration gaming, we show that upstream scarcity can trigger an inventory run, as the stores scramble to secure supply. And to establish the bullwhip effect, we show that shipments from suppliers are more variable than sales to customers. We confirm the long-standing hypothesis that ration gaming causes the bullwhip effect with a structural econometric model, estimating that the bullwhip effect would be 12% smaller in the counterfactual scenario without ration gaming incentives. To our knowledge, we develop the first empirical multi-echelon inventory model.
Log-concavity of asymptotic multigraded Hilbert series

We study the linear map sending the numerator of the rational function representing the Hilbert series of a module to that of its r-th Veronese submodule. We show that the asymptotic behaviour as r tends to infinity depends on the multidegree of the module and the underlying positively multigraded polynomial ring. More importantly, we give a polyhedral description for the asymptotic polynomial and prove that the coefficients are log-concave. In particular, we extend some results by Beck-Stapledon and Diaconis-Fulman beyond the standard graded situation.
COMPARISON OF SIX ATTENUATION CORRECTION SCHEMES IN CLINICAL CEREBRAL 3 D POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY

The aim of this study is to compare the effect of the two major classes of methods used to determine the attenuation map, i.e. non-uniform versus uniform, on 3D brain PET clinical studies based on qualitative assessment as well as absolute and relative quantitative volume of interest (VOI)based analysis. The results revealed statistically significant differences between the six attenuation correction methods. It was concluded that non-uniform attenuation correction is the gold standard for quantitative 3D PET. It should, however, be recognised that methods, which do not require a transmission scan, allow to reduce patient scanning time, increase scanner throughput and avoid misalignment between emission and pre-injection transmission scanning. To this end, derivation of the attenuation map from already acquired magnetic resonance images looks promising.
Fuzzy Web Ad Selector Based on Web Usage Mining

Internet and Web technologies are widely available, making it easier for companies to conduct business and transfer information to customers. Moreover, they speed up financial transactions efficiently, reducing the transaction costs of commercial activities that businesses would normally incur. So, Internet business has created a competitive environment, a successful company wanting to survive and gain a competitive advantage must provide an acceptable bundle of customized services that satisfy customers' needs. Despite the Internet's obvious benefits as a new communication medium its advertising gives the same advertising messages to all customers and so has suffered from poor responses. To raise a Web ad's effectiveness, we propose a Web ad selector that personalizes advertising messages for customers based on their preferences and interests. The Web ad selection system divides Web site customers with similar preferences into several segments through Web usage mining. It uses fuzzy rules that express customer segments' surfing patterns on the basis of expert advice, and recommends appropriate ads by fuzzy inference.
Effects of PARP-1 Deficiency on Th1 and Th2 Cell Differentiation

T cell differentiation to effector Th cells such as Th1 and Th2 requires the integration of multiple synergic and antagonist signals. Poly(ADP-ribosy)lation is a posttranslational modification of proteins catalyzed by Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs). Recently, many reports showed that PARP-1, the prototypical member of the PARP family, plays a role in immune/inflammatory responses. Consistently, its enzymatic inhibition confers protection in several models of immune-mediated diseases, mainly through an inhibitory effect on NF-κB (and NFAT) activation. PARP-1 regulates cell functions in many types of immune cells, including dendritic cells, macrophages, and T and B lymphocytes. Our results show that PARP-1KO cells displayed a reduced ability to differentiate in Th2 cells. Under both nonskewing and Th2-polarizing conditions, naïve CD4 cells from PARP-1KO mice generated a reduced frequency of IL-4+ cells, produced less IL-5, and expressed GATA-3 at lower levels compared with cells from wild type mice. Conversely, PARP-1 deficiency did not substantially affect differentiation to Th1 cells. Indeed, the frequency of IFN-γ + cells as well as IFN-γ production, in nonskewing and Th1-polarizing conditions, was not affected by PARP-1 gene ablation. These findings demonstrate that PARP-1 plays a relevant role in Th2 cell differentiation and it might be a target to be exploited for the modulation of Th2-dependent immune-mediated diseases.
Semantic image retrieval using correspondence topic model with background distribution

Social image search becomes an active research field in recent years due to the rapid development in big data processing technologies. In the retrieval systems, text description/tags play a key role to bridge the semantic gap between low-level features and higher-level concepts, and so guarantee the reliable search. However, in practice manual tags are usually noisy and incomplete, resulting in a limited performance of image retrieval. To tackle this problem, we propose a probabilistic topic model to formalize the correlation of tags with visual features via the latent semantic topics. Our proposed approach allows us to effectively annotate and refine tags based on a Monte Carlo Markov Chain algorithm for approximate inference. Moreover, we present a measuring scheme using the refined tags and extracted topics for ranking the images. The experimental results from two large benchmark datasets show that our approach provides promising accuracy.
On the use of biased randomization and simheuristics to solve Vehicle and Arc Routing Problems

This paper reviews the main concepts and existing literature related to the use of biased randomization of classical heuristics and the combination of simulation with meta-heuristics (Simheuristics) in order to solve complex combinatorial optimization problems, both of deterministic and stochastic nature, in the popular field of Vehicle and Arc Routing Problems. The paper performs a holistic approach to these concepts, synthesizes several cases of successful application from the existing literature, and proposes a general simulation-based framework for solving richer variants of Vehicle and Arc Routing Problems. Also examples of algorithms based on this framework successfully applied to concrete cases of Vehicle and Arc Routing Problems are presented.
Distributional Semantic Representation for Text Classification and Information Retrieval

The objective of this experiment is to validate the performance of the distributional semantic representation of text in the classification (Question Classification) task and the Information Retrieval task. Followed by the distributional representation, first level classification of the questions is performed and relevant tweets with respect to the given queries are retrieved. The distributional representation of text is obtained by performing Non Negative Matrix Factorization on top of the Document Term Matrix in the training and test corpus. To improve the semantic representation of the text, phrases are also considered along with the words. This proposed approach achieved 80% as a F-1 measure and 0.0377 as a mean average precision against the its respective Mixed Script Information Retrieval task1 and task 2 test sets.
Engineering salt-tolerant Brassica plants: Characterization of yield and seed oil quality in transgenic plants with increased vacuolar sodium accumulation

Transgenic Brassica napus plants overexpressing AtNHX1, a vacuolar Na+/H+ antiport from Arabidopsis thaliana, were able to grow, flower, and produce seeds in the presence of 200 mM sodium chloride. Although the transgenic plants grown in high salinity accumulated sodium up to 6% of their dry weight, growth of the these plants was only marginally affected by the high salt concentration. Moreover, seed yields and the seed oil quality were not affected by the high salinity of the soil. Our results demonstrate the potential use of these transgenic plants for agricultural use in saline soils. Our findings, showing that the modification of a single trait significantly improved the salinity tolerance of this crop plant, suggest that with a combination of breeding and transgenic plants it could be possible to produce salt-tolerant crops with far fewer target traits than had been anticipated.
PSM Peptides From Community-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Impair the Adaptive Immune Response via Modulation of Dendritic Cell Subsets in vivo

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key players of the immune system and thus a target for immune evasion by pathogens. We recently showed that the virulence factors phenol-soluble-modulins (PSMs) produced by community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) strains induce tolerogenic DCs upon Toll-like receptor activation via the p38-CREB-IL-10 pathway in vitro. Here, we addressed the hypothesis that S. aureus PSMs disturb the adaptive immune response via modulation of DC subsets in vivo. Using a systemic mouse infection model we found that S. aureus reduced the numbers of splenic DC subsets, mainly CD4+ and CD8+ DCs independently of PSM secretion. S. aureus infection induced upregulation of the C-C motif chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) on the surface of all DC subsets, on CD4+ DCs in a PSM-dependent manner, together with increased expression of MHCII, CD86, CD80, CD40, and the co-inhibitory molecule PD-L2, with only minor effects of PSMs. Moreover, PSMs increased IL-10 production in the spleen and impaired TNF production by CD4+ DCs. Besides, S. aureus PSMs reduced the number of CD4+ T cells in the spleen, whereas CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) were increased. In contrast, Th1 and Th17 priming and IFN-γ production by CD8+ T cells were impaired by S. aureus PSMs. Thus, PSMs from highly virulent S. aureus strains modulate the adaptive immune response in the direction of tolerance by affecting DC functions.
Inhibitory Mechanism by Polysialic Acid for Lamina-Specific Branch Formation of Thalamocortical Axons

During development, thalamocortical axons form arbors primarily in layer 4 of the neocortex. This lamina-specific branch formation was studied in cultures of rat thalamic explants grown next to chemically fixed cortical slices. After a week in vitro, thalamic axons formed branches specifically in the target layer of fixed cortical slices, regardless of the orientation of the ingrowth. Thisin vitro system permits a direct assessment of contributions of membrane-associated molecules to thalamic axon branch formation. To this end, the present study uses three enzymatic perturbations: chondroitinase, phosphatidylinositol phospholipase C, or the polysialic acid (PSA)-specific endoneuraminidase (endo N). With endo N pretreatment of cortex, the number of branch points was increased significantly, whereas branch tip length was decreased. In addition, the localization of branch points to the target layer was weakened considerably. These features of branch formation were not altered by the other two enzymatic treatments, except that branch tips were shortened by chondroitinase treatment to the same extent as in endo N treatment. These results suggest that membrane-bound components are involved in lamina-specific branch formation of thalamocortical axons, and in particular that PSA moieties contribute to laminar specificity by inhibiting branch emergence in inappropriate layers.
“They Are Not Hard-to-Reach Clients. We Have Just Got Hard-to-Reach Services.” Staff Views of Digital Health Tools in Specialist Mental Health Services.

Background: Digital health products designed to help people with severe mental health problems appear to be feasible, acceptable, and efficacious. The challenge facing the digital mental health field is implementing digital tools in routine service delivery. To date, there has been a paucity of qualitative research exploring staff views of digital health solutions in the context of mental healthcare. Engaging and involving frontline staff in the design and rollout of new technology to improve utilization is imperative for successful uptake and adoption of digital tools. The aim of the current study is to explore frontline staff views regarding the utility and appropriateness of using digital tools in the healthcare pathway for people accessing specialist secondary care mental health services. Method: Qualitative study using framework analysis was used with 48 mental health staff working in early intervention for psychosis services. Six groups comprising 5–10 early intervention service staff members in each group were conducted across the Northwest of England. Robust measures were used to develop a stable framework, including member checking, triangulation, and consensus meetings. Results: Three themes were identified a priori: i) perceived barriers to adopting smartphone apps for early psychosis; ii) acceptability of digital health tools for early psychosis patients; and iii) data security, safety, and risk. Alongside exploring the a priori topics, one theme was generated a posteriori: iv) relationships. Conclusions: Staff working in specialist early intervention for psychosis services found digital tools on the whole acceptable in mental health service provision, but raised a number of concerns that will likely affect implementation of such systems into routine service delivery and practice. Thirteen recommendations are made in this paper as a result of the themes generated in these data. Implementing of digital systems needs to be simple and uncomplicated and improve clinical workflows for staff rather than hinder and increase clinical workflows. Furthermore, organizational support with a clear plan for implementing technological innovations is required for successful adoption of digital systems. Consideration of staff views around digital systems is important if successful adoption and implementation of such systems are to occur. Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.isrctn. com, identifier ISRCTN34966555.
Computing Equilibria by Incorporating Qualitative Models 1

We present a new approach for solving large (even infinite) multiplayer games of imperfect information. The key idea behind our approach is that we include additional inputs in the form of qualitative models of equilibrium strategies (how the signal space should be qualitatively partitioned into action regions). In addition, we show that our approach can lead to strong strategies in large finite games that we approximate with infinite games. We prove that our main algorithm is correct even if given a set of qualitative models (satisfying a technical property) of which only some are accurate. We also show how to check the output in settings where all of the models might be wrong (under a weak assumption). Our algorithms can compute equilibria in several classes of games for which no prior algorithms have been developed, and we demonstrate that they run efficiently in practice. In the course of our analysis, we also develop the first mixed-integer programming formulations for computing an epsilon-equilibrium in general multiplayer normal and extensive-form games based on the extension of our initial algorithm to the multiplayer setting, which may be of independent interest. Experiments suggest that our approach of modeling a finite game with an infinite one can outperform the state of the art, abstraction-based approaches on some games. In addition, we demonstrate that our main algorithm can be used to improve play in two-player limit Texas hold’em—the most studied imperfect-information game in computer science—by solving endgames. Finally, we present experimental results on an infinite three-player game which suggest the effectiveness of our algorithm in games with more than two players.
A New Class of Unstable Modes of Rotating Relativistic Stars

The first numerical study of axial (toroidal) pulsation modes of a slowly rotating relativistic star is presented. The calculation includes terms of first order in ϵ ≡ Ω(R3/M)1/2 ≪ 1 (R is the radius, M is the mass, and Ω is the rotation frequency of the star) and accounts for effects due to the Coriolis force. Effects due to the centrifugal flattening of the star enter at order ϵ2 and are not included in the analysis. It is shown that increased rotation tends to decrease the damping times for prograde modes, while retrograde modes become longer lived. Specifically, we show that rotation affects the axial gravitational wave w-modes in this way. We also present the first relativistic calculation of the so-called r-modes (analogous to Rossby waves in the Earth's oceans). These have frequencies of the same order of magnitude as the rotation frequency of the star. The presented results indicate that the r-modes are unstable due to the emission of gravitational radiation for all rotating perfect fluid stars. This is interesting, since the previously considered gravitational wave instability associated with (for example) the f-mode of the star sets in at a critical rotation rate. Because they are also unstable for the slowest rotating stars, the r-modes may well be of considerable astrophysical importance.