Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Temporal Variations of the Ileal Microbiota in Intestinal Ischemia and Reperfusion

ABSTRACT Gastrointestinal bacteria and epithelia contribute to systemic inflammation and infections in critically ill patients, but the gut microbiota in these diseases has not been analyzed dynamically by molecular fingerprinting methods. This study aimed to identify ileal flora dysbiosis pattern and bacterial species that changed significantly in a rat model of intestinal ischemia and reperfusion and illustrate time courses of both epithelial alterations and gut flora variations in the same injury. Forty-eight rats were randomized into eight groups (n = 6/group). Six groups underwent superior mesenteric artery occlusion for 30 min and were killed at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 72 h following reperfusion, respectively; a group of rats were killed just after anesthesia (control), and a sham-operated group received 12-h reperfusion. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of ileal microbiota showed that gut flora pattern changed early after intestinal ischemia and reperfusion, differed significantly at 12 h of reperfusion, and then started to recover toward normal pattern. The specific dysbiosis were characterized by Escherichia coli proliferation and Lachnospiraceae and Lactobacilli reduction. These bacteria that contributed most were identified by principal component analysis and sequencing and confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. In addition, alterations of ileal microbiota followed epithelial changes in the time course of reperfusion.
DLRS 2017: Second Workshop on Deep Learning for Recommender Systems

Deep learning methods became widely popular in the recommender systems community in 2016, in part thanks to the previous event of the DLRS workshop series. Now, deep learning has been embedded in the main conference as well and initial research directions have started forming, so the role of DLRS 2017 is to encourage starting new research directions, incentivize the application of very recent techniques from deep learning, and provide a venue for specialized discussion of this topic.
Low-Complexity Distributed Multibase Transmission and Scheduling

This paper addresses the problem of base station coordination and cooperation in wireless networks with multiple base stations. We present a distributed approach to downlink multibase beamforming, which allows for the multiplexing of user terminals, randomly located in a network with base stations. In particular, we detail a low-complexity scheduling algorithm, which can be employed with different objective functions, exemplified here by two approaches: (1) maximizing the sum rate of the network; and (2) maximizing the number of users served, given a statistical constraint on the received rate per user. The optimizations are based on locally available information at each base station. Results show that our approaches yield significant gains, when compared to schemes that do not allow cooperation between cells. These gains are obtained without the extensive signaling overhead required in previously known multicell MIMO processing.
Comment on 5-HT and mechanisms of defence

The paper by Deakin and Graeff is a thought-provoking tour-de-force. They propose a comprehensive theory about serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) and anxiety, covering much of the same literature which we previously reviewed (Kahn et al., 1988a). We certainly agree that there seems to be an association between 5-HT function and anxiety, but we take issue with several important aspects of Deakin and Graeff's hypothesis. We limit our comments to their discussion of anxiety and panic.
Dynamic underactuated nonprehensile manipulation

By exploiting centrifugal and Coriolis forces, simple, low-degree-of-freedom robots can control objects with more degrees-of-freedom. For example, by allowing the object to roll and slip, a one-degree-of-freedom revolute robot can take a planar object to a full-dimensional subset of its state space. We present a dynamic manipulation planner that finds manipulator trajectories to move an object from one state to another without grasping it. The trajectories have been successfully implemented on a one-degree-of-freedom direct drive arm to perform dynamic tasks such as snatching an object from a table, rolling an object on the surface of the arm, and throwing and catching.
Multicast Node Communication Using Virtual Queue with Process Scheduling

Multicast technique is used to transmit node data from one source node to many destination nodes simultaneously and establish a communication in the network. In multicasting communication, node network packet collision occurrence is a frequent problem in real time network system. The node packet collision avoidance using virtual queue with process scheduling is discussed in this study and proposed central queue process scheduling and intermediate leader node avoids traffic and congestion avoidance between node packets in this research work. The results are discovered reliable path for node network approach using node location to receive an accurate and shortest path of destination nodes.
Característcas sociales y familiares vinculadas al desarrollo de la conducta delictiva en pre-adolescentes y adolescentes

El objetivo de este trabajo es conocer que caracterisitcas psicosociales de la familia se relacionan con la conducta delictiva de preadolescentes y adolescentes. La muestra esta constituida por menores que cursan estudios en tres centros publicos de Ensenanza Secundaria de la Comunidad Autonoma de la Region de Murcia (n=641), de la que se seleccionaron dos gurpos, uno denominado adaptados (n=200) y otro delicnuencia autoinformada (n=174), y por 21 menores sometidos a internamiento en centros de esa Region, al que hemos denominado delicuencia oficial. Los resultados indican que existe un perfil psicosocial mas deteriorado y una mayor desestructuracion familiar en el grupo de menores internados; en cambiom no se diferncian signifiacitivamente al grupo delincuancia autoinformada en la percepcion de las relaciones que mantienen con los miembros de su familia
DESIGNING MULTIMODAL INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS

The design of interactive systems, with novel devices or scenarios, is a complex task, given that none, or almost none, information regarding its use is available. This paper argues for a design process that leverages the availability of new interactive devices to build high-fidelity prototypes that allow for unconstrained usage, thus immersing the user in the interaction scenario. Based on findings with the prototype, an application is then developed to validate those findings with a complete working prototype. This design process is illustrated with the design and development of a multimodal system to foster the understanding of user behavior in the presence of interactive systems controllable by gestures and speech commands. Findings from the design and evaluation of this system are also presented in the paper.
Modulating the Granularity of Category Formation by Global Cortical States

The unsupervised categorization of sensory stimuli is typically attributed to feedforward processing in a hierarchy of cortical areas. This purely sensory-driven view of cortical processing, however, ignores any internal modulation, e.g., by top-down attentional signals or neuromodulator release. To isolate the role of internal signaling on category formation, we consider an unbroken continuum of stimuli without intrinsic category boundaries. We show that a competitive network, shaped by recurrent inhibition and endowed with Hebbian and homeostatic synaptic plasticity, can enforce stimulus categorization. The degree of competition is internally controlled by the neuronal gain and the strength of inhibition. Strong competition leads to the formation of many attracting network states, each being evoked by a distinct subset of stimuli and representing a category. Weak competition allows more neurons to be co-active, resulting in fewer but larger categories. We conclude that the granularity of cortical category formation, i.e., the number and size of emerging categories, is not simply determined by the richness of the stimulus environment, but rather by some global internal signal modulating the network dynamics. The model also explains the salient non-additivity of visual object representation observed in the monkey inferotemporal (IT) cortex. Furthermore, it offers an explanation of a previously observed, demand-dependent modulation of IT activity on a stimulus categorization task and of categorization-related cognitive deficits in schizophrenic patients.
Otedama: Fast Rule-Based Pre-Ordering for Machine Translation

Abstract We present Otedama, a fast, open-source tool for rule-based syntactic pre-ordering, a well established technique in statistical machine translation. Otedama implements both a learner for pre-ordering rules, as well as a component for applying these rules to parsed sentences. Our system is compatible with several external parsers and capable of accommodating many source and all target languages in any machine translation paradigm which uses parallel training data. We demonstrate improvements on a patent translation task over a state-of-the-art English-Japanese hierarchical phrase-based machine translation system. We compare Otedama with an existing syntax-based pre-ordering system, showing comparable translation performance at a runtime speedup of a factor of 4.5-10.
Spiritual Well-Being and Quality of Life of Iranian Adults with Type 2 Diabetes

Introduction. Diabetes is a major public health problem. Little is known about the spiritual well-being and its relationship with quality of life (QOL) in Iranian Muslim patients with diabetes. This study investigated the spiritual well-being and QOL of Iranian adults with type 2 diabetes and the association between spiritual well-being, QOL, and depression. Methods. A cross-sectional study was done among 203 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Isfahan, Iran. Quality of life and spiritual well-being were measured using the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-spiritual well-being (FACIT-Sp). Depression was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2). Descriptive analysis, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analysis were performed for statistical assessment. Results. The mean QOL was 61.00 (SD = 9.97) and the mean spiritual well-being was 30.59 (SD = 6.14). Sixty-four percent of our studied population had depressive disorders. There was a significant positive correlation between all QOL subscales and meaning, peace, and total spiritual well-being score. Conclusion. The results of this study showed poor QOL and spiritual well-being and high prevalence of depression in Iranian patients with type 2 diabetes compared to other studies' findings especially western studies. This indicates the need for psychosocial and spiritual support in caring for Iranian patients with diabetes.
Improved Large DC Gain Converters With Low Voltage Stress on Switches Based on Coupled-Inductor and Voltage Multiplier for Renewable Energy Applications

Starting from a common principle, two new coupled-inductor-based dc–dc converters with large dc gains are proposed. Both of them present a low voltage stress on the power switch with their leakage inductance energy recuperated to the load. The first coupled-inductor-based converter employs two diode–capacitor voltage multipliers (VMs) inserted in an innovative way to give it many advantages. Specifically, the first VM is placed near the switch to serve as both a multiplier and a switch-voltage clamp cell, while the second one is inserted into the output circuit. The two VMs working in harmony then provide a very large dc gain. The conduction losses are also reduced as power switches with low ON-state resistance can be selected due to the clamping role of the first VM. Moreover, the availability of capacitors of both VMs in the output diode loop results in low voltage stress on all semiconductor devices. The choice of a lower voltage-rating output diode with a lower parasitic capacitance can then alleviate oscillations between the leakage inductance and diode capacitance at its turn-off. The second converter uses a three-winding coupled inductor and a single VM, forming a new hybrid VM cell. Its component count is reduced without affecting the practical dc gain. Its advantage is the elimination of the output diode recovery problem and thus does not result in spikes at its turn-off. Operational principles and dc steady-state analyses of the two converters are discussed, followed by comparison with available converters. The experimental results from two prototypes built for supplying a 400-V grid are given for validating the feasibility and theoretical analyses of the proposed converters.
The Physical Chemistry of the Enigmatic Phospholipid Diacylglycerol Pyrophosphate

Phosphatidic acid (PA) is a lipid second messenger that is formed transiently in plants in response to different stress conditions, and plays a role in recruiting protein targets, ultimately enabling an adequate response. Intriguingly, this increase in PA concentration in plants is generally followed by an increase in the phospholipid diacylglycerolpyrophosphate (DGPP), via turnover of PA. Although DGPP has been shown to induce stress-related responses in plants, it is unclear to date what its molecular function is and how it exerts its effect. Here, we describe the physicochemical properties, i.e., effective molecular shape and charge, of DGPP. We find that unlike PA, which imparts a negative curvature stress to a (phospho)lipid bilayer, DGPP stabilizes the bilayer phase of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), similar to the effect of phosphatidylcholine (PC). DGPP thus has zero curvature. The pKa2 of the phosphomonoester of DGPP is 7.44 ± 0.02 in a PC bilayer, compared to a pKa2 of 7.9 for PA. Replacement of half of the PC with PE decreases the pKa2 of DGPP to 6.71 ± 0.02, similar to the behavior previously described for PA and summarized in the electrostatic–hydrogen bond switch model. Implications for the potential function of DGPP in biomembranes are discussed.
Ontogeny and nutritional control of adipogenesis in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

The global obesity epidemic demands an improved understanding of the developmental and environmental factors regulating fat storage. Adipocytes serve as major sites of fat storage and as regulators of energy balance and inflammation. The optical transparency of developing zebrafish provides new opportunities to investigate mechanisms governing adipocyte biology, however zebrafish adipocytes remain uncharacterized. We have developed methods for visualizing zebrafish adipocytes in vivo by labeling neutral lipid droplets with Nile Red. Our results establish that neutral lipid droplets first accumulate in visceral adipocytes during larval stages and increase in number and distribution as zebrafish grow. We show that the cellular anatomy of zebrafish adipocytes is similar to mammalian white adipocytes and identify peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor &ggr; and fatty acid binding protein 11a as markers of the zebrafish adipocyte lineage. By monitoring adipocyte development prior to neutral lipid deposition, we find that the first visceral preadipocytes appear in association with the pancreas shortly after initiation of exogenous nutrition. Zebrafish reared in the absence of food fail to form visceral preadipocytes, indicating that exogenous nutrition is required for adipocyte development. These results reveal homologies between zebrafish and mammalian adipocytes and establish the zebrafish as a new model for adipocyte research.
Micro-Facial Movement Detection Using Individualised Baselines and Histogram-Based Descriptors

Detecting micro-facial movements in a video sequence is the first step in realising a system that can pick out rapid movements automatically as a person is being recorded. This paper proposes a new method of micro-movement detection by applying Histogram of Oriented Gradients as a feature descriptor on our in-house high-speed video dataset of spontaneous micro facial movements. Firstly the algorithm aligns and crops faces for each video using automatic facial point detection and affine transformation. Then a de-noising algorithm is applied to each video before splitting them into blocks where the Histogram of Oriented Gradient features are calculated for each frame in every video block. The Chi-Squared distance measure is then used to calculate dissimilarity in the spatial appearance between frames at a set interval. The final feature vector is calculated after normalisation of the raw distance values and peak detection is applied to 'spot' micro-facial movements. An individualised baseline threshold is used to determine the value a peak must exceed to be classed as a movement. The result is compared with a benchmark algorithm - feature difference analysis techniques for micro-facial movements using Local Binary Patterns. Results indicate the proposed method achieves higher Recall of 0.8429 and F1-measure of 0.7672.
Psychrotolerant Bacteria Isolated from Arctic Soil That Degrade Polychlorinated Biphenyls at Low Temperatures

ABSTRACT Psychrotolerant polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-degrading bacteria were isolated at 7°C from PCB-contaminated Arctic soil by using biphenyl as the sole organic carbon source. These isolates were distinguished from each other by differences in substrates that supported growth and substrates that were oxidized. 16S ribosomal DNA sequences suggest that these isolates are most closely related to the genus Pseudomonas. Total removal of Aroclor 1242, and rates of removal of selected PCB congeners, by cell suspensions of Arctic soil isolates and the mesophile Burkholderia cepacia LB400 were determined at 7, 37, and 50°C. Total removal values of Aroclor 1242 at 7°C by LB400 and most Arctic soil isolates were similar (between 2 and 3.5 μg of PCBs per mg of cell protein). However the rates of removal of some individual PCB congeners by Arctic isolates were up to 10 times higher than corresponding rates of removal by LB400. Total removal of Aroclor 1242 and the rates of removal of individual congeners by the Arctic soil bacteria were higher at 37°C than at 7°C but as much as 90% lower at 50°C than at 37°C. In contrast, rates of PCB removal by LB400 were higher at 50°C than at 37°C. In all cases, temperature did not affect the congener specificity of the bacteria. These observations suggest that the PCB-degrading enzyme systems of the bacteria isolated from Arctic soil are cold adapted.
New oracles from Delphi - a 'crucial experiment' for positivism in archival history

Empiricism has reigned supreme as an episteme for mainstream accounting research for some 25 years. In accounting, the Empiricist doctrine has assumed various guises. Positive Accounting is one of Empiricism's generic forms. It exists both in its own right, and in various incarnations such as Market Studies, Agency Theory and Historical Archivalism (in accounting history). In the U.S, these manifestations of Empiricism emerged in the mainstream literature in response to attacks on the then Big 8 accounting firms and their corporate clients. In the 1970's, Abraham Briloff 's assaults in Barrons were costing the firms and their clients millions of dollars in law suits. The Big 8 mounted a counterattack to Briloff 's normative perspective by alleging such work consisted of arbitrary 'opinions' and 'value judgments'. The firms urged mainstream academe to develop an alternative to normative research, grounded in 'objective' factual (empirical) analysis -Positive Accounting Research. Archival accounting history was a byproduct of this new regime. The result has been to deflect mainstream academia from any critical mission and render it impotent in dealing with the massive audit and financial failures that today imperil the World Wide economy. Positive Accounting's continuing presence has anesthetized criticism by the Academy. This paper takes advantage of a rare opportunity to deploy a 'Crucial Experiment' to evaluate accounting's positivistic epistemic foundations. This opening allows for an in-depth review of Historical Archivalism (and therefore, by implication, its parents: Positivism and Empiricism). This paper catalogues first, how archivalist accounting history disguises its normative underpinnings, and second, explores the nature of these normative underpinnings. It reveals how archival research 'disowns' value judgments by ‘Consulting an Oracle’: a technique of using other-voices to camouflage opinions and normative stances. Implicit in this paper's critique of Archivalism is an alternative episteme -Post-Positivism or Constructionism -that immerges as an alternative to Archivalism. The paper concludes that the hidden agenda of Archivalism / Positivism is a politically conservative one: a form of politics aimed at preserving a status quo.
Using the Functional Movement Screen™ to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Training

Abstract Frost, DM, Beach, TAC, Callaghan, JP, and McGill, SM. Using the functional movement screen™ to evaluate the effectiveness of training. J Strength Cond Res 26(6): 1620–1630, 2012—The Functional Movement Screen™ (FMS) has demonstrated some efficacy in the prediction of injuries and is thus used by many practitioners to make recommendations for exercise. However, questions remain regarding its utility as a means to evaluate the effectiveness of training. Sixty firefighters volunteered to participate, and their FMS scores were examined before and after 12 weeks of training. Individuals were graded on how they chose to perform rather than how they could perform. The participants were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: intervention 1, intervention 2, or control. The 2 intervention groups received three 1.5-hour training sessions each week and differed in the emphasis that was placed on movement quality. Sagittal and frontal plane videos were used to grade the FMS with 3 methods: the standard 0–3 scale, a 100-point scale that weighted specific compensations (research standard), and a modified 100-point scale whereby grades were assigned based on the total number of compensations present. There were no significant differences in the total FMS scores for any group posttraining. However, the scores of 85% of the firefighters who did not receive training did change. The 100-point scale methods resulted in more FMS score changes posttraining, but the between-group interactions were identical to those found with the standard scoring method. The control group's scores were not consistent pretraining and posttraining; thus, the influence of each intervention could not be evaluated. Currently, the FMS might provide a momentary impression of general movement quality, although further efforts would likely assist in the development of better ways to implement the test, interpret the results, and generate reliable scores.
Causes and Consequences of Increased Arterial Stiffness in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality is greatly enhanced in patients with chronic kidney disease, compared to the non-renal population. One key element of this high CV burden appears to be arterial stiffness, as an expression of premature vascular aging. Increased arterial stiffness in renal patients may be a consequence of vascular calcification, chronic volume overload, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress and several other factors. The authors review briefly the main pathophysiological mechanisms leading to reduced arterial compliance. Increased arterial stiffness has significant clinical consequences: isolated systolic hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy (and failure), and reduced myocardial perfusion. Better knowledge of the mechanisms of arterial functional and morphologic alteration may help in developing more refined therapeutic strategies aimed to reduce the high CV burden in chronic kidney disease. The potential therapeutic interventions – mainly the use of certain antihypertensive drugs and reduction of vascular calcification – are finally discussed.