Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Replacement of dietary saturated fat with monounsaturated fat: effect on atherogenesis in cholesterol-fed rabbits clamped at the same plasma cholesterol level

The aim was to compare the effect on atherogenesis of dietary monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids in cholesterol-clamped rabbits. To obtain an average plasma cholesterol concentration of 20 mmol/l in each rabbit during the 13-week cholesterol-feeding period, dietary cholesterol was adjusted weekly. The amount of fat fed daily was 10 g per rabbit in Expts A (n 23), C (n 36), and D (n 58) and 5 g per rabbit in Expt B (n 24). The source of monounsaturated fatty acids was olive oil in all four experiments. The source of saturated fatty acids was butter in Expt A, lard in Expt B, coconut oil in Expt C, and butter or lard in Expt D. Generally, olive oil-fed groups received more cholesterol and tended to have more cholesterol in VLDL and less in LDL compared with groups receiving saturated fat. Analysis of variance of the combined results of all four experiments showed that, in comparison with saturated fat, olive oil lowered aortic cholesterol by 13 (−9–30, 95% confidence interval) % in the aortic arch, and by 10 (−10–26) % in the thoracic aorta, which was not significant. In the comparison with olive oil, no differences in effects on aortic cholesterol content were detected between butter, lard and coconut oil. These findings do not support the view that replacement of dietary saturated fat with olive oil has a major impact on the development of atherosclerosis in addition to that accounted for by changes in plasma cholesterol levels.
Differential Emotional Experience Leads to Pruning of Dendritic Spines in the Forebrain of Domestic Chicks

Auditory filial imprinting induces quantitative changes of synaptic density in the forebrain area mediorostral neostriatum/hyperstriatum ventrale of the domestic chick. The aim of the present study was to examine the time window and the extent and quality of experience that is required for the induction of these synaptic changes. We found that a brief (30 min) experience with the imprinting situation (tone stimulus + mother surrogate) is sufficient to induce spine elimination, which is detectable on postnatal day 7, but not 80 min after the presentation of the imprinting stimuli. This synaptic reorganization requires the association of the acoustic imprinting tone with an emotional reward (mother surrogate); acoustic stimulation alone does not lead to detectable synaptic changes. The results of the present study provide further evidence that juvenile emotional learning events, such as filial imprinting, lead to a selective synaptic reorganization.
Fat or Fit: What Is More Important?

The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide, and obesity represents one of the major health hazards (1). Obesity was shown to be linked to an increased mortality and morbidity. However, obesity is often associated with modifications of physical activity level. Physical activity level itself affects the health status of the individual and thus may be a confounding variable in the obesity-mortality/morbidity relationship. Understanding the role of physical activity in the development of obesity-associated health hazards appears crucial for effective treatment of obesity and prevention of its complications. A large number of prospective studies have paid attention to the relationship between adiposity (i.e., degree of overweight/obesity) and mortality or morbidity. In the classic Framingham Heart Study (2), the degree of obesity predicted the incidence of cardiovascular disease. In the Harvard Alumni Health Study (3), men with the highest BMI (>26.0 kg/m2) had the highest risk of mortality. The Nurses Health Study (4) shows the lowest all-cause mortality and morbidity rates in subjects with the lowest BMI. The British Regional Heart Study (5) found an elevated all-cause mortality in men with BMI 30 kg/m2. A German study in obese subjects did show an elevated risk of all-cause mortality in obese subjects when compared with individuals with the lowest BMI, but, interestingly, did not find a difference in mortality rates between grossly obese (32 < BMI < 40 kg/m2) and overweight/moderately obese (25 < BMI < 32 kg/m2) patients (6). Abdominal fat distribution characterized by a higher waist-to-hip and waist-to-thigh ratio increases the risk of mortality not only among obese (BMI ≥30.0 kg/m2), but also among normal-weight (BMI 18.5–24.9 kg/m2) young and middle-aged adults (7). Measures of abdominal adiposity strongly and positively predict mortality, independent of BMI, among both white and black adults (8 …
Study of service robot architecture based on middleware and abstract environment

More and more robots are integrated in our daily life environment, human-robot interaction is one of the main characteristics of these robots. The service robot must have plenty of sensors to apperceive the environment, understand human's intention. Then the robot's behavior can be conformed with the social rules via pose, expression, voice, multimedia and so on. Uncertain environment and various functions require a flexible architecture to facilitate reuse of software and device. In order to develop low cost service robots to provide various services fast, architecture based on the middleware and abstract environment was proposed. In this architecture, we described the running principle and the members of the architecture, design the abstract environment and environment change event mechanism, and then we extend the event mechanism to be suitable for the different platform via the communication platform. To verify the proposed architecture, we use . NET framework to implement the abstract environment and apply the architecture on the guide service robot and advertisement service robot. The test shows that this architecture is suitable for improving reusability of robot software and reduce develop time.
Dual-Buffering Strategies in Object Bases

In this work, control strategies for combining two potentially powerful buffer management techniques in object bases were devised and evaluated: (1) buffer pool segmentation with segment-specific replacement criteria, and (2) dual buffering consisting of copying objects from pages into object buffers. Two diiensions exist for exerting control on the buffer pool: (1) the copying time which determines at what time objects are copied from their memory-resident home page, and (2) the relocation time which determines when a (copied) object is to be transferred back to its home page. Along both dimensions, it is possible to differentiate between an eager and a lazy strategy. The extensive experimental results indicate that lazy object copying combined with an eager relocation strategy is almost always superior and significantly outperforms page-based buffering in most applications.
A Tool to Support Ontology Creation Based on Incremental Mini-Ontology Merging

This thesis will address the problem of tool support for semi-automatic ontology mapping and merging. Solving this problem can contribute to ontology creation and evolution by relieving users from tedious and time-consuming work. As proposed in the NSF-supported TANGO project [16], this work will show that a tool can be built that will take a light weight ontology and a growing ontology as input and make it possible to produce manually, semi-automatically, or automatically an extended growing ontology as output. Characteristics of this tool include: (1) a graphical, interactive user interface with features that will allow users to map and merge ontologies, and (2) a framework supporting pluggable, semi-automatic and automatic mapping and merging algorithms.
Le jeu en ergothérapie : quel rôle dans les interactions sociales des enfants autistes ?

Introduction : En 2017, l’autisme represente une problematique de sante publique en France. Il concerne 1 nouveau-ne sur 500. L’objectif de cette etude est de determiner comment l’ergotherapeute peut favoriser l’apprentissage des interactions sociales des enfants autistes a travers le jeu, selon le modele d’intervention precoce de Denver. Methode : Il s’agit d’une etude clinique qualitative basee sur cinq entretiens avec une mere d’un enfant autiste, une psychomotricienne et trois ergotherapeutes. Resultats : Les ergotherapeutes recherchent premierement l’interet de l’enfant afin de choisir un jeu adapte. L’apprentissage des interactions sociales peut ensuite se faire grâce au « jouer ensemble » et differentes techniques d’apprentissage. L’ergotherapeute considere les parents comme co-therapeutes et collabore avec les autres professionnels. Conclusion : Le jeu est essentiel dans la pratique de l’ergotherapeute. Il peut servir de support pour tous les apprentissages des enfants autistes, du sensori-moteur au social.
Towards Countering the Rise of the Silicon Trojan

Abstract : The Trojan Horse has a venerable if unwelcome history and it is still regarded by many as the primary component in Computer Network Attack. Trojans have been the direct cause of significant economic loss over the years, and a large industry has grown to counter this insidious threat. To date, Trojans have in the vast majority taken the form of malicious software. However, more recent times have seen the emergence of what has been dubbed by some as the 'Silicon Trojan'; these trojans are embedded at the hardware level and can be designed directly into chips and devices. The complexity of the design of the device or chip in which they are embedded, coupled with the severe difficulty of evaluating increasingly dense, proprietary hardware designs, can make their discovery extremely difficult. This paper explores the possible effectiveness of a Silicon Trojan, whether they form a credible ongoing threat, and describes possible approaches which can be used as countermeasures.
Min-Sum-Min Message-Passing for Quadratic Optimization

—We study the minimization of a quadratic objec-tive function in a distributed fashion. It is known that the min-sum algorithm can be applied to solve the minimization problem if the algorithm converges. We propose a min-sum-min message-passing algorithm which includes the min-sum algorithm as a special case. As the name suggests, the new algorithm involves two minimizations in each iteration as compared to the min-sum algorithm which has one minimization. The algorithm is derived based on a new closed-loop quadratic optimization problem which has the same optimal solution as the original one. Experiments demonstrate that our algorithm improves the convergence speed of the min-sum algorithm by properly selecting a parameter in the algorithm. Furthermore, we ﬁnd empirically that in some situations where the min-sum algorithm fails, our algorithm still converges to the right solution. Experiments show that if our algorithm converges, our algorithm outperform a reference method with fast convergence speed.
Naïve Herding in Rich-Information Settings

In social-learning environments, we investigate implications of the assumption that people naively believe that each previous person's action reflects solely that person's private information. Naive herders inadvertently over-weight early movers' private signals by neglecting that interim herders' actions also embed these signals. Such "social confirmation bias" leads them to herd with positive probability on incorrect actions even in extremely rich-information settings where rational players never do. Moreover, because they become fully confident even when wrong, naive herders can be harmed, on average, by observing others. (JEL D82, D83)
Learning weighted distances for relevance feedback in image retrieval

We present a new method for relevance feedback in image retrieval and a scheme to learn weighted distances which can be used in combination with different relevance feedback methods. User feedback is a crucial step in image retrieval to maximise retrieval performance as was shown in recent image retrieval evaluations. Machine learning is expected to be able to learn how to rank images according to users needs. Most image retrieval systems incorporate user feedback using rather heuristic means and only few groups have formally investigated how to maximise the benefit from it using machine learning techniques. We incorporate our distance-learning method into our new relevance feedback scheme and into two different approaches from the literature. The methods are compared on two publicly available databases, one which is purely content-based and one which uses additional textual information. It is shown that the new relevance feedback scheme outperforms the other methods and that all methods benefit from weighted distance learning.
Optimization Techniques For an Artificial Potential Fields Racing Car Controller

Context. Building autonomous racing car controllers is a growing field of computer science which has been receiving great attention lately. An approach named Artificial Potential Fields (APF) is used widely as a path finding and obstacle avoidance approach in robotics and vehicle motion controlling systems. The use of APF results in a collision free path, it can also be used to achieve other goals such as overtaking and maneuverability. Objectives. The aim of this thesis is to build an autonomous racing car controller that can achieve good performance in terms of speed, time, and damage level. To fulfill our aim we need to achieve optimality in the controller choices because racing requires the highest possible performance. Also, we need to build the controller using algorithms that does not result in high computational overhead. Methods. We used Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) in combination with APF to achieve optimal car controlling. The Open Racing Car Simulator (TORCS) was used as a testbed for the proposed controller, we have conducted two experiments with different configuration each time to test the performance of our APF- PSO controller. Results. The obtained results showed that using the APF-PSO controller resulted in good performance compared to top performing controllers. Also, the results showed that the use of PSO proved to enhance the performance compared to using APF only. High performance has been proven in the solo driving and in racing competitions, with the exception of an increased level of damage, however, the level of damage was not very high and did not result in a controller shut down. Conclusions. Based on the obtained results we have concluded that the use of PSO with APF results in high performance while taking low computational cost.
QUALITATIVE COMPARTMENTAL MODELLING

We describe software to support experi- mentation with qualitative models of human physiol- ogy. Our knowledge bases are not so much "fonts of wisdom" that can not be doubted, hut hypothesis that are under active review. An important feature of our system is its graphical ability to allow the users to directly-manipulate their qualitative descriptions of the domain. K~%qORDS: Qualitative modelling, hypothesis test- ing, knowledge acquisition, knowledge representation, causality, explanation.
Highly efficient and encapsulated re-use of synchronization code in concurrent object-oriented languages

Re-use of synchronization code in concurrent OOlanguages has been considered difficult due to i7lheriinrice anomaly, which we minimize with our new pre posal. Designed with hi@ practicality in mind, we propose language primitives (plus t,heir implernentat,ion) \rith t.he following characteristics: (1) it allows niultiple synchronz;atzon schentcs-the language schemes for ~~rogramn1zng synchronization-to coexist and bc integrated, (2) re-use of synchronization code is done sirnilarly t,o sequential OO-languages for user familiarity, (3) it offers high degree of encapsulat,ion-even synchronization schemes could be encapsulated in superclasses in many cases, and (4) it can be efficient,ly implemented on conventional MPPs. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal with solutions to the example inheritance anomaly cases from [16]. We also give an overview of the implementat~ion architecture, along wit11 preliminary benchmarks. The proposed language primitives are being incorporated into our ABCL/onAPlOOO running on Fujitsu’s 512-node PIIPP, APlOOO.
Competency management and assessment the inseparable elements of a quality framework for human resources development

This paper focuses on advantageous elements of the human resources development process that bear new potential for the rising multinational and international businesses. It shows the complex structure of the interrelationship between strategic management, competency management, assessment and an overall quality management. Further, it points out the need for interoperability of learning content, competency and assessment data and systems, by following a methodical approach towards human resources development as a key source of innovation and competitive improvement. Exploiting its potential and boosting its value to the organization maximizes the Return-On-Investment in people and technology.
Interactive presentation: Task scheduling under performance constraints for reducing the energy consumption of the GALS multi-processor SoC

The present paper focuses on applications that are periodic and have both latency and throughput constraints. For these applications, pipeline scheduling is effective for reducing energy consumption. Thus, the present paper proposes a pipelined task scheduling method for minimizing the energy consumption of GALS MP-SoC under latency and throughput constraints. First, we model target GALS MP-SoC architecture and application tasks. We then show that the energy optimization problem under this model belongs to the class of Mixed-Integer Linear Programming. Next, we propose a new scheduling method based on simulated annealing for the purpose of solving this problem quickly. Finally, experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves a significant energy reduction on a real application under a practical architecture.
The Physiological Functions of the Golgin Vesicle Tethering Proteins

The golgins comprise a family of vesicle tethering proteins that act in a selective manner to tether transport vesicles at the Golgi apparatus. Tethering is followed by membrane fusion to complete the delivery of vesicle-bound cargo to the Golgi. Different golgins are localized to different regions of the Golgi, and their ability to selectively tether transport vesicles is important for the specificity of vesicle traffic in the secretory pathway. In recent years, our mechanistic understanding of golgin-mediated tethering has greatly improved. We are also beginning to appreciate how the loss of golgin function can impact upon physiological processes through the use of animal models and the study of human disease. These approaches have revealed that loss of a golgin causes tissue-restricted phenotypes, which can vary in severity and the cell types affected. In many cases, it is possible to attribute these phenotypes to a defect in vesicular traffic, although why certain tissues are sensitive to loss of a particular golgin is still, in most cases, unclear. Here, I will summarize recent progress in our understanding of golgins, focusing on the physiological roles of these proteins, as determined from animal models and the study of disease in humans. I will describe what these in vivo analyses have taught us, as well as highlight less understood aspects, and areas for future investigations.
Adaptive Sensor Activation for Target Tracking in Wireless Sensor Networks

This paper presents an adaptive sensor activation for target tracking in wireless sensor networks by dynamically adjusting the range of sensor selective activation instead of fixed one. A closed-loop control algorithm for the range of adaptive sensor activation is designed according to the online feedback of the tracking quality. The failed tracking case can also be handled by the proposed algorithm. Extensive simulation results show that the adaptive sensor activation achieves higher performance in terms of tracking effect and energy efficiency.
Propionate Ameliorates Staphylococcus aureus Skin Infection by Attenuating Bacterial Growth

Staphylococcus aureus causes various diseases including skin and soft tissue infections, pneumonia, gastroenteritis, and sepsis. Antibiotic-resistant S. aureus such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and multidrug-resistant S. aureus is a serious threat in healthcare-associated settings and in the communities. In this study, we investigated the effects of short-chain fatty acids, metabolites produced by commensal bacteria, on the growth of S. aureus both in vitro and in vivo. Sodium propionate (NaP) most potently inhibited the growth of MRSA and multidrug-resistant clinical isolates. Of note, only NaP, but not sodium acetate (NaA) or sodium butyrate (NaB), ameliorated MRSA skin infection, significantly lowering bacterial load, excessive cytokine production, and the size and weight of abscesses approximately by twofold. In addition, interestingly, S. aureus deficient of lipoteichoic acids (LTA) or wall teichoic acids (WTA), which are important in bacterial physiology and antimicrobial susceptibility, was more susceptible to NaP than the wild-type. Furthermore, S. aureus deficient of D-alanine motifs common in LTA and WTA was more susceptible to NaP, its growth being almost completely inhibited. Concordantly, MRSA treated with an inhibitor of D-alanylation on LTA and WTA was more susceptible to NaP, and co-treatment of NaP and a D-alanylation inhibitor further decreased the pathology of MRSA skin infection. Collectively, these results demonstrate that NaP ameliorates MRSA skin infection by attenuating the growth of S. aureus, and suggest an alternative combination treatment strategy against S. aureus infection.
Service-Oriented Architecture and its implications for software maintenance and evolution

It is clear that service-oriented architecture (SOA) is having a substantial impact on the way software systems are developed. According to a 2007 Gartner Group report, 50% of new mission-critical operational applications and business processes were designed in 2007 around SOA, and that number will be more than 80% by 2010. This means that as service-oriented systems are deployed and legacy systems are migrated to this environment, a main concern is now their maintenance and evolution. This paper provides an overview of SOA concepts, best practices for implementation of service-oriented systems, the implications that SOA environments have on software maintenance and evolution activities, and finally some research challenges for the software maintenance and evolution research community.
Inferior Parietal Lobe Activity in Visuo-Motor Integration during the Robot Hand Illusion

The robot hand illusion (RoHI) is the participant’s illusion of the self-ownership and the self-agency of a robot hand that appears to be moving consistently with their own hand, and feel as if the robot hand belongs to them. Mismatching between motor and visual information disrupt the effect of RoHI respect to the robot hand. In our previous study, we found that participants felt that the virtual hand was their own when the visual feedback was delayed by less than 200 ms. Moreover, although they did not feel that the virtual hand was their own, the participants felt that they could control the virtual hand even with a visual delay of 300 - 500 ms. Here, we used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to investigate brain activity associated with the RoHI under different delayed visual feedback conditions (100 ms, 400 ms, and 700 ms). We found significant activation in the supramarginal gyrus and superior temporal gyrus in the 100 ms feedback delay condition. An ANOVA indicated that this activation was significantly different from that in other conditions (p < 0.01). These results demonstrate that activity in the inferior parietal cortex was modulated by the delay between the motor command and the visual feedback regarding the movement of the robot hand. We propose that the inferior parietal lobe is essential for integrating motor and visual information that enables one to distinguish their own body from those of others.