Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Studies on intestinal digestion in the sheep

1. The use of chromic oxide (Cr2O3) as an indigestible marker for studies on intestinal digestion in sheep has been examined. The sheep used were equipped with a cannula into the rumen and a re-entrant cannula in the proximal duodenum; some also had a re-entrant cannula in the terminal ileum. The marker was administered twice daily in the form of Cr2O3-impregnated paper, through the rumen cannula. 2. Recovery of Cr2O3 in the faeces, based on 7-day collection periods, was satisfactory, the mean recovery for all seven experiments being 99.6 ± 0.7%. In seventeen 24 h collections of digesta entering the proximal duodenum, the mean recovery of the daily dose of marker was 83.7% (range 63.6-148.4%); in eleven such collections at the terminal ileum the mean recovery was 77.3% (54.0-90.0%). 3. Detailed examination of the concentrations of Cr2O3 in dry matter was made with individual samples taken during single 24 h periods for five duodenal and three ileal collection periods. There were always marked variations in these concentrations. It is concluded that use of short collection periods to give mean values for the flow of digesta throughout the 24 h, at particular points along the tract, may lead to large errors.
Silverback: A Global-Scale Archival System

The rise of ubiquitous computing has created a need for wide-area durable storage. We propose a model and interface for such an archival system, that stores data in a durable, verifiable, available, and self-maintainable manner. We argue that such a system can be created by using novel techniques of erasure codes, secure hashing, and decentralized wide-area location infrastructures to distribute fragments across the wide-area on an arbitrary set of servers. This model allows files to remain available even as servers fail. Finally, we implement Silverback, a prototype archival system using the model that we developed, and measure its performance.
A chip-to-chip clock-deskewing circuit for 3-D ICs

A clock-deskewing circuit (CDC) using a dual delay-locked-loop technique is presented. The CDC can synchronize the clocks for a chip-to-chip system without delay measurements and dummy delay elements. Simulated in a 0. 18µm CMOS technology, the maximum operating frequency is 1.5 GHz and the cycle-to-cycle clock jitter is 7.74 ps. Total power dissipation of the CDC is 56mW under a 1.8-V supply.
Assessing the Clinical Utility of SNP Microarray for Prader-Willi Syndrome due to Uniparental Disomy

Maternal uniparental disomy (UPD) 15 is one of the molecular causes of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a multisystem disorder which presents with neonatal hypotonia and feeding difficulty. Current diagnostic algorithms differ regarding the use of SNP microarray to detect PWS. We retrospectively examined the frequency with which SNP microarray could identify regions of homozygosity (ROH) in patients with PWS. We determined that 7/12 (58%) patients with previously confirmed PWS by methylation analysis and microsatellite-positive UPD studies had ROH (>10 Mb) by SNP microarray. Additional assessment of 5,000 clinical microarrays, performed from 2013 to present, determined that only a single case of ROH for chromosome 15 was not caused by an imprinting disorder or identity by descent. We observed that ROH for chromosome 15 is rarely incidental and strongly associated with hypotonic infants having features of PWS. Although UPD microsatellite studies remain essential to definitively establish the presence of UPD, SNP microarray has important utility in the timely diagnostic algorithm for PWS.
Taking the Concept of Citizenship in Mental Health across Countries. Reflections on Transferring Principles and Practice to Different Sociocultural Contexts

Transferring principles and practices to different sociocultural and professional contexts in the field of mental health can be very complex. Previous research on public health policy points to difficulties in different areas such as the understanding the new concepts, their applicability in different health systems, and suitable approaches to its effective implementation. The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze the process of transferring the concept of Citizenship, from its United States origins in mental health outreach work with persons who are homeless to Catalonia, Spain. We define Citizenship as promoting the rights, responsibilities, roles, resources and relationships of persons with mental illnesses, along with a sense of belonging that is validated by other citizens. The process of this transition involves embedding Citizenship in the mental health “first-person” (internationally known as Consumer/Survivor/Peer) movement in Catalonia. The paper includes a discussion of the concept of transference, including a case example of the adoption of the concept of mental health recovery in different countries. Following this, we describe the United States Citizenship model and key elements of its development. We then turn to Spain and the evolution of its mental health system, and then to Catalonia for a brief case history of transference of the principles and practices of Citizenship to that region. The “take home message” of this work is that concepts being brought from one sociocultural and national context to another, must focus on contextualization in the ‘adoptee’s’ practices, including the balance between personal involvement and professional rigor, the involvement of key actors, and ongoing evaluation of actions taken.
Usability of EEG Systems: User Experience Study

In recent years there was a change in EEG experimental designs - from simple behavior in the lab to complex behavior outside. That change required also an adjustment of EEG systems -- from being static and sensitive to mobile and noise-resistant. The rapid technological development has to balance performance (e.g. number of channels, low impedance contact) with usability (e.g. comfort for the participant, contact pressure, wet/dry electrodes) and mobility (e.g. wiring, weight). This has led to wide variety of designs which differ widely in properties. Here we compare 7 EEG systems with respect to the participant's user experience. Results demonstrate that from perspective of user experience of participants, mobile wet system (Cwet) had the highest score.
Tolerance of Stereopsis to Conjunctive Cyclorotation

Stereopsis is largely unperturbed by various types of eye, head, and target movements. Here, we used a simple setup to investigate the limits of a previously untested type of stimulus motion on stereoscopic depth perception. Clockwise and counterclockwise rotations of an auto-stereogram were used to describe the limits of stereopsis to roll-tilt. The result showed intact depth perception with stimulus rotation up to ∼ 12°, regardless of rotation direction and viewing distance, indicating a tolerant mechanism for stereoscopic processing by the human neural system.
A Development Tool for E-learning Applications

Task information support on the Web is not always an easy and straightforward process. Much of the information is inaccurate, biased, out-of-date, or just not thorough enough. The Internet has emerged as an active resource for the average student. It has also provided a universal, yet independent, platform for educators for over a decade now. Conversely, many useful and exciting educational tools have evolved from the Internet’s promising example. Hypertext and hypermedia offer students a visual and hands on experience that class lecture and the traditional textbook may not be able to offer. In this paper we discuss the effectiveness of context-based hypertext and hypermedia to enhance student learning in computer science courses. Computer science students (group 1 – freshman and sophomores, group 2 – juniors and seniors) that used hypertext and hypermedia in the prerequisite course, programming CSI, had higher performance in academic activities (test and/or quizzes) than those who had the option to use hypertext and hypermedia in the advance course, Software Engineering.
A new molecular signature method for prediction of driver cancer pathways from transcriptional data

Abstract Assigning cancer patients to the most effective treatments requires an understanding of the molecular basis of their disease. While DNA-based molecular profiling approaches have flourished over the past several years to transform our understanding of driver pathways across a broad range of tumors, a systematic characterization of key driver pathways based on RNA data has not been undertaken. Here we introduce a new approach for predicting the status of driver cancer pathways based on signature functions derived from RNA sequencing data. To identify the driver cancer pathways of interest, we mined DNA variant data from TCGA and nominated driver alterations in seven major cancer pathways in breast, ovarian and colon cancer tumors. The activation status of these driver pathways were then characterized using RNA sequencing data by constructing classification signature functions in training datasets and then testing the accuracy of the signatures in test datasets. The signature functions differentiate well tumors with nominated pathway activation from tumors with no signs of activation: average AUC equals to 0.83. Our results confirm that driver genomic alterations are distinctively displayed at the transcriptional level and that the transcriptional signatures can generally provide an alternative to DNA sequencing methods in detecting specific driver pathways.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE CELL CYCLE TO TUMOR GROWTH AND CONTROL OF CELL DIVISION: A REVIEW.

Summary Metabolic activities of cells during interphase can be studied by high-resolution autoradiography with tritium-labeled precursors of nucleic acids and proteins. After completion of mitosis, offspring of the parent cell may divide again, or may differentiate and die without further division. Dividing cells go through a series of metabolic changes which constitute the cell cycle. The cell cycle is subdivided into 4 distinct phases: ( a ) a postmitotic phase called G 1 , during which the cell synthesizes ribonucleic acid (RNA) and proteins; ( b ) an S phase, during which the amount of deoxyribonuleic acid (DNA) is duplicated while protein and RNA syntheses continue; ( c ) a postsynthetic phase, called G 2 , characterized by no net synthesis of DNA and continued RNA and protein synthesis as in postmitotic phase; and ( d ) mitosis, extending from beginning of prophase to completion of telophase during which there is no DNA synthesis, protein synthesis is reduced to a minimum, and RNA synthesis is limited to early prophase and late telophase. The length of the cell cycle and its 4 phases can be obtained by appropriate experimentation with labeled thymidine, a precursor of DNA, and high-resolution autoradiography. Although the length of the cell cycle varies in different kinds of cells, it is shorter in certain cells of the adult animal than in some of the fastest growing tumors. Tumor growth, therefore, must involve other kinetic parameters besides speed of cell proliferation. Since these parameters are related to control of cell division and since a cell in DNA synthesis is generally a cell that has already taken the decision to divide, the various factors involved in initiation of DNA biosynthesis are of particular interest in any attempt to explain the mechanism of tumor growth. It is possible that the initiation of DNA biosynthesis may involve DNA itself, and may be mediated through synthesis of specific RNA and enzymes.
An embedded HMM-based approach for face detection and recognition

We describe an embedded hidden Markov model (HMM)-based approach for face detection and recognition that uses an efficient set of observation vectors obtained from the 2D-DCT coefficients. The embedded HMM can model the two dimensional data better than the one-dimensional HMM and is computationally less complex than the two-dimensional HMM. This model is appropriate for face images since it exploits an important facial characteristic: frontal faces preserve the same structure of "super states" from top to bottom, and also the same left-to-right structure of "states" inside each of these "super states".
Pharmaceutical composition, preparation and uses thereof

본 발명은 약학 화합물을 필요로 하는 대상체에 투여되는, (i) 하나 이상의 생체적합성 나노입자 및 (ii) 하나 이상의 약학 화합물의 조합을 포함하는 약학 조성물로서, 이때 나노입자가 약학 화합물 효율을 강력하게 하는 것에 관한 것이다. 생체적합성 나노입자의 가장 긴 치수는 전형적으로 약 4 내지 약 500 nm 이고, 그 절대 표면 전하 값은 10 mV (|10 mV|) 이상이고, 그 영 계수(Young modulus) 는 100 kPa 미만이다. 본 발명은 또한 상기 조성물을 필요로 하는 대상체에서 약학 조성물의 투여에 사용되는 조성물로서, 이때 하나 이상의 나노입자 및 하나 이상의 약학 화합물이 5 분 초과 내지 약 72 시간에 서로 하나씩 대상체에 투여되어야 하는 것에 관한 것이다.
Adaptive load shedding for windowed stream joins

We present an adaptive load shedding approach for windowed stream joins. In contrast to the conventional approach of dropping tuples from the input streams, we explore the concept of selective processing for load shedding. We allow stream tuples to be stored in the windows and shed excessive CPU load by performing the join operations, not on the entire set of tuples within the windows, but on a dynamically changing subset of tuples that are learned to be highly beneficial. We support such dynamic selective processing through three forms of runtime adaptations: adaptation to input stream rates, adaptation to time correlation between the streams and adaptation to join directions. Indexes are used to further speed up the execution of stream joins. Experiments are conducted to evaluate our adaptive load shedding in terms of output rate. The results show that our selective processing approach to load shedding is very effective and significantly outperforms the approach that drops tuples from the input streams.
Improvement of the Caenorhabditis elegans growth and reproduction test to assess the ecotoxicity of soils and complex matrices

A growth and reproduction test using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was recently standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Performing the ISO 10872 protocol (2010) revealed some drawbacks when applied to soil or soil mixed with complex matrices. The authors propose some modifications to the current protocol to normalize the test conditions. An appropriate range of moisture conditions was determined as a percentage of the water‐holding capacity (WHC) of the soil. According to the authors' results, C. elegans tests can be performed in the range of 60% to 100% WHC. To ensure that the modifications of the protocol did not affect the organisms' recovery, extraction ratios for the juveniles were subsequently estimated. The modified protocol was found to be as reliable as the standard one concerning recovery of juveniles (over 80%). The protocol was also applied to several chemicals to investigate their potential as reference chemicals for soil toxicity tests. Boric acid, copper chloride, and nickel sulfate showed deleterious effects in a concentration‐dependent manner for the growth and reproduction of C. elegans. Finally, the modified protocol was used to assess the growth and reproduction of C. elegans in soil amended with a limed sewage sludge. The authors conclude that the C. elegans modified protocol is a promising tool for the assessment of soil toxicity as well as the toxicity of mixtures with complex matrices. Environ Toxicol Chem 2013;32:2100–2108. © 2013 SETAC
Diurnal variation in asthma.

It has been known for many hundreds of years that asthma is worse at night. Sir John Floyer in his classic 'Treatise of the Asthma' (1698) wrote: 'I have observed the fit always to happen after Sleep in the Night when Nerves are filled with windy Spirits, and the heat of the bed has rarified the Spirits and Humours'. l Although these exacerbations are a well established clinical phenomenon, the precise reasons for them and an entirely satisfactory method of treating many of them are still unknown.
Restraint guidelines for mental health services in India

Restraint use in mentally ill patients are regulated by Mental Healthcare Act 2017 in India. At times, persons with mental disorders become dangerous to self, others or towards the property, warranting an emergency intervention in the form of restraint. Restraint as a matter of policy, should be implemented after attempting alternatives, only under extreme circumstances as last resort and not as a punishment. It should be an intervention focused at managing the concerned behavior for a given point of time. Restraint should always result in safety and should ensure that the human rights of mental health care users are upheld. This guideline was developed towards Indian mental health services in conjunction with international evidence-based strategies following a decade of collaborative research work between Indian and European mental health professionals.
Ablation of Breast Cancer Cells Using Trastuzumab‐Functionalized Multi‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Trastuzumab‐Diphtheria Toxin Conjugate

Trastuzumab (Herceptin®) is a monoclonal antibody (mAb) for specific ablation of HER2‐overexpressing malignant breast cancer cells. Intensification of antiproliferative activity of trastuzumab through construction of immunotoxins and nano‐immunoconjugates is a promising approach for treatment of cancer. In this study, trastuzumab was directly conjugated to diphtheria toxin (DT). Also, conjugates of trastuzumab and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were constructed by covalent immobilization of trastuzumab onto MWCNTs. Then, antiproliferative activity of the fusion constructs against HER2‐overexpressing SK‐BR‐3 and also HER2‐negative MCF‐7 cancer cell lines were examined. Cells treated with trastuzumab‐MWCNT conjugates were irradiated with near‐infrared (NIR) light. Efficient absorption of NIR radiation and its conversion to heat by MWCNTs can be resulted to thermal ablation of cancerous cells. Our results strongly showed that both trastuzumab‐MWCNT and trastuzumab‐DT conjugates were significantly efficient in the specific killing of SK‐BR‐3 cells. Targeting of MWCNTs to cancerous cells using trastuzumab followed by exposure of cells to NIR radiation was more efficient in repression of cell proliferation than treatment for cancer cells with trastuzumab‐DT. Our results also showed that conjugation linkers can significantly affect the cytotoxicity of MWCNT‐immunoconjugates. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that trastuzumab‐MWCNT is a promising nano‐immunoconjugate for killing of HER2‐overexpressing cancerous cells.
Robust Tracking Under Nonlinear Friction Using Time-Delay Control With Internal Model

In this paper, the robustness problem in time-delay control (TDC) is considered in the presence of the nonlinear friction dynamics of robot manipulators. As a remedy for this problem, the TDC is enhanced with a compensator based on internal model control (IMC). The robustness and stability of the proposed method have been analyzed to be effective against friction while preserving the positive attributes of the TDC: It is simple, efficient, and easily applicable because it does not require a complete plant model. Through experiments, the proposed method achieves accuracy levels that are 10-20 times better than that of the TDC, thereby confirming its effectiveness under friction.
Effects of fire and CO2 on biogeography and primary production in glacial and modern climates.

Dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) can disentangle causes and effects in the control of vegetation and fire. We used a DGVM to analyse climate, CO2 and fire influences on biome distribution and net primary production (NPP) in last glacial maximum (LGM) and pre-industrial (PI) times. The Land surface Processes and eXchanges (LPX) DGVM was run in a factorial design with fire 'off' or 'on', CO2 at LGM (185 ppm) or PI (280 ppm) concentrations, and LGM (modelled) or recent climates. Results were analysed by Stein-Alpert decomposition to separate primary effects from synergies. Fire removal causes forests to expand and global NPP to increase slightly. Low CO2 greatly reduces forest area (dramatically in a PI climate; realistically under an LGM climate) and global NPP. NPP under an LGM climate was reduced by a quarter as a result of low CO2 . The reduction in global NPP was smaller at low temperatures, but greater in the presence of fire. Global NPP is controlled by climate and CO2 directly through photosynthesis, but also through biome distribution, which is strongly influenced by fire. Future vegetation simulations will need to consider the coupled responses of vegetation and fire to CO2 and climate.
Recombination Rate Variation Modulates Gene Sequence Evolution Mainly via GC-Biased Gene Conversion, Not Hill–Robertson Interference, in an Avian System

The ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitution rates (ω) is often used to measure the strength of natural selection. However, ω may be influenced by linkage among different targets of selection, that is, Hill–Robertson interference (HRI), which reduces the efficacy of selection. Recombination modulates the extent of HRI but may also affect ω by means of GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC), a process leading to a preferential fixation of G:C (“strong,” S) over A:T (“weak,” W) alleles. As HRI and gBGC can have opposing effects on ω, it is essential to understand their relative impact to make proper inferences of ω. We used a model that separately estimated S-to-S, S-to-W, W-to-S, and W-to-W substitution rates in 8,423 avian genes in the Ficedula flycatcher lineage. We found that the W-to-S substitution rate was positively, and the S-to-W rate negatively, correlated with recombination rate, in accordance with gBGC but not predicted by HRI. The W-to-S rate further showed the strongest impact on both dN and dS. However, since the effects were stronger at 4-fold than at 0-fold degenerated sites, likely because the GC content of these sites is farther away from its equilibrium, ω slightly decreases with increasing recombination rate, which could falsely be interpreted as a consequence of HRI. We corroborated this hypothesis analytically and demonstrate that under particular conditions, ω can decrease with increasing recombination rate. Analyses of the site-frequency spectrum showed that W-to-S mutations were skewed toward high, and S-to-W mutations toward low, frequencies, consistent with a prevalent gBGC-driven fixation bias.
Vmgen—a generator of efficient virtual machine interpreters

In a virtual machine interpreter, the code for each virtual machine instruction has similarities to code for other instructions. We present an interpreter generator that takes simple virtual machine instruction descriptions as input and generates C code for processing the instructions in several ways: execution, virtual machine code generation, disassembly, tracing, and profiling. The generator is designed to support efficient interpreters: it supports threaded code, aching the top‐of‐stack item in a register, combining simple instructions into superinstructions, and other optimizations. We have used the generator to create interpreters for Forth and Java. Theresulting interpreters are faster than other interpreters for the same languages and they are typically 2–10 times slower than code produced by native‐code compilers. We also present results for the effects of the individual optimizations supported by the generator. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Control of articulated figures animations using Petri Nets

In this paper we explore the use of Petri nets as a tool to control the movements of articulated figures in computer animations. This approach permits us to describe the animation sequence by means of the treatment of events present in its execution. An advantage of this method is that the control may be abstracted in different levels, spanning from the definition of the relation among limbs for a single movement to behavioral directives. In addition, our treatment of events hides the mathematical model that describes the movement in fact, allowing the animators to choose the better technique for their applications. In this paper we use an inverse kinematics tool for this purpose. The use of Petri nets also allows previewing the behavior of the animation before starting any shot.