Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulators and Activators in Models of Cardiovascular Disease Associated with Oxidative Stress

Soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC), the primary mediator of nitric oxide (NO) bioactivity, exists as reduced (NO-sensitive) and oxidized (NO-insensitive) forms. We tested the hypothesis that the cardiovascular protective effects of NO-insensitive sGC activation would be potentiated under conditions of oxidative stress compared to those of NO-sensitive sGC stimulation. The cardiovascular effects of the NO-insensitive sGC activator GSK2181236A [a low, non-depressor dose, and a high dose which lowered mean arterial pressure (MAP) by 5–10 mmHg] and those of equi-efficacious doses of the NO-sensitive sGC stimulator BAY 60-4552 were assessed in (1) Sprague Dawley rats during coronary artery ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) and (2) spontaneously hypertensive stroke prone rats (SHR-SP) on a high salt/fat diet (HSFD). In I/R, neither compound reduced infarct size 24 h after reperfusion. In SHR-SP, HSFD increased MAP, urine output, microalbuminuria, and mortality, caused left ventricular hypertrophy with preserved ejection fraction, and impaired endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. The low dose of BAY 60-4552, but not that of GSK2181236A, decreased urine output, and improved survival. Conversely, the low dose of GSK2181236A, but not that of BAY 60-4552, attenuated the development of cardiac hypertrophy. The high doses of both compounds similarly attenuated cardiac hypertrophy and improved survival. In addition to these effects, the high dose of BAY 60-4552 reduced urine output and microalbuminuria and attenuated the increase in MAP to a greater extent than did GSK2181236A. Neither compound improved endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. In SHR-SP isolated aorta, the vasodilatory responses to the NO-dependent compounds carbachol and sodium nitroprusside were attenuated by HSFD. In contrast, the vasodilatory responses to both GSK2181236A and BAY 60-4552 were unaltered by HSFD, indicating that reduced NO-bioavailability and not changes in the oxidative state of sGC is responsible for the vascular dysfunction. In summary, GSK2181236A and BAY 60-4552 provide partial benefit against hypertension-induced end-organ damage. The differential beneficial effects observed between these compounds could reflect tissue-specific changes in the oxidative state of sGC and might help direct the clinical development of these novel classes of therapeutic agents.
Quantitative assessment of mirror movements after stroke.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Mirror movements (MM) are involuntary synchronous movements of one limb during voluntary unilateral movements of the opposite limb. We measured MM in stroke and control subjects and evaluated whether MM after stroke are related to motor function. METHODS Twenty-three patients and 16 control subjects were studied. A computerized dynamometer was used during two squeezing tasks to measure intended movements from the active hand as well as MM from the opposite hand. Motor deficits were measured with the arm motor component of the Fugl-Meyer scale. RESULTS During paretic hand squeezing, MM in the unaffected hand were detected in 70% (repetitive squeeze) to 78% (sustained squeeze) of stroke patients. For both tasks, this was significantly (P < 0.05) greater than the incidence of MM in the paretic hand or in either hand of control subjects (17% to 44%), except when compared with the incidence of MM in the dominant hand of control subjects (56%; P = 0.17). The incidence of MM in the paretic hand was not significantly different from that seen in either hand of control subjects. Patients with MM in the unaffected hand had significantly greater motor deficit than patients without MM. Patients with MM in the paretic hand had significantly better motor function than patients without MM. CONCLUSIONS Simultaneously recording motor performances of both hands provides precise information to characterize MM. MM in the unaffected hand and in the paretic hand are associated with different degrees of motor deficit after stroke. Evaluation of MM may be useful for studying mechanisms of stroke recovery.
IDAE: Imputation-boosted Denoising Autoencoder for Collaborative Filtering

In recent years, while deep neural networks have shown impressive performance to solve various recognition and classification problems, collaborative filtering (CF) received relatively little attention to utilize deep neural networks. Because of inherent data sparsity, it remains a challenging problem for deep neural networks. In this paper, we propose a new CF model, namely the imputation-boosted denoising autoencoder (IDAE), for top-N recommendation. Specifically, IDAE consists of two steps: imputing positive values and learning with imputed values. First, it infers and imputes positive user feedback from missing values. Then, the correlation between items is learned by using the denoising autoencoder (DAE) with imputed values. Unlike the existing DAE that randomly corrupts the input, the key characteristic of IDAE is that original user values are taken as the input, and imputed values are reflected as the corrupted output. Our experimental results demonstrate that IDAE significantly outperforms state-of-the-art CF algorithms using autoencoders (by up to 5%) on the MovieLens datasets.
CAPITAL DESTRUCTION, JOBLESS RECOVERIES, AND THE DISCIPLINE DEVICE ROLE OF UNEMPLOYMENT

I consider an economy growing along the balanced growth path that is hit by an adverse shock to its capital accumulation process. The model integrates efficiency wages due to imperfect monitoring of the quality of labor in a search and matching framework with methods of dynamic general equilibrium analysis. I show that, depending on the firms' abilities to assess workers' performance, the discipline device role of unemployment may account for sharp declines in employment and jobless recoveries driven by exceptional increases in the work effort of employees. The model also explains why rigid real wages may prevail in equilibrium: the large movements in unemployment are indeed associated with real wage rigidity, which is generated endogenously by efficiency wages.
Lamp Improved Arrangement in the Half-Bridge Topology

This letter presents a fluorescent-lamp improved arrangement in the half-bridge topology, putting one lamp in each branch of the converter. This arrangement allows a multilamp independent behavior. So, if one lamp is damaged, the other one keeps on working. In order to prove this independent arrangement, experimental results of one electronic ballast supplying two lamps with different wattage were shown
RECURRENT PROCESSING AND THE CONSCIOUSNESS

Recurrent processing is the corticocortical activity that appears after the feedforward sweep of information processing in the brain. According to Victor Lamme, this process is directly connected to visual awareness. Our consciousness can be divided into phenomenal and reflective consciousness. The underlying process of phenomenal consciousness is suggested to be localized recurrent processing. Widespread recurrent processing to motor and frontal regions correlates with reflective consciousness. Recent electroencephalographic studies have shown visual awareness negativity correlating with localized recurrent processing in both a temporal and spatial aspect. If we accept that localized recurrent processing is consciousness, we get the controversial implications that we can be conscious of something without being able to introspect.
Realistic human action recognition: When deep learning meets VLAD

Human action recognition from realistic scenarios is extremely challenging due to large intra-class variation and complex background clutters. In this paper, by leveraging the strength of deep learning and vector of locally aggregated descriptors (VLAD), we propose a new methods for human action recognition from realistic datasets. We adopt stack convolutional independent subspace analysis (ISA) networks to learn 3D cuboid representation directly from spatio-temporal video data; we propose an improved VLAD by incorporating the spatio-temporal geometrical information to encode the deep learned local features. On two challenging realistic datasets: the YouTube action and HMDB51 datasets, the proposed method achieves state-of-the-art performance with an efficient linear SVM classifier, which is competitive with and even better than existing sophisticated algorithms.
Using commutative replicated data type for collaborative video annotation

Collaborative video annotation system is groupware system which enables a virtual community of participants to share and annotate the same digital video file from geographically dispersed nodes interconnected via the network. The video annotation process allows participants to browse videos, add, delete or update annotations. However, the existing systems are mainly concerned with the indexing, annotating, storing and sharing of video data. Hence, they only provide a basis for implementing simple way for video annotation and do not treat concurrent annotation aspects during the collaborative work. In this paper, we describe AV-Store an original method that combines both advantages of collaborative video annotation and semantic web technologies, and complies with eventual consistency condition when concurrent annotations are performed. The main idea of this approach is to define a new data type where all concurrent annotations commute. The commutativity aims at assuring the consistency of all replicas if participants perform the same sequence of annotations in different orders.
A motion-compensated spatio-temporal filter for image sequences with signal-dependent noise

A novel spatio-temporal filter is described for monochrome image sequences with either signal-independent or signal-dependent noise by considering both spatial and temporal correlations. With the assumptions of spatio-temporal separability and temporal stationarity, it is shown that motion-compensated groups of frames can be decorrelated by using the Karhunen-Loeve transform. Practical filters that work well on a variety of image sequences are developed by first applying the Hadamard transform along the temporal direction. Subsequently, the parametric adaptive Wiener filter is applied to each of the resulting approximately decorrelated transformed images. These transformed images are classified into one average image and a remaining set of residual images, which provide interesting and useful interpretations of the type of image sequence. The filter performance is evaluated by considering different types of image sequences in the database. The procedure advanced for processing a sequence of monochrome images can be adapted for generalization to multispectral images and this possibility is currently under detailed investigation.
Consciousness, Attention, and Conscious Attention

In this book, Carlos Montemayor and Harry Haladjian consider the relationship between consciousness and attention. The cognitive mechanism of attention has often been compared to consciousness, because attention and consciousness appear to share similar qualities. But, Montemayor and Haladjian point out, attention is defined functionally, whereas consciousness is generally defined in terms of its phenomenal character without a clear functional purpose. They offer new insights and proposals about how best to understand and study the relationship between consciousness and attention by examining their functional aspects. The book's ultimate conclusion is that consciousness and attention are largely dissociated. Undertaking a rigorous analysis of current empirical and theoretical work on attention and consciousness, Montemayor and Haladjian propose a spectrum of dissociation -- a framework that identifies the levels of dissociation between consciousness and attention -- ranging from identity to full dissociation. They argue that conscious attention, the focusing of attention on the contents of awareness, is constituted by overlapping but distinct processes of consciousness and attention. Conscious attention, they claim, evolved after the basic forms of attention, increasing access to the richest kinds of cognitive contents. Montemayor and Haladjian's goal is to help unify the study of consciousness and attention across the disciplines. A focused examination of conscious attention will, they believe, enable theoretical progress that will further our understanding of the human mind.
Overestimation and Underestimation Biases in Photon Mapping with Non-Constant Kernels

This paper presents an analysis of the overestimation bias in common used filtering kernels in the context of photon mapping density estimation. We use the joint distribution of order statistics to calculate the expected value of the estimators of irradiance, and show that the estimator provided by the cone filter is not consistent unless the slope is one (yielding the triangular kernel), and that the Epanechnikov and Silverman kernels are consistent. The Gaussian filter has two different estimation biases: the original normalization constant α underestimates radiance by 46.9 percent, and the use of the kth nearest photon reduces this underestimation slightly. We also show that a new normalization constant for the Gaussian filter together with discarding the contribution of the kth nearest photon in the Gaussian and cone filter estimators produces new, consistent estimators. The specialized differential filter also benefits from the new estimate.
Cloning and Localization of Three Forms of Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone, Including the Novel Whitefish Form, in a Salmonid, Coregonus clupeaformis1

Abstract Cells containing different GnRH peptides currently are thought to have distinct locations and functions in the brain. Lake whitefish is the first salmonid species to have three forms of GnRH peptide in contrast to later-evolving salmonids (salmon and trout) in which only two forms have been identified. Our objective was to isolate the cDNAs that code for these transcripts and to localize the transcripts for the three forms of GnRH in adult lake whitefish brain. Also, we provide phylogenetic analysis of these three whitefish genes based on their preprohormone sequence. From whitefish we isolated cDNAs encoding chicken (c)GnRH-II, salmon (s)GnRH, and the novel whitefish (wf)GnRH. The three cDNAs each encode only one GnRH and are placed in separate groups with phylogenetic analysis. A combination of in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry with two antisera revealed neurons that expressed protein and/or mRNA for cGnRH-II in the midbrain and hindbrain; sGnRH in the olfactory nerve and bulb, ventral telencephalon, and preoptic area; and wfGnRH in the same latter two brain regions and the hypothalamus. Thus, in the anterior brain, cells containing sGnRH and wfGnRH were in the same brain areas but not at identical locations in the ventral telencephalon and preoptic area. Based on our results, we speculate that both sGnRH and wfGnRH have gonadotropin-releasing roles in the lake whitefish brain.
Effect of elbow flexion contractures on the ability of people with C5 and C6 tetraplegia to lift.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE It is commonly assumed that minor elbow flexion contractures prevent people with C5-C6 tetraplegia and paralysis of the triceps brachii muscles from bearing full body weight through their upper limbs. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of simulated bilateral elbow flexion contractures on the ability of these individuals to bear weight through their upper limbs and to determine whether full passive elbow extension is truly critical for lifting body weight. METHOD A biomechanical study was performed. Body weight lifted was measured under conditions that simulated bilateral elbow flexion contractures. Five people with motor complete C6 tetraplegia and one person with motor complete C5 tetraplegia, all with bilateral paralysis of the triceps brachii muscles, were recruited to the study. Subjects were fitted with bilateral elbow splints that restricted elbow extension but did not restrain elbow flexion nor prevent the elbow from collapsing, and were seated on an instrumented platform that measured vertical forces under the buttocks. Subjects pushed down through their hands and lifted under five different conditions, namely: with no elbow splints; with bilateral elbow splints adjusted to restrict elbow extension by 5-10 degrees; by 15-20 degrees; by 25-30 degrees and with bilateral elbow splints adjusted to allow unrestricted movement of the elbow joint. Maximal weight lifted from under the buttocks, for each condition, was expressed in relation to weight under the buttocks during unsupported sitting (that is, 'seated body weight'). RESULTS Subjects lifted progressively less weight from under their buttocks as passive elbow restriction was progressively restricted. However, one subject lifted all his seated body weight when elbow extension was restricted by 5-10 degrees and another lifted all his seated body weight when elbow extension was restricted by 5-10 degrees and 15-20 degrees. CONCLUSIONS Minor elbow flexion contractures will not alone prevent people with tetraplegia and paralysis of the triceps brachii muscles from lifting. Full passive elbow extension is not critical for the performance of this task.
The development of word meaning : progress in cognitive development research

1 How Children Learn the Reference of Concrete Nouns: A Critique of Current Hypotheses. - The Original Hypotheses of Clark and Nelson. - Subsequent Developments. - Revisions and Extensions. - Conclusions and Some Suggestions for Future Research. - 2 Early Semantic Representations and Early Word-Usage. - The Principal Phenomena Characterizing Early Word-Usage. - The Development of Semantic Representations: A Summary of the Proposed Model. - Conclusions. - 3 Constraints on the Representation of Word Meaning: Evidence From Autistic and Mentally Retarded Children. - The Study. - Results. - Discussion. - 4 Semantic and Conceptual Knowledge Underlying the Child's Words. - Extensional Studies. - Interview Studies. - Conclusion. - 5 Thoughts on the Intensional Basis of Early Object Word Extension: Evidence From Comprehension and Production. - Object Word Meaning. - Children's Extension Errors. - The Comprehension/Production Issue. - The Notion of Prototypes and Its Implications for the Comprehension/Production Issue. - Conclusions and Speculations. - An Unembarrassed Return to the Notion of Prototype-Based Word Meaning. - 6 Lexical Acquisition Strategies in the Preschool Child. - What's in a Word? - Data Bases and Strategies. - The Input. - Experimental Evidence. - Conclusion. - 7 Apprenticeship in Word Use: Social Convergence Processes in Learning Categorically Related Nouns. - The Vygotsky-Wittgenstein Legacy. - Some Clarifications and Implications. - The Framework Applied to Maternal Labeling Research. - Factors Affecting Parent-Child Reference Patterns. - An Illustrative Study. - Conclusion. - 8 Words, Plans, Things, and Locations: Interactions Between Semantic and Cognitive Development in the One-Word Stage. - Meaning in the One-Word Stage. - Words About Things. - Words About Plans. - Words About Locations. - Other Early Words and Meanings. - Changes in the Meanings of Early Words. - Summary. - Conceptual Development and Early Meaning. - Theories of Semantic Development in the One-Word Stage. - An Alternative Hypothesis. - 9 Actions and Things: What Adults Talk About to 1-Year-Olds. - Speech Input Characteristics. - What Is the Topic of Conversation: Action or Object? - Mother Speech Styles. - Conversational Demands and Child-Directed Speech. - Descriptive Comments About Objects and Actions. - Directing Visual Attention. - Directing Actions. - Promoting Verbal Responses. - Conclusion. - 10 Action Words and Pragmatic Function in Early Language. - Action Words: Classes and Contexts. - Data: Actions and State Changes. - The Pragmatics of Early Action Words. - Mental Process Verbs. - Conclusions. - 11 Verbs and Time. - Cutting Up Verbs. - Time Talk. - The Category Verb. - Conclusion. - 12 Acquiring and Using Words to Express Logical Relationships. - Selective Review of the Literature Concerning Children's Understanding of the Terms Before, After, Because, So, If, But, and Or. - Production and Comprehension Measures. - Content as a Context for Comprehending Relational Terms. - Conclusions. - Summary. - Author Index.
A multi‐user virtual laboratory environment for gear train design

This paper presents the development of a game‐based virtual laboratory environment for gear train design. This virtual laboratory environment goes beyond static demonstrations or conventional computer simulations and provides the students with the flexibility to perform various experiments related to the fundamental law of gearing and the concepts of planetary gear motion. In this virtual laboratory environment, the students, the instructor and the teaching assistant are represented by and interact as virtual characters (avatars). The scripted scenario for the laboratory exercise was first piloted in a junior‐level course for mechanical engineering majors. Assessment tools such as pre‐ and post‐experiment tests are an integral part of the laboratory environment and form the basis for providing different levels of support to the students at every step of the laboratory exercises. Furthermore, the laboratory environment can be equipped with functionality for monitoring the students' progress and learning outcomes, thus enabling skill‐based assessment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 22:788–802, 2014; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.21573
Correlation of Charge Buildup and Stress-Induced Leakage Current in Cerium Oxide Films Grown on Ge (100) Substrates

High-kappa films are currently deposited on Ge substrates to compensate the mobility loss, as Ge offers higher mobility compared with that of silicon. This paper deals with the reliability characteristics of cerium oxide films grown by molecular beam deposition on n-type Ge (100) substrates. MOS capacitors with Pt gate electrodes were subjected to constant voltage stress conditions at accumulation. The correlation of the charge-trapping characteristics and the stress-induced leakage current (SILC) to the applied field is observed and analyzed. The results suggest that one major problem for the potential use of rare earth oxides in future MOS technology is the existence of relaxation effects. The cross-sectional value of the bulk oxide traps is on the order of 10-18 cm2 , thus indicating neutral defects. Direct comparison to reported results on high- kappa/Si and SiO2/Si structures shows that SILC properties are related to the quality of the dielectric layers; the semiconductor substrate is immaterial.