Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling of Tropical Forcing of Persistent Droughts and Pluvials over Western North America: 1856–2000*

Abstract The causes of persistent droughts and wet periods, or pluvials, over western North America are examined in model simulations of the period from 1856 to 2000. The simulations used either (i) global sea surface temperature data as a lower boundary condition or (ii) observed data in just the tropical Pacific and computed the surface ocean temperature elsewhere with a simple ocean model. With both arrangements, the model was able to simulate many aspects of the low-frequency (periods greater than 6 yr) variations of precipitation over the Great Plains and in the American Southwest including much of the nineteenth-century variability, the droughts of the 1930s (the “Dust Bowl”) and 1950s, and the very wet period in the 1990s. Results indicate that the persistent droughts and pluvials were ultimately forced by persistent variations of tropical Pacific surface ocean temperatures. It is argued that ocean temperature variations outside of the tropical Pacific, but forced from the tropical Pacific, act to .
Exploiting Hysteresis in a CMOS

|A high drive CMOS bu er circuit characterized by a voltage transfer characteristic (VTC) with low threshold voltages and hysteresis is proposed. The proposed circuit is capable of restoring slow transition times and distorted input signals with a minimum delay penalty. Due to the hysteresis characteristic of this bu er, a comparison with a Schmitt-trigger is provided. An important application of this circuit is the restoration of slow transitioning signals propagated along an RC interconnect. The circuit can be used in conjunction with existing repeater insertion methodologies to decrease the delay of an RC
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome: an emerging infectious disease.

"Pathogenic microbes can be resilient, dangerous foes. Although it is impossible to predict their individual emergence in time and place, we can be confident that new microbial diseases will emerge. " A recent report (1) by an Institute of Medicine Committee included this warning about infectious diseases in the United States, and emphasized the complacency that has developed regarding their control. The Committee recommended measures of increased vigilance to ensure that such diseases are detected early and investigated rapidly. Since publication of this report in October of 1992, U. S. public health officials have confronted a number of emergent infectious diseases, including an outbreak of hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic-uremic syndrome in several western states, caused by foodborne Escherichia coli 0157 (2); a large outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Milwaukee, caused by contaminated water (3); infections in children attending day-care centers, caused by multiple drug-resistant pneumococci (4); bloodstream infections in New York hospitals, caused by vancomycin-resistant enterococci (5); influenza, caused by a new strain (A/Beijing/32/92) of influenza A virus (6); and, as discussed here, a lethal pulmonary disease in the southwestern United States, caused by a new rodent-borne hantavirus. The sequence of events leading up to the identification of this hantavirus provides several important lessons about the critical role of the public health system in an era of health care reform. The first suspicion of this disease can be traced to the observations of an Indian Health Service (IHS) clinician knowledgeable about the spectrum of illnesses in his community. In mid-May, this clinician treated a patient suffering from an unusual respiratory illness. He contacted other practicing physicians and the Office of Medical Investigations (OMI) of the state of New Mexico, which resulted in identification of four additional patients with similar symptoms. On 27 May, the IHS and the New Mexico Department of Health requested
Study on distance measurement for NAO humanoid robot

In many applications, there is the need to know the accurate distance between NAO and a certain object. Distance information is always of great importance for NAO to do extra tasks in many home monitoring and research circumstance. However, NAO is not equiped with a depth-sensing device which can offer the distance information directly. In this paper, we use four different methods to measure the distance. These ways and devices include the Asus Xtion Pro Live which is a low-priced 3D point cloud sensor, sonar which is a technique that uses sound propagation to position, its own cameras to achieve stereo vision, and NDI which is used to get the 3D coordinate and also the ground truth. We make a comparison among the four methods. The purpose of the study is to find the most appropriate way to measure the depth information.
Boundary estimation for a diffusion-reaction PDE driven by an unknown periodic input

In this paper, we design exponentially convergent observers for a class of parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs) driven by an unknown periodic input with only boundary sensing available. The problem is posed as a problem of designing an invertible coordinate transformation of the observer error system into an exponentially stable system. Observer gain (output injection function) is shown to satisfy a well-posed hyperbolic PDE. Moreover, the observer gains are obtained in closed form.
Feasibility of ASL spinal bone marrow perfusion imaging with optimized inversion time

To assess the correlation between flow‐sensitive alternating inversion recovery (FAIR) and dynamic contrast‐enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE‐MRI) in the measurement of spinal bone marrow (SBM) perfusion; in addition, to assess for an optimized inversion time (TI) as well as the reproducibility of SBM FAIR perfusion.
Power control of DC microgrid using DC bus signaling

DC microgrid is an effective solution to integrate renewable energy sources with conventional utility grid, especially for photovoltaic generation. A DC microgrid configuration based on modular photovoltaic generation system and energy storage devices, which features good redundancy and high efficiency, is investigated in this paper. In order to optimize energy utilization, a power management scheme for DC microgrid is proposed, which consists of four operation modes. The DC bus voltage level is employed as an information carrier to distinguish different modes. Control methods of modular PV converters, battery converter and grid-connected converter are addressed. An automatic control method for modular PV converters is proposed to realize smooth switching between constant voltage operation and MPPT operation, which enables the DC bus voltage regulation capability of modular PV converters. This control method maintains the power balance of DC microgrid under extreme conditions such as the islanding mode with full-charged batteries. Experiments verify the practical feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies.
CD27 Expression Promotes Long-Term Survival of Functional Effector–Memory CD8+Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes in HIV-infected Patients

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-specific CD8+ T cells persist in high frequencies in HIV-infected patients despite impaired CD4+ T helper response to the virus, but, unlike other differentiated effector cytotoxic T lymphocytes, most continue to express the tumor necrosis factor receptor family member CD27. Because the ligand for CD27 (CD70) is also overexpressed in HIV-infected hosts, we examined the nature of expression and potential functional consequences of CD27 expression on HIV-specific CD8+ T cells. Analysis of CD27+ and CD27− T cells derived from the same HIV-specific clone revealed that retention of CD27 did not interfere with acquisition of effector functions, and that after T cell receptor stimulation, CD27+ cells that concurrently were triggered via CD27 exhibited more resistance to apoptosis, interleukin 2 production, and proliferation than CD27− T cells. After transfer back into an HIV-infected patient, autologous HIV-specific CD27− T cells rapidly disappeared, but CD27+ T cells derived from the same clone persisted at high frequency. Our findings suggest that the CD27–CD70 interaction in HIV infection may provide CD27+ CD8+ T cells with a survival advantage and compensate for limiting or absent CD4+ T help to maintain the CD8 response.
Potential application of adipose-derived stem cells and their secretory factors to skin: discussion from both clinical and industrial viewpoints

Importance of the field: Adipose tissue is one of the richest sources of mesenchymal stem cells. Even more interesting is the fact that adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) show an outstanding ability to regenerate damaged skin. Thus, ASCs are a popular and feasible treatment in clinical dermatology. Areas covered in this review: This review discusses the potential applications of ASCs and conditioned medium of ASC (ASC-CM) to skin, and briefly touches on the mechanisms by which ASCs promote skin regeneration. What the reader will gain: Clinically, processed lipo-aspirated (PLA) cells are commonly used for treatment of aged skin; however, the use of PLA cells for cosmetic purposes is not convenient, because PLA cells are prepared from patients. Alternatively, cosmetics that contain ASC-CM can be pre-made from healthy volunteers such that they are immediately available for clinical treatment of aged skin. Cell-based therapies are adequate for improvement of wrinkles or for soft tissue augmentation, whereas ASC-CM has merit for amelioration of skin tone. When culturing ASCs for the production of cosmetic raw materials, hypoxic culture conditions and transduction of specific genes into ASCs may increase the regenerative protein content of the conditioned medium. Take home message: Application of ASCs and ASC-CM to dermatology shows promising results for skin regeneration.
Effect of homogenous object stiffness on tri-digit grasp properties

This paper presents experimental findings on how humans modulate their muscle activity while grasping objects of varying levels of compliance. We hypothesize that one of the key abilities that allows humans to successfully cope with uncertainties while grasping compliant objects is the ability to modulate muscle activity to control both grasp force and stiffness in a way that is coherent with the task. To that end, subjects were recruited to perform a grasp and lift task with a tripod-grasp device with contact surfaces of variable compliance. Subjects performed the task under four different compliance conditions while surface EMG from the main finger flexor and extensor muscles was recorded along with force and torque data at the contact points. Significant increases in the extensor muscle (the antagonist in the task) and co-contraction levels were found with increasing compliance at the contact points. These results suggest that the motor system may employ a strategy of increasing co-contraction, and thereby stiffness, to counteract the decreased stability in grasping compliant objects. Future experiments will examine the extent to which this phenomenon is also related to specific task features, such as precision versus power grasp and object weight.
Purified Flagella from Treponema phagedenis Biotype Reiter Does Not lnduce Protective Immunity against Experimental Syphilis in Rabbits

Thirteen rabbits were immunized three times at weekly intervals with 50 micrograms of flagella purified from Treponema phagedenis biotype Reiter. Fourteen rabbits were inoculated in the same way with a placebo preparation. Rabbits immunized with the flagella developed an immune response to the flagella but showed no statistically significant prolongation of incubation time or diminution of lesion severity when challenged intradermally with 4 X 10(3) Treponema pallidum organisms.
Lightweight and Secure Two-Party Range Queries over Outsourced Encrypted Databases

With the many benefits of cloud computing, an entity may want to outsource its data and their related analytics tasks to a cloud. When data are sensitive, it is in the interest of the entity to outsource encrypted data to the cloud; however, this limits the types of operations that can be performed on the cloud side. Especially, evaluating queries over the encrypted data stored on the cloud without the entity performing any computation and without ever decrypting the data become a very challenging problem. In this paper, we propose solutions to conduct range queries over outsourced encrypted data. The existing methods leak valuable information to the cloud which can violate the security guarantee of the underlying encryption schemes. In general, the main security primitive used to evaluate range queries is secure comparison (SC) of encrypted integers. However, we observe that the existing SC protocols are not very efficient. To this end, we first propose a novel SC scheme that takes encrypted integers and outputs encrypted comparison result. We empirically show its practical advantage over the current state-of-the-art. We then utilize the proposed SC scheme to construct two new secure range query protocols. Our protocols protect data confidentiality, privacy of user's query, and also preserve the semantic security of the encrypted data; therefore, they are more secure than the existing protocols. Furthermore, our second protocol is lightweight at the user end, and it can allow an authorized user to use any device with limited storage and computing capability to perform the range queries over outsourced encrypted data.
Predicting students' learning achievement by using online learning patterns in blended learning environments: Comparison of two cases on linear and non-linear model

A variety of studies using educational data traced from LMS has been conducted to predict students’ performance. However, because of the complexity in its implementation, it is still challenging to predict students’ learning achievement in blended learning environment. As an exploratory study, we selected two types of blended learning classes and compared their prediction models. While the first blended learning class which involves online discussion-based learning revealed a linear regression model, the second case, which was a lecture based blended learning class providing regular base online lecture notes in Moodle, did not present a linear regression model. After that, to examine the important variables of each class, RF (random forest) method was utilized. The results indicated different important variables in two cases. We concluded that the prediction models and data-mining technique should be based on the considerations of diverse pedagogical characteristics in blended learning.
Urinary incontinence after vaginal delivery or cesarean section.

OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence of stress urinary incontinence, urge incontinence and mixed urinary incontinence among women residing in the city of Jundiaí (São Paulo, Brazil), and the relation between the type of incontinence and the obstetric history of these women. METHODS A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted. A total of 332 women were interviewed; they were seen for whatever reason at the public primary healthcare units of the city of Jundiaí, from March 2005 to April 2006. A pre-tested questionnaire was administered and consisted of questions used in the EPINCONT Study (Epidemiology of Incontinence in the County of Nord-Trondelag). Statistical analysis was carried out using the χ2 test and odds ratio (95%CI). RESULTS Urinary incontinence was a complaint for 23.5% of the women interviewed. Stress urinary incontinence prevailed (50%), followed by mixed urinary incontinence (35%) and urge incontinence (15%). Being in the age group of 35-64 years, having a body mass index of 30 or greater and having had only vaginal delivery or cesarean section, with uterine contraction, regardless of the number of pregnancies, were factors associated with stress urinary incontinence. However, being in the age group of 55 or older, having a body mass index of 30 or greater and having had three or more pregnancies, only with vaginal deliveries, were factors associated with mixed urinary incontinence. CONCLUSIONS One third of the interviewees complained of some type of urinary incontinence, and half of them presented stress urinary incontinence. Cesarean section, only when not preceded by contractions, was not associated with stress urinary incontinence. The body mass index is only relevant when the stress factor is present.
TCP performance over mobile ad hoc networks

TCP is a transport protocol that guarantees reliable ordered delivery of data packets over wired networks. Although it is well tuned for wired networks, TCP performs poorly in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). This is because TCP's implicit assumption that any packet loss is due to congestion is invalid in mobile ad hoc networks where wireless channel errors, link contention, mobility and multipath routing may significantly corrupt or disorder packet delivery. If TCP misinterprets such losses as congestion and consequently invokes congestion control procedures, it will suffer from performance degradation and unfairness. To understand TCP behaviour and improve the TCP performance over multi-hop ad hoc networks, considerable research has been carried out. As the research in this area is still active and many problems are still wide open, an in-depth and timely survey is needed. In this paper, the challenges imposed on the standard TCP in the wireless ad hoc network environment are first identified. Then some existing solutions are discussed according to their design philosophy. Finally, some suggestions regarding future research issues are presented.
Targeting autophagy to prevent neonatal stroke damage

Cell death due to cerebral ischemia has been attributed to necrosis and apoptosis, but autophagic mechanisms have recently been implicated as well. Using rats exposed to neonatal focal cerebral ischemia, we have shown that lysosomal and autophagic activities are increased in ischemic neurons, and have obtained strong neuroprotection by post-ischemic inhibition of autophagy.
Visualizing Diffusion Tensor MR Images Using Streamtubes and Streamsurfaces

We present a new method for visualizing 3D volumetric diffusion tensor MR images. We distinguish between linear anisotropy and planar anisotropy and represent values in the two regimes using streamtubes and streamsurfaces, respectively. Streamtubes represent structures with primarily linear diffusion, typically fiber tracts; streamtube direction correlates with tract orientation. The cross-sectional shape and color of each streamtube represent additional information from the diffusion tensor at each point. Streamsurfaces represent structures in which diffusion is primarily planar. Our algorithm chooses a very small representative subset of the streamtubes and streamsurfaces for display. We describe the set of metrics used for the culling process, which reduces visual clutter and improves interactivity. We also generate anatomical landmarks to identify the locations of such structures as the eyes, skull surface, and ventricles. The final models are complex surface geometries that can be imported into many interactive graphics software environments. We describe a virtual environment to interact with these models. Expert feedback from doctors studying changes in white-matter structures after gamma-knife capsulotomy and preoperative planning for brain tumor surgery shows that streamtubes correlate well with major neural structures, the 2D section and geometric landmarks are important in understanding the visualization, and the stereo and interactivity from the virtual environment aid in understanding the complex geometric models.
Effect of Zileuton and Celecoxib on Urinary LTE4 and PGE-M Levels in Smokers

COX-2 and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) use arachidonic acid for the synthesis of eicosanoids that have been implicated in carcinogenesis and cardiovascular disease. The ability of celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, to redirect arachidonic acid into the 5-LO pathway can potentially reduce its efficacy as a chemopreventive agent and increase the risk of cardiovascular complications. Levels of urinary prostaglandin E metabolite (PGE-M) and leukotriene E4 (LTE4), biomarkers of the COX and 5-LO pathways, are elevated in smokers. Here, we investigated the effects of zileuton, a 5-LO inhibitor, versus zileuton and celecoxib for 6 ± 1 days on urinary PGE-M and LTE4 levels in smokers. Treatment with zileuton led to an 18% decrease in PGE-M levels (P = 0.03); the combination of zileuton and celecoxib led to a 62% reduction in PGE-M levels (P < 0.001). Levels of LTE4 decreased by 61% in subjects treated with zileuton alone (P < 0.001) and were unaffected by the addition of celecoxib. Although zileuton use was associated with a small overall decrease in PGE-M levels, increased PGE-M levels were found in a subset (19 of 52) of subjects. Notably, the addition of celecoxib to the 5-LO inhibitor protected against the increase in urinary PGE-M levels (P = 0.03). In conclusion, zileuton was an effective inhibitor of 5-LO activity resulting in marked suppression of urinary LTE4 levels and possible redirection of arachidonic acid into the COX-2 pathway in a subset of subjects. Combining celecoxib and zileuton was associated with inhibition of both the COX-2 and 5-LO pathways manifested as reduced levels of urinary PGE-M and LTE4. Cancer Prev Res; 6(7); 646–55. ©2013 AACR.
U-Sem: Semantic Enrichment, User Modeling and Mining of Usage Data on the Social Web

With the growing popularity of Social Web applications, more and more user data is published on the Web everyday. Our research focuses on investigating ways of mining data from such platforms that can be used for modeling users and for semantically augmenting user profiles. This process can enhance adaptation and personalization in various adaptive Web-based systems. In this paper, we present the U-Sem people modeling service, a framework for the semantic enrichment and mining of people's profiles from usage data on the Social Web. We explain the architecture of our people modeling service and describe its application in an adult e-learning context as an example. Versions: Mar 21, 10:10, Mar 25, 09:37
Human Metapneumovirus Fusion Protein Vaccines That Are Immunogenic and Protective in Cotton Rats

ABSTRACT Human metapneumovirus (hMPV) is a recently described paramyxovirus that is a major cause of upper and lower respiratory infection in children and adults worldwide. A safe and effective vaccine could decrease the burden of disease associated with this novel pathogen. We previously reported the development of the cotton rat model of hMPV infection and pathogenesis (J. V. Williams et al., J. Virol. 79:10944-10951, 2005). We report here the immunogenicity of an hMPV fusion (F) protein in this model. We constructed DNA plasmids that exhibited high levels of expression of hMPV F in mammalian cells (DNA-F). These constructs were used to develop a novel strategy to produce highly pure, soluble hMPV F protein lacking the transmembrane domain (FΔTM). We then immunized cotton rats at 0 and 14 days with either control vector, DNA-F alone, DNA-F followed by FΔTM protein, or FΔTM alone. All groups were challenged intranasally at 28 days with live hMPV. All three groups that received some form of hMPV F immunization mounted neutralizing antibody responses and exhibited partial protection against virus shedding in the lungs compared to controls. The FΔTM-immunized animals showed the greatest degree of protection (>1,500-fold reduction in lung virus titer). All three immunized groups showed a modest reduction of nasal virus shedding. Neither evidence of a Th2-type response nor increased lung pathology were present in the immunized animals. We conclude that sequence-optimized hMPV F protein protects against hMPV infection when delivered as either a DNA or a protein vaccine in cotton rats.