Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Proportion of CD56+ 3+ T Cells in Decidual and Peripheral Lymphocytes of Normal Pregnancy and Spontaneous Abortion With and Without History of Recurrent Abortion

Yamamoto T, Takahashi Y, Kase N, Mori H. Proportion of CD56+ 3+ T cells in decidual and peripheral lymphocytes of normal pregnancy and spontaneous abortion with and without history of recurrent abortion. AJRI 1999; 42:355–360 © Munksgaard, Copenhagen
International trade in agricultural products : The impact of environmental standards on costs and competitiveness

It is often hypothesised that the costs of higher environmental standards lead to unfair competitive disadvantages of countries. To test this, the costs of producing and processing vegetable oils, grain and broiler and of their environmental standards were calculated for Brazil, Germany and Indonesia. The results show that the impacts of environmental standards on the production costs are relatively small. For processing, the results are ambiguous. Total cost differences based on wage level, prices for land, machines, buildings and equipment are more significant. Differences in standards are often justified, depending on climate, population density, economic and social conditions and differences in the scarcity of environmental goods. 77 EAAE Seminar / NJF Seminar No. 325, August 17-18, 2001, Helsinki International trade in agricultural products: The impact of environmental standards on costs and competitiveness Ulrike Grote, Claus Deblitz and Susanne Stegmann
The Real Estate Tax

IN 1664 THE DUKE of York sailed into the port of New York and demanded that the Governor of New Amsterdam surrender his city, and the Dutch colony of which it was a part, to the British Crown. The newly named City of New York was destined to become the largest metropolis on the continent. Since shortly afterward the city has derived a large part of its local revenue for city, county, and school purposes from a tax on the capital value of real estate. The former Dutch colony-now the State of New York-has also derived much of its revenue from a tax on real estate which its local units extended on their own rolls and collected for the state.
Mechanisms of signaling crosstalk between brassinosteroids and gibberellins

Brassinosteroids (BRs) and Gibberellins (GAs) are two principal groups of growth-promoting phytohormones. Accumulating evidence supports that there are crosstalks between BR and GA signaling pathways. However, a molecular mechanism for direct signaling crosstalk between BRs and GAs was not revealed until recently. Works from three different groups demonstrated that an interaction between BZR1/BES1 and DELLAs, two groups of key transcriptional regulators from the BR and GA signaling pathways, respectively, mediates the direct signaling crosstalk between BRs and GAs in controlling cell elongation in Arabidopsis. It was shown that DELLA proteins not only affect the protein stability but also inhibit the transcriptional activity of BZR1. Thus, GAs promote cell elongation, at least in part, through releasing DELLA-mediated inhibition of BZR1. This review aims to introduce these recent advances in our understanding of how BRs and GAs coordinate to regulate plant growth and development at the molecular level.
Political Economy Reasons for Government Inertia: The Role of Interest Groups in the Case of Access to Medicines

The reluctant reaction of western governments to the AIDS crisis in developing countries is only one example for policy areas where we observe a lack of political action despite a public interest in policy change. The reasons for that lie in the two-stage structure of the political decision-making process: Interest groups influence both the policy choice and the subsequent decision on the level of policy implementation. The lobbies' interest in reform and the issue-specific chance for compromise determine the policy choice. The interest groups' failure to agree on political strategies creates reduced incentives to support policy implementation.
Graph-Based Language Model of Long-Distance Dependency

In the natural language processing and its related fields, the classic text representation methods seldom consider the role of the words order and long-distance dependency in the texts for the semantic representation. In this paper, we discussed current situation and problems of the statistical language models, especially for Head-driven statistical language model and Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). And then the development and realization methods of the long-distance dependency language model simply introduced. At last graph-based long-distance dependency language model was proposed in the paper.
Socially motivated projection: Need to belong increases perceived opinion consensus on important issues

In three studies, we tested whether the need to belong would motivate people to perceive consensus for their opinions on important social issues. In Study 1, a nationally representative telephone survey, participants with a high dispositional need to belong perceived greater consensus for their opinions on immigrant naturalization than did those with a low need to belong. However, this relationship was strongest among participants who reported that the issue was personally important to them. In Study 2, participants primed with rejection-related (versus acceptance-related) words, and who reported high levels of issue importance, demonstrated greater false consensus for their opinions on a proposed alcohol tax increase. In Study 3, participants who received random feedback that they held a common (versus uncommon) opinion had a lower subsequent need to belong when the issue was important to them, suggesting that consensus perceptions can in fact mitigate belongingness needs. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Worldwide Distribution of Major Clones of Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes is worldwide a pathogen, but the geographic distribution of clones remains largely unknown. Genotyping of 300 isolates from the 5 continents and diverse sources showed the existence of few prevalent and globally distributed clones, some of which include previously described epidemic clones. Cosmopolitan distribution indicates the need for genotyping standardization.
Stator-flux-oriented vector control of synchronous reluctance Machines with maximized efficiency

This paper presents a position-sensorless vector torque controller designed to achieve maximum efficiency over a range of power and rotational speed for a synchronous reluctance machine. A model of the synchronous reluctance machine is presented which incorporates both winding and core losses. It is then shown that a stator-flux-oriented control scheme can achieve synchronous operation of the machine without a position sensor at medium and high electrical frequencies. For a given speed and torque, power losses in the machine are shown to be a function of only the stator flux magnitude. As the power losses are a convex function of the stator flux level, the optimal flux value can be found using a one-dimensional optimization algorithm, such as the Method of Sequential Quadratic Interpolations. Optimal flux values for a synchronous reluctance machine are determined using an experimental setup that accurately determines losses in the motor/drive system. Experimental results obtained from the test setup confirm the validity of the controller and the optimization algorithm.
Sympathy and Science: Women Physicians in American Medicine

When first published in 1985, Sympathy and Science was hailed as a groundbreaking study of women in medicine. It remains the most comprehensive history of American women physicians available. Tracing the participation of women in the medical profession from the colonial period to the present, Regina Morantz-Sanchez examines women's roles as nurses, midwives, and practitioners of folk medicine in early America; recounts their successful struggles in the nineteenth century to enter medical schools and found their own institutions and organizations; and follows female physicians into the twentieth century, exploring their efforts to sustain significant and rewarding professional lives without sacrificing the other privileges and opportunities of womanhood. In a new preface, the author surveys recent scholarship and comments on the changing world of women in medicine over the past two decades. Despite extraordinary advances, she concludes, women physicians continue to grapple with many of the issues that troubled their predecessors. |First published in 1985 to wide acclaim, this book is the most comprehensive history of American women physicians available, covering the period from colonial times to the present. This edition includes a new preface that reflects on the changing world of women in medicine over the past two decades.
Qoe-based rate adaptation scheme selection for resource-constrained wireless video transmission

This paper proposes a Quality of Experience (QoE) based rate adaptation scheme selection approach for multi-user wireless video delivery. Transcoding and packet dropping are used as examples of rate adaptation schemes, and we investigate their impact on user perceived video quality. In the presence of constrained computation resources, the most suitable rate adaptation scheme is determined for each video stream such that the overall quality degradation is minimized. The proposed scheme selection approach is integrated with QoE-based resource allocation in presence of constrained transmission resources. Simulation results obtained from an emulated High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) show that the QoE-based approach leads to significant improvements of user perceived quality compared to other approaches including a non-optimized HSDPA systems
Suffer the little children: mortality, mothers and the State

The decline in infant mortality in developed countries from the early years of the twentieth century to the present was one of the most striking aspects of the transition to the modern demographic regime. In England and Wales infant mortality varied in the last quarter of the nineteenth century from around 130 per 1,000 to over 160 per 1,000 live births. In 1901 it was still 151 per 1,000 but by 1971 it had dropped to 18 per 1,000, and today it is under 10 per 1,000. * Other European countries experienced similar declines beginning in the final decades of the nineteenth century. Some, like England and Wales, saw a reversal of the downward trend in the late 1890s, while others, such as Sweden (which had a generally lower infant mortality rate throughout the nineteenth century) experienced uninterrupted decline. Children between the ages of one and five had seen an earlier, but less dramatic, decline in their mortality rates as the toll exacted by infectious diseases gradually diminished. By the turn of the present century in England and Wales the greatest scope for improvement was amongst those aged less than a year. The significance of their contribution to the national mortality picture is brought home by McKeown's calculation that of the total age-standardized decline in mortality between 1901 and 1971 reduction in infant mortality accounted for 33.6 per cent. Improvement in the mortality of children aged one to five accounted for 15.7 per cent of the decline. Our ability to chart these declines conceals large areas of ignorance and
A pencil beam dose calculation model for CyberKnife system.

PURPOSE CyberKnife system is initially equipped with fixed circular cones for stereotactic radiosurgery. Two dose calculation algorithms, Ray-Tracing and Monte Carlo, are available in the supplied treatment planning system. A multileaf collimator system was recently introduced in the latest generation of system, capable of arbitrarily shaped treatment field. The purpose of this study is to develop a model based dose calculation algorithm to better handle the lateral scatter in an irregularly shaped small field for the CyberKnife system. METHODS A pencil beam dose calculation algorithm widely used in linac based treatment planning system was modified. The kernel parameters and intensity profile were systematically determined by fitting to the commissioning data. The model was tuned using only a subset of measured data (4 out of 12 cones) and applied to all fixed circular cones for evaluation. The root mean square (RMS) of the difference between the measured and calculated tissue-phantom-ratios (TPRs) and off-center-ratio (OCR) was compared. Three cone size correction techniques were developed to better fit the OCRs at the penumbra region, which are further evaluated by the output factors (OFs). The pencil beam model was further validated against measurement data on the variable dodecagon-shaped Iris collimators and a half-beam blocked field. Comparison with Ray-Tracing and Monte Carlo methods was also performed on a lung SBRT case. RESULTS The RMS between the measured and calculated TPRs is 0.7% averaged for all cones, with the descending region at 0.5%. The RMSs of OCR at infield and outfield regions are both at 0.5%. The distance to agreement (DTA) at the OCR penumbra region is 0.2 mm. All three cone size correction models achieve the same improvement in OCR agreement, with the effective source shift model (SSM) preferred, due to their ability to predict more accurately the OF variations with the source to axis distance (SAD). In noncircular field validation, the pencil beam calculated results agreed well with the film measurement of both Iris collimators and the half-beam blocked field, fared much better than the Ray-Tracing calculation. CONCLUSIONS The authors have developed a pencil beam dose calculation model for the CyberKnife system. The dose calculation accuracy is better than the standard linac based system because the model parameters were specifically tuned to the CyberKnife system and geometry correction factors. The model handles better the lateral scatter and has the potential to be used for the irregularly shaped fields. Comprehensive validations on MLC equipped system are necessary for its clinical implementation. It is reasonably fast enough to be used during plan optimization.
MULTI-THREADING AND SHARED-MEMORY POOL TECHNIQUES FOR AUTHORIZATION OF CREDIT CARD SYSTEMS USING JAVA

This research paper presents a framework and solution for improving the efficiency of the authorization processing of credit card transactions using multi-threading and shared-memory pool tech- niques. Through the use of both techniques, a prototype of a real-time multi-threaded authorization sys- tem has been developed with Java platforms to overcome the slow sequential authorization processing of a single-threaded model of current credit card authorization systems. Via multi-threading technique, it allows parallel execution of the validation functional units involved during the authorization process of credit card transaction through multiple threads. It also enables a separate thread to be executed in the background of the process to perform data synchronization maintained in the shared-memory pool with the main system database. Shared-memory pool has been used to provide a global point of access to the card information kept in the random access memory. During the authorization process, the respective worker thread performs a binary search to obtain the authentication data from the shared memory instead of the system database to hasten the authorization process of credit card transactions. Performance- testing has been carried out to measure the efficiency of a fixed number of credit card authorization processes running between the single-threaded and the multi-threaded authorization systems in a work- station using similar hardware capabilities. Specially-embedded tools are incorporated in the payment gateway applications to obtain the length of end-to-end execution.
Riding Pontic: A Tool to Keep Patients Smiling

ABSTRACT All patients expect a beautiful smile at the completion of orthodontic treatment, but some patients show concern regarding their appearance while undergoing treatment. The appearance of a gap from a missing tooth can be a concern, especially if it is in the display zone of a patient's smile. If the treatment plan includes prosthetic replacement of the missing tooth rather then space closure, then space maintenance is also an issue. In an appearance conscious patient use of riding pontic as space maintainers is a good option during treatment. How to cite this article: Sharma NS. Riding Pontic: A Tool to Keep Patients Smiling. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2013;6(2): 127-131.
Sulfur-Mediated-Alleviation of Aluminum-Toxicity in Citrus grandis Seedlings

Limited data are available on the sulfur (S)-mediated-alleviation of aluminum (Al)-toxicity in higher plants. Citrus grandis seedlings were irrigated for 18 weeks with 0.5 mM MgSO4 or 0.5 mM MgSO4 + 0.5 mM Na2SO4, and 0 (−Al) or 1 mM AlCl3·6H2O (+Al, Al-toxicity). Under Al-toxicity, S decreased the level of Al in leaves; increased the relative water content (RWC) of roots and leaves, the contents of phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) per plant, the dry weights (DW) of roots and shoots, the ratios of root DW/shoot DW, and the Al-induced secretion of citrate from root; and alleviated the Al-induced inhibition of photosynthesis via mitigating the Al-induced decrease of electron transport capacity resulting from the impaired photosynthetic electron transport chain. In addition to decreasing the Al-stimulated H2O2 production, the S-induced upregulation of both S metabolism-related enzymes and antioxidant enzymes also contributed to the S-mediated-alleviation of oxidative damage in Al-treated roots and leaves. Decreased transport of Al from roots to shoots and relatively little accumulation of Al in leaves, and increased leaf and root RWC and P, Ca, and Mg contents per plant might also play a role in the S-mediated-alleviation of Al-toxicity.
CLUE: cluster-based retrieval of images by unsupervised learning

In a typical content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system, target images (images in the database) are sorted by feature similarities with respect to the query. Similarities among target images are usually ignored. This paper introduces a new technique, cluster-based retrieval of images by unsupervised learning (CLUE), for improving user interaction with image retrieval systems by fully exploiting the similarity information. CLUE retrieves image clusters by applying a graph-theoretic clustering algorithm to a collection of images in the vicinity of the query. Clustering in CLUE is dynamic. In particular, clusters formed depend on which images are retrieved in response to the query. CLUE can be combined with any real-valued symmetric similarity measure (metric or nonmetric). Thus, it may be embedded in many current CBIR systems, including relevance feedback systems. The performance of an experimental image retrieval system using CLUE is evaluated on a database of around 60,000 images from COREL. Empirical results demonstrate improved performance compared with a CBIR system using the same image similarity measure. In addition, results on images returned by Google's Image Search reveal the potential of applying CLUE to real-world image data and integrating CLUE as a part of the interface for keyword-based image retrieval systems.
Functional Network Construction in Arabidopsis Using Rule-Based Machine Learning on Large-Scale Data Sets[C][W][OA]

This study presents a novel computational methodology to predict functional associations between genes based on microarray data. The methodology termed “coprediction” uses a machine learning algorithm and is used to generate a gene network that is validated by identifying four novel regulators of seed germination and several of their functional relationships. The meta-analysis of large-scale postgenomics data sets within public databases promises to provide important novel biological knowledge. Statistical approaches including correlation analyses in coexpression studies of gene expression have emerged as tools to elucidate gene function using these data sets. Here, we present a powerful and novel alternative methodology to computationally identify functional relationships between genes from microarray data sets using rule-based machine learning. This approach, termed “coprediction,” is based on the collective ability of groups of genes co-occurring within rules to accurately predict the developmental outcome of a biological system. We demonstrate the utility of coprediction as a powerful analytical tool using publicly available microarray data generated exclusively from Arabidopsis thaliana seeds to compute a functional gene interaction network, termed Seed Co-Prediction Network (SCoPNet). SCoPNet predicts functional associations between genes acting in the same developmental and signal transduction pathways irrespective of the similarity in their respective gene expression patterns. Using SCoPNet, we identified four novel regulators of seed germination (ALTERED SEED GERMINATION5, 6, 7, and 8), and predicted interactions at the level of transcript abundance between these novel and previously described factors influencing Arabidopsis seed germination. An online Web tool to query SCoPNet has been developed as a community resource to dissect seed biology and is available at http://www.vseed. nottingham.ac. uk/.
Reduction in the incidence of myocardial infarction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis who respond to anti–tumor necrosis factor α therapy: Results from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register

Objective Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease, possibly acting via shared mechanisms of inflammation. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that the powerful antiinflammatory effect of anti–tumor necrosis α (anti-TNFα) therapy might lead to a reduction in the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) in patients with RA. Methods Using data from the British Society for Rheumatology Biologics Register, a national prospective observational study, we compared MI rates in 8,670 patients with RA treated with anti-TNFα and 2,170 patients with active RA treated with traditional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Results Through July 2006, 63 MIs occurred in the anti-TNFα cohort during 13,233 person-years of followup and 17 MIs occurred in the DMARD cohort during 2,893 person-years of followup, equivalent to a rate of 4.8 events per 1,000 person-years and 5.9 events per 1,000 person-years, respectively. After adjustment for baseline risk factors, there was no reduction in the rate of MI in the anti-TNFα cohort compared with the DMARD cohort (incidence rate ratio 1.44 [95% confidence interval 0.56–3.67]). In an analysis of anti-TNFα–treated patients who responded to the treatment within 6 months versus those who did not, MI rates were found to be 3.5 events per 1,000 person-years in responders and 9.4 events per 1,000 person-years in nonresponders. The adjusted incidence rate ratio (95% confidence interval) for responders compared with nonresponders was 0.36 (0.19–0.69). Conclusion These results indicate that RA patients treated with anti-TNFα do not have a lower incidence of MI compared with RA patients treated with traditional DMARDs. However, the risk of MI is markedly reduced in those who respond to anti-TNFα therapy by 6 months compared with nonresponders. This finding supports the notion that inflammation plays a pivotal role in MI.